JoeAnn's Corner

Hi all,

I want to apologize for being absent for the past few months. As some of you know, I went back to school and have been slammed. I am back and will aim to post hopefully once a week. Just a heads up - I'll be posting things that I have cooked as well.

Coming up - blog on some darn tasty Tex-Mex from Houston as well as some recipes from a great blog - http://www.wanderingchopsticks.com

I am so excited as we just moved to the Southbay to Redondo about 15 minutes away from the Hermosa location of this tasty restaurant. As a Miami resident for 2 years, I am fairly familiar with Peruvian cuisine!

Ummmm so first things first - depending on where you go, there is a different vibe. There is a location in Lawndale that is very casual down home sit down. We went to the Hermosa location on a Saturday night and it was nicer sit down and they had a live band playing. They always start you off with a chicken rice soup which is a freebie as we have never paid for it!

Food = spectacular, though I do think the Hermosa location has better quality food in terms of quality ingredients. First the traditional Lomo Saltado - the first time I had this in Lawndale - I was disappointed as I could not get over the tough beef that was used. However, the one in Hermosa was simply delicious - perfect combination of beef, onions, tomatoes, and french fries were spectacular.

The standouts are really the seafood dishes though.

The Filete de Pescado Encebollado con Arroz is is pan friend with sauteed onions and tomatoes and is one of my personal favorites.

The hubby def appreciates the Picante de Mariscos and the Parihuela which is a seafood stew.

And for some random reason they have really tasty desserts! My personal fav is of course the rice pudding!

Also been cooking a lot so tune into later postings on that!!

Such a classic institution, simple foods, simple menu. Now I want to preface by saying the food here is not spectacular or mind blowing. It is just simple good foods served at a counter. Health freaks need not come as this would not meet those requirements.

Logistics:
10801 W. Pico
Los Angeles, CA

I usually just do street parking in the residential streets behind the place. Etiquette rules is there is an informal line so you would not skip if the people right by where you are standing get up to leave. You would allow those who were there before you to take the seats unless of course they pass.

Onto the food, the simple menu consist of burgers,fries, and pies. Personally I prefer the burger with the hickory sauce as it is more tasty to me. The fries are nothing special but if you are one of those people who needs fries with their burgers - go for it!




This pie was the highlight of the night - this is the BEST pecan pie I have ever had! The apple pie was also really good! Very affordable and right next to Westside Pavillion too!

So after Lee's comments in the last post regarding deserts - I was motivated to post regarding my fav cupcake place in LA! Now just to let you know, prior to Hotcakes, I was a Sprinkles fan even though they were too sweet. The cake was tasty and the flavors were awesome!

Then I had Hotcakes and it was all over! So logistics

As requested by a colleague:
Hotcakes
4119 Centinela
Los Angeles, CA

There is parking in the back. Now onto the most important things. Hotcakes serves both full sized and baby cupcakes. I personally prefer the smaller ones as I can try several flavors.

The only one I get full sized is the Boston creme pie, which is not done is a smaller size. This cupcakes is yellow cake with a creme center and the top is dipped in chocolate - simply fabulous!



Look at those little baby cupcakes - don't cha just want to grab it and stuff your face :-). I have tried several and they are all pretty fabulous. The standouts are def Boston creme pie and Red Velvet.


Being from the south, I am pretty finnicky about this flavor. However, this red velvet is as good if not better then our wedding cake - which is saying something!



The reason these cupcakes are so good is that not only is the cake moist and tasty, the frosting is not too sweet - the combo of the two spectacular. Neither cake nor frosting overwhelm each other - rather they complement each other very well.

This is worth the drive if you can make it!

So the hubby mentioned that I should do reviews of places we were not fans of as well. As much as I post about all these amazing food experiences, he is right. It is not always so rosy and tasty. There are places that we have not liked whether it is for horrific service or terrible food. Now I don't need 5 star treatment or anything like that but there should be baseline expectations of either food or service or a combo when you are going out to eat.

This is where we experienced major challenges with Jerry's Deli in Westwood. We came in one weekend when it was fairly empty - a few tables at most. After waiting a few minutes we were seated, and then proceeded to wait for 20 minutes while a waiter passed by us at least 4 times to serve other customers. After waiting, we got up walked to the back and asked for a manager. He offered to serve us personally but after waiting 20 minutes we were too angry to eat there. We never even got water or anything.

From coming once before I know the food is decent but no restaurant in their right mind allows customers to sit for 20 minutes. I know we will never come back.

Took my parents here this weekend as it is one of their fav restaurants in LA - due to the fact that they have rice :-). My parents just can't seem to enjoy a meal w/o rice - I wonder if that will happen to me when I get older.

So some logistics, the restaurant is above a Thai grocery store so just keep that in mind. You will see the grocery store, turn in, get a ticket from the parking person, and drive up to the 2nd level, where the restaurant has a separate entrance.

Just a note - medium spicy is pretty spicy for my taste buds at least. This is a place that means spicy so if you cannot handle it, get mild.

Hands down, no questions asked, the standout is actually an appetizer, the papaya crab salad. A papaya salad is the norm at a Thai restaurant, but Thailand Plaza kicks it up a notch by adding salted crab to the dish. Get this medium spicy and it will heat you up inside!




Some classic favs include the fish cooked in a spicy broth. We usually ask that they fry the fish first. The dish comes out in a pot, they will then light flames and it heats up and cooks in front of you. The spicy broth also has veggies in in as well. For those faint of heart - the fish does come out whole (with head and all) but is oh so tasty.


Panang beef curry here is beyond excellent. We usually get this at medium spicy. Personally I think Thai curry is best out of all of the different ethic curries.

They also have Thai iced tea the way I like it, which is a fresh combo of tea and milk versus already being pre-mixed. Oh and I forgot to mention, the place is owned by a former Thai pop star so sometimes he will come out and start singing which is pretty fun because he is talented!

I know this is quite the drive but if you have a car or happen to be in the San Gabriel Valley - this is totally worth the drive. While Din Ta Fung is an an Asian based chain - there are only 2 locations in North America - right next to each other in Arcadia!

I know there are other dumpling places - but this place consistently delivers in regards to intact dumplings. While Mei Long's flavors taste better - their dumplings are always broken - which defeats the purpose of soupy dumplings. The wait at DTF can be quite atrocious but I find coming at 10:30am-11am means less of a wait. We can once the day after Christmas - around 6pm and the wait was 2 hours. Timing is critical here if you don't want to wait but there are benches and ledges to sit on if you have to.

To start we always grab an appetizer - yes that is what is called on the menu. This is just a tasty combination of tofu, bean sprouts, and some other veggies! Plus it will hold you over from the long wait till when the dumplings come.

The most popular are the juicy pork dumplings, which I personally love. However, my personal favorite has to be the fish dumplings. They literally have pieces of fish fillets in the dumplings along with the broth.



There are sides of soy sauce, vinegar, ginger and hot sauce. Everyone has a personal combo - mine is heavier on the soy sauce. You can then dunk and slather the dumpling - I am just a dunker but this photo is from the hubby. In case you are wondering - you use your chopsticks as well as your soup spoon to scoop this nom nom dumpling into your mouth.


In addition, I really like their pork fried rice which is very simple as well as their rice cakes, which are seriously the bomb. Enjoy the photos and if you have other dumplings suggestions - please let me know!