Sundae in the Park

Pesto chicken salad (just Costco pesto, yogurt, and poached chicken) is a nice change-up from my (only) slightly more complicated curried chicken salad and actually makes a pile of leaves taste decent.  It's very easy to make a batch and take to work for several lunches. I'm also back on my avocado-egg salad (just boiled eggs mashed with some avocado, salt, and pepper) for breakfast.  Also simple to make in batches and bring to work.  Yep, my coworkers just love me 😆

On 3/2/2019 at 4:04 PM, NolaCaine said:

More news on my girl. She ate $17 worth of oysters at the Wharf today. FWIW: she likes the medium between salty and sweet. The other one at quite a bit of burger. He's not food adventurous.

Wow! Reminds me of the oft-told story of my father-in-law's pride and chagrin when my husband, at age 10, was able to put away an adult-portioned Captain's Feast at Red Lobster? after eating his kids meal.

Last night both kids chowed down on pizza and cucumber and apple slices (well, 1 cucumber slice each). Tonight the (feverish) Big barely finished a popsicle and the Little had a beer-battered cod fillet (from Costco, we all like them, actually), some "kitchen sink" smoothie (seriously, I threw in the odds and ends of so many different fruits - pear, apple, banana, blueberries, mango, and an old cube of pureed prunes that he refused as a baby that I found hanging out in the back of the freezer - with some yogurt and fresh-squeezed limeade), and an oatmeal cookie. 

4 hours ago, MarkS said:

My sons grew up on burgers, meatball, pizza, bagels and Mrs. T Perogis.  Grew up just fine.

58 minutes ago, dracisk said:

That is very reassuring!

Tonight for 5-year-old was a toasted cheese sandwich, some strawberry yogurt, some peach pork picante (bite-sized pieces of pork loin coated in taco seasoning and cooked in salsa with peach preserves, served with brown rice -- I don't think she's ever deigned to eat this before), some sherbet, and then a plain piece of bread. I'm thinking she must be going through a growth spurt, because she's been waking up in the middle of the night asking for snacks.

ETA: And more yogurt.

Agreed that this is reassuring because, um, that's pretty much what my kids would LOVE to eat all the time.  Though they both like hand-made (not by me) perogis when we can get them (in OH).

My Big (4 yrs) also seems to be going through a growth spurt because he is suddenly snacking a lot (cashews, oddly, which he doesn't ask for at any other time) right before bed.  The past few nights they have both been eating some combination of cheese, applesauce, cereal, yogurt, and apple slices for dinner.  That is not what the adults are having, but at least it's decent nutrition and minimal work. 

Thousand Oaks

Although this second location of Moqueca Brazilian Cuisine serves food that tastes the same as the Oxnard location, it's worth going to Oxnard instead!!! At this price point, even if the food is equally tasty, you'd much rather enjoy it in the harbor setting with some magnificent views.  The dining room in TO is newer and therefore nicer but it's a large-ish room in a strip mall with only front-facing windows so feels somewhat dark and oppressive. People always enjoy the chance to try a somewhat more unusual cuisine when we take them and we really like that the lunch special is extended to Saturdays.  

Dong Ting Spring in Ventu Park has several unusual dishes from China's Hunan province that don't usually make it out in the 'burbs.  In fact, several dishes that we liked there have been since dropped from the menu from lack of popularity.  Of those that remain, the potstickers are decent, the Specialty Fish Filet with Pickle is awesome (a soupy dish with lots of tender white fish, pickled veg, and peppercorns galore), the beef roll is tasty but not always rolled quite tightly enough, and the stir-fried lotus root is cool-looking and crunchy. Grandma’s Braised Pork with Buns have fluffy steamed buns and smoky, salty, tender pork.  There are some whole fish dishes that are uniformly good but require a larger group, dishes featuring pig ears feet, and intestines, and several options for authentically stinky tofu.  Dishes we find lacking include the wild chili beef (too spicy, unbalanced, with stringy beef), cauliflower (wan, boring), and sweet and sour fish fillet (great fried fish in a terribly sweet sauce), and the XLB. 

