Archive for Orange County

Eating Orange – Tram Chim

Jan02

Restaurant: Tram Chim Fresh Seafood

Location: 9455 Bolsa Ave, Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 717-6885

Date: June 22, 2022

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Swimming in tanks!

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No parental visit would be complete without a trip down to the OC for some awesome Vietnamese.
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Tram Chim has a typical looking frontage.

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Big “pseudo fancy” room.
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Creatures in the tanks.

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They sell all sorts of stuff too.
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Phonebook sized menu. Check!
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Sauces. It should be noted that the room “reeked” of shrimp paste. Very funky smell.
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Vietnamese snails with garlic and butter. Pretty tasty, if chewy.
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Large grilled scallops with flying fish eggs. Solid.
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Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawns with Tamarind Sauce. Goopy and sweet, but a decent balance of acidity, so a pretty tasty sauce. Possibly the prawns were a tiny bit over cooked.
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Free exotic fruit.
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Tram Chim was way too hardcore for some of our party. The fermented shrimp paste factor alone — not to mention the whole in-shell creatures — was too much. The food was tasty though as I’m a fermented fan. So I’d rate it as “authentic good.”

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Orange Afternoon — Garlic & Chives
  2. Orange Afternoon — Tai Buu
  3. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
  4. Eating Hanoi – Club Opera
  5. Orange is the New Black
By: agavin
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Paradise Dynasty Costa Mesa

Sep30

Restaurant: Paradise Dynasty

Location: 3333 Bristol Street, BLM, 1 Bloomingdale’s, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. (714) 617-4630

Date: February 17, 2022

Cuisine: Chinese XLB

Rating: Way better than DTF

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I went twice to branches of Paradise Dynasty in Shanghai and really enjoyed it. This chain is like a much more interesting Din Tai Fung. Frankly, I don’t exactly get why DTF is so popular except perhaps that it’s a “gateway drug” to more modern Chinese food and is just “easy” for Americans.

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Somewhat annoyingly Paradise Dynasty’s first US branch is in Costa Mesa. Well it could be worse, at least it’s in driving distance but I don’t go down there that often. In fact, it’s in the South Coast Plaza mall. I hate malls.
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Build out is nice but it’s spoiled by that whole mall atmosphere.
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The menu is epic with quite a bit of variety.

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Spinach and Vermicelli tossed with Vinaigrette. A “salad” of sorts. Pleasant.
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Specialty Dynasty Xiao Long Bao. These are why one comes to PD: the 8 flavored XLB.

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Here is the “key” to the flavors.

White is “signature” (classic pork). Delicate and excellent. The skins on all of these are very thin and lovely.

Red is Szechuan Hot Pot and it actually tastes like hot pot broth!

Grey is Garlic pork, and it’s pretty garlicky.

Yellow is Cheese. Interesting.

Green is Luffa Gourd with Chinese Wine (and pork of course). Mellow.

Orange is Crab Roe (and pork). Lovely briney flavor.

Tan is Foie Gras (and pork). Tastes like foie.

Black is Black Truffle (and pork). Probably my least favorite actually, but not truffle oil.
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Ginger for the XLB. One adds soy sauce and vinegar to the dish for dipping.
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Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp. Top notch.
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Radish Pastry. Lovely flakey (probably from lard) texture.
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Prawn and Kurobuta Pork Wonton in Chili Vinaigrette. Classic, light, and delicious.
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Noodle with Prawn and Kurobuta Pork Wonton in Signature Pork Bone Soup.
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A single portion. The broth was basically like Chinese Tonkotsu.
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Stir-fried Shredded Pork in Black Bean Sauce served with Chinese Crepe.
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This is the “Crepe” (Spring Pancake). This was an excellent version of this very salty/savory dish.
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Ma Po Tofu with Pork. First rate version actually. Not super numbing, but very good.
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Scrambled Egg White with Fish and Dried Scallop.
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Breaking the egg. I really liked the soft texture and mild but very savory flavor of this dish.
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Stir-fried French Bean with Minced Pork and Preserved Olive Vegetable. Nice version of this classic too.
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Kung Pao Chicken.

Overall, Paradise Dynasty is very good. I wouldn’t really consider it a dinner restaurant where one would go to get hearty wok classics. Yeah, they have a few, but that’s not their strong point. However, the flavored XLB are unique and absolutely first rate and the noodles and other dimsum like dishes are really good. Only downside is having to walk in a mall. Blech. I haven’t walked inside a mall in years (probably over a decade) to actually shop.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Shanghai – Paradise Dynasty
  2. Revenge of the Han Dynasty
  3. Return of the Han Dynasty
  4. January in Paradise Cove
  5. J&J – Crab XLB
By: agavin
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Favori Dinner

Dec09

Restaurant: Favori [1, 2]

Location: 3502 W 1st St, Santa Ana, CA 92703. (714) 531-6838

Date: June 1 & July 9, 2021

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great old school place

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We enjoyed Favori so much on a recent crawl that we decided to book a wine dinner here.
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Favori has been a staple down here in Garden Grove/Santa Ana since the early 80s.
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The menu.

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Our big table.

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Fish sauce.
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And super fermented fish sauce.
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Chilies.

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Goi Cuon. Vietnamese fried spring rolls.
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These are served with herbs
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You wrap them up like this with the herbs and fish sauce — delicious.
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Escargots. Snails in white wine and garlic butter sauce. These are the classic French style and were quite nice. They could have had even more garlic, but they certainly had plenty.
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These are served with some garlic bread.

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Goi Bo Tai Chanh. Rare Beef Salad. Fabulous version of this dish. Very herby with lots of beef flavor.
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Beef rolls wrapped in Betel Leaves. These had a very interesting but strong flavor. I loved them, but they weren’t for everyone.
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Ngheu Xao Hung Que. Stir-fried clams + basil leaves. Awesome Thai basil flavor.
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Luon Xao Lan. Stir-fried Eel with Curry Sauce. Great curry with rice noodles that soaked up the sauce. Flavorful eel as well, but beware the little bones.
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Ech Xao Xa Ot. Stir-fried frog legs + lemongrass & chilies. Incredible chili garlic flavor from this dish. Really spectacular.
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Cua Lot Chien Bo. Deep fried soft shelled crab.
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Roasted Quails. Interesting prep. Not as good as at Oc & Lau.
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Fruits de mer au Gratin. Seafood Baked in Cream Sauce. Ugly but tasted great, although the goopy texture was reminiscent of cream of mushroom soup.
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Canard a l’orange. Duck in Grand Mariner Orange Sauce. Like it was pulled through time from 1981! This was the worst dish by far.
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Ca ri nam bo. Beef tendon curry. great curry with beef/tendon chunks and potatoes.

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Crispy whole catfish! A touch dry, but delicious. Served with rice crepes, herbs, vermicelli, fish sauce etc.
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Herbs for the catfish.
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Vermicelli for the catfish.
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Rice crepes for the catfish.

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Bun Cha Ha Noi. Charbroiled Pork with Vermicelli. Delicious pork. Great with fish sauce.
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Orange Old Fashioned Sorbetto — Cold Pressed Orange and Tangerine Juice, Knob Creek Bourbon and Angostura Bitters! Topped with cherries — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Really tastes like an Old Fashioned –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #orange #tangerine #bourbon #KnobCreek #bitters #Angostura

Almond Amaretto Truffle Gelato — Amaretto Zabaglione (egg yolk, amaretto, and sugar custard) Sicilian Almond gelato base with stacked layers of house-made Valrhona Almond Amaretti Ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #almond #amaretto #amaretti #cookie #ganache #ChocolateTruffle

Overall, Favori is a great place with a great kitchen and very solid service. They really treated us right. Sure the atmosphere is that dark 80s “old school” charm, but the food is very good. Every Vietnamese dish was fabulous. The weakest stuff is the French style dishes. The escargots were fine but the Duck L’Orange was “interesting” at best and the Fruits de Mer were goopy (even if I liked them). Oh but that lemongrass chili sauce — so good! I over-ordered of course — always do :-).

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Related posts:

  1. Dinner at the Borgese’s
  2. Thai Tour – Pailin Thai
  3. Szechuan Impression Tustin
  4. Not Boaring at Sáu Can Tho
  5. Shanghailander Arcadia
By: agavin
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Cache of La Tâche

Oct27

Restaurant: Montage Loft

Location: 30801 Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651. (949) 715-6080

Date: June 17, 2021

Cuisine: California Cuisine

Rating: Great food but incredible wine

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This epic wine week in June 2021 culminates down in the OC — so Kent can join — in an incredible and special La Tâche dinner.

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It’s always a little bit of a challenge to find a location for these dinners as we need a spot in the OC willing to accommodate our wines and “relaxed” pacing. This time around we settled on a custom dinner at the Montage Laguna Beach — a lovely hotel I’ve stayed at a couple of times. We basically had a whole room in the dining room to ourselves. Inside dining was minimal because of the pandemic.

