TBA
Fooding Roundup
Multiple days' fooding roundup, starting with dinner at Halal Guys. Half chicken half beef, white and red sauce. Not as spicy as they claimed for the red sauce, and while not bad, it definitely isn't as good as the original carts off 53rd and 6th. You lose something when it's not piping hot off the griddle in a long line in Manhattan.
Few days later at Grand Central Market. Belcampo Meat Co.'s burger very intense for a burger-- they don't explicitly say dry aged beef, but it almost tastes like it. Good but a little intense, could've used a slice of fresh tomato instead of the grilled onion. And their kitchen is a little slow, something like 35 minutes. Yikes. Berlin Currywurst was lightning quick by comparison, and the currywurst (brat, level 2 hot) is solid, but the portion is small. The bowl options (with potato and egg, I think?) look like much better values.
Thai street-style food at Sticky Rice was the best stop of the day, with superb gai yang (Thai BBQ chicken), complete with papaya salad and sticky rice. Wrapped up the GCM visit at McConnell's Ice Cream, which was good but served a little too cold. Banana and caramel is a subtle flavor, perhaps overwhelmed by the caramel, while the sea salt cookies and cream is a more tasty balance (still on the subtle side, tho). Waffle cone was also a tad bit... plain? That's getting a bit nitpicky, but with so many gourmet ice cream shops around, it feels reasonable to nitpick.
Wrapped up the fooding on the weekend by exploring Torrance and Gardena. Ichimi Ann Bamboo Garden is an established Japanese noodle shop with solid soba and a straightforward tempura. Agedashi tofu was actually the highlight-- a large bowl of deliciousness.
Kansha Creamery's Mr. Universal ice cream (caramel and oatmeal cookies in milk ice cream) was very tasty, and had the temperature and flavor intensity closer to my liking than McConnell's-- not quite as cold, a little more milk, and a little less caramel? Again these are small differences... Wrapped things up at Tenkatori Karaage inside Marukai Market's old food court, what could have been superb kara age was ruined by the fact that it was too salty.