Tasty Shanghai in Newbury Park replaced our beloved Szechuan Place and has some good, snacky food that, while not tempting enough to lure us back to our previous weekly visit, still requires somewhat regular trips. They have Shanghai pan-fried pork buns (Sheng Jian Bao) which, while always under-seasoned, are here in my county and are therefore an automatic order.  The fish fillet in wine sauce is simple and comforting (Deceptively simple. I was sure I could make it at home and while my version came out ok, the expense and effort sent me right back to the restaurant), the green beans are equally deeply wrinkled and flavored, and the potstickers and rice cake dishes are always solid. The food is a bit greasy but, since it isn't spicy, is always a hit with both adults and kiddos.

Ventura

Tasty China is in a weird location in outer Ventura and I really hope it survives because it's currently our favorite Chinese food in the county.  The house-made XLB can be excellent (though I did get one tray with a few that broke) with plenty of soup, satin-y dough and thin skins (including the twist top), and actual well-seasoned meat.  Honestly, I liked them better than some of my Ding Tai Fung XLB experiences.  The beef onion pancake is a great version of a classic beef roll - not too sweet, plenty of fresh herbs, flaky pastry, tender beef, and tight rolling that doesn't fall apart.  The potstickers are also house-made, juicy with crispy bottoms and absolutely worth getting.  The beef noodle soup is good and the dan dan noodles are perfectly balanced - nutty, spicy,  just oily enough, and with a smattering of flavorful pork.  If it were closer to our house we'd be there constantly.

I've been going to Paradise Pantry regularly for years now, and it never fails to deliver an rustically elegant experience.  The serve wines and cheeses that are also available in the adjoining shop, but I usually go for the huge grilled sandwiches, mac-n-cheese, or pate plate.  It's the ultimate book club, brunch, or girls-night out spot (olives! charcuterie! wine flights galore!). The salads are always gorgeous, the specials feature local ingredients, and the servers are warm, friendly, and competent. I didn't even know I liked ham sandwiches until I had theirs (currently featuring Holey Cow Cheese & tomato clove conserve) and the chunky, sweet-hot pickles (also available in the store) are To. Die. For.  The place is basically an artisanal California cliche in the best way possible and I'm so glad we have it in our county. 

Lao Xi Noodle House is a small, strip-mall joint somewhat off the beaten path in Arcadia that serves wonderful hand-made noodles in a no-frills setting.  China's Shanxi province food heavily features noodles, potatoes, and vinegar.  The menu is short and mostly features different noodles (fried, cold, soup, buckwheat, jelly, etc.), a few types of boiled dumplings (for there or to take away frozen), an assortment of "cold-plate" appetizers, and a few meat/vegetable entrees.  We tried the House Special Fried Noodle with Fried Boiled Pork, Daoxiao-Style, which had plump, pleasantly chewy noodles in a tasty, vinegar-laced sauce, stir-fried with chunks of tender pork and lots of leeks and wood-ear mushrooms. We all loved this dish and almost ordered another plate to go (and only restrained ourselves because we were going back to a hotel, not home).  The beef noodle soup had a clear, clean-tasting broth that mostly highlighted the long, thin noodles (kids loved it, adults thought it was bland, but noodles were good).  Cold dishes were fine and fresh but otherwise ordinary.  We would absolutely go back but mostly be interested in revisiting the fried noodles, trying the odder noodle shapes and lamb dumplings, and then taking away frozen dumplings (GREAT price) if they taste as good as they looked. 

