Angeli Caffe

It was love at first bite for me and Angeli Caffe (a bite of pumpkin lasagna to be precise) and it’s been my go-to Italian restaurant ever since. Located on Melrose, Angeli Caffe serves rustic Italian food with seasonal, fresh ingredients. The food is simple but incredibly delicious, which is no surprise when you consider its owner.

Evan Kleiman is a chef, cookbook writer and host of KCRW’s Good Food. She’s also the founder of Slow Food LA, a non-profit organization that promotes good, clean and fair food production and consumption. Basically, she’s a total superstar in the foodie world…and one of my heroes.

As part of its connection to the Slow Food Movement, Angeli has a year-round menu and a seasonal menu. When I visited this weekend, I was stoked to get to try the winter menu!

J ordered the Lasagna Angeli, lasagna with a tomato-basil sauce, ricotta, parmesan and seasonal veggies including spinach. Although I prefer heartier, meatier lasagna, this is so good! You can actually taste chunks of tomato in the sauce, which makes it feel like you’re eating a home-cooked meal rather than a restaurant-prepared one. I also love that the lasagna’s flavor will always be different depending on the season during which you visit the restaurant.

My out-of-town visitor ordered the seasonal gnocchi, which was beet. I passed on trying this one, but my friend ate every bite! Not a bad sign. I just love that they’re pink!

My other friend (and Angeli-newbie) opted for the Special Pizza with winter squash, fontina cheese and walnuts. Squash is not something that I’d ordinarily think of as a pizza topping, but the soft, sweet squash played nicely off the crunchy dough. I had food envy over this one!

I ordered the Penne with Ricotta, Garlic and a “hint of chile.” The dish was good but very rich. I didn’t quite anticipate that the pasta would be bathed in ricotta, and I got full very quickly. It needed a little more chile to counteract all of the creamy cheese.

Our first dessert was Chocolate Chunk Bread Pudding. The consensus was that it was yummy with just the right amount of chocolate but that it could have been a little gooier (although this is a matter of taste).

We also ordered a mixed berry tart. I loved the fruit, but the tart itself was a little dry and definitely needed to be paired with ice cream rather than whipped cream.

Angeli Caffe is a must-try for homemade, rustic Italian!

Angeli Caffe

www.angelicaffe.com

7274 Melrose Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90046

(323) 936-9086

Slice Truck and Get Shaved

Pizza is one of the latest foods to join in on the food trunk fun. When I first heard about Slice Truck, I thought, “This will either be epic…or terrible.” So, last night, I decided to give them a try.

Slice Truck serves up pepperoni and plain slices–both topped with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil. You can also choose from a list of additional toppings for an extra charge. I ordered the pepperoni.

I can sum up the pizza in one word: “YUM!” In my book, Slice Truck is second only to Mulberry Street, which is saying a lot given the fact that Mulberry Street is an LA pizza institution and Slice Truck is a start-up food truck. I definitely hope, though, that they branch out in terms of their menu soon. Sometimes you want more than just pepperoni or cheese!

My slice had the perfect amount of cheese, and the mozzarella was delicious. There was also just the right amount of basil, which was really what made the flavor of the pizza for me. My favorite part of the pizza, though, (and my criteria for good pizza) was the dough. It was the perfect combination of crispy and dough-y. The sauce and the actual pepperoni were just OK, but, overall, I was a big fan of the pizza.

Next stop, Get Shaved–a truck that serves shaved ice Hawaiian style. The ice for shaved ice should be light, fluffy and not too densely packed while the syrup should be soaked all the way through but not poured so heavily that the ice collapses. Verrrrrry tricky. And Get Shaved always does it perfectly–better, in fact, than a lot of places in Hawaii.

Get Shaved was started by a husband-wife team who aren’t from Hawaii but who love it, and their appreciation for Hawaii and for getting this ono treat right definitely show. From the consistency of the ice to the homemade flavors, I love everything about Get Shaved.

Take advantage of the flavor choices and get three. Be bold and branch out from standard American flavors and try something like guava or lychee (you can’t look at the flavor list and honestly tell me that you want grape).

You can also add ice cream or azuki beans (sweet red Japanese beans) to the bottom and condensed milk, sour spray or li hing mui (dried plum powder) to the top.

I always order the same thing at Get Shaved: Blue Hawaii (a combination of vanilla and coconut), Passion Fruit and POG (a juice from Hawaii with passion fruit, guava and orange flavors) with ice cream at the bottom. So yummy!

One of the great things about Get Shaved is that they really value and listen to their customers. For example, they added the sweet cream topping and li hing mui to the menu and made POG a regular flavor rather than a special after getting requests.

Yummy night!

