At last, I finally tried Peking Duck for the first time at Lu Din Gee and what a tasty experience it was. Our group opted to do the Peking Duck in three ways. First, it came out on a plate with the tender duck in the middle and the crispy skin surrounding it. Along with that duck came wrappers, plum sauce, scallions & cucumber. You can either eat the duck on its own or make your own duck “burrito.” I did a little of both. I honestly could have the skin was crunchy and had just the right amount of saltiness to it. It was the perfect dish.

Unfortunately, the next two duck dishes were disappointing. The second way was duck that was supposed to be stir-fried with bean sprouts. That duck must have been invisible because I certainly didn’t see any mixed with the bean sprouts and even without the duck, the whole dish was just uninteresting.

The third way was Duck Bone Soup with tofu. They really must have cooked those bones to the bitter end because the soup was quite milky. As for the flavor of the soup, I found it bland. I did like the tofu in the soup though. It had a spongier texture to it that I’ve never experienced before, so I found it quite interesting. In the future, I would just opt for just the Peking Duck, meat and skin, and not even bother with the sprouts or the soup.

Our dining journey at Lu Din Gee did not end with the duck. We actually ordered 8 other dishes. One of the standouts was the Cumin Beef. That is a must order. The beef was really tender. I read in a Jonathan Gold review that there’s actually a technique that Lu Din Gee uses called “velveting” that will tenderize the toughest of meats.

In short, it is a technique wherein the meat is marinated in a mixture that includes corn or potato starch and sometimes egg white. Then, it is “oil-blanched” in a vat of deep-frying oil for a very short time until it is partially cooked. Then, the oil is discarded or strained and saved, and the meat is stir fried until it is finished cooking, along with all of the other ingredients of the dish. Sounds like a lot of work for the restaurant, but the results are worth it.

Also, the combo of the cumin, soy sauce and the chili used to cook this dish really gave this dish a lot of flavor and a spicy kick to your taste buds! What more can you ask for?

Along with the duck that had to be pre-ordered, the Buddha Chicken had to be pre-ordered as well. The sight of that dish when it hit our table caused us all to say “Wow!” What we all saw was a whole chicken with the head attached sitting on this large platter. We weren’t quite sure what to expect when we cut into it, but what we soon found out was that the whole chicken skin was stuffed with chicken, water chestnuts as well as various seafood. Scoop some of that on your white rice, eat and sigh with bliss. I’m craving some of that Buddha Chicken right now.

Following the Buddha Chicken came the Lotus Nuggets which was basically pan-fried slices of lotus root – another first for me. I really enjoyed the crunchy texture. We also had a crab cooked in sake and black pepper and wouldn’t you know it, the restaurant cracked everything for us from the top of the crab to the crab legs. That definitely made for easy eating.

The dish to arrive last was the stir-fried vegetables with bamboo. It seemed odd to get the veggie dish last, but that’s how it happened. Yet another first, because this is the first time I ever had bamboo fungus and it was very similar to the spongy tofu in the Duck Bones Soup. Just like the tofu, I really enjoyed the bamboo fungus.

Overall, I really enjoyed my meal at Lu Din Gee and would definitely go back without even thinking about it. The service was so-so, but the food more than made up for it. Plus where else can you get napkins the size of an aspirin that enlarge when you put it in a cup of tea? Once moistened, you than take said napkin to clean off your hands. Like a kid, I found the whole notion of tea expanding napkins quite fascinating. Sometimes we’re charmed by the silliest of things, don’t you think?

A few months back, I set up a tasting of the ultimate comfort food, grilled cheese sandwiches at Meltdown etc in Culver City, a part of town that’s starting to be quite a foodie mecca. Our ooey-gooey-cheese fest started with the perfect accompaniment, a tart tomato soup, which definitely paired well with the first three sandwiches we partook in.

We started off with their Classic Three Cheese sandwich, which consisted of sharp cheddar, Meunster, Fontina, Roma tomato on sourdough bread. For this particular sandwich, there are different variations to its ingredients. The three cheeses stay the same, but you have the option to add separately or together, a roma tomato and/or applewood bacon. For our tasting, I opted to include the tomato, simply because I like how it added a fresh, juicy acidity to every bite of the sandwich.

