KANTARO SUSHI

1542 W. Carson St.
Torrance, Ca 90501

After class on today I was in the mood to get something to eat . I first wanted tacos from Tacos Sinaloa on Carson St, but I instead made a left into a parking lonely liquor store parking lot. There hides a traditional sushi spot named Kantaro Sushi. I've been here before for their wonderful omakase (chef's choice) dinner, but I found out that omakase was for dinner only. The interior of this place is like my bedroom when I was younger. They had posters of Japanese baseball stars, a TV and ornaments on the wall. It was a very relaxing atmosphere. As soon as I sat down I was given a hot towel, a cup of green tea and the menu. The menu didn't have much on there, maybe around ten lunch sets that I could of chose from. None of the stuff was cooked everything was either sushi or sashimi over rice. I chose the most expensive set, of course. Not that I have money falling out my pockets like Eddie Murphy with pussy, but I just couldn't resist.
Salad came first. This salad consisted of lettuce, carrots, tomato, and cabbage, to my surprise. The dressing was sweet and tangy. Then came the miso soup. This miso was hearty with lots of seaweed, green onions and little cubes of tofu. The miso was good.

This is how my $16 sushi set came. Ten pieces of sushi and one California roll.

Close up of all the food. Don't know what some of them are, but I do remember how good the sea urchin was and how outstanding the eel was. The eel was a thick cut of meat, crisp at the edges and the sauce was not to sweet, not to salty and not too thick. It was right on.

To finish it all up, I was offered red bean or green tea ice cream. I always order the green tea after my sushi, but the only reason for that was because I don't recall anybody offering anything else. I ended up getting the red bean flavored ice cream and it didn't disappoint. In fact, it tasted like strawberry ice cream and I love strawberry ice cream! Not bad for $16, not bad at all, but the $30 something omakase dinner is a must try! ~ Bootsi

PIZZA MOZZA

641 N. Highland Ave.
Los Angeles, Ca 90036
www.mozza-la.com

Sorry no pictures for this one! After reading about Pizza Mozza from other blogs and many magazines, I have been wanting to go to this place for many months now! This past Tuesday, I finally made my way out there. This place is owned by celebrity chef Mario Batali, you can see him on food channel, and Nancy Silverton, the lady behind La Brea Bakery and Campanile Restaurant. So, I heard this place was hard to get a reservation and the only time that you should go would be during the off hours of 10pm (it closes at 12 everyday). There was supposed to be five of us at first but as the day wore on. it just ended up being just two of us. Thank goodness because we arrived a little after ten and this place was still fuckin packed like a can of sardines! It was so damn packed that the valet wouldn't even take Blu Gal (my car). He told me to check how long the wait was first then go back and tell him if I was gonna stay or not.

As I walked in, there was about four groups waiting to be seated. The hostess told us that it would take about twenty minutes, but since there was only two of us, she seated us within three minutes. See everything works out for a reason and if the whole group would of came it probably would of took over an hour to grab a seat.

We were seated at the pizza bar and Nancy Silverton was right there in front of me. Before I even sat down sat down, Nancy looked me right in the eye, gave me smile and said hi!!! Can you believe that shit, I was star struck. There was no way I was gonna pull out my camera for this one, SORRY! This place was dark, with red walls and high black ceilings. The joint was small and the place was really loud. I noticed that I had to lean towards my friend to conversate. We ordered the fried potatoes with sage. This was pretty good. The crisp sage was wonderful and went well with the potatoes and the aoili. For the pizzas we ordered the prosciutto & arugula pizza, hold the arugula, and the fennel sausage pizza. Both were damn amazing. The prosciutto was semi salty and just melted in my mouth and the fennel sausage pizza was really sweet from the red onions and salty from the sausage that I had to shake my head in amazement. The crust was out of this world, crunchy and chewy. I never had anything like this before! For dessert we ordered vanilla ice cream with espresso poured over the top. This was nothing to special at all. In fact, I really don't care for coffee and I really didn't care for this dessert. I also ordered the butterscotch pudding. This was delicious. It was like a mousse or was it like a pudding? All I remember was that there was mousse/pudding then a layer or butterscotch, then a shower of Fleur de Sel (salt) and topped off with a dollop of whip. It was really good, but the sprinkle of Fleur de Sel made this piece, the shit! ~ Bootsi

Other Pizza Mozza reviews not done by me 1, 2, 3

SEAFOOD PORT

21180 Hawthorne Blvd
Torrance, Ca 20503

The family ate dinner at Seafood Port in Torrance in celebration of Chinese New Years. My dad used to love going down to Chinatown for dinner, but ever since we found this place...the rest is history. This place is always packed on the weekends. The portions are big and the prices are cheap, what more can you ask for. As we all know, Chinese waiters don't give a fuck. The food came out randomly and fast. Next thing we knew our table had plates on top of plates.