Slice Truck

www.slicetruck.com

Get Shaved

www.getshavedice.com

Making Spam Musubis

One of the first things that people usually ask me about Hawaii is, oddly enough, not about the beaches or the weather but about the food. The question, usually asked with a combination of interest, incredulity and a tone that indicates that the asker is slightly grossed out is, “Do you really eat Spam there???”

Yes, we do–especially in the form of spam musubis. You can get them as a dine-in or take-out option in many restaurants, grab one from a grocery store or gas station on your way to the beach or snag one at your school’s cafeteria. The Honolulu Advertiser even has a “Best Spam Musubi” category in its “Best of the Best List” every year.

And before you say “Ewwww,” let me tell you that I wasn’t always a fan (the mysterious meat in a can doesn’t have the nickname “Spare Parts And More” for no reason). I was disgusted by the stuff until I started eating it teriyaki-style rather than just grilled straight out of the can. Since realizing that I don’t hate the stuff, I’ve started making them myself and kicking them up a notch and have even converted a few other Spam-haters.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own nommy musubis:

Ingredients:

1 Can of Spam

Rice (The amount depends on how big you want your musubis to be, but 2 cups should be good)

Nori (or dried seaweed–for wrapping)

Soy Sauce

Sugar (I prefer to use brown sugar)

Optional:

Furikake–a Japanese condiment with dried nori and sesame seeds. (You should be able to find this in the Asian food section of your local grocery store or, if not, try a Nijiya Market, Marukai or another Asian grocery store)

Musubi maker

First, slice up your spam. You can make the slices as thick or as thin as you’d like–depending on how many musubis you want to make. I usually end up with about 10-12 slices.

Place the spam slices in a pan on medium heat and cook them until they are slightly firm (this isn’t an exact science. You just want them to be less squishy than when you first put them in the pan).

While the spam is cooking, mix up equal parts soy sauce and sugar–be sure you have enough to cover the bottom of your pan. If it’s not salty enough for your taste, add more soy sauce! Not sweet enough? Add more sugar. This is all about your tastes.

Pour the mixture over the spam. When the spam is brown on the underside, flip it over. Keep cooking until your soy sauce/sugar mix has fully soaked into the spam.

Next lay out your nori. If you have a musubi maker, center it on the nori. Add a thick layer of rice in the musubi mold or, you don’t have one, just plop the rice in the middle and, if you’d like, a layer of furikake.

Next, add a slice of spam, another layer of furikake and another layer of rice. Now, if you have a musubi maker, put the musubi maker-top on top and press down hard. If you don’t have one, your musubi will be less firm but don’t worry!

Wrap one end of the nori around the rice. Use a dab of water to wet the other end so that it’ll stick. And voila! Spam musubi!

If you have leftover rice and spam, try making some fried rice or chop up the spam and add it to instant ramen to give it new life. Either way–enjoy!

Haiti Truck-a-palooza @ T-Lofts

Today, for the first time in over a week, LA saw sun. AND, for the first time in weeks… Angelenos saw the mountains! with snow! and the hills! and a blue smog-less sky! Los Angeles after the rain is truly a beautiful sight.

All of these cars on the 101 were slowing down just to take a look at the mountains. I don’t blame them.

It’s a good thing my windshield was clean!

The rain is supposed to come back next week but cleared up just in time for the Food Trucks for Haiti benefit at the T-Lofts. Good cause and good food? I’m there!

Even though we arrived at 1 PM, I hadn’t eaten anything yet and was craving breakfast. The Buttermilk Truck to the rescue! The line was ridiculous–one of the longest at the event–but I knew that the wait would be worth it.

The Buttermilk Truck specializes in breakfast foods and late night noms that include Red Velvet Pancake Bites, Hawaiian Bread French Toast Sticks and Hawaiian Breakfast Sliders with portuguese sausage. I ordered the Buttermilk Breakfast Sandwich.

I only eat eggs under two circumstances: 1) in a breakfast burrito under the effects of a dire hangover and 2) in the Buttermilk Truck’s breakfast sandwich. The buttermilk biscuits are buttery and covered in melted, gooey cheese. I chose Applewood smoked bacon as my meat (you can also order Chicken Apple Sausage or Tocino), which is UNBELIEVABLE–thick and crispy. YUM.

Next up, lunch food. I’d heard great things about a new Greek truck called Louk’s and decided to give it a try.

Louk’s serves up traditional Greek fare such as gyros and salads, but it was their fries with feta cheese and honey that intrigued me. I thought that the saltiness of the fries might play off the sweetness of the honey and the tang of the feta but, instead, the dish, overall, tasted more like a dessert than anything resembling fries–almost like a funnel cake. Yum!

Next up was Phamish, a Vietnamese food truck which serves banh mi, spring rolls and even pho–pretty impressive for a truck!

My friend got a Grilled Steak banh mi and really enjoyed it. I can’t believe she added the jalapeno! I’m a total wuss when it comes to spicy food.

