Category — Lunch

First, I’d like to apologize those who actually read our blog… it has been two weeks since our last food blog update… Well, we were in NYC two weeks ago for 5 days, which was awesome (except my company trip), we had so much fun walking around the city, wondering around villages, and Brooklyn…

I have so much to tell you how awesome NYC was… Food wise, NYC MUST have high quality and inexpensive food because of the very serious food industry competition. I mean, you can go to the most expensive restaurant in the city and satisfy your taste buzz, but Zach and I like to go inexpensive and high quality food… So here we go, I’d like to introduce you the three exciting NYC eatery, first the magnificent cup cake!

Magnolia Bakery NYC


I was recommended this place by one of my best friends. The first night we were there in NYC, we were wondering around the times square and found this magnificent Cup Cake Bakery! I was planning to visit but it was destiny we just came across to this store. So we did not resist but went into the store immediately and purchased 4 delicious Cup cakes!

We got a Chocolate Cup Cake, Vanilla Cup Cake, Red Velvet Cup Cake, and Banana Caramel Cup Cake. I dived right into the Banana Caramel Cup Cake so I forgot to take picture of this Cup Cake as a whole… sorry… the Cake was so moist, the balance of Caramel frosting and the Banana Cake were just right. Not too sweet but definitely you can taste both main components of this Cup Cake.

A Chocolate and Vanilla Cup Cake were okay, not so exciting… but the Cream Cheese frosting was extraordinary. I noticed that their frosting was not so sweet but just right to compliment the actual Cake.

OMG, Red Velvet Cup Cake… super moist, looks super red devilish, but just right amount of Coco hitting with the creamy frosting… I don’t think I have ever had such moist Cup Cake ever in my life!!

The second amazing eatery in NYC is located at Little Italy… Da Gennaro Restaurant

One of our dearest friends took us there said “The best Gnocchi Ever!” I was really excited because literally I have never had good Gnocchi in my life. The Gnocchi that I had tasted before was always mushy or gummy and too starchy… I made it myself once and that experience was disappointed. Another fact that I was excited about this experience because we were going to eat an Italian food in Little Italy in NYC. I mean it may be the closest you can get to eat the real authentic Italian Food, don’t you think?? Well, with all these exciting facts, we arrived at Da Gennaro Restaurant in Little Italy NYC!

The Italian Feast!

This is something I ordered, which has Gnocchi with Pesto, Fetachini Alfredo, and Totellini Boroneze, just like Italian Flag the meal was nicely presented in the white plate. Guess what I ate first in this plate? Yes, you guessed it right, Gnocchi with Pesto, as our friend describes as the BEST Gnocchi. He was right, it was an amazing Gnocchi, it is soft, creamy, and melt in your mouth. The pest was just right with Basil, Garlic, and Olive Oil… I am sure there is some nuts and cheese in this sauce but it did not overcome the actual Gnocchi taste. It was divined!! Fetachini Alfredo was amazing as well, the cream sauce was soft and light, the pasta was cooked as al dente, and I think it was home made pasta at the restaurant. Tottelini Boroneze, the right amount of Tomato hits the meat sauce with the creamy Tottelini Pasta, it was awesome… Look at this amazing dish one more time. Please go visit Da Gennaro when you are in NYC, you won’t regret it.

Last and at least, I was recommended this Pizza place from two of our good friends. This New York Famous Pizza place is located under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Grimaldi’s Pizza
The fact was that Zach and I skipped Breakfast and Lunch on this day because we were so excited to go eat this famous New York Pizza in Brooklyn. After the long walk of the Brooklyn Bridge, we were so excited to find this Pizzeria with the ridiculously long line at 2pm.
Long line at 2pm

Long line behind us at 2;30pm

Well well well, by looking at this long line at 2pm on Sunday, we realized it was a confirmation of the Best Pizza in NYC. So we decided to stay in the line wait for our breakfast/lunch/early dinner patiently.
Hungry Couple

We waited for 1.5 hours and we arrived in front of the entrance. We felt that 1.5 hours past right by but the last 5 minutes right in front of the entrance felt another hour of waiting. We got seated and we ordered a large Margarita Pizza and the waiters recommendation of the Pepperoni Sausage and Mushroom Pizza. Also we ordered a Brooklyn Beer and Brooklyn Orange Soda.

