While visions of red bean buns danced in their heads...

85°C Bakery Cafe
2700 Alton Parkway, Suite # 123
Irvine, CA, 92606
(949) -553 -8585

Whenever I think of Asian pastries, I instantly conjure up an image from my childhood: a bland strawberry sponge cake frosted with "vanilla" whipped cream (vanilla=glue-flavored) and almond slivers, with the words "Happy Birthday" scrawled on top with bloody red gel. Thanks to my mother's unrefined palate, I now avoid any bakeries with an Eastern influence.

The other day I decided to let go of my prejudices and try out the hot new bakery that opened down the street from my work. There's always a line whenever I pass by, so I figured it was worth a shot.

85°C accomplishes what bakeries like Goldilocks and Red Ribbon try to mimic but fail to achieve: delicacy. The pastries are very light and airy in texture, and the flavors come in subtle notes like a sweet perfume. Their baked goods are more of an experience rather than just dessert. I first tried what appeared to be the simplest of the selection, milk bread. I was pleasantly surprised. The bread had a very soft texture, but wasn't doughy or chewy like pan de leche can be. The gentle sprinkle of powdered sugar on top was enough to enhance the bread's sweet milk flavor.

I was also amazed by the variety they offered: Dutch brioche buns, savory French bread with spinach, Italian tiramisu, an Austrian-inspired chocolate truffle cake, traditional Chinese red bean buns with a non-traditional twist of sweet cream. I froze in front of the display cases, gawking for what seemed like a century until a hostess/baker/tour guide offered me her aid. (Side note: the service is very warm and friendly, but a little slow when it comes to serving drinks.)

The 85°C cafe in Irvine is the first one to open in the U.S. The company hails from Taiwan, started by a group of business men and award winning pastry chefs dedicated to serving world class desserts at a 3rd world price. Whether you're a sugar junkie looking for a quick fix to your addiction, or a foodie in search for something pleasing to the palate, give 85°C a try and experience this Taiwanese sensation.

For the Animals

Tomorrow is election day, and I want to get the word out to Californians about a certain proposition concerning the safety of our food and our animal friends. Prop 2 is intended to increase the standard of living for confined farm animals, who live in unimaginably horrid conditions. Their wretched way of life often leads to an increase in disease and a high mortality rate, which takes a toll on the food we eat. My sister works at a certain popular restaurant which I will not name (but is known for their hot wings and female servers), and they often find bursted blood vessels and even tumors in the chicken they serve. This is a result of the unregulated conditions of the farms the livestock are raised on.

As a humanitarian, I ask you to vote yes on Prop 2 to give these creatures a decent life, as they provide us with food and sustenance. As a food connoisseur, I ask you to vote yes on Prop 2 to improve the standards of the food we eat. We have rights for domesticated pets; there MUST be regulated standards and rights for livestock. These critters are my neighbors (literally...I live in Chino, I'm surrounded by cows), so I would love to see their conditions improved. Yes, there is a possibility of the cost of food being raised, but I'm willing to pay that cost for better quality of my well-being and theirs. Are you? Vote.

I Love Lucy (and her restaurant too)

Lucy's El Adobe
5536 Melrose Avenue,
Hollywood, CA 90038
(323) 462-9421

Across the street from Paramount Studios, tucked away behind a curtain of vines and worn bricks lies Lucy's El Adobe, perhaps the best damn Mexican restaurant ever. This may be a bold statement, but many people would agree; Lucy's is the restaurant equivalent to Studio 54. Celebrities would flock to the little cafe for cocktails and dinner. It may be the restaurant's low key atmosphere, complete with dim lighting and small, private tables where it would be nearly impossible to be recognized. Or perhaps it's their delicious cheese enchiladas and rich hot chocolate, or their creamy, homemade flan that's always sold out by dinner time. Although this may sound like any other quaint L.A. restaurant, there is one thing El Adobe has that no one else does: their owner, Lucy.

Lucy is the sweetest lady you'll ever meet. She adds the extra warm touch that makes the food taste truly homemade by making you feel like you're eating out of her dining room. She's been the "earth mother" to many prominent people who frequent her restaurant, such as former California governor Jerry Brown. But her maternal instincts aren't just reserved for big wigs; she's been known to feed struggling musicians and actors, including my father in the '80s when he was a broke guitarist new to L.A.

