Ohana Hawaiian Island BBQ

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Auntie Em's Kitchen

Already being well regarded for their Red Velvet Cupcakes, Auntie Em’s Kitchen gained even more notoriety after spotlighted on Throwdown with Bobby Flay recently. Auntie Em’s Kitchen is known for their moist cupcakes with a sweet cream cheese frosting, but not cloyingly so. They are also known for have cupcakes that are larger in size than most. For their price point, they are definitely a bargain compared to Sprinkles.

Arriving later in the day, I was disappointed to find out that they were sold out of the Red Velvet Cupcakes. I did, however, decide to get one each of the remaining three types of cupcakes that they did have left: Coconut, Carrot Cake and Chocolate.

The Coconut Cupcake is a yellowish cake with a slight hint of lemon flavor to it. The cupcake is topped with a cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with shredded coconut to finish things off. The cake itself is heavy, dense and noticeably greasy. It could be that the oil started to render out after being on display for most of the day. The cake is not sweet in the slightest bit. The cream cheese frosting is sweet, but not cloyingly so. The shredded coconut atop the frosting is not sweetened otherwise this would be a diabetics worst nightmare. The combination of the cake and frosting eaten together changes the whole complexion of the cupcake. Somehow, the cake doesn’t seem as dense, heavy and greasy but transforms into a light ethereal cupcake. The intentional blandness of the cake helps to cut down on the sweetness of the frosting and this turns out to be a delightful little treat.

Like the coconut cupcake, the Chocolate Cupcake was a little dry inside. I attribute this to the cupcakes being left on display the entire day. The cake was not heavy like the coconut cupcake was. The frosting on its own is not too sweet, but sweet enough to put you into a diabetic coma on the spot. The frosting is very light in texture and is made out of dark chocolate which helped to cut down on the sweetness of the frosting. The combination of the two together is a nice mixture of light whipped dark chocolate frosting with the dense deep chocolate flavor of the cake.

The Carrot Cake Cupcake was still moist. The cake was filled with carrots, walnuts and pineapple chunks. The cake itself is not too heavy and had a light cinnamon taste. The spices did not overpower the cake by any means. The frosting is cream cheese based, and like the coconut cupcake was not overly sweet and still had a little tang to it from the cream cheese. The combination of the cupcake as a whole has a nice balance from the sweetness of the pineapple and frosting, spiciness of the cake, the crunch from the walnuts and the zing from the cream cheese.

I would like to get some more cupcakes from Auntie Em’s Kitchen early in the morning at some point in time, so I know what they taste like when they’re freshly made.

Auntie Em’s Kitchen
4616 Eagle Rock Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90041
(323) 255-0800

Fredo's Phillys

After hearing so much about Fredo’s Phillys on Chowhound, I decided to make the trek over there. I had been in the area previously, but they had just closed. I was very surprised to know that they closed at 8 PM. Very strange for a restaurant to be closing this early, especially on the weekend.

Well, the wait and another journey were well worth it. Fredo’s is a small restaurant with only a few tables inside and one table outside. Pictures, postcards and pennants of Philadelphia adorn the walls, but the most obvious is the pictures of the many satisfied customers of Fredo’s Phillys. Dan, the owner, is super friendly and is very proud of the sandwiches they serve and for very good reason.

The menu is rather limited, but I love places that know what they do well and stick with it, as opposed to restaurants with a seemingless endless menu that does things well but nothing outstanding.

The mushroom cheesesteak ($7.39) comes on a 12” Amoroso roll. It is filled to the brim with thinly sliced beef, grilled mushrooms, grilled onions and your choice of cheese. It wouldn’t be authentic if you didn’t get the Cheez Whiz. The roll is soft, yet has a slight chew to it, the perfect bread combination for this sandwich. The meat is tender, juicy and flavorful without a hint of fat or gristle. The mushrooms are caramelized on the outside, while retaining its meatiness, and onions are perfectly grilled, which renders out all of the sugar. The Cheez Whiz acts as a culinary glue to hold all of the components together while giving the sandwich a nuance of cheese flavor. It certainly doesn’t overpower the sandwich in the least.

