Ann Whatever

Across from LACMA, they erected pieces of the Berlin Wall in commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the fall of The Wall. It was just out in the open and anyone could walk up and touch it which is exactly what I did one Sunday afternoon.

Berlinwall-001

Fig, goat cheese, pancetta pizza

When you think yourself a foodie, you either only enjoy food from high-end places (expensive) or food of the people (street stalls, etc). The stuff in between you're not supposed to like...even remotely.

That's why I'm not a foodie.

But I think you know what I'm talking about. You're not supposed to admit that you like say...Rush Street. I think the food is quite good though. It's the kind of food that doesn't outshine the company you're with. It's probably not the most innovative restaurant, but innovation is so passe.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup

It's almost the end of November, so let me make an update about an art show I missed back in October. This blog is very timely.

October Shadows (presented by Nucleus and Creature Features)

http://gallerynucleus.com/gallery/pie...

My office recently moved to Downtown Culver City which means close to restaurants and the CuCi gallery district. I took a long stroll to the Corey Helford Gallery to see Andrew Brandou's new work, Mystic Garden. It's a bit of a departure from his last show, but still very colorful. The show closes next week.

This year's gift to Madonna Fan Club members is

Madonna2009

I can't wait! I still haven't framed the other lithograph I got through ICON (Madonna's Fan Club).

Typical Sunday morning ritual for us:

Me: What do you want to eat?
Him: I don't know. What do you want to eat?
Me: I always pick. It's time for you to pick.

Him: We're here. Let's look at the Fraiche menu.
Me: Okay (looking)
Him: Well, what do you think? Do you want to stay or try another place?
Me: Let's eat here.

Hold on a second. What just happened?! He got me to make the final decision. AGAIN!

Boyfriends are sneaky...

Gyoza Daikokuya

I've been reading about this place forever and every attempt to eat here has driven me elsewhere or to Mr. Ramen, home for waiting-in-long-line quitters. This time I had Him by my side and He wouldn't let me quit. So, we shivered in the autumn wind, huddling close to the glow behind Daikokuya's famous yellow awning with hopes of eating a warm bowl of ramen.

Standing outside we, well I, had the chance to thoroughly read the menu and decide on our orders. We were getting the ramen,  gyoza for me, fried rice and sausages for him. The gyoza made me curious - they were rectangle and not the cresent shape I grew up with. Must. Have. Them.

Sausages Daikokuya

Instead of gyoza a plate of green onions came out with a garnish of gyoza. There was so much green onion, I brushed them aside to save them for my ramen. I thought the gyoza and sauce was pretty weak. I'm used to more ginger in the dumpling filling and the ponzu sauce wasn't as citrusy. They were fried nicely though, so not a total fail.

The sausages (really hot dogs) were very tasty with the mustard on the side. Not cut into octo-dogs, but that's okay. I've never had Japanese fried rice. It just tasted like fried rice. I prefer my mom's version (I guess it's Vietnamese fried rice?) since it has Chinese sausage in it.

fried rice Daikokuya

From where we were seated we got a great view into the tiny gally kitchen. It was cool to watch the cooks dance around each other in a flurry,hustling to get our order out. I noticed one guy at the wok and I knew he was making the fried rice order. Another guy was stirring a large stock pot with the ramen soup base in it. He was obviously preparing our Daikoku ramen.

Making fried rice at Daikokuya

Making ramen at Daikokuya

Finally our ramen arrived. I turned mine into negi (green onion) ramen by adding all that green onion from the gyoza to the soup. Maybe I'm just so used to Santouka's strong soup, but I found Daikoku's soup rather lite in flavor. But it might also be because Daikoku's ramen is soy sauce and pork flavored. At Santouka you can pick from salt, soy, or miso flavors. I really loved that Daikoku's ramen includes an egg. It was soft boiled, so the yolk was slightly runny inside. Perfect.

Daikokuya Ramen