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Our custom menu.
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Fred brought: 1976 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94. Krug’s 1976 Vintage, tasted from magnum, is rich, deep and powerful, with Riesling-inflected veins of minerality that run through a core of orange peel, ash and dried flowers. A deeply Pinot leaning wine, the 1976 offers notable richness and breadth throughout. The 1976 vintage in Champagne is remembered for a hot, dry growing season with an early harvest that produced intense powerful wines. Krug’s 1976 Vintage is now fully mature. Well-stored examples should continue to drink well for a number of years, although there is no upside from cellaring bottles further. Interestingly, this 1976 magnum was aged on cork, rather than crown capsule, like the 1979 tasted alongside it. (Drink between 2015-2018)
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Bread.
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Butter.
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MZ brought: 1993 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne. BH 95. A softly perfumed and now fully mature nose that still possesses plenty of youthful vibrancy leads to elegant, precise, chiseled and seductive flavors of superb elegance and plenty of power before culminating in a superbly long and mineral-infused finish. The ’93 remains extremely impressive and delivers everything that one expects from a great Corton-Charlemagne. Perhaps even more remarkable is just how youthful this still is because even though there is no further positive development in the offing, it should be capable of holding at this plateau for years to come. In a word, marvelous. Multiple, and consistent, notes.

agavin: one of the best white wines I’ve ever had — just stunning

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Kushi Oyster. Pernod, Smoked Trout Roe, Fennel.
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Hawaiian Kona Kampachi. Santa Barbara Sea Urchin, Kaluga Caviar, Sudachi Gelee, White Miso.

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Hudon Valley Foie Gras. Toasted Almond Milk, Almond Torte, Summer Grape, Minus 8 Vinegar.
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2005 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche. VM 100. The 2005 La Tâche is simply magnificent. There is not too much I can add. Deep, powerful and richly textured, the 2005 simply has it all. Time in the glass releases the aromatics, but it is the wine’s pure sensuality I find most enticing. A host of dark red and blue stone fruits, hard candy and wild flowers take center stage. Even with all of its intensity, the 2005 retains striking freshness and purity. Can it get better than this? (Drink between 2020-2055)

agavin: stunning, but very young still. Not sure I’ve had a Burgundy who’s paper scores are this high (99-100).
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1999 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche. VM 100. The 1999 La Tâche Grand Cru can be a perfect wine. This was very similar to the bottle opened in 2015. The bouquet sends you straight to heaven with so much purity and detail that frankly it is difficult to put into words. Fleeting glimpses of redcurrant, then pomegranate, broom and wilted rose petals, later more earthy scents, autumnal. The palate is perfectly balanced with filigree tannin, a symmetry that is utterly entrancing and precision second to none. Hints of black plum and blood orange, that mineralité returning towards a finish so tensile you risk cutting yourself. I would have given this my second score had the 1999 Romanée-Conti been in the next glass. Tasted at the 1999 DRC dinner. (Drink between 2020-2065)

agavin: sadly this bottle was a little weird. Hard to tell if it was very slightly corked, just in an odd spot, or had some other flaw.
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House-made Agnolotti. Awesome!
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Maine Lobster. California Citrus Butter, Sicilian Pistachio, Farmer’s Market Beets, Potato-fennel Tuile.
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A bit of fruit sorbetto.
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1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche. BH 99. A stunning, massive, full-on and completely classic La Tâche nose that displays almost unbelievable complexity so with many different elements that it is impossible to even begin to describe them all; the primary components include ethereal and still fresh pinot fruit, clove, knock out spiciness, anise, hoisin, soy and a trace of earth but these elements only hint at the sheer depth. The flavors are big, rich, refined, classy, penetrating and superbly powerful yet everything is in perfect balance and there is more than sufficient sève to balance off the still considerable tannins. The finish is intense, pure and so long that it is haunting; I could literally still taste this wine days later after I had it because it had such a dramatic and emotional impact. In its youth, this was one of the finest young Burgundies that I have ever been privileged to try and it only seems to get better with each passing year. For my taste, this is getting close to arriving at its peak but it’s not quite there though again, I stress that this is to my taste and some may find it to already be in its sweet spot of maturation. In short, this is absolutely brilliant. Note that while I have had relatively consistent notes, I have had two bottles that were a bit astringent on the finish and not in the class of what I describe above. (Drink starting 2015)

agavin: incredible wine. Big, complex, oppulent.
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1978 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche. VM 98. The 1978 La Tâche Grand Cru is a wine that it took me almost 20 years to taste and then two came along within the space of a few months. This example was almost identical to the bottle previously tasted in Hong Kong in 2016. Again, it delivers a bewitching bouquet with traits of undergrowth and fern that intertwine with the precisely defined red fruit. It takes a little time for the subtle ferrous note to emerge. The palate is medium-bodied, multi-dimensional and conveys presence rather than mass or density, which I suspect it did in its youth. Symmetrical with disarming focus, you are taken aback by the way it fans out and persists in the mouth. It is a ballet dancer performing a perfect Swan Lake. Stunning. Tasted at the La Paulée in Beaune. (Drink between 2018-2035)

agavin: red wine perfection. Just so perfect!
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American Wagyu Beef Loin. Sunchoke Two Ways, Veal Sweet Bread, Mustard Seed, Mosel Mushroom, Sauce Perigourdine.
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Kent brought a bonus: 1990 Domaine Armand Rousseau Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques. BH 91. Rich, ripe but not roasted with elegant, full-bodied flavors that display good density, power and outstanding length. Lovely, complex and still quite young.

agavin: very good, so good it was dancing not far off from the 90 LT!

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Cheese plate.
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Salted Caramel Coffee Sphere. Hot Cognac Chocolate & Madagascar Vanilla. Really excellent dessert.
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Vietnamese Hazelnut Coffee Gelato — Cafe du Monde coffee milk with Piedmontese Hazelnut Paste swirled with Sweetened Condensed Milk — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #vietnameseCoffee #coffee #CafeduMonde #SweetenedCondensedMilk #hazelnut

Matchacchio Latte Gelato — Ceremonial Matcha Green Tea and Sicilian Pistacchio di Bronte DOP gelato base. I was skeptical the first time I made it, but it turned out to be a lovely flavor. And the green is all natural! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistacchio #bronte #matcha #GreenTea #Sicily

Burnt Basque Cheesecake Gelato — Milk steeped with Tahitian Vanilla Beans and Valencia Orange Peels and then blended with Cream-cheese and Egg Yolks, layered with house made “burnt” Caramel and topped with house-made Caramel Brittle, finished with the torch! — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #basque #cheesecake #caramel #brittle #orange

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This was an incredible evening. I was very pleasantly surprised how good the food was. Not mind blowing, but Fred did an excellent job producing the menu and we had a lot of good sized and delicious dishes shooting way over the level of typical hotel fare. The “we have half the dining room to ourselves” vibe was amazing.

But what really stood out were the wines. It’s a bit of a shame that the 99 was weird, and the 05 was too young, but wow wow with regard to the 90 and 78 LT and the 93 Coche!

Previous diners in this week included Providence and N/Naka.

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For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more Foodie Club meals, see here.

Related posts:

  1. Marcheing South Again
  2. Bad Boys at Michael’s
  3. Upstairs with Sauvages
  4. DRC at 71Above
  5. Astrea Caviar + Heroic Wine Bar
By: agavin
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J Zhou Prequel

Oct22

Restaurant: J Zhou

Location: 2601 Park Ave, Tustin, CA 92782. (714) 258-8833

Date: June 17, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Amazing (if pricey) crab

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Today is the third day of our epic Foodie Club June mega week, and tonight is a special La Tâche dinner deep in the OC, so we wanted to “warm up” (sans wine) with a bit of Orange County Chinese food.
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J Zhou is the fanciest of the OC’s big Cantonese palaces and I’ve heard good things about it for a long time.
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There were 3 of us, but we had our own private room as Fred is friends with the manager.
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The daytime dim sum menu.
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Seafood dumpling in egg wrapper. These were delicate and delicious!
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XLB. A decent, but not amazing version of this classic.
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Roast Squabs or Quail. I thought these were some of the crispiest and meatiest little roast birds I’ve had in a long time. Delicious!
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We pre-ordered a huge king crab and they prepared it 3 days. This first way was just simply steamed with a bit of vermicelli underneath soaked in crab juices and soy. Incredibly fresh and sweet — hey they did bring in the live crab a few minutes before!
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King crab typhoon style. Crispy and amazing.
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King Crab Brûlée. Egg custard in the crab shell was also silky smooth.

We didn’t sample that many dishes because we had an epic wine dinner just a few hours later, but what I had was all excellent. The crab in particular was amazing, but it was full premium price per pound — no super steal discount at all. I would like to come back and try a full dim sum spread.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Thanksgiving – The Prequel
  2. Bibou – ThanksGavin 2011 Prequel
  3. Grand times at Grand Harbor
  4. Dim Sum – World Seafood
  5. World Seafood is Elite
By: agavin
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Little Saigon Crawl 2021

Sep28

Restaurant: Oc & Lau Restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 9892 Westminster Blvd Unit R, Garden Grove, CA 92844. (714) 583-8100

Date: June 1, 2021

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great

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This crawl returned to Oc & Lau 2, which is tucked behind the Garlic & Chives.


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Interior of location 2 — much bigger than 1.

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Big menu.
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And the denser “covid” menu.1A4A7171
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Sauces on the table.
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Mien Xao Cua Oc. Stir Fried Glass Noodles with Escargot and Crab.
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Fried quail (Chim Cut Rotti). Much like the Chinese style quail. Great!
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So Diep Thai Thuong. Grilled King Scallop with fish eggs (and other stuff).
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Some garlicky goodness here.
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The check.

