But let’s cleanse our mental palate with a nice fruit tart from Whole Foods:

The showdown is between Golden State and Scoops vs Bottlerock LA and MILK and the competition was held at Blue Palm Brewhouse in Hollywood. Hubs and I got there about 30 minutes after the event started and the placed was packed. We paid our $23 per person at the door got our score cards and stood in line to get our first taste.

We started out with Golden State and Scoops. They paired the Bruery’s Berliner Weisse with Raspbery & Yuzu Sorbet which turned out to my favorite out of the 4 offered in the entire showdown. We wasted no time and also got their North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial Stout and brown bread gelato.

The first selection with the Hefeweizen and the raspberry & yuzu sorbet was very refreshing. The lightness of the citrus notes in the Hef was brought out by the yuzu in the sorbet. The stout and the brown bread was a heavier and it felt like I was drinking coffee.

After slurping down our beer floats from Golden State & Scoops, we got in line for Bottlerock LA & MILK. I couldn’t help myself but to Twitter my thought provoking thoughts on my Iphone.

Bottlerock LA & MILK had Allagash Curieux with vanilla bean ice cream and Samiclaus with coffee toffee ice cream.

The first one with the vanilla ice cream didn’t blow me away since I thought the vanilla ice cream was slightly on the creamier side and masked the flavor of the beer. The second beer float with the coffee toffee ice cream was bitter and crunchy and delicious. It felt like I was eating dessert. By this time, I was feeling *good*. I realized that we slurped down 4 of these beer floats within a 30 minute time frame on an empty stomach. Then it was time for scoring!

I was so impressed with Golden State & Scoops’ Hefeweizen and raspberry yuzu sorbet combo that I gave them 6 points for originality although only 3 points max were available. Yes, I was plenty buzzed.  However, I did catch my own mistake and corrected it to 3 points.

Later that night, Joshua from Food GPS posted the results and the winner was Golden State & Scoops! Thank you to Joshua at Food GPS for holding the showdown. I can’t wait for the next one! *Thanks to Hubs for the photography as I was too busy downing my floats*

There were 7 of us so we ordered about 6-7 starters. First came the lamb chops, beets, fresh garbanzo’s, sumac yogurt. The lamb was not gamey at all and was cooked medium rare and seasoned to perfection. The table liked it so much that we ordered a 2nd plate and even got 2 of our non lamb eaters to try a couple bites. I guess it’s all about the quality of the meat and how you prepared it. Hubs was one of the 2 non lamb eaters and he gobbled those bites down.

Beets, feta, sungold tomato, kalamata

arugula, corn, pecans, Japanese tomato, parmesan

Since we were taking friends here for the first time, we were kind of playing “hosts”, making sure that everyone was okay with the food and etc. Hubs and I were also preoccupied with taking pictures as well. So I really don’t remember the lighter dishes such as the 2 above. I guess you can say their meatier dishes stood out more.

Here is the grilled squid, chorizo, chimmi churri. Couldn’t taste the chorizo much but the squid was very fresh.

So here is the groups favorite starter of the night, pig ear, chili, lime, fried egg. So much that we ordered another one within seconds of devouring it. The first bite really surprised me as it was such a tangy surprise. Sour and spicy and chewy and crunchy all up in my mouth. This is a MUST ORDER!

After reading all the reviews about this one, I ordered the poutine, oxtail gravy, cheddar for the beef eaters in the group. One beef eater was rendered speechless after the first bite. He was surprised how light the dish was despite the gravy over fries.

We doubled up on the pork belly, kimchi, peanuts, chili soy, scallion since Hubs and I really enjoyed it in our previous visit. Again, this dish did not disappoint.

Finally we are onto the main course. We decided on 4 of the 5 dishes offered that day.

Halibut, king crab, gold rice succotash, tabasco butter. I really liked this dish as there were so many textures. However, among the 7 of us, we all only got a bite of this. I plan to return very soon to have this all for myself.

grilled shrimp, fresh black eye’s, bacon, curry, creme fraiche.

