krunkstar

So Joe and I ended up at ix tapa cantina  after the Ferrari show in Old Town Pasadena.  We actually wanted to try the hot dog place around the corner recommended by Jerry, but it was closed so we thought we’d check out what used to be Fred’s – and besides, they were offering 2 for 1 lunch entrees.

What a disappointment.  Let me start by saying Joe and I had deep discussion about how this location is always going to have troubles staying open.  It’s a very large space on the very edge of Old Town on a corner with banks and commercial buildings.  There’s very little pedestrian traffic around here.

There were only about 3 other tables with customers and I counted atleast 5 employees working the floor. This did not equate to good service. Very Very Very slow.  
Here’s the breakdown:
-Sat us, didn’t take a drink order. Came back for drink order
-Drinks arrive
-Drinks (one alcoholic, one ice tea) sat empty for minutes as we waited to order.
-Chips and salsa came. – Not from our waiter
-Still waiting to order.
-Order an appetizer (Guacamole)
-Non-Alcoholic drink refilled
-Drinks Empty
-Appetizer arrives
-Refills Drinks/Waiting to order
-non- alcoholic drink Empty
–Order another appetizer (fish tacos) – use restroom (which were not maintained very well, smelled of sewage, only 1 of 3 soap dispensers worked, and the paper towel roll was placed on the sink instead of inserted in the dispenser.)  With that many employees and slow business, someone can atleast maintain the restroom.
-non-alcoholic rink still empty
-Fish Tacos Arrive
-wait to order
-order two carnitas tacos
-Carnitas Taco plate arrives
-Drinks refilled

After being there over an hour, we never actually ordered lunch.  

ch-ch-ch-ch- changes:
they put some repainted the walls, put in some new furnature – took down all the weird falic cupids and art, put in some “lounge” areas in the corner and upstairs. Put in wood/red upholstered furnishings, and a blueback or bottom lit bar.

As for the food:

Guacamole – fresh, but tasted just of avocado and onion – there was no flavor/seasoning/salt – the chunks of avocado were too large- over 1 1/2 inch cubes and they do the gimmicky red/green/white tortilla chips which i’m not a fan of.  Immediately doesn’t cry fresh made when there are food colorings in the chips.

Fish Tacos – (2) small, “grilled” style with julienned cucumber on top. Not bad

Carnitas Tacos- small street taco style but was not authentic at all.  The carnitas were cut up into 1/2 inch cubes, not shredded/pulled and did not have that post roasting, crispy outside, moist delicious inside pork flavor that I expect from carnitas.  The meat did not have good color (brown/grey) or texture. – They do not offer a la carte tacos at lunch!!!!!!!!!

rice/beans – very generic – the rice tasted like lower quality El Torito and the beans tasted like they were straight from a can.

This food + 2 margaritas (which Joe really enjoyed) and an Ice Tea = about $50 for lunch.  NEVER AGAIN!  We should have had our fish and chips at Lucky Baldwins!!

So, I’m kinda lame and forgot to take a picture of our awesome Saturday night dinner.  Joe had planned on working on the truck all day, so I decided to make pulled pork for dinner…slow cooked with two homemade bbq sauces – one pretty classic and one mustard/vinegar based.  In the end, we both went for the mustard/vinegar. mmm…i just love that tang.

So to accompany the pork I made some bite sized twice baked red potatoes (stuffed with sour cream and chives) and a cool broccoli salad (quick sauted broccoli, sweet/tangy mayo dressing, red onion, bacon).  MMMM…soooo good. and easy. I just love a pulled pork sandwich on a hawaiian roll. I can’t even fake a picture, we ate all the potatoes and broccoli that night. I even made more salad the next day and joe devoured that too…he had never heard of broccoli salad before, and now he has a small addiction. oh no, here we go, my mouth’s watering again.

A few weeks back we went on a little dessert trip to Anza-Borrego.  Good Times.  A few old friends.  A few new friends. And a few very creative songs were born that need to be edited down and posted for all to enjoy.

The point – Saturday morning we drove into town before heading out to the second campsite.  Joe and I were ready early, so we headed out before everyone else and stopped at a little burger/taco place right before the circle – El Borrego Restaurant. A small joint with a side yard full of iron art – dinosaurs, horses, orangutans, mules, dolphins, etc etc etc.  Apparently the artist was hired to make some for the town, and is also selling then through the restaurant.  I kinda love iron art…

We stopped in and were the only customers there at the time (there are only about 3 tables inside, 5 on the patio, and a few more around the back). The gentleman working was really nice, despite our indecisiveness and changing our order quite a few times.  We can be quite the annoying patrons!!

