Polarization

Pasta Pomodoro-Huntington Beach, CA

2007-10-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

I am always looking for new places to eat around work. Some places are ok, a few are a hit, while others fall under the "now I know" category. Pasta Pomodoro have impressed me enough times for return trips. I know Pasta Pomodoro is a chain, originating from norther CA, but it's a shift from the lunch monotony. The Huntington Beach branch is located inside Bella Terra.

The side of the restaurant looks nicer than the front. They have outdoor dining area which is nice at lunch time.

This is their lunch menu. The prices should still be good. Subject to change, blah blah..

Once your order is in, they serve you sourdough and pesto in garlic and olive oil, to tide you over until your meal comes out. Nothing too outstanding about the bread but the pesto sauce is yummy.
With every lunch special, you get either a salad or soup. The salad is a mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, gorgonzola and balsamic dressing. Once, I got a slightly whithered salad but that was the only time.

The soup is refreshing and light w/ veggies and buttered croutons. Either is a good choice w/ the lunch special.
Here is the meatball panini. They don't skimp on the cheese nor meatballs. Actually this is probably my favorite item off their lunch menu. I love the spicy (not really spicy) tomato dipping sauce. Sometimes I ask for extra pesto sauce so I can have two dipping sauces w/ the panini. The bread is buttered to a crunchy golden sear. And having the sauce on the side keeps the sammich crunchy down to the last bite. Also, the meatballs are not greasy as you would expect.

The chicken panini didn't impress me so much. I found the chicken a bit too dry and not as flavorful compared to the meatballs.
Next is the chicken parmigana w/ penne pasta, dressed up in red sauce. Pasta is cooked al dente. Chicken was actually moist, not like the chicken panini. Breading for the parmigana was a tad soggy for my tastes. But it's still a nice dish, (remember you do get a side salad/soup).
Besides the meatball panini, I liked this dish as well. It's their Healthy Fish. They use chunks of salmon, asparagus, basil, all rolled up in red sauce w/ their linguine.
Pasta Pomodoro
7811 Edinger Avenue, Suite 100
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
tel: (714) 897-8062
http://www.pastapomodoro.com/

Old Vine Cafe - Costa Mesa, CA

2007-09-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

Located in the back corner of The Camp, is this quaint little cafe. If you are familiar with The Camp, then you should know that this isn't just an ordinary cafe. Everything made here is made fresh daily, everything, even the granola. All the ingredients used are also brought in locally (Community Supporty Agriculture).

(Nice rustic welded out sign)

(el store front)

Their menus are actually printed pages tacked onto easels. Something different, something new.

My buddies arrived and we settled on these delightful dishes. First was the Bruschetta. The Crostini was quite soft. So soft that I had to use a fork and knife or end up with a lap full of the toppings. The Buffalo Mozzarella was simply amazing. It was velvety soft and creamy. The Spanish Olives were a tad salty for me. (Honestly, I do not like olives all that much..) I think I could have gotten a tub of the Mozzarella and have been a happy little idiot for the rest of the night.

One of my buddies got the Artichoke Halves. The artichoke was still slightly crunchy and the proscuitto slightly salty and crispy. Its too bad I only had small bites of it.
My other buddy got the Ahi Crisps. These were actually my fav dish of the night. The wonton crisps were light and airy without being oily. The ahi was fresh and tender. he wasabi creme fresh and the sweet soy were nice compliments to this light dish.
I ordered the Lasagnette. The sheets of pasta were cooked perfectly, yielding to each bite yet still tender and firm. Cubes of organic zucchini was slightly bitter, offsetting the semi sweet tomato sauce nicely.

Quoting from their website: "The cafe gets its name from the ancient vines of the old world wines of western Europe. "Old vines" are synonymous with wines of a unique quality, expressing the earth in which they are grown through the flavor of the grapes."

Old Vine Cafe, old classics with fresh new spins. Definitely worth repeated trips. I will warn you tho, don't get mad if I won't share.

Old Vine Cafe
The Camp
2937 Bristol St. Suite A-102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714-545-1411
http://www.oldvinecafe.com/index.html

Curry House - Cypress, CA

2007-08-28T09:00:00.001-07:00

Ah My Curry House
May your Curry never cease
I am an addict

I can honestly say that I have been going to Curry House for YEARS. I mean, since back in 1990. It started with the small restaurant in Little Tokyo, situated on the edge of Downtown LA. Then as they years went by, Curry House grew and branched out. And lucky for those in OC, the Cypress branch spurred. Ever since I found out of its location, it has been in my regular rotation of restaurants I regularly rely on for relished indulgences.