We ordered the flat iron, artichoke hash, truffle parmesan fondue for the cow lovers and boy they were more in love with the bovine after they took the first bite. They were about to fall off their chairs. The steak was prepared medium well upon the server’s suggestion.

When the balsamic pork ribs came, the table and ooh’ed and ahh’ed . She was a beauty. The meat was succulent and slid right off the bone. Even the bone was succulent, it was cooked so thoroughly that I could bite into the bone. How do they do that anyways?

The ribs came with a side of blistered corn & zucchini, herb butter

Then it’s time for DESSERT! Of course we had to order ALL 5.

tres leches, dulce de leche. This was Hubs favorite. Again, it was not heavy but full of flavor at the same time.

panna cotta, saba

pound cake, strawberries, cream the famous chocolate crunch bar

Strawberry shortcake

Last but not least the apricot tart, pistachio creme fraiche.

I truly madly deeply love this restaurant. They are never afraid to slap you upside the head with flavor and substance but at the same time keeping the texture light. It’s comfort food on steroids, graduating from a liberal arts college. Okay, doesn’t make sense but all in all, the dinner was beyond expectation and had service to match.

We went on an extremely busy night and our table was not yet ready at reservation time because the party before us lingered a bit longer than expected. The hostess Madeline checked in with us often to give us updated news on our seating situation. She offered to take our drink orders first and gave us menus to peruse. Madeline also gave us the bigger table so we can be more comfortable. These are little gestures but make a dramatic impact on hungry diners waiting to be seated. I also noticed how everyone working at the restaurant pitches in to help. If there was a glass that needs to refilled or a table that needs to cleaned up, runners, servers, hostesses jumped right in and took care of it. I don’t care how great the food is or how many Michelin stars it earned or what culinary school the chef graduated from, if a restaurant does not have good service, it might as well be a Denny’s.

14 thumbs ups to Animal for incredible food and stellar service. I will definitely be back soon.

**Thanks for Hubs for helping out with the photography.**

Hubs and I have been venturing out of our comfort zone of SGV,  Silver Lake, and Santa Monica for our breakfast/brunch ventures. So after a nice long run at the Rose Bowl one sunny Saturday, we decided to try the breakfast/brunch at Auntie Em’s in Eagle Rock.

For some reason, I was really hankering for a sandwich all week so I decided to order the black forest ham and eggs with mustard see gouda on grilled pretzel bread. I thought the pretzel bread was going to be hard like well, a pretzel but the texture was a cross between sourdough and white bread. The black forest ham was not overly salted and the gouda added a nice fragrant touch to the sandwich. Although the sandwich looked like a monster overfilling with eggs and schtuff, it was actually not too heavy or too much. I finished the entire thing.yes I did.

Hubs opted for the very innocent looking scrambled eggs and Cajun turkey sausage & toast. It was good but nothing write home about.

I have eaten cupcakes from Auntie Em’s before but never had their red velvet ones (my favorite kind of cupcakes evers!) I loved that there Auntie Em’s offers 3 sizes, mini, small and large. I was pretty stuffed from my monster of a sandwich so I just ordered a mini red velvet cupcake for taste. When the cupcake was brought to me, our very friendly server Jody brought me two cupcakes! “I couldn’t just bring you one honey!” Love her!!!

Although I prefer more sour cream cheesy frosting on my red velvets like the ones from Lark Cakeshop in Silver Lake, Auntie’s Em’s red velvet cupcakes were moist and the frosting was nice and sweet. The chocolate cupcake was also tasty but I’m not really a chocolate person so I can only vouch for the nice cakey texture and not for the taste. The best part was when the bill came, we were not charged for the cupcakes or our drinks. Did I mention that I love Jody! By the way, it was my first time having Intelligentsia coffee which is self serve here. I am hooked! Love the dark roasty and smooth flavor of their coffee.

Okay, I admit that I actually went to Auntie Em’s again the following week. This time I was craving waffles or pancakes, one of the daily specials was pancakes with fresh berries with shaved coconut and real maple syrup. However, I was informed that they were out of pancakes. I was BUMMMMMED. The server (not Jody this time) suggested their french toast which was comparable to the pancakes. Being a french toast disliker but craving something carby, I succumbed to the suggestion but was later disappointed.

