Palos Verdes Street Fair

We go to the fair not so much for the shopping, music or rides (kids) but for the food. We decided to go as soon as it opened which was 10 a.m. Parking was great and there were hardly any people at that time. We made one round to see the various vendors and decided to go straight to the food section. It was nice to see the empty tables and chairs. There was a time when we couldn't find a place to sit.

I usually get some corn on the cob and the German sausage. At around 10:15 a.m. Sandi and I thought it was time for brunch. We couldn't decide if we wanted the Lobster-Lemon Garlic Fries or the Crab Garlic Fries. We decided on the crispy beer battered fries smothered with real crab meat topped with extra virgin olive oil Aioli. Now, all we had to get was our main entree: Bratwurst or Philly Cheese Steak. Sandi mentioned she hasn't had one in a long time so Philly Steak it was. The sandwich tasted better than it looked and the fries were fantastic. We could not finish the fries mainly because Sandi was full, my half was gone. We took that home so we could add more aioli sauce and have it with a salad. By 11:10 a.m. we were on our way home!

The Fair's last day is today so I might have to wait till next year to have it again unless I experiment and make my own which seems pretty easy. I just have to start with good French Fries, then add some shredded crab and pour lots of the aioli sauce.

Back to Din Tai Fung

Five of us went to Din Tai Fung in Torrance yesterday for an early dinner. I was apprehensive since my last trip there with Sandi was such a disappointment. We ordered the Xiao Long Bao among other things and found it to be dry inside. It didn't have the soup! I had to bring it to the attention of the manager then, Kevin because when our young lady server asked how everything was and I told her about the problem, all she said was, "Oh".   A good manager would have been apologetic, offer to replace the order give some kind of a discount. I know what I would have done; I would have apologized profusely and told the customer the next time they were in, the dish would be on me.

Last night our experience was so much better. We started out with a nice young man, Andrew who was to be our server. He asked if we have been there before. I told him about our last experience and he sincerely apologized. We told him, he should have been the manager. We ordered the Xiao Long Bao and Andrew promised us all that it would be very good. The Spicy Shrimp & Pork Wontons had to be ordered and the Pork Chop Fried Rice. We, of course, had to have Chicken Fried Noodles. It was a lot of food since we ordered 3 orders of everything except for the Rice and Noodles (we only had 2 orders of those). In the middle of our feast, there was "changing of the guards", Andrew had to leave so he introduces us to another young man, Jackie. He too was attentive and professional.

When we no longer could eat any more food. Jackie asked if we wanted our dessert in seven minutes or do we want to wait. We opted to wait a bit. I ordered the Dark Chocolate Xiao Long Bao. As always, it was a hit!

It was Amy and Nako's first time there and they did enjoy it. Mertz, Sandi and I were truly delighted that our experience was not a repeat performance of the previous disaster.

Din Tai Fung is located at the Del Amo Mall in Torrance.  There is also one in South Coast Plaza in Orange County and one in Glendale.

Fran's Dessert Sauces Tasting

Mertz gave Sandi 3 different Sauces from Fran's Chocolates. Last night was the perfect time to sample the Dark Chocolate, Classic Caramel, and the Pure Raspberry Sauce.

I say the perfect time because we were all guiltless since all we had for dinner was a beautiful healthy salad that Sandi made. It had lots of fruit accompanied by some French bread and Champagne.

She served 3 little scoops of vanilla ice cream for the sauces and a scoop of mango ice cream which Mertz bought from Trader Joe's. They both liked the mango ice cream. I didn't care for it as much since I compared it to the Magnolia brand of mango ice cream which is delicious. We ended up heating the chocolate and the caramel. All three were winners though my favorite was the dark chocolate.

The question is how else can she serve these sauces and when will she have us over to sample more of them. Fran's is famous for her Gray Salted Caramels which are divine! For your information, the sauces are available at Amazon.

In case you haven't read my previous blog on the salted caramels, here it is:
http://solittlethyme.blogspot.com/2017/04/frans-chocolates.html

Nothing bundt Cakes

Nothing bundt Cakes finally opened in the Torrance area. The last time I had this was when Sandi bought one for my birthday several years ago. She traveled all the way to Orange County unaware there was one on Rosecrans.

It was my turn to get one for her birthday dinner. I had ordered a Lemon bundt cake. This very inviting bakery was cute inside. It smelled good in there, they had a showcase of the various bundt cakes and the best part was a platter of samples of the featured bundt cake which was lemon raspberry. Needless to say, I had a bite size sample and was tempted to have 5 more bites. I restrained myself. I had a coupon for a mini bundt cake so I thought I would try the Chocolate Chocolate Chip. Their mini's are enough for 2 people since they are rich.

Everyone loved the Lemon with the cream cheese frosting. I sampled my Chocolate Chocolate and I loved it too. They have various flavors; depending on your preference, you really cannot go wrong on any flavor as they are all super moist and delicious.

