Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria, Anaheim

June 7th, my family and I ate at Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria, located in Downtown Disney.

Outside of the restaurant and the scary masked pizza maker

1565 S. Disneyland Dr.
Anaheim, Ca 92802
(714) 776-6200

Here is the mosaic on the floor in front of the entrance way. I thought this looked pretty cool.

The reasons why we went here were because:

(1) My sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece were staying at the California Grand Hotel by Downtown Disney because we went to Disneyland the day before, hence us having lunch in that area.

(2) Originally we had chosen the House of Blues, but they had Gospel Sunday Brunch and no one in my family seemed to want to do that.

(3) Cheesecake Factory, which was about 5 minutes from Downtown Disney, would have probably been crowded and the wait for a table of 13 would have been quite horrible.

(4) Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria was basically right next door to the hotel, so it was very convenient for the little ones and everyone else that was going likes Italian food, so that is how we chose this place.

Luckily, whenever I go to Downtown Disney or Disneyland, I always walk passed this place so I had a slight recollection of where it was or else my parents, who walked ahead, probably would have had a bit of trouble finding it (it also helped because my sisters pointed it out the day before XD). My other sister and I stayed behind and waited for my aunt and her family to come with my grandma and when they came, we walked together to the restaurant. I think that was good thinking on my part to wait and walk with them since no one in my aunt's family had been to Downtown Disney. It is not like they would not have found the place, but I think it would have taken them a bit.

Me snapping a picture while walking toward the table.

When we got there, my sister had already ordered a bit of food (Cesar Salad and Minestrone Soup) and placed an order for two pizzas, 2 bowls of mussels, and 2 orders of fried calamari. I got to have the last few bites of my sister's salad and I have to say that I was quite impressed. It was not drowned in dressing like the other salads I have had and it had a lot of garlic flavor, which I like. The bread and flavored oil dip was really good too. The oil had a bit of cheese, spices, and hot pepper flakes to give it a bit of a kick. The only thing that would have made that better would be if the bread was nice and warm, but it was not.

Now for the rest of the meal:

Mussels in a tomato broth and crispy bread
Taste: The broth was nice for dipping bread into, but I was not too impressed with the mussels. I think they were a bit over cooked, but then again, I am not really a mussel person, so maybe I just didn't really care for it. My grandma ate a bunch though, so I am sure the mussels were good.

Fried Calamari
Taste: The batter was light and crispy and the squid was tender. The dipping sauce was really thick though. The white sauce was a bit like mayonnaise, so I am guessing it was like a aioli, but I didn't think it was that good with the calamari because it was like a glob on the pieces. My sister really liked that sauce though and she didn't seem to have the same globbing problem as me. The red sauce was a tomato based sauce, but I think they might have added some cream or milk to make it that color (like cream of tomato soup). That one had more flavor, but I still didn't care for that one too much. I just ate it with a little lemon juice drizzled on the pieces.

Pizza with olives, pepperoni, sausage, and some veggies.
Taste: Thin crust pizza with toppings. I am not a huge fan of pizza, so this one was an okay tasting pizza, but I think it was very much the same as a lot of other pizzas I have tried. I did like that thin crust though.

Pizza with sausage and roasted peppers
Taste: Again, not a big fan of pizza, but I liked the flavor of this one a lot more than the other one. The roasted peppers were sweet and with the sausage, cheese and thin pizza crust, it was a very nice mixture.

My slice of sausage and roasted pepper pizza that I ate.

As we were getting served all of these dishes, we decided to order more because not everyone wanted pizza (I know I wanted something else). This is what we got:

Pasta Carbonara
My cousins and I decided to split this. I knew I was not going to finish a dish on my own and my cousin wanted to try this and his sister agreed, so we all decided just to share.
Look: The dish looked really interesting because it was served with a poached egg , but we didn't really know what to do with it, so I just mashed it and mixed it in.
Taste: Really heavy in cream and cheese and bacon. All I could taste was bacon. I know that carbonara is a supposed to be like that or something like that, but oh my goodness, none of us could really eat it. It was just too much. Needless to say, I got to take home the left overs and I added more pasta to it and it was better because there were more noodles to spread around in the sauce. That made it better.

