Izakaya Hachi - West L.A.

I came here for Nabe (hot pot) back in Nov, 2011 because my fried told me their hot pot is delicious. Well, before we order hot pot, we ordered way too much food, we ended up not eating hot pot. But that's ok. The food was very good here. The service was a bit slow but they were friendly. Also you can keep the bottle (shochu) if you want to.

Menu (Nov, 2011). You can get full menu online.

Hot pot menu. We came here for this..

Edamame

Kobe beef BBQ salad $8.50
Sauteed been on very thinly sliced cabbage with garlic sesame dressing. Really tasty.

Dashimaki tamago $6.50
Japanese rolled egg omelet cooked with original broth

Assorted 5 skewers $12
Pork belly & green onion, chicken wing, chicken meatballs, Kurobuta pork sausage

Sushi. Salmon roe $6.50, Albacore $4.50, and Red snapper (I think) $6

Yokohama Chicken Shumai $6.50
Home made chicken shumai dumpling. This shumai was not my favorite.

Tonkotsu ramen $9.50
Thick noodle. In my opinion, it was better than Shinsengumi.

Ishiyaki Hitsumabushi $8.50 (It's $14.50 now. Yes, eel is very expensive now)
Grilled teriyaki freshwater eel top on the rice served in a sizzling stone pot. You eat just like Bibim bop, don't freak out if your server start mixing all.

dessert menu

Rating : 4.3 / 5
Service: 3.8 / 5
Repeat: Yes

Izakaya Hachi
12009 Wilshire Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90025

(310) 473-9603

http://www.hachi.us/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/izakaya-hachi-los-angeles

Yamashiro - Hollywood

This place is all about the view! The view is AWESOME. But unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the food, especially sushi.

It was back in Nov, 2011 so some of the prices has gone up, such as sushi and dessert. Most dishes are still available for the same price. Visit online for the full menu.

Farmer's market salad $12
field greens and market vegetables, goat cheese, roasted garlic croutons, shiso champagne vinaigrette.
This salad was very good. 

Pan seared crab cakes $17
teardrop tomato pico de gallo, preserved lemon &  cracked pepper aioli

Seafood tempura $15
shrimp, scallop, cod, sake-ponzu dipping sauce, yuzu chile cream sauce

Maine lobster with seafood risotto $42
edamame, asparagus, citrus lobster jus

Spicy yellowtail & Toasted macadamia roll $14
mango, coconut, kaiware, soy paper, tropical sauce.
Simply aweful. The sushi was very sweet as you can imagine. I ordered it because it was very unique. Wrong idea.

Tamago sushi

Spicy tuna & soy roasted shishito roll $14
snow crab, avocado, cucumber, house made eel sauce

cappuccino

Warm chocolate souffle cake $10
vanilla ice cream, creme anglaise, hot fudge sauce

Dessert sushi $10
Kiwi & strawberry hand roll, mango sushi, melon sushi, berry-mascarpone sushi

Again, because it's cute and unique, I ordered it and it was aweful, specially the sushi rice part. I enjoyed with my eyes, but not with my mouth.

Rating : 3 / 5
Service: 3.5 / 5
Repeat: Yes

Yamashiro
1999 N Sycamore Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90068

(323) 466-5125

Mon-Thu 5:30 pm - 9 pm
Fri 5:30 pm - 10 pm
Sat 5 pm - 10 pm
Sun 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm

http://www.yamashirorestaurant.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/yamashiro-hollywood-2

Chef's Pick lean cuisine frozen dinner

Frozen dinner used to be not healthy and high calories, totally "a must avoid" food. But not anymore. Lean cuisine's chef's pick was tasty and not only that, each meal I had was under 300 calories. Since each meal is small portion, I had both at the same time. I know... but hey, that's still total under 550 calories. Not bad for lunch!

Ranchero braised beef - It wasn't spicy at all. The meat was very tender, the sauce was flavorful, mashed chipotle sweet potato was yummy.

Chicken makhani - cooking time on direction says 5 minutes, but the rice was still frozen so I microwaved 2 more minutes, total 7 minutes. Again, this indian-style tomato sauce was also flavorful.

check out their website for coupons!

http://www.leancuisine.com/CulinaryRoundtable/

I have partnered with Lean Cuisine through DailyBuzz Food to help promote their new line of Chef's Pick products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to work with this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you Lean Cuisine!

Fresh brewed from scratch almond,soy, and hemp milk at Pulse cafe - Santa Monica

Hearty, gluten free/vegan option, no artificial powders, everything made from scratch. Yes, they make freshly brewed from scratch almond milk, soy milk, and hemp milk so milk is very thick. And this may be the only place serves hearty hot smoothie and boba drinks made with real fruits, using no artificial powders.

menu

comfort hot smoothie
oat, date, walnut, sesame, poppy, agave with my choice of almond milk. My smoothie was sweet, also because their milk is very thick, I got full with this small cup of smoothie.

Persimmon boba
Made with real persimmon fruit, no artificial powder.

Pulse Cafe
1426 Montana Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90403

(310) 394-6700

Mon-Fri 7 am - 8 pm
Sat 8 am - 8 pm
Sun 8 am - 6 pm

http://www.westsidepulse.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/pulse-cafe-santa-monica