Today Lucy's isn't quite the same as it was 30 years ago; the restaurant has increased considerably in size with addition of 2 patios and an outdoor bar. The prices of the former whole-in-wall's menu has gone up considerably with inflation. And unfortunately, Lucy is much older now and rarely works at the restaurant. Her son has taken over, and is responsible for many of the changes to beef up the restaurant, but the lack of Lucy's presence is certainly felt. But the service is still great; many of the waiters have been there for years, and if you go enough times, they'll remember what your "usual" is. And they still have the BEST enchiladas verdes I've ever had.

Vegetarian Rhapsody

Gypsy Den

125 N. Broadway Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92701
(714) 835-8840

2930 Bristol St.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 549-7012

I don't think spicy bean burgers and garden quiches are part of a gypsy's normal diet, but these items from the menu of this trendy-but-tries-to-not-be-restaurant is perfect for those folks on a vegetarian diet, which has made a resurgence in its popularity recently. Gypsy Den is a quaint cafe with 2 OC locations, one on in the Lab (which claims to be an "anti-mall" although it has the same things as a mall: expensive stores and crappy parking), and the other in the up-and-coming arts district in Santa Ana.

The setting is something taken straight from LA: trendy hipsters with sunglasses sitting out on a patio eating exotic salads and soups with unusual ingredients like summer squash (you won't see any Campbell's chicken noodle here), discussing the latest indie film that no one has seen. But unlike its cousins to the north, which tend to be overpriced and reek of snobbiness, Gypsy Den is actually good...and relatively cheap. I admit my reason for coming here was I attempted to ride the vegetarian wave (which I quickly fell off of after an brief affair with a beef taco). But whether or not you're a vegan or megan (meat eater), one can easily find a yummy and healthy meal here.

The menu items basically mirror ones you would find in a classic cafe (if your mirror was from a carnival funhouse): grilled ahi sandwiches, baked mac and cheese with bell peppers, vegetarian bean chili with cornbread. They also carry a plethora of homemade desserts (that are deliciously unhealthy, yet comforting) such as cookies, brownies, cakes, and even Rice Krispie treats. The prices are more than reasonable; the entrees all run under $10, and the desserts and drinks range from $2-$3. The Costa Mesa location (which I visited) has a huge patio that's even larger than their indoor dining room, and is perfect for catching some Orange County sun. The service is great, the servers are genuinely warm and helpful (surprising for a place that oozes coolness, and especially surprising for south OC). So moral of the story...try Gypsy Den! Recommendations: Any of their soups because it comes with scrumptious homemade bread.

A feast fit for a bum

Costco
Various locations across the U.S.

Yes, that's right, Costco, the discount warehouse club where you can buy a year supply of shampoo, cereal, gym socks, and car tires all in one trip. To quote the Village People, "...there's a place you can go...when you're short on the dough...you can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal..." and it's C-O-S-T-C-O.

Anyone can swing by Costco and with ease can get themselves a nice, filling lunch with dessert for under $5. Their plump, all-beef hot dogs are only $1.50, which includes a drink. The stands in New York run at about the same price, but are half the size (and flavor). There's chicken bakes and smoothies for those watching their figure, and for those who aren't there have ice cream. And it's all so cheap it makes my heart swell with happiness. In today's economy, it's impossible to find a meal for under $5...even in fast food joints! I find myself blowing over $7 at Wendy's and Carl's...and that's buying stuff off the value menu! Even though not everyone has a trash compactor stomach like me that requires more food than the average human, everyone does want some bang for their buck. Costco doubles that bang.

Word of advice: avoid the Costco stores that have indoor food courts, unless you have membership. Most of them now have outdoor courts, so you can stroll up there and not have to be a member of their elite club. But if you do run into one of those exclusive "members only" indoor spots, just tell the doorman you're there to buy a membership, then dash over to the food court when he's not looking. Or you can be a sheep and join.

Oh Manna, that's a lot of food!

Manna Korean BBQ
3377 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(323) 733-8516

If you want all-you-can-eat that's actually good, Manna Korean BBQ is the place to go. We went a couple of weeks ago for my friend Kim's birthday and feasted on meat, kimchi, and soju till the cows came home (no pun intended).

