Nickel Diner (some people call it 5¢ Diner because of their sign) is a great neighborhood restaurant in the Historic Core Downtown Los Angeles, within one block of our gallery and home. They are especially famous for the bacon donuts. The catfish is very delicious, too. For vegetarians, there’s grilled veggie sandwich that is just phenomenal. Here’s a segment from last year’s episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, hosted by Guy Fieri, featuring Nickel Diner.
Posts Tagged ‘food’
Yes, Chia seed, the kind of seeds they use on Chia Pets, and I am adding it to my diet.
It is said to be rich in dietray fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. Some also say that it takes longer to pass through your system, keeping hunger away longer after eating. We’ll see how it works for me.
You can sprinkle the seeds on food when you eat. You can also soak it in water for 10 – 15 minutes to make Chia gel. The gel can then be mixed with drinks, yogurt, etc. I drank it directly and it didn’t have any taste at all (without chewing the seeds.)
I got the them on Amazon
More interesting read:
Note: shown below is White Chia that came in a sample packet. The regular kind gel much better and bigger.
Soaking the Chia seeds.
Chia seeds after soaking for 10 minutes. See the gel like coating around each seed.
Take A Bao is situated in the middle of the food court at the Westfield Century City. I had been impatiently waiting for it to open for months. I love baozi 包子. I can be happy if that’s all there is in a meal. Steaming white bun filled with all kinds of goodies. Meat, veggies. Even sweet bean paste. Baskets and baskets of them. But I discovered a week ago that they weren’t doing baozi. Instead, they were doing guabao 割包.
You might have seen similar stuff like guabao. They use them for Peking Duck sometimes. I also love guabao when they are done right. The steamed bun can be opened to add fillings in the middle. Like a sandwich. Very popular in Taiwan. Usually stuffed with soy braised pork belly, pickled veggies, fresh cilantro and peanut powder. I am drooling just thinking about it.
Take A Bao didn’t serve the traditional guabao. They offered several Asian-fusion kind of combinations. I think you can also build your own with the stuffings they have. They are good. Just can’t compare to the original in my opinion.
The service that day was absolutely awful. I think they weren’t prepared to serve a crowd. The orders were out of order. The people in charge looked like they just zoned out and didn’t want to bother with customer service. They barely whispered your name when the food was ready, and it could sit there forever if you did not go up and get it. We watched people coming up behind us get their orders first, and had to inquire about it before they went to look for our order. We weren’t the only ones. A couple was waiting for their food at the same time as we were. They were still waiting by the time we finished eating.
OK, enough complaining. I found some positive reviews on Zagat. So, maybe they’ve finally established a system and is running the restaurant smoothly now. Don’t know if I will go back often though. I was really looking forward to having some good baozi!
No, I didn’t convert. CB and some of our good friends are Episcopalians. A few were graduating from the EFM class last Saturday. CB and I were invited to participate the ceremony at the Cathedral Center. The service was a bit odd. But I enjoyed the visit anyway. Plus, we got to go to brunch afterwards. Someone found this really nice place in Silver Lake, Cliff’s Edge. Very hard to find location. No signage other than the little valet parking sign. But the atmosphere was fantastic. Food was good, and the price was right!
Sunday we surprised our friend Connie by showing up for Los Angeles Recorder Orchestra’s performance at St. Bede’s. Connie played the Bass. I’d never seen so many different kinds of recorders. Actually, I thought there was only one size. Check out LARO’s photo page for various types of recorders. Especially the Contra and Great Basses. Very odd looking. 
We also went to a blessing of same-sex union two weeks ago. Wonderful friends of ours. A lovely couple. About 250 people showed up. And I think about that many went to the reception at the couple’s house afterwards. Catering was done by Paul McCullough, former contestant on season 3 of The Next Foodnetwork Star. (I told quite a few that he was on season 2. 
) Everything was super delicious. Definitely check him out for catering service. Too bad I forgot my camera! 
We started Saturday with a visit to our friends, Mike and Gaby. Sven was still feeling sick, so we hurried to Triumphal Palace in Alhambra for some dim sum. The food is still great. But the service has gotten lousy. Under the previous ownership the service was top-notch. The waiters stopped by constantly to replace dishes and refill water and tea. But this time they didn’t even take our order until we stopped one of them to do so. This is not unusual in a Chinese restaurant. It is just unfortunate that they couldn’t make the experience better than the others. Food is still fantastic, dim sum or dinner. Definitely give it a try if you are in the area. Just be aggressive in ordering and asking for stuff. Well, not aggressive to the point of being mean, of course.
The Huntington Gardens
It is absolutely beautiful in the gardens. We’ve only visited the Desert Garden, the Japanese Garden and the not yet finished Chinese Garden. I especially loved the Japanese Garden. Do take a look at the photo album to see more pictures. Especially the bonsai collection.
Yamato Westwood
http://www.yamatorestaurants.com/
Sven’s second visit to this Japanese Restaurant in Westood. Great food. Desert was nicely done, too.