I ordered the Lemongrass Pork Spring Rolls. The pork was scrumptious, but I couldn’t help but be disappointed by how loosely they were rolled. Also, it felt like the rolls were missing a crunch–perhaps crunchier bean sprouts or some peanuts in the dipping sauce. Flavor-wise, however, this was great.

Willoughby Road BBQ just got started and serves up BBQ and a few dishes with Asian flavors.

They were out of meats by the time we got there, but we decided to try their mac and cheese. J liked it, but it was a little too creamy and bland for my taste. Don’t think I’ll order this one again.

Our tummies were full, but we were thirsty and decided to go to the Thai food truck Yum Yum Bowls. I’ve ordered and loved their Panang Curry and Satays and figured their drinks must be equally tasty.

Yummy Thai iced tea. And it matches their truck!

My first visit of the day was actually the Sweets Truck because I cannot get going with my day until I’ve had coffee. Their Peppermint Mocha is the best!

I was also going to buy and save one of their Extreme Red Velvet Cookies which is one of the best things I have EVER eaten. Period. But they were all sold-out. Fortunately, they had Red Velvet Shooters. UNFORTUNATELY, everyone ahead of me ordered at least two, and they were all gone by the time I reached the window. I did manage to snag the last pink cupcake, though!

They were actually unsure of what it was, but, upon opening it up after dinner, I found out that it was a red velvet/chocolate swirl topped with strawberry frosting, sprinkles and espresso beans. YUM. And, suddenly, I wasn’t so sad about the red velvet cookies…

What a delicious day! And it feels great to have helped out such an important cause.

Please check out the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders or the United Nations Population Fund and make a donation to help Haiti if you haven’t already. Every little bit helps!

The Buttermilk Truck

www.twitter.com/buttermilktruck

Louks

www. twitter.com/loukstogo

Phamish

www.twitter.com/eatphamish

Willoughby Road

www.twitter.com/WilloughbyRoad

Yum Yum Bowls

www.twitter.com/yumyumbowls

The Sweets Truck

www.twitter.com/thesweetstruck

Sushi Gen

Hailing from Hawai’i, I know and like (ok, love) good Japanese food. And I’m not talking about overpriced Japanese food from restaurants with TMZ permanently camped outside. I’m talking about solid places that remind me of home, and Sushi Gen is one of those places. After a long day at work, I needed a little dose of home.

Sushi Gen, located in the Honda Plaza in Little Tokyo, has a bad rap for having somewhat pricey dinners, but this fails to take into account the A) how fresh their seafood is and B) the sheer amount of food they give you if you order a dinner combination. If you visit Sushi Gen be forewarned that there will be a little bit of a wait, but take this as a good sign.

J ordered the Sushi Deluxe Combination, which came with a salmon skin salad, mazurka (a combination of sweet potato and seaweed) and a pretty big sampling of sushi.

I didn’t give this a try, but it looked good enough for someone at the next table to ask what it was!

The mazurka. I had never tried this before, and it was an interesting combination of textures and sweet and salty flavors.

For those of you who know me, I clearly ate none of this, but it looked beautiful–particularly the orange of the eggs.

I ordered the chicken teriyaki dinner combination, which includes miso soup, sunomono, pickled vegetables and tempura.

At a lesser restaurant, these dishes can be throwaways, but, here, they’re truly part of the meal. The miso’s flavor was almost perfect, and the rice noodles were a nice addition to the seaweed and the crunchy cucumber.

And then there’s tempura. Shrimp, zucchini, pumpkin and potato. There are few things sadder than soggy tempura, and this was satisfyingly crunchy.

And, finally, the chicken teriyaki. Their teri sauce isn’t heavy like other restaurants. Instead, it’s light and sweet. Delicious!

Happy Friday!

Sushi Gen

http://losangeles.menupages.com/restaurants/sushi-gen/

422 E. 2nd Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

213-617-0552

Blossom and Cherry on Top

Here in Los Angeles, we’re not used to rain, and we’re even less used to the downpours that have been omnipresent in the city for the last few days. I mean, there was a tornado in Orange County! Thankfully, I haven’t had to worry about flooding or evacuations, so my mind has been preoccupied by smaller rain-related issues…namely, what to eat with it’s cold and wet outside.

J and I love to walk around downtown LA, and we always pass a cute little Vietnamese restaurant named Blossom on Main Street. The restaurant is usually packed at lunch and dinner time, with a crowd outside waiting for a table–a good sign. A nice, hot bowl of steaming pho sounded perfect, so we decided to give Blossom a try.

I don’t have much pho-eating experience, but I really enjoyed this beef pho with rare steak and beef balls. The broth was lovely and flavorful, and the delicate rice noodles were complemented by the hearty beef balls and steak.