You need to ask Zach for the Brooklyn Beer cuz I did not drink it. The Brooklyn Orange Soda was very refreshing not like Fanta Orange… yuck. But you know after skipping breakfast, lunch and walking cross the Brooklyn Bridge, at that point, a glass of Fanta Orange could taste pretty good…

Here are the Pizza Margarita & Pepperoni Sausage Mushroom Pizza.

No wonder why people want their pizza. The Pizza Margarita was amazing with the intense Tomato Sauce, Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, and Basil. The Tomato Sauce tested like fresh Tomato, Mozzarella Cheese was creamy and slightly tangy, and Basil was very aromatic. The crust was very thin that crunchy, it was an amazing pizza I have ever had.
Can you tell by this pic how thin the crust is?
The Pepperoni Sausage Mushroom Pizza recommended by the waiter was amazing as well. The Pepperoni tasted amazing itself. The Pepperoni and Sausage were not greasy like you imagine. It seems that the oil from the meats incorporated with the mushroom and the thin crust, which balanced really nicely. I usually do not like two meats on one pizza but this was an exceptionally tasty meat Pizza!

Oh I miss you NYC. Zach and I are actually thinking about moving to NYC. This city has such a wonderful history and great food! People are actually pretty nice. Right after we got back to Denver, I stared looking for an apartment in NYC and jobs.

Well, we hope to go visit NYC soon again or move to NYC soon… until then, we’ll keep dreaming about the NYC life.

Happy Eating!!
Mrs H

As my dear wife, Mrs H, has already indicated her neutrality on the restaurant, I will now exorcise the demon a bit and allow myself to make a couple of critical statements about the seemingly pedestrian eatery. I don’t think that every experience should end with a gold leafed brownie drowning in a mote of vanilla ice cream,  but I can’t help but notice a depressingly strong vein of “meh,” restaurants are finding their way into seemingly sophisticated areas such as Manhattan Beach.

Let us begin with atmosphere. For all intensive purposes seemed innocuous enough, things were clean, the staff was cheerful and prompt, there wasn’t a moment when I was fearing for my life or wondering “in whose drug crazed hands have I landed?” But the menu did lead me to the idea that there would a generous helping of “chain restaurant tom-foolery” lurking around in the shadows. The menu did contain all the staples of a normal Italian eatery but there was something Panda-Express -ish about the entire establishment’s identity or lack there of.

The thing on the menu that immediately caused me to question the legitimacy of the food, the words “USDA organic,” stood proudly next to their salad offerings. Apparently the leaves were organic, but the rest of the menu was “dangerous.” I hate the whole marketing shell game of organic, usda organic, certified organic. My poop is organic but there is no real market for it. Seems like a bit of ploy but on with the real issues.

I had Penne Arrabiata with chicken for my protein. I will admit that my dish was the most delicious of the four but that doesn’t really help very much. There was a Lasagna, Spaghetti and Meatballs plus the wife’s aforementioned delight. All of the red sauces appeared to share a common over salted undertone that really detracted from the overall flavor of the food. The pastas themselves seemed to be cooked close to al dente but ended up seeming to be some sort of pale starch merely there to check out the scenery and possibly score some pot.

The establishment fancies itself a catering service, so every meal item is really tailored to be produced and distributed in high volumes, like the Harry Potter novels. But with the lack of distinction, other than protein, the dishes border on insincere…like Harry Potter novels. That’s right nerds, I said it. Italian food is something so simple that it baffles me how often it is reduced to utter slop.

Hopefully the next time you go to an italian restaurant you will leave commercial establishments like this one by the wayside.

