(not to be confused with facebook, schmacebook.) i just spontaneously decided to make some rice. it may have something to do with our new rice cooker. so easy. so tasty. (who needs twitter when you can just update your own blog? i keep thinking i want to twitter…but just can’t commit yet.)

i was soooo excited to blog last night about our first of 99 restaurants: susan feniger’s street showcasing street food from around the world. then we got rearended on wilshire @ veteran so we got home dazed and sore and today we are still dazed and sore but determined to get on with our lives.

LCR accompanied us on this street food venture. he was a bit skeptical, but we suckered him into it anyway (we seem to be able to drag him along to lots of places). it may have something to do with the fact that he was distracted by his new blackberry (who wouldn’t be? distracted by a blackberry, that is, not necessarily LCR’s new blackberry). sorry, i digress. blackberry does that to me.

we started off with the kaya toast (singaporean; toast w/ coconut jam, soft boiled egg, and soy sauce) and even coconut-hatin LCR thought it was mighty tasty. it was probably my favorite dish.

at the same time, we feasted on the borscht with potato pampushki. the borscht was pretty good. not authentic in my opinion, but the pampushki was tasty and i’m not a big fan of potatoes (but am slowly becoming one, i think, as evidenced by m’s potato, sage, bacon, buttermilk, aged cheddar, chives dish).

next up: the vada dumplings. honestly, i can’t remember what the dumplings tasted like. a little doughnut-y but not sweet. good, but not memorable.

third wave: the moldavian meatballs. whoa! very tasty. this was my second favorite. full of flavor.

lastly, the entrees: tatsutage chicken (swimming in spicy mayo with a soggy crust, but soba noodles, seaweed, and tofu was good) and the spicy peanut noodles (won’t knock your sox off but will satisfy the peanut noodle craving).

tatsutage chicken

spicy peanut noodles

as for libation, LCR enjoyed his iced chrysanthemum mint tea and m enjoyed her chocolate/mint/rooibos hot tea concoction.

i am not the best person to report on the desserts as i wasn’t too keen on either the egyptian basbousa cake or the triple layer espresso/chocolate/halva. both too big and too sweet.

basbousa cake

espresso/chocolate/halva

i suppose this review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the starter. some places give you beer nuts – not here. we got these puffed, marshmallow-y things. like a rice crispy treat, but with ethnic spices (so probably nothing like a rice krispy treat).

bottom line: a fun environment, a couple of winners, we may get the bento box for the hollywood bowl. would like to try the mung bean pancakes and vietnamese corn and turkish doughnuts. SG, of course, would tear this place apart due to its lack of authenticity, but you can’t please everyone, i guess – least of all, picky, picky, and more picky SG.

eatatstreet.com | 742 N. Highland Ave. 90038 | 323.203.0500

as for the accident, s**t happens, i guess.

i’ve been talking about huckleberry a lot lately. the baguette…the brioche…it’s on JG’s 99 list. they focus on sustainable “farming” and local produce. growing your own herbs and produce in planters in your parking lot doesn’t get much more local.

tomatoes!

more tomatoes!

basil!

even more tomatoes!

(is that how you spell pudgy? pudgie? pudgee?) we have been eating phenomenal food and we haven’t even started on a single one of JG’s 99. last night, was photo session #2 with baby G and another opportunity for an ALMRAM.M.J culinary expedition. we brought the clam chowder and sungold tomato/persian cuke salad/sticky toffee pudding dessert and RAM presented the steamed artichokes w/ garlic butter, a crusty baguette from tavern and an arugula salad with roasted hazelnuts, nectarines, figs, plums and cheese.

tonight, we had KL + MC over for hamburgers (3 lbs for 4 people; 80/20; plus 1/2 lb of sauteed bacon and a splash of olive oil and chile pepper flakes) with a carmelized red onion/orange/raspberry/jalapeno spread and wilted watercress and avocado and FM tomatoes, grilled brioche bread from huckleberry, grilled shishito peppers (with a touch of sesame chili oil), maitake mushrooms (grilled in foil with butter and garlic), a fabulous salad with baby lettuces, sungold tomatoes, raspberries, and italian sweet peppers, and ciao bella sorbet (blood orange) and gelato (chocolate hazelnut). we didn’t even get to the salad… i ate my whole burger, half the shishito peppers, 1/3 of the mushrooms, 1/2 a cup each of gelato and sorbet and a cup of coffee. and earlier today, i had a BBQ pulled pork sandwich @ cafe zella, a salad, and a whole bunch of watermelon.

