Big Mouth Eats LA

Cham Sut Gol (2)

2009-04-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

The first time I went to Cham Sut Gol, I was really unhappy with my experience there. The food was okay - the food wasn't the cause of my dissatisfaction. I was annoyed with the lack of good ventilation there. The fact that I couldn't breathe during my meal last time was enough to boycott this place for good.

Well, fast forward a few months. We were in the area, didn't feel like driving very far for Korean BBQ, and wanted a quick and easy all-you-can eat place.

So, slightly reluctant, I agreed to give Cham Sut Gol another shot. And you know what? It wasn't so bad this time! Perhaps it's because we went on a weekday, and it was much less crowded than last time. But the experience and the food was so, so, so much better this time.

They have three different all-you-can-eat menus to choose from: A ($15.99), B ($17.99), C ($18.99). Depending on which menu you choose, there are different meats that you can order.

We ordered from menu B this time, which was $17.99 per person. The $15.99 menu looked fine, but it didn't have tongue. We love tongue when we have Korean BBQ, so we chose menu B. Menu C looked good, too, and it also had tongue. It was a dollar more, and the only difference was that you also got short ribs.

Some pictures of our meal (sorry for the poor picture quality; it was dark inside, but I didn't want to use flash):

Complimentary tea

Complimentary appetizers

Complimentary steamed egg and spicy soup

Grilling the meat

This second time around visiting Cham Sut Gol was much better than the first. I don't think it's the best Korean BBQ I've ever had, but it was good, and close by. I think I'll be back again, but no weekends - weekday only.

Rating: 7

Price per person (approx.): $20

Earthen

2009-04-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

1639 S. Azusa Avenue
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
(626) 964-1570

I've heard people talk about Earthen for a while now, but I've never been one to jump at the chance to try an overcrowded, possibly overrated restaurant. A few months ago I got to try it for the first time with a good friend of mine, and I went for the second time just recently.

Here are some of the dishes we ordered on our last visit. I apologize for not having the exact names of the dishes, as I wasn't the one that did the ordering.

Chicken with cucumber (cold dish) - This was so good! The chicken was marinated in a really yummy sauce. Lots of garlic.

Green onion pancake (蔥油餅) - The best green onion pancake ever.

Sauteed Taiwanese A-cai - Simple and yummy.

Seafood noodle soup - I was a little disappointed in these noodles. This is one of my favorite things to order, and I've had it from other places that make it much better. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either. A bit on the bland side.

Dumplings - I didn't have any, so I can't comment on them.

Fish in spicy bean sauce - This was just okay. Not bad, not great.

Glass noodles - I didn't try this one either, so I can't comment. I was told that it was the same sauce as the fish, though.

Overall, I liked Earthen. Even if just for their green onion pancakes, I will definitely be back. Their's is definitely the yummiest I've ever had. I like to dip them in the sauce from the chicken and cucumber dish. So good!

I noticed that a lot of tables ordered the chicken and cucumber dish, as well as the green onion pancake. I'm guessing these are their "specialty" dishes. If you go, be sure to order these two.

Rating: 7

Price per person (approx.): $10

Seafood Village

2009-04-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

1463 S. Nogales Street, #A
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 913-2338

Seafood Village is one of my favorite Chinese banquet-style restaurants. We come here often for family events, and I have never been disappointed. Their seafood is always fresh and delicious. They also have great dim sum for lunch (menu ordered, not cart-style).

Here are some dishes from my most recent visit. Please excuse my descriptions, as I'm not exactly sure what these dishes are called on the actual menu (I didn't do the ordering).

Cod fish soup with sour vegetables (鱈魚酸菜湯) - Excellent. My favorite dish of the night. I was a little full by the time this came out, and didn't really want to try it. But I did, and I am glad I did. The fish was super fresh, not fishy at all, and so soft.

Seafood soup (海鮮湯) - Decent. It was good, but nothing special. I added some red vinegar to the soup, which made it yummier.

Stir-fried thick rice noodles with Chinese meats (炒河粉) - I liked this a lot (but then again, I'm a big noodle person). It had lots of Chinese cured meats in it. Pretty tasty.