Zach “disgruntled eater” Meyer

It is still chilly outside, I was going to cook some soup for dinner. My hungry husband requested “Instant Ramen Noodle” for dinner… Well, I thought I would kick it up the notch Regular Ramen Noodle to a Fancy H Style Ramen Noodle

Ingredients
1. Japanese Instant Ramen Noodle (Any Instant Ramen Noodle is fine!)

2. 5 ~ 6 Stalks of Celery Finely Sliced
3. 1 Medium Size Carrot Finely Sliced
4. 1/4 Yellow Onion Finley Sliced
5. 3 Oyster Mushroom Sliced

6. 12 Medium Size Frozen Shrimp (Thawed)

7. 2 Tbs of Sesame Oil

8. Salt and Pepper for taste

Direction
1. In the medium size skillet with the high heat, add Sesame Oil, sliced Celery, sliced Carrot, and sliced Onion. Sauteed until Carrot becomes tender. Add some Salt and Pepper for the taste.

2. Add Oyster Mushroom till Mushroom becomes tender.

3. Add thawed Shrimps to the Veggie and Mushroom mixture and sauteed till the shrimp colored Pink. Add a pinch of Salt. Set aside this sauteed Veggie Mushroom Shrimp mixture.

4. Cook the Instant Ramen Noodle according to the direction on the package.

5. At last, plate the Ramen Noodle to the bowl, and add the sauteed Veggie Mushroom Shrimp mixture on top.

This takes only 20 minutes from start to finish including slicing all the vegetables… It is easy, cheap, and delicious! ECD!! You can make the regular boring Instant Ramen Noodle to the fancy dinner or lunch!

Happy Eating!
Mrs. H

Saturday 10/03, we woke up kind late like 10am, we were not hungry so we just had a cup of coffee… Aroung 11:30am, I was getting hungry and checked the fridge, we still had this giant bag of baby leaf spinach that about to get bad… We had some eggs, seasoned turkey ham, a small red pepper from our garden, some red onion, and a block of Pecorino Romano cheese from COSTCO… so I said myself, let’s make a Frittata!!

Ingredients
1. 3 eggs
2. About 3 Cups of baby leaf spinach

3. 1/4 Red Onion Chopped
4. 1/4 Red Pepper Chopped
5. 1/2 Shredded Pecorino Romano Cheese

6. 1/4 Cup of Milk (Any Milk, we only drink and use Whole Milk)
7. 1/4 Cup of Heavy Cream
8. Seasoned Turkey Ham (Any Lunch Meat can be substituted but we like this Turkey Lunch Meat from COSTCO)

9. Some Salt & Pepper

10. 1 tsp of Garlic Paste
11. 2 Tbs of Olive Oil

For super easy Salad
1. 6 ~ 8 Cherry Tomato Quartered (From our Garden!)
2. 1/2 English Cucumber Sliced

3. Your Favorite Dressing (We used some Greek Yogurt & Italian Dressing Mix Together)

Direction
1. Set the Oven to 350F.
2. In the medium size bowl, add 3 large eggs, 1/4 cup of Milk, 1/4 cup of Heavy Cream, and 1/4 of shredded Pecorino Romano Cheese and mixed together, set aside.

3. In the large non stick skillet, put olive oil and garlic paste in the medium heat, add diced red onion, diced red pepper, and chopped spinach sauteed together until Spinach will become almost 1/2 of the volume…

4. Added diced Seasoned Turkey Ham to the veggie mixture and sauteed together for another 2 ~ 3 minutes.

5. To this sauteed Veggie & Turkey, pour the egg & milk cream & cheese mixture and cook about 3 minutes on the stove top. And added the rest of Shredded Pecorino Romano Cheese on top. And into the oven for 10 ~ 15 minutes.

6. While the egg mixture is in the oven, make quick salad. You can use any of your favorite salad dressing. We used the left over Greek Yogurt & Italian Dressing mix together as dressing.
7. Sliced English Cucumber & quartered Cherry Tomato are added to the dressing, and mixed well. And here we go, easy salad!

