Author: dinobutter

Otium is a modern restaurant located in downtown LA, 222 S Hope, Los Angeles, CA 90012, right near The Broad Museum. It serves modern American cuisine, and its chef, Chef Timothy Hollingsworth, is known to have branched off from the famous French Laundry, headed by Thomas Keller. Therefore, his cuisine and his style of cooking is said to be similar to that of Keller’s and French Laundry’s, and the time he spent there had a clear influence on his food.

Otium is famous for its cocktails; specifically, they are known for the flavored ice cubes in their drinks. Although I am sadly too young to try their cocktails, the adult part of our group seemed to favor the saffron lemonade, with tequila, grapefruit, chamomile, and chili.

A picture and link to the menu is below, for your viewing reference.

Menu

As we often do, we decided to order family style and put both appetizers and entrées in the middle. One of our appetizers was the crispy potatoes, served with creme fraiche, pepper, and lemon salt. This was one of the favorites of the table, as they were perfectly cooked and the accompanying creme fraiche went along perfectly. So much so, in fact, that we ordered a second not soon after!

We also ordered the ceviche and the albacore; both seafood dishes seemed to complement each other. I found that the avocado in the ceviche was the major difference between the dishes. The albacore was more Asian in taste with the Thai vinaigrette, whereas the ceviche was traditionally Spanish and Mexican in nature.

Above, the albacore, below, the ceviche.

The hoe cake was specially recommended by our waiter, who also recommended dishes like the khachapouri and porkbelly french toast. A twist on the standard Southern chicken and waffles, the hoe cake added kale to what is traditionally supposed to be a meaty dish. But the chicken pieces on the side of the dish were few, not overwhelming at all, and certainly not in the quantities of standard chicken and waffles. Instead, the kale and pepper on top covered the top of the hoe cake, where usually that space would be filled with maple syrup and fried chicken.

Khachapuri, or Khachapouri, is a traditional Georgian/Albanian pizza. Usually, it features cheese on bread, topped with a sunny side up egg. Otium added prosciutto and truffle to the mix, a European influence.

An off-the-menu item that our waiter recommended was the porkbelly french toast, which was literally the best thing ever. Hot from the kitchen, we individually prepared our porkbelly on toast, dipped in a delicious jam sauce. Everything was perfectly cooked, and somehow, I think, the kitchen managed to blend these strange flavors together into one truly delicious dish! I’m envious of my past self. Honestly, she is so lucky.

We also ordered the chicken, served with potatoes and aji verde sauce. The shishito peppers were a nice addition, despite the fact that they were not spicy. The onion also went well, slightly sweet, and delicious dipped in the sauce served with the chicken.

Our last savory dish was the mole, served with eggs and blue corn tortillas. Of course, the mole was the best part. For those of you who don’t know, mole is a Mexican sauce, and the addition of mole to the sunny side up eggs was delicious, especially with the yoke running through the cheese and tortillas. The cotija cheese also went well, its salty taste adding to the runniness of the eggs and the dryness of the tortillas.

Now for desert! As you may guess, we ordered one of each dessert. The ice cream sundae was surprisingly good, ordered for a fellow kid at the table. The lemon ice cream complemented the blueberries nicely.

6 spoons. 1 bite. A food war, as you can well imagine.

The calamansi sabayon, under the name “Dutch Baby”, funnily, was the best dessert served to us during this meal. The mixed berries and the sweet flavor of the dessert was heaven in a bite.

In addition to the Dutch Baby, our last dessert was the mille feuille, served with hazelnut. It was a little difficult to eat, just like the sabayon, but in both, the taste certainly made that up. 😉

(vanilla balls in middle of mille feuille= oh no how do I eat this without looking like a barbarian)

(I guess I’ll just look like a barbarian)

This delicious, while pricy meal was a beautiful mix of flavors that left me feeling fat but satisfied.

I would highly recommend this restaurant to any downtown LA goers looking for a fancy meal.