The first to come out was the house special lobster. Man this baby was good. It was a little over three pounds and at $10.99lb. We always get our lobster this way, lightly floured and fried then stir fried with garlic, green onions, jalapenos and some sweet house sauce. The meat was perfectly cooked and the little bits of goodness on the bottom of the plate was scooped right on top of my rice. Yummy!!!!



Fish bones, yes fuckin fish bones, with soft tofu came out next. The tofu was so soft and silky and it was all drenched in light flavored soy sauce. That was really good. The fish bones on the other hand was just fish bones, well that's because I was born here in America, but to the rest of my family it was considered fish with meat. Some how they made a meal out of it.
If you were wondering where the meat of the fish went it went into this soup. This soup was not even on the menu, probably because it would scare most people. Being Chinese, we knew a secret menu, sorry suckers! I loved this soup. Two meals for the price of one, if you consider fish bones a meal.

Next came the stir fried minced chicken with lettuce wraps. These wraps were better than the wraps that I had at P.F. Changs. Tell you the truth, I didn't even like them from there. The wraps here, on the other hand, was the total opposite. Half a head of lettuce on one plate and the minced chicken on another plate. There was so much minced chicken that we ended up having the waiter bring us the other half of the lettuce.

I can't recall the name of this chicken dish. It wasn't all that great anyways. I just remember it being a little spicy and a little sweet. Nothing great.

This is eggplant w/ garlic sauce and meat. It raised my eyebrows on this one. The garlic sauce did not have much of a garlic flavor, but it did have a really sweet flavor. The eggplant was soft and mushy, just the way I like it.

Scallop in noodle basket was our last one. This one was okay. I love scallops, but for some reason I really didn't care for these. The sauce was good and the fried noodle basket was crunchy, but like I said I just wasn't diggin it.

Dessert was on the house and this is one of my most dislike desserts. It comes out warm and consisted of tapioca, bits of chopped seaweed and some type of sweet mushed beans. I couldn't do it. All in all it was a good meal. I left feeling really stuffed because the portions are so large. I could still taste the meaty delicious lobster. I'm glad this place is close to home. Nothings worst that to drive home from Chinatown on a full stomach.

MONSIEUR MARCEL

6333 W. 3rd St
Los Angeles, Ca 90036
www.breadwineandcheese.com

One of my favorite beautiful friends just came back from a two month trip in Mexico. We decided to hangout and grab some grub at LA's farmer's market. I wanted to try something else this time (instead of my usual Loteria) and since we got there really late, Monsieur Marcel looked liked one of a few places that was still open! When we sat down the waiter told us that the kitchen would be closing in ten minutes and that we had to put our order in quick. We flipped through the menu quickly, but our waiter never came back. We finally had to flag him down because he was playing grab-ass at the bar with his buddy. We both ordered the filet mignon grille. It included fries, but my friend wanted hers with mashed potatoes instead and I wanted my brandy mushroom sauce on the side. It never happened, both of them. No mash potatoes, No sauce on the side. I didn't really mind the sauce being slathered on top, it was just a precaution, just in case I didn't care for it. Luckily it was delicious. We told the runner about the mash potatoes when he brought out the food, but I'm not sure what happened after that because we never got the mashed potatoes! WTF! Guess it was time to go home and figured we were young and didn't tip good anyways, so fuck them! Other than that the steak was cooked perfectly and the fries were great, so I guess it didn't matter.

I also ordered a side of gratin dauphinois, potatoes gratin for us non fancy folks (pictured above). This was really good! It isn't you momma's scalloped potatoes that's for sure! I can't recall the cheese, but I know it wasn't your typical cheddar or swiss, it was the fancy stuff! The only bad thing about it was that I was hoping for a burnt cheesy crust.

This place was really good and the price was decent, the service though was sorry. The waiter didn't even check on us after he told us that there was only ten minutes left to put in our order. Like I said, we had to flag his ass down to get our order in and when we received our food from the runner, the waiter didn't even check on us until we were almost done. When we received the bill, I noticed he didn't even put down our special request for the mash potatoes and sauce on the side. I gave him a good tip too, which now, that I look back, I regret!

After all that, I would still make it out to this place again because I really doubt my events would happen often at a place like this. Plus, the only other occupied table at the restaurant ordered big bowls of mussels. They were all tearing it up like it was a contest! They made that shit look so damn tasty, that since then, I have been craving that shit ever since! ~ Bootsi

COLEY'S CARIBEAN CUISINE

300 E. Florence Ave.
Inglewood, Ca 90301
www.coleyscuisine.com

Well, I decided to try something new today. My friend was in the Inglewood area so we went to Coley's Caribbean restaurant on Florence. My brother used to talk about this place when he used to work near the area. I recall him raving about the oxtail stew and that was something that I really wanted to try (Oxtail is the SHIT). The menu had many things that I wanted to dip my face into but my goal was to get the oxtail. So on the menu they had lemonade, you were limited to only one refill, so I was planning on some really good homemade, fresh squeezed lemonade, but when it arrived at my table it was just plain old pink lemonade from the soda machine. What a disappointment!

