food panda

Breadbar I'll be the first to say, since my recent trip to NYC, I haven't been interested with the food scene in Los Angeles. The recent restaurant openings of Sotto, Son of a Gun, and Lukshon has not interested me one bit, and probably never will. However, when I was invited by Darin to a benefit dinner at the Breadbar in the Century City mall headlined by Hiro Urasawa of the famed Urasawa, I knew I had to try it. Ever since my previous dinner at Urasawa, I've been meaning to try his cooking again. Menu Along with Hiro Urasawa ( Urasawa ), we had Noriyuki Sugie (Breadbar), Michael Cimarusti ( Providence ), Walter Manzke (Formerly Church and State ), David Myers (Comme Ça), and Ramon Perez (Sona) collaborating on this 6 course tasting menu. Priced at $110 sans tax and gratuity, all of the proceeds from this dinner (along with another dinner at Comme Ça) goes directly to the Japan Earthquake relief aid. A great cause, and hopefully for us, a great meal ahead. Bread Basket

Chef Laurent Quenioux at Starry Kitchen I'd like to take a quick break from my recent Taiwan Beef Noodle Tour posts for something interesting that's coming to Downtown Los Angeles. As some of you may know, Laurent Quenioux was the former executive chef and owner of the recently shuttered Bistro LQ. What you may also know is that he's recently taken the helm of Vertical Wine Bistro in Pasadena. However, what you may not know is that Chef Quenioux will be starting a pop-up venture of his own at the Downtown eatery, Starry Kitchen. The upcoming 5 course prix fixe dinner will be priced at $45/person (excluding tax and gratuity). Laurent at Work (Picture courtesy of DJJewelz ) I've had the privilege of dining at Bistro LQ awhile back, and even though I've yet posted that dinner due to my laziness, I was very impressed by experience there. After receiving an invitation to try his yet to be opened pop-up venture, I quickly booked a seating. Bread Basket from Bread Lounge

Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles (老山東牛肉家常麵店) Lao Shan Dong, as the picture above shows, was established back in 1949. Located in the basement of Wan Nian Shopping Center (萬年大樓), in heart of the XiMenDing (西門盯), a popular area of Taipei, it's been under the same ownership since the very beginning. While the restaurant has been handed down through the generations, the quality of the food remained consistent. I've eaten at Lao Shan Dong as a kid growing up in Taiwan, and have continued to patron here during my yearly trips back to Taiwan. This past visit was no exception, as Lao Shan Dong is one of my family's favorite place to eat beef noodle soup in Taipei. The Owner and Her Crew Making Dumplings Why do we go back so often? Well, as you can see here, everything from the noodles to the dumplings are handmade. Also, the owners were originally from the ShanDong Province (山東省) much like my mom's side of the family, thus it's definitely flavors they're used to. Above, t

Beef Noodle Soup - Niu Rou Mian (牛肉麵) So here it goes, the start of my beef noodle soup (or as some refer to it as NRM) tour of Taiwan. Although this will only cover some of my favorites in Taipei, I'll hopefully be traveling to a few other cities in Taiwan over time and document those bowls as well. Beef Noodle Soup on Hen Yang Road (衡陽路的無名牛肉麵館) The first bowl of beef noodle soup is a classic, and one of my personal favorites, though it'll be a common phrase I'll be using in the coming weeks. This beef noodle soup shop lacks a signage, a name, and yet, it's always packed. Us locals often refer to this shop as the beef noodle shop on Hen Yang Road. Hen Yang Road is an area of town cluttered with bookstores, and jewelry stores. This is an area my family and I often visit to exchange US currency into the New Taiwan Dollar(NTD). A little travel tip from me: the banks in Taiwan are truly awful in terms of exchanging US currency to NTD, and often require a 7 day hold on the