food

Day 220: Yelp Street Team

I Love Yelp

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.

Day 217: Lard Lad Donuts

Lard Lad

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.

Day 209: Pop-Tart Milkshake

Slater's 50/50 Pop-Tart Milkshake

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.

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 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 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 194: Tacos Ensenada

Fish Tacos at Tacos Ensenada

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.