FEATURE FOOD FRIDAYS: dine la week

I LOVE Dine LA!  It's an opportunity to try out nice restaurants in the Los Angeles area for less!  It includes a prefix menu to include appetizer, main entree and dessert for a set price - yum, yum!  This year, I went to Border Grill in DTLA for lunch, dinner at Fogo de Chao in Beverly Hills, dinner at Chaya in DTLA and Border Grill (again!).  ALL were very good!  Check out the food from my second trip to Border Grill...

crackalicious tortilla chips and salsa...sooo good!

baja ceviche...one of the most tasty and freshest ceviche I've ever had

tortilla soup

chicken poblano enchiladas

chuleta de puerco en pepian taco = awesomeness

capirotada aka badass bread pudding

pastel rufina - croissant-like pastry with cream and chocolate chunks, so good!

FEATURE FOOD FRIDAYS: birthday sushi & triple chocolate mousse cake!

sashimi lunch special from Sushi Gen

Today's feature Friday revolves around two of my food loves: Sushi Gen sushi and Porto's Cuban bakery.  For my birthday celebration, a group of work peeps and I went to Little Tokyo for our sushi fix.  Not just any sushi spot, we went to my favorite - Sushi Gen!  I have been coming here for lunch for at least six years.  Hands down, the best, freshest sushi in Little Tokyo!  Why not right?  Fish market is seriously down the street from it.  So fresh the yellowtail just melts like butter in your mouth, yummy!  Here is a picture of my sashimi lunch special - it comes with miso soup, tofu appetizer, cucumber salad, rice and all this yummy sashimi all for about $15.  There is a price for the yummy sushi, everyone wants some and there usually is a line so come early!

Porto's awesome triple chocolate mousse cake

So it seems that there is a common denominator amongst all my friends...FOOD!!! That certainly is the case with my girlfriend, Marilyn.  She and I bonded over three years ago over a certain cake from a certain bakery - the delicious but light triple chocolate mousse cake from Porto's bakery.  Porto's has awesome empanadas, potato balls, guava rolls, cheese rolls, breads...all kinds of pastries and cakes.  So yummy!!  I've had their Parisian chocolate cake, cheesecake, mango mousse cake, fruit tarts, tiramisu, red velvet cake...but the one I keep coming back to is their triple chocolate mousse cake.  It's three layers of goodness, the bottom is like this dark chocolate cake, the middle is chocolate mousse, the top layer is white chocolate mousse topped off with a hefty serving of white chocolate shavings.  It's amazing - it tastes light and it is so tasty!!!  You'll have to try it out for yourself!  

FEATURE FOOD FRIDAYS: dim sum at LA's Chinatown!

Ahhh the joys of Fridays. Fridays are usually when I start my weekend splurge whoohoo!  So it's always a special day. :)  Today,  some peeps from work (Jamie, Michael, and Viviane) and I decided to go to dim sum at Empress Pavilion in Chinatown - one of the perks of working in DTLA!  Dim sum is sort of like tapas at a Spanish restaurant.  You get to try a bunch of different kinds of dishes served on a small plate or a small steamer.  And the best part is...these dishes are on carts to be served to you!  Here are pictures of some of our dishes.  Thanks to Viviane who spoke Cantonese, we were able to try a couple of new different dishes today yay!

bbq pork (top) and roasted pork with skin (I personally liked the latter more)

flat rice noodles filled with shrimp (top) and beef (bottom)

pan-fried flat rice noodles with shrimp (top), shumai (center). and the ones at bottom are shrimp dumplings I think

Chinese broccoli for some fiber hehe

famous steamed pork buns and egg custard buns (so sweet and so good)

So I tried the taro cake for the first and loved it!  I thought I took a picture of it but I guess that's when I dropped my camera phone on the Chinese broccoli yikes!  Enjoy the pictures!  Tune in on Monday when I attempt to make one of my favorite dishes - Chicken Milanese - Paleo style.  Paleo style means no bread crumbs, no flour or cheese, this should be interesting.  Until then, hasta la vista!