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Restaurant: Garlic and Chives [1, 2]

Location: 9892 Westminster Blvd #311, Garden Grove, CA 92844.: (714) 591-5196

Date: June 1, 2021

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great

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Then we moved next door to Garlic and Chives, which oddly, was very empty (even though historically — aka before the pandemic — it was mobbed).
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The minimalist interior.

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Salmon Belly Chien Gion. Very fried!
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Oc Len Xao Dua. Coconut Seasnails. One of our favorites.
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House Special Lobster with garlic noodles. Sautéed in house special sauce with garlic, onion, jalapeños, on a bed of noodles. This was AWESOME. Tons and tons of flavor, particularly over the noodles. Way better than the Crustacean and probably 1/4 of the price.
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The check again.

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Restaurant: La Xanh Green Leaf Restaurant.

Location: 5425 W 1st St, Santa Ana, CA 92703. (714) 714-0442

Date: June 1, 2021

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Small menu, but good

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Moving on to stop 3.
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Tiny little interior.
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Even more tiny menu.
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Herbs for various dishes.
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Bun Rieu Oc. Special shrimp soup served with small rice vermicelli, fried tofu, pork blood, and shrimp cake. Very flavorful (and reasonably priced) soup.
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Banh xeo dac biet. Crispy crepe with pork, shrimp, and squid. Fabulous “omelet” eaten with the herbs and sauce.
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Fish sauce.
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Sweet tapioca or corn and coconut milk dessert.
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Bank breaker!

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_

Restaurant: Favori [1, 2]

Location: 3502 W 1st St, Santa Ana, CA 92703. (714) 531-6838

Date: June 1, 2021

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great old school place

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Today we finish up at a new classic, Favori.
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Favori has been a staple down here in Garden Grove/Santa Ana since the early 80s.
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The menu.
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Fish sauce.
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And super fermented fish sauce.
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Chilies.
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Goi Bo Tai Chanh. Rare Beef Salad. Fabulous version of this dish. Very herby with lots of beef flavor.
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Beef rolls wrapped in Betel Leaves. These had a very interesting but strong flavor. I loved them, but they weren’t for everyone.
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Crispy whole catfish! A touch dry, but delicious. Served with rice crepes, herbs, vermicelli, fish sauce etc.
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Herbs.
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Vietnamese coffee to go.
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The check.

Overall, even with “only” 4 stops this was a gluttonous and delicious crawl. The lobster and some of the favori dishes were very large and so some people tapped out. Favori was so good, and had such a good menu, that we resolved to come back later in the summer for a full wine dinner. More on that soon!

Related posts:

  1. Little Saigon Mini Crawl
  2. Little Saigon Mega Crawl
  3. OC Viet Crawl – The Sequel
  4. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
  5. Food as Art: Little Saigon
By: agavin
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Oc and Lau

Apr03

Restaurant: Oc & Lau Restaurant [1, 2, 3]

Location: 10130 Garden Grove Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92843. (714) 636-2000 and 9892 Westminster Blvd Unit R, Garden Grove, CA 92844. (714) 583-8100

Date: July 31 & September 29, 2019 & February 19, 2020 & July 20, 2021 & February 15, 2022

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great

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I had high expectations for Oc & Lau too, as it was purported to be in the league of Garlic and Chives. I’ve visited 3 times now, twice during a various Oc Viet crawls, here and here. Then again for a pre-Birthday Dinner “snack lunch“. This post combines all the dishes.
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The exterior of location 1, just down the block from Garlic and Chives — there are two locations — the other is right behind G&C in the same minimall.
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Interior of location 1.

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Interior of location 2 — much bigger than 1.
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Big menu.
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Ruinart never sucks.
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Pineapple Smoothie (2/15/22).
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Tiny oysters on the half-shell with fish eggs and Vietnamese cocktail sauce (2/20). Very bright and tasty. Tiny bites though.

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Raw Beef Salad (2/15/22).

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Crispy Spring Rolls (2/15/22).
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Frog legs (Ech Chien Bo) (7/19). Fried frog legs. Excellent!

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Fried quail (Chim Cut Rotti) (7/19 & 9/19 & 2/20). Much like the Chinese style quail. Great!
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Garlic butter queen clams (Nghieu Hoang Hau Chay Toi) (7/19 & 2/20). Super delicious hot, buttery clam bits.
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Gratuitous zoom!
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Scallop with Roe.

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Creamy coconut periwinkle escargot (Oc Gao Dua) (7/19). This sauce was a 10, rich with curry coconut flavor, but I messed up and got the tiny winkle snails which are impossible to eat. About 1 in 3 times you can pry one out (with some challenge) using the toothpick. Bummer. I just sucked the sauce.

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Coconut Swirly Escargot (Oc Len Xao Dua) (9/19). After ordering the wrong snails last time I got it right this time — with the conical Vietnamese kind and the slightly sweet curry sauce. This sauce is amazing.

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You have to suck the meat out of these little cones.
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Empty shells.
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Tamarind Lobster (Tom Hum Range Me) (7/19). The sauce was too sweet — tangy sweet — but very sweet. Nice lobster though. We would have ordered with a different sauce.
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Shrimp. Sauce was kinda rich.
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Fried Soft-shell Crab with Tamarind Sauce. A bit too goopy and sweet.

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Singapore Chili Crab (7/20/21). Not 100% Singapore in style, but this was still one of the best Chili crabs I’ve had in LA. This is an incredible but very hard to find dish. There was a ton of crabmeat in the sauce — none left in the crab.1A4A0436

French bread to dip in the crab sauce.7U1A4871
Filet Mignon with udon (Bo Filet Xao Udon) (7/19). Very tasty beef with onions and great thick udon noodles.

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Shaking Beef (2/15/22).

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Rice for the Beef.

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Weird purple yam and sticky milk free dessert. Oddly addictive.
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The check on the 9/20 visit.

Overall, I’ve been to Oc & Lau three times and it’s always been great. They seem to really rock the fresh seafood with “seasonings” like the clams and oysters above. The coconut snails were great and the quail is amazing. It’s totally worthy of a dedicated dinner but so far I’ve only been there for crawl mini-visits.

In 2021 I tried to arrange a dinner here but they have certain issues which make it impossible. They REFUSE to take any kind of reservation, so the wait required to get a large party at dinner time would be unacceptable, they don’t reliably allow corkage, and they also refuse to reserve crabs etc and frequently run out. It’s just not practical to wing a dinner down to Orange County.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Little Saigon Mini Crawl
  2. Little Saigon Mega Crawl
  3. Orange Afternoon — Garlic & Chives
  4. OC Viet Crawl – The Sequel
  5. Quick Eats – Little Sister
By: agavin
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OC Viet Crawl – The Sequel

Dec23

Restaurant: Góc Ha Noi Corner

Location: 8516 Garden Grove Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92844. (714) 867-6665

Date: November 11, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Excellent opener

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Our previous OC Viet Crawl — in which we drive down and spend the afternoon “crawling” between Vietnamese restaurants — was such a success, that it spawned a mini crawl and this followup sequel — all new places!
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First up is this place — 11am, almost time for breakfast.
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Clearly some other kind of restaurant before it was Vietnamese.
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Maybe a diner?
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The counter has an altar-like aspect.
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The big menu.
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In case you wonder where the bodies are buried — must be in here.
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Someone needed an iced tea.
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Gio tai (crunchy sausages). The description made me order them. There were slightly crunchy bits inside what seemed to have a texture similar to a fishcake — spongy. Meaty taste of course.
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Herb salad to go with other stuff, and some kind of sauce.

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Bun Rieu Cua Lot Ha Noi. Ha Noi soft-shelled crab tomato tofu vermicelli soup. Tangy sweet and sour soup. Quite delicious.
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Banh cuon thit cha nurong ha noi. Steamed thin rice paper with Ha Noi grilled pork, fresh herbs, and fish sauce. Really nice meat flavor and as ever great contrast with the herbs and soft rice paper.

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Bank breaker!

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We didn’t get these, but they made for a pretty photo.

Overall, nice little place with friendly service and tasty food.

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Restaurant: Mai Phung Restaurant

Location: 8415 Westminster Blvd, Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 890-1155

Date: November 11, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Excellent opener

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Stop two is this little parking lot side place.
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We had to wait a bit as there was a crowd already at noon.
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Smaller more focused menu.
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They make and sell their own hot sauce here — it was hot!
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Bun Cha Na Noi. Special Na-Noi style grilled pork served with vermicelli. More grilled meats on noodles.
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Fish sauce as usual. Dumped over the meat and noodles this was supremely tasty.
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Banh Canh Tom Cua Thit Heo. Crab, shrimp, and pork thick noodle soup. This is one of the main specialties here. Both the broth and the noodles (like udon) were thick. Mild, but delicious and great texture.
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Another crushing blow to the wallet.

Overall, small place, small menu, but it was tasty — and popular.

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Restaurant: Quan Hy Restaurant

Location: 9727 Bolsa Ave, Westminster, CA 92683.

Date: November 11, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Excellent opener

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Place three is a bit larger and more upscale.

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Their was also a line, both inside and out — and on a random Monday!
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The inside is more upscale.
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With a cool fish pond in the floor.
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Which Yarom somehow didn’t notice until he stepped right into it!

