Eating Well at Wang Xing Ji - San Gabriel

Foodies are the lepers of the culinary world. We are the nightmares of chefs, the yellers of yelp, and the scapegoats of common cooks. It seems like everyone has their own misconceptions about us and I’m as over being misunderstood as I am over this California foie gras foolishness. With a single post, I hope to put all these rumors to rest.

Misconception #1: Foodies only do fine dining.

Not true. The authentic experiences we seek take us to every corner of the earth, and they're not always the best of places. The most authentic ethnic foods, for example, always come with some form of norovirus. Wang Xing Ji, with its generic Asian décor in the middle of an aesthetically unappealing strip mall centered around a 99 Ranch is hardly Chinese Laundry, but the Juicy Pork and Crab Bun is the stuff of legends. Bread-bowl soup with a touch of Asian, this juicy bun is the size of your head and requires you to sip a cup of soup with a straw before biting into the thinly-wrapped bun. We don’t just do fine dining, we do dining at its finest.

Misconception #2: Foodies only eat at famous restaurants.

Din Tai Fung created quite a name and a whole lot of hype, but the way foodies flock for their juicy pork dumplings, you’d think they were larger than life. I was not the first foodie to make a special trip just for DTF because if it’s famous enough to have an acronym, it’s probably worth a visit for anyone with a mouth. But just because we’ve never heard of WXJ doesn’t mean it can’t trump DTF a thousand times over. And it does. The Juicy Pork Dumplings are better, and the Juicy Pork and Crab Dumplings are out of this world.

Misconception #3:  Foodies only eat expensive food.

Sometimes good food IS expensive. You pay a little extra for the prime ingredients, especially things that are harder to acquire and prepare. But some of the best pad thai comes from the street carts of Thailand at only a dollar-a-pop. And while these inexpensive Sesame Noodles didn’t blow my mind, the cold noodles with a savory-yet-unspecial peanut sauce were a cold, welcome contrast to the dumplings.

The Bean Sprout Seedlings were cheap, but they really hit the spot. Simple stir-fried greens with garlic and a touch of oil, but they were also the first dish to go. We scarfed that stuff down the minute it hit the table, and we fought over that last crisp, leafy shoot while half the dumplings just sat there and chilled.

There’s also something to be said about a spin on staple dish. Asian foodies still love our grandma’s flied lice, and this salty, savory Pork Belly Fried Rice was one of the best I've had.

Misconception #4: Foodies are picky eaters.

Just the opposite. We eat anything, we eat everything. We eat the offal, we eat the awful, and we'll put just about anything into our mouths at least once just to say we tried.

“You’re a foodie. I’m NEVER cooking for YOU…” is the most obnoxious thing you can say. Home cooking is a gift for a foodie – what could possibly be more unique than something you put together in the irreproducible environment that is your home? You could make me mac n’ cheese from a bag and forget to add the water, and I would still say thanks and mean it. I’m a blogger, not a bee with an itch. All I ask is that you put your assumptions aside when eating with me and stop judging me when I take a photo of my food…with flash.

Tea Station - Gardena

This menu is no TEAse for those with a passion for teas. The significant selection lets you be choosy and gives you leaf to let loose.

Tee off with Passionfruit Tea with boba but make sure to get it unsweet. The boba adds a little sugar but not so much that it stops tasting like tea.

The Tea Flavored Braised Pork Chop is the color of TEAk with a uniquely sweet flavor that steams all the way through. You just can't TEAch a sauce like this, and it deserves to be held in high esTEAm.
Cute cozy cafe with teas at prices that aren't very sTEAp. Tea Station critics can’t stand the service, but I'm a fan. I wasn't TEAring up or anything but I’d consider wearing the TEA shirt if they had one.

Cruising to OP Cafe - Santa Monica

When it comes to technology, I operate at level G. G for Grandma. A really old grandma who squints at the large-print screen and miss-clicks with her limited-range-of-motion arthritic fingers. To this day, I've barely become competent at posting to my own blog. 

Even grandma has her modern-day favorites, and imgur.com serves as my favorite waste of time. Photo sharing sites are about as original as Huevos Rancheros, but imgur reinvents the wheel by assembling the best parts with the all the best tools. The best of the best, the most viral of the viral. The huevos rancheros of the huevos rancheros. Two fresh perfectly-poached eggs over textbook corn tortillas on a bed of soft and savory black beans.

The internets have changed a lot in the past ten years, almost as much as dietary restrictions. Back in my day, it took ten minutes just to load my email, and Celiac's wasn't even a disease. Unlike me, OP Cafe's chefs kept up with the times, serving up sweet-wheat-textured Gluten Free Pancakes that taste like a dietary restriction without the restriction. These pancakes have a thinner, firmer, more definitive texture, and I prefer this version to the mushier flour of regular pancakes.

