Road Trip – Page 42

Road Trip: Hannam Chain Market World – Diamond Bar

September 10, 2005 mmm-yoso Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip

Had to make a quick trip to Los Angeles today. I was able to make it there in almost record time, and picked-up what I needed. Since it was still early, and I had already had a quick lunch, I decided to drive around the "old neighborhood" to see what changes have been taking place. Driving up Colima Road, to the point where it turns to Golden Springs, I noticed Market World:

I entered this huge, and packed Super Market. I immediately zeroed in on the produce department and noticed the Jujube’s:

Though not of the best quality, the price was right so I quickly "bagged" a pound.

Next up the "noodle" section, and I grabbed a package of the "instant" Naengmyun, at least that’s what I think it is:

I just went on the pictures, there were no English labeling, so we’ll see what happens. I immediately picked up a scent (Whooo-ah! ), of something being fried. Following my nose I came up to a "deli" section, and noticed a new batch of fried crab being wrapped:

This being a "solo" trip, I knew I needed "offerings" for the omnipotent deity, that is the Missus. I knew this would fill the bill.

The selection of items is staggering, you find yourself walking in circles in a complete daze forgetting what it is that you’d been thinking of getting just the minute before. Then turning the corner you come upon the shelf of Korean "pancake" mix (Pa jun).

Ohh-Kay….There were at least 9 different brands/varieties. I ended up getting the one with English instructions. This may be a mistake, but I don’t have the slightest idea how to make this, so I’ll need to start somewhere.

Of course no Market could survive without the isle of snacks:

Floor to ceiling, brand after brand. No one could possibly survive without those twenty brands of Corn Puffs Marketwor08 , right?

And of course the Panchan "bar". The selections looked good and fresh, though I did not partake.

There are also two "restaurants" within Market World. The one at the East end, was positively "rocking". Too bad I’d already had lunch. I’ll give this place a try next time, every dish I saw people eating looked good (except the sushi…)

There was a Woman rolling out dough and making Mandoo by hand. I’m definitely trying this next time!

This was an interesting and fun time, though I shudder at thought of the "damage" that Jo and Mills could do here! The crabs were a success, all gone in a few minutes, I also purchased some "Flaming File Tiles", and other items. Market World is definitely worth a visit!

Hannam Chain Market World
21080 Golden Springs Drive
Walnut, CA 91789

Road Trip: Shopping and Snackin’ in LA – Hong Kong Plaza Squared

August 27, 2005 mmm-yoso Desserts, Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip

We had an appointment in Los Angeles this afternoon, so of course there would be some eating involved. And knowing our luck it would also just so happen to be the hottest day of the year. Geez! We left at a quarter after nine, and made great time getting to our first destination at about ten till eleven, too early for lunch (restaurant not open till eleven). So we decided to take a walk around, even though it was stifling hot.

Our destination – Hong Kong Plaza in West Covina. This huge mall didn’t even exist when we moved from LA 4 years ago. So it was quite a shock to see this huge mall here. This outpost of Hong Kong Supermarket was also a shock. We lived down the street from Hong Kong Market in Rowland Heights, and it was basically a Chinese Market. This branch was different and looked to be directed at the Southeast Asian population. It was fun walking down the isles and finding items like the frozen Mangosteen:

One isle was totally dedicated to various packaged seasonings and mixes, many of which I’ve never heard of:

After picking up some nice looking lychee (99 cents/lb – a great price), rejecting the jujubes (dry and looking old), and picking up some packaged snacks I went to the check out, paid and headed for our lunch destination. All the time counting my blessings – I got out spending under twenty bucks.

Hong Kong Supermarket
987 S Glendora Ave
West Covina, CA 91790

After lunch and our appointment, we headed to the "other" Hong Kong Plaza, and our "stinky tofu" destination; Shau Mei Restaurant. While waiting for our tofu, the Missus ordered a Taiwanese Shaved Ice with 3 "items" ($2.50):

Basically 3 items – in this case Lychee, sweet rice balls, and Mango Mousse, covered with a pile of shaved ice with some syrup. You can also order this with condensed milk or juice for an additional cost. In about 5 minutes it looked like this:

The mango mousse was terrible BTW. Standing in the suffocating heat, with a large bag (3 orders) of stinky tofu in my hand was a bit much for me, so I returned to the car to store the tofu while the Missus browsed through a pile of CDs and DVDs. I returned and considered myself lucky; she only bought 3 Andy Lau CDs for $3. She had spotted this sign though:

99 cent Boba – Bargain City! How can you resist a 99 cent Boba? So after a sharp right turn we headed into the snack shop and got a Taro Shake with Boba (Boba in a shake 25 cents). I’m not a Boba drinker, but took a sip. It tasted like a Taro Shake. The Missus said it was a bit sweet, but the Boba was good. So this was obviously worth $1.24.

