The SLY Foodie

For the faithful reader(s) of the blog, I must apologize for not posting as frequently as I should. I'm trying to catch up with the blogs, and there are many restaurants to write about, because obviously, I have been eating since April 2009. So thanks for your patience, more reviews are on the way!

House of Pies is located on Vermont Avenue in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. It is similar to Coco’s, in that it is a restaurant that is known for its pies as opposed to everything else it serves. My coworkers have always bought pies there for special occasions, and boy, are they good (the pies, I mean). I’ve always had the Strawberry with Cream Cheese pie… while it is an awesome piece of pie, I must admit that it will contribute, if not, cause adult diabetes. I would recommend getting this pie during strawberry season, though, as the strawberries do taste better.

This time, we visited House of Pies in November to buy some pies for a potluck. Since it was Thanksgiving season, we purchased a pumpkin pie, a Dutch apple pie, and the usual Strawberry Cream Cheese pie. The total cost was about $38, which translates to $11-12 per pie, plus tax. Seems kind of pricey, but well worth it.

I must preface my review and say that I have never had pumpkin pie before – I have never even wanted to try pumpkin anything before 2008. But after trying a pumpkin mousse tart recipe, I decided that pumpkin didn’t taste terrible, and again, it was Thanksgiving, after all. So after a bite of the pumpkin pie, I was hooked forever. Out of the three we purchased, it was the best one because it wasn’t too sweet, and it was the perfect complement to a great meal. The crust was perfect, cooked to golden brown. The filling was creamy and flavorful, with a good consistency.




Unfortunately, I can’t say much about the other two pies, primarily because I forgot. I was way too focused on the pumpkin pie. The only thing I do remember about the other pies was the fact that they were yummy as well, just not as good as the pumpkin!

House of Pies
1869 North Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, California
323.666.9961‎

On Valentine's Day this year, I decided to bring the steakhouse home. For dinner, I made a bone-in ribeye steak with marsala cream sauce, served with roasted asparagus and fingerling potatoes. For dessert, I kept it simple with an oatmeal cookie. In my opinion, nothing says love more than a homemade oatmeal cookie fresh out of the oven. In fact, it is one of the things I would want my boys to remember about their childhood - that their mama made the best oatmeal cookies.

But I digress, back to dinner. The steaks were bought from our local grocery store. I seasoned one side with salt and pepper, then laid both steaks to rest in a scorching hot pan, seasoned side down. Then I seasoned the other side. The steaks cooked for about 5-6 minutes on each side, using medium heat, and it came out medium. Perfectly cooked, just the way we like it. Then I loosely covered the meat with some foil to let it rest and keep warm. Done.

The asparagus happened to look good and be on sale, so that was a no-brainer for my vegetable choice. I made a quick marinade of salt, pepper, minced garlic and olive oil, then poured it over the asparagus on a sheet pan. They were roasted at 400° for about 15 minutes. Done.

As for the starchy side dish, I saw a bag of fingerling potatoes at Trader Joe's that required the most work of all: poke a hole in the bag and nuke it for 5 minutes. I say that sarcastically, just in case. What I did after was add some butter and garlic in the pan I cooked the steaks with, sauté for about a minute, then tossed the cooked potatoes in. Done.

Last, I made the sauce by first cooking some crimini and shitake mushrooms in the same pan the steak and potatoes were cooked in, then deglazed with some marsala, let it reduce by half, then added heavy cream and let that reduce in half. Seasoned to taste, done.

To celebrate Valentines Day, my husband and I went to The Terrace for dinner. We figured that we liked our Dining Room experience last year, so there should also be good food there for less buck. Plus, Open Table offered us a bonus of 1,000 points to dine there, so it was a pretty good incentive.



Before our appetizers came, we were served with a bread basket, which featured the regular sourdough bread, along with a parmesan/asiago cheese cracker bread. It also came with butter and a sundried tomato tapenade. The tapenade was excellent - I would have finished it, but our dishes came.



For starters, my husband ordered the Seared Sea Scallops, which were two delectable scallops served atop sauteed wild mushrooms, which were on top a truffle celery root puree and veal jus. I only had a small bite, which in my opinion was excellent, but I am a sucker for perfectly cooked scallops. It was also combined with one of my favorite things: mushrooms. I wish I had taken the time to savor the celery root puree and the veal jus, but frankly, I was enjoying my appetizer much more. Judging by the way my husband practically licked his plate clean, I would say that it was a great way to start the meal.