The best part of imgur is the captions. The wealth of wit from a meeting of the minds creates a forum where genius compounds. I don't know what kind of collaboration takes place in the OP kitchen, but it compounded into DIY tortillas full of eggs, beans, and salsa atop a fatty, savory shredded pork in need of a little salt. "Machaca con Huevos" is an inadequate caption for a plate so well put-together.

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I sure showed them. After only a year of trolling imgur, I finally learned that "OP" stands for "original poster". And after only a year of living in SoCal, I discovered that OP Cafe serves one of the better brunches south of LA. You learn something new every day, and it won't be that many days before I pop in my dentures and venture back to OP Cafe.

Belize Chocolate Company - San Pedro, Belize

"All good things must come to an end" is a pretty depressing thought. Some things we never want to end. Bands play endless encores, meals can linger as long as eleven courses, and dermatologists dole out the botox in the quest for eternal youth.

I wanted to be finished with Belize even less than I wanted to finish Island Crunch. The sponge toffee is as porous as a coral reef with sweet dark chocolate coating its nooks and crannies. The toffee skims the surface while the milk chocolate House Truffle sinks deep into the stomach with its rich cream ganache.

People say you need the bad to appreciate the good, some bitter to appreciate the sweet. But my whole trip to Belize was all Chocochino sweetness, with all trace of bitter coffee are curtailed by chocolate milk.

Even the simple things stood out. The Chocolate Chip Cookies were a sweet shop staple, but it's all in the details, and the soft and chewy center with concentrated Kakaw chips made the trip to Belize Chocolate Company unforgettable.

Belize was as intoxicating as the guttural-yet-refined Green Fairy's alcoholic absinthe. But as much as I didn't want the trip or the chocolate to end, from every end comes a new beginning. This boozy little box finishes bittersweet as I leave one adventure behind and avidly await the next.

Elvi's Kitchen - San Pedro, Belize

San Ignacio was an incredible culinary immersion, but I was getting pretty bored of San Pedro's tourist-traps. Lonely Planet has always been my gustatory guru for going off the beaten path, but the last few recommended restaurants were more beaten than a dead horse. 

Apparently, opposite day is the only way with Lonely Planet Belize. Elvi's Kitchen was criticized for tourist-trap prices despite being a good place to try local favorites, but the menu would suggest otherwise.

What's up with Elvi's? The Wasaceviche is what's up. Fresh-off-the-boat ceviche for fresh-off-the-water-taxi Asians. The sweet soy marinade brings out the flavor of the shrimp, squid, and conch with wasabi on the side to give those sinuses a memorable kick in the nose.

I don't know what herbal remedy Lonely Planet was using, but there's no tourist-tampering in Elvi's Basil Pasta. The pasta itself is made of basil, angel hair lightly tossed in slightly sharp tomato. Tossed with a tender, full-flavored garlic chicken, this confident combination is a stroke of pure genius.

It has been said that in order to win, one must go back to basics. Coconut rice and beans is as basic as it gets, but this one had just the right amount of sweet coconut to mix with a slightly-bitter Garlic Butter Conch. Conch is yet another San Pedro staple, but this thick, pungent, unforgettable garlic butter literally stayed on my breath for days...This was also the first time I wanted to eat my own breath. 

It seems San Pedro's seafood gets better as you inch your way inland, and you'll eat just fine if you completely ignore your guidebook. In Elvi's Kitchen, the price stays fair, the quality doesn't suffer, and Lonely Planet stands corrected.

Caramba - San Pedro, Belize

"To go north, you must go south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward you must go back"...if you're Daenerys Targaryen. If you're Kel-nerys Chen-garyen, to go to the sea you must go inland because ironically, they serve much better seafood.

I don't know what was in that sweet Sangria or just how much rum they mixed in the Mint-Chocolate Mojito, but clearly the Chen-garyen party was destined to cavort at Caramba.

The cocktails were wet n' wild, but the Broiled Lobster was undoubtedly dry. Fortunately, all crustaceans come with garlic butter for dunking, and the mere excitement of getting two tails for the price of one (compared to Blue Water Grill) was more than enough to juice it up.

Did I dig into the Stone Crab Claws or did the stone crab dig its claws into me first? Those prominent pinchers are a hybrid of flaky snow crab texture infused with blue crab juice. You never forget your first time, and my first time with stone crab certainly won't be my last.

The problem with prophecies is that they are often counterintuitive, and sometimes they don't make sense. Technically Neville Longbottom killed Lord Voldemorte, and who knows what will happen to Daenerys Targaryen, no thanks to the citadel. And while I haven't the slightest idea what path my Lonely Planet prophet has planned for me, those claws at Caramba were clearly the key to restoring my faltering faith.