Sundae in the Park

NPR video about the superbloom.

In addition a full suite of typical Taiwanese bakery items, J.J. Bakery in Arcadia (I've only been to that location) also has a limited selection of cooked/hot breakfast/dim sum foods (at least in the morning), making it an even more attractive alternative to Din Tai Fung when the lines are too long. We've had the turnip cakes (no longer crispy on the edges if it's been sitting there a while, but otherwise quite good) and the big meat and vegetable buns (very good. I love giant buns, and the fillings are flavorful, plentiful, and not at all sketchy tasting/feeling). It's great fast food. I've also run in an grabbed bakery items before/after a DTF run many times, and they have always been good, if not particularly memorable. In case it's not obvious, they also serve hot and cold drinks, including boba drinks. The one time I got a boba tea it was perfectly fine.

I stopped in and tried Zuzu, a delightful tapas bar with a warm and cozy atmosphere. I sat at the bar, watching all the magic in the kitchen, and the bartender took great care of me. I had 4 plates - I absolutely loved the flounder ceviche (beautifully bright colors and tastes) and asparagus with jamon (gorgeous vegetables and meat), but found the bacalao (salt cod drizzled with white truffle oil & garlic crostini) to be a little heavy/salty (though this could be that I just don't like salt cod-based dishes. I keep trying, for some reason, and hardly ever love them) and didn't particularly care for the sauce on the lamb chops with moroccan barbeque glaze, mint, & curry oil. Everything was baseline good and I ate almost everything (quite a feat - 4 small plates do add up), but the heavier dishes didn't wow me. I saw a lot of tres leches being ordered and gobbled down, but didn't have space for it. Great neighborhood spot. Dropped by Oxbow Public market to pick up some cream puffs at Ca'Momi Enoteca because I can't help myself. Also tried their Osteria on First street for lunch because haven't been able to get the gnudi (Bellwether Farms jersey ricotta & spinach malfatti with butter, sage, and parmigiano reggiano - the green of the spinach belies the tender richness of the "pasta") off my mind. Together with the burrata e verdure (wood-oven roasted vegetables, house-pulled burrata, schiacciata all'olio) I had an incredibly delicious, albeit crazy-heavy meal, and I was only able to finish half of it (leftovers held up beautifully for later)! Those two dishes plus a salad, for 2, would be pretty much the perfect vegetarian Italian meal. I liked the burrata dish even more than the gnudi, which is saying something. They toss whatever baby veg they have on hand with nice olive oil, roast till sweet in a wee skillet, and serve with a generous dollop of excellent burrata plus a whole flat bread. The flat bread is very much like their VPN pizza dough, perhaps even the same dough but baked slightly thicker, as it has the same stretchy, yielding, but crispy-on-the-edges quality I love so much about Neapolitan pizza. If you get the chili oil to go with the bread, beware that it is quite spicy! The space is hipster-industrial, with exposed beams and ducting but lots of hanging lights and candles. Servers are young (or I'm getting old, probably both), good-looking, and extremely attentive. Loved everything about my experience! I would, and probably will, go back to all of these places.

Still love this place, with a slight preference to the Northridge location when it sensible to go there instead of the Encino location (we almost always get this as takeout on the way home from somewhere in LA, so the distance difference from the 101 is small but significant, but at late hours only Northridge is available). Though it hasn't been practical to try a back-to-back tasting, the cooks at the original location seem just a little more seasoned, with the spicing and balance just a smidge more deft. Though they have a huge menu, with specific Northern and Southern specialties, we have stuck mostly with our Northern favorites, the khao soy and kang ho (the noodles never stick together, it's loaded with vegetables, and has a distinctively tangy curry flavor). We've also tried several other ordinary noodle dishes and apps (all are fine-good-great, but unmemorable compared to these dishes, though my husband really like the angel wings [stuffed chicken]) and a few of the more interesting plates from the Southern menu (very good), but these dishes are what we crave. They take a lot of care with takeout orders, lining containers with foil, individually packaging all the little spices/sauces, and making air vents to preserve crispness as needed. They were on the LA Weekly's Essentials list of restaurants last year but fell off this year, which might actually be the sweet spot of publicity (they were slammed several times when we stopped by last year, and shortly after publication the FOH folks at least were adorably clueless that they had made the list) for visitors, as they seem to remain busy but you can get your food in a reasonable amount of time. We originally found them while looking for late-night food coming home from Six Flags Magic Mountain (a GREAT roller coaster park, and I'm saying this as a huge Cedar Point fan). It's really at an excellent location if you need good food at odd hours (or any time!) coming back to the city from the north. The Encino location is open until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and Northridge is open until 2 AM on those days for the college kids

