I first tried almond croissants at the Berkeley store of the now defunct La Petit Boulangerie chain when I was in college. As a starving student, these were a special treat which I’d allow myself once in a great while, but I absolutely loved them. Since then, almond croissants have had a special place in my heart, though I seldom get them.
I came across these Almond Croissants at Trader Joe’s during a recentish trip and picked them up without much thought. When I finally went to make them, I realized that it wasn’t a simple endeavor. I had to let them defrost overnight and only then I could bake them. I was frustrated, so I took them out from the freezer and put them in the fridge and waited a couple of days before touching them. As I looked at the instructions more carefully, I realized that I had to actually let them rise at room temperature, on a pan, separated from each other, for nine hours before this baking process – which I did swearing I’d never buy these again. Alas, after making them, I changed my mind.
These croissants tastes exactly like the real thing. Maybe not as good as my memories of the ones from La Petit Boulangerie, but similar to other almond croissants I’ve had since. The dough was very light with a bit of a bready taste, but one that grew on me. The almond filling was very tasty. I’ll definitely get them again next time I go to Trader Joe’s.
Every time I go to Trader Joe’s, I pick up one desert to try, and in one of my trips it was the frozen Chocolate Lava cakes. It must be one of Trader Joe’s worst desserts. The cakes were dry, with very little chocolate flavor. On the plus side, I did save calories by not eating more than couple of bites. I made one first according to the instructions, and then a second one with less time, but both were failures.
A few weeks ago, I decided to give Amazon Fresh a try and order groceries to be delivered at home. I was particularly interested in trying their house brands, to see how they measured against others. In general, I was disappointed – and this was particularly true with the Aplenty Gnocchi with Tomato & Mozzarella frozen entree.
Much has been written about how Amazon is trying to compete with Trader Joe’s by copying its most successful products – something which it does with products that third-party vendors sell through its site. This particular item, seems to be a knockoff of Trader Joe’s Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, which has been a favorite of mine for almost twenty years. Alas, it does not succeed.
Unlike Trader Joe’s gnocchi, this one comes with tomatoes instead of tomato sauce. This means that there isn’t enough moisture in the dish to help the gnocchi plump up and lighten. Instead, they are heavy and dense. Moreover, the tomatoes don’t do much to flavor the gnocchi, and neither does the cheese, which remains in clumps. The result is a heavy, not very tasty dish. I would not get it again.
It sells for $3.80, so it’s even about 20% more expensive than the gnocchi at Trader Joe’s.
Port Salut is a semi-soft cow’s milk cheese developed by monks from the Port-du-Salut Abbey in the 19th century. It is now produced commercially.
While the cheese is not as soft as brie and the like, it is spreadable enough. It has a stronger flavor than brie, a bit more “rotten,” but it was quite enjoyable. In all, I think I prefer the consistency of brie, however.
A few weeks ago, Safeway had On the Rocks Cocktails on sale for $5 for the 375 ml (12 oz) bottle. I’m not much of a cocktail drinker – I don’t like the taste of alcohol – but I figure it was worth trying a few. I got the Cosmopolitan, the espresso martini, the Margarita and the jalapeño pineapple Margarita – the latter two for my husband.
A cosmopolitan is a simple cocktail of sweetened cranberry juice, lime juice, vodka and orange liqueur. It was the favorite cocktail of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, and that’s probably why I finally tried it some years ago. And I liked it. If you’re lucky, the sweetness masks the alcohol and makes it easy to drink.
In that sense, On the Rock’s cosmopolitan is initially successful. The alcoholic taste is pretty well masked by the sweetness and acidity in the drink. It does, however, burn a little going down the throat. That makes it feel unbalanced. Still, I’ll buy it again if I see it on sale again.
The 375ml bottles are usually $13 at Safeway and $11 at Target.
Chi’s Chinese Cuisine is my nephews’ favorite Chinese restaurant – or maybe, their favorite restaurant ever – so that’s what they requested we get one evening during my family trip to LA. I couldn’t think of anything better, so I ordered from there. It was a simple enough process and pretty quick.
First, I got a Dim Sum Sampler ($15) which came with Har Gow, Siu Mai, Steamed Chicken Dumplings and Char Siu Bao. I had the mini steamed chicken dumplings and they were quite good, though, as usual, with too little filling. My husband had the rest of the dumplings and he found them unremarkable.
My nephews’ favorite dish is the sweet and pungent chicken ($18) described as “lightly breaded white meat chicken with a sweet sauce. and just a touch of spice.” We ordered both a regular and a spicy version, but they all tasted the same – as described. Spicy enough to thrill a seven year old, but not to scare him. Beyond that, the favor was similar to a sweet and sour chicken, a but more sour and less sweet. I could stand a few pieces, but the breading becomes overwhelming beyond that.
I ordered the roasted duck ($22), and I’d say it was OK. It wasn’t as dry as I feared, but it was super moist either. The flavor was pretty standard, with the amount fat you’d expect. I don’t know, I just wasn’t into it. Neither was Mike. Maybe I’ve upgrown this dish.