Up next was their Cheddar, Ham and Apple sandwich that was made up of sharp cheddar, smoked ham and apple butter on sourdough bread. In truth, the apple butter seemed a strange bed partner to the other two ingredients, but I was willing to give it a whirl. Surprisingly, it was a total hit with me. Usually, I don’t like ham because I find it too salty for my taste, but the sweetness of the apple butter actually counter-balanced that saltiness so much so, that I could have happily eaten a whole sandwich without complaint.

Just around the corner came the Turkey Melt with brie, oven-roasted turkey, arugula, cranberry-horseradish mustard on walnut bread. Of the three savory sandwiches we sampled, this was my least favorite. Usually, I’ll pick turkey over ham any time of the week, but not in this case. What I found lacking or should I say missing was the cheese. There just wasn’t enough of it. The turkey portions were generous, but with the word “melt” being part of the sandwich name, cheese is an important part of equation and unfortunately, it was MIA.

Also, while I loved the addition of the arugula which added a nice peppery kick, I was a little disappointed in the cranberry-horseradish mustard, which I expected to add more oomph to the sandwich and it didn’t.

With three of Meltdown’s savory grilled cheese offerings under our belt, it was now time to experience two of their “Sweet Melts”. First up was their Goat Cheese, Fig and Honey sandwich on walnut bread. What’s interesting about this sandwich is that if you are someone who doesn’t like goat cheese because of its pungency, you may actually be able to eat this sandwich and even like it. The sweetness of the fig preserves and the honey cuts into the piquancy of the cheese, which may make it more palatable to goat cheese naysayers.

Last, but not least, came the Brie and Apricot sandwich, also on walnut bread. I’ve actually had this sandwich before and at first, I couldn’t quite equate melted brie mixed with apricot preserves as being a good combination. My first bite; however, made me a convert. The mildness of the cheese was a perfect foundation for the tart-sweetness of the apricots.

Overall, this was a fun little tasting and I think we were able to get a good sampling of Meltdown etc grilled cheese sandwiches. For those of you who weren’t able to join us, I guess you’ll just have to live vicariously through my photos below. :-D

It’s amazing to me how sometimes the restaurants closest to you are the ones you take the longest to try. In the past few months, I’ve driven into Gardena, Hollywood, Downtown, Silver Lake, etc., etc. to check out new restaurants but having lived just 15 minutes away from Pasadena for the past 20+ years, it was only a few weeks ago that I finally had dinner at Maison Akira, a Japanese-French fusion restaurant.

What the heck was I waiting for all this time? So far I’ve been to over 100 new (new for me) restaurants just this year and I can tell you right now that Maison Akira is definitely one of my favorites.

The restaurant itself was quite a study in contrast. The front dining room was more simple in its look and design while the back dining rooms had rich colors and beautifully patterened drapes separating a couple of the rooms from each other.

Upon looking at the menu, the majority of my dining group opted for the pre-fixed menu, a five course meal for $50. What a great price and believe me, you got your money’s worth.

While I enjoyed every single bite from the amuse bouche all the way to dessert, the two highlights of my meal were actually Chef Akira Hirose’s signature dishes.

First there was the Grilled Miso Marinated Chilean Sea Bass in a Honey Lemon Jus on Roasted Provencal Vegetables. Wow! Can I say that again? Wow! That Chilean sea bass was the best I’ve ever had. The fish was delicate, moist and practically melted in my mouth. I can tell you right now that every Chilean Sea Bass I have in the future will definitely be compared to the one I had that night.

Then there was my dessert, which was called the Timbal Elysee “Laserre”. The presentation was so beautiful that I almost didn’t want to eat it. Almost. This dessert had pure vanilla bean ice cream in a cookie tuile with fresh berries, a caramel dome and was served with a raspberry and vanilla sauce.

According to our waitress, the best way to eat this dessert is to take your spoon and press down so that it breaks and that way, you’ll be able to eat some of the components at the same time.

This signature dessert had lots of textures. Between the “crunch” aspect of the cookie, the creaminess of the ice cream, the juicy berries and everything else, this is definitely one of the best desserts that I’ve ever had.

Overall, I had a really lovely experience at Maison Akira. The service was excellent. Our waitress was knowledgeable and of course, the food was delectable. I definitely am looking forward to a return visit sometime soon.

I have to say that of all the Dim Sum restaurants I’ve been to in the past, not including the two I mentioned above, this is the first time I have ever experienced Dim Sum Nirvana.