9 hours ago, ktmoomau said:

Last night I had a meeting I was hosting, so dinner was cheese plate with salami, cheese, apple and crackers.  Orange segments covered with chocolate.  And the ugliest dip you have ever seen in your life- an avocado, greek yogurt and a packet of onion soup mix.  It was delicious, but the brown mix completely over powered the green avocado and it looked like baby puke.  But it was very tasty.  If one could add some coloring of some sort it might look better.  Served with baby cucumbers quartered lengthwise and carrot sticks.

Sounds delicious but what a description!!!!!

Last night I made:

• Roasted butternut squash-carrot soup
• Lentil curry (using the medium Golden Curry mix and including carrots, onions, potatoes, and peas) with rice and frozen parathas
• Oven-baked chicken wings, tossed in the all-purpose Gochujang sauce we now use for everything (original Dad Cooks Dinner recipe here and now my husband just riffs on it whenever we need a sauce) - never made plain oven-baked wings before, but wanted to try the baking-powder trick (hey, did you know that baking powder can have sodium aluminum sulfate in it? I didn't until now! Even if there aren't proven health effects for avoiding ingested Al, there can be metallic taste implications, so we've now switched to Al-free) to see if they would ever become adequately crispy.   They take forever (solid hour+) and don't look like much (never got really browned), but once tossed in sauce they suddenly looked just like deep-fried wings from a restaurant, and tasted pretty darn close. I'll call it a win for when we want to gorge on wings.  BTW, I had one rack so I made one pan with the wings up on a rack and one pan with the wings on parchment paper on the pan. The racked wings were definitely crispier, but a little tougher and the rack is kind of a pain to scrub. The unracked wings were oilier because they cooked in their own fat but got a little browner and were a bit juicier.  Oh, also I had to flip the unracked wings once midway through cooking.  Overall not a huge difference and since we'll always toss them in sauce anyway I'll go with unracked in the future.

Over the weekend we made a ton of meatballs, a meaty marinara, pasta, lots of guacamole, and a couple pans of roasted zucchini.

On 2/20/2019 at 1:42 PM, leleboo said:

While-wheat spaghetti with roasted-veg marinara. 

At 4:40pm. 

This day has lasted 85417975575 hours. 

My sympathies - same for us yesterday, except with meat sauce!! It was nice that everyone ate the same thing for dinner. We even got both kiddos to try at least 1 cucumber slice. Both will pick out the pasta on their own but they do allow themselves to be spoon-fed the sauce (including chunky tomatoes) and meat at the end, which is still worth it to us (for now) for nutrition purposes.

Flowergeddon!!!! Hopefully it does not return when the flowers do this season:

LA Times reporting

Ungated article from Frommer's on the upcoming anticipated superbloom

I adore the idea of the wildflower hotline    (760-767-4684)

Mushroom soup, eggplant with black bean sauce and basil (I CANNOT get this dish to turn out like I imagine it, no matter what recipe I try. I'm about to give up and just eat it at restaurants. Anyone have tips? I don't expect the eggplant to turn out exactly right since I'm not deep-frying it, but the sauce is always so bland at home and so zippy yet comforting at Thai restaurants), stove-top mac-n-cheese, and banana bread. Tuesday is my home day and I always end up cooking whatever is hanging out in the fridge so they won't go bad.  Earlier this week the batch cooking included red beans and rice, orange-cranberry scones, and bourbon chicken.

Banana bread.

Similarly, there are also "adult juice boxes" of wine. I haven't indulged myself but know of several folks whom have enjoyed them for what they are. And note that, just like cans, they are very convenient and discreet for uses such as movie-going, picnics in public areas, getting around glass container prohibitions, etc.  Some quick links:

PopSugar likes 'em

Wine Enthusiast acknowledges their existence and then has a list

Paste Magazine has a list of boxed wines they like and

Wine Spectator has a list of best boxed and canned wines

Heheheh this guy from the LA Times was clearly trying to light a conversation bomb with his recent fast-food french fry power rankings, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't indulge him or that he is wrong.  Naturally, I'm sticking the link in this thread because I happen to agree with his placement of Five Guys by the top and In-N-Out (note: their fries plain, not animal-style, as most folks who love them [my informal observation of Angelenos in the past 7! years, no other citation] actually order them) on the bottom, but I understand that personal preferences and YMMV.  Thus, discuss as you will 😁

On 7/6/2018 at 5:20 PM, Sundae in the Park said:

THE HABIT BURGER GRILL SPICES UP FAN-FAVORITE WITH NEW SRIRACHA LIME SPICY GREEN BEANS

This article has a picture of them.