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The menu.
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A bit of wine — it’s afternoon after all.
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Banh beo. Steamed rice cakes with shredded shrimp etc.
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Gratuitous zoom. You put a bit of fish sauce on these and slide them down. Soft gooey texture.
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Mi Quang doc biet co sura. Yellow noodles with shrimp, pork, vegetables, and jellyfish. Jellyfish! Yay.
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Cam suran ram. Grilled ribs and vegetables served with steamed rice. Lots of grilled meats today!
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Oooh, $10 more! What shall we do?
Overall, they had a slightly bigger menu, but not huge — still I’d like to try some other dishes.

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Restaurant: Hien Thanh Restaurant

Location: 9741 Bolsa Ave #108, Westminster, CA 92683

Date: November 11, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Excellent opener

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Our penultimate place is just around the corner from the last so we hoofed it.
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This is even more mom & pop.
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Tiny really, without much decor.
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But a huge menu.
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Not much English on the menu, but this was a kind of steamed eggplant. Texture was like fish, or perhaps jackfruit, but it tasted great.
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Carmel Fish. Scrumptious. A bit of an oily thing flavor, but in a good way.
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A kind of stuffed tofu in tomato sauce.
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The usual.

Overall, a surprising place. It was a bit old school so I was wary — but the food was great, particularly the fish.

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Yarom and kirk pose at the mall entrance.

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Restaurant: Tan Cang Newport Seafood Restaurant

Location: 10541 Bolsa Ave, Garden Grove, CA 92843. (714) 554-3996

Date: November 11, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese Chinese

Rating: More of a Chinese restaurant, and pricier, but great lobster

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Yarom has been wanting to come here for a while since we go all the time to the SGV location.
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This is the original — and clearly it’s a bit “Vietnamese.”
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But it also looks like a Chinese restaurant — and basically is a Chinese restaurant.
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Lobster tank.
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From my cellar, some sparkling rose.
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Clams in basil sauce. Savory and delicious.
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House Special Lobster on garlic noodles. This was a big 4 or 5 pound lobster with tons of meat and a fabulous sauce — although they billed it as a 6.5lb lobster. ha!
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The noodles were thick and eggy but particularly delicious under the lobster — still I like Garlic and Chive’s version a hair better.
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Pea Tendrils sautéed with garlic. The usual tasty colon sweeper.
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Oranges.
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The price here was considerably higher — particularly because of the lobster. The owner was incredibly nice and hung out with us for awhile. If she was a touch younger Yarom would have proposed (again)!

Related posts:

  1. Viet Noodle Bar
  2. Little Saigon Mini Crawl
  3. Little Saigon Mega Crawl
  4. Mandarin Plaza Crawl
  5. Chicken Crawl – Dong Nguyen
By: agavin
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Marcheing South Again

Nov20

Restaurant: Marche Modern [1, 2]

Location: 7862 Pacific Coast Hwy, Newport Beach, CA 92657. (714) 434-7900

Date: October 10, 2019

Cuisine: Modern French

Rating: Great food and service

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This particular reunion of the Foodie Club: OC Edition has been in the making for months and follows the format of the previous dinner. Tonight’s them was loosely, coche vs. Domaine d’Auvenay (plus a “bit” of spectacular Champagne).
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Due to group constraints, we had to meet deep in the OC at 6:00 — lots of traffic again. This time most of us didn’t do the double header (lunch + dinner) because we were so full last time (even me). Fred, however, is a beast and he met up with some other friends beforehand!

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For our super duper elite Foodie Club OC dinner, we selected Marche Moderne — pretty much because it’s one of the best wine friendly restaurants in Orange County (which is a bit of a limited pool).
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It’s high end modern French bistro.
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Attractive modern decor.
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Lots of sunset light.
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Our special menu tonight.
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Bread.
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Butter.
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Liz brought: 1969 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Oenothèque. Vinous 98. One of the highlights in this range, the 1969 Dom Pérignon Œnothèque (Disgorged 2006) is magnificent A stunning, vibrant Champagne, the 69 Œno hits all the right notes. Lemon peel, white flowers, crushed rocks, slate and smoke all soar out of the glass. A thin veil of reduction adds character without being overpowering or dominant. Vivid in color and totally crystalline, the 1969 dazzles at every turn. What a gorgeous wine it is. (Drink between 2017-2027)
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Santa Barbara Sea Urchin. Grapefruit Gelee, Fresh Oregano, Radishes, Avocado, Kosho lime vinaigrette. The uni was great, but some of the elements here didn’t quite gelee (haha). Maybe the grapefruit? Maybe the avocado. A touch weird.
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From my cellar: 1998 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Caillerets. VM 92. Fred says much higher. A shockingly elegant and pretty Coche open from the beginning. The delicious Coche signature is present and try as you may you cannot detect any vintage flaws. The more I drink Coche Caillerets the more I am convinced I like it better than the Genevrieres. A wonderful wine that was in the discussion for WOTN next to 92 Coche MP, 99 d’Auvenay Puligny En la Richarde, and 00 d’Auvenay Folatieres. An impressive showing.
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Fluke Crudo & Faux Gras. Burnt Shallots Creme, Thinly Sliced Maui Hearts of Palm, Yuzu Confit Marmelade, Beurre Monte Matsutake. Again a slightly bizarre combo of poultry liver and fish.
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Kent brought: 1992 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. VM 98. Fred says: Darkest wine is the night next to the 98 Coche Caillerets, 99 d’Auvenay En la Richarde, and 00 d’Auvenay Folatieres. Also the most dense and ripe. The balance is there with the acidity and richness in play. There is fruit and rich honey notes but not leaning into botrytis. This continues to build throughout the entire 3 hours. Impressive power.
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Egg & Caviar & Cured Scottish Ocean Trout. Kaluga Caviar, Sorrel, Beurre de Citron Confit. More uniform and successful than the previous two dishes. Hard to go too wrong with either egg and caviar or cured salmon and butter.
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Fred brought: 1999 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Puligny-Montrachet en la Richarde. BH 91. Fred said: Given the comparisons to Chevalier Montrachet I was expecting power. Instead I got elegance and balance along with floral and mineral puligny character. This bottle is still young and needed 2-3 hours to slowly pick up weight and power. All the while it remains impeccably balanced, not unlike the 98 Coche Caillerets. I believe the best is yet to come and will try to wait another 5 years to open my next one. Lovely. Just lovely.
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Sauteed Black Bass. Demi Jus de Bouillabaisse, Barigoule d’Artichaud, Calamari and Mussel, Olive, Basil Emulsion, Spicy Tomato Tartine. The Bouillabaisse “base” was nice. Fish maybe a touch dry.
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Erick brought: 2000 Domaine d’Auvenay (Lalou Bize-Leroy) Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. BH 95. Fred says: Wow. Now this has the power and weight of a Chevalier Montrachet. The most fruit forward of the bunch but supported by that d’Auvenay linearity. A massive and structured wine impressive richness and a hint hazelnut deliciousness. What a treat.
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Civet de Homard & Dover Sole. Lobster in a Civet Style, Dover Sole, Gnudi, Chanterelle, Shallot Soubise.
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With the sauce. Another slightly oddball mix. This didn’t do the lobster justice. Reduction was good though.7U1A9646
Premier Dessert. Rose & Lychee Sorbet, Eau d’ Hibiscus.
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Close up! Nice refreshing sorbet. Texture isn’t as good as mine — of course.
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Cheese — because it’s so great with wine. Nice cheeses too.
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Strawberry & Pistachio Croustillant. Almond Butter Gateau, Citrus Mousseline, Pistache, Cassis Berry Sorbet. I love a good “Napoleon” although this was jazzed up a bit too much.

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Because we didn’t just have 3 ice creams/sorbets from the restaurant, I brought 4 (never one to be outdone).

Nocciola Caramello Budino Gelato — Nocciola custard base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste, infused with house-made caramel (instead of sugar) then mixed with toffee and topped with Toffifay — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — so good it’s an instant signature flavor –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #hazelnut #nocciola #caramel #caramello #toffee #toffifay

Cinnamon Apple Pie Gelato — An intense cinnamon base layered with my house-made bourbon apple pie filling and house-made caramel — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #applepie #apple #cinnamon #caramel

Blood Orange Compari Sorbetto — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #bloodorange #orange #compari #cocktail #sorbet #sorbetto

Key Lime Pie Gelato – base is a key lime egg custard, layered with house-made frozen graham cracker and covered with house-made meringue — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #KeyLime #lime #custard #meringue #GrahamCracker #cookie

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Overall, an incredibly epic meal.

Service was first class. We did the wine service though, which is how we wanted it with these wines. Which, by the way, were all incredible. The MP was probably in the “weakest” drinking spot — but that’s like calling Michael Jordan short because he’s not as tall as Manute Bol. Haha. Fantastic and very lucky that we had no flaws.

Food was “interesting” this time. Not as uniformly successful. It was certainly well made and executed, but the combos were a bit odd. Last time they felt much more harmonious.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.
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Related posts:

  1. Không Tên – Brunch
  2. Coche vs d’Auvenay at Melisse
  3. Marche Modern Madness
  4. Szechuan Impression Tustin
  5. Hayato Redux
By: agavin
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Little Saigon Mini Crawl

Nov06

Restaurant: Brodard Restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 16105 Brookhurst St. Fountain Valley, CA 92708. Phone number (657) 247-4401

Date: September 26, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Solid

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Crawls are usually a lot of fun, and after the super extensive Garden Grove / Westminster Vietnamese Food crawl we did a few months ago, my brother, parents, and went down south for a smaller (3 stop) version.