I have never been a fan of french toast so again, I probably can’t really accurately asses this dish. I just thought it was bland and had a crunchy shell. Looks pretty though no?

Hubs lucked out on the biscuit with eggs and turkey sausage gravy. We were pleasantly surprised and delighted at the sight of this dish! Look at it! Isn’t she a beauty?! Yes, those are Auntie Em’s homemade biscuits that was almost as big as my face! Hubs and I thought it was just going to be a regular biscuit with regular gravy and side of eggs. The biscuit was fluffy and the gravy was not over the top heavy.

Although I was disappointed with the French toast, the biscuits and gravy redeemed it.

Auntie Em’s “cooks by the season” so although they have a regular menu, their specials are what sets them apart because they take advantage of the items in season and cook accordingly. I am curious about their veggie and salad items and abundance of pastry items so I will be back soon.

I had to interrupt my blogging about the rest of my trip in Hong Kong and China because this place blew me away, thanks to Sinosoul and the power of Twitter. ednesday is Date Night with the Hubs and I was stumped on our dinner destination. But I had a vast amount of resources at my fingertips; I tweeted for help and got a slew of replies along with links to the recommendations.

Among them was Cube. Sinosoul had already written a review on the place  (and way better pics!) and sent me the Aperitivo menu for the week. Alas my attempts of getting there before 7pm was futile. Damn you LA traffic. But that’s okay, there’s always the regular menu. Cube’s menu changes every week according to what the chef gets at the local farmer’s market and the food is inspired by a region in Italy. The week we went, the fare was inspired by Umbria. Cube offers Italian fare with strong Californian influences. After perusing their menu online, I was in the mood for tapa-esque, fusion-esque foods so this place was perfect.

As we were seated in a corner surrounded by chocolates, jams and olive oil from Italy, it’s evident that Cube is a restaurant/cafe with a nice marketplace incorporated within. there were chocolates in packaging that would put the Japanese to shame. We were handed a menu, a wine list and another small leaflet of their cheese flight. Cube carries 85 different types of cheese and thus the required leaflet. Hubs and I decided to consult our very nice and informative server Nick for his favorite cheeses. Nick was extremely helpful throughout the entire night. We ordered most of what he suggested and they were just perfect.

A word of warning here, I am still learning how to take pictures in the less than daylight conditions with my point and shoot. So add that on top of hunger, you get fuzzy pictures.

After giving Nick a very generalized preferences of how we like our cheese (no goat and nothing that smells like toe jam), he presented us with the below slab of beauty:

From left to right: Gruyere (semi-hard, cow, Switzerland), Tomme Brulee (semi-soft, sheep, Switzerland, Hubs’ favorite of the three) and my favorite, couch farm triple creme (soft). We also ordered mixed olives and regular prosciutto to go with our cheese. The slab was sprinkled with almonds, rosemary jam, dried apricots and these mini raisins. We were also offered their house crostini which I quickly devoured with the triple cream cheese.

Next up was my favorite of the entire meal, the diver scallop crudo with peaches, blood orange juice and peppercress. OH-EM-GEE, scallop crudo was melt in your mouth, made me feel like frolicking through a field of sunflowers goodness. It was a burst of refreshing goodness in my mouth. The peaches were sliced so thin but the flavor so pungent.

Soft shell crab was next and although fresh, the batter was a little much and tasted like a pastry. However the sweet corn puree that the crab was sittin’ on was delish.

I’m a sucker for any dish with the word crunch or crisp so I had to order the summer crunch made with farmer’s market beans, sweet corn, hazel nuts and pecorino. It was definitely a crunch a offered a pleasant contrast to the meltiness and gooeyness of the 2 items that preceded it.

Hubs and I decided to only order one main entree so we can save some stomach space for dessert and antipasti. With the high recommendation of Nick, we had the seared diver scallops with lemon risotto, asparagus and bacon vinaigrette. Yes, those were bits of bacon on top of the scallops. This is a MUST EAT at Cube. I’ve had my share of scallops before from French restaurants and Cantonese restaurants. But these scallops are possibly the best ones I’ve had so far. The bacon bits on top provided a nice opposition but not overly salted addition to the dish. I am not a fan of risotto but I was fighting Hubs for the last spoonful.

