Salt and Pepper Chicken (소금 & 고추 치킨)

 So this is just my take on a chinese dish. (Yes, the dish itself is not very chinese at all) The idea came from a chinese dish where it’s a salt and pepper seasoned fried chicken. It’s spicy, simple, and damn good.  And I just liked the idea of the minimal number of ingredients. Especially when compared to other dishes where there are too many herbs and spices to count to create a complexity that’s never fully understood. I was bored one night and wanted to delay studying for my Architectural exams.. so I decided to open up the fridge.

Portuguese Sausage Stir Fry

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So one night, my friend Joyce calls me and saying

“Let’s cook! I’ll grab some things from my house and bring it”.

I didn’t realize she meant she’ll bring whatever she can grab on her way out; so in her brown bag, she hands me the following:

– Orange Bell Pepper
– Zucchini
– Onion

I just stared at her as she asked me to make something from that. Luckily, I remembered I had Portuguese Sausage that my friend Jacklord brought over for me one time, and I had an idea. I started puling out random condiments from the pantry and started cooking. The result? A Portuguese Sausage Stir Fry.

Malbec – New Argentinian Cuisine

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Malbec

1001 E Green St.
Pasadena, CA 91106
626. 683.0580

http://www.malbeccuisine.com/

This is a solid restaurant with good Argentinian food. Unfortunately, I have only had a chance to have one of their dishes to give a thorough review. But I will go again in the near future and try other dishes to give my two cents.

Il Chianti ~ A Japanese Italian treat

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So here is my first review! I recently celebrated my birthday at this restaurant. So I thought this would be a great first post considering we ordered various thing and all shared. I’ve been to Il Chianti several times, and I have to say it’s my favorite Japanese-Italian restaurant.

IL CHIANTI

24503 Narbonne Ave.
Lomita, CA 90717
310.325.5000
(Located off of Lomita Blvd. & Narbonne Ave, on the Northwest side)

Japanese Italian Food
Okay.. I know what you’re thinking.. “Japanese… Italian? What do they put like seaweed on the pasta?” Actually yes, but it’s a little more than that. Japanese have a fondness for Italian food, and not the loads-of-sauce American style Italian, but the light and delicate Italian food you can get in Italy. Japanese-Italian is more closer to Italian than American-Italian in some ways, but in some other ways.. it goes beyond conventional Italian food. You have pastas with a cream sauce that has Mentaiko (明太子）or Uni (うに) blended into the sauce to add in a level of richness and flavor, and other sorts of menus only found in such restaurants.

Now that I’ve explained a little bit about Japanese Italian, here’s a little comparison. If you have been to Spoonhouse in Gardena, CA (I will have to check that place out), I’ve been told this place is a more elegant and fancier version of Spoonhouse. Hopefully that gives some of you an idea.