Pasta pesto with shrimp and heirloom tomatoes
My sister ordered this.
Taste: Pesto. It was oily, no doubt, but the taste was not really strong and it was actually really good, especially when you ate it with the tomatoes. It gave it a sweet and refreshing taste. I think there should have been a lot more tomatoes in there XD

Chicken penne pasta
My aunt, who is lactose intolerant, ordered this not knowing that there was a lot of cheese in it. Needless to say, she did not eat much of it.
Taste: Cheesy with a creamy tomato sauce. It was very rich, but I think it was not as rich as that Pasta Carbonara dish. The chicken pieces were tender and went well with the pasta. The only thing I think it was missing was having some vegetables in it. Maybe some fresh tomatoes.

Pork loin over roasted green onions with bean and vegetable mash
My dad and grandmother ordered the same dish.
Look: The loins were cooked to medium...a little too rare for my dear grandmother, so we sent it back to be prepared well done.
Taste: The flavor of the pork loin was really good. The herbs that were rubbed on the outside and the smoky grill taste were melded very well. I did not care for the strange vegetable and meat mixture though. It was not very pretty and though the taste was not bad, starchy beans and slightly crisp vegetables don't really go well together in my opinion. My one year old niece loved it though. I think it was close to the consistency of baby food, but she knew that it was adult food, so she was very excited. The roasted green onions were very tasty as well, but it was a little weird that they were there under the meat since that flavor didn't really for with the pork or those beans.

Overall, the restaurant was pretty nice and the food was pretty good. I would go back for the bread and dipping sauce, Cesar salad, and the pork without all those other things on the plate. The only thing I did not really like was the fact that our waitress did a pretty poor job on checking if we needed anything...like WATER. Not only did she not bring enough glasses, but she never checked if we needed more...and we were sitting outside in the sun. Thanks! It was probably because we had such a large party and she was guaranteed her gratuity, which I don't think she entirely earned. I should have just told her to leave us a bunch of pitchers and not to come back.

Meito Air in Choco Taiyaki - Japanese Snack

So, before going on our spring break road trip to Canada, my friends and I went to Marukai to pick up some snacks. I saw this little snack and I thought it looked interesting.

Meito Air in Choco Taiyaki

It is a taiyaki shaped cookie filled with airy chocolate. I love taiyaki, so I had to buy this because it was very novel. For those of you who do not know what taiyaki is, here is a little information.

What is Taiyaki?: According to wikipedia, taiyaki, which literally means "baked sea bream," is a fish shaped cake that is most commonly filled with sweetened azuki bean paste (red bean paste).

Taiyaki picture found online

Fillings: Other than red beans, it can also be filled with custard, chocolate, or cheese. There are salty/savoury versions that are filled with okonomiyaki (savory Japanese pancake), gyoza (dumpling) filling, or sausages. I have never seen these versions, but I would really love to try them.

Online picture of a broken open taiyaki - red bean filling

How is it made?: Use a regular pancake or waffle batter, which is poured into a two-sided fish-shaped mold. Place in the filling and close the mold. cook until golden brown. (You know, they make this sound so easy, but I am still afraid to use my taiyaki pan and try making this XD I am not sure why I am so hesitant about trying, but I don't really think it will be THAT easy.)

OKAY! And with that, I shall go on with talking about the snack.

Here is a side view of the package

I have to say, I was really excited about opening this package because I wasn't really sure what to expect other than a cookie filled with chocolate.

Taiyaki cookie

Feel: Light, almost like a foam cup.
Look: A fish...a buggy-eye'd fish.
Smell: Asian wafer cookie

ARGH! MY FACE!
Poor, delicious fishie

Taste: The outer cookie tasted like a wafer, thin and light. The chocolate inside was literally airy. when you bit into it and looked and the chocolate, it looked like there were little craters in it. It was like the AERO bars in Canada. Very tasty and light for a pretty obvious unhealthy snack XD

Overall, this was a nice little sweet snack. It is not real taiyaki, but it is still just as fun to eat (a eat the head first). The only thing I did not care for were the wafer crumbs left behind when I was biting it. Just seemed messy. If I ever saw this again, I would buy it.

