Los Angeles Day 3: Kickin It Oldschool

On my third day, I hit up a couple places that I used to frequent while in college. My friend Donna picked me up so we could get some food and catch up on the past couple of years. The first stop was LA Chinatown–the one in downtown, not Monterey Park–for a giant bowl of pho at Pho 87. Pho 87 is hole in the wall with great tasting and unpretentious food. It was packed with out-of-Chinatowners even at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon, a testament to its deliciousness.

Since this would be my only Vietnamese meal for a couple months, I did as I did at Santouka: ordered a dangerously large amount of food. I started with a bowl of their special pho, which came with a variety of cow parts that reminded me of anatomy for some reason: tripe, tendon, flank, meatballs. And unlike the brown-water broths normally served in Nashville, the soup here exuded flavor which could only come about from hours of brewing no less than a dozen different ingredients.

I also ordered egg rolls for the both of us, but somehow I was the only one eating them. I had five out of eight pieces, to be specific.

I finished up with a glass of che 3 mau, a concoction of beans and jellies in coconut milk. It’s really more of a dessert than a drink, but every place always serves this as a drink. After finishing my bowl of noodles, egg rolls, and che 3 mau, I felt a sudden urge to urinate (I did drink a lot of fluid, after all). It was when I finally stood up after eating that I realized just how much I ate: my abdomen began to contract, trying hard to contain all that I ate to prevent my stomach from bursting out a la Aliens.

It was painful.

I never thought I would throw up from eating so much. And I wasn’t going to anytime soon. I suggested to Donna that we kick it and meander around Chinatown.

Chinatown is one of the most underrated hangouts in Los Angeles. Sure, it’s a huge tourist spot during the day, but it doesn’t compare to New York’s Chinatown; you won’t find counterfeits here. During my years tutoring at Castelar Elementary School, it was only during my last year at USC that I discovered the art galleries and hipster shops in between antique shops. There’s also a pretty chill nightlife. And the architecture is pretty awesome. It’s like walking around an brightly colored Asian themepark.

I came back with baked goods–egg tarts–despite my stomach ache. And I ate them. They were creamy, flaky and delightful.

That night, I went to Yai in Thai Town, another hidden gem/hole in the wall I only discovered during my senior year at USC. The food is cheap, plentiful, and made with some soul. Each dish tasted like someone’s mom or dad made it, albeit without as much love, because I don’t really know who made it, so there’s not much love there. But it’s still good!

Pad thai was at a happy medium in between neon orange and poo brown. It’s also tastier when it’s not either of those colors, too.

The panang here was leaps and bounds superior to the one I had on Friday, and any I’ve had in Nashville. The sauce was creamy and thick, much like a stew. I ordered this mild, but I probably should’ve asked for something spicier. Thai food just isn’t the same when I’m not reaching for a Thai tea to extinguish a fire in my mouth.

The beef salad I ordered did start a small fire, though. This was one of the more authentic dishes on the menu, with beef and red onions tossed in vinegar, chilis and rice powder. Usually beef salads tend to be overwhelmingly sour or spicy, but this was balanced, possibly from the rice powder? I’ve never had rice powder so I can’t say for sure.

It’s been a week since I almost ate myself into painful stomach ache oblivion, and I think I’m still suffering the consequences of eating that much. I don’t regret it, though. Somehow, eating until the verge of throwing up made me feel alive. So how do I feel about it now? I say, “Screw Ben Franklin and his quotes–I live to eat!“

Los Angeles Day 1: WeHoooo (Or Just West Hollywood)

Preface: I’ve decided to cut down the content of my Los Angeles posts for the sake of conciseness, save for a few restaurants that warrant an in-depth discussion. I was able to visit about half the places on my “map of happy tummies,” and also visit a couple other places that weren’t on the map, but still delicious, nevertheless.

I landed Friday night around 8:30, and waited for my buddy from high school, Ryan, to pick me up from the airport. The contrast between Nashville and Los Angeles is beyond description. The multitude of people and cars and buses circling the airport arrivals level made my head spin after spending months in little ol’ Nashville. After almost 30 minutes of waiting, I was starting to become enraged purely by osmosis of the abrasiveness around me. I couldn’t stand anymore honking from every other car. And then Ryan showed up, and we were off!

We went to West Hollywood because that’s where Ryan’s girlfriend lives. Along the way, we stopped at a random Thai place, Sammy’s Thai BBQ, to pick up some food. I ordered a panang with chicken. I don’t want to bore you with details and crappy photos of the food, so I’ll just say this: it was meh. I guess Thai places in LA are either a hit or miss.

I lied. Here’s a picture of my food. Where is the substance?