I've had the taco sampler platter at Loteria Grill and thought they were just fine. It was nice to get a variety of flavors but none of them were particularly memorable. In this land of many tacos, it has to be special to stand out. I've been back to Banana Leaf several times and the food has always been solid. I've tried a savory crepe at the The French Crepe Co. and it was kind of cold and bland. Definitely cured me of my perpetual crepe longing whenever I pass by. At the Pampas Grill it's fun to get a variety of meats and sides, and everything I've tried is at least slightly above average for steam table/salad bar food (though you should concentrate on the meats). The meats have distinct flavors and textures and aren't generally overcooked (difficult to do in this situation!). It's a pay-by-weight place and there's usually a fairly quick-moving line. Moishe's Restaurant always calls to me when I'm in the Market, but in the end the Middle Eastern food there is never exciting. It's fine, but there's better to be had in Glendale or Tehrangeles. I can never resist grabbing a piece of toffee from Littlejohn's English Toffee House. Watching them make it destroys my willpower every time. There's enough turnover that I've never had a stale piece - always a delightful crunch! BTW, the Superbowl is an excellent day to hit the Market while avoiding crowds Parking in the lot is difficult so I generally forgo trying to get a validated space and just park at the Grove garage instead. They don't accept validation from the Farmer's Market stands but it's worth it to avoid hunting for a space, and you can always get validation from a Grove merchant if you're going shopping.

For the hate-to-be-dusty, would-be campers: While none of the National Park Service campgrounds have showers, two of the private campgrounds (Furnace Creek RV Resort and Panamint Springs) have some access. ALSO, you can pay for a pool/shower (a couple of coin-operated showers segregated for men and women) pass to the Furnace Creek Resort (I think it was something like $5/person), of which we took full advantage when we camped at the NPS Furnace Creek campground down the road. The pool is large and heated by a warm spring, so it was toasty even at Thanksgiving! Showers while camping are non-negotiable for our family (otherwise my husband wouldn't go!) - with a pool; shower; flush toilets at the campground; an air mattress; and a pile of charcuterie, bread, and good butter; our style of camping is luxurious enough for pretty much everybody.

Oh and while there is some food available for sale inside this park at the restaurants and general/convenience stores, it is still in a visitor's best interest to stock up on drinks and snacks before you enter the park, since most of the attractions are far away from the resort/lodgings areas. The nearest supermarket is in Pahrump, NV. Getting gas before you enter is also a good idea. Though gas is available at a few of the resort areas, it's more expensive and you'll be doing a lot of driving. Actually, this whole list of Things To Know Before You Come is useful.

Thoughts on visiting Death Valley National Park (about a 5-hour drive from LA and 2.5-hour drive from Las Vegas) from a recent conversation: --- On the wildflower "Superbloom": According to the NPS webpage, the wildflower season goes from early spring through the summer, moving from low to high elevation. Will it still be the "superbloom" [in March] or just have some nice flowers here and there, I have no idea. I would call the park ASAP before you make any plans and see what they think. I do know that the flower peak where I live in SoCal does not last more than a couple weeks, and the superbloom is already into at least week 1 or 2, but I live at a specific elevation, so there might still be a superbloom somewhere in the park when you want to come. The park has a nice report and a video here: "Wildflower Update 2016" on nps.gov and I found this nifty website that has a lot of info you would be interested in: "Death Valley NP - Wildflower Reports" on desertusa.com Maybe contact those folks and see what they think about your proposed timeline? They also have some tips on where specifically to go for shooting flowers. --- On where to stay: Finally, if you do get to come out, and I hope you do, stay in the park if you possibly can. It's a HUGE park, the biggest by area in the continental US, I believe, and it takes forever to drive in and out. If you're coming for a short trip, it's worth it to stay at one of the places inside the park: "Death Valley Lodging" on nps.gov The only time I've been we camped, so I can't offer any insights about the specific lodgings. If you have a tent and are willing to fly with it, car camping was super easy, cheap, and I'd highly recommend it. Impressions wise, I think there are more places to stay coming in from the East (Vegas) side of the park rather than the West. --- On being a Dark Sky Park: If you can't sleep in the park, stay in the park at least one night as late as possible. As a Dark Sky Park, the nighttime sky view is one of the best in the country, even better than Joshua Tree!!! We did one of the nighttime ranger talks which was mostly kid-oriented and a little cheesy, but it was fun looking out at the stars in a group for a while (before wandering off to do our own thing). --- On the Star Wars tour (it was a shooting location for the originals): Oh, by the way, in case you are a Star Wars fan: "Star Wars in Death Valley" on panamintcity.com I didn't find this site until we got home from our trip and we were so glad that we hit a few of the locations by accident.