Ichima, Pasadena

Ichima

The sign inside the little waiting room

325 N. Rosemead Blvd.
Pasadena, Ca. 91107
(626) 351-0560

Went to Ichima Japanese Restaurant in Pasadena June 2nd with my sister for dinner. I was craving rolls. We got there about 7:30 PM and there was about a 15 minute wait period, so I took some pictures.

Wall decorations - cherry blossoms and a fake rice paper window

Oh look! I can see the sushi chefs from the waiting room

After, we were seated and I took more pictures.

Place setting

Sushi menu

I then ordered 4 rolls and sesame chicken. Then my sister said she wanted to try their agedashi tofu, so I ordered that as well. The waitress took our order and then asked if we wanted miso soup, which we accepted.

Complimentary miso soup

My sister thought it was salty, but I thought it was fine. I mean it is miso soup and miso is salty, so, I thought it was fine. All it was missing were the little cubes of tofu.

After, we sat around and chatted and then the food came.

Agedashi Tofu
Okay, I have to say this is NOT the best agedashi tofu, but we paid for it, so I ate it. The batter was like tempura batter and it was not that crispy. It was served on leaves of lettuce and all the sauce ran under it, causing the tofu to not have sauce. They topped it with a little shredded bonito and sliced onions, but they were missing the grated dikon and ginger. It was quite disappointing.

Me eating agedashi tofu

Sesame Chicken
This is one of the best tasting sesame chickens I have ever eaten, but I think that this batch could have been crispier. The dipping sauce was that sweet chili sauce you can buy at the Asian markets. Could have used a different sauce though. I did not really think it matched too well with this flavored chicken.

Asian Sweet Chili Sauce

Salmon Lover's Roll
Shrimp tempura roll topped with fresh salmon.
The salmon was really good that day. Very fresh.

Single Salmon Lover's Roll

Hawaiian Poke Roll
California roll topped with tuna and seasoned seaweed salad.
I really do like this roll because I like the seaweed salad. The sauce was like ponzu (a citrus soy sauce). I was a little disappointed this time with the taste of tuna and seaweed though. Not that it was not fresh, but I think it could have been better.

Taheati Roll
Spicy tuna roll topped with seared ahi tuna, fried onions, and siracha.
I love this roll for the fired onions and the ahi. The spicy tuna roll was good, but this time, it was overly stuffed with the spicy tuna, so I thought it was a bit too much and that was all I could taste. Other than that, I really like this roll.

Me eating the Taheati Roll

Spider Roll
Deep fried soft shell crab roll.
I love spider rolls. I will order this at any place that serves it. The batter around the crab was a little thick though, but it was good none the less (It is fried! How can it NOT taste good?!). I liked how the roe was sprinkled on the top to add color.

Me eating the Spider Roll

Fried Bananas with ice cream - $3.75
This is by far one the the cheapest desserts I have ordered and 4 people can share this. The bananas were wrapped in something like an egg roll skin. The plate had honey, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, the bananas, and whipped cream. It was good, but I think it could have done without the honey and the skin around the banana could have been better. It was like the cheap kind of egg roll skins that are a little floury so that it is crisp on the outside but chewy on the outside and bubble on the outside when they fry. Not my favorite, but the dessert was pretty good.

Another view of the fried bananas and ice cream

Overall, I like Ichima because it is relatively inexpensive and the service is good.

And last time...

Salmon Rolls
The salmon pieces were HUGE XD

Eel Rolls
Tasty, but too much sauce

And there was the Ichima roll, but it was totally blurry...

Ichima Roll
Fresh tuna, salmon, yellowtail, avocado with soypaper.
So much fish, but this is a good roll too especially if you do not like seaweed.

Tasty Noodle House, San Gabriel

Tasty Noodle House

827 W. Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel, Ca 91776
(626) 284-8898

Okay, so this little hole in the wall restaurant replaced my awesome steamed stinky tofu place that I talked about in the stinky tofu entry. SAD. Why did I go there? I was not 100% sure it had changed. I was actually hoping that they remodeled a bit, but the food was the same. Alas, it was not.

Okay, so I drive to this little place and I have to say, I was kind of excited even though I really dislike that parking lot area. Since Golden Deli and Newport Seafood are located in that same plaza, the parking can be pretty horrific on some days, but luckily it was not too bad when my friends and I got there.

