Bento: My Second Attempt

My friend built me a new computer so in gratitude I made him a bento. AnnatheRed inspired my modest creations. Her blog goes into detail on how to make each component, though instead of cheese I stuck with white kamaboko.

I learned how to make the chickadees from her, as well as the makkurokurosuke (dust bunny), and the mini-totoro. Oh, and the big Totoro, too. =P

The chickens are mourning the loss of the poached egg. Underneath is a mound of oyakodon mixture.

AnnatheRed is an amazingly prolific blogger. She makes bento-making look easy, but believe me it'll suck your life away if you let it. These two boxes alone took 3 hours from start to finish. Totoro's mouth refused to cooperate, and the meatballs I cooked had mysterious slipped off the stove and onto the ground. By the end, I was deliriously gnawing on a sheet of roasted seaweed.

If I should ever make you a bento, consider yourself special.

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In Other News:

Did anyone check out the going-out-of-business sale at Famima's WehHo branch?

My first attempt at a bento.

Harry's Cafe (Gardena)

All this can be yours for $7.50. It's the whopping Jr.-size version of Harry's Mixed Plate: fried chicken, char siu pork, tender spare ribs and fried wonton over a bed of white rice and accompanied by a scoop of macaroni salad; flavorful, juicy and not too greasy like your some of your other Hawaiian food chains.

Seems this hole-in-the-wall joint recently opened. Before it was The Loft. Before that it was the beloved Harry's Aloha Chop Suey Cafe. I can only assume it's the same Harry, coming out of retirement.

~~Comfort food at its best~~


Harry's Cafe
1721 W. Redondo Beach Blvd.
Gardena, CA 90247
(310) 324-4231

Open daily 11 am to 8 pm

Old Country Cafe @ Alhambra

Back in my school days, there was an outhouse of a sandwich stand that sold foot-long Hoagies for $1.50. Stuffed with thick cucumber sticks and doused with wholesale Italian dressing they were far from refined, but the price was enough to form a line down the street.

We lovingly named it "buck-fitty" as in, "Hey, let's head over to 'buck-fitty' for lunch!" But as the years went by and popularity grew, the owners thought it'd be a good idea to raise the price a dollar or two ... or three. Of course, they were completely wrong and lost a considerable amount of business. Are they still around? I don't know. I actually don't even care.

I hope not the same fate for Old Country Cafe, a charming Taiwanese hole-in-the-wall that's steadfast with its 1990s prices. Two girlfriends and I had dinner there over the weekend and when the bill came out I had to slap myself to make sure I was awake. The total?: $12.80.

And it's not just cheap, it's good. Overlook the grease and you might even think it's nutritious. Come Friday afternoon at work, I find myself craving their fried chicken over rice ($4.85), accompanied by various pickled vegetables and a boiled tea egg. And there's an added bonus of seasoned minced pork that rests somewhere between the rice and chicken. In my more health-conscious moments, I default to their minced chicken bowl which amounts to a whopping $3.60. (See above)

The cafe also offers an assortment of small vegetable dishes most of which are very foreign to my Japanese palate. Visiting Taiwan a few years ago, I remember catching a whiff of stinky tofu from a block away. Needless to say, I decided it wasn't for me and ran in the opposite direction.

If you're still a boba sipper, Old Country is for you. Unlimited refills with not only tapioca balls but custard pudding. Hopefully you're okay with the caffeine rush. I'm sure not.

Old Country Cafe
2 E. Valley Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 284-4610

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In the News...

Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe may be out the door but the sweet cakes bearing his image are hot commodity.

KyoChon Chicken @Koreatown

"Yes, we sprinkle our chicken with crack!" That's what I expected the good people at KyoChon Chicken to say... well, if any of them actually spoke English. Mikey tried this Korea-based chain a few weeks earlier and couldn't stop thinking about it. It was mainly the garlic-infused batter that hooked him. It gives you stinky-breath and lingers on your fingers for hours, but completely worth it, he said.

The restaurant runs a modest operation in a strip mall on 6th St. in the heart of Koreatown. The entire place fits no more than 20, but even if you get a seat bring your Nintendo DS because you'll be waiting a while. They abide by a slow-cook method where they deep-fry the chicken, remove and cool down, then deep-fry again. What results is a savory piece of chicken wrapped around crispy-thin skin. They don't tell you what's in the batter except for soy sauce, garlic "and 20 different ingredients" but there's got to be something illicit in there. Meth?

We ordered the $15.99 KyoChon whole chicken, which must have been hard to wrangle from the farm because it took them a good 30 minutes to bring it out. Next to us, a couple of punk kids were crying out their lungs and two girls seated after us had already gotten their order. Were we supposed to know the secret password? No matter. Every order comes with a basket of pickled white radish which held us over ... for a good 5 minutes until we darted the evil eye at the prepubescent waiter. Still not quite sure he spoke English or not.

The whole chicken is actually chopped up into bite-sized chunks, bone and all. We dug right in and didn't stop until the basket was empty. The rest of their menu of miscellaneous chicken parts looked pretty good, too: soy/garlic seasoned wings, legs, hot wings. They also throw chicken bulgogi, cheese sticks, French fries, and spicy chicken and rice cakes onto the menu, but I think that's just for the sake of variety. This is obviously a fried chicken joint. It'd be like ordering a salad at a steak house.

KyoChon Chicken
3833 W. 6th St.
LA, CA 90020
(213) 739-9292

NY Times raves about Korean chicken here.

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In other news...

• Local blogger Himawari talks about Japanese candy here.

• Who invented the California Roll? Some guy in California, of course!

