We love Yuchun’s Naengmyeon as well. 
But I tend to prefer going to the South Bay and getting some Tezukuri Zaru Soba. But both are favorites as well for hot weather.
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Excellent call! I gotta get down to Otafuku or Ichimi-ann again; it’s been too long.
My favorite combo when it’s sweltering (thinking of after beach days, Inaba in Honolulu) is ume-shiso or yuzu-oroshi soba, and I can’t resist an order of battera to start and a few pieces of tempura on the side (mushroom, eggplant, shiso, and pumpkin…and kisu, if they have it) 
. Honestly, a plain zaru soba with nori hits the spot with simplicity and especially for childhood nostalgia.
A daikon-mizuna and jicama salad always does the job well, too. It’s been a while since I’ve been to Izakaya Ginji in San Mateo, but I always liked theirs.
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Slurpies - worth the brain freeze !
I really enjoy the passionfruit flavor slushies that are pretty widely available. Boba optional.
Ice cream - dessert first time. The key lime pie flavor at gingers on third st is my favorite.
Love a coke float with chocolate syrup and chocolate ice cream. Root beer floats.
Ice and frozen coffee drinks. Coffee milk shakes work for me. Pick up a bottle of fox’s u bet coffee syrup and give that a try.
Rita’s Italian ices and frozen custard on pico and Sepulveda
Watermelon and Mexican fruit stand mixes with lime and tajin
The jumbo frozen strawberry daiquiris at hamburger Mary’s on Santa Monica Blvd. then some icy oysters from Connie and teds a block away. No place serves em colder and cleaner.
Ito en iced green tea products.
Love it served with ice. Need to try your spot.
Thai papaya salads. Lots of good options in Thai town. I like issan station best on western tho.
Horchata - what’s your favorite ?
Stay cool !
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Air conditioning.
It is 2022 after all, not 1922.
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Interesting. What bowl was this, and how was it?
from this weekend
Batteira at Izakaya Hachi
@chienrouge if you’re in the South Bay, this pressed sushi is good and would go great with a fun and casual meal drinking with friends
fried chicken cartilege
negima
and more Inaniwa Udon to close. Umeda’s is slicker but this was pretty good.
Tenzaru soba at Tempura Carlos Jr. OK…I remember it better before. I may have visited on an off day or something.
“shoyu tonkotsu ramen” at Venice Ramen. OK…not my favorite.
uni pasta at Miyabi Uni…eh, not great; I think Maruhide Uni Club restaurant was better.
some dishes at Rustin Canyon in Santa Monica
caviar-stuffed tomato
double-cooked honeynut squash with vadouvan creme
their signature pork chop with smoked trout roe sauce
the best dish, however, is the Caramelized Crepe with Creme Caramel and Greengage Plums (hidden beneath)
Margherita pizza at Pizzeria Sei. (By chef Joo’s assistant). It was pretty good; I’d like to return to try it again when chef Joo is making it. @Chowseeker1999 any idea when chef Joo is definitely cooking?
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that looks delicious! all of it. Well maybe not the pizza but it does look promising if they don’t burn it.
Never been to Rustic Canyon, driven by it million times, that looks a lot more creative and tasty than i imagined. The pork chop with roe, wow. I’d be all over that.
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Hi @BradFord ,
Nice summary! 
Looks like a good weekend of eating.
How was Izakaya Hachi overall? We haven’t been back in about almost a year (been busy).
Would you say Rustic Canyon is still consistent / good these days (after Jeremy Fox left)? Thanks.
Re: Tendon Tempura Carlos, Jr. - I was going to get to this post, but he left the restaurant. 
Also, their Soba was never that good IMHO (store-bought), but the Tempura with it was always great.
Are you sure that he left Rustic Canyon, he is still on the page
It’s kind of a wine bar; I think maybe give it a try with some wine or cocktails, have a few snacks and vegetable dishes, see what you think if it’s worth going all in on dinner there!
Some bites (the fatty ones) were really good. Others were a bit tough, but pork chop itself can be like that. I did get strong hits of ground coriander, I think that was to offset the sauce’s richness. Pork and smoked trout roe - I think it’s an interesting combination, and there’s a lot of herbs at play, definitely parsley, chives, I believe tarragon, and the strong hits of coriander. They recommended a riesling but I wasn’t drinking that night.
Thanks! The battera was really enjoyable. The negima was good, too. The udon wasn’t quite as slick as I’d like, and some other dishes I had (beef tongue, which historically has been good, was pretty good this time). Hm overall I think it can be a fun and casual spot particularly with friends. It’s not a long destination for me but I was in the area and I wanted that beef tongue and battera; battera was the strong point. Actually, since Raku left, I’m missing a local izakaya.