One of my favorite dishes at the moment is the Menchi Katsu Curry. It is served w/ a bed of rice and a side a crisp, fresh salad and a wedge of tomato, lightly drizzled w/ their signature Japanese dressing. And, of course, their famous Japanese style curry. Menchi Katsu is Curry House's unique creation: a hamburger patty, seasoned w/ spices and onions, then coated w/ probably panko or bread crumbs This is then deep fried until the outside is golden crunchy and the patty is throughly cooked on the inside. I love the crunchy and rough texture on the the outside, and the contrasting soft and tenderness on the inside.

The things I love about this place is their great service, high quality of food, and consistency in flavor. In all my years coming to Curry House and its various locations, the food remains incredibly the same.

One of the drinks I like to get is their iced green tea. Yes, we all had green tea in some form or another. But I like CH's version of the old classic tea. There is a subtle sweetness to the cool green concoction. Yet that does not distract from the boldness of the green tea. Iced green tea goes well with most of the dishes in CH. And an added bonus: you can get free refills.

Curry House: time tested, Polar approved. I know there are many other blogs about it, but I felt that my blog wasn't complete w/o it, for it being one of my favorite places to dine.

Branches located in Little Tokyo, West LA (Sawtelle), Gardena, Torrance, Puente Hills, Cypress, Irvine, and San Diego.

Curry House - Cypress, CA
10953 Meridian Dr., #P
Cypress, CA 90630
tel. (714) 527-6224
M- Th 11:30 am - 2:00 pm - LUNCH
5:00 pm - 9:00 pm - DINNER
Fri 11:30 am - 2:00 pm - LUNCH
5:00 pm - 9:30 pm - DINNER
Sat 12:00 pm - 9:30 pm - (open all day)
Sun 12:00 pm - 9:00 pm - (open all day)
http://www.house-foods.com/curry_house.html

Tokyo Deli, Huntington Beach, CA

2007-08-15T17:18:00.002-07:00

I am always looking for new places to eat, especially around where I am working. And when I saw the construction for this place, I have to admit, I was a bit excited and a bit skeptical at the same time. I didn't want this place to be another generic hole-in-the-wall for me to pass by every week, and neglect it for its lack of quality food. So far, I have had 4 of their bowls as well as 2 of the plate dishes.

I forgotten to take my camera with me, on the two occasions I went there on the spur-of-the -moment lunch decisions.

Tokyo Deli does not disappoint. They have rather large bowls and decent portions. All the food is piping hot and comes packed. Most of their bowls have the meat, veggies, and rice that soaks in the teriyaki sauce, as you eventually get to them.

I managed to snag these 3 pics.

This is their sesame chicken bowl. They serve it with a side of veggies on top of the rice. Usually, some places use left-over chicken for a dish like sesame chicken. But the chicken was very moist and tender. The sauce they use is cross between Teriyaki and donkatsu sauce. It was actually tasty w/o being overly too sweet.

The Beef and Onion bowl. I was rather surprised that it wasn't just beef and onions. Infact, I wished that this bowl had no side veggies like their other bowl and just the beef and onions. The soy-beef broth seeped into the rice, making it flavorful as well.

They also have a wide variety of sushi here. I managed to grab their Superman Burrito. Its a full Roll, cut once. It has tuna, salmon, crabmeat, avocado, cucumber, all wrapped in soybean paper. It was good. Nothing to extra-ordinary about it. Fish was fresh so that's always a plus. Off their menu, I count 29 different type of rolls, all ranging from $6.99 to $8.99.

One dish I tried but do not have a pic is their Katsu Curry. On a bed of rice, they put a cutlet of chicken katsu and tossed in a generous helping of their curry. The katsu was tender and not overly battered. It also came w/ a cool side salad w/ their miso dressing. I am quite picky when it comes to curry. And I didn't like their curry all too much. But everything was good. They also carry a variety of drinks - the usual soda fountain drinks to Iced green tea, Calpico, and canned iced coffee.

Overall, it's a great place for a quick bite to eat, esp during the workdays (if you are close by like me).