So done with our short reprieve from the heat, we headed out into the parking lot, and suddenly realized why we like San Diego so much. We miss all of the options available to you in Los Angeles, but really don’t miss the 100 degree plus temps and the psycho drivers and traffic.

Here’s the sign of the day:

You too can go where the "Implants Hang Out"!!!

What about our lunch? That’s for tomorrow, when I’ve recovered from my heat stroke.

Road Trip – Marukai Gardena and Harry’s Aloha Chop Suey

August 1, 2005 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip

I made my way to Marukai Gardena from the Torrance Farmer’s Market. When I got there just at opening time, it was already quite warm, seems like it was going to be a "hot one".

Almost as big as an airplane hangar, Marukai Gardena is located right on Artesia Blvd. I remember the first time I entered this place; it had almost everything I needed. I had indeed reached the Ex-Pat food "Mecca". Redondo and Purity Portuguese Sausage, S & S Saimin, frozen Zippy’s Chili, Diamond Bakery Soda & Creme crackers, and Aloha Shoyu, to name a few, can all be found here. One of the first things you’ll notice when you enter is that for a place so large, it’s really somewhat cramped.

It can really get crowded in here, so we always plan to get in and out ASAP. The "wall of snacks" here is daunting.

There’s just so much here, I won’t go into it in too much depth. Just enough to say, it was a quick stop today, no maguro, no ogo for me. Just some snacks and alot of nice memories. Marukai is a membership market, but a daily membership ($1.00) is available – it’s cheaper than Disneyland, and almost as fun! So I shopped quickly loaded up my bounty, and headed back to my hotel room for a quick rest and to check out.

Marukai
1740 West Artesia Blvd
Gardena, CA 90248
Summer: Monday – Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. & Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Winter: Monday – Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. & Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.

*** Harry’s Aloha Chop Suey has closed

I than decided to hit Harry’s Aloha Chop Suey for a quick bite before hitting the road.

The definition of "hole in the wall", with only 6 tables, Harry’s has a small menu featuring hot table combinations (beef stew, fried chicken, etc.), cooked items (chop steak), and Saimin and Won Ton Mein. Call it a case of saimin insanity, today I decided to order what’s probably the most expensive item on the menu – a large size "Super" Saimin ($9.00).

There was a ton of Char Siu, several slices of kamabuko, what probably amounts to half a head of napa cabbage, carrots, and won tons. The best thing about the dish were the noodles, perfectly cooked, saimin (not ramen) noodles. The crunchy texture triggered many a memory of bowls of saimin and teriyaki beef sticks. The broth on the other hand was nothing to write home about, weak and almost flavorless, shoyu was a necessity. The other item I was thankful for was the watery "chinese mustard", just like back home. A swirl with the chopsticks to get a bit of mustard on it, place into the spoon, grab noodles and place in the spoon, consume – delici-yoso! I finished just about everything, enough to get a comment of "you did pretty good".

So great noodles, not the best broth, great service, and everything under $9.00 (actually most items are under $6.50). Not as good as I remember from my last trip here, but still worth the culinary trip down "memory lane". Enough so that I was willing to eat this even though the weather outside was clearly "heatwave" in nature.

Harry’s Aloha Chop Suey
1721 W Redondo Beach Blvd
Gardena, CA 90247

Road Trip – Torrance Farmer’s Market

July 31, 2005 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

I decided to break up my return trip from Mountainview, and stay overnight in Torrance. Of course I had an ulterior motive – a visit to the Torrance Saturday CFM. We used to make a 90 mile round trip from Rowland Heights to Torrance every other Saturday when we lived in LA. Our first stop would be the Torrance Farmer’s Market at around 8-830am. The farmer’s market stretches the entire length of the Wilson Park parking lot. In our time in Los Angeles we had been to just about every farmer’s market – Hollywood, Santa Monica, even the Monrovia Farmer’s market. But Torrance remains our favorite. It’s a no-frills, no people watching, no great chef’s out looking for produce, farmer’s market, but there are several vendors selling excellent Asian vegetables, and lots and lots of fruit vendors. When strawberries are in season you can smell them from a block away, even faintly (more like smoggle-berries, though) two blocks away.