Nothing bundt Cakes have many locations. The one in Torrance is located at 5205 Pacific Coast Hwy. B/C ( corner of Calle Mayor and PCH).

Birthday Dinner at Sandi's

She insisted on cooking and celebrating her birthday at her home. As usual, the birthday traveling balloon was passed on to her.

The hors d' oeuvres consisted of various cheeses, chips and salsa and shrimps. She put the truffle salt out on the table, so when I saw that, I immediately owned that little shaker and proceeded to shower my chips with it instead of dipping them in salsa. My mistake was telling the others about it which forced me to share.

The table setting was beautiful. We first had a green salad with artichoke hearts, peppers, tomatoes and feta cheese with a garlic lemon dressing. The beet salad with blueberries and feta was delicious. The main entree was a combination of chicken and beef koobideh. Another wonderful salad accompanied the meal; Brussels sprouts with bacon and corn. She made rice with lentils in addition. Sandi is not capable of simple; she always thinks her food is not enough. There was plenty of food as usual.

A birthday in not complete without a cake. I got a Lemon Bundt Cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. It was nice and moist. Everyone loved it. She also served fresh strawberries and cherries with chocolate. We had to have our fruit, and so we dipped away.

At the end of the dinner, we played Charades. After all, we had to work off the food we consumed. It was a fun afternoon. We helped with the dishes. Hopefully, it was still fun for Sandi even if she did a lot of work.

Back to Suburbia

Sandi has never been to Suburbia so we went there last week. She gave me the honor of ordering since my friend Mary took me there to celebrate my birthday and we enjoyed the food so much.

We were there early enough for Happy Hour so we were able to order items from there as well as the regular menu. Sandi who doesn't drink red wine ordered a cocktail called The Notebook; black tea infused vodka, peach, lemon, mint with a love note from Ryan Gosling. It was very good though I think she would have preferred to get his message in person!

From the Happy Hour Menu, we ordered the Spicy Dumplings with pork, shrimp, scallop, and crab. Another item was the French Fries topped with carnitas and cheese. They were both quite edible. I could not wait to have the Pao de Queijo; the Brazilian chewy, gooey, cheezy poofs served with butter and spice honey. We both thought we would have been very happy with just those.

The Street Corn "Off the cob" with lime, mayonnaise, cilantro and Brussels Sprouts with bacon, wild mushrooms, and black garlic cream were a must. Seared Scallops were cooked to perfection. They were served on red curried rock shrimp rice which was spicy. By the time we finished all the little plates, we were full.

Too full but we had to have dessert. We thought we would split one. It was hard to decide between the Lemon Blueberry Merengue Torte and the Carrot Tres Leches Cake with whipped cream cheese and crispy carrots. So we ordered both. The Lemon Blueberry Merengue was good but we found the white chocolate casing too sweet. The Carrot Tres Leches Cake was the best carrot cake we've both had. It was incredible. I wouldn't mind having my veggies this way anytime.

Our server Chris was both informative and attentive. It was nice to meet the manager Ryan (not Gosling). He may not be as famous but he is a true manager in that he made sure we were well taken care of. Thank you Ryan.

Suburbia is located at 247 Avenida del Norte in Redondo Beach, California.

K-ZO Restaurant

My brother took me to K-Zo this past week for my birthday which was in April. This is a Sushi, Sake and Small Plates place in the heart of downtown Culver City. We got there at 6 pm and we watched the Sushi Chef at work.

We both decided to do the "Omakase" which meant we left everything to the Chef. We chose the 6-course menu which started with an Amuse Bouche then a Kyuten Mori (9 petite appetizers; all seafood), followed by a Chef's choice of Sashimi Salad. Not too long ago, I wasn't into eating raw fish but if people just give it a chance they could learn to love it. The secret is it definitely has to be fresh and that's the key word. How many times have you heard that fish should not have an unpleasant odor. They were all silky smooth and just delicious. I complained to Gary that the oyster was so nice that it just slipped through my throat and I was unable to taste the uni and caviar on top of it, so when he ate his oyster, he made sure he positioned his uni on his tongue to get the taste before swallowing the juicy oyster.

We had a choice of Grilled Filet Mignon Steak or Suzuki, Braised Chilean Sea Bass. Since we are both "equal opportunity" diners, we picked the meat. The filet was super tender and we inhaled that as well. The fifth course was Sushi; 3 pieces of Nigiri and a Roll, all of which were as good as the rest of the meal. For dessert, we ordered an Apple Tatin with ice cream and the K-ZO Purple Sweet Potato Parfait. Gary and I enjoyed both desserts; they were a great finale to a very enjoyable meal.

K-ZO is located at 9240 Culver Blvd. in Culver City, California. It's in my GPS and it won't be deleted because I know I will be visiting this restaurant again in the near future.