Andy Gavin's Blog, page 38
March 8, 2023
Home Sweet Spicy Home
Restaurant: Spicy Home [Crawl: MK BBQ, Peking, Bafang, Spicy Home, Beijing Tasty ]
Location: 1635 S Azusa Ave, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745. (626) 636-1128
Date: July 31, 2022
Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese
Rating: Great kitchen
_I think we inserted this fourth stop on the crawl as well because the first couple really sucked.
I’ve been to Spicy Home a number of times, usually just for a dish or three (as they don’t allow wine). It’s a great casual Sichuan place.
The menu.
Peppercorn Sauce Chicken....
March 6, 2023
Quick Eats – Bafang
Restaurant: Bafang Dumpling [Crawl: MK BBQ, Peking, Bafang, Spicy Home, Beijing Tasty ]
Location: 1552 S Azusa Ave Suite B, City of Industry, CA 91748. (626) 778-1958
Date: July 31, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese Dumplings
Rating: Bleh!
_For stop 3 of our I’ll fated July far SGV crawl we (more or less me) inserted this dumpling place into the roster.
I’ve been wanting to try this for months as the website and online reviews made it look great. But as a dumpling only specialist I was never going to mak...
March 4, 2023
Quick Eats – Peking Restaurant
Restaurant: Peking Restaurant [ CLOSED? ] [Crawl: MK BBQ, Peking, Bafang, Spicy Home, Beijing Tasty ]
Location: 19240 Colima Rd Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 363-4961
Date: July 31, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: Sloppy and not worth recommending in any way
_This particular crawl was not well researched. In fact, it was slapped together mostly from yelp or driving around to include places in the “far SGV” (Rowland and Hacienda Heights). This is our second stop after one tucked in a Supermar...
March 2, 2023
Quick Eats – MK BBQ
Restaurant: MK BBQ [Crawl: MK BBQ, Peking, Bafang, Spicy Home, Beijing Tasty ]
Location: 18414 Colima Rd, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 616-1826
Date: July 31, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese BBQ
Rating: Not bad
_This was part of an extensive (but ultimate meh) crawl in the far SGV.
Yarom found this BBQ joint online, and being a sucker for any kind of straight meat, put it on the list. But it turned out to be a counter tucked in a skeezy market.
Hanging meats.
Wieners in juice.
Duck or pork, tha...
February 27, 2023
Wolfing it Down
Restaurant: Wolvesmouth [1, 2, 3]
Location: Los Angeles
Date: July 30, 2022
Cuisine: Modernist
Rating: Very tasty and great night
_Second July in a row I went to a Wolvesmouth dinner. My previous visit was great fun, but it was for a long time a complicated “application based” dinner and I’m kinda lazy about such things. So when some of my friends decided to buy out the night and invited me I jumped at the chance to return.
In these uncertain times, albeit in the relatively optimistic early/mi...
February 25, 2023
Big Night at Capital
Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234
Date: July 29, 2022
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Great again
_Sometimes (particularly during a week day) people don’t want to drive all the way to the SGV — and when that happens there is always Capital Seafood Beverly Hills. Tonight a bunch of us gathered for a big wine night.
Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Be...
February 23, 2023
Coche In at Brothers Santa Monica
Restaurant: The Brothers Sushi Santa Monica
Location: 1008 Montana Ave #1, Santa Monica, CA 90403. (424) 330-0270
Date: July 28, 2022
Cuisine: Modern Sushi
Rating: Awesome (and close)!
_Our Foodie Gang has been going to the incredible “The Brothers Sushi” in the valley for some time now, and it was with much glee that we welcomed in the brand new (and somewhat delayed) Montana Santa Monica location.
The space used to be the repulsive Louise’s Trattoria, serving not exactly Italian for decades....
February 21, 2023
Dirty Dozen semi Grand
Restaurant: Grand Harbor [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 5733 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 280-2998
Date: July 24, 2022
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Solid Cantonese
_It has become traditional for the Dirty Dozen (our blind tasting group within a group) to do white wine lunches over dim sum — but this time we mixed it up slightly and combined with Sunday night dinner into a Cantonese banquet Dirty Dozen White dinner. I think this was originally white Burgundy themed, then opened up t...
February 18, 2023
Date Night at Addison
Restaurant: Addison
Location: 5200 Grand Del Mar Way, San Diego, CA 92130. (858) 314-1900
Date: July 18, 2022
Cuisine: California Japanese Fusion French
Rating: Best meal I’ve had in California in a while
_My wife and I snuck away during July 2022 for a romantic getaway to San Diego and managed to snag (thanks Jeffrey!) a reservation at San Diego’s best restaurant, Addison — then 2 Michelin stars, now recently promoted to three!
Addison is a renowned fine-dining restaurant located in the Fairm...
February 16, 2023
Date Night at AR Valentien
Restaurant: A.R. Valentien
Location: 11480 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA 92037. (858) 777-6635
Date: July 19, 2022
Cuisine: California Bistro
Rating: Solid for a hotel spot
_My wife and I went for a romantic mini vacation to San Diego July of 2022 and stayed at the Iconic Lodge at Torrey Pines where we stayed just before our son was born.
It’s a lovely spot in full California style, located in La Jolla, California, just north of San Diego. The lodge is nestled in a grove of pine trees overlo...