• Back in May, 110 of Japan's most sunbaked-ladies, a.k.a. gyaru, took to the streets of Tokyo to promote carrying one's own pair of chopsticks around whenever you eat out. What the heck?~! Yeah, well, basically, China recently imposed a tax on wooden chopsticks to help curb deforestation. Japan loves passing out chopsticks whenever they can, but now that generosity will have to stop. So after a hedonistic night of clubbing, these lovely ladies were rounded up to compel others to become better citizens of the Earth. You know you want to see this.
  

Make Your Own Yakitori!

It was a case of 'monkey see, monkey do' after reading last Wednesday's LA Times write-up of do-it-yourself yakitori. So on Saturday I headed down with grandma to Marukai in Torrance to buy a yakitori grill and a slew of meat and vegetables. Once we were in the store, I got so excited I ran off to the kitchen appliance section leaving my grandma coughing in the dust. I described to the nice Filipino stock boy what I wanted and he pointed to a nearly empty shelf. Apparently the other LA Times readers beat me to it. =(

There was still a foot-and-a-half-long ceramic grill left for 50 bucks, so I snatched it before anyone else could. Then I grabbed a few packs of sliced pork belly, chicken breast (they were out of thigh), shishito, juicy Arabiki sausage and a few stalks of green onion. Just in case this project completely backfired, I wanted to keep it simple. Of course the all-important ingredient is the Japanese charcoal or binchotan ($6 at Marukai). I'm not one to say just how well it stands up to American charcoal but if you're making Japanese BBQ you might as well do it right.

Compared to lighting the fire, preparing the skewers was easy. Just cut the chicken into bite-size morsels and marinade them for at least 30 minutes in a mixture of sake (2 tbs.) , mirin (2 tbs.), soy sauce (2 tbs.), dashi (3 tbs.) and sugar (1 tbs). ( I don't recommend LA Times' recipe. Ya need a 'lil sugar in there.) Here's some skewer varieties I tried:

1) Sliced pork belly wrapped around raw asparagus (above)
2) Chicken morsels and green onion
3) Arabiki sausage
4) Shishito

If you want a sauce to coat the cooked skewers then just mix a little cornstarch with cold water, add it to the marinade and heat it up in a pot to thicken.

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(@_@); =>

Lighting the charcoal was a big challenge considering I don't have a backyard kiln or even a metal trashcan (Though I did think of borrowing one from the neighborhood homeless guy). I'd be a horrible arsonist, but I'm sure the fire department would be happy about that. Actually I take that back. They would have scolded me had they known I was burning coal on a stove.

The whitened sticks turned a fiery red so I tossed them into the pit. Mikey kindled them with an electric fan. Carbon monoxide poisoning isn't my ideal method of death so I kept the windows wide open.

It took over an hour to get the coals started but once they did it was smooth sailing from there. The sausage and pork belly's fatty oils dripped onto the charcoal sending up a savory stream of smoke. That's what helps flavor the meat, so as much as I wanted to jump-start the fire with lighter fluid I knew it would have ruined the entire meal.

When you think about it, it's strange to have a hot fire going in the middle of summer heat. But for some reason, this is the season for barbecues -- so bust out the beer and fire up the coals.

Personally, I hope to enjoy a soft serve ice cream cone this summer. That's all I really ask for. Well, that and a juicy stick of pork belly. =)

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Lactose Intolerance Log:

I'm nearly done with my non-dairy experiment. I'm documenting my experience of going 38 days without dairy here. (Warning: Log contains explicit details of abdominal discomfort.)

Torimatsu @ Torrance

During one of those heated discussions about all-time favorite restaurants, I was shocked to find out two of my Japanese coworkers weren't as thrilled about Shinsengumi (yakitori) as I was. In fact, they downright hated the place. They both agreed it's just too darn loud in there. One coworker said he was once cheered on as he got up to use the bathroom.

Maybe it's all in my head but being there always makes me feel like I'm back in Japan, though when I really think about it it's really not. Generally speaking, Japanese like to eat in peace. That is, unless you're at a summer matsuri and even then you won't get people cheering you to the port-a-potty.

This week, I was discovered great alternative-- Torimatsu in Torrance. Instead of three guys behind the counter there's only one, an oyaji who seems to prefer staring solemnly at the floor as the grill sizzles. The restaurant is fairly small with about a half-hour wait for a counter seat. Once there, you can break open a bottle of Sapporo beer with a friend and shout "KANPAI~" all by yourself.


I choose about 5 skewers of juicy meat variations. I'm not a fan of guts and organs but I did notice they carried motsu (intestines) on-a-stick which lots of natives love. The tsukune (chicken meatball) isn't as good as Shinsengumi's--they nearly fell apart in my mouth--but tasty just the same.

I felt like getting something healthy so I tried the renkon (lotus root) which was stuffed with ground chicken and lightly sprinkled with red pepper. Renkon is one of those vegetables you can deepfry in lard and still not feel guilty about eating. They're that good.

The deal-breaker with yakitori houses is when the meat comes out a tad dry. Afterall, they're sitting over high heat for a good 15 minutes so it's easy for a novice chef to mess up. I was impressed with the chicken and onion skewers. Oh so juicy. The shiso-wrapped chicken worked well too. Shiso is a pungent green leaf so it packs some punch to the tame taste of chicken.


And then came dessert... Oooh, I never though I'd have a favorite sweet at a savory restaurant. The pineapple sorbet is contained in a real McCoy pineapple and topped with some randomly assorted fruits. Though imagine the aerial view of it and you'll see a funny face smiling at you. It was so cool and refreshing I was tempted to save it for the ride home.


So the next time you're in the quiet mood for chicken sticks I definitely recommend Torimatsu. If you need a cheering squad, head to Shinsengumi.