Lobster with green onion and ginger (姜蔥炒龍蝦) - This was really good. The lobster was big and meaty, and the flavoring was done really well.

Geoduck (象拔蚌) - I loved this! The geoduck was sweet and slightly crunchy, just as it should be. A little pricy (I think $60 for our plate), but so worth it!

Beef pot - I didn't get to try this, but it looked good. It came on a heated burner, so it stayed hot throughout the meal.

Garlic crab (螃蟹) - This was done really, really well. It was seasoned very well. There was lots of meat in this crab. Very sweet and fresh.

I forgot to take a picture of dessert, but it was the mashed taro (my favorite Chinese dessert). It was yummy! Sweet, but not overly sweet.

Rating: 9

Price per person (approx.): $25

JR Cafe

2009-04-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

512 W. Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 457-8898

Before I start, let me first say that HK-style cafes are not my favorite. They're not bad, and once in a while I'll crave something from there, but overall, cafes are not my first choice.

But we still go pretty regularly for a couple reasons. First, it's an easy choice when you are dining with lots of people, since there is so much variety. Second, it's relatively inexpensive. And third, it's convenient.

I've been going to JR Cafe for years.

As I said earlier, their food is not the best, but we still go. Out of the cafes in the SGV, I think JR is one of my top choices. Their food was a little rocky when they changed ownership a few years ago, but since then it's been pretty consistent and solid. I don't think I've ever ordered anything from there that I hated.

Here are some dishes that we had on our most recent visit.

Complimentary tomato, veggie, and beef soup. I've always liked this type of soup from cafes. Hot and yummy.

French-style beef cubes. I thought this was really good. The beef was super tender and flavorful, and was great over steamed rice. It comes with a slice of lemon, which you squeeze on the beef. Yum.

Mushroom yee-mien. This was just okay. I've had it in the past and really liked it, but it was a little boring this time. Not bad, but not great either.

Baked mussels. Decent.

Rating: 7

Price per person (approx.): $10

Original Pancake House

2009-04-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

18453 Yorba Linda Blvd.
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
(714) 693-1390
www.originalpancakehouse.com

I've heard a lot of good things about the Original Pancake House, but have never been there myself. I finally got a chance to try it recently. They have a location in Anaheim, but I've read the wait at the Anaheim location can be pretty bad. So I decided to try the one in Yorba Linda.

The restaurant itself was a little uncomfortable. I think they try to jam too many tables in there or something, because it seemed really crowded. I'm not usually claustrophobic or people-phobic, and I'm pretty accustomed to being in overcrowded Asian restaurants. But something about Original Pancake House just made me a little uncomfortable. And the glare coming in from the front door, right in front of our table, was a little annoying, too.

But whatever. I'm not one to eat at a place for its ambiance. So I brushed it off and examined their menu.

They're not kidding when they say they are a pancake house. I actually felt like something savory, not sweet. But there aren't many choices in savory pancakes. I wanted a pancake/sausage/bacon/eggs/ham type of plate, but I didn't see it on their menu. They had side orders of that stuff, but I just wanted a full breakfast plate.

Oh well. So I decided to go with the the potato pancakes, which were served with butter, sour cream, and applesauce.

My pancakes were thin and pretty light, and had a nice crisp to it. I thought they were pretty good. A little boring, but still good.

That is, until my friend (who took a bite of my pancakes) pointed out that they were like hash browns. I realized she was right. My lovely "potato pancakes" were nothing but fancy hash browns. I had nothing more than a plate of hash browns sitting in front of me. Calling them "pancakes" make them seem yummier... "hash browns" is just boring. Hehe. Oh well.

I got to sample a few other dishes that my friends had ordered, too.

This is their Dutch Baby, which was served with butter, lemon and powdered sugar. It looked cool, but tasted boring. I didn't really get what this was about. At all.

I also tried a bite of their banana pancakes. I was expecting it to be either covered in bananas, or to have lots of banana chunks in the batter. But I was wrong on both assumptions. They had a very light banana flavor, but nothing that was really obvious.

I didn't try the fresh fruit crepes, but they looked yummy.

I think Original Pancake House is a little overrated. People rave about it, but I just didn't get it.

