Mochinut - Palos Verdes

I don't love mochi donuts when they're no longer warm, but Mochinut makes a good box and keeps their dough tasting fresh. 

Original is always great, Matcha remains matcha even if it's icing-sweet, S'mores is fun but not all that necessary, Ube is my fave, and there's even a Dubai Chocolate one which doesn't approximate the real thing but is delightful all the same. 

A pleasant surprise for someone who had sworn off all mochi donuts since Modo shuttered their Mitsuwa stall, and the hot dogs look great as well. Will be back for a most deeply fried snack. 

Pho Redbo - Palos Verdes

This pho is fancy, make no mistake. It's hot, it's savory, and tastes amazing in this setting, a spacious former diner surrounded by a skating rink. 

Cut through the cold by crunching into an Eggroll so crispy you can hear the skin break in your brain. The beef is extra good, and the shrimp softens the stronger meat. 

Watch the skaters zoom by or listen to the rhythm of hockey blades slice through the ambient music as a chimney of beef broth fills your nose and soaks your senses. Sip the soup and ask for the wide noodles instead of thin for a different texture. The Pho Combo will do nicely as the rare steak is great, the brisket fatty and tender, and the rib cubes melt in your mouth. The meatballs have the rubber chew you'd expect. 

Fight the urge to upgrade - that premium pho with the Wagyu Oxtail is more like a downgrade and definitely not worth the upcharge. There's nothing wagyu about it, and I wag my finger at whoever doesn't know how to cook oxtail. This meat should fall of the bone, but I had to take it home and ugly-gnaw at this mess. 

Similarly bland is the Shaken Beef, with barely-cooked peppers, not too many cubes of actual beef, and very little seasoning to speak of. The spicy dipping sauce can help, but it makes a most unsatisfying meal.  

Wagyu Beef Stew is supposed to give comfort, but only some of the beef chunks are tender, depending on the amount of marbled fat. It's alright, but I prefer the pho. 

I would come back but only for the pho. Their classic pho is marvelous, and the meats are mostly marble-lous, but don't be distracted by the other noise. 

Terranea Thanksgiving Feast - Palos Verdes

What a whirlwind of a year. There's plenty to be thankful for, but the pandemic has brought out the worst in so many, and I expected better from Terranea. 

This time last year, I had just begun to feel like I could live again, and unboxing this top-dollar meal from Terranea took the stress out of Thanksgiving. I paid the same whopping $300 this year to relive that relief, and I cannot begin to describe the developing devastation with each item I unboxed. 

Starting with the stark Salad, a sad base of greens with a sprinkling of squash. It's a mere shadow of last year's lush mixed greens with rich rings of roasted acorn squash. 

The salad was worse, but the soup was better. Last year's complaint was no ginger and too much cream, and it's like they remembered my words. The Acorn Squash and Apple Bisque is strongly pungent, and the apple amplifies the acid to cut the cream.

The half-Turkey is just fine. Cider-brined, and highlighted by the wrinkles of the plastic bag it came in (my photography skills, I know), the meat is juicy and the skin has a little extra pop. Comes with a lovely cranberry compote that isn't too tart and a lackluster gravy that is a bit too bland.

The Whipped Yukon Potatoes are a heftier mash compared to last year's semi-solid. More garlic and more flavor all around, but last year it was two times more.

Sweet Potatoes are still not stellar, they're the same except there's some runny gray stuff with some sugar. 

The Brioche, Pear & Sausage Stuffing hits the spot. Less mushy in texture, savory and strong with a rosemary that can get overwhelming. 

Herb Roasted Vegetables. A colorful array of roasted root veggies last year, this year a full tray of...brussels sprouts. Seriously. Barely-seared sprouts cut in half with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. 

At least it ends with an award-winning Apple Pie. These apples are juicy and sweet with not much added sugar, and the crust is all I could ask for. Goes great with chocolate gelato. 

I was so in love with this meal last year, and I wanted to make that magic again, but this year I felt fleeced by this budget-cut, cut-corner meal. I know about inflation, and I know it's harder to get supplies, but you just can't sell a stingier set for the exact same price. The cuts were clear, not just in ingredients, but in the amount of effort as well, and on America's day of thanks, that's just not something I can be thankful for.