Don't know if you have them at your local Habit, but mine does!!!! And they are GOOD, especially if you like the crunchy, spicy, mayo-ey, ridiculousness of an over-topped sushi roll.  They say it is a limited-time item but I hope it sticks around for a while. 

The sriracha lime spicy green beans were gone for a while, but are (at least temporarily) back at our Habit (Camarillo location).  Since they are not being promoted on the company's main website this time, I think/hope that they will occasionally show up without the fanfare from the first time.  Worth trying if it sounds at all interesting to you!! My husband just had two orders of them last time we were there instead of ordering any of the burgers.

BTW, at least around here, they have food trucks that can be rented to cater for special occasions.  Our friends had the Habit truck serve at their wedding!!! <swoon>

San Luis Obispo

Novo Restaurant & Lounge is a wonderful place for brunch. I can't speak to any other time, but we really enjoyed our meal there.  The menu is a California-American with a few fusion (pan-Asian, Mexican) accents here and there.  The food doesn't sound particularly exciting, and it's not exactly reinventing the wheel (in fact, the fusion accents feel a bit dated), but what we had was fresh, pretty, well-prepared, and served by warm and friendly people. What takes the experience up several notches, however, is the setting. The inside is nice, upscale bar-ish, but back patio overlooks the creek from high up, is surrounded by trees and is far away from the street.  The patio also has ample umbrellas, heaters, and lights as appropriate.  There were families below, walking by and playing in the creek, and we were sitting in the fresh air on a warm, sunny deck, with a morning cocktail in hand. It was one of the more relaxing meals of my life (haha, sure it helped that I was sans kids for the first time in forever, but still...).  We had both the savory and sweet crepes, and they were both hearty portions with very tasty fillings (and it didn't feel at all repetitive that I had crepes twice! I don't recall the specific fillings but the change weekly anyway), and a salmon? I think? Benedict. I recall the overall experience quite fondly and would definitely go back (even with my kids!).

 Atascadero

Between SLO and Paso Robles, Bristols Cider House is in a bit of an odd spot, tucked into an industrial park, but is the cider/music/snack house of my dreams that I truly wish were in my neck of the woods to I could go there All. The. Time.  We stopped in for a quick tasting on the way to some wineries and it was the most fun stop of the trip.  The ciders are varied and mostly crisp/dry (and seasonal, so constantly changing), the place is casual and welcoming, and the food sounds like a perfect pairing for drinks and music (we didn't get a chance to try any food).  It's not very far off the highway 101 so stop by if you're in the area!!

Ventura and Camarillo

Spencer Makenzie's Fish Company is the uber-Ventura County restaurant. Casual, beachy vibe, outdoor seating, near but not on the beach (the Ventura original location is walking distance to the Pier, but the Camarillo location is in a strip mall), Mexican by way of California, and with a focus on fresh ingredients.  Get the fish taco. Get it fried. I like the Brooklyn style (sweet chili hot sauce mixed with the creamy tartar). Actually, the grilled version is good, too, but the fried version is truly excellent.  Lots of cabbage, peppers, and sweet to fiery sauces (they make their own) draped over flaky yet tender fried fish whose exterior retains an satisfying crunch. Add avocado for extra creamy and California-ness. My family says the shrimp tacos are equally good.  If you can go during 3-5 PM M-Th, you can get 2-1 tacos (they can get pricey). Though they have them, now is not the time to be tempted by other meats - there are plenty of authentic Mexican restaurants for that and you are here for the Cali-Mex seafood.  Except for the ahi pockets, don't get those - they are oddly cold and dense and slimy (outside) and sweet.  The tempura vegetables and salads look really good, so try those instead. Or just get another taco.

