An L.A. Must Visit: Castaway

Ever since I heard from Auntie L that Castaway is a great restaurant to visit, I have been hoping to dine there. It's slightly far and I heard that it's pricey too. But reading the reviews and seeing the photos made me want to visit it more. It somehow reminded me of how much I wanted to go to Sonya's Garden and Vigan. Luckily, I managed to have dinner there a few days before my flight back to Manila.

Hello, Castaway!

The place has a relaxed ambiance and doesn't have this snotty feel at all which I get when I visit classy restaurants. It feels more like a guest house with rather tropical decor.

The menu is not as extensive as I thought but all sound so mouthwatering. We ended up ordering Castaway Crab Cakes ($13), Roast Prime Rib of Beef ($32), and Bone-In Rib Eye ($38). As for drinks, we had a glass of Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri and Lemonade.

 

The crab cake was served quickly. It even arrived before the wait basket of fresh bread. It was quite savory and a pleasant appetizer. The texture was smooth and crunchy. The sauce too was a combination of tangy and salty. I truly enjoyed it.

 

The main dishes took a long time to be served though. Apparently, there was a problem with our side dishes... potatoes. They ran out of potatoes. Thus the over half an hour wait.

Japan in California: Yamashiro Japanese Restaurant

I love Japanese food. People close to me (and those who see me wolf down sashimi) know how much I just adore it. And every time I eat out, one of the cuisines I consider is Japanese. I'll either crave for salmon sashimi, ramen, tempura, udon, or whatnot. It must be my anime addiction that caused this. Anyway, on my last night in Los Angeles, my aunt R treated me to this nice restaurant overseeing LA. 

Hello, Yamashiro!

The place is so Japanese! It felt like I was really in Japan though I'll never know because I have never been there. I wanted to capture every corner of the place with pictures. I was like a kid trying to ingrain every bit of detail in my mind as this place is simply... amazing. At least for me. 

 It was rather chilly that day but we didn't care and took pictures like it's nothing!

We ordered though before we went out to capture the beauty of the place. We ordered Wakame Seaweed Salad ($12), Pistachio Salmon ($16), Truffle Hamachi ($16), Spicy Seafood Hot Pot ($10), and Duck Confit Asian Cobb (forgot to take note of the price of this one). For dessert, we had Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich ($12) and Banana Fritters (price was not in the menu as well).

The Wakame Seaweed Salad's serving was pretty stingy. Luckily though they gave us an extra serving for... FREE! The power of the people I'm with. :D The taste though was your typical seaweed salad. You could get a huge serving of it if you buy the ingredients yourself.

The Spicy Seafood Hot Pot wasn't spicy at all. It was served warm and it was a good appetizer. All the ingredients (shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, mussels, and scallop) were fresh. Yum! However, the serving, again, was too small.

Restaurant Discovery: Extraordinary Desserts

Blooooog! I miss you! I have been sick for almost 2 weeks so I was hibernating like a big Grizzly bear! I hardly went out too but I still have a few finds I'd love to share with you all and one of which was our stop after Legoland.

Hello, Extraordinary Desserts!

I love hanging out with K and T as I get to go to nice restaurants. Eating out here is so expensive. Yes, even eating at an ordinary restaurant will cost you over a thousand Pesos. The perk though is that I get to learn how to cook. (Yeeeeees!) Anyway, I am getting off topic here.

We arrived at Extraordinary Desserts a bit past 8 p.m. and the place was packed! We had to wait around 20 minutes to get a table. And while waiting, we were given a little notepad where we could jot down what desserts we want to try. 

And it was difficult! How can I choose just one in this display?! I want to try them all! But my wallet can only afford one! Huhuhu! Curse the high prices!

N and I ended up with the Chocolate Macadamia Torte as N is a macadamia lover. T and K went with one of the specials, German  Chocolate Cake with Brown Sugar Ice Cream on the side. 

The savory menu is quite limited so we opted for the dishes that we think would fill us the most... Panini.

I ordered the Smoked Salmon Panini ($12) while N ordered the Portobello and Brie Panini ($12). I also ordered a bowl of Tomato Basil Soup ($7.5) as it was chilly that night.

For a full house, service was pretty quick.

Let's Go to Legoland

I have always wanted to visit Legoland but I never get to find the time to visit it. I remember my sister and I drooling over the commercial. Who cares if the rides are kiddie?! We'll be surrounded by colorful blocks!