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We started furthest south at Brodard.
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Their interior is fairly modern.

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Vietnamese menus can be very long, and this is no exception.

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Roasted Duck Spring Rolls (Goi Cuon Vit). Tender roasted duck wrapped in rice paper with asparagus, scallions, cucumber, and cilantro served with plum sauce. Hoison (plum) sauce makes everything taste great.

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Eggplant Tempura Rolls. Tempura eggplant, asparagus, cucumber, avocado, and cilantro wrapped in rice paper and served with soy vinaigrette. Not as good as the duck (or the pork we had last time).
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Spicy Beef Salad (Goi Bo). Tender marinated beef wokked with Asian spices over lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions in spicy lemongrass vinaigrette. Delicious.
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The check for reference.

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Restaurant: Oc & Lau Restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 9892 Westminster Blvd Unit R, Garden Grove, CA 92844. (714) 583-8100

Date: September 29, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great

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This crawl returned to Oc & Lau as well, but this time to location 2, which is tucked behind the Garlic & Chives.
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The exterior of location 1, but today we went to 2.
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Interior of location 2 — much bigger than 1.
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Big menu.

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Coconut Swirly Escargot (Oc Len Xao Dua). After ordering the wrong snails last time I got it right this time — with the conical Vietnamese kind and the slightly sweet curry sauce. This sauce is amazing.
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You have to suck the meat out of these little cones.
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Empty shells.
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Fried quail (Chim Cut Rotti). Much like the Chinese style quail. Great!
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Weird purple yam and sticky milk free dessert. Oddly addictive.
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The check again.

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Restaurant: Garlic and Chives [1, 2]

Location: 9892 Westminster Blvd #311, Garden Grove, CA 92844.: (714) 591-5196

Date: September 29, 2019

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Great

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Today we finish up at my favorite down here, Garlic and Chives.
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The minimalist interior.
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Slightly spicy edamame.

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Grilled Turmeric Fish with Dill served on the skillet w/ vermicelli.

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Vermicelli noodles and herbs served with turmeric fish. You wrap these up with the fish. Delicious and very much like we had a couple of times in Vietnam.
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Baked Clams with Garlic & Chives. Or maybe Chili Garlic. Nice actually. Lots of flavor.
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House Special Lobster. Sautéed in house special sauce with garlic, onion, jalapeños, on a bed of noodles. This was AWESOME. Tons and tons of flavor, particularly over the noodles. Way better than the Crustacean and probably 1/4 of the price.

Overall, a fun and very filling little adventure!

Related posts:

  1. Little Saigon Mega Crawl
  2. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
  3. Food as Art: Little Saigon
  4. Taking back Little Saigon
  5. Orange Afternoon — Garlic & Chives
By: agavin
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Marche Modern Madness

Jun21

Restaurant: Marche Modern

Location: 7862 Pacific Coast Hwy, Newport Beach, CA 92657. (714) 434-7900

Date: May 16, 2019

Cuisine: Modern French

Rating: Great food and service

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This particular reunion of the Foodie Club: OC Edition has been in the making for months. Fred was buying up old Coche, Roulot, and Leroy for us in anticipation.
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Due to group constraints, we had to meet deep in the OC at 6:15 — but before that, we caught a late, HUGE, amazing wine lunch at the LSXO — even my hollow leg was full before we got started on dinner.
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Because we were down in the OC for hours and hours I packed my gelato cooler full of dry ice, worried that my normal cooling packs wouldn’t keep it cold enough. Boy did the dry ice keep it cold enough — so much that it was like a block of diamond ice at the end of the evening!
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For our super duper elite Foodie Club OC dinner, we selected Marche Moderne — pretty much because it’s one of the best wine friendly restaurants in Orange County (which is a bit of a limited pool).
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It’s high end modern French bistro.
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Attractive modern decor.
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Lots of sunset light.
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And our perfect corner table.
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Bread to start.

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We had four epic bottles we were all sharing, all mature super producer White Burgundy. We pretty much opened all four at the start and drank them through the night. These were crazy good wines!

1986 Domaine Roulot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Fred writes: A beautiful medium gold color similar to the 86 Coche CC to indicate this was indeed a properly stored bottle. Again, the 86 botrytis is apparent. On the palate the fruit is rich and ripe and there is incredible length and power. The wine continues to improve over the next 3 hours picking up more acidity and precision. A rare rare treat and I doubt I will see this beautiful wine ever again.

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1989 Coche-Dury Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Fred writes: Wow from beginning to finish. This started off with the classic Coche aroma of flint that was less prominent on the 86 CC. On initial sip it was perfect in every way: the fruit, the acid, the precision. Everything was perfectly integrated, extremely elegant, and nuanced. A wine that makes you vow not to open any more Coche MP prior to its 30th birthday (knowing that you will fail miserably and happily). The greatness of it is only highlighted by drinking it next to other great wines. Not much else to say except that it’s a 100 point wine if there ever was one.

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First course was an uni parfait with I think tomato jelly underneath. The whole menu was designed by Fred (and the chef) to perfectly pair with our epic whites.
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Next up real caviar with blini and a version of the traditional accompaniments suspended in a vanilla lemon foam. Quite awesome, actually.
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Here you can see the below foam strata a bit better.

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1986 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne. Fred writes: The honey and botrytis of 86 was apparent as was with the 86 Roulot MP. There is that long elegant floral finish that you get with Coche Corton Charlemagne. Initially a little behind the 89 Coche MP due to the weight and slight lack of acidity and focus. However, over the next 3 hours it continued to improve becoming more refined and elegant with each repour. By the end of the night, it was as good and maybe even better than the 89. Hard to say as both wines were flawless tonight and showcasing their vintage and vineyard perfectly.
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1996 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne. Fred writes: This is a powerful Corton Charlemagne. The 96 acidity is very prominent. There is not as much fruit or depth as the 04 that we had a few months ago. However the oak on this was far more integrated and not noticeable. There is a fine mineral streak through this great wine. On any other night this has a shot at WOTN. Tonight it lacked the complexity and nuances of the Coche and even the Roulot. Still, a great drink.

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Lightly poached or raw salmon with baby asparagus and beurre blanc. Another lovely dish.
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Fried soft-shell crab with ginger. In season too. This was a good bit of food and we finished a massive lunch just an hour or so before this dinner!
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Scallops with saffron, artichoke heart, and puff pastry.
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Lobster with risotto. Awesome courses, but not light — I would have been full without the huge lunch!
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Turbot with some kind of broth. Feeling really full!
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Tarte Aux Fraises – Strawberry Tart Harry’s Berries Strawberries – Crème d’amande. Strawberry Compote – Crème Fraiche Chantilly – Lemon Confit Gelato. Really lovely intense berry flavor and nice textural interplay. Harry’s Berries are fabulous when in season.
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Fondant Au Chocolat Amer 64%. Apricot Stracciatella Gelato – Cashew Praline Crème Monté. Bring the wafer thin mint!

Plus, I had 4 flavors of gelato! Yeah, 4. But they were so frozen rock solid by the dry ice that I couldn’t even chip into them. They were still rock solid when I got home hours later and had to “thaw” in the freezer. But will return for tomorrow night’s Fred dinner.

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Overall, an incredibly epic meal.

Service was first class. We did the wine service though, which is how we wanted it with these wines. Which, by the way were all four incredible. Fantastic and very lucky that we had no flaws. Probably the 89 Coche MP was the “best” — but all 4 were amazing. Legendary wines and we may never see their like again.

Food was amazing too. Certainly the best non-Asian I’ve had in Orange County. Very good by any standards. And our custom meal was stunning. TONS of food too — it would have been a lot even if I arrived starved, and I’m a big eater — but after being stuffed at LSXO an hour or two before, it was a serious struggle to find the room. I mean, I pretty much finished every plate — that’s what I do — but I was in some serious overstuffed discomfort! Ah, first world problems.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

Related posts:

  1. Coche vs d’Auvenay at Melisse
  2. Ambrosia Salad Madness
  3. Major Coche to the Dome-O
  4. Melisse Madness
  5. Saint Martha Modern
By: agavin
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Perfect Atmosphere – LSXO

Jun17

Restaurant: LSXO

Location: 21022-21148 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. (714) 374-0083

Date: May 16, 2019 and January 30 & February 19, 2020

Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion

Rating: Awesome flavors

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LSXO, a concept-within-a-concept, inside Bluegold at Pacific City, is the brainchild of Chef Tin Vuong of Blackhouse Hospitality. Cuisine is inspired by District 1 in Saigon (where Tin’s family hails from) and dishes range from more traditional to innovative amongst a stunning hideaway overlooking the Huntington Beach pier. Behind an unmarked door adjacent to the wine room, guests are transported to District 1 (China Town) in Saigon via Blackhouse’s 28-seat restaurant-within-a-restaurant, LSXO. A spinoff of the Little Sister brand (Manhattan Beach and Downtown Angeles), LSXO is love letter to the culture, heritage, and lineage of Vietnam (Vuong’s relatives hail from the region). While Little Sister is known for its French Vietnamese menu, LSXO follows the same Southeast Asian inspiration with a more refined, expat feel.
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LSXO draws inspiration from Southern Vietnam with a number of Chinese influences. While the menu is 90% different from Little Sister, a handful of signature dishes are offered, such as the Beef Tar Tare, Imperial Rolls, and Salt & Pepper Lobster. Lunch & Dinner items range from cold plates from the garde manger to salads, rice paper rolls, fish & shellfish, meat & poultry, both dry and soupy noodles, and banh mi (lunch only). A unique addition, LSXO debuts Afternoon Tea, featuring a selection of open-faced finger sandwiches, French pastries, and specialty sweets to complement an array of international tea blends

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Bluegold is located on the top level of Pacific City at 21010 Pacific Coast Hwy., Huntington Beach, CA 92648. The restaurant serves California coastal cuisine alongside craft wines, beers, and inventive cocktails. Bluegold is open Monday-Sunday for breakfast, lunch, “in between,” and dinner (9am to close). For more information please call (714) 374-0038 or visit website, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

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LSXO draws inspiration from Southern Vietnam with a number of Chinese influences. Check out the cool Indochina-style room with it’s ocean views.