Next up was Hubs’ favorite of the bunch,the baked 4 cheese mac and cheese with fried guanciale and truffle oil. I have no idea what fried guanciale is but man it’s delicious! It taste like bacon but with a denser composition, very similar to the Chinese cured meat. The top layer of the mac and cheese was slightly crunchy and bottom layer a melted heaven. Great contrast and not too creamy.

By this time both of us was stuff to our throats but desserts (and soup) ends a good meal. There were so many tempting choices on the menu so we had to consult our server Nick again for his must haves. Here is what we ended up getting the Victorian rhubarb and raspberry cobbler with tahitian vanilla ice cream and  crispy cinnamon fritters  with dark valrhona chocolate and fresh cream for dipping in which Hubs’ proclaimed upon first bite, “They are like bites of clouds!” Gotta give him kudos for that since his literature consists of curly brackets and semi colons. The cobbler was a very generous portion of sweet and tart goodness. The top crust was not too overpowering and was a good balance to the mounds of berries underneath. Both were Nick’s suggestions and both were unforgettable in a delicious kind of way.

So here’s my only decent picture throughout the entire night.

Yes yes, take some time to admire that. See what a full and happy stomach can do?

Cube is now one of my favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. I was so in love with my experience there that I wanted to come back the following weeks but didn’t because I was ashamed that I haven’t blogged about it after telling Nick I was going to. (Sorry NIck!) Cube’s food is fresh, fabulous and flavorful and the service is top notch which made the food that much better. Now that I blogged about this gem , I can return without shame.

615 N. La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90036
Tel:323-939-1148

One of my must go places is Lucky Dessert in Causeway Bay. They are famous for their mango sticky rice roll. Fresh mango wrapped with mochi like roll sprinkled with coconut shreds. I love the consistency of this dessert, chewy then juicy.

Another one of their house specialty is mango sago with fresh pomelo pulp. However, I always get this when I come Hong Kong so I decided to be different and  add some sweet silky tofu in the mix. I like to think that I got my fruit servings and also my protein intake with this dessert.

Another one of my must go dessert destination is Hui Lau Shan Dessert. These are almost as abundant as Starbucks use to be in the US.one of every other corner. This place is famous for having several variations of the fresh fruit slushee drinks with mango, aloe, coconut, kiwi, strawberry with mini boba balls, rice balls or herbal jelly.  Cantonese desserts of red bean soup, mango sago, fresh fruit with mango sago and the like are also popular at this restaurant.

Here is an example of one of their drinks, red bean soup with sticky rice balls with sago topped with coconut milk.

Here is their variation of their mango sago with pomelo pulp with fresh fruit. They added a scoop of mango ice and a nice dollop of coconut milk.

Next up is Honeymoon Dessert in Causeway Bay at the World Trade Centre. Again they offer traditional Cantonese dessert such as herbal jelly, red bean soup, sesame soup, walnut soup, sweet tofu, rice balls, sago, more mango and pomelo pulp and more. They have an extensive menu but from my keen observation, they are just different combinations of the above items with or without fruit, hot or cold. Either way, it’s delicious and good for you (from a Chinese medicine type of way).

Sweet tofu with freshly grounded sesame soup. Thick and silky texture.

Red bean soup with herbal jelly.

Last but not least is turtle herbal jelly from Hoi Ting Tong. It’s basically an herbal jello made with Chinese herbs and boiled turtle shells. Click here to see the making of this weird but good for you treat. I know I just lost some of you at “turtle herbal jelly” but I think it’s a great treat that is also good for you. The consistency is just like jello and the taste is slightly bitter with herbal aromas. You can add syrup or sugar to suit your taste. However, I like to have it straight up without any other condiments. This place boasts having the herbal jelly will cure many ailments such as constipation, acne, respiratory system problems and generally detoxifies your body.

There are just so many dessert places in every nook and cranny in Hong Kong. Just like Hong Kong, the desserts cover a wide range of tastes and styles.