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Fine-tuned the template a bit so it will allow 800px photos rather than only allowing 500px. We'll see how it goes :P

Los Angeles: Hello Ludobites 8.0!!

So LudoBites is currently going on, now in its 8th edition. The reservation this time around is based on a lottery system, so whether you get a reservation is completely based on luck and if the slot they give you doesn't work, then you lose the reservation. I heard from LudoBites that it was only a 5% chance. Somehow... I was able to score a table for four this past Monday (1/30/2012)! Of course I replied and said yes :]

Same as last time, we ordered EVERYTHING on the menu. We were afraid that with just the four of us (Michael, Ray, Diana & me), we weren't going to finish everything, but figured, what the hell, only 5% of the people scored a reservation, might as well go all out! This LudoBites was definitely more... decadent and luxurious than the last in my opinion. Ingredients more exotic and there's more of a fusion from different cuisines. A lot of Japanese influence this time around. A few items really stood out while a few we didn't care too much for. There were also a few that totally surprised us in terms of the flavor and the preparation.

LudoBites 8.0 @ Lemon Moon

12200 W Olympic Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90064

LudoBites for Monday, January 30th :]

Unlike last time, there's an actual wine & beer list since Lemon Moon does have the alcohol license. It wasn't a wine sort of night for our party so we went with the 750ml beers on the menu, both from The Bruery in OC. The Saison Rue is a light Belgian and perfect beer to start the night with.

Really good Belgian, with a hint of fruity note. Saison generally refers to a French farmhouse pale ale with low alcohol content, but the Saison Rue has about 8.0% and unfiltered so you can actually age the beer!

First up: Brioche with Seaweed Yuzu Butter! Now... what part about that does not sound good? Buttery brioche bread then smeared with a "healthy" dose of the seaweed yuzu butter. The yuzu just pops. We split the bread 4-ways and there was a little bit of butter left over from the knife... so I just licked the butter. Yum :]

We absolutely loved the Chicken Tandoori Crackling. Fried chicken skin with tandoori spices, then topped with liver mousse and sea salt. The whole thing is a bit salty but we didn't really care cause it was so damn good! Who doesn't like crispy chicken skin?? It looked like a pita chip with some hummus on top, but nope, it is chicken skin!

So the meal started out with a dish with Japanese influence (yuzu), the Big Eye Tuna with Tahitian Vanilla, Somen, Basil and Seven Flavor Vinaigrette is straight up Japanese-esque with the exception of the basil. Tuna was great and the basil is very refreshing. I'm going to guess the seven flavor means the seven spice Japanese or Chinese uses. The somen was a little meh.

Another dish with Japanese influence: Sweet Shrimp with Miso Cream, Smoked Salmon, and Cannellini Beans. The miso cream was definitely the star in this dish and the creaminess went very well with the smoky smoked salmon.

Like last time, there's a beef tartare dish: Raw Beef with Radish, Beets, and Eel.

Right beside the raw beef, there's this frozen thing... I do not know what it is but it is sorta frozen by nitrogen or something.... it was good hahah.

My little creation!

We decided to go with the Trois Poules Francais from The Bruery for our second bottle of beer, which is this Belgian-style dark ale that's brewed with syrah grapes and then aged in wine barrel! You definitely taste the tart acidic grape and all the usual flavors you'd associate with wine, except in a beer! The sommelier referred to it as a sour-mash style beer. I've always wondered what wine + beer would taste like, although I'm sure it won't taste as good as this in real life :P

Absolutely amazing beer. The first sip is very surprising with the tartness hitting you right away. I actually tried to find it at Bevmo and Total Wine but they sold out months ago since it was a winter release. Boo. I did find 4 bottles of Saison Rue at Total Wine and cleaned out their inventory haha.

Foie Gras with Tamarin, Turnips, and Daikon. The flavors are very surprising and totally wakes you up thanks to the tamarin. I never had foie gras in a soup either so that was a very interesting experience. It's almost like.... eating uni. In fact, it tastes like uni!

Soft... smooth and melt-in-your-mouth foie gras.

Scallops with Leek and Potato Sauce then topped with Shaved Black Truffle. I heart truffle so I could not wait to dive into this dish. Truffle oil is a common ingredient nowadays with many restaurants serving up some sort of dish utilizing the oil, but if you've never had fresh truffle... it is totally different. The flavors are much more subtle and earthy, instead of the intense flavor from the oil.