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Cheers! See you at the next meal!

Anya

For those of you who don’t already know, Din Tai Fung is a world renowned restaurant, famous for its xiaolongbao (小笼包). Xiaolongbao is a Chinese steamed bun dish, traditionally filled with pork. Modern Chinese restaurants have changed up the xiaolongbao to include vegetables, shrimp, seafood, and other fillings to appease new and modern audiences. Often, xiaolongbao has hot soup inside, my favorite. When I was younger, I’d often poke a small hole in the xiaolongbao with my mouth, letting the soup seep into my soup spoon. Now, I just eat it whole and let the hot soup spread in my mouth (cause I’m old now 😉 ).

In case you can’t tell, I’m a HUGE fan of xiaolongbao, and Din Tai Fung has always been one of my favorite restaurants. Here’s a link to the menu, below.

Appetizers

We went to the location at Del Amo on 21540 Hawthorne Blvd #519, Torrance, CA 90503. As a kid, before Din Tai Fung expanded into the U.S., I reserved a special (trademarked 😉 ) xiaolongbao face, featuring huge bug eyes, an open mouth, and jumping-up-and-down excitement for the certain occasions we visited Taiwan and ate delicious steamed buns and xiaolongbao.

We started out our meal with the soy noodle salad, the only vegetables on our table and a favorite (we ordered a second one after an initial taste).

One of my grandmother’s favorite dishes is braised beef noodle soup (牛肉面). It’s a spicy soup with thick noodles, perfect for a slurping five-year-old (definitely not me– of course not me).

We also ordered some spicy shrimp and pork wontons (红油抄手). This dish has always been one of my favorites as well as my mom’s; Din Tai Fung makes theirs a little differently. Their wontons have a sweet taste in them, as compared to an overwhelmingly spicy taste like usual Chinese restaurants.

And of course, we had to finish the meal with the famous xiaolongbao, or soup dumplings. We ordered pork dumplings as well as two orders of pork and crab dumplings. Our entire group dug into the xiaolongbao, so that’s why we had to order a second plate of pork and crab xiaolongbao towards the end of our meal to satisfy our appetites. Xiaolongbao comes in small bamboo baskets with easily stackable lids (these are often seen in dim sum restaurants). When the lid is opened, the fresh xiaolongbao lets out hot steam, reminiscent of the hot soup inside. A small bowl of ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, and chili oil is prepared by each customer to fit their individual tastes. The contents of this container should fill the whole soup spoon (excluding the xiaolongbao). The combination and the stacks of bamboo and soup dumplings are below.

Below, you can see what the bamboo container for xiaolongbao looks like.

That’s the end of this post! But wait… boba.

Din Tai Fung’s Boba is always delicious; but this time we got a to go order. We needed to walk off that huge, but delicious meal. 🙂

Smiley Face Rating: 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

P.S. If you go for lunch- especially on a weekday, there’s virtually no line!!

Cheers, and keep eating!

Anya

Denver Central Market is like any other Central Market in that it features a wide variety of foods and cuisines in one large building, so customers can pick and choose from different restaurants and shops. Located on 2669 Larimer St, Denver, CO 80205, Denver Central Market is slightly smaller than other central markets, but offers a variety of foods from tacos to sandwiches to caramels to ice cream (ice cream!).

After looking through the whole market, I decided on a poke bowl with salmon and tuna (off the menu- it was a combined item!).It was delicious, offered with a seaweed salad, cucumber, and a tangy soy sauce. The combination of salad and fresh fish is perfect for the summer!

The poke bowl came from the restaurant Silva’s, a “full service fish market”, as it says on their website, that serves ceviche, poke, and other delicious seafood.

As you can see from my pointed “ice cream!” remark earlier into this post, I was very enthusiastic about the ice cream (I always am). High Point Creamery, which gets 4.5 stars on Yelp, is a credible, delicious ice cream shop with unique flavors and options.

