Ha Noi Avenue

Hanoi Avenue is Northern-style Vietnamese cuisine. A group of us went there for a late lunch/early dinner. We were a large group and were seated quickly as the service was friendly. I had no idea what to eat but Dao was in charge of ordering all the food.

The Bun Rieu Oc;Vietnamese snail noodle soup with mint, basil, spring onion, beansprouts vermicelli noodles in a tomato base. The broth was tasty, however, the snails were tough.


Bo Luc Lac: Vietnamese Shaking Beef. Luc Lac means “shaking” or tossing of the beef back and forth in the wok after the sirloin is quickly seared. It was served to us on a sizzling cast iron plate with white onions. The beef was seared perfectly making it tender and tasty.



Bun Cha Hanoi: Vietnamese Hanoi-Style rice vermicelli noodles with grilled pork patties. We were each served a bowl of grilled pork and grilled pork patties with pickled carrots and onion slices, vermicelli noodles, sweet nuoc mam cham (Vietnamese dipping fish sauce) and we topped it with fresh herbs which included fish mint, perilla and Vietnamese red perilla. This was my first experience trying fish mint and the name says it all as the mint really smelled like fish. This dish had a nice smokiness to it because the pork was grilled over charcoal.


Fresh Herbs


Fish mint


Cha Ca Thang Long: Grilled catfish marinated in turmeric and galangal served on a sizzling cast iron plate with a bed of grilled onions and fresh dill on top. I'm a fan of catfish and while it was a bit tough it tasted good. I just wished they hadn’t overcooked it.


Ca Kho To: Vietnamese Braised Fish in a pot. The sauce was sweet, spicy and savory. It was garnished with fresh jalapenos, cilantro and green onions. The sauce was caramelized and gooey which I loved. It would have been perfect if they had cooked the fish a bit more to absorb that sauce.


Banh Tom Co Ngu: Fried sweet potatoes and shrimp. The potatoes were crunchy and sweet and the shrimp was tender. I didn’t like having to peel my shrimp as I have not quite gotten used to eating it with the skin on yet.

Trung Duc: Baked egg omelete stuffed with crab and pork. This was cooked perfectly with flavorful crispy edges.


HA Noi Avenue
8432 Westminster Blvd
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 898-8838

Hamburger Haven

Hamburger Haven in West Hollywood is a place I have passed by many times with the same thought, "Next time I'm in the area I'll give it a try." Well, next time finally came as I was in WEHO looking for something to eat that didn't involve a valet or a menu in my hands. I was looking for an easy meal with minimal wait time. First thing, enter the parking lot on Robertson Blvd. just south of Santa Monica Blvd. The driveway on Santa Monica is an exit and you'll have a hard time trying to slip into a parking stall if you go in that way. Most of the seating is a covered outdoor patio with just a few seats available at the indoor counter.



I ordered the #3 the sassy burger which is a burger with swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickles. You then have the option for grilled or raw onions or bacon for an additional charge. A wheat bun can be substitued for free which I did.


The burger tasted fresh and was juicy. The wheat bun gave it a nice texture and taste which I really enjoyed but it left my husband still hungry more.

So he went back after finishing it and ordered another #3 but this time he changed things up. He went with a double and added bacon and grilled onions on a white bun. It wasn't as good as the first burger. I could tell that the bacon had been sitting around because it wasn't hot and felt a little dried out. The bun was bland and fell apart on him after only a couple of bites. He should have just had the double the same way We'd ordered it the first one. The fries were nothing special as they looked an tasted like something out of the freezer. Paying the extra price for bacon and grilled onions also wasn't worth it as it did not add anything to the meal. Next time, a double #3 on wheat is a perfect, inexpensive way to get an all-around solid hamburger. The good thing is that now I know that Hamburger Haven is worth coming back to IF I'm in the area.





Hamburger Haven
8954 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069(310) 659-8796

Fleming's Steak house.

It started out high and ended low. I attended the one-night event special dinner called "BYO wine dinner."Tonight's menu:Hors d'oeuvre-Lump Crab Crostini with Tropical Pineapple and Prickly Pear Vinaigrette. It was nice refreshing with hint of lemon and a nice tangy crunch from the pear. Yeah! A great start so I thought.


