Musso & Frank Grill

There is a very good reason why Musso & Frank is still one of the best restaurants around. It was established in 1919, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood. 

I happily agreed that Sandi wanted to go there for her birthday dinner. I ordered their Dirty Martini, Gary had an Old Fashioned, and Sandi settled for a very dry Diet Coke. Before our drinks arrived, we were served their delicious sourdough bread with lots of butter.

Sandi and I knew what to order before setting foot in the restaurant. We knew we were going to have the Grenadine of Beef with the wonderful Béarnaise sauce, plus we were going to split an order of the incredible Fettuccine Alfredo (the recipe is from the legendary original Fettuccine Alfredo in Rome). When Benjamin took our order, I think he couldn't believe we ordered the additional Fettuccine, especially when I told him Sandi and I were sharing it, and Gary was not included.

We ordered a Caesar Salad to share among the 3 of us. Gary did not want any pasta, and he announced that he didn't care for creamy pasta, which was not that creamy. I know he enjoyed the original one in Rome, as we always have to have it in Rome. 

Gary ordered the Ribeye with the best smoky flavor but didn't have the Béarnaise sauce. Sandi and I loved our Filet with the sauce. A few minutes passed when Gary asked Sandi for some of her sauce. I noticed he didn't ask me. Soon, he was adding more sauce to his steak. He also tried the pasta, and after a few sound effects of hmm, hmmm, he commented that it was not that creamy, but it was indeed very good. 

Unfortunately, Sandi and I did not have any leftovers. Gary could not finish his steak, so he took it home with the last bite of the pasta. 

We ordered the Trio of Sorbets since we enjoyed it the last time. We asked for 2 scoops of blueberry basil (omitted the strawberry) and 1 scoop of orange sorbet. We also ordered the Diplomat Pudding, which was strawberry-flavored and light as a soufflé. In addition to this, Sandi was presented with a Birthday Brownie, which she happily shared and was fully consumed by everyone.

Musso and Frank Grill serves great food; you can't beat the old-fashioned service. The servers take pride in their jobs, which is sadly not too common nowadays. 

Musso and Frank is located at 6667 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California.

Zoku

Ante and Edna were in our area and wanted an early dinner somewhere good. I gave it some thought, and Zoku popped into my mind in a matter of seconds!

Ante asked for suggestions, which I gladly gave. He ended up ordering them and then some. We started with Ebi: Giant Shrimp with butter shoyu, followed by the Wagyu Beef with apple steak sauce. I have had both previously, and they were just as delicious as I remembered. 

We all loved the Giant Ebi Mayo, Rock Shrimp Tempura with sweet mayo. Teba, chicken wings, were tasty, but too much work for me, and did not have much meat. Since Edna does not care for spicy food, her husband Ante thoughtfully ordered the non-spicy Zoku Karaage, Japanese fried chicken with "Chick-fil-A" mayo.

Ante wanted to try their A5 Wagyu, so we ordered that to compare to the regular, and it did not disappoint. There were other chicken skewers on the menu, so we tried several of them, including the Chicken Meatball, which was not a ball but on a stick.

The Zoku Salad was terrific. It's a Japanese-style Caesar with chicken breast and a miso dressing. We saved the best for last, in my opinion. Their signature dish is the Spicy Karaage: Japanese fried chicken in bamboo charcoal sauce with red arako and cilantro. It is quite spicy, so beer or sake is best to tone down the spiciness.

Though we were all full, we had to try Yui's desserts. The Macha Brûlée and Strawberry Cheesecake. Both were very good. 

We thank Ante and Edna for the gracious invitation and wonderful company. 

Zoku is at 261 Avenida del Norte in Redondo Beach, California.

Monorom Cambodian Restaurant

I know nothing about Cambodian food, so when Mary Ann suggested we have lunch there, Sandi and I were game. Cora volunteered to be our Uber driver. She had picked up Evelyn before picking us up, and Mary Ann was to meet us there. 

We left all the ordering to Mary Ann since she has been to this restaurant. It was nice not to think about what to order. We were all in capable and good hands.

The Shaken Beef (Sach Goh Lok Lak) is the Cambodian rendition of the Vietnamese dish Bo Luc Lac, which is stir-fried marinated tenderloin lightly caramelized in black pepper, garlic, and soy sauce. It was delicious. Of course, there was white rice to go with all the dishes. We had deep-fried and crunchy tofu. There was also a Tofu dish with sauce, which was just as delicious as the other. 

The noodles that were ordered were called Pin Noodles because they looked like pins. In my excitement, I forgot to take a picture. There was a vegetable that resembled the Philippine vegetable, Kangkong, which might be called water spinach here. Everything we had was "healthy," at least in my book. Healthy and delicious usually don't go together, but in this case, I would want to go back to try the other healthy and unhealthy options. 

This was a nice introduction to Cambodian food. It was nothing fancy, but it was great food. The company was not bad either. We all had lots of fun and can't wait for the next adventure.

Monorom Cambodian Restaurant is at 2150 E. Anaheim St. in Long Beach, California.