The restaurant probably only seats about 20 people at a time (maybe less) and the service seemed to be pretty quick. The waitress was pretty friendly and suggesting a bunch of things on the menu. The problem was the fact that the waitress did not speak much English and none of us spoke Mandarin, so it was really hard understanding her and because of it, we accidentally agreed to order some dong gua drink.

$1.80 dong gua drink
(This drink sadly tasted like rock sugar disssolved in water.)
Dong gua is a winter melon gourd. It is a fruit that is good cooked in soups or with meat/poultry. Since it is a winter melon, the outer skin is inedible, unlike their summer counter parts, such as zucchini.

Looking at the menu was a little difficult as well because we did not really know what anything was. I stuck with the safe route and ordered the 2 things I usually order at these little places:

Dan Dan noodles
Asked for extra spicy and it was not hot at all, but that was okay becase the flavor of the ground pork sauce was really good.

Spicy wontons
Not spicy (though you can see all the chil oil that it was swimming in), but I did enjoy the texture of the wonton skins.

My friend did not know what she wanted so I suggested getting the spicy beef noodle soup since she had tried that at some other place that we went to.

Spicy Beef Noodles

This dish was good. The soup was really flavorful, but seeing all the oil at the top bothered me a bit. I thought it was funny too because my friend does not eat a lot of meat just left all her meat in the bowl and my other friend ate it so that not to waste food.

My other friend, on the other hand, went for something new and what sounded kind of interesting. It was a beef soup with vegetables and what did he get?

EGG FLOWER SOUP?! Where's the BEEF?!
It was seriously like egg flower soup XD There were pieces of minced beef and the western vegetables they put in were corn and...cucumbers? HAHA at least he got his beef from my friend wasting her meat from her noodles.

Overall, I would go back for the dan dan noodles and I would try the buns the waitress was harping about, but next time I have to remember to bring a mandarin speaker or else I will have trouble ordering again XD

Healthy/Tasty Dessert, San Gabriel

Healthy/Tasty Dessert

250 W. Valley Blvd, Suite #A
San Gabriel, Ca 91776
(626) 282-8263

This is an Asian dessert and snack place. Now, looking at the name, I bet you are thinking what makes these desserts healthy. Well, let us see.

Most of the desserts here have a lot of fruit. There are fruit puddings, fruit drinks, and other fruit desserts. Well fruit is good for you, but there are other desserts on the menu that have no fruit. Are those healthy? Well, out of all honesty, I do not think that any dessert is healthy and the fact that fruit has so much natural sugar, well that is a diabetics nightmare. No, this is probably not how they got their name. Reason number two: They have a harsmar topping for their desserts. What is that? Let us explore.

Name: Harsmar, hasma, hashima
What is it used for?: it is a Chinese dessert ingredient.
What is it made of?: The dried fallopian tubes of true frogs, usually the Asiatic grass frog. LOVELY~ reproductive organs.
How is it cooked?: re-hydrated and then boiled with rock sugar
Look/texture: gelatinous and opaque in color; chewy and light
Taste: usually no taste, but it is sweet from the sugar
Health benefits: According to wikipedia, harsmar supposedly replenishes the vital essence in the lungs, kidneys, and improving skin complexion. It is also supposed to treat respiratory symptoms like coughing and night swats caused by tuberculosis. But with all good things, there are some warnings, such as young children should not consume this for it may cause early puberty. Funny...I thought that there was a biological aspect to it as well.

Was it tasty? Let us look at the food, shall we...

Spicy crispy chicken
Nice and crispy. I liked the hot peppers that were in it. The only thing I did not like was the burnt flakes if chili and green onions. It was distracting and I could taste the char.

Coconut mango with purple sticky rice and Harsmar

My friend ordered this because she felt like eating something light.

LOOK! It looks so THICK and DENSE

My icy fruit dessert

I forgot what this was called, but it was basically watermelon, mango, kiwi, strawberry, melon balls, and shaved ice. On the bottom of the bowl, there was sago (tapioca) and it was swimming in watermelon juice. YUM. It was pricey but oh so refreshing. Definitely not that healthy, but good especially on a hot day.

YUMMY!

Overall, this place has a pretty fun atmosphere. The tables are Asian wooden tables with stools. I find them very uncomfortable, so I would not want to sit there for that long, but every once in a while, coming here and hanging out is okay.