Following dinner, we went out to some gay bar in WeHo, where we partook in 2 for 1 margaritas. It was $7 for two Patron margaritas. I can’t complain. I also saw an old college friend on the way out, who is currently on his third year surgery rotation at Keck. Hm. Interesting.

Walking back, we dropped into Barney’s Beanery, Los Angeles’ version of a dive bar: it’s kinda like all the bars around Nashville, except the crowd seemed more fake (but more diverse!), and it didn’t feel as authentic. At this point in the night, fried food = drunk food = GOOD FOOD. I really liked the fried mushrooms–you don’t see too many of those these days.

Afterwards, we trekked home along the streets of West Hollywood. The walk home involved spotting a stand called LA Buns and Ryan urinating in public. This walk isn’t that interesting now that I soberly recall. After we got home, stuff became more blurry. And that was the end of my first night in Los Angeles. I swear day 2 will be much more interesting and delicious UMAMI-licious.

Sammy’s Thai BBQ, Barney’s Beanery, and LA Buns are all on Santa Monica Blvd.

A Hundred Dollars Worth of Pad Thai

I bought a lot of pad thai last week.

Siam Cuisine catered an introductory dinner for Vanderbilt’s chapter of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA). I ordered enough pad thai, rice, pork prad krao, and asparagus and tofu for 35 people. I think only 20 people came. People probably didn’t care that much about APAMSA, or were too busy studying. It was ok, though. My feelings weren’t hurt even though the turnout was less than spectacular–I got to take home lots of leftovers. So yes, I did end up eating most of that pad thai.

I’ve eaten at Siam Cuisine before, and it’s probably one of the better Thai places in Nashville, though that’s not saying much when comparing to the subpar Asian restaurants here. Thai food in larger cities are definitely more delicious and cheaper, but I guess there’s not a lot of demand for better Asian food here to drive that change in the restaurant scene. The prices here are cheaper than most Thai restuarants in Nashville, but it’s still more expensive than what I’m used to. The pad thai was decent, but lacked mix-ins like tofu and shrimp. I’m used to pad thai with eggs, bean sprouts, tofu, chicken, shrimp, nuts, carrots, and lime. I think this version had half that. I’d still try it again, however, because the catered food might not be of the same quality as food prepared in smaller batches.

The pork and veggie dishes were soupy, and a little oily, but there were still hints of basil and umami. They also look strikingly similar, probably as a result of the “same sauce, different ingredients” method of cooking. It’s best to eat these dishes with lots of rice to balance out the saltiness.

Next time I’ll have to try their beef noodle soup; nothing beats a steaming hot bowl of noodles, beef, and MSG. I’m still looking for a place that can do it right.

Siam Cuisine

265 White Bridge Pike # E

Nashville, TN

(615) 354-0082‎

A Bay Area Diversion

Summer ends too quickly. It’s especially quick when it’s the last summer you’ll ever have. Next summer, I’ll be spending the first six weeks studying in the library because my life depends on it, and then I’ll follow that up by spending the rest of my life working in a hospital. So how did I spend my last week in California? I stuffed my face silly during a short trip to San Francisco.

I don’t think my digestive system has been the same ever since.

The problem I face every time I go to Los Angeles or San Francisco is this: I only visit for a couple of days every so often, and there are only a limited amount of meals that can be eaten during the day–that amount being governed by how much I pain and discomfort I can tolerate from overstuffing my stomach. So the real problem is: deciding if I should stick to the restaurants I know will meet my expectations of deliciousness, or if I should venture out and try new restaurants? This was especially problematic this time around since I knew it would be a long time before I would return to San Francisco. It should’ve been an easy decision to revisit my old favorites one last time before the rest of my life began, but for some reason, I chose to explore what the city by the bay had to offer. Unfortunately, that meant I had some bland meals, which amounted to tasteless calories. But on the upside, I discovered Mamacita’s, which has now become one of my favorite places—if not THE favorite—to eat. And that was after tasting just four of their dishes.

I’ll save Mamacita’s for its own post later. It needs a post of its own.

So for now, I’ll just post more food porn with very little description—the best kind of post, right?

My first meal had to be something familiar. I needed some good food that I couldn’t get in Fresno, so we went to King of Thai for some beef noodle soup, pumpkin curry, and pad thai.

The noodle soup was saltier and darker in color than Vietnamese pho, but is more similar to pho than it is to ramen or Taiwanese beef noodle soup. This bowl came with some cuts of beef flank (I think) and beef balls. And I’m pretty sure there was some MSG in there. Noodle soups just aren’t fantastic without MSG. Note: they can be good—even great—without MSG, but they’ll never be fantastic.

The pumpkin curry was made with kabocha, and had only a subtle pumpkin flavor. I don’t know how to intensify pumpkin flavor with anything other than cinnamon. I can’t remember if it was spicy, but I’m sure it can be modified.