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The view.
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So OC too, as the big table had a huge part of OC moms and their babies living it up — must have been a Mommy & Me group or something.

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On my first visit, in May of 2019, our threesome was Foodie Core members Erick, Fred and myself, kicking back ocean-side to enjoy some Champagne and White Burg just hours BEFORE our epic and crazy evening white burg dinner.
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Elegant touch.
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Hot sauce! They have two different kinds of house-made hot sauce and a “sweet” fish sauce. All are fabulous.
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The menu.
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From my cellar: 1996 Taittinger Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne. 97 points. Taittinger’s 1996 Comtes de Champagne is another highlight. The flavors are only now beginning to show elements of complexity, a great sign for aging. Gently spiced and buttery notes suggest the 1996 is about to enter the early part of its maturity, where it is likely to stay for another decade or so.
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Red curry spiced pork rinds, chili oil & scallions. Nice crispy shrimp chip textured pork rinds. A touch of heat. I expected more curry flavor.

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Pickled cabbage, crushed peanut, chili. Light little snack/side.
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Goi du du. Green papaya salad, Viet beef jerky, peanuts, chili lime vinaigrette. Awesome bright salad.
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Beef tartare, Viet herbs, fried aromatics, quail egg, lobster rice crackers. Pretty decent meaty tartare.

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Grilled pork spring roll. Nem Nuong red leaf lettuce, mint, carrot, cucumber, house sauce.

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Autumn roll, sweet potato, jicama, egg, herbs, Chinese sausage, candied shrimp, coconut peanut sauce. Incredible take on the classic Vietnamese sausage roll. So much flavor.

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Pork, shrimp & crab dumplings. Spicy black vinegar dressing, chives, spinach, peanuts. Very tasty. Lots of complex herby flavor.

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“Ga xao xa ot” spicy lemongrass chicken. Fried garlic & dried chilies. This was the most incredible “fried chicken”. It had this sweet and tangy and crunchy thing going on and a really bright complex savory flavor.

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Pho banh cuon with beef and tendon, herbs, lettuce, pickled onion. These can basically be seen as either deconstructed pho or pho flavored soft rice rolls. It’s a rice crepe roll, with the pho components, and a bit of a sweet and sour sauce. Great texture and flavor.

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Vietnamese crepe. Bánh xèo. Sizzling pancake. PRawns, pork belly, bean sprout, herbs and greens, house dressing.

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Here are the herbs. This is actually a very traditional Vietnamese dish. You take some of the omelet and add herbs and sauce and eat. Delicious.

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“Bun Rieu” omelet, soft shell crab & tomato chili sate, Viet herbs and condiments. Delicious, with a good amount of crab.

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XO sticky rice, lap cheung pork flass, crispy shallots, slow egg, roasted chili vinegar. I’m all over anything with pork floss — and this had incredible flavor and texture.
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Pork floss zoom! Gotta love the pork floss. It looks like insulation but tastes incredible.

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Lamb belly with shrimp chips and herbs.
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2001 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux. BH 89. A trace of wood spice frames expressive aromas of limestone, white flowers and obvious Chablis fruit that lead to bigger, richer, firmer and more penetrating flavors plus a finish that is both persistent and very dry. I like this very much as it offers a bit more precision than the Forêts.

agavin: reviewers were crazy because this is an amazing wine.

Fred: A bit of honey and ripe fruit on the nose. Almost like botrytis. However, on the palate there is good acidity with some waxy round texture. Very full but not flabby. A wonderful wine to start the day.
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Lamb satay, egg noodle, mustard greens, long beans, fried garlic.
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You mix this up. This dish was an 11. Now, I’m a noodle fiend, but it was amazing — rich with TONS of flavor — like a lamb satay.

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Noodles with coconut and seafood. Delicious with light vermicelli noodles.

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Black duck egg, chilies, sesame rau ram. Chili sauce was great but the egg itself didn’t have enough of that salty flavor.

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1996 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon. 92 points. Fred writes: Excellent wine. Still incredibly youthful with a strong classic Leflaive flint signature. A bit more acidic and than than the 01 Raveneau Butteaux but both wines are just drinking superb right now. Plenty of lemon acidity and an awesome long finish.
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Tom rang thit ba chi caramelized prawns with pork spare ribs and lardons. Awesome!

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Salt and Pepper lobster, butter fried shallots, fried chilies and garlic. Tasty, but not worth the big markup.

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Viet braised Salmon in a claypot. This is a take on the tradition caramelized catfish (or whatever fish they use in Vietnam). I didn’t particularly love substituting the salmon. All those heavy oils settle with salmon.

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Pan fried eggplant & basil. Sausage, scallions, satay sauce. Very nice eggplant. Super temperature hot on arrival.

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A kind of beef tomato stew that was delicious.
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The stew above came with this perfect baguette roll, chili butter, chicken liver paste, limes, and tangy pepper sauce. The combination of all of these on the rolls was a fatty foodgasm.

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Crab salted cod chao, white fish and egg white. A mild salty congee — savory and delicious.

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Carb on carb. The chao (congee) comes with these Chinese savory doughnuts — unsweetened crullers.

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Chao. Confit duck & bamboo with aromatics, herbs. Served with cilantro, scallions, fried shallots & Chinese style savory crullers.
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Toppings for the congree/chao. The congee (rice porridge) itself is very mild, but when you throw this stuff and both some of the sweet fish sauce and the house-made chili goo in — delicious!
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Pork. Absolutely amazing grilled meat with stunning flavors.

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Shaky Shaky Beef. Watercress, baby tomatoes, burnt butter soy with tomato garlic fried rice. A very nice version of the classic shaking beef, but not the most exciting of LSXO’s dishes — mostly because the others were so amazing.

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Pork belly with a sweet and tangy sauce. Very tender and nice.

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Birthday cake for my brother on 2/19/20. Awesome day piggybacked with a lunch “snack” at Oc & Lau.

Now, I do love Asian food of almost all varieties, and adore Vietnamese food, but LSXO is stunning in every way. Hard to imagine this is in a mall. The ocean views and light are spectacular as is the intimate room. And the food. For the most part it’s better than anything I had in Vietnam — even though some of that was amazing — because the ingredient quality and execution is so good. Basically it’s Vietnamese classics, but really elevated way above street food (with its fly infested meat and little plastic chairs). Of course you pay about 30X (compared to Saigon street food).

Also, Fred, Erick and I had a blast as we always do — and our wines didn’t suck.

I returned with my family in January of 2020. It was just as good and might possibly be the best Vietnamese restaurant I’ve been to — including Vietnam. It’s different than in Vietnam, and more “modernized”, but has incredibly good bright flavors and great ingredients. We also came back 2/19/20 for dinner — where there is a very slightly different menu — and had another fabulous meal.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.
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Wines from 2/19/20:
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Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats – Little Sister
  2. Eating Saigon – Hoa Tuc
  3. Apocalypse Dhou
  4. Adventures in Street Food
  5. Orange Afternoon — Garlic & Chives
By: agavin
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Tim Ho Wan – Dim Sum Pedigree

May16

Restaurant: Tim Ho Wan

Location: 2700 Alton Pkwy, Irvine, CA 92606. (262) 888-8828

Date: May 15, 2019

Cuisine: Hong Kong / Taiwanese Dim Sum

Rating: Solid, new format, but not amazing

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Tim Ho Wan, the Michelin-starred dim sum restaurant from Hong Kong, opened last week in Irvine at the Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center.

It’s the first Southern California location of Tim Ho Wan, which has 47 outposts in nine countries, with U.S. restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas and Hawaii. The restaurant earned worldwide acclaim when it opened in 2009 as a 20-seat dim sum restaurant in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, earning a Michelin star a year later. The restaurant has continued to earn a star for nine consecutive years.

Tim Ho Wan is best known for its baked BBQ pork buns, made with a sweet, sticky char siu (barbecued pork) encased in a cloudlike fluffy bread with a sweet, crunchy top. In addition to the buns, there are the usual dim sum favorites, including har gow (steamed shrimp dumplings), siu mai (steamed pork dumplings with shrimp), braised chicken feet with abalone sauce, congee with pork and preserved egg, steamed egg cake and fried turnip cake.