A link and picture of the menu are below:
http://www.highpointcreamery.com/menu.html

Although I am known for having a separate desert stomach, I was already full from before, so decided on a single scoop of coconut crème brûlée ice cream. This unique combination featured bits of crème brûlée and a distinct coconut flake flavor and texture as well. This was by far one of the best ice creams I have ever had, and I am sure that their other flavors, such as cookies and cream and brown sugar cinnamon, would also live up to this reputation.

To High Point Creamery, I would give five out of five smiley faces 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 (and maybe another 1/2- because it’s ice cream, come on 😉 ).
To Silva’s Fish Market, 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 1/2 (a 1/2 is deducted because of the overpowering flavor of tangy soy sauce in the poke bowl).

Thanks for visiting, and cheers!

Anya

Sweet Basil is a modern restaurant located in the village of Vail, 93 Gore Creek Dr, Vail, CO 81657. Known for its modern American meals, Sweet Basil is just above another notable restaurant, Mountain Standard. But because last year we descended upon the modern eats of Mountain Standard, this year we decided to try something new.

Below, I’ve included links to their website and menu for you to follow along.

Lunch Menu

Dessert

Above I’ve included the lunch and desert menus; the dinner menu can be viewed from their homepage, below.

Home

We decided to split both appetizers and mains among the group, and added a little taste of dessert at the end of our meal as well.

To start, we ordered the fava been hummus, the steak tartare, charred octopus, and carrot yuzu soup.

The fava bean hummus is a unique twist on traditional mashed chickpea hummus, green, creamy, and served with a warm flatbread on the side. It was a table favorite, and I would definitely recommend it for future Sweet Basil-goers. 😉

A couple years ago in Paris, Karsen and I tried what was known in Paris as the “best steak tartare in the world”. We hated it. This may have been because of our (sadly) young and inexperienced taste buds, but the steak tartare at this meal was much better than our first encounter with the dish. Although not as coveted as the hummus or charred octopus, the steak tartare definitely changed my previous view of steak tartare and tuna tartare, for that matter. With hints of Asian spice like gochujang and sesame, the steak tartare was a refreshing addition to the table.

The nori cracker on the side was also a favorite, a reminder of the shrimp “crackers” many dim sum restaurants serve with their dishes. 😉

The carrot yuzu soup was tasty, but it wasn’t quite what I expected in terms of flavor. The yuzu didn’t come through as prominently as I would have thought, and the majority of the soup was broth, which while appealing for some taste buds, was not appealing to mine. Here’s the yuzu soup, below:

The charred octopus was by far the highlight of my meal, the climax, the pillar, etc. The taste of meyer lemon sauce, green harrisa, and the perfectly charred octopus seemed to meld perfectly with my taste buds. Not too chewy or soft, the octopus was accompanied with delicious sides and was cooked to perfection. Not an exaggeration. This dish is a must for future guests.

That wraps up our appetizers, but we also ordered a couple mains, also shared in the middle.

The pork belly pastrami came first. It was delicious, but it fell apart easily. Unique tastes that should have been distinct like that of kale and gruyere, were not. For pastrami lovers tho, the pastrami was that of high quality and the dish as a whole was tasty.

P.S. We ordered truffle fries with cheese on the side 😉 that was the best part (alert! alert! known truffle addict here!)

I suggested ordering the salmon banh mi as an another main. Any guesses why? Because of the salmon? That’s right kids. 🙂 Maybe it was just because I had higher expectations for this dish, but the salmon banh mi also wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. The pickled carrots seemed to overwhelm all other flavors; in addition, a constant of our meal was the cilantro that was featured in every dish.

The Icelandic cod tacos were the best main we ordered; the avocado and cilantro mixed well with the cod, and it was a good addition to some of our other seafood sides.

To end our meal, our waitress suggested the sticky toffee pudding, which we immediately jumped at because of our wonderful magnificent absolutely fantabulous experience with sticky toffee in London. While the beginning of our meal seemed to foretell a scrumptious ending, for kids, this sticky toffee is a NO-GO. The overwhelming taste was that of rum, so the rest of the pudding had difficulty standing out with its own flavor. We ordered two for the table.

