Here’s a smorgasbord of stuff I ate in NYC and LA.
Around home
Brindle Room fresh donuts – Caramel donut made out of mashed potatoes. Surprisingly light. Made to order.
酒釀 (sweet fermented rice) – This is a common winter comfort dessert. My mom has been making this for decades. It smells like rice wine. We usually cook it with eggs, rice balls, or mandarin oranges. I was about to eat some today, when I realized my roommate had thrown my tub out… :(
Bespoke Chocolates – Sadly, this chocolate shop just shuttered last week. They have beautifully crafted artisan chocolate and was hidden in an alley near Houston St. Pretzel-Covered Sea-Salted Caramels, Venezuelan Dark Chocolate Cognac, Southampton Tea Truffle, Strawberry Balsamic, and Lavender Honey Fleur de Sel Caramel seen below.
Pulino’s – Brunch! I discovered sausage gravy and biscuits in my college dorm. I have yet to meet an unsatisfactory version of this dish.
Los Angeles
Newport Seafood – I’ve been wanting to eat at Newport Seafood ever since I saw it on Oh Joy!’s blog. I LOOOOVE Chinese-style seafood. My friend J and her husband indulged me on my quick trip to LA. We had the clams with black bean sauce, their popular beef loc lac, a healthy dose of pea sprouts, and their special lobster.
After Newport, they took me to Phoenix for Cantonese dessert, which is a lot of soups and pudding. We had coconut milk and black sticky rice, mango tapioca and coconut, and pudding blocks (black sesame, mango, taro, coconut).
Royal/T Cafe – I met up with J, who I hadn’t seen since the move from NYC, in my birthtown of Culver City. J suggested this cute, whimsical Japanese cafe/store/gallery. Note: free (tight) parking is available in the back. We caught up over the high tea set, which included a kobe beef “hambagu”. The royal T tea was underwhelming. This was my first stop after the airport and I forgot how great Califonian produce was. The Japanese design shop is also worth a browse. I have a thing for museum shops and this was no exception.
More LA next time…