Golden Gate Bakery has limited selection of items, but you're there for the fresh egg tarts anyway so it shouldn't be a problem. Their hours seem to be spotty "“ online reviews note that they are prone to closing on a whim (using the same "we're on vacation" sign for years) for hours a day or days at a time. I experienced this myself, when we went by during a weekday time they should have been open according to posted hours, but it was shuttered and dark. (Never mind "“ I found this website. No idea if it is accurate, but obviously the odd hours are not only in the collective imagination.) When they are open, there can be a short to long line (saw both tourists and locals) and they all want the egg tart. I got a few straight out the oven (I hear they bake the tarts constantly while open, so the chances of getting a warm-hot one seems high, and I believe they are intended to be served at least warm). Now, I'm not actually a fan of this type of custard tart, but even I concede that they are quite lovely, with a light and flaky crust and creamy custard that is delicate in both texture and flavor (not overly sweet). Note that they are a little difficult to eat when hot - too delicate! The folks in my party who like egg tarts thought they were great but agreed that the texture differed from expectations. If you are a fan of the denser, more heavily flavored tarts (like Portuguese egg tarts) you might still like these, but be warned that they are a different style. Delicious Dim Sum is a to-go place where they have rotating selection of classic dim sum, and unless you eat it right out on the street or a nearby park, your food will be cold by the time you dig in. If you're nearby and want to grab some cheap dumplings, this is great street food, essentially. Dol Ho is tiny and grungy dim sum spot, staffed and frequented by older, cranky Chinese people, and there aren't any instructions about what will happen. We felt like we were back in China! They will get you a menu, off which you can order, if you ask for it. Occasionally they will bring a cart out from the kitchen and serve random dim sum. The counter by the front holds deep-fried, room temperature things, which you have to go ask for as well. Everything we had was quite good, but it felt effortful because we were less in the know about operations and this after having read a bunch of reviews and knowing what to expect!!! Still, this is a real deal authentic corner shop dim sum experience Bund Shanghai has pretty decent food, but everything was just a shade greasier than I prefer. The simple house noodles with pork actually had perfect texture and the sauce had a great savory flavor "“ just too much oil. The XLB were quite good (and were the only non-greasy dish we got), the sheng jian bao were pretty good, and the sautéed eggplant was delicious, but that latter two dishes were both oilier than needed. Z&Y Restaurant has great Szechuan, reflecting its 2015 and 2016 Michelin Bib Gourmand status. We tried a bunch of typical dishes "“ cumin beef, fried chicken, water-cooked chili fish, dry-fried green beans, and, to give our taste buds a rest, the Shangdong beef roll (pancake with beef). All were very good, with the fish, green beans and, surprisingly, the beef roll verging into excellent. Flavors were spot on "“ fiery when needed while still being flavorful. I'm sure if you want to blow your top off they will oblige, but I prefer cooking where heat and other flavors are in balance. It's more nicely decorated than a random Chinese joint, and the service is quite a few notches better as well. According to reviews it's usually busy, so there are often waits, and if you have a small party at a larger table you might be asked to share space (heh, a group of student-looking Asian guys had to eat with our baby!). We saw several tables order non-Szechuan food and it all looked nice, but we were puzzled given the restaurant's specialty.

Pulled pork yesterday (used the shoulder picnic cut for the first time and love it! I prefer its texture to the butt or true shoulder that we usually get - longer, ropier strands, way less mushy) done in the dutch oven. The spice mixture/BBQ sauce we made was fine, but I think I prefer a Cuban or Hawaiian style. Had it with kidney beans, rice, and chopped cherry tomatoes. Tonight was baked Bourbon chicken with rice and grilled zucchini. Didn't quite get the mall-food court flavor I was looking for (probably need to cook down the sauce to a glaze and use way more sugar and less ginger and garlic) but it was really quite good (my husband has already snuck back into the fridge for a snack). Also, we baked some pan de yuca for our gluten-free, new-parent friends, as well as a batch of molasses spice cookies. Weekend of random cooking means the fridge and bakery box are full!