The alcoholic ending of our meal didn’t ruin its delicious beginnings, however. In a future visit, I would definitely visit Sweet Basil again for another delicious meal.

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 (4 Smiley faces! Go Sweet Basil!)

Two prominent pizza restaurants. A city with a deep love for food and sports. Enter: Pequod’s and Lou Malnati’s, two of the most famous deep dish pizza restaurants in Chicago. Like one of our servers told us, the difference lies in the crust.

Pequod’s, located at 2207 N Clybourn Ave, Chicago, IL 60614, is known for it’s carmelized crust. The only unfortunate thing about deep-dish pizza, as I learned as my stomach craved food and my mouth slobbered at the sight of pepperoni entering strangers’ mouths, is the 40 minute long wait. To satisfy my ravenous appetite, we ordered appetizers to start. A variety of fried dishes. Mozzarella sticks, fried zucchini, mushrooms, and peppers, as featured in the appetizer combo.

After what seemed like “fifty billion million years”, in Karsen’s words, our 2 medium pizzas finally arrived. Don’t let the word “medium” fool you, though. Deep-dish pizza is REALLY heavy. After our meal, I felt like a whale stuffed in a porcupine stuffed in another whale. And that’s not an exaggeration. We ordered pepperoni, sausage, and spinach on the first pizza and meatball, basil, and onion on the second pizza. Meatball was an interesting choice for a pizza, but the overall favorite was the pepperoni sausage.

Stuffed pizza, stuffed me.

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 1/2

Lou Malnati’s lacked the carmelized pizza crust that was such a big hit at Pequod’s. We ordered fried cheddar balls to start (40 minute wait and all), and they came out in a jiffy.

Yeah, knife and fork recommended. One scoffs at first, until the scalding hot pizza burns off those fingers. We neglected to take a picture of the cheddar balls, but they weren’t that good anyway. Mmm, sub par cheese, too. Not that I’m pretentious or anything. 😉

Less hungry, we ordered a medium sized Malnati Chicago classic deep dish pizza. We learned from the first encounter with TWO medium pizzas at Pequod’s.

Half-eaten? We tried, but we were still stuffed afterwards. Pequod’s and it’s carmelized crust and richer toppings made for better deep-dish, but I can see how Lou Malnati’s made for some interesting competition.

🙂 🙂 🙂 1/2

Here’s an interesting tidbit we learned while at Lou Malnalti’s: if you’re in Arizona and have a hankering for deep dish pizza, the first Lou Malnalti’s outside of the the Chicago area is open in PHOENIX!

Hey everyone!

Today’s the day after Obama’s birthday… so we decided to go shopping.

For shoes….(here, my favorites are the green plaid converse high tops and the combat boots- combat boots go with everything)

For clothes…

That’s a white jeans jacket to add to my collection, OVERALL SHORTS (OMG I LOVE OVERALL SHORTS! I’VE WANTED TO OWN A PAIR FOR SOOO LONG! sorry- excuse my reaction), and a button down black skirt. SO many outfit combinations by the way… I spent an HOUR in my room trying on new outfits… 😉

And makeup!

My favorite here would probably be the Revlon Matte Lip Balm… cause it’s a crayon and I know how to use a crayon (and not so much anything else).

Also, you’ll probably see some of these items in my August Favorites post cause why not? I’m already in love with them after all..

Cheers ya’ll!

Oh and here’s a BIG BIG BIG shoutout to the best mom ever (my mom, obviously)…
She picked out almost all of these things herself, and bought them, AND supported all my crazy inside ideas for outfit combinations. Thanks mom! You’re the best!

