Foreign & Domestic [Austin, TX]

When I moved to New York, I was floored by the prices I was forced to pay at restaurants. Everything was at least $5-10 more than what I was used to paying back home in L.A. A bowl of ramen and Japanese fried rice at, say, Hakata Ramen in L.A. cost around $13. I can't even get a regular bowl of ramen for that price at Ippudo in NYC. So going to Austin this past weekend and spending SO MUCH LESS than I would have in New York was quite a trip.

Happy campers

Joyce and Tim took me to Foreign & Domestic on my last night there. Ned and Jody Elliott, the young, hip couple who opened this place, were both formally trained but one could see that traditions were thrown out of the window after one look at the menu (and at our spread). The prices we paid for our dinner (3 main courses, one appetizer) was almost illegal if the menu was shown in New York. Seriously. A waygu beef dish for under $30. What?!

And without further ado, food photos.

Appetizer: Crispy beef tongue ($8)

So tender and juicy on the inside and only mildly crispy on the outside (that's a good thing!). The arugula and horseradish added some interesting flavors but I could happily have just eaten the beef by itself.

Braised waygu beef with potato butter, tomato jam, and poached veggies ($26)

I mean, seriously. What can I say. All the beef, please.

Vital Farms duck fat fried chicken ($18) On top of collard greens, biscuit, carrot slaw and drizzled with goats heart gravy. I could definitely have done without the collard greens (a bit too salty) and the biscuit was just okay but nothing mattered after the chicken. Even the white meat, as Joyce put it, was too good to pass up (the Chinese in us <3 our dark meat, I guess).

3 Cheese raviolo with poached egg, toasted garlic, bread crumbs ($16). This was a good dish, but nothing compared to the beef and chicken dish. I sort of wish we erred on the side of super unhealthy and ordered another meat dish.

There were SO MANY other things I wanted to try (pork brains with huckleberries as another appetizer?) but I was way too full. I didn't even have room for dessert (WORST EVER!). Definitely would go back if I'm ever in town again.

Foreign & Domestic
306 E.53rd St.
Austin, TX 78751
512.459.1010

Parked: Food Truck Rally

I don't know if there is a better way of spending your Saturday than going to a food truck festival with a friend who is equally in love with food as you are. You mean, I don't have to track these trucks down using Twitter and Midtown Lunch? You mean, they are all converging in one spot and I can have anything I want all in one place? Sold.

I'm very glad Hilary and I got to South Street Seaport--where the event was located--as early as we did. By the time we left, around 1:30 PM or so, the lines were crazy long and there was obviously no guarantee that the dish you wanted would still be around.

We started our gluttonous day with some meatball sliders courtesy of a stand (not an actual truck) called Mighty Balls.

The three choices they served were beef, pork, and veggie meatballs. You can choose a sauce for each slider (African Onion, Cranberry Horseradish, Not Your Average Brown Sauce, Jalepeno Jelly, and Tempting Tomato) and for a$1 more, a cheese to top it off (Parmesan, spicy Feta, Mozzarella).

Hilary and I ordered the beef meatball with the tomato sauce (top photo) and the pork meatball with the brown sauce (bottom photo). The brown sauce had a hint of sweetness which was great given the general lightly-sweet flavor of pork. We actually didn't know what the brown sauce tasted like before we ordered it, so kudos to us for choosing wisely. The beef meatball had a bit of a spice kick to it which was amplified by the tangy tomato sauce. The highlight of our food tour, for sure.

We also ordered their pomegranate lemonade, which was enticingly displayed in a clear jug beckoning us to try it in the hot weather.

Continuing our food-shaped-like-spheres theme, we decided to try another stand called Teriyaki Ball. For $6, you get 6 dough-y balls with potato, sausage, or shrimp tucked inside. It is then topped with teriyako sauce and mayo, some crispy tempura flakes, and sliced almonds. I was pretty underwhelmed with this mostly because of the price, but also because it was a lot breadier than I had expected. I SEE you sausage, but I can't seem to taste you. It doesn't help that the sausage was reminiscent of sausage that you top on a pizza from Pizza Hut. The girls working the stand were very adorable and nice though, on the other hand.