Happy Belated Chinese New Year y'all! We've been slowly cooking up and eating down our New Year's goodies. Ordinarily we'd let the holiday go without much fanfare but this year my folks are living with us so we've made a little more effort, though really they are leading the way.  So in the past few days we've had (yeah basically we went from the Super Bowl food list to New Years list):

• Pan-fried salmon steaks for surplus / good fortune
• Stir-fried noodles for deliciously long lives
• Potstickers (from Costco) for wealth
• Fried and fresh (go ahead, guess which version was better) spring rolls (stuffed with sprouts, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and chicken) for more wealth and a fresh start
• Roasted duck (from San Woo BBQ in Van Nuys) for fidelity
• Cuties and regular oranges for prosperity and good luck
• Pan-fried sweet glutinous rice cake for rise in stature and even more prosperity
• Grilled gochujang chicken thighs (because we like these better than whole chickens) for togetherness and hey wait, prosperity!
• Mung bean cakes for sweets (box from Ranch 99)
• Brown and white rice, steamed
• Fried rice with chicken and eggs
• Roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, because we needed more veggies

We were going to have a Super Bowl party last night but the guest bugged out because of various sickness and rain-related concerns, so throughout the day we ended up making some party stuff and other random dishes we wanted to have on hand for the week:

• chicken and corn egg drop soup, to warm us up and satisfy a takeout craving
• lots of guacamole and salsa and chips and crackers
• Latin/South American cheesy breads ( I use a hybrid recipe from Colombian and Brazilian friends)
• red curry (chicken, eggplant, red peppers, mushrooms, and cauliflower) with brown rice
• fresh-squeezed lemonade from a friend's Meyers
• wings from the store, but we made a sour cream/gochujang (like the Marie Rose from Eamonn's, but Asian!) dip for them
• a bunch of cut-up fruit (mangoes, pears, apples, bananas) served separately instead of in a salad

I have a big block of cheese that I was going to make into nacho sauce, but we didn't need it so I think I might make a stovetop mac and cheese for the kids later this week. 

On 2/28/2017 at 12:26 PM, Sundae in the Park said:

Also made a red curry chicken soup (basically my regular red curry with a lot more broth and even more vegetables), which was delicious and low carb but doesn't keep well, because the vegetables turn all mushy

Learned from myself and made a much better, even lower-carb red curry soup.  Added a bunch of ginger and lime juice to the red curry paste, fish sauce, and scallions, making it a low-rent tom yum profile, and used only thinly sliced chicken and mushrooms, which don't get mushy.  Great for clearing the sinuses and those who don't want to be low-carb can always add noodles or rice. 

Enlightened ice cream is...not bad at all, especially if you let it warm up a bit, as it says prominently on the packaging. I only tried the mint chocolate chip flavor, and it has an appealingly mild minty flavor with a not-too-chalky texture (especially once it melts it's quite creamy, considering) or alcohol sugar taste.  Probably the best (by a little bit) of the low-sugar/low-carb ice creams I've tasted.  

On 10/15/2017 at 8:28 AM, DonRocks said:

I would appreciate hearing from some females regarding what, if anything, the average male can do to completely smash the glass ceiling, end sexual abuse, and put an end to things such as this forever: Is simply living a good life enough, or should males be doing something more pro-active?

When a Presidential candidate can say the things he said (about grabbing women by the p****, etc.), and still be elected, that does not bode well for American women.