like i said, if i keep this up, i am going to get pudgy.

between moving into a new neighborhood, restaurant.com having a massive sale on gift certificates for $1 (that are worth $25), and jonathan gold’s 99 essential LA restaurants (we are planning on going to all 99 in 365 days)…we may never eat at home again (which is too bad, since we also just finished pimping our ride – i mean our kitchen).

more food! don’t feel like cooking in our tiny kitchen. interested in going out to all the places on the westside that i’ve always wanted to try. i really liked the noodles. hard. salty. better than ramen-ya. i had the shio ramen and m had the tanmen ramen w/ pork. her broth was waaaay good: rich, opaque, full-bodied. my broth was also good, but lacked the depth that hers had. my chashu was better, though. don’t forget that it’s closed on thursday. every time we’ve tried to go here, it’s either packed w/ 8 people standing outside or it’s thursday.

i’m still in love with tonkatsu ramen and shin sen gumi and daikokuya rock my ramen world. but it’s nice to know that i can get my ramen fix without crossing the 405. not crossing the 405 – that’s really what it means to be a westsider.

http://www.asahiramen.com | 2027 sawtelle 90025 | 310.479.2231

last night LCR + m + i went out to eat at soi56 soi56. i have been wanting to go ever since i saw it during one of my farmers market trips. how could you *not* want to go to a place described as “serving thai street food”? when i first went to their web site, there was nothing but a home page. both the restaurant and the web site are much more developed now. but let’s get to the food. it probably wasn’t totally authentic or as unhygenic as street food should be, but i really enjoyed everything i ate…and that’s rare. it certainly wasn’t hot enough, even for a wimp like me. our server, rungsan (“oat” is his nickname), told us to ask for him next time we come in and he’ll make it “thai spicy”. awesome. there was also a cover band playing timeless love songs and stuff from the 90s. the asian guy had duran duran hair. m couldn’t even look at him. i kinda liked it. but let’s get to the food.

the fresh lemonade/nam manow was awesome. not too sweet. a bit sour. i finagled my way into getting it for free by asking if it qualified for the free in-house drink with valet parking ticket. LCR enjoyed it, too.

for the most part, m + LCR let me order. if okra is on the menu, i usually order it, but not this time. i’ll order it next time. the menu includes “tradition tao yang charcoal grill”, “small plates / thai street vendor specialty”, “spicy thai salads”, “wok noodle and noodle soup”, “curries”, “house specials”, and “thai sweets”.

we ordered:
chicken liver (trad tao yang charcoal grill)
issan sausage ( ” )
scallop wrapped in bacon ( ” )
japanese shishito peppers ( ” )
thai beef jerky/kao niaw neua (small plates)
crying tiger beef/suah loang hai (small plates)
grilled calamari/pla muk yang (small plates)
crispy frog leg/gop tort (small plates)
spicy raw papaya w/ blue crab/som tam pu dong (spicy thai salad)
curry noodles/kao soi

when we go back, m will order the beef jerky and curry noodles and issan sausage and i will order the crispy frog legs. i will also order the okra wrapped in bacon, the lamb chops (special from tao yang grill), fish cakes/tort man pla, fish sauce wings/beek gai tort, maybe the tom khaa gai, poorman noodles/tung dtak. the ginger and wood ear mushrooms, five spiced bbq pork, pepper tiger prawns, roasted game hen, muslim style curry, and grilled whole fish sound delightful. i know LCR likes prik king (green beans) and we’ve also had larb before at sanamluang. both of these are on the menu. looks like i’ll be making multiple return trips.

soi56.com | 1556 n cahuenga blvd 90028 | 323.962.5656