And the restaurant is known as much for its long wait times.
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Mid week, Yarom and I, dedicated Chinese eaters that we are made the full on 1 hour+ pilgrimage to the OC just to try the new “hot” dim sum place.
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It’s one of those newish maxi-malls (10 years or so) — a bit nicer than a traditional strip mall but cheesy construction. There were all the usual suspects like 85 degrees, hai di lao, etc.
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11:15am — 3 hour wait!  Yep! The buzz is a-buzzing. We were lucky though and were only 2 people (we had a third join us mid meal), so we got seated in about 35 minutes.7U1A1002
Meanwhile we went next door and got some 85 degrees coffee.

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Besides the regular tables there is a bar, but it’s not open yet. This will make coming in by oneself easier/faster eventually.

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The main dining room is attractive, with some build out, but it’s quite casual. Even more downscale maybe than Din Tai Fung and set up for smaller 2-4 person parties (younger audience) and not the traditional giant round tables of a big Cantonese banquet house. More on this later at the end.
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The menu is small, and everything (pretty much) is pictured on the placemats.
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The older sheet. Today about 1/4 of the items were not available, as they haven’t come “online” yet. It’s still in soft opening.

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Tea.
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Steamed Rice Roll with Shrimp and Chives. As I always mention, in my family, when I was a kid, this was called “shrimp slime.” We liked it then, I love it now. This particular one had nice fluffy texture, but the taste was a bit reduced. Maybe less grease? (which is a good thing in dim sum). The sauce was a bit mild too, not as sweet as it usually is.
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Braised Chicken Feet with Abalone Sauce and Peanut. Nice abalone sauce and good texture on the little chicken claws.

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Foot fetish (not everyone loves a good chicken foot).
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Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf. A dim sum classic.
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Inside the meat and sausage bits of the rice were good, but it also tasted a bit under-seasoned. Not salty enough? Texture was pretty good though.
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Braised Beef Brisket with Turnip. Just like mom’s Rosh Hashanah brisket with potatoes! Actually pretty close. Beef was excellent. Soft and full of flavor.
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Braised Beef Brisket with Thin Rice Noodles in Soup. Soup was delicious. The meat was the same as with the turnips — and just as good. The noodles are a bit thin and soft, which is traditional with this soup, but I like more al dente noodles in general. The bowl size, which is hard to tell here, is single person small. It’s not the bigger bowl that most Chinese places use. More on that later too.

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Pan Fried Noodles. Very simple, classic pan fried egg noodles. Nice taste and light texture though. A bit less greasy than the most traditional version. I’m thinking they use a different (or less) oil than traditional Chinese.
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Steamed Pork Spare Rib with Black Bean Sauce. Bone in. The usual sketchy looking pork niblets, but great flavor. Also maybe a touch lighter than usual at most dim sum places.
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Deep Fried Spring Roll with Egg White and Shrimp.
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You can see inside the fluffy egg white. Very nice light roll. Good crispiness, good texture on the filling. Slightly lighter grease though so I think the flavor was a bit muted. The sauce is more a slightly sweetened soy. I kinda like the sweet sauce for this kind of fry. This may be a Taiwanese influence?
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Deep Fried Bean Curd with Avocado and Shrimp and Golden Chives. It’s bean curd, but fried up like a spring roll. The inside with the avocado was interesting and flavorful, adding a bit more heft than the fluffy Spring Roll. Again a sweet sauce would have worked.
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Steamed Vegetable Dumplings. Nice texture on the skin and chunky vegetables inside. Light skin too which I like. Still a touch under salty/greasy?
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Steamed Dumplings with Shrimp and Chives. Great texture again for the skin, but soft on the inside and muted in flavor.
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Har Gow. Steamed Shrimp Dumplings. Nice skin, big chunk of meaty shrimp. This was the best dumpling and fairly classic.
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Steamed Beef Ball with Bean Curd Skin. Nice soft meat ball with a good beefy flavor.
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Siu Mai. Steamed Pork Dumplings with Shrimp. Small like I like them, and very good texture, but again had that slightly muted flavor.
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Steamed Rice with Minced Beef and Pan Fried Egg. Rice less sticky than typical Chinese rice (on purpose). Pretty much a flat layer of the same meat as the beef ball on the rice, with a fried egg and the sauce from the Rice Roll. The whole thing was pretty great. The beef on the rice, with the richness of the egg, and the sauce soaking into it all.
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House Special Baked BBQ Pork Buns. Soft crunchy outside. A good bit of sugar.
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Inside was delectable sweet pork. This was a great pork bun. As good as I’ve had. It’s of the slightly crunchy type. There are several other types like the steamed white ones, or the baked syrup glazed ones. I probably like this and the glazed ones best.

Tim Ho Wan is interesting. They are clearly making a play at becoming (expanding?) a little empire of fine casual focused dim sum eatery. It’s very new generation. Very millennial. The table layout is for 2s and 4s instead of the giant round tables of the big old Cantonese palace. The decor and format are more casual. The menu is smaller, maybe 1/4 the size and focused only on the dim sum greatest hits. Also importantly there is no “second chef” and giant banquet menu. It’s all the same focused small set of dim sum.

Service, particularly for being in soft opening, was excellent. They kept checking on us. They were speedy. Some confusion but they were on it double checking and made sure everything was perfect in the end. They are clearly very dedicated to improving and doing a good job. There were some minor quirks, like they had no chili oil (only chili sauce) — but they promised to get some by next week!

Plate/order size is smaller than a tradition dim sum house. I actually like this as it allows more dishes. They don’t have any large plate items. This is more consistent with the likes of DTF (Din Tai Fung). It works better with parties of 2.

Food wise, the textures were consistently good, which is the standard thing that many dim sum places mess up. Food was pretty fresh and very hot and not soggy. Problem for me was that on many dishes the flavors felt muted or light. I think it’s under seasoning. Maybe there isn’t so much salt (MSG?). Maybe they use a lighter oil. There is this standard dim sum oil taste that I really like and it wasn’t present or at least was very much more reserved. That oil and salt thing is one of the things I love about dim sum. As I mentioned, the menu is fairly small. We ordered every dish available the day we went and all are pictured above. There were about 6 or so on the menu that weren’t online.

So in terms of actual dim sum quality, places like Elite and Grand Harbor are a notch better at current. I can hope that Tim Ho Wan tunes up a bit, but it’s also possible that they are deliberately going for a lighter less coma-inducing style. It has this new faster/more casual format too, but with a long wait, that’s offset. Eventually though, it probably will be easy to get in on a weekday — it’s always going to be a long wait on weekends. Of course, there is always 85 degrees while you wait. And for me the long drive. I hope one opens on the Westside up here!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

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By: agavin
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Orange Afternoon — Garlic & Chives

Aug08

Restaurant: Garlic & Chives

Location: 9892 Westminster Blvd #311, Garden Grove, CA 92844. (714) 591-5196

Date: June 23 & September 13, 2018 and October 3, 2021

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Rating: Old School Vietnamese

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In June of 2018, Fred C and Andrew T convinced me to head down on a Saturday afternoon to Garden Grove for some serious Vietnamese. Now, despite the horrific traffic, they didn’t have to twist my arm too hard because I love Vietnamese food, as evidenced by my eating around that lovely country. Since then Garlic and Chives has become a favorite and this post includes multiple lunches and one wine dinner.


In June of 2018, after a “snack” (aka full lunch) at Tai Buu we secured our late afternoon reservation at the insanely popular Garlic & Chives — apparently by Kristin!

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Inside is cute and more modern.
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Interest ice tea with an exotic flavor.

Wines we just popped and jammed on.

1998 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. BH 94. An elegant but austere wine that is almost as reticent as the ’96 with pure citrus and floral aromas that continue onto the crisp and still very tight medium-bodied flavors that are beautifully precise and impressively delineated on the gorgeously long finish. This is a long way from being ready and I wouldn’t touch a bottle for another 5 to 7 years.

From my cellar: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut. VM 95. Taittinger’s 2006 Comtes de Champagne Rosé has come along nicely over the last six months. Intensely perfumed, Pinot-inflected aromatics carry through the mid-palate and finish as the 2006 shows off its depth and pure energy. Veins of chalky minerality give the red berry and cranberry flavors an extra kick of energy. The 2006 is both powerful and delicate at the same, with crystalline precision and fabulous depth. Hints of orange peel, mint, cinnamon and cranberry add further shades of nuance on the complete, beautifully articulated finish.

2014 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons. VM 93. Very pale yellow. Lemon oil, flowers and a lightly lactic yeasty nuance on the nose. Tight, upright and penetrating, with brisk lemony acidity intensifying the dense flavors of white peach and almond flower. Shows terrific grain and palate presence and finishes with explosive mounting length. A very serious Vaillons. Dauvissat noted that as these vines have aged, they are yielding consistently more mineral wines.

Omg, more babykill! 2013 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Corton-Charlemagne. BH 92-94. A shy, indeed almost mute nose only grudgingly liberates its cool aromas of green apple, white fruit, spiced pear and wet stone. The intensely saline and stony big-bodied flavors are supported by a firm spine of citrus-inflected acidity that shapes the powerful finish that delivers outstanding complexity and persistence. I very much like the balance and this will need plenty of time to realize its full, and considerable, potential.