Tokyo Deli
6255 Bolsa Avenue
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
714-894-3784
M~Su 11:00AM to 8:30PM

Hang A Ri Noodle House - Garden Grove, CA

2007-07-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

Posted under OC Food Blogs.. enjoy ^^

http://www.ocfoodblogs.com/

Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill - Cerritos, CA

2007-07-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the hiatus. I got the case of the lazies for a bit. But back to the eats~! Ahhh BBQ. As many cultures are there in the world, there are just as many types of BBQ, if not more. Nestled in the outskirts of the the parking lot of the Cerritos Towne Center is a Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill.

(Yes, I took this from the website cuz I fergot to take one)

Me and my brother arrived around 1:30 PM on a Friday afternoon, wanting to try something new but relatively close by. I was surprised to find the place still packed with patrons, mostly business men and women. Also, we were in time to grab their lunch special, which comprised of a short list of 1/2 sandwiches, a WR Signature Side, and a side salad or soup, all for just $10.00. We both ordered a 1/2 BBQ Tri Tip Sandwich, side of their signature fries and a side soup of clam chowder (not shown).

But before any of the items came, we were given these awesome rolls right away: freshly baked, garlic butter rolls. Crispy on the outside, warm, tender, and soft on the inside. I polished off 4 of these before my food even came out.

(MMmmmm wait.. this is just for starters?)

We also ordered a 1/2 slab of their baby back ribs, sitting pretty on top of their Signature Peanut Slaw. These ribs were tender, fell right off the bone, and on the sweet-tangy side. One of the best baby backs I have had yet to date. The coleslaw was crisp and fresh. Not too heavy on the" slaw-dressing" neither. The peanuts also added a nice crunch to the slaw.

(I want my babybaby babyback baby..)

Then came the 1/2 BBQ Tri Tip Sandwich and this did not disappoint. In fact, it was very tender and moist. The mounds of tri tip they put on were roasted to prefection and slivered off onto the slightly toasted buns. Their signature fries were just ok. I didn't find anything spectacular about them to warrant the "signature". (The clam chowder not pictured was ok to me. Personally, I do not like the grittiness you get from not washing the clams throughly but it was ok.)

(More tri tip plz ^^;;)

Overall a great value for an awesome 1/2 sandwich and fix-ins. The service was great and waiters/waitresses were very attentive.

Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill - Cerritos, CA
12801 Towne Center Drive
Cerritos, CA
http://www.woodranch.com/

Peers ^^

2007-06-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

I have been give the privilege to join the fine bloggers of Orange County Food Blogs. ^^;;

My post about one of my fav ramen places have been posted and can be seen there.

Gombo Wang Korean Restaurant (Artesia, CA)

2007-05-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

There isn't much info out there about Korean noodles, especially not Naengmyeon. But to Koreans, they are a part of the Korean cuisine as the steak and potatoes are to the average American: you don't eat it every day, but you do eat it occasionally.

There are many different variaties of Korean noodles but the cold version is particularly popular, especially during hot summer days (and even nights). Tucked away in a corner of this small, rustic strip mall is Gombo Wang, a Korean Restuarant that specializes in Korean cold noodles, called naengmyeon.

(Its tucked away..)

There are 2 kinds of naengmyeon, water and mixed. Water naengmyeon has alot of flavorful broth, as described in the wikipedia description. Mixed, which is my preference and favorite, is served w/ a spicy sauce. Upon ordering, you are served w/ pickled turnips, potato salad, pickled celery/onion/chili pepper, and mook. Mook is a jellied form of either yellow or lima beans or acorn. The ones pictured here are the lima bean variety. It is velvety smooth and goes well with the cold noodles.

The cup you see here is not tea. Infact it's hot beef broth. Sounds strange but its something that is served in some Korean establishments. (You can also ask for ice water.)

I ordered the Wang (king size) Bibim (mixed) naengmyeon. Yes, that is a quarter next to it. You can also get a regular size of this as well. In this cold dish is a flavorful concotion of noodles, house spicy sauce, cool sliced cucumbers, slivers of the pickled radish, a few slices of beef and 1/2 a boiled egg. They cut the noodles for you (they are very very long).

(Its nice and cold~)

If you like, you can order a side of bbq beef rib. Even though Gombo Wang specializes in cold noodles, this marinated beef rib was very tender and full of flavor, which I found to be good. (Typically, you will find Korean noodle shops that have this combo).

And on every table you will find your condiments of hot yellow mustard and vinegar.

To end the meal, they serve you a small bowl of Sikhye, a sweet dessert-like cold drink, made from rice.
If you are ever in the mood for something different and refreshing, I highly recommend Gombo Wang - their noodles are excelletly prepared and the service is good too.