Mike ordered the cashew chicken ($13.50) and substituted the vegetables for extra chicken ($3). It was good but pretty standard. There was a good amount of cashews and the sauce was flavorful.
My BIL had the Mongolian beef ($15.55). This was probably my favorite dish of the night. The beef was tender and the sauce was very flavorful. I’d order this one again.
Finally, my sister ordered the vegetable chow mein ($14.25). It was just OK – it lacked flavor.
In all, I felt that the food at Chi’s was pretty standard but was surprised at how expensive it is for the amount and flavor of the food. Perhaps they use higher quality ingredients or pay their workers better. Without knowing that, though, I just felt I overpaid.
Chi's Chinese Cuisine 9635 Reseda Blvd, Northridge (818) 886-6928 W - M 11 AM - 9:30 PM
I love Chicago deep dish pizza, so when I saw Gino’s East of Chicago Deep Dish Pizzas for sale at Safeway a few months ago, I got very excited and got two of them. I absolutely hated the plain cheese pizza. I thought it tasted only of a bad pasta sauce and couldn’t stand eating it. Thus I was very wary to cook and eat the supreme pizza. It sat at the bottom of my freezer for months. But it was occupying valuable freezer space and, having waited so long to do something with it, I didn’t feel good about giving it to someone else. So I baked it.
Imagine my surprise at finding that this pizza wasn’t bad. I won’t say that it was particularly good either. It didn’t have the overwhelming cheesiness of great Chicago style pizzas. But it was perfectly edible. The sauce, so offensive in the cheese pizza, could not compete with the flavors of the sausage, onions and green peppers, and thus could be ignored.
I still didn’t love it, so I don’t think I’d order it again, but I’m glad the pizza didn’t go to waste.
One of our goals for this trip to LA was to have dinner in Korea town. Restaurants in this area seem to follow the Korean model and specialize in one type of cuisine – and it was hard deciding that beforehand. One thing that Mike knew he didn’t want to have is Korean barbecue. As it turned out, we didn’t end up going to Korea town and we ended up having Korea barbecue instead. It seems that barbecue is the only Korean food my sister likes and with three kids to take care of and a full time job, she was too tired to head far.
During my previous visit to LA, we had visited Gen Korean BBQ and I was hoping to find something better. The reviews for MGD Korean BBQ were mostly good, with some people mentioning it was as good as Korea town. While I doubted that, I was willing to give it a try.
MGD – which stands for Meat, Grill, Drink – offers “all you can eat” BBQ. You pay one price (either $37 for the standard or the $42 for the supreme) and get to order anything you want from a list of appetizers and meats ready for grilling. Unlike Gen, dessert is not included but you can order ice cream for an additional $3. We decided on the supreme menu, as it had some dishes I wanted to try.
The restaurant has an industrial look and is decorated in blacks and reds. They have both high and regular tables, as well as booths, each with a center grill where you cook your own food. The booths were comfortable and ample. It wasn’t too busy when we got there, but it got popping as the evening went on – we were there on a Tuesday.
Dinner started with banchan, which are small dishes of mostly pickled foods to act as condiments and sides. I don’t think we tried any.
They also bring each diner an individual tray with a chili sauce – gochujang, I presume – coarse salt and a green sauce. The salt was useful for the steak, but I didn’t try the other condiments.
I ordered a few appetizers, just to try them. The fried gyoza were good but not remarkable and a little oily. I don’t think I’d bother ordering them again.
The honey butter fried chicken was interesting. It consisted of pieces of chicken, thickly battered and dusted with sugar. It was both salty and sweet. I don’t think I’d order it again, but I’m glad I tried it.
Mike ordered the fried Cajun calamari and liked it well enough.
We started our grilling adventure by ordering prime honeycomb pork belly (from the supreme menu), beef bulgogi and marinated LA galbi. The pork belly was just blah. It was way too fatty, as pork belly tends to be and convinced me that grilling pork belly is just not a good idea. We did like the beef bulgogi and that’s what we kept ordering time and again. It wasn’t a particularly great beef bulgogi, but even a mediocre beef bulgogi is very, very good. I don’t see much of an advantage about grilling it this way rather than sautéing it, though – at least flavor wise.
My sister really liked the LA galbi. Unfortunately, you are limited to one order per person – so she could only order four. I had the tiniest bit to leave the rest for her – she is, after all, nursing a very hungry baby, and I thought it was also good but unremarkable. Again, LA galbi is a flavorful cut to begin with.
We also ordered the prime MGD steak from the supreme menu a couple of times. The steak was very thin and it wasn’t bad once you smeared it with butter and salted it. Still, I don’t go to a Korean BBQ restaurant to eat unmarinated steak. My brother in law liked it, though. what I did like was the grilled pineapple. It was very sweet and delicious.
