ROWLAND HEIGHTS: The Boiling Crab

theboilingcrab.com
18902 Gale Ave
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
626 964 9300

Price: Cheap
Rating: Good
Directions: Get off at Nogales on the 60
Reservations: Not accepted
Must Get: Corn

Okay, okay… I’ll admit this place is good, but seriously– is it worth the hype? The longest I’d be willing to wait for this place is 30 minutes. It’s not real Cajun food, but the flavors are good. The seafood is fresh. The servers are nice. And I guess for the location and community, the restaurant is kind of a novelty. Heck, they serve you food in a plastic bag. I’m shocked my dad ate as much as he did.

I think I prefer their garlic butter flavor over lemon pepper and the whole shebang. I’d stay away from their fried calamari and oysters the next time (at least at this branch), but I might try their catfish. (If you want good fried oysters, buy some oysters– enough to feed you, me, and my fam– and come over to my house. I’ll get my dad to fry them up for you.) The clams and shrimp were good, but the corn was definitely my favorite. Next time, I’ll get the dungeness crab too.

I keep hearing that the Garden Grove location is the best, so I guess I’ll have to swing by that spot next time.

SANTA MONICA: Barney’s Beanery

www.barneysbeanery.com
1351 3rd Street Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310 656 5777

Price: Cheap
Rating: Good
Directions: Get off at 4th/5th Street on the 10
Reservations: They don’t take them
Must Get: Drinks

This is not a real post because I was barely here. Myra and I came here for a quick bit to get us prepared for a depressing movie (Blue Valentine). We needed a drink before walking into the theater, so we headed over to Barney’s. I was so disappointed we weren’t there for their happy hour. They have great deals from 4-7PM Monday through Friday ($3 beers and half off selected appetizers!), so I highly suggest you swing by one of their 5 locations at some point during those times. We both got martinis. Mine was good, hers was strong. I wish I remembered their names right now, but my memory is pretty shit sometimes. Sorry folks. I believe mine had pomegranate in it and hers had the word Kiss in the title. (Myra, does this sound familiar?) Anyway, their calamari was good. Myra approved of them and apparently she’s quite picky when it comes to calamari. (There was more calamari on the plate before I took the picture by the way. We were just starving, so we had to eat some before I was able to bust out my phone.)

I will be back here next time for happy hour and their wings though. The table next to us got a plate of wings and they smelled so good I probably was drooling. I have a soft spot for fried chicken

p.s. This is a great spot to watch a game. There are TVs everywhere!

LAS VEGAS: Lagasse’s Stadium

3325 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702 607 2665

Price: Expensive
Rating: Bleh
Directions: Lower level of the Palazzo
Reservations: You need them if there’s a big game going on
Must Get: Buffalo wings

Do not come here. The only thing worth getting is their buffalo wings which were probably some of the best wings I’ve ever had. However, I will not even come back here for that– our waiter was nice overall, but the service was horrible. We waited almost an hour for cold food. After some complaints, things got better but even in the end they forgot about one of our orders. Their shrimp salad sandwich, filet mignon, ribs, and their artichoke dip were all terrible… Even their fries were bad. Ugh. What a waste. And with a $50/person minimum during the Lakers game, just not worth it. Oh Emeril, I am so disappointed.

LOS ANGELES: Pink’s Hot Dogs

Sadly my first time trying this infamous hot dog joint was at the Los Angeles Airport, so I did not get the whole experience. Nonetheless, this is one damn good hot dog. It’s really juicy and the chili was well seasoned. I’ll definitely try the original place sometime when I get back. I still have a soft spot for Crif Dogs back in New York though; their chili dog is not only bacon wrapped, but topped off with some coleslaw and jalapeños. Yum.

BURBANK: Islands

I got the Pipeline Burger (aka chili burger), pictured above. The burger was pretty good, but the fries were awful. The spinach and artichoke dip was okay, standard chain restaurant type stuff, nothing special.

SANTA MONICA: Opaque

There are no pictures for this place because I was dining in the dark. Yes, you read correctly, the dark. I couldn’t see anything– not my food, the utensils, my glass of water, etc. I’ve been wanting to try a place like this since one of my old roommates told me about it a few years ago, so thanks Rossana for taking me!