If you are looking for an authentic Philly cheesesteak, Fredo’s is you place. This place hits the mark like a Ryan Howard towering homerun right over the center field fence at Citizens Bank Park.

Fredo's Phillys
720 N. Lake Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91104
(626) 798-9905

Seafood Harbour Restaurant

Fighting the throng of people in the San Gabriel Valley in search of dim sum is never an easy task. First, dealing with traffic is always a test in patience. Second, finding a parking spot among the many restaurants can sometimes be a challenge. Lastly, waiting in a seemingly never ending line to get a table and be seated.

Fortunately, we arrived after the lunch hour rush, so traffic was minimal and parking was surprisingly easy to find. But we still had a 45 minute wait before being seated. The bad thing about arriving that late is that some of the most prized dim sum can be sold out.

One thing that immediately stands out about the dim sum at Seafood Harbour is that the dim sum is much larger than at most restaurants. Each dim sum piece is easily one-and-a-half times as big as most restaurants such as Capital Seafood and Ocean Star. Although the dim sum is higher priced at Seafood Harbour, you do get more bang for your buck. Seafood Harbour is among the “new wave” dim sum restaurants that offer new and creative types of dim sum. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t, but it’s always fun to try something out of the ordinary.

Stuffed with two to three whole shrimp along with some shrimp paste to help bind it together, the Har Gow (Crystal Shrimp) is at least a two bite affair. The dough is light and has a little bit of a chew to it. The shrimp are perfectly cooked, as it has a little bit of a bite to it as well as being juicy at the same time. One of the bad things about having the dim sum so big is that the skin tends to fall apart a little bit easier. To me, I will sacrifice some disassembly for more filling any time.

The Shu Mai is a dumpling filled with pork and shrimp and topped with fish roe (eggs). Like the Har Gow, whole shrimp are embedded in this dumpling. The pork is minced and helps to bind the dumpling together as well as adding some flavor. The fish roe adds some color as well as some crunch to the dumpling.

The Bean Curd with Oyster Sauce is a loosely filled “dumpling”. The bean curd drapes the filling of pork, shrimp, wood ear mushrooms and other vegetables. It comes adorned with a light broth. The bean curd is a little chewy but adds a lot of texture and a nuance of flavor.

The Fresh Shrimp Dumpling with Chives is very similar to the Har Gow except it has the addition of chives and fish roe. Again, whole shrimp were stuffed into the dumpling and held together with a chive infused shrimp paste. The addition of the chives added a faint onion taste and another level of flavor. The fish roe added both color and texture to the dumpling. The dumpling skin was soft and a little pliable which gave the perfect amount of chew. Like many of the other dumplings it was filled with too much stuffing and tended to fall apart.

The Shark Fin Scallop dumpling is a monster of a dumpling. It’s like dim sum on steroids. The dumpling is filling with two to three whole shrimp which is then topped with a whole scallop. The filling is encased in a soft, slightly chewy dough then adorned with strands of shark fin. With all of the filling involved in this dumpling, unless you can eat it one bite it’s sure to fall apart. The shark fin doesn’t much taste but adds a little bit of texture. If you’ve never had shark fin before, it looks like clear short strands of spaghetti. It has a firm texture much like al dente pasta, except this doesn’t stick to your teeth like al dente pasta sometime does.

One of the more nouveau dim sum is the Durian Pastry. The filling is enwrapped with a gorgeously decorative pastry that is then deep fried. This dim sum was a little disappointing as it had no durian taste. Upon breaking it apart, there is a greenish-yellowish paste that looks like durian, but even that has no durian taste or the ever powerful aroma of durian. The rest of the filling is a whitish paste that tastes like some type of root vegetable, possibly yam. Out of all the dim sum sampled on this day, this was by far the biggest disappointment.

The Egg Custard came right out of the oven and was still hot when presented. The prized custard was soft and creamy with just a hint of egg and slightly sweet. The pastry was buttery and flaky and just fell apart when bitten into. This was a perfect way to end a great meal.

If you can get by the long wait usually associated with Seafood Harbour, it is well worth the journey. If you are also adventurous, this is the perfect place to try some of the new wave dim sum out there.

