Doubting Thomas

I read about these Tangerine Rolls in the L.A. Magazine recently. I quote Best of L. A. from Los Angeles Magazine: "Chef-owner Naomi Peteu figured out a unique way to brighten up this ubiquitous pastry (referring to cinnamon buns). She opted for California citrus - often Tahoe Gold tangerines from Friend's Ranch in Ojai or sometimes tangelos - and buttery, pull-apart croissant dough coated with brown sugar and zest. Baking produces a soft core and crispy coat crusted with tangy caramel sauce glazed with tangerine juice and crème fraȋche". After reading this, what person in their right mind would not want to run or drive over there to sample these rolls? I talked to Laura, who lives in downtown L.A. She looked at the map and informed me that this place is close to her home. She, therefore, volunteered to go get some that same morning. She proudly sent me a picture of the boxes in her car. The first thing that entered my mind was when she stepped on the brakes, the boxes would be flying off. So she sent me another picture. This time she buckled them up with the seatbelt. I felt better.

I asked her to buy four. When she got there, she was informed there is a limit of 3 a customer can buy. I was ready to give her my credit card so I would be the second person buying them, but eventually, the salesperson gave in and sold her four. As soon as she got here, we sampled and shared one. Sandi, Laura, and I absolutely loved it! It's literally the best bun/roll I have ever had. It was not sicky sweet like most buns because of the citrus caramel. What a great idea. Chef Naomi is a genius! 

As I was sampling the bun, I was already thinking and planning how I could buy and freeze these babies. I emailed Chef Naomi and also asked her about the name Doubting Thomas. Currently, they do not offer any pre-orders because they are short-staffed and have limited refrigeration space. I was very disappointed! As for the name, Chef Naomi spent a summer in Barcelona, and her favorite patatas bravas bar was called Bar Tomas and vowed if she ever opened a coffee bar in L.A., she would call it Bar Thomas, which made her think of the apostle Thomas. If you recall, Thomas doubted Christ and had to feel his wounds to believe he was Christ. According to Naomi, doubt is something we all relate to, and thought it would provoke conversation by naming the place Doubting Thomas.

We ate 2 pieces the following day, and I am proud to let you know that I have perfected the heating of the buns. You merely preheat the toaster oven to 450 degrees. When hot, you put them in and lower the temperature slightly. Leave them in for 3 minutes watching and making sure the caramel does not burn. Take them out and Voila......thank God for the pleasure of enjoying Tangerine Rolls!

Doubting Thomas is located at 2510 W. Temple St., Filipinotown in Los Angeles. Thank you, Laura, for picking up these rolls.

Blufish Sushi & Grill

We celebrated my son's belated birthday last night. I asked him where he wanted to go, and his response was a sushi restaurant. My Japanese friend Sophie recommended this restaurant to me, so I took her recommendation seriously. I looked at the menu to see if they had other things besides sushi or sashimi since this was not Sandi's cup of tea. Luckily they had a ton of different dishes.

The menu was extensive, so it was hard to make a decision. We first ordered Garlic Edamame and Soft Shell Crab Tempura to share. Erik and I decided to share the Sashimi Combo B, which included 16 pieces (chef's choice) of sashimi with a spicy tuna roll. What a treat!

This was definitely not enough for the 2 of us, so he chose the Burning Man Roll, which had tuna and veggies with jalapeño. That was very spicy; after I had one, I had to eat the rest without the jalapeño. The Mango Shrimp was super delicious. I don't remember what the other ingredients were but trust me, it was mouth-watering. 

Sandi opted for the Chicken Teriyaki with rice and salad. She had me taste the chicken, which was different from most chicken teriyaki because the sauce was nice and light as opposed to heavy, sticky teriyaki sauce. In my excitement from all the sushi and sashimi, I neglected to take a picture of her dish.

We decided to have dessert at home. Blufish Sushi & Grill is located in a small strip mall, and its address is 22804 S. Western Ave. in Torrance, California.

Bonello's New York Pizza

This charming little place in the city of Lomita serves different kinds of pizza, but the star of the show is their specialty pizza Potato Alfredo. I have blogged about this before, but I wanted to refresh people's memory on this particular pizza which is different and unlike any other. 

The large one measures 18 inches in diameter. Of course, it is good if you eat the pizza there, nice and hot, but picking it up might be a bit better because if you heat it up on a nonstick pan on the stove (without oil), it gets very crispy. The pizza is a thin crust, but heating it makes it much better and real crisp!

I still had some spicy honey my brother brought from Gino's Pizza in the Philippines. So we drizzled some on the potato slices, and it was incredible. If you would like to try this experience, I imagine you can make your own spicy honey. When you order this Potato Alfredo Pizza, I strongly suggest you order it without the American cheese which comes with it, because in my opinion, it takes away from the taste and is much better with just the regular cheese they put in with shaves of Parmesan. Bon Appetito!

Bonello's is open every day except Monday and Tuesday. They are located at 24427 Narbonne Ave. in Lomita, California. 

Chart House

Our friend Sugar invited the girls for dinner at the Chart House last Friday. We were all excited even if Sandi and I were just there a month ago with my brother and his wife visiting from Singapore. Our friend Amy was in 7th heaven since she loves the ocean, and you couldn't get closer to the ocean than dining at this restaurant. It was a beautiful warm afternoon and the beach was a bit more crowded than on previous days.

We all decided on the Prix-Fixe, which made more sense since it included a soup or salad, main entrée, and dessert. Zohreh and I brought a bottle of each of our favorite Spanish wines. Sandi and Zohreh had the Chopped Salad.  Amy, Sugar, and I had the Caesar Salad. Before we enjoyed our salads, Sugar ordered the Shrimp, Avocado, and Mango Stack, which we always have to order because there is nothing like it! She also ordered the Coconut Shrimp with 3 sauces. I had to take their word that it was good since I would not try anything with coconut! And since I did not partake in eating the shrimp, I doubled up on the shrimp, avocado, and mango stack.