Today, the star of the show were these Sugar Lady Peaches, sweet and intense in flavor; ripe and ready to eat. I also picked up some kumquats and ripe figs for the Missus. I then went hunting for vegetables and picked up some long green peppers, Asian Eggplant, and baby bok choy. Sorry no pictures; I just dived right on in and grabbed my veggies.

Once done, my usual strategy is to go back to the car, unload, and wander around and take in the sights and sounds. One of the most busiest stands is this one – they’ve been there since we first started going to this farmer’s market in the late 90’s.

There is usually a "Hawker" pushing the peaches, strawberries, or whatever; and a table of samples. After I took this picture I stepped up and had some samples (breakfast…) and a guy started sampling a bunch of nectarines. When I made the return trip he was still there, now working on the peaches! There are samples at every stand – Costcos’ got nothing on this place! So you can get a nice Saturday Brunch in as well.

On this trip I noticed alot more food vendors – in addition to the old time Sausage, Crepes, and Thai stands, there’s one with Peruvian food, a peanut roasting stand. I decided not to imbibe, but couldn’t resist, the Kettle Corn! But who can?

It was getting hot, and it was almost 9am, so I decided to jump in the car and head to stop #2 – Marukai Gardena.

Torrance Sat CFM
Wilson Park, 2200 Crenshaw
Sat, 8A-1P

Here’s a pic of Pepper at the filling station in Atascadero – ooops, not in Atascadero (inside joke) – at Atascadero.

A Big Thank You!

July 31, 2005 mmm-yoso Road Trip, San Francisco and Silicon Valley, yoso-silly

To Jo, for providing a wonderful home for Pepper, and her wonderful family. I’ll leave all of the pictures and reports for her to post on her site. Also milgwimper for the great info and conversation. Jo and Mills took me on a shopping tour of Mountainview and the surrounding area – when we left, the sun was up, we got back at 9pm! I had a blast, and there were lot’s of laughs! – Pusit….

Thanks to Mike; he makes a mean cup o’ joe. Jo I still think you need to raze the kitchen and build a coffee drive thru!

Of all of the places we visited, it was Dittmer’s that made the biggest impression. They have the "best Wurst"! Friendly Staff and great service, I’ll be back!

Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats & Wurst-Haus Inc
400 San Antonio Road
Mountain View, CA 94040

Here’s a picture of Pepper in Soledad, sorry, bad joke….at the Soledad filling station.

LA Road Trip Part 2 – Rutt’s Cafe

July 18, 2005 mmm-yoso Diner, Loco Mocos, Los Angeles County, Plate Lunch, Road Trip

*** Update – On a recent trip to the area, I noticed that Rutt’s Cafe has been replaced with another restaurant. Something along the lines of Don Carlos……

In the first part of the road trip I picked up some ogo from Marukai in West Covina, and went over the purchase of "stinky tofu" from Shau Mei Deli. I had initially, planned on picking up some "local kine grinds" from either Harry’s Aloha Chop Suey or Bruddah’s Hawaiian Food in Gardena. But since I ended up in West Covina, that was pretty much out of the question. While driving up Azusa I saw this sign:

So I drove up and did a u-turn on Azusa, and then did a right turn and went around onto Valley Blvd, under the Azusa overpass. In this no man’s land strip mall, with a Carniceria, 99 cent Chinese Food, and other businesses, stood Rutt’s Hawaiian Cafe on the corner. Now having lived a few miles from here for 4 years, I knew that this couldn’t be an optimal location – Valley Blvd, on the border of City of Industry and La Puente. This mall can be more than a little scary, especially at night.

So I went in and there were no "Hawaii kine" people to be found, but I had a seat at the counter, had a menu handed to me, and looked it over. There were a ton of "royales", that is, an omelet over rice, or over fried rice. This was definitely a "breakfast" kind of place. Many dishes came in Junior, Regular, and King sizes and ranged from$4.25 to $8.45. There was Portuguese Sausage and Kalua Pork on the menu. I went ahead and ordered a regular size Loco Moco $6.35. The waitress was apparently a bit new and had to check the menu herself to see what options there were – I chose the macaroni salad, and eggs over easy (is there any other way to serve eggs for a loco moco?). I also ordered an iced tea, which came in a very large cup. After about 10 minutes my "loco" was served:

The plate a had 2 easy over eggs over a large hamburger patty on gravy over rice, macaroni salad, and a roll (?). The gravy was country style, not what’s usually served with a loco – it’s usually a brown gravy. The gravy was lumpy and had ok flavor, though I’m used a more beefy brown gravy. The hamburger patty was tasty, with a hint of sweetness, and lots of onions and green onions – a plus in my book. The macaroni salad had a good amount of mayonnaise, but was also flavored with relish, yuck, one of my pet peeves, couldn’t finish the salad. And the roll, I really didn’t know what to do with the roll…. The eggs, well let me say this. If there was a College degree for Short Order Cooks, whomever cooked the eggs and the burger would have a Masters Degree, they were cooked to perfection. Nice and runny yolk, the whites crisp around the edges and yet soft, excellent!