Gombo Wang Korean Restaurant
18009 Norwalk Blvd. #B
Artesia, CA 90701
(562) 402-1656

Darya (Persian) - Orange, CA

2007-03-10T17:36:00.000-08:00

Darya has been around for quite some time. When I was working in Orange, my boss would sometimes take the office out to this place. Back then it was quite good. So I decided to take out a couple of my friends out to here.

The best deal is actually during the weekday lunch and their lunch special ($6.95 to 10.95) Since we went on a Saturday, we didn't have that luxury and had to order from the dinner menu.

Bread and 'Dough'

We were served their warm bread which appeared like wafers but actually warm and soft. The bread was freshly made has a feel of a Lavash. The drink you see here is the Dough (doogh). Darya makes their own from scratch and it's pretty refreshing and unusual, if you are not familar with it. It's a yogurt drink with dried mint. Their home-made version is non carbonated, and they also offer a carbonated version.

Did someone say meat?

Our order for today was Barg, Chicken Koobiden, and Lamb Shish Kabob. Surrounded were Tomatoes, onions, and green pepers. All the meat were very moist and cooked to perfection.

MMmmmm Mmmm rice..

The rice they served with the meat was quite good. They call it plain rice but there's nothing plain about it. The Chelow persian rice was very fluffy and not sticky at the same time.

If you do try Darya, I recommend taking advantage of their weekday lunch specials. It does get pricey on the dinner side menu, but it was a good meal over all.

Darya - Orange
1998 North Tustin Avenue
Orange, CA 92865
714-921-2773
http://www.daryarestaurant.com/index_or.html

When In Rome

2007-03-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

I have a "When in Rome" mentality when it comes to food. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, eat Roman food, and there better well be Romans there. Meaning, if I go to a Thai Restaurant, there better be Thai patrons in that place. Zero Thai patrons = not a high quality of food, which is about 85% correct in my experience. Also, when i am in Rome, I am having Roman food. This means, I will not be getting fish at a steak house. I go to the specialty place to have their specialty item. Ordering anything else would be a waste of time, imo (in my opinion).

Now, there are exceptions to the rule: 1. I have had their specialty before and not impressed and wish to try other things. 2. even if the Romans aren't there, it's still very good food in it's own right.

Jake's Wing Company - Long Beach, CA

2007-03-10T17:07:00.000-08:00

My Brother and I went to watch 300, and as always, we were pressed for time. So to save time, we went to the closest place for food, Jake's Wing Company. While the thought of downing wings as a meal didn't appeal to me, I decided to try it out on the persuasions of my Brother. Upon entering and scanning thru the menu, i was pleased to see that they had more than just wings:I they also had sandwiches and salads. We both ordered the Chicken Cuban Panini Sandwiches combo w/ a drink and Fries.

They are battered~and more than the usual Tabasco.

Fries came out first and it held us over until the sandwiches came out. The battered fries were quite good. But as we got the condiments out, we noticed something strange. The ketchup didn't taste quite right. Yes, the basic condiment of all burger/cafe/diners. It had a slight 'wine' taste to it. Thankfully they had the Heinz Ketchup in the little packages and we dove right in. (After asking the lady if there was something special about the ketchup, she said it should have been your regular Heinz variety. The oddness of the taste was later confirmed by the store's manager and they replaced all of them w/ a new retaurant can of the Heinz.)

What's in here?

Our sandwiches came later, served w/ the side of pickle spear.

Panininininini~

Ok, now, I had Panini's in some awesome places and had it quite alot. By now, while I am not an expert on them, have a preference to them. The bread should be crunchy. The sandwich should not fall apart. After all, that was the purpose of the press: no mess, no fragmentated pieces. The bread they used was a sweet Hawaiian bread. While that sweetness did the lovely contrast to the salty black forest ham, it was limp and not crunchy at all. The limpiness was a bit disappointing. I also prefer my bacon on the near-burning-yet-cruncy side. It too, however, was limp and far from cruncy. The only thing that saved the sandwich was the chicken. Yes, this is a wings place that specialize in chicken. I should have fallen on my 'when in rome theory', but I was in a rush and didn't expect their sandwich to be this much of a failure. But the chicken was very moist, and flavorful (a bit Cajon-ish). That in itself made the sandwich worth while.

I would definately come back and try their wings next time. When in Rome.. ah.. Rome..

