Ruby's Diner

I have news for you. If you haven't been to Ruby's Diner lately, do make the trip. The location we were at was at the Peninsula Center at 550 Deep Valley Dr. in Rolling Hills Estates, California. It is best to go when kids are at school so it wouldn't be quite chaotic as it is next to a skating rink.

We had a coupon for buy one get one entree free.  Right now, they have these entrees called Comfort Plates. They are indeed very comforting.  We had the Fresh Roasted Turkey Dinner and the Peppercorn Chopped Steak Dinner.  The hand carved slices of turkey was served with mashed potatoes with a rich turkey gravy (cranberry sauce on the side) and fresh vegetables.

The chopped steak was made of USDA super premium beef and you will be able to tell as the beef was so tender and it did taste like beef without fillers! This was smothered in grilled onions and a very tasty mushroom peppercorn sauce served with buttery mashed potatoes and also served with fresh garden vegetables.

We didn't order dessert, though I had to try the Oreo-Mint shake. I felt guilty ordering one but the server talked me into ordering the "kids" size.  That was sooooo thick, it wouldn't go through the straw.  This creamy, minty shake is refreshing and while savoring the shake, you end up having to chew on these chunks of oreo cookies....yummmy!

Ruby's has always been consistently good.  You will always leave there full and have a smile on your face or maybe not....you might end up with a frown on your face from the guilt of eating shakes, fries, bacon waffle, burgers to name a few.

Ross, this is for you.....better than Mr. Ed!

Dominique's Going Strong

Celebrated a friend's birthday at Dominique's  Kitchen in Redondo Beach, Ca. last night. There were 5 of us and the celebrant brought a bottle of Champagne and I brought a bottle of red wine.

We had a trout mousse served with grilled baguette to start.  That was very tasty. For entree, the birthday celebrant had their famous Roasted Chicken with Garlic Fries.  I have had this before and blogged about this incredible edible chicken. See previous blog: http://solittlethyme.blogspot.com/2013/02/dominiques-chicken.html
One had the Macaroni and Cheese which was absolutely creamy and cheesy like it should be.  The other had the Risotto with Portobello, Shitake, and Oyster Mushrooms in a cream sauce with Parmesan. If you like risotto, this will cheer you up. If you are a vegetarian, I forgive you and give you my blessing to enjoy this wonderful dish.

My other friend had the Slow Braised Short Ribs with Pinot Noir, Tomato, Onions and Garlic served with vegetables. I had a bite of it and loved it. I ordered the Boston Sea Scallops with Crushed Potatoes, Shallots, Parsley, Garlic and Lobster Reduction Au Jus. The scallops were large enough to fill you up. They were cooked to perfection and the sauce added a nice flavor to them.

For dessert, we had the Floating Island, Panna Cotta with Berry Compote and the Passion Fruit Creme Brulee.  All of which I have had in the past with no complaints.

 

After our dinner we had planned to take a walk to try and dissolve some of the fat we consumed. We walked towards the beach and admired the view and walked back to our cars....that took a good 25 minutes!  So that took care of probably 3 bites of the dessert. Oh well, it's the thought that counts.....and yes...the Calories!

Mashawi Grill

Yesterday, Sandi and I decided to take an hour walk to try and do our bodies good. We went to a nearby park and did our brisk walking. It was very windy and chilly so our walk was harder as most of the time we had a head wind. After half an hour we thought....enough is enough.  The nearby steak house we wanted to try wasn't going to open for another 30 minutes.

We drove to the Rolling Hills Plaza and ended up at Mashawi Grill, a Mediterranean restaurant. She ordered the chicken and I ordered the beef kebob.  This came with Jasmine rice which I thought was very good, a bit sweet or it might have been my imagination. The plates came with 2 sides. She had the coleslaw and garlic fries and I had the garlic fries and steamed vegetables.

We were pleasantly surprised as both chicken and steak kebob were so tender and not overdone nor dry. The garlic fries were good as well. The steamed vegetables were done to perfection; not overcooked...the broccoli and carrots had the vibrant green and orange color which appealed to my inner healthy heart (not sure how healthy it is).  The big disappointment was the coleslaw. It was sour; sour could could be good but this was not good. Unless you want to do some penance in lieu of the garlic fries, then by all means, order it.

If you really are on a diet like we are supposed to be, you could order one chicken or steak kebob and split it but maybe order an extra side of the delicious Jasmine rice.

Mashawi Grill has 2 locations: 25362 Crenshwaw Blvd.  in Torrance and 3901 Inglewood Ave #101 in Redondo Beach, California.  They have a variety of kebob plates, wraps, soups, and salads.

Easter Dinner 2013

Survived another Easter dinner. This was an easy one as my main entree was a Ham from Bristol Farms.  All I had to do was figure out what to serve with it.

Since I experimented on the lemony asparagus with the anchovies (recipe on previous blog) last week and was such a hit, I thought I would serve it again. For potatoes, I made mashed potatoes in the morning. When it was almost time to for dinner, I microwaved it in a serving dish and added some whipping cream. I then put it in the oven topped with a mixture of grated Gruyere and sharp cheddar cheese. I also decided to make Lawry's creamed corn which was good but it didn't quite taste like Lawry's. There's probably a secret ingredient they don't divulge.