By now, the lines were getting ridiculously long. I had wanted to try a few more things from some of the trucks like Mexicue (barbequed meats on tacos) and Gorilla Cheese (fancy, gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches), but the sun was bearing down on me and I am generally a very impatient person. Neither one of us wanted to get full meals because we wanted to try as many little things as possible, so a lot of the food trucks were out (Ed's Pizza, Two Pitas, a bunch of the burger trucks).

One of the trucks with no line was Rickshaw Dumpling. I had seen this truck idling near Astor Place plenty of times but was always wary of it because dumplings = an Asian thing and I never saw any Asians manning the truck. This time was no different, but I was still hungry and again, no line. For $6, you get six dumplings that come out of this steamer-oven-type thing.

Hilary and I ordered the Thai Basil and Chicken dumplings since we realized we haven't tried anything with chicken yet (and you know that is my favorite protein). Oddly enough, it came with a sauce? As Hilary said over dim sum today, "White people love their sauce." So true. This one came with a peanut satay sauce. The dumpling consisted of minced chicken, Thai basil, glass noodles, sliced carrots. It was...okay. I get why they gave you sauce though. The dumpling skin was so dry, probably because it's been chilling on a tray for a long time. At least they offered you chopsticks to make it SOMEWHAT "authentic."

To end our food truck day: dessert. There were a bunch of trucks and stands serving desserts like waffles (Wafels & Dinges which Hilary and I have gone to a bunch of times so we didn't need to get it that time), ice cream sandwiches (CoolHaus), slushies, cupcakes, cookies, and other baked goods.

I wanted to get some Wooly's Ice again but since there was another shaved ice stand, I decided to give this one a whirl to see how it compares.
For $6, you got shaved ice with a scoop of either green tea ice cream or mango sorbet, and three toppings. The ice is then drizzled with condensed milk. The ice is your run-of-the mill shaved ice (unlike Wooly's, which is like sheets of snow ice, Taiwanese style). For $6, it's a bit more than Wooly's, BUT you do get a lot more toppings. If only I could combine the ice of Wooly's with the generous amount of toppings of Shaved Ice Shop, then it would be the perfect dessert. Regardless, still pretty tasty.

We got mango sorbet with chopped mangoes, strawberries, and matcha mochi. The mochi was a tad bit too chewy for me but I liked the freshness of the sorbet.

Since Hilary and I are both very organized people, we had a list/game plan and had taken notes as to what we both ate. Here she is in action, with her game face on.

And to end, here I am in front of an Ethopian food truck with what had to be the weirdest people working there. A girl was wearing a green wig, which can't be that sanitary around food...

Father's Office can S a million D's [Culver City]

Because Vivian and I are on opposite coasts most of the time, we don't get to share meals very often. (We do however keep each other updated on our current and upcoming meals to a potentially weird extent.) When Vivian came home for a couple of weeks in June, we were finally able to meet up and share a meal at Father's Office. Unfortunately, that meal was balls.

Frankly, we don't get it. Aside from the overly caramelized onions, the burger was bland. Not only was the patty conspicuously non-beefy, the texture was mushy and unappealing. For us, burgers are all about the beef, and no magical combination of toppings could make up for FO's bland, mushy patty.

Combine a mediocre burger with an unnecessarily adversarial seating situation and a pretentious attitude about condiments, and you get an extremely flattering picture capturing our delight at the experience and a gchat convo full of righteous anger. Check it out after the jump for Vivian's take and for our hourlong fight for a table, won in the end by awkwardness.

Lazy Ox Canteen [Little Tokyo/Downtown LA]

I went to Lazy Ox Canteen in Little Tokyo for New Year's Eve with a few friends (and friends of friends) after seeing the musical "Next to Normal." I'm a fan of gastropub restaurants/places that serve little gourmet dishes to share so I was pretty into the idea of coming here. The service was good, especially since it definitely sucks to be working on NYE.

