Katana-ya, San Francisco

Katana-ya is a tiny japanese ramen/sushi restaurant located very close to the Union Square in San Francisco. During our SF trip, we stumbled upon this place while looking for dinner around 9pm. As we were quite hungry, we decided to just wait for a table instead of mindlessly walking around town. The wait was about half and hour for three since the tables were more suitable twos or fours. In fact, I think the whole restaurant only had about eight small tables plus a small bar area? It was just quite crowded.

On to the food, we had already decided what to order while we waited, so the food came quite quickly. We ordered gyoza, takoyaki, sunset roll, agedeshi tofu, regular ramen set with salmon sushi. I really enjoyed everything. Gyozas' filling were plump and juicy with a crispy touch. The size of takoyakis were also commendable - about the size of a golf ball with good amount of octopus. The agedashi tofu was good also, but nothing too spectacular. I really like the ramen broth, it was flavorful and not too salty. The ramen noodle was thicker than what I usually get in L.A but I like it because it feels like there's more to chew on? Not sure how to explain it but it's like how I prefer spaghetti over angel hair... Their sushi were also very fresh and yummy.

Aside from the tight space, the food is definitely good. I would rank it 8/10 for good food and price.

M street kitchen - Venice

M Street kitchen serves contemporary American breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's located in Venice, CA and it's quite close to the beach. My friend and I visited on a Friday and it was moderately busy.

I am quite pleased with this restaurant. We tried the orange chocolate chip pancakes and the eggs Benedict. Both were amazingly delicious!! The best pan cakes I've ever had. Far better than those large floppy "fluffy" pancakes from diners like LeRoy's. Seriously, this is what they mean by fluffy! The eggs Benedict were also great! I think they are famous for their English muffins. So, a delicious eggs Benedict is expected. I love runny eggs, check. I love pan fried ham, check. I also love hollandaise sauce, check. Three checks are good enough for me!

This place is the real deal because they make macchiato the way it should be. Marked espresso. Thumbs up, again.

Definitely want to return but it's quite a drive from where I live.

Big Bear Lake

On Saturday, I was invited to visit Big Bear City for a day trip. We planned to visit the discovery center, the big bear lake, the village, and the skiing resort. However, the trip was more centered on eating than scenery. Our day started with Yi Mei, Taiwanese style breakfast - soy milk, glutinous rice with Chinese doughnut, and turnip cake. We then set off to Big Bear lake, which took about two hours. Luckily there was no traffic because it was around 10am and most skiers are already there. We did go to the discovery center and saw the beautiful lake.