"No Shirt- No Shoes- No Problem"

Sounds very So- Cal- ish to me, yes?



Ahh, summer will be over soon. At this point I am still in San Diego, California, with every cell of my body persistently making its own case of telling me not to withdraw myself from the Sunshine State. These days I've pretty much been pampered by the friendly sun and the refreshing ocean breeze that almost emulate a rejuvenating sanctuary - I mean, it helps me clear my head and refrains myself from fulfilling my every-5 second urge to tweet from my Blackberry. But really, what's been doing wonders to me is the constant company of a great girlfriend. Yes, you know who you are E (*wink).



Today E took me to Ocean Beach to try out one of the most popular burger joint in town which boasts more than a thousand reviews on Yelp. We met up with another friend of ours on the spot, who previously warned us about how the waiting line could be quite intolerable. Turned out it wasn't that bad. We waited for 15-20 mins and got seated right away. As you can see, it's got a very laid back, surfer shack kind of ambiance with all the surfboards hanging from the ceilings and the license plate-covered walls.



"No Shirt- No Shoes- No Problem" is their motto.

This is Hodad's that first opened on the beach at the end of Santa Monica Avenue in the very laid back neighborhood of Ocean Beach (or as San Diegans call it, OB) in 1969. Rumor has it they serve the perfect American trifecta: burgers, fries, and shakes. A very generous portion of them. This place is definitely not for the faint-hearted, at least portion-wise. It even got the thumbs up from Guy Fieri on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on Food Network, agreeing that their bacon cheeseburger is quite a show stopper.



A basket of huge and crunchy deep fried battered onion rings arrived first on our table. A bountiful of them. But really, how many pieces of onion rings can you actually eat? There were four of us but we ended up finishing only half of it. They're not bad, but they're not the best. Especially with the breading looks a little bit darker than it should be, then you know how many times they've reused the oil for frying.



I got the smallest option on the menu called mini cheeseburger, which in my honest opinion, was far from being minuscule. It's almost the same size of an In-n-Out burger, only slighttttly smaller and a lot messier. Perhaps the fact that it's not the biggest burger on the menu has something to do with my patty being just an ok patty. Not juicy enough, not rare enough, not thick enough for me. Things might've been different had I gotten a bigger one, I can't say for sure. But they give you a lot of pickles to go with the burger. I normally like to have everything on my burger and end up eating all of it. But I actually had to get rid of some of them because it was just a little too much. I'm pretty sure this doesn't apply to most of my guy friends.

I didn't get their shakes - I'm not a milkshake person in general. I heard people are raving about it, though. I also heard that they have a pretty good beer selection. I happened to find a recipe of their famous bacon cheeseburger here on the internet. I don't know how close it is to the real thing, since I haven't had the real thing anyways. I'd love to come back for it though. But whatever, the recipe makes me salivate already.

Special thanks to E and A for taking me to Hodad's!

The Roadside Spoils of Jakarta

Photo credit: Weigy Widyanputra

Today's post comes from Weigy Widyanputra, who's currently vacationing/being completely pampered by such culinary blessings in Jakarta, Indonesia. Thanks so much for sharing, Weigy!

In South East Asia, luxuries come in big, small, humble and extravagant situations, one simply has to be ready to eat his way accordingly. I came very prepared.

I got off the plane at approximately 10.30 p.m. Jakarta time, got out of the airport by midnight. The time excludes the extravagant settings but the luxuries of great tasting food is still around. I relied on Char Kway Teow and Martabak Keju to fill my jet-lagged stomach.

Char Kway Teow is known better as Kway Tiao Goreng. The word "Char" means "Goreng" means "Fried". The words "Kway Tiao" means "Ricecake Strips". It's a dish you will encounter served at almost any hawker center in South East Asia and as an overpriced alternative in fusion restaurants. Personally, I have never found one from a fusion restaurant that can beat the roadside options I've had here in Jakarta. You will be most welcome to prove me wrong.

What is interesting is the choice of protein included in this dish. Jakarta style means getting beef and tripe as your main protein, other South East Asian territories such as Malaysia and Singapore serves it with shrimp and clams. The Jakarta one leans more towards a salty-kind of savory while the Singaporean one is noted for leaning towards the sweeter-kind of savory. The vegetables generally are left up to the preference of individual hawkers. The Char Kway Teow isn't a light contender, it's cooked in animal fat: pork, beef or both. Each bite is packed with flavor yet trails off quietly, never too heavy. How they do this with such a high fat content is a mystery and a quality I appreciate.


