Kalbi Burger

To my lucky readers, we have another guest blogger!  Care Bear has so willingly offered her authorship for today’s post about the very popular Kalbi Burger. ****************************************************************************** Well hello everyone!  Let me introduce myself, I’m sometimes referred to as Care Bear but don’t let the name fool you, I could still be a lethal assassin like…

Farm Cafe

If you haven’t noticed by now, I am a proud carnivore.  How can one live without meat?  The juicey tenderness of a perfectly roasted chicken?  The marbled succulence of a cut of rib eye steak?  The hearty homey taste of your mom’s pork stew?  I won’t even delve into seafood.  It’s safe to say, I…

Angelini Osteria

Ever since Osteria Mozza, Italian food has made its way back into my life.  It’s not that I disliked Italian, it’s just that I never had GOOD Italian food.  It all tasted the same.  It was all a lot of carbs and tomato sauce.  Dumpling Man, having many preferences above Italian, was also a contributing…

Break of Dawn

In an attempt to be more adventurous in the OC, my family and I tried a Vietnamese fusion restaurant in Laguna Hills for brunch.  All of those descriptors are totally atypical for the H.o.P.  We don’t eat “Vietnamese fusion.”  We certainly don’t do brunch.  And who the heck eats in Laguna Hills? The chef/owner of…

Magnolia Bakery

Why oh why is there such a cupcake craze?  Why not cookies (my personal favorite)?  Why not brownies?  Why not donuts?  I guess I’m not much of a cake person surprisingly.  I prefer a good pie or tart.  In any case, when it comes to cupcakes, I am a follower and I agree that Sprinkles…

Test Kitchen: Young Team

This food blog has become both a blessing and a curse.  It is a blessing because I am reconnecting with old friends and also making new friends.  People are just coming out of the wood work wanting to eat and try new places with me.  It is a curse because dining at this level is burning a…

Musha

I often don’t get too many opportunities to try small portioned foods such as izakaya, yakitori, or tapas (somehow dim sum does not fall under this category) because Dumpling Man likes his food in large sizable quantities.  My sister on the other hand, Triple F (for Food, Fun, and Frivolity),  not to be confused with my sister-in-law,…

Melisse

I have a special treat for all my dedicated readers!  Today’s entry has been written by my foodie friend, WonTuan.   Unlike my guest writer, I’ll keep it BRIEF, and let him explain the why’s, who’s, and what’s. **************************************************************************** So I guess I should start off by declaring that I’m the first guest writer for this blog—the rightful…

Andina

So Andina has to be one of the most popular restaurants in Portland.   It serves modern Peruvian cuisine.  It was just a regular weekday and the place was paaaaaaacked.  There seems to be 2 parts to the restaurant.  A quieter sit down part, where all the old stuffy people were hanging out, and then a…

Jitlada

Boy was I looking forward to trying Jitlada. Care Bear really hyped it up for me. Alas, as we all know, hype goes hand in hand with disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, most of the food was good. I just don’t know why people think it is soooooo good. I mean, it was on FoodTV’s…

Taste of Beverly Hills 2010 (a.k.a. Disneyland for Adults)

It was my luck day when Cathy of Gastronomyblog let me know that I was the (randomly selected) lucky winner of her 2 tickets to Taste of Beverly Hills, a weekend long celebration of great wine and fantastic food from local restaurants in the Beverly Hills/Los Angeles Area, hosted by Food & Wine magazine.  I’m sure you could…

Church & State

Church & State had been on my “to try” list for some time, but after the change in chef’s I heard the food was not as mind blowingly good.  In addition to that, RCM and Triple T went there and said it was just OK.  So Church & State got bumped down on the list. My…