The sauces were a nice complement to the shaved truffle. Not a huuuuge fan of raw scallop but it was fresh at least :P

John Dory with Squash, Fennel, Tonka Beans, and Lemon sauce. John Dory is a name for a type of fish, and not a pretty one :P However, when pan fried then topped with all sorts of sauces, it was pretty good. The lemon sauce to the side was definitely the best since lemon + seafood just go so well together.

I didn't care too much for the Monkfish Liver with Cumcumber, Cornichons, and Mustard Seeds. There's already too much "liver" by the time we got to this dish with foie and the mousse.

The few bites I did take was good though since the liver had a very buttery texture and when paired with the pickled cucumber, it was a nice contrast.

Pickled cucumber and the sweet mustard seeds.

Like last time, there's also a duck dish: Duck with Orange, Carrots, and Olive Spread. Duck with skin still on it = win. I did like the duck a lot more this time than LudoBites 007's.

Sweetness from the sauce goes very well with the salty olive spread. Loved the candied orange peel too!

Biggest entree of the night: Jidori Half Chicken with Parmesan, Celery Root Soubise, and Walnuts.

It is also my favorite "main dish" of the night. The chicken was super tender and moist. Michael was not a fan of the celery root "foam" but I liked it :P

Goat Cheese Profiteroles with Pistachio Spread and Crispy Leaves. The only dish that night that I didn't like. Profiteroles is essentially a cream puff but I didn't get too much from the goat cheese and the crispy leaves, most likely kale, weren't crispy enough so it was really oily. The pistachio spread though, was A+. Give me toast and I'll be happy with just the pistachio spread haha.

... totally forgot about that green sauce but that's not the pistachio spread :P Pistachio is underneath the profiterole, with that mustard green color.

Chef Ludo on the right working hard haha.

Of course, gotta go for the desserts! This time around, there's no weird and crazy combinations, just classics with a little twist. My favorite out of the two they offered was the Lemon Meringue & Poppyseed Crumble with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It is essentially a deconstructed lemon meringue pie with the poppyseed crumble acting as the pie crust. Strong lemon flavors with the light & fluffy meringue, the dessert is give a bit more fruity flavor with the EVOO. There's also some candied lemon peel!

Apple Tart Tartine with Salted Caramel and Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream. A very... nostalgic sorta dessert with a LudoBites version of apple pie and a flavor from many people's childhood, orange creamsicle. The salted caramel sorta brings you back with the nutty buttery sweetness. There's also these little seeds on the side, and we guessed it was fennel seeds? That was interesting, but we mostly left it alone :P

Apple tart tartine and the salted caramel. Apples were not too mushy and still had a bite.

Orange creamsicle ice cream. I want more.

All in all, we had a great time, sampling all the dishes. LudoBites is really more about the experience and eating a dish that you probably won't see ever again. In the end our bill was about $97 per person... so it is a little pricey. I was a bit sad that I didn't get to try the Uni Creme Brulee since it was the most popular dish served this time. However they couldn't source the uni from their supplier so they didn't offer it that night... sigh. Since the menu changes daily, with some staples, everybody's LudoBites experience can be different.

Maybe I'll do a walk-in...

FAWK

@#$(*!)@($*! I lost my S95 so... I lost all the pictures I took in Dallas.

Dammit I'm just not meant to have the S95 or something.

Back to the South!

Sorry for the lack of updates. I haven't gone or tried anything exciting lately, but I am currently in Charlotte, North Carolina for work, so hopefully I'll be able to find some gems out here in the Queen City!

One thing that I'll guarantee: I'll eat fried chicken AT LEAST once during this 3 day trip! Gotta do the South right!

Time for some Monday Night Football.

San Diego: Fooding Around Hillcrest

This past Labor Day weekend, I headed down to SD for the weekend with a few friends, and my priority was definitely eat eat eat. Now... I haven't been back to SD in over a year or two so there's a lot of places that are new to me, or I just never went. Somehow the two new spots that I checked out this time around were both in Hillcrest and both delicious.

Of course, for the SD peeps, these two spots might not be news to you but cut me some slack, I haven't been back in awhile :P

Bread & Cie

350 University Ave

San Diego, CA 92103

breadandcie.com

Bread & Cie for brunch!

Bread & Cie is a pretty cool bakery. You order your food at the front and while waiting in line, there's all these pastries tempting you.

Full menu.

Jadson's Croque Americaine, which is essentially a breakfast panini. Egg, crisp bacon, pepper jack cheese,tomato and watercress grilled on Lemon Pugliese Bread. Yea sounds crazy, especially that bread!

I think this was the grapefruit juice... don't remember.

Rosa's Ham & Swiss Gruyere Quiche. bread & Cie is also famous for the quiche. Very savory, and served cold. I sorta like quiches hot. Nevertheless, still really rich and the smoked ham is very prominent.