Rating: 5

Price per person (approx.): $10

Face Cafe

2009-04-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

301 E. Valley Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 282-8899

The site of Face Cafe is a little funny. They've changed restaurants and owners numerous times over the past few years. Each time, they try to compete with the other cafes in the area, but each time has been a miserable failure.

OK Cafe - FAIL.

Sika Cafe - FAIL.

So, eager to find out what the next attempt was, I decided to give Face Cafe a try. Seeing it packed at lunch time was a pretty good sign that it should be decent food.

Upon checking out their menu, I was happy to see that they had different types of chang fen (腸粉), or steamed rice rolls. Years ago while vacationing in San Francisco, I had this awesome chang fen with you tiao (油條), or fried Chinese breadstick, inside. Since then, I haven't seen much of it in LA, nor have I had one nearly as yummy.

So I was a happy camper. We ordered one with you tiao, and one with beef.

The you tiao chang fen came with 2 dipping sauces - a thick soy sauce-ish sauce, and a sesame paste-ish sauce (sorry for the "ish" on those, I'm not exactly sure what they were).

I was a little disappointed with both chang fen dishes, though.

The you tiao one was not crunchy like it should be. The reason I loved the one in SF was because the crunchiness complemented the soft, chewy chang fen so well. Definitely a texture thing. But the one from Face was not crunchy at all. It was a little soft, and almost a bit stale.

The beef chang fen was also boring. The beef had no taste or texture to it. To be honest, if I was biting into it and didn't look at what I was eating, I would not have known there was beef inside. I might as well just had chang fen with nothing inside. It would have tasted the same.

At least we ordered a few other things to try.

My favorite at cafes has always been chow mein. I love HK-style chow mein. The fried noodles with the gravy has been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl. So I ordered their XO seafood chow mein. It was done pretty well. The noodles were crispy as expected, hot, thick gravy, and lots of seafood and veggies on top. They did it well. It's pretty hard to mess this up, though.

My dining companion ordered the braised duck leg. I didn't try any, but he said it was a little bland.

Sighs. I had high hopes for Face Cafe. Really, I did. It wasn't that bad, but it also wasn't great. I don't think I'll be back.

Rating: 5

Price per person (approx.): $10

Pho Kim V

2009-04-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

9663 E. Garvey Avenue
South El Monte, CA 91733
(626) 542-9555

There are quite a few choices for pho in the SGV. My favorite place has been Saigon Flavor for years now.

But the other day I was down in the Rosemead/El Monte area. Being lazy and not wanting to drive up to Valley for Saigon Flavor, I decided to try a random pho place along Garvey. I drove by Pho Kim V and decided to give it a try.

Pho Kim V is one of the nicer pho places I have been to. It's pretty new, located in a fairly new plaza. They have only been open for 6 months. It looked very clean, and the facility was large and open. I'm not usually one to be all that picky in cleanliness and ambiance (translation: I am not a snob), but it doesn't hurt, as long as the food is good.

I ordered the special combination pho.

I was pretty happy with my pho. The soup was fairly hot, and quite flavorful. The noodles had a nice chewiness, and they were generous with their portions. The meat was also good and plentiful.

And the ultimate test of pho - I was not dying of thirst a few hours later. Their soup was not just watered down MSG, which is a huge plus in my book.

Although I still prefer Saigon Flavor, Pho Kim V wasn't bad at all - much better than I had expected. After all, how good could pho be from a clean place, right? Heh. But it was good.

Rating: 7

Price per person (approx.): $7

Yogurtland

2009-03-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

18253 Colima Road, Suite 103
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 964-3405

14775 Jeffrey Road, Suite #J
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 857-0884

633 W. Duarte Road
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 821-8723

www.yogurt-land.com

Note: I only listed a few of the Yogurtland locations, but there are a lot more than just those (with new ones opening up soon, too). Check out their website for more locations.

I love frozen yogurt. I don't like Pinkberry (too trendy and crowded), so I tend to try the other options out there. My favorite yogurt place so far has been Nubi Yogurt.

The Yogurtland location I visited was very cute, pretty, and clean. I love the color combo they use (pink and green). I could tell they put a lot of time and effort into making the store a nice and fun place to hang out.