Terranea - Palos Verdes

In the true spirit of a quarantine Thanksgiving, Terranea will make you a meal to go. More than enough to feed a family, expertly packed and loaded into your trunk by a couple of gloved-and-masked men who now think I live in my car. Word of advice: clear out your trunk BEFORE you pick up dinner. 

Don't worry, it was worth the humiliation once I got that dinner home. 

For starters, there's a cream Soup with a hint of butternut squash and a drop of ginger. The flavors are smooth and sweet for those who prefer less pungency. The ginger isn't really detectable, so it makes the soup appeal to more palates.

A Harvest Salad is a supposed side could be a main by itself. Sweet slices of roasted acorn squash are punctuated by pomegranate and all sorts of seeds add a hearty, earthy touch. A sherry vinaigrette has some sweet to temper the tang and brings out the sharper flavors of all the mixed greens.

Half a Turkey will feed four if all are famished. The meat is tender and juicy, and the skin is crispy and pretty close to melt-in-your-mouth. Even the usually-bland breast holds some, and the gravy is light but rich.

It’s Cranberry Compote instead of canned supermarket sauce. It’s tangy with the finish of a real fruit and may be the only cranberry sauce I can truly love. 

Add some cranberry to the Brioche Stuffing as well. The fluffy shreds of bread make an airy accompaniment. I’ve never liked stuffing, but this one works, even for me.

The Mashed Potatoes are buttery, fluffy, well-whipped with cream. The best part is you get two containers. 

The Candied Sweet Potato is surprisingly, pleasantly minimalist, simply roasted with cranberry and pecans. You taste just the natural sweetness from the yams, and there's little-to-no sugar added. 

Eat your vegetables too. The Roasted Root Vegetables: turnips, shallots, beets, rainbow carrots, and honey nut squash give you quite the selection and a variety of texture, too. 

You only get half a turkey but you do get a whole pie. We got Pumpkin Pie for tradition, but they have a lot of mouth-watering choices including pecan. The pumpkin pie filling is one of the better ones I've had, a super-smooth, creamy texture, a lot less pulpy than most I've had.

The best dinner is a dinner I don't have to make. Holiday outsourcing will become my new passion if all efforts turn out like Thanksgiving at Terranea, and I am more than happy to never baste a turkey again. At least this Thanksgiving, Terranea has all my thanks.

The Original Red Onion - Rolling Hills Estates

You can just hear that hillside pride. It's THE original. It got there first, and it got there before anyone else EVER came up with such a name or such a place. And before 1949, maybe no one had. Back then, they didn't have cell phones, after all, and they didn't even have civil rights. Whether or not we'll even have civil rights is under question, too, but that's a different concern for a different blog...

The Original Red Onion has stood through so many uncertain times, and it looks like it's stood exactly like that. Fireplace in a dark den looks so familiar and antiquated...like the regulars seated all around us. It kind of blows my mind that they opened back when Rolling Hills were just a bunch of hills that no one wanted to live on.

But people must have flocked for the food, and clearly they still do because the establishment stands staunch, backed by pillars of Mexican-American cuisine. There's a savory, coarse-cornmeal Tamale on my plate, shrouding a softer shredded pork. The Chile Relleno, which I usually hate, is so well-made it's baffling. This spicy-yet-sweet pepper is overflowing with fountains of melted cheese, and it's covered in a fluffy, egg-bread batter. The selection of side options is plentiful, but the plate doesn't feel right without some straightforward Mexican rice mixed with stringy cheese-covered refried beans. 

The Premium Quesadilla seems a lot more modern, but change is good in the form of charred strips of carne asada interlaced with Mexican cheese. The flour tortilla is decent, and the steak is flanked by cool-downs like pico, guac, and sour cream.  

63 years The Original Red Onion has stood the test of time. Not so original anymore, but there's a sweetness in its simplicity, and in some ways it's a lesson in PV history. I don't know what its future will hold, but I do hope it keeps on standing.