Ah yes, Slanted Door has a great bar for a solo diner! Also about a mile away from your hotel is Cotogna, which has a small but wonderful bar for solo seating.

Eater likes Kin Khao (Thai) in your hotel. And yes, the Ferry building is super easy solo. Chinatown is within walking distance, if you want to catch some bakery/dim sum action.

My relatives picked the Cerritos location for my kiddo's 1-month party back in the day and it didn't disappoint. Despite being an ordinary, strip-mall space (with a crazy busy parking lot), the friendly and efficient staff make it homey and we keep going back whenever we're in town (hmmm, 4 times now? Maybe 5). My picky aunt who found it for us is from Shanghai and this is her go-to place to eat when she doesn't feel like cooking. I don't think it's affiliated with the other Tasty Noodle House in the San Gabriel Valley, which serves Dalian food, but based on some Facebook sleuthing it is part of a southern California chain with other locations in Hacienda Heights, Walnut, Irvine, and Chino Hills. The sheng jian bao are great! Puffy, with crunchy bottoms, but not overly greasy, they are cooked to order so they take some time and we always get them. Despite being at their best when they are fresh from the kitchen, they also keep well for later (if you're getting full and need to prioritize). The XLB are decent but not as good as the sheng jian bao (but we usually get both anyway, since there aren't any decent XLB where we live). The basil eggplant dish is reminiscent of Thai food and nicely stir-fried, though a little oily - you can get it with mock chicken or mushrooms and both are very good. We usually get the stir-fried rice cakes which are light but tasty with lots of chopped greens and pork. They have some unusual dishes that I haven't seen in other places that are worth trying - fish fried in a seaweed batter and stir-fried peppers (anaheims perhaps? They are wide, fat, green peppers without much heat or the dreaded green pepper taste) smothered in a meat (they use pork but can do beef, upon request) sauce. We've had a few other dishes but they don't stand out in my memory; we keep going back for the snacky food. Other noodles and soups look great but we haven't had much opportunity to branch out because we keep getting the same things!

That sounds AWESOME!!! I would love to try that!!!

Sausage, kale, and potato soup last night, and beef stroganoff tonight. This is as winter as CA gets, so I'm cooking according to the season, if not the thermometer...

Oh, they are definitely gas grills - I can't think of any cook-yourself place I've been to that hasn't (are there really places that will let you cook over a real fire??!!). I'll look next time and see what they have. In terms of dirty grill management, they have roving staff (not your wait person, though they will ask if they happen to be near as well) that look for charred grill tops and ask if you want a change. We've never had to cook on a dirty grill pan for very long at all.

Buckhorn Grill is not just in in San Francisco (though it does have 3 locations there, and two in NYC)! It's all over northern California and I was at the Sacramento location a few weeks ago. Yes, it is a good place for tri-tip; I've been less enthused about the other meats. You guys, tri-tip is everywhere in California. I hadn't heard of it until I started traveling out here but it's a fairly popular cut of meat all over the state. Santa Maria tri-tip is a Thing so it's particularly prevalent along the central coast, but I've seen steak sandwiches pretty much everywhere in CA. They're usually my go-to if I'm at some random deli or bar and grill and don't want a sandwich with avocados on it. The best place I've been for a tri-tip smackdown so far is San Luis Obispo. They are pretty serious about their steak sandwiches in that town!!!

Our little buddy (16! months now and 8 teeth) has mostly moved past the puree stage. He mostly eats what we eat (else there will be yelling in the land) made small, but I still make some vegetables exclusively for him. I'm using the food processor to shred various vegetables and then sauteeing them until soft. I've done shredded carrots and zuchinni, and finely diced onion and mushrooms. I've made these separately and in combinations and they are all acceptable. I'm also still roasting him yams periodically and making random mixed greens (whatever bags of organic frozen green stuff I grabbed from Trader Joe's that week) cooked till soft in chicken stock and roughly whirled with the immersion blender. He's a huge fan of peanut butter, nutella, pesto, and hummus. No allergies thus far thank goodness. He can eat most beans now, though I will smash bigger beans such a kidneys before I give them over. He will eat any shape of pasta made small and can handle spoonfuls of rice even when it's dry. We are terrible about letting him feed himself (So. Slow. and the mess!!!) but he's pretty good with blueberries, peas, chunks of cheese and oranges, and cereal.