Moving on to their yogurt. They had lots of flavors to choose from (maybe 10 or so), and they ranged from the standard vanilla and chocolate, to more exotic flavors, such as lychee and taro. They also had some unique ones, like cheesecake and peanut butter. And like other self-serve yogurt places, they also had a self-serve toppings bar, offering items such as fresh fruit, mochi, cereal, nuts, and candy.

So, was it good? In one word... YEP.

This time around, I sampled the plain tart, blueberry, and peanut butter flavors. I topped my yogurt with fresh blueberries, mochi, and sprinkles. All the flavors I tried were very good. Especially the peanut butter... loved it!

I am quite pleased with Yogurtland. At $0.30 an ounce (compared to $0.38 at Nubi), I will be glad to return.

Rating: 8

Price per person (approx.): $5

Banh Mi & Che Cali

2009-03-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

8450 Valley Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 288-5600

I love buying che (Vietnamese desserts) from Banh Mi & Che Cali. I don't really care for their banh mi (sandwiches), but their che and other prepared foods are very good.

Here are some pictures of the goodies from my last visit.

This one had chewy jello-like things in it, with potato and yam (or some kind of fruit that looks like yam?) in a sweet milky soup. A little sweet, but so yummy! I love the strong coconut milk flavor.

This one is sticky rice with beans. Doesn't sound appetizing, but it really is very good. Topped with the sweet-salty combination of the milk syrup (below), it really is quite tasty.

This one is xoi banh kep. I'm not quite sure of everything that is in it, so I'll do my best to describe it. It reminds me of a dessert taco. The outer skin is a chewy, crepe-like texture, and the filling consists of sticky rice, coconut, and some other things (maybe sesame seeds, peanut powder, etc.). Again, I'm not exactly sure of everything that is inside, but all I know is that it's good! It's chewy, complex, and not overly sweet.

Their papaya salad is also very good. It consists of shredded green papaya, some shredded meat (maybe pork?), and a yummy sauce. Very refreshing and satisfying, yet light.

These nem nuong cuon (grilled pork spring rolls) are the best I can find in the San Gabriel Valley. My number one choice for spring rolls is still Brodard down in Orange County, but these are a great substitution if I don't feel like driving.

As I was going through the pictures, I kept saying in my head this one is my favorite, only to quickly change my mind to the next thing I saw. I guess they are all my favorites.

Rating: 8

Price per person (approx.): $5

Daikokuya

2009-03-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

327 E. 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-1680
www.daikoku-ten.com

Daikokuya is easily the most popular ramen place in Little Tokyo. It's one of those places that I never go because of that very reason. Unless you go right when they open, the wait can be quite ridiculous.

I've had Daikokuya a couple times over the past few years. My recollection of their ramen has been neither good or bad. Their ramen has always been decent, but not outstanding.

I decided to try Daikokuya again recently, since it's been a few years. As expected, the wait at 12:30 PM was a little tiresome. We waited about an hour for our table.

Their menus have changed since I had last been there. It seemed like they still had all the items that were on the old menu, but I noticed a huge difference - the price. Almost everything had gone up in price by at least a dollar or two. Ugh.

I ordered the Daikoku ramen, which is what they are known for. I also ordered it "kotteri," which is a richer (translation = fattier) broth.

When my bowl arrived, I was quite pleased with the portion. Although they had raised their prices, their portions also became more generous. Their ramen used to fill up only half the bowl. But I'm happy to report that my bowl was pretty full.

After taking a few bites of the ramen and a few sips of the soup, I realized what I have been missing out on all these years. Perhaps it's because I haven't been to Daikokuya in so long, or perhaps their ramen has improved quite a bit. Or perhaps it's because I ordered my ramen "kotteri," and all those little pieces of fat swimming in my broth made the soup extra rich. Whatever it was, my ramen was excellent. The soup was rich and hearty, the noodles were cooked just right, and the egg - oh, the egg. It was cooked perfectly, with the yolk still creamy and ever so slightly translucent. The egg white was tofu-soft, and flavorful. I loved every bite of my ramen.

I also ordered an ikura don. This was really good, but then again, it's really hard to mess up an ikura don.