I ordered the Slow Braised Short Rib, which was served with a Castroville artichoke and a micro green salad. Let me preface the negative comments by saying I've never had a microgreen salad or a fresh artichoke. In my opinion, the salad would have been great if it hadn't been over salted (which will be a recurring thing); the leaves were tender and had a very "verdant" taste, for lack of better descriptors. But the salt overpowered that verdant taste, and killed it for me. The artichoke was served with roasted winter vegetables, some carrot and parsnips. It was uneventful for me, because I don't know how a fresh artichoke is supposed to taste, nor do I know if it's cooked perfectly or not. Besides, I was eagerly looking forward to polishing off the star of the dish - the short rib. Words cannot describe how good that short rib was. So I won't.



For my entree, I chose the bone-in rib eye, which was served with spring vegetables and bearnaise sauce. The steak was cooked perfectly, slightly pink and was very juicy and flavorful. My only complaint is that it was slightly on the salty side. The vegetables comprised of zuchinni and red peppers, tossed with dried rosemary and maybe some thyme, very boring. It also came with some red potatoes with caramelized onions, also very boring in terms of flavor profile. The bearnaise sauce was good, not too much champagne vinegar, although I thought that it was a little on the thick side.



My husband ordered the John Dory, pan roasted and served on top of ratatouille and beurre blanc. Quite frankly, I was so enamored with the short rib, I didn't pay much attention to the fish. But I thought the ratatouille tasted like tomatoes, and the fish tasted fresh.

For sides, we chose the creamed spinach (because I love creamed spinach) and ham and black truffle macaroni and cheese (because we have never had black truffles before). First the spinach: it was nasty. It was oversalted to the extreme, as if someone forgot that it has already been seasoned, and proceeded to season it again. If the salt wasn't bad enough, the overpowering scent and taste of the nutmeg will get to you. It was an overwhelmingly disappointing side dish. Now the mac and cheese: it wasn't that much better. It tasted like processed cheese, although I'm pretty sure it was most likely a low-grade sharp cheddar. The sauce wasn't really velvety smooth like it should be on a mac and cheese; it was clumpy and it seemed like the dish was left sitting under a heat lamp for a while (which would make sense, considering we got these dishes very late into our entrees). As for the truffles, it was only so-so. Seeing as I don't have a basis for comparison, I really can't say whether it was good or bad.

For dessert, I had planned on ordering something off the menu that one of the waiters highly recommended when, lo and behold, our server brought us a complimentary dessert of Dominican organic chocolate souffle accompanied with a sauce. It was a very yummy souffle, although it didn't make me forget what I originally wanted: coconut risotto, caramelized pineapple, coconut sorbet with a guava coulis.

It was an overall pleasant dining experience, more so for my husband than me, however. He got a second glass of whiskey on the house. For me, it seemed like I reached the pinnacle with that braised short rib, and everything went downhill from there. Dessert seemed to bring it back up, although I still think that the coconut pineapple dessert would have brought it up higher.

Dolcissimo, which means "the sweetest" in Italian, recently opened in The Shoppes at Chino Hills as part of the recent cupcake craze. I hadn't planned on stopping by, but the storefront was very inviting; it had a cute and fun vibe to it. Okay, maybe the cupcakes beckoned me to enter as well. So, with anticipation I walked into the store and proceeded to get the Dolcissimo experience.

Modeled after cupcake giant Sprinkles, it offers many different daily cupcake variations such as Strawberry Shortcake, Red Velvet, Apple Pie, etc. However, unlike Sprinkles, Dolcissimo also offers other sweet treats such as baby cheesecakes, cannolis, and individual-portioned pies. Being an unofficial Red Velvet afficionado, I had to have a red velvet cupcake. I also ordered the Cloud 9 (a Madagascar Bourbon vanilla cupcake with blue buttercream frosting), a Snowball (chocolate cupcake with white frosting and shredded coconut) and the Cookies n' Cream cupcake.

I couldn't wait until dessert to try these cupcakes, after all, they were $3.25 each! So first the Cloud 9. I was slightly disappointed because the frosting was too sweet for my taste and the cupcake itself had a flour-like aftertaste, as if the flour was not cooked out. Plus, it was a little on the dry side. But I pressed on, trying the Red Velvet next. I was much happier because the cream cheese frosting, although generous, was not overpowering, and the cake was moist. In other words, it was yummy. Exactly what a red velvet cupcake should be. Although honestly, it still doesn't compare to Auntie Em's Red Velvet.

Unfortunately, I was way too full from dinner (I blame Jack in the Box) to try the other two flavors. If I had to form my conclusions now, I would say that Dolcissimo is definitely worth a second (or third) visit. I would suggest going on different days though, just to give the other cupcake flavors a chance. Just don't get the Cloud 9.
