The two gripes I had were: since there was no room inside, we had to sit outside at night. We had asked the hostess to let us know if any tables open up inside and she never once came out to give us an update. Kind of not cool. Secondly, the prices are a bit too much for me/the dishes itself. Don't get me wrong, the food was all delicious; if each dish was a few dollars less, then it would be more worth it and warrant a second visit. There were five of us, which meant we could try a whole bunch of dishes (they had a regular menu and a "blackboard" menu of specials). They also had a very nice list of unique beers other restaurants probably wouldn't serve, which was great. Since there are too many dishes to talk about (and I don't want to bore you), I'll let the photos do (most of the) talking.

Bellwether Farms ricotta fritters with saffron honey (7). I'm a huge fan of ricotta, so having them with a bit of honey was fantastic.

Dashi marinated yellowtail with avocado, hash brown and tonburi (15). The hash brown was a bit awkward in the dish, as the yellowtail and avocado has more of that citrus taste. Take away the hash brown, and this was a pretty good dish.

Beef lengua (tongue) and chorizo croquette with harissa. I didn't expect the tongue to be diced up so small but the flavor was still there. Subtle, but there.

Crispy bone marrow with lentil salad. Airy and light, I didn't even know I was tasting bone marrow! Pretty fun to try.

Rose (8) and Proseco (12)to start the festivities!

Marinated anchovies with piquillo pepper. I'm not a fan of anchovies, but I tried this anyway. The marinade was good; so were the peppers. This has a very anchovy taste which overpowered everything else...so if you like that, this is right up your alley.

Squash blossoms with ricotta and prosciutto. Basically a squash tempura filled with ricotta. The batter was very delicate and light, which gave me more of the squash and ricotta flavor. I didn't taste any prosciutto though.

Hand-torn pasta with fried egg and herbs. The pasta was really delicious. I don't know what kind of sauce they used (actually I shouldn't use sauce, more of a drizzle of something but I want to know so I can make it!

I very rarely eat lamb (not a fan of gamey meat in general), but the taste wasn't overwhelmingly gamey. Very moist and tender.

Butterscotch pudding with pine nut cookie (8). I didn't have any of the cookie but the pudding was really delicious. A hint of salt and a slight bitter aftertaste counters the sweetness and richness of butterscotch. I was worried it would be too heavy, but it was a very light pudding.

The first rice pudding (9) I actually enjoyed. Light, airy and subtle, the hazelnut on top of the pudding, as well as the caramel and cream in the other two dishes, really elevated this dish.

Lazy Ox Canteen
241 S San Pedro St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Shake Shack [[Flatiron District, NYC]]

I finally made my way to Shake Shack this past Sunday, after being thwarted twice this past month (mostly, my friends and I decided to meet somewhere else for dinner). I thought the line was long but apparently it sometimes goes around the park and outside, too. While waiting for 45 minutes, I thought about hype versus genuinely good food. The wait is the same (long, very crowded), the reviews are all favorable. So instead of doing school work, I braved the sun and the people for my chance to try this beloved New York burger.

Since the menu is on the side, if you don't already know what you want you'll have to quickly scramble over before placing your order. Luckily for you, I took a photo, complete with prices. These don't include special custards or milkshake flavors, nor does it give descriptions but it's a nice heads up:

I ordered the Shake Stack, which was a beef patty (they didn't ask me how I much I wanted the beef to cook, but thankfully it was medium), a fried portobello mushroom melted together with gruyère cheese, tomato and lettuce and American cheese. The buns were toasted, which I'm always in favor of.

Two things to note: 1. It is quite expensive since it doesn't even come with fries or anything and I will definitely not make this place a habit; 2. It is quite small. It fits in my hand. I mean, I wolfed it down as ladylike as possible (oxymoron) under 5 minutes. Weirdly, the last few bites were super salty, but I think that's because the bun has probably been soaked by the cheeses and oil.

