I took advantage of a Southwest Airline deal I bought back in June for about $180 rt down to Santa Ana from Portland with a caveat that I had to transfer in the bay area each way. I could always count on Grace to plan out my entire food adventure. She sent a detailed itinerary for each day and even made restaurant reservations a month ago especially for N/Soto, Lawry’s, and Majordomo. She even socialized the list with common friends. Even though it’s been a year since I last visited OC, we picked up where we left off exploring restaurants. Just missing Christina though. I will have to see her in Taiwan. I was very grateful as she was willing to drive to LA from Costa Mesa almost every night to hit up the spots on the list.
On Sunday, she took me to the Flea Market in Pasadena and then met up with Carrie at Smorgasburg LA. Carrie ordered Lobster Noodles and lobster meat cover fries from Lobsterdamus, Grace picked up a plate of crispy roasted pork, and I picked up a plate of grilled scallops. There were so many choices and vendors to choose from, but we were so full already. We were very lucky it wasn’t too busy and after we finished eating, we found a cozy shaded spot on the stairs and caught up.
That evening, Grace fulfilled one of my wishes to dine at Park’s BBQ. They were closed for remodeling last year when I visited LA. I was super excited and we ordered a combo with a variety of meat dishes and then ordered a la carte beef tartare and seafood pancake. The entire table was covered with so many different types of banchan. The Korean restaurants in Portland often offer a very limited selection of banchan. Jeff also joined us for dinner. I hadn’t seen him in over 4 years. We ended the evening with patbingsu, Korean shaved ice at Oakobing and eating it over another set of stairs as the place was jam packed with youngsters.
Grace made another highly sought after reservation at N/Soto for Wednesday. Jeff, Eddie, Carrie, and JT also joined as well. It was definitely a treat yourself dining experience. My favorites were the ankimo, scallop crudo, octopus, the ikura and salmon donabe, bone marrow, and corn rice dishes. The rice donabes were rich with butter, kombu, and mushroom flavors. The servers did question as we ordered all the rice dishes available. We did acknowledge we did overcompensate a tad thinking the other dishes were much smaller portions. Then Grace bought an amazing beautiful black sesame, chocolate mousse cake with a caramel crunch from Domi as a belated birthday gift to me. I felt so blessed. We topped off the night with a stop at a nearby taco truck just because. I do tend to overindulge but it makes it all worthwhile with close friends who you can laugh uncontrollably with.
On Thursday for lunch, we stopped by Paradise Dynasty for their limited offering of chili crab xiao long bao to celebrate their 1 year anniversary and Singapore’s birthday. Their daikon flaky pastry is also to die for. For the evening, Grace took me to Yangban, one of the top new restaurants. Their focus is on Korean and California infused flavors. We went back into the city again with a bit of traffic. It was just the two of us. Our favorites were the fried soondae sausage, signature chicken wings and abalone congee pot pie. The desserts weren’t too memorable so I wouldn’t order that again.
On Friday we returned to Ichimi-An for a bowl of cold yuzu oroshi soba paired with tempura, the ultimate Japanese comfort food. In the evening, we went to Hanuman for delicious Thai food. The ceviche and pad thai were definitely favorites. I got to meet up with Carrie, Tina, and Bell. I hadn’t seen Bell in so many years. It may have been almost 7 years since I last saw her. It was so good to catch up with my old college friends. Bell gifted me a beautiful light sea green porcelain vase that she made on the pottery wheel. I used to be the “baby” of the group , but Grace has taken that spot now. 😀
We also hit up Lawry’s, a classic joint and Majordomo over the weekend. The bings, the donabe and the massive beef rib was so rich and luscious. Definitely would order those items again at Majordomo next time. The salads weren’t that unique so I’d probably skip those the next time. It’s been an odd learning to socialize again after several years of the pandemic. But it makes me even more grateful for these times to have opportunities to meet up with lifelong friends just like the good old days except for a few more white hairs and wrinkles.
Travelogue 