Salad-Baby Arugula and Spinach Salad with Tea-Smoked Duck and Goat Cheese Foam. Nice, smoky tasting and tender duck cooked perfectly. There was no arugula in the salad and the spinach was water-logged. This was a 50/50 dish, not great but also not bad.


Here is where we started sliding down the slope.Entrée-Broiled Filet Mignon Poached in Butter on Roasted Parsnips Topped with Mushroom Caponata and a Pomegranate Glaze. How can you go wrong with a filet mignon? It was topped with a super-sweet simple syrup pomegranate glaze which was unbearably bad. The mushroom tasted like they came out a can. I expect a mushroom caponata to have an acid and a slight sweetness to it. This had no acid as it was drowned in the pomegranate syrup. The roasted parsnips were good but again everything seemed to have this syrup all over it. This dish had the dinner really picking up speed as it was going downhill.


Dessert-Sour Cream Pound Cake with Poached Pears and Blue Cheese Crumbles drizzled with Rosemary-Infused Caramel Sauce. Everyone loves dessert right? Wrong. Here is where we hit the bottom. The sour cream pound cake was cut nicely in a square and topped with a poached pear. As I went to eat a piece all of the sides of the cake were hard and when I tasted it was so dry I had to wash it down with water. The poached pear was not thoroughly poached and it was hard to bite into.


I could not eat the remainder of the dish. I would rather a meal start sluggish and get better as it goes on but that was not the case in this situation

Fleming's Steakhouse
6373 Topanga Canyon Blvd
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
(818) 346-1005

Flaming Clam Grill of Cheongdamdong

The restaurant's name, Bultaneun Cheongdamdong Jogae Gui, translates into English as "Flaming Clam Grill of Cheongdamdong". , Cheongdamdong is a fancy suburb in Seoul nicknamed the Korean Beverly Hills as it has upscale boutiques and art galleries.



Don’t look for any English here as everything is in Korean even the menu.

We chose the 59.99 option for our table of three



The nice thing, though, is that the menu has pictures so you know what you’re getting.




I was invited by a friend and upon reading the L.A. Times review I knew I was in for a real treat. This is a place that offers fresh seafood and they cook it for you tableside. Oh yeah, I was in. As soon as we all sat down the feast began. The first item to come out was the Gyeran jjim AKA the Korean steamed egg casserole which you spoon out. It has the texture of a soft custard. Alongside that was the ddukboki spicy rice cake.




Next, the banchan was spaced all over our table to be shared and eaten with our main course. What I love about banchan is that it is constantly replenished. My favorite banchan is kimchi and even though I know it’s not a main course I treat it as such. Banchan is different at every restaurant depending on the chef but the one constant is kimichi as no meal is complete without it. The banchan served tonight was kimchi, quail eggs (which were cooked perfectly nice and creamy), marinated vegetables, congee, fried rice with nori, vegetable pancake, tempura fried sweet potato and noodles.

Tempura fried potato,noodles and korean pancakes.

Kimchi

Fried rice.



Salad and congee.

Clam soup



Next, our seafood arrives consisting of shellfish such as shrimp, scallops,clams, oysters, abalone, conch and mussels.

Conch.


Scallops.


Oysters placed on fried rice.

Mussels.


The seafood was arranged neatly on our grill and the server knew exactly where to place each item depending on how fast it would cook. The server opened up each clam and placed it on the grill.



As each item was cooked it was arranged at the perimeter of the grill for us to start eating.





Don't look for any type of seasoning on your seafood because there isn’t. The reason you have all the various banchan is so it can be eaten with your meal. I like the idea that the seafood is served in its natural state. This way you know what you’re eating is fresh and not covered up with spices and sauces. The experience for me was like one big seafood bake without getting sand in my shoes. I will definitely be back and bring more friends.

We did pretty good eating everything.



Bultaneun Cheongdamdong Jogae Gui
3465 W. 6th Street, Unit 20
Los Angeles, CA 90005
213-388-6800