J ordered the Bun–or rice noodles. His dish was topped with shrimp, eggrolls and grilled lemongrass steak. This was absolutely delicious! I had food envy (doesn’t food always taste better when it’s not yours?) and think I will order this the next time I go back to Blossom, which, given how much I enjoyed it, will be soon!

In a happy change of circumstances, D.C. was able to stay in LA for another day. He ordered the chicken curry, but the picture did not turn out well because of the steam coming from the rice and curry.

We were all starving, so these are the only pictures I snapped!

After dinner, J and I took D.C. to Cherry on Top– a new frozen yogurt shop in the Little Tokyo Market. D.C. is a fro-yo fanatic. In fact, I think it’s his favorite thing about LA… Cherry on Top bests Pinkberry (overpriced!) and Yogurtland (plagued by claims of unsanitary yogurt practices!) in my book. The flavors are all delicious, crisp and taste more like what they’re supposed to than most other frozen yogurt. They also have a huge selection of toppings.

I opted for Blueberry-Pomegranate, Blackberry, Mango and Green Tea, topped with blueberries, strawberries, rainbow sprinkles, mochi and a few gummi worms. Yum!

I would have taken more pics, but we had to eat and run so that D.C. didn’t miss his flight back to the other coast. Promise to do better on my next outing!

Blossom

www.blossomrestaurant.com

426 S. Main Street

Los Angeles, CA 90013

213-623-1973

Cherry on Top

www.cherryontop.net

333 South Alameda Street

Los Angeles, CA 90013

213-626-2150

The Golden State Cafe and Milk

On Thursday, one of my very favorite people who is currently living and working in D.C. asked me, “What are you doing for dinner on Sunday??” Flying into LA for work on Sunday and Monday, my D.C. friend would have only ONE night to eat out in the city! My boyfriend J. and I immediately began brainstorming how we could make D.C.’s one night with us in LA a delicious one. We decided on The Golden State Cafe.

Nestled among the Jewish delis of Fairfax, The Golden State Cafe serves up sandwiches, salads, and hot dogs from LA’s Let’s Be Frank. Golden State also serves the famous Scoops gelato (one

of a handful of places that you can get the delicious stuff) and boasts an impressive beer menu–including a tasty selection from the Craftsman Brewing Company in Pasadena.

Although I love delicious ice cream and beer just as much as the next person, what keeps me coming back to The Golden State is their delicious burger–one of my top 3 or 4 burgers in LA that warrants one of my only 5-star reviews on Yelp. The meat is always juicy and tender is perfectly complemented by the gooey, flavorful cheddar. Arugula and homemade aioli add a tang to the burger and applewood smoked bacon adds crunch and texture to the otherwise soft hamburger. J, D.C. and I all ended up getting the burger.

The three of us then headed to Milk for dessert–a tiny shop nearby on Beverly Boulevard with milkshakes, malts, floats, baked goods, ice cream and more. I’ve yet to be anything short of giddy with anything I’ve ordered here.

D.C. ordered an Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cookie and a Red Velvet Popper, and J and I shared a Strawberry Shortcake milkshake. I can’t speak for D.C.’s cookie, but I got a Red Velvet Popper of my own to go, and it was delicious. Although the red velvet cake itself is good–not great–, the cream cheese frosting is among the best I’ve had…and I’ve had a LOT of cream cheese frosting from red velvet cupcakes in my time. The red sprinkles on top also added a nice crunch.

The Strawberry Shortcake is a combination of vanilla ice cream, malted milk strawberry sorbet, and buttery crunchy cookie crumbles. The vanilla ice cream was rich and creamy, and the strawberry sorbet–in big red chunks throughout–lended a nice contrast in flavor and consistency every few spoonfuls. I slurped my half (and maybe some of J’s half) down pretty quickly and was crushed when it was all gone. This is definitely one of my new favorites, and I’m STILL thinking about it.

It doesn’t get much better than burgers, beer and ice cream in my book and, I have to say, I think J and I did a pretty good job of feeding D.C. on his one night with us!

The Golden State Cafe

www.thegoldenstatecafe.com

426 N. Fairfax Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90036

(323) 782-8331

Milk

www.themilkshop.com

7290 Beverly Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90036

(323) 939-6455

Getting to Knooooow You

One day, recently, after I Tweeted, added a review to Yelp and uploaded foodie pics to Foodspotting.com, someone asked me, “Why don’t you start a blog?” After some thought, I decided, “Sure. Why not?” So, at the risk of being one more Asian food blogger or one more person to exclaim, “Read my blog!”… here it is.

“Noms, Not Bombs” is named after my loves of life. Food! But not bad movies. Or literal bombs. Other loves of mine to fill my little corner of the interwebz will be LA, Hawaii, NY, politics, shopping…and Hello Kitty.

I’ll be doing a real post shortly featuring pics of a yummy night out in LA but, for now, welcome to Noms, Not Bombs!