My food experiences
RIP Rowdy Roddy Piper
I wrote a review of Rocket Fizz on Yelp earlier today. Pictured above was one of the hundreds of sodas at the store. It was based on one of my favorite B-movies of all time and served as a fitting tribute to the recently deceased Rowdy Roddy Piper.
I Love Yelp
I volunteered for the Yelp Street Team tonight, representing the brand at the 626 Night Market. It was a lot of fun handing out Yelp swag to the attendees and in my three hours at the Yelp Booth, I noticed one thing: people LOVE Yelp.
Actually, I noticed two things. In addition to the Yelp love fest, I saw how ginormous the 626 Night Market has grown. I was here in 2013 and thought it was big then, but tonight was nearly overwhelming. So much food, so many people, and plenty of good vibes. When you have an event centered around food, it seems to produce a less hostile crowd than, say, a Dodgers-Giants game in the middle of a heatwave.
Most people already had the Yelp app on their phones, so it was easy to get them to check-in and claim their free tote bag or drink koozie. My fellow street teamers Tiffany and Ruth gave out free high fives upon request, as did my stepdaughter, who helped out for an hour. We even posed for photos with a few people who made us feel like rock stars.
My favorite part of tonight? Talking to other enthusiastic users of Yelp. There were a lot of them, including several who stopped by the booth just to say how much they loved Yelp.
I told them I knew exactly how they felt.
Lard Lad
I can scratch off another thing from my unofficial Food Bucket List: a Lard Lad donut (pictured above, which doesn’t do justice to its actual size).
As a longtime fan of the Simpsons, I was thrilled when one of the attendees to our recent Game Night brought one of these oversized donuts to the festivities. They’re only sold at Krustyland in Universal Studios, so it’s definitely not an everyday type of treat.
The last time I was at Universal Studios, I was geeking out at Krustyland. The Simpsons ride was fun, but it was all of the details throughout Krustyland that I appreciated the most. The only thing open at the time was the Kwik-E-Mart, which was basically a Simpsons souvenir shop. Now there are actual Krusty Burgers and Duff Beer (!) being sold there, along with the Lard Lad donuts.
One bite of the pink glaze with rainbow sprinkles made me utter the Homer Simpsonism, “Mmm … donut.” Simpsons fans will be pleased.
Slater’s 50/50 Pop-Tart Milkshake
We didn’t feel like cooking tonight, so my wife and I went to our local Slater’s 50/50 for dinner. Slater’s is a growing chain of restaurants that serve a “better” burger, with their famous 50/50 burger made up of half ground beef and half ground bacon. Yes, bacon! It’s something you should try at least once in your life.
I’ve had the 50/50 burger several times in the past, so I changed things up tonight. There was a special Test Kitchen Menu of not-yet-on-the-regular-menu items that I ordered from: Shmanimal Fries (basically, a fancier, bacony, and not-quite-as-good version of In-N-Out’s animal fries), Cheesesteak (meh; even the tri-tip used didn’t make up for a lackluster sandwich), and something I’ve never had before: the Strawberry Pop-Tart Milkshake pictured above.
The milkshake was good and worth trying, but it wasn’t mind-blowing like the Slater’s Maple Bacon Milkshake. Next time I go to Slater’s, I’ll stick with the ol’ reliable 50/50 and that Maple Bacon Milkshake.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fish Tacos at Tacos Ensenada
Any time I’m in Duarte, California, I make a stop at Tacos Ensenada. It’s a small taco shop that serves excellent fish tacos: lightly battered and fried fish served on warm corn tortillas with fresh pico de gallo, cabbage, and crema.
I’ve already raved about Tacos Ensenada on Yelp (read my review here), so I’ll just say here that the tacos de pescado are still muy delicioso.
White Rabbit’s sisig burrito
I was in the Valley yesterday, so I had dinner at White Rabbit Cafe, the brick-and-mortar version of the famous food truck. The cafe’s been here for a few years now and it’s nice to see them growing (they just launched another store in Las Vegas).
Ever since I used to track their location via Twitter, White Rabbit has consistently served delicious Filipino fusion food. My favorite is still the pork sisig burrito; the pork is flavorful and it’s packed with garlic rice and a fried egg. It’s not the best sisig you’ll ever have, but it’s a great way to introduce people to Filipino food.
My fantasy football league has had trays of White Rabbit’s lumpia, sisig, and rice on its annual draft day potluck party a few times. I can think of no better recommendation than, “White Rabbit fed my 12-man fantasy league and the food was gone before the draft was finished.”