The whole idea of this restaurant is based on the theory that your other senses will be heightened because you lost your sense of sight. This might be true if I lost the sense permanently or if the food were much better because it was certainly not the case last night. For $100 per person, I expected great food, but instead it was just mediocre. The seared ahi tuna was still frozen in the center! Everything was rather bland minus the amuse bouche, a cherry tomato filled with goat cheese, and their mango panna cotta. I ate less than normal last night but I’m not sure if it was because of the food itself or because I couldn’t see what I was eating. I think I tend to keep eating even though I’m full because the food looks so good or because I don’t want to waste it.

It’s definitely a novel dining experience. I’m glad I went, but I would not want to do it again. It was just… strange. I picked up my fork to take a bite of my salad only to get a mouthful of air twice and Rossana stuck her hand in the butter twice! And I would rather spend the money at a crappy restaurant eating amazing food. (When I was eating my tuna, I couldn’t help but wish that I was at In N Out scarfing down a burger.)

If this entry has not dissuaded you from dining in the dark, Opaque has restaurants in San Francisco and San Diego as well. Camaje in New York offers a similar experience using blindfolds. Let me know what you think if you go!

NEW YORK: Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen

No surprise that this place beat out Bobby Flay on Throwdown for their sloppy joes. Pictured above is their sloppy joe fries– think chili cheese fries, but sweet. The meat is great, but it was too heavy so I couldn’t finish even half of my fries.

The fish fry sandwich was good, but they need to use another type of bread. The ciabatta was overpowering because it was just too thick. Whatever they use to batter the fish was amazing though.

If you are in the area, I would give it a try. I’d probably check out their sloppy joe though or their fish and chips.

BROOKLYN: Blackbird

www.blackbirdbrooklyn.com
197 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211
718 599 2707

Price: Reasonable
Rating: Good
Directions: L to 1st Ave
Reservations: Unnecessary

I read the reviews on menupages while we were waiting to order which made me a bit apprehensive. Reviewers wrote about bad service and mediocre food, but I didn’t experience any of that. The waitress was friendly and overall pretty attentive. She took away our menus after we ordered our drinks without asking if we were getting food, but she quickly made up for it after I told her about ten minutes later. Joe raved about his Mediterranean burger. I loved my mojo chicken and green chutney. This may be my potential new hood, so if that’s the case, I’ll definitely be coming back.

NEW YORK: MoMA Terrace 5

www.moma.org
11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019
212 708 9400

Price: Reasonable
Rating: Good
Directions: EM to 53rd and 5th Ave
Reservations: Unnecessary

Strolling through the Museum of Modern Art is a great way to waste away an afternoon of the hot summer heat. Even though I am not a fan of modern art, I can still enjoy browsing throw the collections, especially when it also includes some of my favorite paintings by Van Gogh, Seurat, Picasso, Kandinsky, etc. etc. It also helps that the cafe on the fifth floor serves great coffee, wine, cheese, and ginger beer and overlooks its private garden.

The ricotta cheese plate pictured above was good, but I’m comparing it to the ricotta cheese plate Joe got from Le Pain Quotidien that I am still daydreaming about. I was craving sweet, but it was salty. The flatbread was fantastic though; I wish I knew where I could get some so I could have some lying around my house all the time to snack on. Yum.

NEW YORK: Destination Bar

destinationbarnyc.com
211 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009
212 388 9844

Price: Reasonable
Rating: Good
Directions: L to 1st Ave
Reservations: Unnecessary
Must Get: Jalapeño bacon benedict tacos

Destination Bar is not a place I would normally stop by for food, but this morning I was starving and the aroma of bacon was flowing into the street… How could I pass it up? Their cheeseburger eggs (pictured above) and jalapeño bacon benedict tacos were both really good. They weren’t that filling, but at $8 each I couldn’t have expected too much. It’s worth trying if you live in the neighborhood, but nothing to go out of your way for. Plus, the seats and tables are kind of awkward for a meal.