Orange County Fair 20120718

20120718:
Today at the OC Fair I got a Krispy Kreme Chicken Sandwich ($6.75).

Krispy Kreme Chicken Sandwich

The meat's juiciness... Perhaps the oil... The honey... The jelly... The sugar coating of the Krispy Kreme donut...
These all come together for an awesome tasting combination. 4:33PM PT

Taking the top off before pouring the honey on the chicken.

Speaking of honey, I got a blackberry honey stick and a watermelon honey stick. 7:46PM PT

Josh's lunch.

Josh and I went on the ride called Zipper. It was fun due to its unpredictable movements. The most memorable part of the ride was a brief moment where we were suspended upside down and had a great view of the Ferris wheel. In blue and white. 8:40PM PT*

*I'm not sure what "in blue and white" means. If I were to guess, the Ferris wheel was currently colored blue and white during that moment.

Sagami-Tei 20120709

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In this post I decided to keep a full running tally of how much we would have spent if we had ordered the items on their own. Two non-heavy, but expensive items are the green mussel ($3.95 for three) and sea urchin (uni) ($4.95 for two).

20120709:
1) Popcorn Lobster Roll $8.50
Crunchiness is interesting, but I like regular lobster roll better. Josh had 3 pieces.

Josh $3.19 Tim $5.31

2) Green Mussel 3x$3.95
Good. I had 2 of the 3 orders.

Josh $7.14 Tim $13.21

3) Grilled Shrimp Roll $8.50
I like grilled shrimp, but it doesn't benefit from the rice with crab meet underneath. I just need grilled shrimp and a bowl of rice. I had 2 pieces.

Josh $13.52 Tim $15.33

4) Spider Roll (5pcs) $6.95
I love the crunchiness of the spider roll. Josh had 1 piece.

Josh $14.91 Tim $20.89

Top to bottom, left to right:
5) Sea Urchin (Uni) $4.95
I ate this first, because I love it!

7) Spicy Tuna $2.95
I don't like it at all. Tastes like a bunch of sesame oil was added. I asked Josh if he was willing to eat the second piece. He didn't really want to, but ended up taking one for the team.

6) Salmon Roe $2.95
Ate second. Pop pop pop. I had the idea to put salmon roe into a milk shake. It'd be like a salted milk shake, but with popping salmon roe! By the way, given the opportunity I'd seriously try it myself.

X) Tempura Shrimp $2.50
Josh's

10) Clam $2.50
It seems I like the chewiness and firmness of clam more than octopus. This is possibly the first time I've had clam prepared this way.

9) Yellowtail 2x$2.95
I like the texture and taste better than tuna.

8) Tuna 2x$3.25
Refreshing taste after eating the spicy tuna.

Josh $25.10 Tim $38.96

11) Stinky Roll $8.50
Oh no, I was getting full even before the stinky roll came out. It smells so good. The smell hit my nose from about 2 feet away. I had 1 piece. Damn, today the garlic tastes abnormally strong. Like sesame. Maybe whatever I had from the spicy tuna was reactivated by the garlic.

Josh $32.54 Tim $40.02

Stinky Roll

12) Sea Urchin (Uni) $4.95
Must... have... more... And so I did. I decided to finish off the meal with another sea urchin.

X) Yellowtail $2.95
I couldn't tell what kind of fish this was, as it looked different from what we had already ordered. This was strange, because I recalled Josh had simply reordered something he already got. I called him up and he said it was yellowtail. He got it, because his first set of two was so good he wanted more. But this set of two was a bit harder and not as good. He said he was close to spitting it out. Bummer.

Josh $35.49 Tim $44.97

Yellowtail (left) and Sea Urchin (Uni) (right)

Next time: I want more of the nigiri sushi. I think I'll also get the caterpillar roll*, partially just for the aesthetics. I think I'd also want to try the salmon skin roll and possibly some of the other hand rolls. Josh wants the sakura roll.

*[20150113: My family and I got the caterpillar roll on 20120824 and it was terrible.]

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[20120711]

Casa Jimenez

20120707:
At some point, I thought to myself, this place isn't too busy for a Saturday night (there seemed to be more customers as we were leaving, but still not many). Now either the service was slow because the business was slow, or the business was slow, because the service was slow. Perhaps the place would benefit from a bell that's triggered by customers entering, or a bell at the cashier stand, so that the cashier/waiter/server, who often disappeared into the back, would know when he might be needed in front.

If I remember correctly, the cashier/waiter/server was in the front when we arrived, but perhaps there were no other customers there when we arrived. Maybe the person managing the front is also helping with the food in the back.