Dolcissimo Bakeshop
13855 City Center Drive, #3010
Chino Hills, California 91709
(909) 591-3646
http://www.dolcissimobakeshop.com/

AOI Restaurant is a small Japanese restaurant located in Little Tokyo near Downtown Los Angeles. It serves the traditional Japanese fare, like teriyaki, sukiyaki, tempura, sushi, ramen, etc. It's primarily well-known among people who work in the area who take advantage of their lunch specials.


Speaking of which, the most popular lunch specials is the "B Lunch." The B Lunch features teriyaki chicken, shrimp and vegetable tempura, sunomuno, rice, salad and miso soup. In my opinion, AOI has the best tempura downtown. The batter is light and crisp, and the vegetables are not overcooked. The teriyaki is also very tasty as well. The teriyaki chicken is good, some of the time. Sometimes, it tends to be overcooked and dry; other times you taste the charcoal that comes from burning the edges. There have been a few times when I've actually noticed that the chicken was cooked nicely. The teriyaki sauce is good, not too sweet nor salty. The miso soup is great; they don't add seaweed in it (I don't like seaweed), but they do add some nice pieces of tofu - yummy. The salad is comprised of iceberg lettuce, cabbage and shredded carrots served with their house dressing, which is never enough.


Also available is something called the No. 2 Plate, which includes teriyaki steak, shrimp and veggie tempura, rice, salad and miso soup. It is a generous portion of steak which is cooked well. There are also more tempura pieces to enjoy.


On one of our visits, we ordered the gyoza as an appetizer. We were served with six pieces of pan-fried dumplings. They also included a bottle of sesame oil, which we mixed with soy sauce. The gyoza were delectable, nice combination of ground pork with vegetables.


Overall, Restaurant AOI is a great place for a tempura/teriyaki lunch combo at a relatively reasonable price. Lunch specials start at $8.95.

Each year we try to make it to the annual fried food smorgasbord that is the LA County Fair. Now, everyone knows that the food makes the fair, at least it does, in my opinion. Sadly, however, I am noticing that the older I get, the less room I have for all these delectable treats that is sure to send you to the nearest hospital for a triple bypass or something. It is probably best to proceed with caution, for both you and your wallet.

So, on to my favorite foods... at the top of the list, is of course, the roasted corn by the Chuck Wagon next to Fairview Farms. There is nothing like this BBQ corn. Nothing. You have the option of having melted butter slathered over the ear of corn, but frankly, how could you not have corn without butter? Then comes the fun and creative part. They have all sorts of condiments you can put on the corn, such as garlic salt, cajun seasoning, lemon juice, pepper, hot sauce, mayonnaise, etc. To quote Rachael Ray, "Yum-O!"




The next things we usually get are the selections at Chicken Charlie's, located across from the bandstand. Like a fair worker said, "they'll fry anything." (That's true, by the way). This year, they had delicacies such as deep fried frog legs, avocadoes, artichokes, zucchini, White Castle cheeseburger, Twinkies and Pop Tarts (yes, Pop Tarts). The deep fried cheeseburger intrigued me, so after a few minutes of indecision, I caved and got it. The first bite was awesome, but the closer I got to the end, the more batter I tasted, and not the actual burger. It was served with some fries, and it was overall so-so.


By this time, we really weren't feeling the fried food love (a sign that we are not as young as we used to be), so we just settled on sharing some deep fried apple fries. Yep, apple fries. It was actually not a bad dish. It's Granny Smith apples cut up like fries, flash fried to seal in the apple juices, then rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with whipped cream. It tasted just like apple pie. Be careful, though - it's really hot! I wish I had taken a picture.

The final dish we were able to tolerate (barely) was the deep fried mushrooms from a booth with a crocodile on the picture. They are sizable white mushrooms (like the ones used to make stuffed mushrooms), deep fried in a batter with a little bit of cayenne pepper for an extra spicy kick. It's served with ranch dressing for an additional charge. This used to be my favorite dish at the fair because I love mushrooms. I'm not sure what it was, maybe it was a combination of high prices and the fact that we were through eating, but it wasn't as good as it used to be.


I was told that there were some people that were there at the fair from the time it opened to the time it closed. Professional fair goers, I guess they're called. To which I say, bleh. The food is really the only reason to visit the fair. But a word to the wise: if you plan on sampling all the fair has to offer, it is best to pace yourself, for the sake of your belly and your wallet.