The service was friendly and attentive, and a person who I think is the owner was helping to wait tables, and it seemed like it was his Daughters that were helping him out. I found out later that the owner of the original Rutt’s had sold the name and restaurant, and this location had been open for about a year, but it looks like they’re really trying hard here. Before leaving I saw a huge platter of fried rice with char siu in it, and was told it was the King Sized "Hawaiian" Royale with Portuguese Sausage and Char Siu, looked big enough to feed a family of four. So would I return? Sure, I consider this a pretty good diner, with excellent portions. The location is kind of strange, I really wouldn’t want to be around here at night, but I’d definitely return.

Rutt’s Cafe
17371 East Valley Blvd.
La Puente, CA 91714
(626) 839-6312

LA Road Trip – Marukai West Covina and Shau Mei Restaurant; Ogo and Smelly Tofu?

July 16, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip

*** Note: Marukai West Covina is now Tokyo Central

Feeling really ambitious, I decided on a Road Trip to LA. The objective; Ogo from Marukai. I left at 715, and actually got to the Marukai in Gardena, 10 minutes before opening time (115 miles in 90 minutes – talk about making great time!). I decided to call the fish Dept and ask if they had Ogo; well they told me that they were out, and so it seems was I, out of luck that is! Well, just to follow-up I called Marukai in West Covina, and was told that they had Ogo. So I decided to go for it! What the heck, another 40 miles really wouldn't make a difference. When I drove into the parking lot of Marukai I noticed that there was alot of work going on the storefront.

I walked in, and there it was, Ogo – $7.98/lb. So basically a package of ogo cost less than 3 bucks. One really good thing about the West Covina branch of Marukai is that they are less busy and thus able to give really good service. I looked at the tuna in the fish case and none of them looked really good, plus all were less than 3/4 of a pound, and I wanted a larger quantity. So I asked the fish cutter if I could get a piece that was about a pound or more. His response "of course", and went and cut me a fresh piece. I also picked up a few goodies like One Ton Chips.

After grabbing a pretty huge lunch, I was ready to hit the road! But I decided to take a drive down Colima Road, through our old neighborhood of Rowland Heights, and there have been a ton of changes since I'd been here last. But Hong Kong Plaza was still there, and crowded and bustling as usual. You basically take your life into your hands when trying to park here on a weekend. We lived a half block away and used to walk here. In Hong Kong Plaza is the Taiwanese Deli Hsia Hsia Shau Mei Restaurant, home of the smelliest of the smelly tofu I've ever encountered!

So smelly, I can't even eat it! But the Missus loves it. This little deli/restaurant serves "hot table" dishes, has a menu of over 100 items, and also serves an array of Taiwanese "shaved ice", drinks, and snacks. Watching me place my order, was the stuff sitcoms are made of! You see I realized, that in all the times we'd been here, I had never placed an order, I let the Missus order in Mandarin. Also I don't really speak any Mandarin! So I tried to place my order for "Cho' Dofu", "huh?", "Cho' Dofu", she shakes her head and holds her nose, "No you don't want!". So I laugh and go, "than i want 2 order", and she laughs and rings it up (fried tofu w/odor, $3.50/ea). It was quite a wait, I really don't know why, everything else here is really "fast", but it must be something to do with the preparation. Come to think of it I really don't know much about Smelly Tofu at all. Here's a scientific article on "stinky tofu" courtesy of eatingchinese.org. She handed me the bag of Cho Dofu and I walked to the car and gingerly placed it far from everything. Unfortunately, some of the smell of the tofu had come off on my hand, ick! So what's the smell like? Well, if "Faces of Death" had "smell-a-vision"…. I arrived home and one order of tofu was devoured in a minutes flat, amazing! While reading the menu my wife noted, "hey look, they now have "Hot & spicy fried tofu w/odor", great, a double whammy…..

