Love is Lovelier the Third Time Around

Unlike the song "Love is Lovelier the Second Time Around", Cafe Dulce is lovelier the 3rd time around. This is my third trip and I say trip since it takes me 45 minutes to get there without traffic via the freeway. Cafe Dulce is in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. The last time I was there, I bought $50 worth of wonderful rolls. I shared the spirulina churros with friends and neighbors and fortunately, they shared my enthusiasm. They placed their orders with me for Saturday pick up. I called James and ordered koko churros, spirulina churros, chewy spirulina rolls and tapioca chewy rolls; a total of 72!

These rolls are all healthy; especially the spirulina which is made of a blue green algae and very high in protein. So, for the health nuts....rejoice! For the rest of the population who couldn't care less about healthy bread...praise the Lord! What a bonus, healthy but wonderful. I also discovered that these rolls freeze beautifully. I wrap each one in wax paper, then put them in a ziplock bag. Just take them out of the freezer the night before, no need to heat them, and enjoy by itself or have it with butter...yumm.

Cafe Dulce also pride themselves with their Lamill coffee which is brewed a cup at a time so it is fresh as can be. While they are getting your order ready to take home, don't forget to have a bacon donut. They are not ready till about 10:45 a.m. so don't arrive too early unless you have a roll first, then have the donut as dessert like I do.

Banana Delight

This could very well been called Lewis's delight. My nephew Lewis lives in Singapore where they have a slew of wonderful bakeries; patisseries. It was really my sister-in-law, Grace's birthday but they made Lewis believe it was his birthday AGAIN!

I had a few of the wonderful tarts when I was there a year ago. This place is called Fruit Paradise and specializes in fruit tarts like grapefruit orange tart, chocolate mint tart (o.k. chocolate isn't a fruit) strawberry tiramisu, blueberry tart. Check out their website http://www.ajisen.com.sg/fruitparadise/

The next time you visit Singapore, make sure you visit one of their 5 locations. You'll be glad you did.

Menu for Ash Wednesday

For all you Catholics, you know Ash Wednesday is a day of "no meat" and fasting. Fasting means that the 2 other meals should be less than the main meal.
So, I had to plan to eat less for breakfast and lunch. Started out with a small roll for breakfast. For lunch I brought a banana to my dance class which I planned to eat in between classes. My friend Konnee brought a cake for another friends birthday.
I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings so I indulged in a small piece.

Dinner came along; I decided to make an Orzo dish called "Truffle Heaven". It had asparagus, cream, truffle butter, parmesan and pecorino cheese, garlic. It turned out quite good. Served some salad with it.

The meal was not complete without dessert. When I went to the market earlier, I looked for something light. As I passed by the frozen desserts, my eyes zeroed in on the "sea salt caramel truffle ice cream". It looked too good not to try..funny, it landed in my cart while I was still debating.

It was a good decision. The ice cream not only had swirls of caramel but it had big square chunks of chocolate chips and when you bit on it, out came more gooey salted caramel! On the kitchen counter was a bottle of Ghiradelli chocolate sauce that called out to me...so again, I indulged.

Ash Wednesday isn't that bad. Oh, I better get the banana out of my purse.

The Standing Room-Part 2

When I went to The Standing Room the other day (See previous blog) I had ordered the crispy soft shell crab which I loved. I also ordered the braised short rib sandwich for my son for his dinner. As you may recall, my hairdresser raved about it.

My son did not come home that evening and was informed that he won't be home till tomorrow morning. I decided to consume his dinner tonight. I lightly toasted the pan demie roll, heated the short ribs which was in a separate styrofoam, and the carmelized onions. Then I cut the meat in pieces which just fell apart as it was truly tender and proceeded to lay it on the bun. I further poured the generous portion of the au jus on the meat and bread. I took my first bite....wow! it took me 2 minutes to consume the whole thing! It was wonderful....ooohhh la lahhhh. (unlike the previous restaurant Oh la la)

The Standing Room

This is an unusual place to get something good to eat. It's an itsty bitsy place inside a liquor store in Redondo Beach in the corner of Catalina and Diamond. My hairdresser told me to just Go! She raved about the braised short ribs on a bun with carmelized onions. Right after my hair cut; I went!

They had all sorts of sandwiches and burgers; all looked appetizing. I was about to order the short ribs when the Crisped Chopped Soft Shell Crab caught my eye. While waiting for my order, I studied the menu board and learned about the truffle parmesan. Obviously, I had to order that. There was no place to eat unless I wanted to eat it in my car or go to the beach which was right there. I decided to eat it at home. I prayed that no cops would be around as I dashed home hoping the sandwich would still be warm.

When I opened the box, I saw this interesting and exciting "thing". A soft pan demie roll with crunchy soft shell crab with a bunch of tiny balls. The sauce they had was so delicious and spicy. This was the best sandwich I've had in a loooong time. I usually don't consider sandwiches real food until yesterday. I immediately called them up and spoke with the owner to ask what was in that sandwich. The tiny balls were called bubu arare which are crispy rice crackers; the secret to the wonderful flavor was their thai crab mayo! The truffle fries were also very good though I prefer my fries not too crispy to be able to really savor the potato.

It would be a good idea to call in your order so you don't have to stand too long, but for first timers.....the stand is worth the wait!

Oh la la Bistro & Wine Bar

This location in Redondo Beach, California has housed a few good restaurants, from french to italian and now back to french. I had high hopes for this cute bistro/wine bar.

Ambiance was good; parking was bad as always since it is a tiny space and no room to turn and you have to back up into the street. Then again, one can always park across the street on the Walgreens parking lot and buy a pack of gum so you can say you were a customer!

My friend and I decided to order the Beef Bourguigon and the Scallops with champagne sauce. We were disappointed as the beef bourguignon was not any better than my friend's when she cooked it (Julia Child's recipe). In fact, the beef was not as tender. We expected it to be very good since this is a french specialty, therefore should be special. The scallops were cooked to perfection BUT, were tasteless and had hardly any flavor.

The only saving grace was the dessert; the creme brulee was the best we ever had since it was burnt. (most people don't like that) The crunchy top went well with the the rest as it was very light and not sweet. Most creme brulees are too heavy or too sweet.

Unfortunately, one cannot live on creme brulee alone. I took a picture of it but forgot to save it, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Gaetano's Restaurant

Here's a neighborhood gem that's been in the same shopping center for many years in Torrance, California. This is a family run restaurant which is definetly the secret of their success.

We decided to try their Valentine's special menu and we were not disappointed. The antipasti was your typical Italian burrata, eggplant and heirloom tomatoes with fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil. It was good to start out the evening healthy. Then came the primi which was the Pappardelle con Funghi. For those that do not have a doctorate on the different pastas, pappardelle is the the flat wide pasta. This was so delicious with wild mushrooms, pancetta and the caremlized onions which added the right amount of sweetness to the parmesan sauce. Believe it or not, I did not add any parmesan; thats how perfect this dish was!

For our secondi, we both had the Chianti Short Ribs which was very good with the roasted potatoes and garlic sauteed broccolini.

The dessert was Torta al Cioccolato which is a moist chocolate cake but was more of a souffle served with vanilla cream sauce.

I have been at this restaurant numerous times over the years. They have a ladies night, on Mondays when you can get small plates and discounted wines. You'll be surprised to see a bunch of men as well as this is a really a bargain. On Tuesdays, they have family night that serves 4 courses and feeds 4 people for $45..Great deal!

If and when you go to Gaetanos, you have to order my very favorite deep fried artichoke hearts... they are to die for! Nothing else like it and I have tried them in different restaurants before.

So...buon appetito!