And if we thought 2013 white was young! 2015 Domaine Arlaud Charmes-Chambertin. BH 92-94. Reduction. The supple, round and strikingly refined, indeed even silky flavors possess focused power and punch while offering outstanding length on the dusty, palate coating and mildly austere finale. This is an exercise in harmony and refinement.



A REAL Vietnamese menu (gigantic).
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Lime Beef Tenderloin Salad (9/13/18). Beef tenderloin marinated in lime juice, mint, onion, chili and peanuts.
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Papaya salad with beef jerky (10/3/21). super savory and delicious.


Beef Salad (June 2018 and 10/3/21). Slices of beef, papaya, and all sorts of tangy, sweet, spicy Vietnamese salad goodness. Notable on 10/3/21 that it wasn’t quite as good as the beef jerky salad.
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Raw Ahi Tuna Spring Rolls (9/13/18). Raw ahi tuna, fresh lettuce, avocado, pickled daikon and carrots, crispy wonton wrapper rolled up in rice paper. Served with house special soy sauce and wasabi. These were a bit different, sort of Vietnamese / Japanese. Good though.

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Grilled pork sausage roll / goi con em nuong (10/3/21). Great.
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Shrimp and pork mustard green roll (10/3/21). A bit boring.

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Holy Crunchy Chicken Wings (9/13/18). Heavenly crispy fried chicken wings with sweet and spicy sauce topped with fried garlic chips.

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holy crunchy chicken wings / canh ga chien (10/3/21). Sweet and spicy and amazing. They were much saucier (and better) this time.

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Salt and pepper shrimp (10/3/21).


Stir Friend Ong Choy with Sea Snails. Yes, this is a garickly green with SNAILS. It was delicious too.


Coconut Sea Snails (many times including June 2018 and 10/3/21). Special Vietnamese Sea Snails cooked in coconut curry sauce. I LOVED this dish. I’ve had a pink version before at Phong Dinh and this green version was slightly different, spicier, and just as good. The snails are in little conical shells inside the curry. You suck out the creatures. So good. I could eat two bowls myself!
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Rice for the snails.


Baked Clams with Garlic & Chives. Or maybe Chili Garlic. Nice actually. Lots of flavor.

Razor Clams (June 2018). Baked Razor Clams topped with peanuts, chili, garlic, and bell peppers. These were dry and overcooked and our least favorite dish.

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Razor clams (10/3/21). Delicious this time.

House Special Lobster (every time I have been including 10/3/21). Sautéed in house special sauce with garlic, onion, jalapeños, on a bed of noodles. This was AWESOME. Tons and tons of flavor, particularly over the noodles. Way better than the Crustacean and probably 1/4 of the price.
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Zoom on the lobster (from 9/13/18). So much garlic!

Spicy Crab in Tamarind Sauce (June 2018 and 10/3/21). Sort of close to Singapore Chili Crab, and certainly tangy and spicy, but a bit different. Great too. Really great with a ton of flavor. The sauce was absolutely amazing. Hard to get into the shells but a lot of the meat was out. I would still love to find some exact Singapore Chili Crab, but this variant was fabulous.

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Singapore Chili Crab (10/3/21). Amazing. We added noodles into the sauce too. Better than the Tamarind crab we had the same day.

Vietnamese breads (June 2018 and 10/3/21), including the fried donut-like thing which was heavy and delicious. These come with the crabs.

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Grilled Turmeric Fish with Dill served on the skillet w/ vermicelli.
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Vermicelli noodles and herbs served with turmeric fish. You wrap these up with the fish. Delicious and very much like we had a couple of times in Vietnam.

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Grilled Chili Lemongrass Pork Ribs (9/13/18). Crispy rice with pork ribs marinated in chili and lemongrass.

Spicy Garlic Toothpick Lamb (June 2018). Small pieces of lamb marinated in garlic and house seasonings deep fried. Basically the Szechuan dish, but with a few more aromatics.1A4A5337
Pork belly (10/3/21). Sweet.
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Mustard greens (10/3/21).
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More rice (10/3/21)
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Lamb chops (10/3/21). Good.
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sautéed beef vermicelli / bun bo xao (filet mignon, lemongrass etc) (10/3/21).
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Grilled pork and egg roll noodle / bun thit nuong cha gio (10/3/21).
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Goat curry (10/3/21).
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Bread for the curry.
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Oxtail hotpot (10/3/21). I was reaching painful levels of full here and not really able to try this.
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The hotpot comes with lots of herbs.
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Added in.


Made by me (June 2018), of course: Almond Boba Tea Gelato — Oolong tea steeped milk, Romano Almonds from Noto Sicily, and topped with Boba! Suffered slightly from the long transit and wait, but still good.

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Almond Amaretto Truffle Gelato (10/3/21) — Amaretto Zabaglione (egg yolk, amaretto, and sugar custard) Sicilian Almond gelato base with stacked layers of house-made Valrhona Almond Amaretti Ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #almond #amaretto #amaretti #cookie #ganache #ChocolateTruffle
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Cherry Cough Syrup Sorbetto (10/3/21) – Amareno Cherry, Morello Cherry, and Creme de Cassis Sorbet! — so intense, and so awesome for a red fruit lover — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #amareno #morello #cherry #CremediCassis #cassis

Fred brought the whole family! (except his wife, who was out of town)

Andrew and Madison who hosted us down south that first time and treated us to this amazing fare.

This was an awesome afternoon and crazy crazy good food here at Garlic & Chives. I like this bright flavor forward style of Vietnamese (with a bit of Chinese, Singapore, and Thai influences). Just tons of… well garlic, chili, and chives. Closest in some ways to some of the really good places I went in Vietnam too. More fusion yes, but really good. Apparently they always have a huge line. Sigh. And a huge drive. But I’ll be back for sure for more good stuff and more Champagne. This is really Champagne food.

I’ve been back a whole mess of times for lunch and it’s always been good. Then we were back for a wine dinner on 10/3/21. They set up a large table outside on the sidewalk, which wasn’t bad at all as it was a nice night. They allowed the wine with no problem and had allowed us a reservation and preorders. This is unusual for Garden Grove Vietnamese restaurants which often don’t take reservation — a must for large party wine dinners involving people driving for over an hour! Food was awesome that night as well. A few people complained about my overzealous ordering (if I’m going to trek to Orange County for dinner I want to try EVERYTHING!) and the price creeping up because of the lobsters and crab. It wasn’t actually expensive, it just wasn’t “dirt cheap” the way people have come to expect from a small ethnic place like this. That’s unfair, as we had a TON of food and lots of signature ingredients.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

1A0A7274Sea Salt Latte from next door.

Related posts:

  1. Orange Afternoon — Tai Buu
  2. Orange is the New Black
  3. Hop Woo is Hop New
  4. Quick Eats – Little Sister
  5. Hunan Mao
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , , , , , ,

Orange Afternoon — Tai Buu

Aug04

Restaurant: Tai Buu Paris Restaurant

Location: 9684 Westminster Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92844

Date: June 23, 2018

Cuisine: French Vietnamese

Rating: Old School Vietnamese

_

Fred and Andrew T convinced me to head down on a Saturday afternoon to Garden Grove for some serious Vietnamese. Now, despite the horrific traffic, they didn’t have to twist my arm too hard because I love Vietnamese food, as evidenced by my eating around that lovely country.

While we waited for our table to come up at Garlic and Chives (more on that later) we went to one of Andrew’s favorites, old school Tai Buu.

Like a weird Parisian/Vietnamese cafe.
As usual for Babykillers events all the wine was just popped so I’ll list it here.


From my cellar: A great bottle of 1985 Nicolas Potel Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. BH 91. A very fresh yet mature nose of citrus, white flower and lightly toasted nut aromas combines with round and vibrant middle weight flavors that possess a seductive and rich mouth feel, all wrapped in a sappy and mouth coating finish. This is really a lovely effort with complexity and ample finishing punch and is a wine that will continue to hold well if not improve.

Young reds.

This is why we call them the Babykillers!

But on to the food. You always get this stuff here. Salad, spicy salt, and soup. French dressing. lol!

Here is the soup. Like simple duck consume or something.


Beef tongue in gravy. Looks ugly, but pretty tasty. Particularly with carbs (below).

Goat curry. Yum. I love curry and this was a nice classic brown curry with excellent goat.

There was French Bread.

Fried Eggs. Yep. Apparently you eat them with the tongue, or maybe it was the curry.

And tomato rice.

Fried coconut sticky rice. I really enjoyed the texture and the mild coconut flavor.

Garlic frog legs. Really tender and full of garlicky flavor. Not so different than frog legs Aleppo style!

Roast quail. Like at a Chinese place but with greens.

French style beef. This was an old school rendition. Filet Mignon and a thinner, more garlicky sauce than I usually see.

Flan. Absolutely first rate flan. Caramel, light hint of orange maybe.

Overall, a fun place and some tasty (and really cheap) food. Friendly service too. Some of our party are native Vietnamese speakers so that helped too. After this, on to the main event at Garlic and Chives…

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Orange is the New Black
  2. Quick Eats – Little Sister
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: , , , , , ,
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