A couple of notes on Shau Mei, most of the business is conducted in Mandarin. Prices for most dishes range from $3.50-$6.00. We've received some really rude service here on occasion, especially when it's busy, most of the time it's just indifferent, today it was really nice. Don't let my story of Smelly Tofu deter you from trying this place. I've had many dishes here and some have been pretty good. I've also had smelly tofu at other restaurants, and have enjoyed it. It's only that this version is a bit much for me.

Hsin Hsin Shau Mei Deli
18438-1 East Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
626-964-1833

So what happened with lunch and what about the poke? Well I had the worst commute I've ever had on the '5' returning from LA – 3 hours! So I'm a bit tired, I'll post the other items in the (very) near future!

Road Trip – Sushi Komasa and Little Tokyo

May 27, 2005 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Sushi and Sashimi

*** An updated post on Komasa from 05/30/2006, can be found here.

Having the day off, we decided on a road trip to Little Tokyo, and our favorite little Japanese Restaurant/Sushi Bar there Sushi Komasa. We attempted to time our arrival to opening time for Komasa which is 530pm, at ended up in the Japanese Village Plaza Parking lot at about 520.

Sushi Komasa is a little operation with about 5 tables and a bar and serves only dinner. Though it’s not the most well known of establishments, it’s our favorite for good reasonably priced sushi and was a regular stop for us when we lived in LA.

We were happy to see the familiar Komasa lantern next to the door, but surprised to see 5 couples already waiting ahead of us. It seems that the word is out and Komasa is getting busier. We were able to snag the last corner table, ordered our tea (no sake for us, we had a 115 mile trip back to San Diego), and quickly marked our order off of the sushi order form; 5 orders Albacore, 2 orders Maguro, 3 orders Hamachi, 2 orders Hirame, 2 orders Tai, 1 Negi-Hama, 1 soft-shell crab roll, oh yeah, and one order ankimo.

This was met with the usual “Are you sure you want all this, this is alot of sushi?”, to which we gave the “Oh, yes, we’re REALLY hungry, the sushi here is so good” response. Plus we’ve driven over a hundred miles to be here, so we’re getting our money’s worth!

The Ankimo(steamed monkfish liver) was the first to arrive, smooth and silken, served with thinly sliced cucumber and green onions, in Komasa’s sour, yet tangy ponzu, this is always wonderful. I’ve been told that good Ankimo tastes like fresh crab eggs. I don’t know, but the Ankimo at Komasa is consistently good.

Next to arrive was half of our sushi order:

No need for explanation. The Albacore was topped with grated ginger and finely sliced green onion, tonight the Maguro was not as good as previous visits, but the Hamachi was heavenly, buttery, melt in your mouth delicious!

The second half of our order arrived just as we were finishing up the first – you’ll notice a few pieces missing, I’m new at this “photographing my food thing” and actually started eating the Tai (snapper) and Hirame (flounder) before realizing I hadn’t taken a picture of this dish! Oh well, needless to say, “delici-yoso”……

Our bill came out to a reasonable (for the amount of sushi we ate) $63. Komasa also makes an excellent Chirashi and good Tempura. Most Nigiri are about $3.80. Good solid old fashioned sushi!

Sushi Komasa is open from 530pm Tuesdays thru Sundays – closed on Mondays.

Sushi Komasa
352 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA
213-680-1792

We usually “hit” Fu-getsu-do before Komasa, and buy some mochi and other goodies to have for dessert. This Japanese confectionery shop was founded in 1903 and is still run by the same family today. It’s located on a portion of first street declared a National Historic Landmark.

But today we stayed around the Japanese Village Plaza and ended up having some Gelato from Mikawaya, another sweet shop located in the plaza. Cool and refreshing, a nice after dinner dessert.

We then walked down Second Street, crossed San Pedro and onto Ellison Onizuka Street and Weller Court.

I did some quick shopping a Marukai – bought some Okuhara Kamabuko, and other snacks. Also of note, a membership card is not needed at this location.

Some notes on Little Tokyo, there are 3 markets located in Little Tokyo, Enbun in Little Tokyo Plaza, Marukai in Weller Court, and Mitsuwa (used to be Yaohan) which has it’s own Shopping Mall on Third Street. Restaurants and shops abound. Little Tokyo is a quaint, safe, and fun little community that is anchored by the Japanese American National Museum, and is one of the places in Downtown Los Angeles that feels safe walking at night. Every year the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center hosts the LA Tofu Festival which is a fun time. This year it’s scheduled for August 13th and 14th. Though slowed by shifts in population and economy, we were amazed to see a frenzy of building currently going on in the Little Tokyo area, which hopefully ensures a prosperous future for the area.