It took a bit of effort before I managed to convince N to go to Legoland. But finally, we found ourselves on our way to Carlsbad, California for some bonding time with the lovable toys. 

We arrived a bit past 1 p.m. and K and T welcomed us with their matching blue tops. N too was wearing blue. I was a bit blue (excuse the pun) as I was wearing white then. Boo! I didn't get the memo!

Hello colorful piece of land! 

We were amazed by the blocks and blocks and blocks of wonderful Lego creations. At first, we were debating on whether the whole statues were 100% Lego. Of course the staff would say yes but we have our doubts.

We started the day with a hearty lunch. We spotted a place that serves Chicken Stir-Fry, Grilled Steak Sandwich, and Spicy Shrimp Linguini. T and I tried the sandwich while N ordered chicken and K got the linguini. N got the best dish.

Our first ride was a mini version of Enchanted Kingdom's Anchors Away. It was fun but it made us slightly dizzy. Just like the guy here. (Note: I failed to take pictures of the rides so I'll proceed to the things that mesmerized me.)

American Pie: Marie Callender's Restaurant and Bakery

I love it when I get to visit a new place. Dropping by Trader Joe's for the first time made me giddy for days. Everything that could be covered in chocolate was covered in chocolate! I was in heaven! But that's in another blog. Today, we'll talk about pies. Well, fine, pie. 

I'm not really a pie person as I prefer cake over pie. And I think the only pie I enjoy eating is egg pie from Goldilocks. My taste buds are easy to please. But I had no idea that my taste buds will be spoiled by a heavenly pie.

 

We were almost on our way home when Auntie asked that we pass by Marie Callender's. She wanted to check the pies as she saw a commercial saying that they have a pie sale. True enough, they do.

The place somehow reminded me of Porto's though this one has a more feminine touch to it. 

Restaurant Love: Thai Original BBQ and Restaurant

A trip to L.A. is not complete without stopping by Thai Original BBQ restaurant. For the past two trips, I always make time to visit this place and order the chicken with shrimp rice meal. And last Sunday was the "day" for it.

After attending service at Dream Center, N and I decided to have lunch. At first, we were unsure on where to eat as we were not really craving for a specific cuisine or dish. Then it struck me, I want chicken from Thai Original BBQ. 

Photo taken last 2011.

Ordering was a breeze since I know what I want. One S-1 (Kai Yang Dinner or Chicken Barbeque, $8.75) please! N ordered S-2 (Barbeque Pork Spare Rib Dinner, $9.65). 

The service was really fast! It took them less than 5 minutes to serve our food. I guess the dishes are ready and just needed to be plated. 

Oh how I miss this big serving of chicken! The meat is well cooked and the rice is to die for. The shrimps were fresh too! Plus that special sauce is deeelicious!

My First Bite: The Boiling Crab

I was planning to have dinner at The Boiling Crab last year but we ended up at The Shack due to the long line and grumpy tummies. Fortunately, my trip this year finally was able to fit in eating at this famous seafood place. 

There's still a line! I guess it cannot be avoided if the establishment is popular. It took us around 20 minutes to get a table. While waiting, we roamed around Little Vietnam. (It's so cool here as every country seems to have their own little neighborhood.) 

It's interesting that we cannot be seated until the server sees the whole party. I reserved a table for 4 and since we were all having fun looking at the different stuff available in Little Vietnam, we lost track of time. But luck was with us as we were able to keep our table.

Packed. 

The place was filled with people wearing bibs (which is probably one of the few places where adults wearing bibs are perfectly acceptable). 

Restaurant Discovery: Yellow House Café

I just love visiting Koreatown in Los Angeles. There are a lot of cute restaurants and cafés (and some of which are in Manila too) open till the wee hours just like how things are in Seoul. The place I visited this time seems to be a popular one as it was still packed at 8 p.m..

Meeting up with K and T guarantees that we eat somewhere cute or fancy. (So, horray for me! I'll have something nice to blog about!) This time, they decided that we have dinner at Yellow House Café .

We met up a little bit past 8 p.m. and we had to wait for a table to clear up. Apparently, the bigger the party, the more difficult it is for you to get a table.

While waiting, we all decided that we order something to pass time since we were all too hungry to wait. K and I ordered Cheese Tteokbokki ($10.95). 