Overall, I like it if I’m in the area (I think it’s better than most, and one can dial in a pretty good order there), but alternatively I might sometimes reach for Torihei (if it can get back to its former greatness, I’m always hoping) or Tamaen in Lomita for yakiniku.
Service was really good; all friendly people, with good pacing of dishes, etc. I think food wise dessert was the high point - the caramelized crepe seemed like it was bruleed, and the greengage plums (in a syrup?) were delicious foils to the creme caramel. The creme caramel was a bit denser than expected, but the total combination was delicious - almost burnt sugar with some nice plums. I think the pork chop had an interesting sauce; I think I may need to revisit it. The squash is kind of a signature dish. Vadouvan is such a nice spice, almost warming, which works nicely with the sweet squash. Texturally, I was hoping for a little more from the squash, with the skins a bit tough at the end, but there were areas where it was pureed that it was quite nice and smooth, a good foil to the crunchy “toffee” of its seeds. The tomato and caviar; hm, I think they did quite a bit of work to the tomato, and it had a nice sweet tang to it, but the caviar got a little lost both in texture and taste. I appreciate the creativity, though.
I guess it’s a long-winded way of saying there’s potential in revisiting. The service was nice and I could see someone having a good meal there; I found it pretty good but I think my expectations were a bit too high.
That makes sense; there was a noticeably heavier hand doing the tempura, as there was a fair amount of oil leftover. Great tempura has very minimal residual oil left on the paper. At Kusunoki in Tokyo, the chef delivers some tempura by hand to show off that there’s not much surface oil left on it (it would be too hot). And by the end of the meal, the paper is so dry like it was unused. Anyway, at Tempura Carlos Jr., yeah, the kakiage I ordered fell apart. Not great frying for one, but also, it was not well conceived with bay scallops and squid chunks (too heavy); kakiage often is like small shrimps and some carrots or onions, mushrooms, mitsuba, etc. The soba wasn’t that unique. I should’ve gone to Ichimiann but they were cash-only and I was hungry
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Always a solid dish at Petit Trois, alongside their simple Boston Lettuce Salad. Fared better than the Moules Frites this time. The crab cake (with shrimp) with beurre blanc tasted good but not like a crab cake (and bouncier/spongier than I’m used to). Skirt steak frites was OK; I think the filet au poivre is generally a better dish. (Outdoor seating was ok but there were honestly quite a few persistent flies (normally not a problem for us) but there was a fat flying beetle that creeped us out. Luckily, a woman at the neighboring table swatted it away with her napkin and it flew off, quite loudly). We were told we had limited time for the table (which is fine) but the mains came out 10 minutes before the table was due, so we ate really quickly. I think I prefer indoor seating at the Valley location and stick to the consistently good steak tartare, simple salad, and baguette, maybe the au poivre (and corkage, if allowed)?
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Don’t underprioritize a good dessert I am with you all the way. That brulee dish looks delightful. Spots I go to just for the desserts. You know a classic that we like is the bento box dessert at matsuhisa. I’m not above lava cake with ice cream and fruit. My family goes crazy for the caramel blondie sundae at Connie and teds. I’m really so so on dan tanas but the massive dome of spumoni served in a chilled silver pedestal thing that’s a thing of beauty.
So @Chowseeker1999 @BradFord @ipsedixit @brisket44 back from nola with some insights and friends what are some restaurants you hit up with dessert in mind ?
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Hi @honkman ,
Ah, sorry I should clarify: Now that Jeremy Fox is primarily at Birdie G’s (and working on another new concept as well for the restaurant group). I think he probably drops in and consults, but he’s not the main CdC there anymore. Thanks.
Bulgarini Gelato
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Good reminder to revisit
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Thanks for the thoughts on Rustic Canyon. I definitely want to return.
Also good to hear Izakaya Hachi is solid still.
You are very observant! 
We were chatting with our good friends from Tokyo, and they feel the same. There is no great Izakaya in So Cal right now(!). It’s a bit of a shock, but also with COVID, and it not really being conducive to super crowded, rowdy, “Kanpai!”-cheering Izakaya environments, I suppose it’s not a surprise as well. I’ve heard from K K and others that the Japanese Sake industry is not doing that well since COVID, which also ties into going to places and enjoying Sake / festivities, etc., and that’s all down in general, but maybe we’re recovering?
But yah, the closest I’d say locally is Torihei (go when Sasaki-san is cooking (you can call and ask)). On those days, it’s a lot of fun and I’d say it’s about ~75 - 85% of OG Torihei (since Masa-san the OG Yakitori master isn’t cooking these days (just running the business side sadly)). Their current Yakitori staff trained by Sasaki-san and Masa-san are decent to very good (depending on which folks are cooking). But as long as Sasaki-san is in, he’s watching over everyone so that helps, and he mainly focuses on the Cooked dishes, Agemono (Fried stuff) and more, which are great!
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