Top: beans, chile colorado; Bottom: rice, taco, carnitas

Anyhow, we saw there was an all-you-can-eat option and decided to go with that.

I wrote: "Salad. My first try at probably sunflower seeds. Seems okay. Carnitas bottom right, crunchy exterior. Almost dry, but good. Tastes like fried chicken." 7:05 PM PDT

I wrote: "Chile colorado. Top right. Delicious. Indeed nice chile flavor. Yum yum. I like the chicken taco. The meat soaked up the juices. At most three at time. Waiter confirmed whether that we didn't need more beans and rice. We still had a bunch on our plates, and we answered that we didn't." 7:18 PM PDT

Both Josh and I didn't like the refried beans. Of course, refried beans in general isn't easy to eat on its own. It's definitely welcome in seven-layer dip. Today, I was able to eat a portion of mine by mixing it with the sauce from the chile colorado. If we came back to Casa Jimenez and got the all-you-can-eat option again, then we would remember to ask if they could omit the refried beans. I might also omit the rice.

Left to right: tamale, beef taco, taquitos.

I wrote: "Beef taquitos. Average tasting. Though different from the ones I'm used to having from the frozen aisle in stores. The exterior is crunchy as opposed to soft, using the same tortilla that's used in forming the taco shell here. I don't like the beef taco as much as the chicken taco. Tamale. I didn't like the ratio of the filling to the shell. Perhaps if the exterior soaked up more of the sauce I would have liked it better." 7:38 PM PDT

I haven't had a tamale in a long, long time and thought I should take the opportunity to try one. Unfortunately, I didn't like it. There just wasn't enough meat inside to satisfy me. I recall one close call or possibly incident I had in high school was coming over to a friend's house and his mom was making tamales for dinner. I was invited to stay and I was delighted. However, the sauce had peanuts added and so I had to not eat or stop eating it. Actually, now that I think about it, it could have been neither. Maybe I was just extra cautious, because I once had mole (pronounced MOLE-lay) with peanuts as an ingredient, but his mom's tamale in fact didn't use peanuts.

For my final words, I wrote: "I'm also getting pretty full. Chile verde has a nice spice. Full... I don't like the refried beans lining the tortilla in Josh's chimichanga." 7:46 PM PDT

Josh's chimichanga and chile verde

Actually, I summarized: "2.25 plus 2.25 for drinks instead of 2.00 plus 0.50 refill. Blah. Anyhow, 10.75 for all-you-can-eat. Not so busy a place. Slow service." 8:12 PM PDT

We finish our visit on a bad note, getting billed $2.25 for each horchata Josh ordered, when on the menu it says $2.00 for one and $0.50 for a refill. To be fair, when Josh had asked for a refill, the server said there's no refills, but we probably both took it to mean, there are no free refills. When we inquired about the charge, he explained the cost and our reference to the incorrect menu didn't mean anything.

The murals on the walls and overall surroundings are nice. But I'm not enthusiastic about the food or service. I probably wouldn't go here again, at least not for a while. In contrast, Josh expresses light-hearted anger about the incorrect horchata pricing on the menu along with some desire to return.

[20120713]

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Casa Jimenez

Relevant Links:
Casa Jimenez - Huntington Beach, CA (Yelp.com)
Refried beans (Wikipedia.org)
Tamale (Wikipedia.org)
Chimichanga (Wikipedia.org)

Frostbites Crepes & Frozen Delights

While Frostbites has various desserts available, my friends and I usually come and order their sorbet cream (Italian ice with frozen custard). Below you'll find a record of most, if not all, my trips to Frostbites.

[20120804][20150521]

Clockwise from top-left: Josh's, Jon's, Steph's, Daniel's, mine. (20100113)

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20100113:
The first time I've ever been to Frostbites.

[20120804]

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20110627:
I don't think I got anything from Frostbites on this day, but we had just gone to Curry House and I was more than happy to accompany my friends while they get dessert.

Strawberry (bottom red) / Blue Raspberry (bottom blue) /
Passion Fruit (top pink) / Green Apple (top green) (20110724)

I did, however, get to try a drink my friend got: sorbet soda, orange cream and sprite. Yum. 8:44 PM PDT

[20120804]

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20110724:
Sour gummy worms! Strawberry / Blue Raspberry / Passion Fruit / Green Apple.

[20120804]

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(20120705)

20120705:
I wrote: "Peach / Pineapple / Strawberry / Mango. I love the vanilla frozen custard at this place. Large is a good size." 8:15 PM PDT

[20120804][20150520 Edit]

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20120717:
Today I started by sampling the mint chip. Then I impulsively decided to order coconut and mint chip.