Now I can’t say that I was in love with each and everyone of the 17 different items our group ordered, but except for 2 noodle dishes which I found to be too greasy, a cold cut platter which I wouldn’t normally order on my own anyway and prawn skewers that I found to be bland, everything else was absolutely delicious.

Of the remaining 13 dishes, 5 really stood out for me. First, there was the baked BBQ buns. Usually, I don’t go out of my way to order baked BBQ buns unless it’s a group consensus. You can generally get those buns at most Chinese bakeries so I don’t consider them a big deal. What I don’t tend to like about BBQ buns is that the bread portion of the meat bun can be a little heavy at times and generally, you get more bread than actual filling.

However, the Sea Harbor version’s meat bun had a bread that was surprisingly light and there was something almost more delicate about these BBQ buns than I’ve seen elsewhere. Also, when you take a bite, you immediately get a bite of the delicious meat filling unlike other BBQ buns I’ve had in the past where I had to take a couple bites of bread before even getting close to the center of the bun where all the action really is.

The second dish was something I’ve never had before and it was eggplant stuffed with shrimp paste. This was actually my favorite dish of the morning. Since I love eggplant, this dish already sold itself before I even tasted it, but when I took my first bite, it was heavenly. The creamy texture of the cooked eggplant and the shrimp paste which had a slight pungency to it was just a great combo. I could have easily polished off a couple of plates on my own without any thought to sharing them with anyone else at the table.

Along with the BBQ meat buns and eggplant dish above, I also really enjoyed the sticky rice wrapped with lotus leaf. Between the sweetness of the rice and the slight saltiness of the pork in the rice, I got the the perfect world of sweet and savory in every bite.

The last two items on my highlighted list are two desserts. The first is the Chilled Coconut and Taro Pudding. What I liked about this item was that it was really cool and refreshing and that it was delicately sweet. I really think it’s a great summer dessert for those days when it gets so hot that this little dessert may actually be a sweet way to cool you down (at least for a little while).

The last dessert was the Glutinous Rice Ball with Bitter Melon. As soon as I saw that dessert, I just knew I had to try it. Having had bitter melon before and knowing that it indeed can get bitter, I was interested to see how it would turn out as a dessert. I’m assuming that the bitter melon was incorporated in the rice ball itself since the filling of this rice ball was a sweet sesame paste. What was interesting was that I could taste the bitter melon but I didn’t taste any of its bitterness. Instead, there was kind of nutty flavor to the rice ball that was interesting, but very appealing. All I know is that when I return to Sea Harbour, I’m definitely going to order this bitter melon dessert again.

Overall, I absolutely loved Seafood Harbour and it definitely is tops on my list. I can see why it’s a Dim Sum restaurant popular with so many other people as well. I’m just glad to see that in this case, I actually visited a restaurant that lived up to the hype.

Recently, I finally made my way to Los Balcones del Peru and ever since then, I’ve been kicking myself for having taken this long to have made the trip there. Upon entering Los Balcones, you might be surprised at what it looks like inside. Compared to both Don Felix and Mario’s, which definitely have a more relaxed restaurant décor, Los Balcones did make an effort to rise above the regular “hole in the wall” restaurant look.

There was a red tiled flooring, walls painted with a textured light brown paint and hung on those walls were various pictures of Peru and even art pieces representing the ornate balconies on the buildings surrounding the Plaza de Armas in downtown Lima. Nothing was overtly fancy; yet, you can tell that some care was given to the design of the restaurant interior.

Now on to the food. First off, we were served with warm crusty bread that came along with the green Peruvian spicy sauce. That green spicy sauce is always the highlight of any Peruvian meal that I have. For that particular meal, I would tear off pieces of bread and spread the sauce on top. It was a great way to jumpstart my taste buds.

For our appetizers, we shared three and they were as follows:

1) Camarones a la Piedra – shrimp cooked in aji amarillo, Peruvian spices, yuca and julienned red onion.

**I thought that the sauce that came with this dish was really good. It was mild, but I could taste a hint of the lime juice. I liked the combo of the yuca and crunchy corn kernels. Between the shrimp and those two items, the different textures made for enjoyable eating.

2) Conchitas a la Parmesana – broiled scallops topped with grated Parmesan cheese, olive oil and butter.

**They certainly didn’t skimp on the Parmesan cheese and being a cheese lover, I was very happy. The one thing that I was concerned with is that with all the cheese, the scallop would be too salty, but it wasn’t. Perhaps the topping of butter and olive oil cut that down

3) Choritos a la Chalaca – fresh boiled mussels served open faced in its shell, topped with their house salad made of finely chopped onions, tomatoes, cilantro and Peruvian kernels.