Seafood Harbour Restaurant
3939 Rosemead Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 288-3939

Philly's Best

Philly's Best opened in the Chino Spectrum about six weeks ago. I wanted to wait a while before trying it out, in case there were any bugs in their operations, it would give them time to work them out. I have passed by there a few times and have always seen a lot of foot traffic going in and out of the restaurant, always a good sign.

I had high expectations of Philly's Best from the amount of foot traffic and things that I have read about other Philly's Best restaurants on Chowhound. Sadly, I was disappointed in Philly's Best.

The Mushroom Steak is meat and mushrooms on the infamous Amaroso roll. A few thin slices of pre-proportioned meat is grilled to order, while a pile of onions are on the grill, slowly grilling away. The portion of steak per sandwich is pretty dismal and is just swimming in the large roll, and reminded me of the Steak Escape that you can find at most mall foodcourts.

The Philly's Best contains steak, mushrooms, sweet peppers, grilled onions and provolone cheese. This sandwich contains more ingredients so the bread isn't the main player. All of the components meld together more cohesively.

I would probably give Philly's Best another try down the road, but based on this visit I wouldn't highly recommend it.



Philly's Best
4047 Grand Ave., Ste. F
Chino, CA 91710
(909) 464-9911

Kiku Sushi

Situated in the new Crossroads Entertainment Complex in Chino Hills, Kiku Sushi is not a destination restaurant by any means, but they do serve some decent sushi. A feature that is offered is an all you can eat sushi option for $22.95, $17.95 for lunch during the week. What sets it apart from Todai, Onami or any other “sushi buffets” is that the sushi at Kiku Sushi is made at the sushi bar to order.

The all you can eat feature excludes uni, toro and ame ebi, but otherwise the entire sushi menu is yours for the taking. They do also offer a lot of rolls at Sushi Kiku, for those who are into rolls.

There are also cooked food options included in the all you can eat option. Included are tempura, chicken teriyaki, beef teriyaki, tonkatsu and several other dishes.

Although they don’t offer the highest quality of fish, the fish is fresh, has no fishy scent and is not stringy. The fish has nice color and a nice sheen to it. The rolls here are bathed in a rather sweet sauce, which tends to overpower the delicate taste of the fish. Because the sushi is made to order, it doesn’t sit out for extended periods of time like at other sushi buffets.

For decent sushi, Kiku Sushi is a worthy option. The restaurant is very clean, and the servers are friendly and professional.

Kiku Sushi
3090 Chino Avenue, Suites C&D
Chino Hills, CA 91709
(909) 591-1291

Santouka

This was my first time trying the ramen at Santouka. I have heard many things about Santouka, almost all of it great. Santouka is the gold standard, the ramen by which all others are compared. Seeming to have engaged in a partnership with Mitsuwa, Santouka is located in their foodcourt.

The menu is fairly limited, a sure sign of a restaurant that knows how do things great instead of restaurants that have an exhaustive menu turning out mediocre food.

Santouka is known for their shiyo (salt) ramen. The shio ramen ($6.49) has a slightly white murky appearance at first glance, but underneath is a rich, golden brown broth with tons of flavor. Even thought the name implies salt, the broth is really not all that salty. An initial blast of salt strikes the palate but then the rich pork broth makes an appearance. Although the broth has a floating layer of fat on top, it does not have an oily mouth feel. The thick, toothy noodles help to cut through the richness of the broth. The noodles definitely add some texture and another dimension of flavor to the mix. Two slices of pork with a nice layer of fat come with the soup. The pork has a rich, deep flavor with the fat just melting in your mouth. The ramen also comes adorned with umeboshi (pickled plum), kamaboko (fish cake), green onions, bamboo shoots and wood eared mushrooms.

The miso ramen ($6.49) is similar to the shio ramen except miso takes the place of the salt in the broth. At first glance, this tastes like miso soup. As the broth reaches the back of the tongue, the deep, rich pork flavor arrives on the scene. The same toppings come with the miso ramen.

If you are looking for top quality ramen, Santouka is definitely at the top of the class.

Santouka
Mitsuwa Marketplace
665 Paularino Ave.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 434-1101