The place is very simple, mainly long picnic tables out on a tent-covered patio (perfect for ridiculously large parties like ours), each with a fire pit in the center. The tables are adorned with spicy and sweet sauces and kimchi so you can create your own unique flavors for your food. The servers bring out gigantic platters of sliced raw meat to your tableside, which you cook yourself on the firepits. This isn't the kind of place to have a light, quick meal; it's more of a place for marathon eaters, who enjoy eating and taking breaks over the course of 2 to 3 hours. They offer both rice and rice sheets (kind of like fat noodles) to eat with your meat. All of this is for a flat rate of $17 a person (drinks not included).

To be quiet honest, the service is horrible unless someone in your party speaks Korean. And even then it's still slow as hell. But since you cook the meat yourself, you are less reliant on their service. I also HIGHLY recommend paying with cash and avoid any cards. Manna is possibly the worst place for a peaceful or romantic date. But for birthday parties, Manna is perfect. They serve soju and Korean beer by the bottle, and for birthdays they bring out a bottle of champagne, shake it, and pour it over the birthday celebrant's head. Since it is located in the heart of Koreatown, after dinner there are numerous karoake bars you can visit to sober up (or the opposite) and digest all that meat while singing old Celine Dion tunes.

Boba Loca

Tea Rush
2759 S. Diamond Bar Blvd.
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
(909) 598-5190

Boba and tea shops are everywhere. You can find them at nearly every shopping plaza in the greater Los Angeles area. They've become the Asian Starbucks, a hangout spot for local teenagers to text each other on their Sidekicks about crappy music and who's taking who to the prom. There's so many to choose from: Ten Ren's, Quickly's, Lollicup, Tea Zone, Tealicious, Tapioca Express. But despite all this variety in name, they all taste alike and offer the same menu of greasy pork chops and unpredictably spicy popcorn chicken (where "medium" could mean either bland or set your tongue on fire). I went on a quest to find a tea house that offered high quality drinks and a unique menu. This quest lasted less than a week, because I found said place in my own hometown of Diamond Bar.

Tea Rush is located in the brand spanking new Super H Mart plaza, right next to the hip yogurt store Cherry On Top. It's a short walking distance from the high school, so the normally dead hours of 3-5 pm in the restaurant world are the rush hours for Tea Rush. The atmosphere is different from your typical cold and brightly lit boba shop. When you enter, you feel surrounded by a comforting warmth complimented by the dark mahogany furniture and the scent of incense burning in the corner. They always leave the door open to allow a gentle breeze to brush by. The baristas and cooks are friendly and willing to help you find the perfect drink.

The drinks are carefully handcrafted and named after different birthstones like "Ruby" and "Sapphire". Many of their creations include soy creamer, which balances out the strong fruit taste in the drinks and goes perfectly with boba. My personal favorites are "Topaz" (green tea, peach, and soy creamer) and "Amethyst" (black tea, blueberry, and soy creamer). They also offer the option of creating your own drink from their variety of teas (green, black, rose vanilla, masala chai, or herb chai) and fruit flavors (strawberry, blueberry, peach, pineapple, passion fruit, honey, among many others).

What truly amazed me about Tea Rush was their food menu, which offered a great variety of delicious and healthy meals such as ginger chicken salad, shrimp rice bowls (with brown rice available as an option), miso soup, even dim sum! I just had to try one of the dim sum items, so I got shrimp potstickers. I was blown away: the dough was soft and fluffy, not at all greasy, and the filling was so full of flavor I barely used any chili sauce. No more popcorn chicken for me! (Although they do have that too.)

Everything at Tea Rush runs at the same price as any other boba shop, so you can easily get a great meal and drink for under $10. And for dessert, you can just stroll next door to the fabulous Cherry On Top...but I'll save that for another blog.

Hot off the griddle

Original Pancake House
18453 Yorba Linda Boulevard
Yorba Linda, California 92686
714-693-1390

1418 East Lincoln Avenue
Anaheim, California 92805
714-535-9815

1756 South Pacific Coast Hwy.
Redondo Beach, California 90277
310-543-9875

No, do NOT get this place confused with IHOP. It's the Original Pancake House, a small chain of restaurants that offer a wide variety of pancakes and other breakfast items with an emphasis on homestyle cooking. I'm not sure which location is the real OG (there are over 100 locations across the US, I just listed a few SoCal locations), but I'm sure all of them are as good as the one I frequent in Yorba Linda.

The place itself is nothing spectacular, a very simple dining room with an open kitchen in the corner. The servers don't try to veil their impatience with fake cheer, and at times borderline the "rude waitress" stereotype you see in movies. This is not an insult to their service, because I much prefer keepin' it real. But what really brings me back to the place is their pancakes.