Vanilla cupcake. Not your traditional shape but they also add coconut shavings on the top. Nice touch.

Diana's Turkey Pesto Panini. Probably my favorite out of all the things I tried. Turkey, sliced tomato with a basil, garlic & pine nut pesto on sourdough. Pesto spread is on both sides so each bite is full of flavor!

Panini perfectly pressed.

Also came with a side of pickled cucumber. Reminds me of Chinese cucumbers since it has the red chili flakes haha.

My single shot latte. Did not know it was gonna be this big. Served with an almond cookie as well.

So being the fatass that I am, I decided to get the Boxed Lunch. Comes with a panini and a slice of lemon cake. Originally it is for people that wanted a to-go lunch so they can bring it on a picnic or wherever they go. I like the way they package it haha.

In a to-go wrapper since it is a "boxed lunch."

California Muffuletta Panini. Genoa salami, provolone cheese, roasted red peppers,red onion, tomato, fresh basil, and olive tapenade then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar. Wrapped and marinated OVERNIGHT on Italian Ciabatta Bread then pressed. I'm a huge fan of muffuletta so I had to get it. Did not disappoint.

Of course it's not the traditional New Orleans muffuletta but all muffuletta has to have some sort of olive spread and the olive tapenade here is punch full of flavor. Ciabatta as a panini is great cause it has that super crunch crust on the outside.

Came with some seasoned breadchips, which is just seasoned croutons.

The slice of lemon cake with my boxed lunch :D

Zesty! Jadson said it reminded him of the lemon cleaners and I can see where he got that from, but man it was tasty HAHA.

I like Bread & Cie a lot! Hillcrest is definitely a lot more hipster now and Bread & Cie fits in perfectly. It's a great casual spot to have breakfast or brunch on a weekend or just grab something quick to go on the weekday.

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The next day, we originally wanted to grab brunch at The Mission before we headed back to LA but it was too packed. Then we went to Baja Betty's, for their brunch buffet and unlimited mimosa, and after waiting for an hour, we couldn't stand it anymore and decided to go around the corner to Amarin Thai, which turned out to be one of the best Thai restaurants in SD!

Amarin Thai

3843 Richmond St

San Diego, CA 92103

amarinthaisandiego.com

Amarin Thai in Hillcrest.

Of course, had to start off with a Thai Iced Tea.

We ordered the Chicken Satay to start. Generally not a big fan of satay since chicken always gets so dry but it's quite moist here. The peanut sauce is pure money (forgot pic).

Tom Kah (large) was perfect for sharing. Lots of coconut milk in this one but still zesty from the lime juice. Great starter.

Lots of mushroom and chicken!

We each ordered a dish but ended up sharing among everybody. I got the Mambo Mambo Chicken which comes with stewed chicken with ripe mango in red curry sauce. I am a huge fan of red curry and with the ripened mango it is both savory & sweet. I got a level 7 for the spiciness and found it to be just right since the coconut milk did cut the heat a little.

Massaman Beef, beef in curry sauce with potato and onions. Seems like a mix of yellow and red curry. Great tender pieces of beef.

Spicy Noodles. So good. They use quite a bit more of soy sauce here so it has more of that aroma that just makes you salivate. Level 5 was perfect for this dish!

Garlic Salmon Fried Rice. I couldn't get enough of this! Awesome garlic flavor through the fried rice with a little bit of lime. We spent awhile wondering how they got so much garlic flavor throughout!

Choo-chi Duck, which is roast duck in choo-chi sauce. I don't know what the sauce is but I was pouring it over my rice like a maniac :P

We were extremely full satisfied afterwards but since everything tasted so good, we decided to get a dessert to share and went for the FBI, which is fried bananas egg roll with coconut ice cream. The coconut ice cream itself isn't sweet but they drizzle plenty of honey for sweetness, and as for the fried banana, it is super crispy thanks to the egg roll wrappers.

Apparently this spot gets super packed at night. They even have a few awards from Wine Spectator, most likely for pairing wine with Thai food. They do have quite a few bottles near the front. Definitely impressed. But really, Amarin Thai was probably the best Thai food I've had in a long long time, and that's counting LA and Thai-Town! Good way to end the weekend!

Oh and yea, had to throw in a picture of Phil's BBQ. How can you go to SD and not eat Phil's??? Too bad the lighting was so bad at the patio and my iPhone is horrible haha.

Oh and another random pictures... saw a double rainbow on the way home!!! Youtube video is currently replaying in my head hahaha.