I found this article today from the WaPo both illuminating and disturbing: The man who attacked me works in your kitchen’: Victim of serial groper took justice into her own hands.  This is how hard it is to get accountability/justice/punishment EVEN when there is a confession, criminal conviction, and extremely motivated and dedicated multiple victims seeking...anything to get some of their own back.  These are restaurants we frequent and love, places run by people we know and presumably respect. And yet this guy had free rein to assault many more women in and out of the industry AFTER his conviction. 

Don, to answer your question, I guess victims could do what Ms. Clark did - yearslong full-court presses in both the courts of law and public opinion (I am in awe of and grateful for her strength). But why on earth should be that hard to stop admitted and convicted predators? Let alone the ones that are never caught...

23 hours ago, lion said:

Our son is pre-k, so we haven't broached 'hot' foods away from us yet. At what age did you feel comfortable with that? 

21 hours ago, zgast said:

Basically as soon as we thought he could get the thermos open and eat it without an assist. Probably late kindergarten or early 1st grade.  We lucked out in that our pre-K provided lunches before then.  Son is a 'bland-itarian' so lunches are a PITA since peanut butter is mostly banned.  

9 hours ago, lion said:

That's for the data point! Another year or two does seem right. Unfortunately it limits what we can pack with his lunch and he's starting to not like certain foods at school that get cold. 

My husband is specifically trying to "train" our kids to like cold foods (i.e., never offering to heat up leftovers until asked) exactly to avoid the warm food at school issue!! I initially objected because I am an always warm food person, but I definitely see the convenience of having kids always willing to eat cold foods (this perhaps could be considered an offshoot of the baby wipes warmer controversy - why get your kid used to that level of luxury in the first place when it's guaranteed to bite you back in the field?).  My big kid is 4, has very high-scoring fine/gross motor skills, and there is no way I'd trust him yet to work a thermos and remain more/less unsullied throughout the day.  We really like noodle preparations that were originally intended to be served cold or room temperature, and he'll always eat cold pizza because...pizza.  Silentbob reminded me about rousong or "pork floss" - when I was little we would often eat sticky-ish rice rolls with the rousong or the fish version inside, and they are good at room temperature, and could potentially be sushi-fied with harder/drier vegetables for more (any!) nutrition.  My mom sometimes made a version of the fish floss on the stove using tuna, which would have quite a bit more nutrition/fewer preservatives than the stuff from the store. 

4 hours ago, NolaCaine said:

Re; Peanut butter...that sun butter is pretty good according to my 8 yr old and is what's used in arlington public school lunches.

Trader Joe's has some nice sunflower seed butter.  Don't forget to beware of pesto! The pine or walnuts also make it off limits for nut-free schools 🙁

Last night, while intended dinner was in the oven (bourbon chicken and roasted balsamic mushrooms, to be served with rice), I made a very quick chicken bullion broth for my sick dad.  He ladled it over some rice and both kids immediately demanded their own (multiple!) portions. So they all had broth and rice for dinner, though the kids also ate apple slices. I made them both try the chicken and sauce once it was ready and am confident/hopeful that they will eat it today, since it was designed to hit their favorite flavors and the initial reception was quite enthusiastic. We'll see!

On 1/24/2019 at 7:06 AM, silentbob said:

Our almost 6 year-old's favorite meal in the whole world is a concoction of his grandmother's -- a 肉鬆 (a.k.a. rousong or "pork floss") and fried egg sandwich, usually with whole wheat bread and a light touch of mayo.  It's a treat that we typically reserve for lunch on weekends, but between the holiday on Monday and staying home from school on Tuesday with a cold, he was going to have it four days in a row.  So I decided to change things up slightly.  Instead of wheat bread and a fried egg, I used King's Hawaiian rolls and scrambled eggs.  He loved it all the same!

Oh that sounds delicious and now I want one!

Mmmmmmm, Leigh, those pouches also look good. I usually keep the Tasty Bite madras lentils on hand (bought from Costco), and my kids sometimes eat them (mostly in the store, though).  I did try to make them at home but neither kid liked my version (which I thought was pretty close). Both of my kids LOVED chana masala for a while, so we'll have to try these sometime when they're back on beans.