Eggplant "parmesan" (unbreaded, but everything else is the same - wanted to share some witha gluten-free friend) and penne

Chicken kabobs Kubideh Saffron rice Roasted tomatoes Tzatziki Hummus Salad For the kabobs, we didn't love our marinade or the texture from grilling with the yogurt marinade still on, so we'll brush it off before firing next time. The kubideh had good flavor, but I think we'll try to go for a slightly lower % fat next time (we were using 80-20 ground beef). We got flat metal skewers that weren't quite wide enough to hold the meat easily until it had been chilled. The rice was subtle but excellent and I've found a lovely way to use up my saffron supply!

I've been back to the Oxnard location a bunch of times, and also to the location in Cerritos. The menu has changed slightly in Oxnard, adding several options (octopus, Korean fried chicken, addition of Cajun sauce options etc.). It's quite a steal, value wise, since the price has remained the same ($20 for dinner and $15 for lunch), the meat quality is decent, and the menu has grown a bit. The Cerritos location was a little eye-opening. There's a much larger Asian population down there so we tried a bunch of things we don't get up here - Hawaiian flap steak, miso-marinated hanging tender, soon du boo, more premium cuts in general. All were good to very good (and I felt that the meat was slightly higher quality than at Oxnard), and great for an AYCE concept. Both locations have quick and able service and long lines during peak times. I tried a macaron ice cream sandwich at the Oxnard location (didn't see whether they had them in Cerritos) and it was surprisingly good for coming out of a freezer case (displayed in the restaurant - I hadn't tried them before due to turnover concerns) - I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't stale and not crazily sweet. The dessert and drinks are the only things not included in the base price. We took our large, picky, mixed-age family group there (Cerritos) over the holidays and it was a terrific choice.

All-American Valentine's dinner: Seared cod over sauteed mushrooms in a lemon-butter-parsley sauce Zucchini fritters with tzatziki sauce Chocolate root beer floats

We've eaten a LOT of guacamole and chips this week. Yay, Superbowl loss leaders! We're also eating down a big batch of red curry. This time I added cauliflower but it wasn't a very successful inclusion, since the textures didn't meld very well (I usually use eggplant, peppers, mushrooms, and/or green beans). Live and learn.

California Kabob Restaurant is generically named, small, and located in an unremarkable strip mall, but the staff are welcoming and food is very good. I tried the chicken and ground beef kabobs and both were juicy and flavorful. I can't remember whether the bread is house-made but it's pita bread and they grill it till warm. The hummus was a little flat but the rice was fluffy. They grill to order so it takes a few minutes but keeping that in mind (ugh, gripy online people!) it's a solid spot for lunch and takeout. Oz Korean BBQ is perfectly acceptable if you're in the area and in the mood for KBBQ. The KBBQ is AYCE for about $21 and includes a few appetizers (potstickers and chili wings were meh) and all the pan chan (decent assortment but nothing memorable). The meat is pretty limited - galbi and bulgogi and such, without any of the more challenging or interesting cuts, and my favorite was the garlic pork belly (the only pork belly option). You can also order a few things from the menu if you're looking for bibimbap or soon du boo, so that is nice. I know this sounds damning with faint praise, but really, service was attentive and it was a good place to eat dinner with my (Caucasian, male, somewhat food- and politically-conservative ) coworkers and still enjoy my meal. Little Buddha Thai Bistro is technically in Rancho Cordova and was recommended by a local - when we arrived the lunch crowd was packing it in. I think it's good enough, but in general our food was on the sweet side My spring rolls and rad na were fine but uninspiring. Buckhorn Grill is a chain, but a decent one if you're craving some meat. We got a round of the tri-tip and were pretty satisfied (quite tender, cooked correctly). Again, it's a good place to take hungry, somewhat picky guys. They have a takeout line as well, which is nice for packing out a big dinner. Heh, reading this over my trip to Sac was pretty decent but not at all exciting. With the exception of the kabob place, none of these are restaurants I'd seek out again (though I would eat at all if I happened to be in the area). I looked but couldn't find restaurants with much potential where I was going, and had to contend with coworkers (I don't try to bully them into my picks unless I think a place is going to be exceptional). I'll be in the Sacramento environs at least one more time this year, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!!!

For those planning trips to California that are interested in food, hiking, and photography (pretty much my top 3 interests, so YMMV), I really like this guy's blog: California Through My Lens. I particularly like the map interface to find blog posts about specific geographical areas. Even if you don't share his foods preferences (I'm more interested in his scenic hiking posts), he takes nice pictures and has great ideas about both more- and less-traveled gems all over CA.