And another shoutout to my dad. While he couldn’t be here for the day after Obama’s birthday, I know he wanted to. And not only that, but it’s almost like he’s here because I’m sharing all my experiences by blogging! That, and this is all coming out of his and my mom’s paychecks (since I’m too young to have a job 🙁 )

Oh wait! (sorry guys this is longer than I expected) Thank you Pei Pei Ahyi!


LOL I couldn’t put the other two colors in because, like a boss, I already wore them. 😉

Thank you everyone! I love you all!

Fatty Daddy’s is an ice cream shop on 1608 N Miller Rd #5, Scottsdale, AZ 85257 known for its fatty daddy macaron ice cream. The mini and fatty daddy’s are scoops of ice cream covered with a macaron and topped with a roasted marshmallow.


Fatty Daddy’s has a variety of flavors to choose from, including many cereal-based ice creams.


Yup, that’s right. INCLUDING captain crunch and nutella.

Here’s a picture of the nice gent who served us:

I got caramel ice cream topped with a salted caramel macaron and a roasted marshmallow. They’re known for their roasted marshmallows.
And for your viewing pleasure, here’s a video of a true professional roasting the marshmallow on top of my ice cream. 😉
4da91757-7f12-49c3-a3ff-26343ceb4805
As for the ice cream, it certainly LOOKED good.

Okay fine. Despite how well the marshmallow was roasted (it truly tasted like camping marshmallows), I was slightly disappointed with my ice cream. It was far too sweet for my tastes (but maybe that’s just me), and was also EXTREMELY filling.

From the perspective of five-year-old me, however, this ice cream would have made my day.

🙂 🙂 🙂

Love,

-A

And to honor this monumental day, I not only read half of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (I had to save some for another day- I mean, come on), but I also dressed the part…

…in my Hogwarts scarf.

Also, kudos to snapchat for making a harry potter filter to mark the day!

Currently switching between reading Cursed Child and blogging,

-A

P.S. Here’s a shoutout to the greatest aunt!

Yup, those are totoro socks.

Soul Cafe is a breakfast place located at 7615 E Pinnacle Peak Rd # 1, Scottsdale, AZ 85255.

For Arizona’s Breakfast Week, Soul Cafe created a special breakfast menu starring the best selling Steak Oscar.

While the dish was delicious, the eggs were a little runny for my taste, and the steak (which I ordered medium rare) seemed overcooked. In addition, the combination of crab cakes and steak is kind of iffy. Crab cakes and steak are excellent by themselves, especially when made correctly, but together? Maybe I’m just not big on meat overload.

Overall, still pretty scrumptious for a breakfast meal out, however. AND it was only $1o per entree. For crab cakes and steak, I’d say that’s a pretty good price.

Karsen got the nutella bread pudding (obviously- it’s the only sweet entrée on the menu). Apparently, the ice cream accompaniment was a little to savory for his taste (but to be fair, it was jalepeño bacon ice cream).

Personally though, I think my dish was better. 😉

Over and out,

-A

🙂 🙂 🙂

Congratulations to HRC, the first woman nominated for a major presidential party!

Photo courtesy of nbc news (@nbcnews)

As a girl born in the 21st century, some might say that I we don’t quite understand what all the previous generations of women have done for us. And to some extent, that’s true. Every day I wake up in the morning, and I don’t think about WHY or HOW I get to go to school, or vote when I’m 18, or even get a job in the future. Nobody THINKS about these things, but they happened. Because generations of women worked for these rights.

And regardless of whether or not you support Hillary (I know I’ve certainly had my reservations about her [come on guys, don’t judge. Just because I’m young doesn’t mean I don’t read CNN and Politico and BBC and NPR and all the other news outlets. I have political opinions, too. ;)]), on July 28, 2016, HRC broke a glass ceiling that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

-A

P.S. The balloon drop wasn’t a complete failure this time!
P.P.S. Don’t tell anyone, but Obama’s speech brought me to tears. As did the fact that a woman was nominated for the highest seat in the nation.
P.P.P.S. You know what else will make me cry? If Trump becomes president….:(