Rewind to hors d' oeuvres; I had some sea salt chips, variety of cheeses, smoked salmon and the star of the show was my little sandwiches made with L'Amande's Easter bread. I stuffed some with an egg salad, and some with cabernet sauvignon salami and Swiss cheese with a thin application of blackcurrant jelly. Everyone seemed to like them as they quickly vanished.

Fast forward to dessert; The Tarte Tatin I ordered from L'Amande Bakery lived up to expectation... delicious and flaky to the end. My niece Aimee, brought a Triple Chocolate Cake which was nice and moist.  This was real chocolate with chocolate pudding, chocolate chips and more chocolate and the surprising thing about it was it was not overly sweet. It's the type that is perfect for dessert or breakfast with a strong cup of coffee.  I know....... because this was breakfast this morning.

Our son left shortly after dessert (eat and run) as he had to do some work for today, so he missed out on our photo shoot.

Hope everyone had a nice Easter as we did.  Farewell from the senior Easter bunnies....

Made By Meg

I read a review on "by Meg", short for Made by Meg on the Internet via an email from Thrillist.  I was so excited to find out that this little restaurant that only seats 6 was in my vicinity located at 234 S. Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach, California. 

My friend and I went to order the "Thrillist"  which was a sandwich on a pretzel roll with roasted wild mushrooms, garlic aioli and Camembert cheese. Below is the picture on the email that looked mouth watering and exciting.

The actual sandwich was less thrilling.  The mushrooms were delicious but there was too much bread. Like my friend said, it would have been better if they took a slice off the middle of the pretzel bread as it just drowned the great flavor of the mushrooms.

The other sandwich we ordered was the "Coastal Californian."  Grilled chicken with avocado and skillet bacon jam on parmesan sourdough bread.  The bacon jam was good but not enough of it; I think they are concentrating on "healthy" sandwiches; after all, they do specialize in "organic" food. For a side dish, we ordered the Fire Roasted Curry Cauliflower Popcorn. We expected the cauliflower to be crispy (popcorn) but it wasn't. It tasted like cauliflower cooked with curry; not bad but......maybe we should have ordered the Garlic, Parsley Fries.

Meg has been in the catering business for several years and has a good following. We watched her make all sorts of savory bread pudding, etc. and the place was filled  of  beautiful aromas as she created interesting inventions. 

We tried a dessert called Blondie which was made with Nutella. It was all right. The other dessert we tried was not made by Meg; it was called S'Muffins. We ordered one of those. It was a like a s'mores with marshmallow on top of a muffin with oreo cookies in them. Meg's suggestion to heat it up was perfect as the marshmallow got warm and gooey.

I don't doubt that Meg is good in what she does when it comes to catering. This hard working and very friendly chef worked hard to get to where she is currently. She was a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney for many years and went to cooking school at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena.  Just look at the testimonials at her website: www.MegHall.com

I still urge you to try the other things she has in her tiny 6 seater restaurant as there might come a time you won't be lucky enough to get a seat. 

El Paso Cantina

Mexican food is not my favorite food but don't get me wrong. I do crave the chips and salsa and blended Margaritas. Yes, there's more to Mexican food than that. Yesterday, Good Friday, the last Friday wherein we could not consume meat, Sandi and I ended up at El Paso Cantina. She found a gift certificate she's had for a long time.

This restaurant at 2404 W. Sepulveda Blvd. in Torrance has been in operation for over 30 years.  I might have been there 20 years ago but can't remember anything about it. Before we got there, I checked out the menu on the internet.  It's good to do a little homework so as not to waste precious time when you get to the restaurant.

Their chips were very good. It was thinner and tastier than the ones from Red Onion.
We ordered a dish that was from the "El Paso's Especiales"; The Sea of Cortez.  That had a Halibut filet, grilled jumbo shrimp brochette on a bed of rice, a crab enchilada served with sauteed fresh vegetables.  We were surprised to find the halibut to be delicious; flaky and very light. The shrimps were not overcooked and were succulent as should be. We also ordered the Fish Taco. There were 2 tacos on corn tortillas with lightly fried white fish (golden brown) with cabbage, pico de gallo and chipotle sour cream, also served with vegetables.

We enjoyed both entrees with our blended Margaritas. Maybe eating practically free contributed to the enjoyment of our meal...who knows? 

We decided to order the  Deep Fried Ice Cream which sounded wonderful. It was  vanilla ice cream rolled in crispy flakes (corn flakes) served on a cinnamon sugar tortilla with Mexican chocolate. It would have been a lot better if the flakes were really crispy; they were on the stale side. The shell, ice cream and chocolate sauce were good.  I guess three out of four ain't that bad.

If you decide to go to El Paso Cantina,  try and get there early since parking could be a problem. We had to go around several times and street parking was full as well. We ended up parking in the next lot.

Easter Bento Rice Bunnies

My niece Aimee, the physician is so talented that when she's not doing surgery, or knitting intricate miniature characters and objects, she is busy creating edible surprises.

Her latest creation is just in time for Easter. She made some Bento Rice Bunnies which she decorated with peppercorn and some chili flakes.

She also made some Chili and Beans which was a nice pool for her bunnies to go swimming for Easter.

There you have it.  Bunnies do have a lot of fun on Easter.