Author: Ruel

Day 205: Tops Burgers

Tops' Chili Cheese Fries

Tops’ Chili Cheese Fries

Besides doughnuts, my one edible guilty pleasure is a big ol’ order of chili cheese fries. The best are always served at greasy spoons or old fast-food joints.

Tops Burger in Pasadena has been around for over 50 years. The restaurant is showing its age, but that’s part of its charm. I occasionally ate here in my youth when my waistline could afford the occasional indulgence.

Nowadays, it’s rare that I’ll grab an order, especially at Tops. The small is more than enough for two people and the large can probably feed an entire family. The other day I went with the junior (child) size and it was more than enough food for me.

I felt pretty good for restraining myself from ordering a larger size. That hasn’t always been the case at Tops.

 

Day 204: CONCACAF Gold Cup

Team USA's Gyasi Zardes

LA Galaxy’s Gyasi Zardes representing the U.S.

Well, that was interesting. Not only did Jamaica upset the U.S. in the CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finals, but the Panama-Mexico match nearly ended in a riot. As much as I love The Beautiful Game, the ugliness of any sporting event marred by questionable refereeing and unruly fan behavior is something I’ll never appreciate.

Some of that ugliness was on display at the Galaxy-Barcelona game I attended two nights ago. On a beautiful Tuesday night in Pasadena, a sold-out crowd of over 93,000 filled the Rose Bowl to cheer for their teams. It was a remarkably pro-Barcelona audience, since Barca has the longer and more illustrious history.

Now, I’m all about supporting your club and being passionate and vocal. Unfortunately, some “fans” think of the games as an excuse to over-imbibe and act like an idiot. F-bombs filled the air, as did slurred speech and the occasional near-fight. I was embarrassed for them and felt bad for all of the parents who had to explain to their children why it’s not acceptable to act like a drunken buffoon in public.

As I commented to my stepdaughter, it was like being at a Raiders game.

(For the record, I’m a card-carrying member of the Raider Nation. Most of us diehard fans act responsibly, but it’s the unruly types who make the news. And truth be told, I’ve seen some bad behavior at the Raider games, especially when they were in Los Angeles.)

Day 203: Ube Flan Cupcake

Ube Flan Cupcake

Ube Flan Cupcake

This is my new favorite cupcake: ube with a leche flan topping. The last time I had an ube cupcake this tasty was from the now-defunct The Manila Machine. I’ve tried a few others since then, but Baked Dessert Bar’s was phenomenal. It wasn’t overwhemingly sweet, yet packed with flavor in every bite.

At today’s soft opening, my wife and I also ordered three macarons (Milo chocolate, salted caramel, and ube) that were all outstanding. We spent a total of $10 for the cupcake and macarons, which more than satisfied our sweet tooth. Normally I wouldn’t be too happy about paying so much for such a small amount of food, but I know how labor-intensive it is to make the macarons. For now, we’ll reserve our trips to Baked Dessert Bar for special occasions only.

Of course, I’ll be making up excuses for special occasions much more frequently.

 

Day 201: New Capital Seafood

New Capital Seafood dim sum.

New Capital Seafood dim sum.

I have yet to find a decent dim sum restaurant in the Inland Empire, so whenever the craving hits, my wife and I go to family favorite New Capital Seafood in Rowland Heights. The basics (shuimai and har gow) are good and we always manage to try something new, whether it’s vegetable dumplings, fish balls, or other dishes that we haven’t learned the Chinese names for.

Like other dim sum joints in the San Gabriel Valley, New Capital gets insanely crowded on the weekends. Thanks to some fortunate scheduling today, my wife and I were in the area and stopped by to munch on all of the deliciousness found in those magical steamer trays. The food was good, the prices were right, and the Monday crowd was a fraction of the weekend masses. Not a bad way to kick off our week.

Day 200: Ant-Man

  • Ant-Man

    Ant-Man

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the movies, so I was excited to see Ant-Man. He wasn’t a major character in the Marvel Universe comics, but he proved to be a worthy addition to the Marvel Universe films.

I didn’t think Paul Rudd could be a superhero. I loved him in Anchorman, I Love You Man, and Knocked Up (one of my favorite lines ever: “I got Matsui”). He didn’t strike me as an actor that could carry a comic-book-turned-movie.

Thankfully, Rudd plays it just right. He doesn’t take things too seriously nor does he overdo the snarkiness and strikes the right balance between both. There are a few winks to the audience about the silliness of the whole thing, but it never feels patronizing or demeaning.

I didn’t find out until the credits rolled that Edgar Wright had a hand in the screenplay and realized that’s why I liked Ant-Man so much. Wright’s a master at this type of pop-culture fare.

It’s the perfect summer blockbuster. Yes, it’s silly and predictable, but it’s also a lot of fun and likable.

And it’s got me fired up to get back into my AFI Top 100 challenge.

Day 199: Domi’s Peruvian Cuisine

image

Lomo Saltado is my go-to meal whenever I eat Peruvian food. It’s hard not to like a dish that contains three of my favorite foods: steak, rice, and fries.

The owners are the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I have a semi-personal connection with them (as I wrote in my Yelp review here), so I’m not exactly an unbiased critic. Their home-style restaurant is cozy and quaint; a true labor of love that you can taste in every bite.

Day 198: The Donut Hole

The Donut Hole. La Puente, California.

The Donut Hole. La Puente, California.

I was in La Puente this morning, which meant I had to stop at The Donut Hole. While Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood is the Los Angeles icon, for my money The Donut Hole offers the best bang for your buck. Where else can you drive through a donut-shaped building for a dozen fried bits of heaven?

As I wrote on Yelp, the donuts were pretty standard fare. However, things have improved: today I noticed the addition of specialty donuts: red velvet, Fruity Pebbles, Froot Loops, and others. I ordered the blueberry donut and a dozen cronut holes and both were excellent.

The food is secondary, though. It’s all about the experience of driving through the giant donut: it’ll delight your kids and the kid in you.

Day 197: Throwback Thursday

image

Warm summer nights of my childhood meant playing outside, hoping to hear the magical song from the ice cream man’s truck. When my lolo was staying with us, my brothers and I were always well-funded; we’d run through the house like headless chickens trying to find him and his endless supply of change for our treats.

Bomb pops, 50/50 bars, Fudgesicles, and other frozen goodies made it into our hands, but my favorite was the snack-sized bag of Doritos. The ice cream man kicked it up a notch for our neighborhood. He had a bottle of Tabasco on hand and upon request he’d pour a few drops into the bag and shake it up, coating the Doritos with a little heat. It was a revelation to my pint-sized taste buds.

While I don’t eat Doritos as much as I used to, I always have a bottle of hot sauce on hand, just in case I decide to do a Throwback Thursday snack like I did today. I’m sure lolo would approve.

Day 196: Go Set A Watchman

Harper Lee

Harper Lee

Harper Lee’s highly anticipated sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird was released yesterday and there’s a lot of buzz about Atticus Finch. The hero of the first novel, Atticus has not aged gracefully, becoming a bigot and the antithesis of who he was. I’m looking forward to reading the book, but I’m not sure how I’ll react to the older Atticus.

The true hero of the real-life drama behind this book? Lee’s editor, Tay Hohoff, who saw the potential in the flashbacks to Lee’s youth and encouraged her to focus on those aspects, which led to the Pulitzer-Prize winning To Kill A Mockingbird. Imagine if Hohoff isn’t around? We lose one of, if not the, great books of American literature.

While there was no doubt that this sequel could not have lived up to its hype, it’s nice to see a book dominate the news headlines.