Mint chip (left) and Coconut (right) (20120717)

The coconut (white) had little coconut bits and I didn't like it too much. The mint chip was good though. In particular, I liked biting into the chocolate. Overall, it was not a bad combination, but there's certainly better combinations. 8:54 PM PDT

[20120804][20150521 Edit]

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20150329:
As time goes by, many popular dessert options open new stores closer to home (e.g., 85 degrees, 7 Leaves Cafe, and Frostbites).

Coconut (top) / Passion Fruit (right) / Pineapple / Mango (20150329)

Arriving today, I first sampled the mango and it was good. Then the server suggested mango and passion fruit. I tried it and thought it was better than the mango by itself. Finally, the server suggested mango, passion fruit, pineapple, and coconut. I tried it and ordered it, but I didn't like it as much as just the mango and passion fruit. 8:30PM PT

With that being said, while together they were just okay, each individual flavor tasted great. 8:41PM PT

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Frostbites Crepes & Frozen Delights

Taro / ? / ? (20150329)

Relevant Links:
Frostbites Crepes and Frozen Delights - Costa Mesa, CA (Yelp.com)
Frostbites Crepes & Frozen Delights - Cypress, CA (Yelp.com)

The Red Pot

20120704:
This is an all-you-can-eat hot pot location. The sheet you fill out shows three rounds, but really it's unlimited. Note, however, that two rounds was enough to fill my uncle, aunt, cousin, sister, and myself. Also feel free to ask for a side-dish here and there if you don't need a full sheet of extra items.

I did some research prior before going and I wrote: "Get the spicy herbal broth. Don't get the sweet tea. You'll be full after about three rounds." 3:48 PM PDT

For dipping sauce, they give you little trays and you walk yourself over to the mixing station where you can mix a variety of sauces and ingredients. On a board nearby, there were two recipes listed, followed by four or so blank spaces. I wonder how the restaurant determines which recipes are good enough to put on the list. In any case, I sort of followed one of the recipes.

I wrote: "Sweet sauce. Red chili. Garlic. Oil. At first, perhaps overcooked lamb. Good meats. We only got to a second full round. Loads of food. Got the extra quail eggs during the first round. Yes. Broth is good." 8:15 PM PDT

I think my sister and I ended up liking the beef more than the lamb. In general I like lamb, but it's too hard to get cooked just right in the hot pot.

I love quail eggs. Though sometimes I forget they've been sitting in hot broth and upon biting into them, I slightly burn my tongue. Near the end, I was smart about it and broke them open with my chopsticks, in order to let the yolk inside cool.

Overall, I like the seafood items more than the meat items. Oddly, I didn't check off the shrimp, sliced fish, or fish ball items. I did, however, make sure to check off the shrimp ball, imitation crab meat, squid ball, mussel, and calamari.

I prefer the egg (yellow) noodles to the vermicelli.

One item I didn't personally check off, but liked, was the tofu skin (dau hu ky).

When the broth got low, we asked for some more broth. They simply add the chicken broth, I guess since the spices are already accumulating in the soup. But my guess is the amount of broth they add actually thins the remaining density of spices, below the original density. Speaking of broth, I checked off the spicy herbal soup broth as suggested (on Yelp) and my aunt chose the herbal soup broth for my little cousin.

Overall, it was good eating. However, I'm not sure if I was able to eat the approximate $20 price tag. One can argue the benefit of an all-you-can-eat is the variety. Considering that's what goes into the cost, then this place is worth trying. For me, I'd consider going here again, but I'd much rather eat at a crawfish place or Sagami-Tei (a sushi place with an all-you-can-eat option).

[20120711]

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The Red Pot

Relevant Links:
The Red Pot - Garden Grove, CA (Yelp.com)
Tofu skin (Wikipedia.org)

Los Primos Cantina

20120701:
My friend Josh and I were craving Mexican food and out of the various places that returned in our Yelp search, we decided to come here. I was quite happy with the food here and look forward to returning.

Lengua (Tongue)

Note that this place does have alcohol (the Yelp page I linked to currently says there is no alcohol available at Los Primos).

Al Pastor

I wrote: "First up, the tongue (lengua). The meat is nice, soft, and smooth. It reminds me of carnitas. Next, the pastor. Good. Soft." 6:09 PM PDT

Fish

I wrote: "The pastor taco tastes best (of the three tacos I got). I like the fish taco here better than the fish taco from Rubio's. Lengua still good." 6:15 PM PDT

[20120709]

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Los Primos Cantina

Relevant Links:
Los Primos Cantina - Huntington Beach, CA (Yelp.com)