D-I-Y: My Ikea Experience

Ikea... oh how I love thee. From those cute accessories down to the most colorful furniture, you never fail to amaze me. For the longest time, I was in love with this giant brand. Little did I know that I have yet to experience the full Ikea deal.

Yes, I'm back to the land of uhm... Disney! And agenda on the first day is a trip to IKEA. (Woohoo!)

How I miss the place. The cute set ups, the interesting furniture, the soft stuffed toys, everything is L-O-V-E!

Anyway, N and I were looking for a dresser and after an hour of looking around, we found the one. 

Restaurant Love: Lazy Dog Café

I miss California. I miss those humongous portions, oh-so-yummy food, gigantic supermarkets, friendly people saying hello to just about anyone, everything. While browsing my phone, I saw some photos from my last trip and a few were from my lunch date with N at the Lazy Dog Café. 

I remember that it was a bit past 12 noon when N picked me up and we were famished. As soon as we got to park the car, we checked a few restaurants outside the mall (in record time) and eventually decided to have lunch at the Lazy Dog Café. 

 

The interiors are rather cute. It has a western feel as place is predominantly wooden brown. I love the cute accent on the table… a paw print. 

N and I didn’t thoroughly browsed the menu and just ordered the lunch specials—Chicken Parmesan ($7.45) and Sundried Tomato Pesto Penne ($7.95). They also serve these for dinner but plus $5.

Restaurant Love: Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que

Ribs… what’s not to love? Soft meat, lovely sauce, dirty fingers… bliss. And where can we try out one of the best tasting ribs? Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que! 

It was a tiring day as we just flew back to California from New York and it was one gloomy Thursday. N and I were quite hungry and decided to have lunch out. Since I haven’t visited Lucille’s yet and N was craving for meat, we drove to the popular ribs place.

Hello, Lucille’s!

It has this diner feel and it is pretty charming!

 

We decided to go for a BBQ Lunch Platter with a combination of St. Louis spare ribs, tri tip, one quarter smoked chicken ($15.99) and ordered a salad and mashed potatoes on the side. N also ordered the Lucille’s BBQ Tri Tip Sandwich ($13.49).

While waiting, we were given complimentary bread which I recall Frannywanny raving about. It was sweet bread to my surprise. I was expecting the typical bland bread with butter so this was a pleasant surprise. I guess it is to prepare the taste buds to the savory ribs.

The salad was your typical greens so let me focus more on the “meat”.

Happy Lunch: Maui Style Hawaiian BBQ

I remember the first time I explored L.A. alone was the day I shopped my heart out. I got a free ride from G going to Americana (one of my favorite places), then I went straight to Forever 21 and H&M in search for thicker clothes. After a while I decided to go to Galleria and visited Cotton On, another Forever 21, and The Body Shop. It took me a while before I realized that I missed lunch time. So with paper bags in tow, I went straight to Galleria’s food court to grab a meal. I remember that the meal was around $10 and it was HUGE. I had a hard time finishing it. So when N1 and I went to Citadel with N2 and S, I made sure that the meal we’ll order will be for sharing.

It’s shopping time again. Funny how most people tend to be on extreme shopping mode whenever their vacation is about to end. It happens to me every time and I spent a lot of time in Walmart buying chocolates.

It was past noon when we decided to have lunch and headed to the food area of the outlet. We spotted Maui Style Hawaiian BBQ and since they offer heavy meals, we went in. (Oh rice, why are you so attractive?)

There's rice there somewhere.

N1 and I ordered the Beef and Chicken meal ($7.49) for sharing while N2 and S ordered a meal each—beef and shrimp combo and beef and Maui Crunch Roll.

The Shack: Better than The Boiling Crab?

The Boiling Crab was part of my I-have-to-visit-this-place-no-matter-what list when I went to the States a few months back but unfortunately, even though I was in LA for quite a long time, I wasn’t able to visit it. The closest was standing outside the place. *sad* Then again, I was able to visit a restaurant that has a similar concept. Well, close enough, I guess.

Hey, The Shack!

The place has a beach feel to it. I guess it is to reinforce that they serve seafood thus the seaside ambiance. We easily got a table as the place wasn’t that packed and ordered right away.

We ordered some shrimps with mild sauce ($8.99), seasoned fries ($2.99), crispy wings ($4.99), and raw oysters ($7.99/half a dozen; $13.99/dozen).