‘Seafood’
As we began our road trip, we had one rule for meals: No more than $10 per person. It was a relatively simple rule, but still frightening when considering how much that would cost for two people for three meals a day. With this in mind, a buddy of mine recommended Splash Cafe in San Luis Obispo (also known as SLO for the cool kids). He had heard great things about their clam chowder, so I was excited to get clammed up there.
Anyone who lives in LA knows that Chinatown isn’t really Chinatown. Sure, there are many Chinese people to be found there, but the most authentic Chinese experience is further east in the San Gabriel Valley. Yet, the Torrance and Gardena area is often overlooked when it comes to Asian food, despite the fact that it sports the Toyota and Honda headquarters. And I don’t just mean Japanese food, it also has its fair share of Chinese. One of these is Sea Empress (you must check out their amazing website from 1966), which is all about dim sum.
At the edge of Santa Monica is a little seafood restaurant creatively named The Hungry Cat. Without reservations, we were seated at the oyster shucking bar, which is possibly the best location for multiple reasons. First and foremost was that we got to watch oysters being shucked all night. Second was that we got to get a look at some great-looking lobster (see first image). And third was that I got to be buds with the shucker of the night.
Laguna Beach may be an artsy community, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t able to fit some upscale restaurants in. And while I’m not usually the upscaliest sort of guy, my wife and I were taking my mom out to dinner for her birthday and we wanted to go upscale. For us, this meant a visit to The Beach House. With a view of the ocean and the feeling that we were literally eating in a massive house, The Beach House was just what we were looking for.
As a meat blogger, I am often asked what my favorite steak or steakhouse in LA is. My usual answer is, “I’m not freakin’ rich, back off of me,” but usually I’m able to come up with a place that has served me a good steak. Smokehouse in Burbank and Fleming’s have both treated me pretty well, but as much as I love me some steaks, it is simply not economically feasible for me to eat them as much as I want. Enter my wife’s bosses, who decided to take us and her dad to Mastro’s in Beverly Hills as a wedding gift. Well, my friends, we have a new winner.
In the movie, I Love You, Man, a pivotal scene occurs when the Paul Rudd character and Jason Segel character bond over fish tacos at a place called James’ Beach. Jason Segel’s character declares them “the best in the world,” which is quite a claim. Fortunately, James Beach is a real place in Venice and last weekend I took a bike ride with my lady and her lady to see just how great those fish tacos were. Jason Segel hadn’t led me wrong since Freaks and Geeks (except for Bad Teacher) and I hoped he wouldn’t this time.
For most, Burger Month ended on May 31st, but I have never claimed to be like most and feel like every month is Burger Month. This is why, despite being the first week of June, I’ve opted to tackle a burger. This particular burger comes from a little place in Beverly Hills called The Hill. By day and early night, it is a restaurant, but when night comes around is a bar in no uncertain terms.
Did you know there was a big Thai contingent in the valley? And I’m not talking about a string of Thai restaurants, I’m talking about a spot in the north end of North Hollywood where signs for auto repair shops and dry cleaners are both in Thai as well as English. Here, on a stretch of Sherman Way is a restaurant called Krua Thai, which Jonathan Gold once claimed to have the best Pad Thai in LA.
Anytime you leave a place, you want to end on a high note. In the Cook Islands, we were planning on doing the same. After dropping off our motor bike and heading back to our hotel, we had one more meal in us before catching out red-eye back to the homeland. Fortunately, there was a restaurant in walking distance that had been recommended to us by a local and by a couple of travelers. It was called Tumunu and boasted a seafood platter as its house special.
Situated in the village of Tupapa on Rarotonga is an old colonial home. Built back in 1910, at one time, it was even the home of the British Consul. But all that changed in 2004, when a couple of restauranteurs decided this old colonial home needed to serve up some food. Tamarind House was born, and has been dealing in Pan-Asian culinary delights ever since. When we got ourselves seated, we quickly learned that Tamarind House was going to be a unique experience, and not simply because we were in an old colonial home.