**The mussels were good, but what I really fell in love with was the house salsa. It was just so fresh and the lime dressing that the salsa was mixed in was awesome. I could completely see myself snacking on this salsa with chips. Yum!

As for my entrée, I had the Pescado a la Chorrillan, which was a fillet of fried fish topped with a sauce of onions and tomatoes, bell peppers and green onions and served with steamed rice. The sauce in this dish reminded me of the sauce used in the camarones a la piedra, but it tasted more lemony and also just a tad sweeter, although I’m not quite sure where that little hint of sweetness comes from. Overall, this was a good entree and one I’d order again.

For dessert, a few of us order the Peruvian cookies or Alfajores. My, my, the filling for this cookie was either dulce de leche or some other kind of caramel and wow, this cookie was absolutely decadent. The dulce de leche was practically oozing out every time you took a bite, but the really nice thing about this cookie is that it wasn’t overly sweet, even with the amount of caramel filling that came with this cookie.

Finally, our meal ended and there were very many happy diners. Although the service was sometimes a bit spotty, the food was excellent and I would definitely come back and recommend this restaurant to other people as well. If you get a chance, be sure to check Los Balcones del Peru as well. I’m pretty sure that you won’t be disappointed.

On a warm July afternoon, I had set up a unique tasting at Saffron Spot, an Indian ice cream shop in Artesia. For those of you who don’t know anything about Saffron Spot, first, here’s some background.

In April 2001, Mumbai native Smita Salgaonkar started Neemo’s Exotic Ice Creams in her adopted home, northern Orange County, naming her operation for an amalgam of her daughters’ names. With the success of Neemo’s behind her, she also opened Saffron Spot, in Little India. She named her shop Saffron Spot in honor of the valuable spice that seasons several of her flavors.

Some of the flavors you’ll see at Saffron Spot are unlike anything you’ll ever see at your local Baskins Robbins or Cold Stone Creamery. Sure, you’ll see ice creams like mango and lychee, but chikoo and kulfi are words that may not be in your vocabulary. Chikoo or Sapodilla, by the way, is a fruit similar to a well-ripened pear and Kulfi is made with boiled milk and amazingly enough, no eggs. Kulfi can be flavored with pistachio, cardammon, saffron and other ingredient ingredients.

Other items on the Saffron Spot menu include golas (Indian version of shaved ice), falooda ice cream drinks (flavored milk mixed with rice or wheat noodles, basil seeds and topped with ice cream) as well falooda “sundaes” (ice cream topped with the noodles, basil seeds and syrup) and so much more.

The event started with Owner, Smita Salgaonkar, talking about some of the things I mentioned above. She also talked about how with the heat in India reaching record temperatures, everything we sampled as a part of our tasting would be considered street food because at every corner, you’ll see carts selling a variety of these frozen treats to help cool down the populace. Another cultural aspect of the ice cream she mentioned is that it’s a very popular dessert at Indian weddings.

For our tasting, we sampled:

- 4 different types of Indian ice cream – Saffron Silk, Kulfi, Mango and Banana Cardamon

**All the ice creams had a rich, creamy consistency. I found the Banana Cardamon a little too sweet for my taste, but I really enjoyed the fruitiness of the Mango.

- Rose Falooda Ice Cream Drink – rose milk with noodles and takmaria (basil seeds) topped with rose ice cream

**This ice cream drink reminded of me Halo Halo (a Filipino shaved ice dessert), without the ice. In Halo-Halo, you have things like sweetened fruits and beans and when the condensed milk is poured into it, you’re both drinking and eating your dessert. That’s what I did with this Falooda drink, at times sipping and other times slurping the noodles and chewing on the basil seeds.
I think there were a couple of people who were put off by the work into consuming this ice cream drink, but I personally enjoyed it. It was a very refreshing drink, more so than the ice cream on its own.
- Malai Gola (Shaved ice served with Malai(cream), rose syrup and nuts)

**The Gola is something you can get without the Malai cream, but we got the version with the cream. It’s funny how many desserts are so similar to each other across different cultures. The Malai Gola also reminded me of Halo-Halo because of the shaved ice and cream aspect, but without any of the additional ingredients other than the nuts that topped the ice. Of everything we sampled, this was my favorite treat. It was just sweet enough without being too rich.