Of the roast chicken dinner we had last night (paired with Brussels sprouts, potatoes, carrots, and blueberries - not all together), the Little ate some chicken, wheat thins, almond butter, and some fruit smoothie, while the Big ate a banana, a few bites of croissant, and some apple slices.  While I wish they would eat what we make, I let them have most anything in the fridge or pantry that is food-like (as opposed to snack-like) and doesn't require extra cooking/making (the smoothie was a leftover from lunch). 

23 hours ago, ktmoomau said:

Do tell!  

1) Use the right, thickish, sweet potato starch noodles

2) When boiling, Do Not Overcook

3) Rinse right after draining to cool down the noodles but no need to take them all the way down to cold, medium-warm is fine

4) Cut the noodles up a bit with scissors, stir in the sauce and toss liberally, and don't skimp on the sesame oil

5) Do Not Cook It More In A Pan, no matter what that ridiculous recipe tells you. Stir-fry your other ingredients either individually or together according to your preference, stir into the noodles when done, and mix again with more sauce as needed. Boom, done!

With the recipes I started with so many ages ago, I ruined a few batches because I was thinking of the dish as a stir-fried noodle dish rather than a boil, season, and mix-in other ingredients off heat dish. I can't seem to stir fry the noodles, even with a lot of oil in a good non-stick pan, without ending up with a sticky mess.  So, at the suggestion of a different recipe, I just keep the noodles off heat once fully boiled and it turns out great.  

If anyone else has more insight, I'd welcome it, but this works for me! At present, the risk/reward differential isn't high enough for me to twice-cook the noodles anymore.

Aaaaaaand the Big won't eat (any, not just my) dumplings anymore 😭  Instead, he ate mostly fridge/pantry food yesterday - yogurt, frozen blueberries, cheese, and peanut butter, along with some noodles.  While that's actually fine, I hope this dumpling-hating phase ends soon. Who doesn't like dumplings???!!!

Dumplings and jap chae. I finally figured out how to get unsticky oodles!!!  The previous night we made a bunch of pizzas (red sauce cheese, red sauce pepperoni, and white sauce mushroom) using Trader Joe's dough and ate them with a bunch of roasted cauliflower and sauteed zucchini.

Great dim sum! I'm not sure if you can order dim sum all day, every day (all food is ordered off the picture/word menu; no carts) but dim sum are an integral part of the menu and it's open every day in the morning so it looks promising. The place is newish, clean, and very busy, with English-speaking, efficient team service. We tried a bunch of noodle rolls, har gow, XLB, chicken buns, pan-fried pork buns, deep-fried minced pork buns, and everything was solid-great, appropriately crunchy, slippery, fluffy, juicy, chewy, etc.  Dishes are priced by flat rate ($ listed on the front page of the menu) as small, medium, large, or as marked.  It's loud and bustling so safe to take kids, and the dishes come out quickly even when the dining room is full.  They have the same ticket system as Din Tai Fung, where your list of orders is placed on your table and each is marked off as they come.  It's a stand-alone restaurant with parking and takes credit cards, so easy to get in and out without any fuss.  While none of the individual dishes we tried were life-changing, each was properly prepared, tasty, and pretty, and overall we had an excellent and stress-free dim sum experience. 

Tried this eggplant with garlic sauce America's Test Kitchen recipe that seemed to be everywhere on the internet this week. I liked that it uses regular eggplants and basil, since I can't reliably get (good/cheap) Asian eggplants or Thai basil (at all), and I love Thai-style eggplant-basil dishes. There is a lot of lime in this dish, which is great, but has to grow on you if, like me, you aren't used to your brown sauces tasting so bright. The more I eat the more I like it. I think it's a keeper for our house.  Did I ever mention that I used to hate eggplant and red peppers? Now they are among my favorite foods.