 

For our entée, we all ordered the Prime Rib, except for Zohreh, who opted for the Savory Shrimp Pasta, pappardelle pasta in a light garlic butter sauce, and succulent shrimp. Dinner was not complete without the Sautéed Sizzling Mushrooms, which we all enjoyed. Everything was delicious, and we were all ecstatic!

Dessert was their Lava Cake with ice cream. Everyone was full so some had the ice cream and took the cake home. On the other hand, I tried my best to consume everything, which I did!

Our server, Ken, was very attentive. He did have the perfect personality and was very good at his job. So far, we have always liked our servers which is very important since this is part of the whole dining experience. 

The girls and I thank Sugar for a wonderful dinner and the pleasure of her company. Chart House is located at 231 Yacht Club Way in Redondo Beach, California.

Utsav

The last time we were at this restaurant, there were 4 of us, and we were introduced to Joseph's partner, Chef Bhimrao. For some strange reason, all the pictures I took that day vanished! So, the only way I could blog about some of the dishes we ordered was to do a repeat performance. 

Sujata, Sandi, and I had dinner at this restaurant yesterday. We love the food at this small venue located by the parking lot of Lampost Pizza and Ralphs Market in Torrance. We can never get enough of the Papad, the appetizer that resembles a potato chip, but this is made with chickpea. The two sauces, tamarind, and mint, go very well with the papad. The Kanda Bhajia was the best with the 2 sauces. I can become a vegetarian easily with this kind of fried onions!

We always have to have the Chicken Tikka Masala, which is excellent. This time I asked Joseph to make everything a level 5, which is spicy but manageable. We had to have the Garlic Naan but requested that it be well done so it gets really crispy. Sandi reminded me that we needed plain rice since the sauce of the Tikka Masala had to have more than just the naan to accompany it. 

Sujata ordered the Bhindi Masala, which is made with okra and ground spices. She loved it. The flavor was good, but this was not my type of okra. I prefer my okra deep-fried! She also had the Vegetable Biryani, a rice dish with multiple veggies and spices. I tried it and liked it though I would not order that with the Tikka Masala only because it wouldn't do the Masala sauce justice. You need something plain to appreciate the wonderful flavor of the sauce. 

We were served Rice Kheer to share for our dessert.  It's the Indian version of a rice pudding made with basmati rice, milk, sugar, nuts, and spices. I was too excited that I forgot to take a picture. Trust me, it was very good and refreshing. A nice finale from eating spicy food.

Joseph was able to drag his partner Chef Bhimrao out of the kitchen to meet us again. He was nice enough to pose for a picture. He wanted to know if we enjoyed the food, and we all said we would come back soon!

Utsav is located at 2937 Rolling Hills Rd. in Torrance, California.

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Porto's Cheese Rolls

When Milena and Ramon came for dinner a week ago, they each brought me and Sandi a box of Cheese Rolls from Porto's Bakery. Milena warned us that we had to consume them as soon as possible since they are best eaten the same day and were not the same the following day. 

We split one that evening just to say we had it fresh. It was delicious! We knew we could not eat most of it the following days, so we froze most of them. The following morning I heated the toaster oven to 450 degrees. After at least 5 minutes, I put in two cheese rolls and lowered the temperature to 425 degrees. I left it there for three minutes. Note that when you take it out of the oven, it will look sad, perhaps wrinkled a bit and soft to the touch. Wait a minute, and it will turn crispy. We did this for the next few days, and Sandi and I concluded that we preferred it this way. Somehow, it not only brought out the flavor of the wonderful cheese but also got crispier and lighter. If the cheese rolls are frozen be sure to defrost them or leave them out the night before. 

Thank you again, Milena and Ramon. Unfortunately, there is no Porto's Bakery nearby but I just decided that the city of Downey is not too far. I looked at their menu, and the Guava Cheese Rolls and the Empanadas look good, so I will have to make the trip while my partner in crime, Sandi, is still here.

La Bocca Felice

After an afternoon movie with the girls, we headed to San Pedro to one of my favorite restaurants, La Bocca Felice. I was just there 3 weeks ago celebrating both my brothers' birthdays. 

It was again lovely to see Nima and our favorite server, Francisco. Sujata and Cindy had never been to this restaurant, so I insisted we order their signature dish, Capesante; jumbo scallops with dried cranberries, pine nuts, and shaved parmesan cooked in marsala wine. We did not order more appetizers as we already had some while watching the movie at my house.

Zohreh ordered the Swordfish Milanese covered with an arugula salad. We had to peek to see if the fish was in there somewhere. It was! Cindy had the Pappardelle Short Rib Ragu, which she loved. Sandi had the same, but she opted for the fettuccine instead of the pappardelle. 

Sujata decided on the Linguine Pesto E Gamberi. I wondered how good it was; she was kind enough to offer me a taste. She normally eats like a bird, and though she did her best, she could only eat half her linguine, and guess who the happy recipient of her leftover was? I ordered the Vitello Marsala. I did enjoy this very tender veal, but I thought it lacked something; pasta on the side. Zohreh thought the same for her dish. When I mentioned this to Francisco, he happily informed me that next time all I have to do is ask, and they would include it. 

I love that La Bocca Felice is very accommodating. The free corkage is also a big plus. It's always nice to be able to bring something from one's collection. None of us were interested in dessert, especially since I promised to serve them some homemade limoncello when we got home. 

Thank you, Francisco and Nima, for ensuring we ladies were taken care of. The restaurant is at 301 W. 6th St. in San Pedro, California.