Jake's Wing Company
The Pike at Rainbow Harbor
160 Bay Street
Long Beach, CA 90802
(562) 590-5544

http://www.jakeswings.com/

NelBom- Stanton, CA

2007-02-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

My first post is, oddly enough, about Korean BBQ. It also happens to be all-you-can-eat. But if you consider the price for the variety and amount of food AND the quality of the food, you will wonder why you never saw this place. They serve the meat and any of the banchan to your table. So you can sit back and enjoy the meal at your leisure.

It's located not in the usual location: it's not in Garden Grove's Korea Town. Infact, it's on Beach, between Cerritos and Katella.

You have a choice of List A, or List B. List A has 4 choices of meat, for $11. List B has 10 meat choices, for $15. They both come with a handful of banchan, as well as steamed egg, thinly sliced rice noodle. You can ask for rice if you want. The Bean Paste Stew is commonly known as Miso, is pretty much a staple stew side item in Korean homes. It's name is "dwen-jang-guk."

This is the thinly sliced rice noodle and thinly sliced radish you "wrap" your meat with.

Compliments of the banchan that came w/ our all you can eat. To me, any banchan is mediore, because of my mom's cooking: it's just side attraction to the main course.

We started off with Cha-dor-bae-gi, the Black Angus Beef Brisket. It's thinly sliced and cooks up fast~This was only 1/2 of the meat given.. the rest were on the grill.

Ahhhh meat...

Next up was the Marinated Sliced Beef Rib, "Joo-moor-luck." It was very tender and flavorful.

Note the marbalization of the meat before cooking.

Items not pictured: side of salad that you can eat on its own or as a part of the "warp" w/ the noodle slice, steamed egg, whole grilled fish.

We also ordered the barbequed ribs, but they are just the meat portion and not the bones. I wasn't too excited about the large slab pieces and wished I got more of the joo-mool-luck.

On a previous visit, we did get the BBQ Chicken and Pork. Pork is done with a spicy blend and quite soft. The BBQ Chicken wasn't all too exciting and nothing special.

On Fri-Sat nights, it does get crowded. Even on a full night, we did get good service, and the waitress only forgot 1 thing, which we reminded her again.

Overall, considering the price, and considering it's all-you-can-eat, and quality of the meat, its a great bargain. Don't expect great banchan tho, if that's what you seek for in a Koean restaurant.

NelBom Korean BBQ Restaurant
10712 Beach Blvd
Stanton, CA 90680
714-226-9292

(Update as of 05.01.07 - quality does not seem as good as before.. I will make 1 more attempt at this place and determine if it's worth going back or not.)

intro

2007-02-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

So, I guess a bit of an intro is in order: I love to eat. I mean, I love a good med-rare steak to delicate tastes that dance around my tongue. A lot of my friends love the places I suggest and the new places I take them to. Most of that is in part of me exploring places on my own, others are from places i find interesting off other food blogs.

This blog will be mostly for my food review and maybe occasional rants. So please bear with me.

Why the name Polar and title of Polarization? One of my nicknames was Polar bear. I could do the coca-cola polar bear sounds pretty well. Plus I'm a big guy for being Asian (6'-3", 275 lbs). Polarization used to be the title of my old blog that was lost in the shuffle a few years back. In a way, I am resurrecting it and getting back into blogging.

I was born in Korea, moved to the US when I was 9 years old. So I am VERY familiar with all the different Korean dishes and specialty places. Yes, not all Korean restaurants are not BBQ or tofu. Those I hope to cover in the near future. Also, some of the pronunciations will be used as close to the phonetically sounds of my native tongue. I will try to also put in the "popular" spellings or pronunciations, but I will ask that you do no correct my own spelling. Besides, I do not know who came up with them in the first place. One classic example is Banchan (panchan). Yes, you have heard "panchan" before, but the correct pronunciation is with a "B" sound. The description of banchan from Wikipedia is pretty accurate, with the exception of "meant to be finished at every meal." I do not know of 1 korean family that finishes their banchan in 1 meal sitting. (see what i mean by rant? lol) Perhaps they were referring to the small 'tranfer' dishes. But most Korean homes do not use them. Usually the dishes are shared and the remaining is stored away for the next day. It's a Korean thing, I know.. I can hear your 'ewww's.

My tastes will range from Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Philipino, Mexican, Italian, and of course, Californian/American. I do try new things and what not. If I do not like a certain kind of food, it is because I already tried it, and not because of what is in it. Geographically, I will be focusing closer to orange county and sometimes Los Angeles.

I guess that pretty much covers most of what an intro should cover ^^;; /rantoff