I also ordered a black and white milkshake, which is basically half chocolate and half vanilla. The shake was pretty creamy and SUPER rich. I was actually thirsty afterward, that's how rich it was.

Overall, the patty itself is nothing too special although I did enjoy the fried portobello mushroom and gruyère cheese together. The wait is way too long if I'm hungry (i.e. impatient and cranky) and too expensive to make it any more than a treat.

If you do just want a lemonade or something, there is a "B" line so you can avoid those New Yorkers hankering for the meatier stuff. They also offer hot dogs and crinkle cut fries, but I already spent $14 on lunch and was like...um no, I ain't made of money!

P.S. I don't know why these photos are uploaded blurry. They shouldn't be! But if you click on the photo, it will direct you to the original in all it's SLR glory.

Shake Shack in Madison Square Park
E 23rd St & Madison Ave New York, NY 10010

Sloopy's [Manhattan Beach]

While Andi preps her Tijuana food post, I thought I'd tide you readers over with a short review on this burger/sandwich place called Sloopy's. The name is odd, but considering you're in a beachy city like Manhattan, I suppose it's fitting.

Parking is a chore: there is metered parking but even when I went on a Tuesday (11.30-ish), it took several rounds of circling before Anam and I found a spot 2 blocks away. Don't even try to find residential parking--it's just nonexistent.

The menu is your usual (New) American fare: burgers and sandwiches, wraps, and pasta. There is a great looking breakfast menu (which is what we wanted to try originally), but breakfast ends at 11.30. I hate when people dictate when I can or can't eat breakfast. It should be ANY TIME.

The restaurant is in a half open/half closed area. Only the sides of the restaurant/kitchen is fully roofed off. The rest is only partially, letting plenty of sunshine and fresh air in. The walls are just packed with potted plants and little fountains everywhere. It does feel like you're in some natural environment: it's peaceful and just SO GREEN.

The food, taste-wise, was what you would expect. Not bad but not like I AM CRAVING THIS RIGHT NOW.

Anam ordered the Mahi Mahi burger, which came with fries. She also ordered a mint milk shake but I do know the mint comes from one of those Italian ice syrups. However, it wasn't overly sweet which is usually the problem when you use syrups. The burger came piping hot with a wedge of lemon which would enhance the flavor of the fish. Condiments are the regular burger fare: tomatoes, lettuce, onions. the bread is black poppy seeds, which is a nice twist.

I ordered the BBQ chicken wrap. Slices of chicken drenched in a sweet barbecue sauce, with lettuce, tomatoes, and sliced onions, wrapped in a spinach tortilla. I could have done without like, half of the sauce and it would be even better. It was filling, especially when served with seasoned fries cooked just the way I like it: crispy on the outside, moist on the inside. But you know...it's nothing special.

Overall, it's a great place to just relax with friends and soak in some sun. It's really more about the ambiance and the relaxed feel of the place than the food. And you know what? Sometimes that's all I need.

Sloopy's
3416 Highland Avenue, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266-3341
(310) 545-1373

Café Bizou [Pasadena]

Although I was only a quick hop away from Andi, I didn't want to bother/lure her away from premium grad school studying. Thankfully, I had a few hungry friends who wanted to take advantage of Pasadena Restaurant Week with me. We decided to go to Café Bizou, which has been around for awhile and probably written about a hundred times. But since we can rarely afford luxuries, let alone an ~expensive~ meal, on our pithy budgets, $25 for a 3-course meal was right up our alley.

First up, two types of bread. A nutty raisin bread which was not great, and a sort-of sourdough bread, which was bland. I suppose this is fine since it made it harder for me to be full before our meal.

We all got the lobster bisque to start. It was creamy and not too heavy. However, the lobster bits were really tiny--at least in my portion. Of course, I shouldn't compare it to the best lobster bisque I had ever had over at Craftsteak...but still. Couldn't you have spared a lobster bit bigger than half an inch in diameter?