I feel a little dumb that I've been missing out on Daikokuya all these years. For some reason, the impression it left on me in the past has not been quite as positive, so I never felt the need to go back. This last visit has changed the way I feel about this place. Santouka is still my first choice for ramen, but Daikokuya is a close second. Will I be back? Most definitely yes.

Rating: 9

Price per person (approx.): $15

Tamaya Ramen

2009-03-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

17142 Colima Road, #E
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
(626) 581-3223

I've always been a little skeptical of ramen in the SGV. For some reason, I just don't feel that you can find authentic ramen in this area. I always feel like the ramen from SGV has been Chinese-ized.

Having said that, I try to keep an open mind when trying new places.

Tamaya is located in a large shopping plaza. Their menu is quite extensive, with a number of items to choose from. Their ramen selection was pretty good, offering a variety of different soups and toppings.

I decided to go for the shio ramen with butter. Shio? Good. Butter? Good.

I was quite pleased with the texture of the noodles from Tamaya. They were perfectly chewy, and they were the perfect thickness.

However, the noodles were the only thing that really impressed me. The soup (which is the most important element of ramen, if you ask me) was thin and watery - big thumbs down. I feel like ramen soup should be rich and flavorful. Tamaya's was not. The egg, although cooked rather well, was flavorless.

Here is a picture of their miso ramen. I didn't get to try this, though, so I'm not able to review it. It looked good, though. The soup looked richer than my shio.

Overall, I would say that Tamaya is neither bad nor good. If you are in the area and don't feel like driving out to Little Tokyo or down to OC, sure, it'll do. But sadly, Santouka, it is not.

Rating: 6

Price per person (approx.): $10

UCC Cafe

2009-02-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

1569 Fairway Drive, Suite 126
Walnut, CA 91789
(909) 598-3200

UCC is tucked away on the first floor of the Hing Wa Lee jewelry store plaza. If you happen to drive down Fairway and look over at the plaza, you might see it. Otherwise, you probably might not even notice, since it isn't a very restaurant-looking type of building.

The inside of the restaurant was surprisingly pretty nice. Unlike many cafes in the SGV, UCC was not noisy or chaotic at all. It was calm, clean, and the service was decent.

UCC serves a sort of Japanese-Western type of menu, with items ranging from pasta to chicken, to fish to teriyaki. There's a little something for everyone. They also have lots of coffee on their menu, and they also have many dessert French toasts to choose from.

I ordered the bacon, sausage, mushroom spaghetti, as well as an iced coffee.

My spaghetti was decent. Not the best I've had, but not bad. It came in a very light cream sauce.

Same story with my coffee. There was nothing special about it, but I've definitely have much worse.

What really stood out to me, though, was their chocolate French toast. This was done very, very well. It's a thick slice of French toast, topped with a little chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and chocolate Pocky. It may not sound like much, but this was really, really good. So good that I ate it up before I realized that I didn't take a picture of it. Heh.

I think UCC is a really great place to meet with friends to chat and catch up. I don't think they have the best food by any means, but I think it's a nice place, with decent food. If not for a main course, UCC is definitely a good place for coffee and dessert (chocolate French toast!).

Rating: 6

Price per person (approx.): $15

S Vietnamese Fine Dining

2009-02-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

545 Westminster Mall Drive
Westminster, CA 92684
(714) 898-5092

I'm not usually a fan of fusion food, so I would not have tried S Vietnamese Fine Dining had it not been for an event that I had to attend. Generally, I feel that food should remain authentic - if you want Vietnamese, go to an authentic Vietnamese restaurant. If you want Japanese, go to an authentic Japanese restaurant. The concept of fusion food has never quite impressed me.

However, I try to be an open-minded eater. So when I was asked to attend an event at S Vietnamese Fine Dining, I gave it a shot, open minded and willing. I was well aware that this restaurant was fusion, and mainly catered to a non-Vietnamese audience.

I must admit - the decor was beautiful. I am usually accustomed to loud, rowdy chaos when dining in most Asian restaurants (which I don't mind, as long as the food is good). S Vietnamese Fine Dining was just the opposite. It was very clean, calm, and had a very nice ambiance. The service was also attentive and courteous.

Now the food is where it went downhill.