8. After 10 ~ 15 minutes, check the Frittata to see the egg mixture was cooked all the way. Change the oven temperature to broiler High. Watch very carefully once you changed the oven temperature to broiler, it’ll colored the top of egg mixture golden brown but cannot be burned…
9. Carefully removed the skillet from the oven and served this frittata while it’s still warm with the easy salad!

This was a perfect brunch for us. It took about 40 minutes from start to finish, including the cleaning cutting board, bowls, and knives (you can do cleaning while the egg mixture is in the oven!) The Pecorino Romano cheese has this distinct tangy taste. If you don’t like this cheese, you can substitute with Mozzarella Cheese probably… You can substitute any of the ingredients and make your own Frittata!

Happy Cooking & Eating! (I still have 1/2 of the baby leaf spinach…)
Mrs. H

We started the Day 2 in Los Angeles at Manhattan Beach. There was sea fog at the beach… so it was kind of chilly and gray…

Here is the happy family minus me (cuz I was taking this pic, obviously…)

Even with the sea fog, it was fun being at the beach, smell the salty ocean wind, hanging out with sea gulls and my brother and his wife I grow up surrounded by the beach so this was difinetly a great treat for me.

After we wonder around the beach, we found this Italian restaurant at the Manhattan Beach called Pasta Pomodoro (www.pastapomodoro.com)

The store interior was very simple and clean with the color of Red and White. The menu was pretty simple and reasonable. My sister in law ordered a Small Lasagna but it was huge. And all the entree we ordered came with a side ceaser salad, which was pretty big plate as well. My sister in law’s meal was the cheapest (about $6.50) and most delicious among all of our dishes. So here is the picture of her wise choice Small Lasagna & Salad.

I don’t have a good comment on this restaurant either bad comment. It was an average Italian Restaurant. I guess the price wise, they were quite reasonable.

So after the Manhattan Beach, we went to get some grocery at the Trader Joe’s on Sunset Blvd. (http://traderjoes.com/) I LIKE Trader Joe’s. This store makes me smile BIG! Their own branded products are well selected and customer friendly price! We usually buy their Pecan Pralines and yes we bought two boxed this time. They are sooooooooooooooooooooo good and sinful but worth it, cuz it is only $4 ~ $5.
You cannot buy Pecan Pralines at other organic markets for this price.

Trader Joe’s Pecan Pralines

I hope that Trader Joe’s will open their stores here in Denver Metro Area. I cannot wait for their arrival!

The other store that we went was Nijiya Market Japanese Organic Grocery store. (www.nijiya.com)
They have variety of bento box (lunch box) with organic rice and vegetables. They even have some sushi (Maki & Nigiri) which are reasonable and great quality. We got some of sushi box for our appetizer for the night.

Nijiya Sushi

After the shopping, we went to my brother’s house and we decided to make some dinners. My sister is law is from Osaka, where the Okonomiyaki is very famous for. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki) We had enough ingredients that she made her famous Osaka Style Okonomiyaki for our dinner. Sorry everyone, I wish I had her recipe but I don’t… so here is the picture of what Okonomiyaki looks like…

Osaka Style Okonomiyaki

The best description of Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake. The pancake that has thin sliced pork, shredded cabbage, and some other Japanese ingredients. And eat with this bbq kind of sweet and salty soy base sauce with mayo on the side. It is delicious! There is a Hiroshima Style Okonomiyaki but I like Osaka Style better.

Here is the brothers having good time with Japanese Beer Kirin & Okonomiyaki!

Overall, Saturday was full of events with good meals! Especially my sister in laws famous Okonomiyaki was really really good, completed my day! I cannot make Okonomiyaki as good as my sister in law, but when you visit our house, I can cook Osaka Style Okonomiyaki for you!

Happy Eating!
Mrs. H