At the Original Pancake House, pancakes taste like how they should taste. They don't try to lure people in with gigantic portions or mounds of sugary fruit-like toppings; their perfectly fluffy buttermilk pancakes do all the talking. Their menu is truly international, offering French crepes, Alaskan sourdough flap jacks, lacy Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce, Dutch babies, and of course, good ole fashioned American hotcakes in every variety you can think of. Everything tastes like it came from Ma's kitchen because it did; all of the recipes come from housewives of the nationality represented in the dish. So their Danish Kijafa crepes is the creation of a Danish housewife, their Dutch baby is the spawn of a German housewife, these are all authentic cultural dishes. Take that IHOP.

My taste preference gravitates towards sweet, so I usually order banana and chocolate chip pancakes (a half stack of each, I'm not a heffer). The combination of chocolate melting over bananas is perfect! Although I've tried a few others, I tend go back to my usual. However, I have made it a goal to try all of the varieties. This task has been very difficult for me because they're only open for breakfast (6am-2pm) and my biological alarm clock doesn't go off till noon.

Besides pancakes, OPH offers all your other typical breakfast items like eggs, bacon, and waffles. But who goes to a pancake house without getting pancakes? That's like going to Cheesecake Factory and not ordering cheesecake...it's just wrong.

I miss Saigon

Saigon Noodle House
1136 S Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
(909) 861-5020

Picture one of those cozy Mom-n-Pop diners you would find in a small town in Kansas, where all the waiters have warm smiles and you would order the "usual".

Now picture that diner serves Vietnamese food.

Saigon is a local favorite for the natives of Diamond Bar, known for its delicious and filling meals that all cost under $10. The atmosphere is very casual, almost lackadaisical; perhaps this is due to the heavy coma induced by their food, or the fact that most of the clientele consists of regulars that frequent the place on a weekly (or even daily) basis. I myself am one of those regulars; my friends and I would eat there ritually every Saturday afternoon, followed by a wonderful nap. My sister even has a tab there!

The atmosphere is not the only comforting thing there. The food, although foreign to many non-Vietnamese, is wonderfully filling with a hint of nostalgia. My personal favorite, and their most popular dish, is the pho (pronounced "fuh", not "foe"). Pho is a beef broth based soup made with vermicelli (thin rice noodles) and slices of raw beef that's cooked by the heat of the soup. There are variations of the dish that include chicken, meatballs, tendon, or tripe. Don't be fooled by the "regular" and "large" options; the regular size is big enough to feed two! The dish is customizable too; you add the basil leaves, lime, bean sprouts, hoisin, and sriracha (spicy chili sauce) yourself, so you can make it as outrageously spicy (like how I do) or mild or tangy or sweet as you like.

Other recommended dishes are vermicelli (which is just rice noodles with your choice of meat on top), Vietnamese sandwiches (served on a French roll, one of the remaining influences from the French occupation of Vietnam - a little history lesson for you!), spring rolls, and eggrolls. And all of these, including the pho, range from $3-8 in price. The beverages are great compliments to the meal. They have bittersweet Vietnamese coffee, creamy Thai iced tea, and my absolute favorite, fresh squeezed lemonade (the sweet tartness compliments my spicy pho perfectly).

So if you're ever rolling through Diamond Bar, which is highly unlikely since most people have never even heard of DB...ok, if you're ever on the 60 where it meets the 57, hop off on Grand and make a stop by Saigon Noodle House. You can put it on my sister's tab.

Allow myself to introduce...myself

First off, let me state that I am not fat just because I am going by the pseudonym "McFatty". I am a fatty as I am so affectionately called by my friends and family, aka a "foodie". I love, I repeat, love to eat. But not the kind of love that would have you finding me at the local buffet, shoveling piles of mashed potatoes and biscuits down my throat (I save that for special occassions). I'm a food connoisseur, so I appreciate and enjoy all kinds of food in every form.

This blog will be dedicated to my passion for the culinary arts. I will be reviewing various local restaurants in the Southern California areas, focusing on places that offer something different from your run-of-the-mill corporate chains (although I'll have to give my occasional shout-outs to my favorites). Restaurants are great places for people to meet and mingle, find love, be entertained, bring back old memories, or make new ones. Food is more than just a necessity for survival; it's a cultural touchstone and a form of art. I hope that my blog will help you discover that...or find a really good meal.