In a subsequent round we tried some chicken bulgogi, in addition to more beef bulgogi, and prime boneless marinated galbi from the supreme menu. The latter looked very similar to the beef bulgogi but wasn’t as tasty as either that or the bone-in LA galbi.
Finally, my brother in law got a lobster (from the supreme menu). He didn’t realize it was a choice until I pointed it out at the end of the meal. These take a long time to cook, so I’d suggest ordering them as your second round of meats – once you’ve eaten something and you’re not starving.
In addition to the “ready to grill” meats, MGD has a few prepared dishes in their all-you-can eat menu. I tried the cheese tonkatsu (from the supreme menu) and I wasn’t impressed. It turns out that pork and cheese are not particularly good combinations – and that cheese works better if you put it on the breading, rather than under it. But mostly, what I disliked was the flavor of the pork.
Much better was the galbijjim, also from the supreme menu. I had come across mentions of this short rib stew while researching Korean restaurants and I was intrigued – I love short ribs in general. It turned out to be a very, very tasty dish. The short ribs were soft and subtle and the flavor was rich and delicious. The dish was extremely fatty, but that’s true of most short rib stews, as the ample fat and collagen in the ribs melts into the sauce. Next time we go to LA, we’ll head to one of those restaurants in Korea town that specializes in this dish.
Service by our young waiter was very good – he was solicitous and helpful. But they were very understaffed – that poor guy was just constantly rushing between tables.
In all, I wouldn’t rush back to MGD though mostly because of the limits put on LA galbi and because my sister prefers the cheaper Gen Korean BBQ. In addition to this location, MGD has another one in Buena Park.
MGD Korean BBQ 9350 Corbin Ave. Northridge, CA 747-202-0086 M - Th: 4 PM - 10 PM F - Sa: 12 PM - 12 AM Su: 12 PM - 11 PM SUN : 12:00PM - 11:00PM
Versailles is a San Fernando Valley institution, though they also have locations in Culver City and Los Angeles. It’s been around for over fifty years. I first went there when my husband and I were dating, back in the early 90’s. It was my first introduction to Cuban food, and I liked it. My sister reminded me I took her and a friend there when she was in high school – so over twenty years ago -, but I don’t actually recall that experience. Still, when I suggested that we revisit it during our last visit to my family, both Mike and Kathy were up for it.
While my recollections of Versailles were vague, both my sister and I remembered it as fancier than it is in its current state. That might have been because it was darker when we previously dined there, or because we were poorer and thus our ideas of fancy were more modest – but I suspect that the difference is that they used tablecloths once upon a time – and perhaps they had nicer chairs. The chandeliers are still nice, however.
We were there for a very early dinner midweek, so the restaurant was empty when we got there, though a couple of parties joined later. That was a big change from the buzzle I remember from yesteryear, but, again, we were very early
Dinner started with freshly made garlic bread, which was wonderful but made the whole restaurant smell like garlic. It’s not a smell that I mind, myself, but some people might not be as big fans.
With so many great sounding Cuban specialties in the menu, it was hard to make up my mind – but I finally decided on my favorite Cuban dish: ropa vieja ($23). This is a dish of shredded beef cooked in a tomato, onion and bell pepper sauce. Versailles’ version was very good, though I think not quite as good as mine or the one at Porto’s. Still, I really enjoyed it and the portion was large enough to have leftovers for the next day.
It came with rice, beans and fried bananas. I skipped the beans – and declined the waiter’s offer to bring me more bananas. I shouldn’t have, as the bananas were absolutely delicious. Sweet, of course, but that’s what made them so good. Add some ice cream to them, and you have dessert.
Kathy had the chuletas the puerco ($24), marinated pork chops served with sautéed onions and a garlic sauce. Unfortunately, she wasn’t a big fan. She found the pork chops a tad overcooked and dry, and while she liked the flavor, she didn’t think it was extraordinary.
Unlike me, she did ask for extra fried bananas instead of rice and beans, and she got a whole plate of them! As I mentioned, they were delicious.
Mike had something quite similar to Kathy’s: lechón asado ($18). This shredded roasted pork is marinated and served with a creole sauce and sliced raw onions. He absolutely loved it. He found it tender and delicious. He also liked the accompanying black beans, though he noted they were a bit too soupy.
For dessert, we shared a slice of tres leches cake ($8), which was also good in the way tres leches cake usually is.
Service was wonderful. Our waiter was solicitous and offered us more garlic bread and extra fried bananas.
All in all, Mike and I would definitely go back. I’m not as sure about Kathy.
Versailles Comida Cubana 17410 Ventura Blvd Encino, CA (818) 906-0756 Daily 11 AM - 9 PM
Trader Joe’s Rustic Apple Tarte is a smallish galette that tastes like apple pie. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The tarte crust was lighter, and more flavorful than your regular pie crust, and the apple filling was on point: the apples had some firmness, they weren’t overly sweet and the sliced nuts provided a good crunch. It also had sugar crystals which I love. In all, it was quite enjoyable though a little on the small side. I’d get it again.
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