- 4 different types of Kulfi (a popular dessert made with boiled milk): mango, pistachio, malai cream and malai cream with peanuts

**By the time we got to the Kulfi, I was actually pretty full, which surprised me, because it wasn’t if we ate large helpings of anything, but I think it did have to do with the richness of the ice creams. The Kulfi was very dense. When ordering the Kulfi, you normally would get a slice as opposed to a scoop. Of all the flavors, I’d have to go with the mango again, just like the mango ice cream earlier that I found so appealing. Even though mango kulfi was hardened, when I ate a piece and it melted in my mouth a bit, I could taste the mango juice and it was delicious.

Overall, this event really gave me even more of an appreciation of Indian ice creams and I really wish that there was a Saffron Spot closer to me, but have car, will travel. Considering all the tasty dining options in Little India, it’s not that much of a hardship to go there for a meal, followed by something cold and sweet at Saffron Spot.

This summer has been scorching, which is why, I was more than happy to be at Bulgarini Gelato last August to experience delicious gelatos and sorbets at a tasting I set up with the shop. The tasting started off with owner, Leo Bulgarini, giving us some history about how Bulgarini Gelato came to be. What many may or may not know is that he and his wife, Elizabeth spent two years back and forth in Italy trying to someone who could teach them the art of making gelato from scratch. This was actually quite a difficult task since the majority of the gelaterias are industrial. Finally, they met a third-generation retired gelato maker and spent two months with him learning the craft.

Afterwards, they came back to the US and started small with Leo selling his gelato from carts at a local movie theater in Pasadena as well as at the courtyard of the Pacific Asian Museum. Eventually, they were able to open a small courtyard shop in hilly Altadena, which is where we all were that day.

After the talk, we were shown this amazing gelato maker that sits in the corner of the shop. It’s over 50 years old and built to last. In fact, that old-timer actually made one of the sorbets that were part of our tasting. As we crowded around that machine, Leo let us peek in as it was mixing and then we watched as he scooped some out with a large white paddle into a container. Then he showed us a large plastic container of fresh kiwi juice that he poured back into the maker to make another batch. Leo mentioned earlier about only using only fresh ingredients in his recipes. You can’t get any fresher than fresh kiwi juice. You could even see the seeds in the liquid.

Finally, we sat outside in the shade to start our tasting. The first one up was the pistachio gelato. Before we dug in, Leo told us that the pistachios are directly from Italy and while he could have gone the less expensive route and used California pistachios, he felt that the Italian pistachios were better quality. He even mentioned that to save costs that there were some gelaterias in Italy that would actually use California pistachios as opposed to locally grown nuts. Now that’s what I call nutty.

If you love pistachios than the pistachio gelato is a dream come true. The nuts are actually ground before being mixed into the recipe and with every lick; you get a taste of nutty goodness. After consuming this first gelato, Leo actually had us taste the pistachio paste and while giving out a sample, he told us that when the pistachio quality is where it should be, the paste should have the consistency of peanut butter and it certainly did that.

Next was the Kiwi Sorbet, which had a smooth and creamy texture and knowing that it was just made that day was actually cool. As for the flavor, I really liked its hint of tartness. By the way, the difference between a gelato and sorbet is that gelato tends to contain egg yolks and contains less air, which makes it less dense than regular ice creams. Sorbets contain no dairy and are like a creamy ice because it’s churned until it’s smooth.

Soon after came the Crema de Caffe Gelato. I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but I could see myself starting off the day with a scoop of this as opposed to the liquid version. After the coffee gelato, we were hit with a gelato and sorbet whammy, all in one cup. On the top was a Chocolate-Orange Gelato and it topped a Golden Plum Sorbet. Let me tell you that plum sorbet was so tart; it felt like I was eating a lemon. I actually thought that it was too tart even for me who tends to like that flavor profile, but when eaten with that chocolate-orange gelato, it was a pretty good pairing. The combined tart-sweet-citrus flavors that came as a result of this duo were actually fun to eat.

There were two more to go and the next on the rotation was the mango sorbet. It was sweet, fruity and it really did taste like a fresh mango. It was definitely quite refreshing. Last, but not least, was the Zabaglione Gelato, which was made up of custard cream and Marsala wine. This was the first time I’ve ever had gelato or any kind of ice cream where wine was one of the i