These are the dishes we tried (descriptions are from their online menu):

Pho Ap Chao - Pan fried crispy flat rice noodle topped with assorted vegetable, tofu with choice of beef, chicken or seafood.

Com ga - Roasted fragrant jasmine rice infused with broth topped with fresh steamed chicken and julienne cucumber topped with crispy shallot and served with soy ginger vinaigrette.

S Pho Xao - Rice noodle sautéed with shrimp or chicken, mushrooms, carrots, bean sprouts, sweet onion and scallion in our house spicy sauce.

The com ga was light and bland. The chicken was lean - too lean. I like a little fat/oil on my meat, but the chicken in the com ga was just too "healthy" for me. The S Pho Xao was also boring. The noodles were lifeless and not at all tasty. It seemed similar to pad thai in Thai cuisine, but not as good. The Pho Ap Chao was the only dish that I tried that day that was somewhat tasty. The noodles were crispy, and went very well with the gravy.

I also tried the pho ga (chicken noodle soup), which was unbelievably bland and boring (no picture).

I would recommend S Vietnamese Fine Dining if you are new to Vietnamese cuisine, or you have guests that may not be as adventurous or open to real Vietnamese food. This is definitely safe Vietnamese dining. Or, if you need a restaurant that may not have the best food, but is relatively quiet and attractive, this might be a good choice.

But if you like authentic Vietnamese, stay away from S Vietnamese Fine Dining. Far, far away.

Rating: 5

Price per person (approx.): $15

Zov's Bakery

2009-02-13T14:55:00.000-08:00

17440 17th Street
Tustin, CA 92780
(714) 838-9495

After hearing so much from friends about Zov's and their bakery goodies, I had to try it out to see if it lived up to all the hype.

I ordered the Milk Chocolate Bomb, which looked like a big ball of chocolate, with a layer of chocolate mousse, a creme brulee center, and a sugar cookie crust.

This all sounded very good in theory, but in reality, it was completely overrated. I suppose if you are a chocolate fanatic, and anything chocolate is good enough, the Chocolate Bomb would have been fine. But I would have been just as happy with a Hershey bar, to be perfectly honest. The Chocolate Bomb was sweet and chocolaty, but that's about it. Nothing special, completely forgettable.

My friends ordered a few of their other items, but I didn't have a chance to try them all. I did get to try the blueberry tart, which was fine, but again, nothing special.

Also, their coffee was very watery - awful. I can't quite understand how you can go wrong with a regular cup of coffee. How do you mess that up? I would have been happier with McDonald's coffee.

For the prices they charge (around $8 each!), I would have expected a lot more from Zov's. If they lowered their prices to, say, $3-4 per dessert, I would consider returning. But at double what I think they should charge, I would not go back.

Rating: 4

Price per person (approx.): $10 (dessert only)

Claws

2009-02-13T14:19:00.000-08:00

12093 Brookhurst Street, #E
Garden Grove, CA 92840
(714) 590-1295

These days it seems that Vietnamese-Cajun restaurants are everywhere. I had read some positive reviews about Claws in Garden Grove, so I decided to give it a shot.

Like most Vietnamese-Cajun restaurants of this type, Claws offers various seafood items, such as crawfish, shrimp, clams, mussels, as well as items to accompany all the seafood goodness, such as corn, rice, potatoes, and french fries. You can also choose between the following flavors: Cajun, garlic butter, or lemon pepper. You can also opt for the "Cannonball" flavor, which is a combination of all three. You also have your choice of spiciness levels.

You can order each of the individual items a la carte (by pound), or you can order combination bags, which includes a little of everything. We opted for the latter and went with their Under the Sea bag in Cannonball, and also ordered a side of Cajun fries.

I must say, of all the Cajun-Vietnamese restaurants we have tried, Claws tops them all. The flavor of their seasonings was done very well - herb-y, garlic-y, and with just the right amount of spice. The seafood was all steamed to perfection (often times I end up with overcooked seafood at these type of restaurants).

The fries were crisp and hot, just as they should be, with a really nice kick. They were a tad on the salty side, but still really good.