Though the cheeseburgers were just okay (there has to be a minus for the sesame seed bun) the carnitas taco’s were super awesome!  So good in-fact that we ordered a dozen to take with us back to camp even though we had packed more than enough food.  The homemade jalapeno salsa was SOOO good and they served beer.   And the prices were moderate. Great little place.

By the way – by the time we were ready to hit the road, many more parties arrived – every table was taken.  I’m thinkin’ we’ll have to stop in again next time we’re around – who needs to pack food when we can just stop in and get a good meal there?!?!  more room in the cooler for jello shots!

i just haven’t had the time to keep up with this blog. I guess that’s just how things roll. busy busy busy.  I feel like there’s never any downtime, and even when we do get away (camping, etc) it’s busy busy busy doing something else.  i need a week of decompression.

Anyway, it’s nice having Joe work in Koreatown.  We’ve had some good, and not so good lunches around there.  Korean BBQ isn’t exactly what you think of as a lunchtime meal, but we had to go atleast once.  We went to Sonamu Korean BBQ a block down from his office – ended up getting the all-you-can-eat lunch at $16.99 each.  It was okay – not the best Korean BBQ I’ve had, but the service was pretty quick and the lunch came with a lot of little condiment plates (mostly varieties of kimchi) to eat with our meats.  Also came with the steamed egg dish that I love, but no “pancakes” to wrap the meat in, thin sliced radishes, or mushrooms.  Tried the Brisket, Spicy Pork Belly, and the Marinated Pork SpareRibs.  The spareribs were easily the best of the bunch.  The pork belly was basically a thick cut, wide, 6in long bacon in a kimchi-like sauce.  Took a long time to cook, and was tasty, but not that great. The heat on the grill just isn’t hot enough to get it to a crisp, so there was still a lot of chew on it and the fat was tough to get through.  The Brisket, though super-thin and had a nice texture, was pretty flavorless, and had to be accompanied by one of the sides.  Oh – and our server apparently doesn’t know the difference between 7up and Sprite.  Wow, now that I wrote all this, I realize that it sounds pretty negative.  Maybe there are just some automatic ++s added because I love meat…and cooking as I eat…and having endless amounts of meat sent to me with the push of a button.  Oh, how i love the convenience of the button call provided at korean bbq places!

Definetly better, and not nearly as close to his office was the Guatemalan restaurant that we went to. Restaurante Rinconcito Guatemalteco.

Small mural on the sidewall of Ronconcito Guatemalteco

Just south of Melrose, this super tiny restaurant had really good food, friendly service, and was inexpensive.  I had never had Guatemalan food before, so we ordered quite a few things off the menu.  Tostadas with avocado – basically a fried tortilla with some smashed avocado, onion, and seasoning on it;

an enchilada – which I don’t even know how to describe – tortilla with tons of stuff on it including lettuce, beets, cheese, onion, pork,…all i know is that it was like no enchilada i had ever seen before, and it was YUM;

tacos – which were basically pork taquitos, served with smashed black beans;

and a beef dish (damn me for not remembering the name of the dish – i wish i took a menu) - large chunks of meat, green beans, and squash in a super meaty, hardy stew, served with fresh homemade tortillas.

It was just the type of place that seems like it’s been there for years serving the community.

(edited to include the pics)
Best food weekend so far – and we didnt step outside of the house. (i’ll post some pics later – forgot my camera even though I remembered the cables – doh!)

Friday night – Homemade pizzas! We made the dough in the processor (first time, awesome, super fast ), got some fresh italian meats at the best little italian deli and went to town. *pineapple and fresh jalapeno (SUPER HOT)*Pepperoni, salami, and italian sausage*pepperoni, mushroom, and olive*red/yellow peppers and onion*

homemade pizzas

Saturday - brunch - sunnyside eggs, bacon, pancakes, and crostini; dinner- homemade chicken wings – was the first time to fry these little buggers up, and yes, they will be done again. They were perfect! really – makes me never wanna order some up again knowing how delicious they can be at home.

Sunday – brunch- bacon, poached eggs (finally figured this one out properly), skillet potatoes with red/yellow peppers, onion, and italian sausage, toast; dinner – baked mushrooms stuffed with a bed of wine tossed spinach, italian sausage, topped with fresh parmesan, served with herbed hollandaise.

This whole cooking thing is making going out to eat less and less appetizing. Sure, there’s a lot to clean up, but the food is just better! Commercials are less and less appealing. Its kinda sad. I’m being spoiled by all this food. There will always be somethings that I don’t even try to mimic (In-n-Out, Pie-n-Burger, (although i’m getting close without even trying…i just need to find the right bun!!) and I haven’t mastered the art of the carnitas yet…but that one’s  being worked on.)