For the main course, my friend Jessica and I ordered the same thing, steak au poivre, cooked medium rare as it should. The slices were thin enough and cooked just right, but I felt it was over-peppered towards the end. Perhaps I'm not used to this much pepper. It was served with a creamy brandy sauce, which tasted great with the mashed potatoes which were also creamy and fluffy. Usually I eat the veggies given, especially since these ones were dark and obvs good for you. But uh, who decided to cook spinach with NOTHING but pepper? Bland...and peppery. Broccoli was bland as well, but I suppose a dip in the brandy cream sauce would have done the trick.

Queenie ordered the lobster tagallini pasta. I don't think I've ever had black pasta before, so I decided to try one noodle. It does have it's own taste, although subtle. Interesting, and I can imagine, would pair well with the lobster vodka sauce.

Alicyn ordered the Alaskan halibut, served with mashed potatoes and a trio of veggies (carrots, snow peas, and green beans). Alicyn said that the green beans tasted the best. As for the tomato garlic sauce, it was light enough that the halibut really could stand on its own.

My favorite part of any meal: dessert! Everyone but me (because I'm a rebel) ordered the flourless chocolate cake. Alicyn, lover of all chocolate, really liked it and said that it melted in her mouth. I tried it, and I could tell it was flourless, but still tasty. Not my favorite though. The homemade whipped cream was great.

And my dessert, homemade tiramisu. The first bites were very rum-heavy, in a good way. After the initial bites, the rum gave way to the light flavors of coffee, chocolate, and mascarpone cheese. Really airy, and tasted great with the vanilla and raspberry sauces. Probably my favorite part of the meal.

Café Bizou
91 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, CA 91103
(626) 792-9923 | www.cafebizou.com/

bostonian restaurant (langham place)

The Bostonian Restaurant in Langham Place - Hong Kong is a really fancy schmancy restaurant serving American fare. This restaurant has been in "The Hong Kong Best Restaurant Guide" since 2000, serving up seafood (like Boston lobster) and an extensive list of very good wine.

If you want a set lunch, you get an appetizer buffet (baked oysters and clams, various pâtés, salad, etc.), an entrée, a dessert, and coffee or tea. They also have different entrées to choose from if you opt out of the set lunch--although it is the better choice, price-wise.

We start off with some home-made fresh bread. Basically they give you a small loaf with marmalade and butter. The crust is crunchy and flakey without being too hard while the actual bread is very soft and moist.
Next, the entrée. I didn't want too heavy of a meal (like the roast of the day or braised lamb shank, or the sage and apricot filled pork fillet), so I chose the baked salmon with Gruyere herb crust.
Although the salmon was baked, it was still very juicy and when you cut it, the salmon just falls into slices. The spinach underneath was also really delicious. A hint of butter without being too salty, and a springy crunch to it too. MY DESCRIPTIONS: SO FULL OF WIN. The spinach underneath, along with the ginger butter sauce, really complemented the salmon.

To end, dessert!
I choose the toffee vanilla timbale with caramelized pineapple. Timbale is usually not a dessert item, but this time, I suppose because of the mold-shaped, it is. The toffee was not as strong as I had expected, so with the vanilla (which wasn't very strong either), it made for a very mild dessert. The caramelized pineapples were too sweet, but the juices of the pineapple, coupled with the dessert itself, was perfect.

My grandmother ordered (well my uncle ordered for her) the baked pear and almond tart with Grand Marnier cream.
She didn't finish it, so I ate half of hers (lulz). I think I liked mine more, but that is because I wasn't in the mood for tarts. It was still pretty delicious, without being too sweet.

And to end, a cappuccino.

Total for my meal: HK$268.00 (which is about $35 USD)
Basically, for a "fancy" meal, it's not too bad.

The Bostonian Restaurant in Langham Place
8 Peking Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Opening hours
Monday to Sunday: 12:00 noon -- 3:00pm & 6:30pm -- 11:00pm
Public Holiday: 6:30pm -- 11:00pm

Reservations: (852) 2375 1133 ext. 2070