Oh, and a huge plus for me about Claws - they have steamed rice! For some reason, the other restaurants of this type that I've tried do not have steamed rice. I'm a big rice eater - I need my rice! The Cannonball sauce over some rice... awesomeness.

I would definitely recommend Claws to anyone that likes seafood. The service is good, the ambiance is fun and casual (pirate theme), the prices are reasonable, and it's not at all overcrowded. What could be better than tearing through bags of seafood with your bare hands?

Rating: 7

Price per person (approx.): $20

Cham Sut Gol

2009-02-12T14:19:00.000-08:00

18722 E. Colima Road

Rowland Heights, CA 91748

(626) 839-9282

When it comes to Korean BBQ, I am a fan of all-you-can-eat. I like being able to eat and order without having to worry about prices and how much the total will be.

Cham Sut Gol in Rowland Heights offers three different AYCE menus to order from, ranging from $16-19 per person. Depending on what your preferences are, you should choose the menu that best suits your taste buds.

Overall, I would say that the food from Cham Sut Gol is average. Their meat quality is decent (not bad, not great), and the other side dishes were very forgettable. Nothing to write home about.

I would only recommend this place as a good place to go with a group of friends, to just hang out and eat and drink. The set prices makes splitting the bill really easy, and there's a little something for everyone. But don't expect a top-notch Korean BBQ experience.

I must comment on their ventilation, though. It seems like this place has a totally inadequate ventilation system. I would expect from most Korean BBQ places that it will be smoky and steamy inside, but this place was ridiculous. Halfway through the meal I had to get up and go outside for fresh air. The awful air quality inside cannot be good for you to be breathing in.

I won't be back. The food was average and forgettable, the service was below average, and the ventilation will make you sick if you have a weak stomach.

Rating: 3

Price per person (approx.): $20

Plums Cafe

2009-02-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

369 E. 17th Street

Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 722-7586

My feelings about Plums Cafe are somewhat mixed.

I went for the first time about a year ago, and thought the food was very bland. I had ordered the dungeness crab and asparagus omelet, and also the campfire trout. The campfire trout was flavorless and left much to the imagination. The omelet was slightly better, but still not that great. I also found the restaurant staff and guests to be a bit on the snobbish side. My first impression of Plums - extremely overpriced and overrated.

Fast-forward one year. I decided it was time to give Plums a second chance. Surprisingly, the food this time around was much better than I had remembered! Perhaps it was what I had ordered that made the difference. This time, I ordered the Oregon Trail platter - 2 buttermilk pancakes (I added blueberry topping), two eggs, and two sausages. Everything on my plate was delicious.

I thought all pancakes were created equal, but I was wrong. Something about the pancakes from Plums was just done so, so well.

My dining companions ordered the dungeness crab and asparagus omelet, and also the Northwest berry waffle.

Would I go back? Maybe. If I'm in the mood to pay 2-3 times the price of a Denny's-type plate, maybe. Sure, the food at Plums is much better than Denny's, but not quite 2-3 times better.

Rating: 6
Price per person (approx.): $15

Santouka Ramen

2009-02-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

665 Paularino Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

(714) 434-1101

21515 S. Western Avenue

Torrance, CA 90501

(310) 212-1101

Santouka is located in the food court of both the Costa Mesa Mitsuwa, as well as the Torrance Mitsuwa. I prefer Torrance over Costa Mesa (less crowded), but I would happily settle for either locaiton.

If you just sit and observe, you could easily see that Santouka is the busiest stand in the entire food court, and with good reason. Outside of Japan, this is the best ramen I have ever had.

Their ramen comes in your choice of three broths - shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), and miso. You can also choose between a regular or large bowl. They also have combination sets, which include various rice bowls, such as an ikura-don (salmon roe over rice). The combinations also come with a stewed egg.

My "regular" at Santouka is a regular-sized shio ramen. It has never failed to impress me. The broth is unbelievably rich and flavorful. The noodles are fresh and perfectly chewy, and the chashu (fatty pork) is melt-in-your-mouth tender. The "wood ear" and bamboo work so well with the ramen, and the salty plum that tops it off is perfect to nibble on while enjoying the ramen.

Santouka is easily my all-time favorite place to eat.

Rating: 10
Price per person (approx.): $10