Pad thai. Good.

The next morning I went to Crepes A Go Go, a chain with multiple locations in the bay area. Out of all the crepe places I’ve tried, this place has the best crepes in my opinion because the majority of the crepe is firm, yet soft, and the outside edges are crispy. That crispiness is what separates crepes from rolled-up giant thin pancakes in my opinion. This particular crepe was filled with egg, turkey, and jack cheese–a pretty standard combination of foods.

This breakfast was followed by some really bland meals at restaurants I would rather forget, but I won’t because I need to remember not to go there because I don’t like meals that have no flavor. Unless I’m sick and I need to eat bland foods, that is.

That Takes The Cake is a small cupcake shop on Union by Steiner. I’ve been here a couple times, and enjoyed their cupcakes, but mostly the cake part; I hate frosting. Fortunately, That Takes The Cake doesn’t go overboard with frosting, unlike other places that I’ve seen. These remind me of cupcakes you buy at grocery stores because they don’t look too outlandish, but their flavors are quite unique, like the flavors I got that day: red velvet, key lime, and carrot cake. Their version of red velvet was the very first time I’ve ever tried red velvet, which I think is unusual since it’s a Southern specialty that I seemed to have avoided eating in this last year I’ve lived in Nashville. I’ll be on the prowl for some real red velvet (which is made with cocoa that turns red when oxidized, not with spoonfuls of red dye) when I’m in Nashville this time around.

My stomach was pretty satisfied by the end of the trip; I’d filled it with Thai food, crepes, and cupcakes, a fairly representative sample of foods that I wouldn’t find or willingly eat in Fresno for lack of quality. Until I return, I can say that I left my stomach in San Francisco.

That Takes The Cake

2271 Union St

San Francisco, CA

(415) 567-8050‎

Crepes A Go Go

2165 Union St

San Francisco, CA

(415) 928-1919‎

King of Thai Noodle House

639 Clement St
San Francisco, CA

(415) 752-5198‎

King of Thai Noodle House

I have a confession to make: I like purple. It’s not a bad color at all. And the coolest thing about King of Thai Noodle House on Clement is that the interior is purple. And all the employees wear purple. Not deep, dark purples, but more lavenderish. I really regret not taking a picture of the interior and the employees; I think think the choice of purple for everything is something only an Asian restaurant would ever decide to do. But this blog isn’t really a platform for me to wax on about the color purple, is it now? Let’s talk food: it’s gut-busting good.

Like with many Asian hole-in-the-wall places, the prices are reasonable, bordering on cheap, and the food is plentiful in quanity and taste. We ordered a good variety of dishes that we were nowhere close to finishing, unless we wanted to throw up a couple times to make room. I wanted a good variety, so we started out with a papaya salad, and followed that up with pad thai, pad see ew, and a green curry.

I’ve had papaya salad at many places in Los Angeles, the most notable being the one from a food stall at the now-defunct food court at Wat Thai Temple. For about 7 bucks, we got a large plate overflowing with papaya, some cherry tomatoes, and ground up dried shrimp. The shrimp I’m talking about aren’t the kind that are served in most places in Fresno. They’re miniscule and dried, then crushed up to look like bacon bits almost, except that in the sauce for the papaya salad, they instill a bold fishy taste. These kinds of salads are supposed to be a little fishy, which is why most western palates are put off by the smell and taste. This one was a little too much for me as well. I was never a huge fan of that seafoody taste, so I saved my stomach for the feast that was about to unfold.

The pad thai was sweet and tangy, and what I’ve come to expect from many Thai places. This version had a bolder flavor than other versions, and I enjoyed the slight tangy aftertaste following noodles going in my belly.

Pad see ew is highly underrated in my opinion. When people think Thai food, they think pad thai, not pad see ew. But they should! Not only does it have one of the most awesome “think out of the box” noodles (flat and broad), but the sauce isn’t as tangy as pad thai, and it also employs the use of Chinese broccol, which adds bitterness to the mix of flavors. And (!) it also tastes better the next day after a good microwaving.

Their green curry was standard fare–I don’t think I could tell the difference between green curries at different restaurants. It was nice though. My favorite thing to do with leftover curry sauce is to pour the rice into the bowl of curry, mixing it around, and creating what my friend refers to as gruel. But this tasty concoction doesn’t deserve such disgusting name. I think something along the lines of “greater than oatmeal” or “curry risotto” would be more befitting. Then again, many tasty Chinese foods have terrible names, so I’d rather just eat than focus on naming dishes.

I wish we had more places like this in Fresno. I wouldn’t mind making late night pad see ew runs. This particular location had another King of Thai just 4 blocks away! Can’t Fresno have one?

King of Thai Noodle House

639 Clement St

San Francisco, CA

(415) 752-5198‎