Photo credit: Weigy Widyanputra

The other guest we have here is Martabak Keju. "Keju" means "Cheese". The word "Martabak" I can't translate, but I guess it would be somewhere along the line of "Pancakes," only 100x better and 100x fattier. I simply have accepted its glorious existence since I've been alive. Martabak comes in several variations, the most prominent: "Keju", "Coklat" and "Telur". That's "Cheese", "Chocolate" and "Egg". My personal favorite is the cheese option.

Martabak Keju is packed with cheese, condensed milk, butter and some kind of delicious crust I have also simply accepted as a fact of life. Each bite is a springy heaven that drowns you in intense flavors. If you've ever dreamed of how it feels like to drown in tasty, savory, springy cake, this is your chance. There is also no possible or humane way of eating a whole box of it by yourself.

If this were a boxing match, it was a fair fight. Both were certified heavyweights and knocked me straight to the dreamland.

Much love from Jakarta,
Weigy

"I Know a Place Where the Grass is Really Greener.."

Not sure about that, but I can vouch that the food is better.

This post was prompted by the fact that it was 70 degrees in San Diego yesterday and it was an almost heat-wave like weather here in the South. And also, I haven't gotten the chance to show some of the beautiful things that I encountered during my brief stay in the sunshine state. It was a really short trip actually, one of those over-the-weekends. The purpose of it was to attend my cousin's wedding in Del Mar. But we stayed a couple extra nights just so we could make the best out of our $400 plane tickets.

What I miss so much from California is the constant indulgence my taste buds experience when it comes to food. But I won't explain further. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?


Mitsuwa's tonkotsu ramen has always been a winner. It comes with a bowl of rice topped with ikura (salmon roe) and eggs.


I don't know how Mitsuwa (the little stall is called Kayaba) does it, but every broth that they have in each of their soup dish tastes pretty amazing. This one is a very simple niku (beef) soba that most Japanese places would have but theirs is no doubt the best.



What I really like about this katsu don (chicken bowl) is the fact that the chicken is still so crispy on the outside (juicy on the inside) although the whole thing, including the rice, is really moist. A lot of places don't do it this way.



Oh yes, you recognize that logo. The best fast food chain in the U.S, IMHO. During our 4-day visit, we ate there 3x.


I don't think I've had that many shrimp crepes in my life, but this one was pretty good. We had this for brunch at Opera Patisserie which is pretty famous for its desserts. No, seriously, pastries, cakes, tarts, macarons, truffles, in the most delicate form you've ever seen. Don't hate me for not having any pictures of it. I got 2 boxes of macarons in which I ended up giving to others. Ok, back to the shrimp crepes. The baby shrimps were very-well cooked. I know, the crepes don't look very appealing here but the sauce (which I'm not sure what kind) was incredibly subtle but tasty.


A little touch of Spring awakening to go with my shrimp crepes.


Our friend opted for tomato and spinach quiche. It was slightly (note the word slightly) bland, in my opinion, but maybe because it's all veggies. It just needs a little kick, just a little bit. The crust (my favorite part) is very tasty and crunchy. The boy had salmon eggs benedict with perfectly cooked poached eggs and salmon. The hollandaise sauce had the right level of creaminess, I think. I'm not a big fan when it gets too creamy or too thin and lemony.

I only include pictures are that at least decent enough to post here. Most of the places that we went to don't have bright lighting so most of the pictures we took turned quite dark. We went to Ristorante Arrivederci in Hillcrest for dinner once and the boy had black linguini with shrimp, scallops, in a creamy sauce and I had some serious sea scallops with spinach in a white wine sauce. That was delish. We also drove up to LA, had lunch at Orochon Ramen in Little Tokyo, and had Indonesian food at Ramayani for dinner. Hands down to Orochon ramen's chasiu (pork belly) which I think is the best I've had in the U.S. As for Indonesian food, Ramayani is the most expensive one of all the Indonesian restaurants in the U.S I've been to (note that I've never been to the ones in Houston) but so far is the best and most authentic. And yes, I'm credible enough to talk about authenticity when it comes to Indonesian food. I could talk on and on about this but I hate it when I have no photos to show. Anyways, thanks for treating us to dinner there, my amazing fellow alumnus! It was really nice seeing you and your lady.

Check out the boy's blog for more!