Like I said earlier, I really wanted to try the oxtail, but they have a lunch buffet on Mondays thru Fridays. It was a hard decision, but since I have never eaten there, I really wanted to sample everything, so I went with the buffet. It was a small buffet with three hot entrees (jerk chicken, goat curry, chicken curry), sides (mac n cheese, beans n rice, steamed veggies, potato salad, fried bread, fried plantains and soup) and dessert (fresh cut fruit).


So this is what I got; (clockwise) beans n rice, mac n cheese, jerk chicken, goat curry and chicken curry. The mac n cheese was really good. It was thick with burnt crusty edge, very cheesy. The jerk chicken was moist and flavorful. You could taste many spices with the goat curry and the meat was just falling off the bone, yummy! The chicken curry had a different flavor, but it was just as good. The fried plantains were just decent. They were a little dried compared to that of the usual Cuban plantains that I am accustomed to.

I also got some soup that looked BOMB! It was thick and dark brown, almost like a roux. This was really good, it had a smokey char flavor to it and a hint of spiciness. I wanted to lick up every last drop. I didn't know the name of the soup, so I asked my waiter what kind of soup was it. She said "Soup? What soup? No honey, that there is the JERK SAUCE for the chicken!" I couldn't believe it! I turned red, like I've been drinking alcohol. I couldn't believe that I was drinking some damn sauce! I that shit was so funny that we couldn't stop laughing. I was so full after the so-called soup, but I had to try the jerk chicken the way it was supposed to be eaten. How could I not try it, right?

Well so here it is, drum roll please.......... Jerk chicken! Chicken was good, soup was good, together it was marvelous!

It was a fun experience. I would definitely like to come back again because I felt like I had some unfinished business to take care of! ~Bootsi

THE SAN FRANCISCAN

2520 Sepulveda Blvd
Torrance, Ca 90505
I've went to Lawry's many years back and expected it to blow my mind. In fact, Lawry's did blow my mind, too bad it was in a bad way! That was maybe the worst prime rib spot that I have ever been to, very sad indeed. This is not about Lawry's but it's about the San Franciscan. I have heard of the San Franciscan many years back, from friends and the fact that I have to go by it whenever I go in to work. Always wanted to but never did, so I finally decide to take a go at it.

I'm always looking for the best prime rib, the satisfaction on a medium rare roast with au jus is simply divine. So as my friend and I walk into the restaurant, the first thing we noticed was the live entertainment, the lady and her guitarist. Don't judge a book by it's cover because I was like "Oh god you gotta be kidding me" but they were awesome. They were playing all the jams! The interior was old schoolish, bright red booths, old wall paper and dim lights. I felt like I was in the hallway of an old downtown Vegas hotel.

We started off with fried calamari. It was pretty good. Not too much of a squid flavor that I like but it had that chew that I enjoy. The big rings were breaded and not battered so it didn't leave your lips all greasy and shit.

Dinner came with warm sourdough bread and soup or salad. Both were good but I really enjoyed the bread. I could stop cutting a piece for myself. Bad move!

I also ordered couple of fried shrimps on the side of my prime rib. These shrimps were big and cost about 2 to 3 dollars each. It wasn't worth it because it was just so much food. They were really good though, but I hate it when I force myself to eat more.

The prime rib was the star of the night. We were treated with fresh and creamed horseradish. You get a choice of starch, in which I chose baked potato. One of the best baked potatoes that I have ever encountered. OK now back to the meat. I ordered the medium sized portion and it was big. It was roasted perfectly pink and was so soft when put into the mouth. I usually hate it when people put the au jus in shot glass on the side because you know it is never enough. This place, however, pours it over the meat before it even reaches the table. I was impressed with that because there was still a lot or au just that didn't get sucked up by the prime rib. This is probably one the best prime rib that I have ever ate. There was nothing bad that I could say about it, it was that damn GOOD! ~ BOOTSI

SUSHI BEI

2021 W. Redondo Beach Blvd.
Gardena, Ca 90247

My cousin and I ended up at Sushi Bei, in Gardena, after waiting for a friend that never showed up(Yes, that's you Mr. Domo Arrigato Mr. Birthday Bato). Well it is his birthday and it was his family that he left us for, so we can't be too made, right? WRONG! I stayed in my jeans for over two hours when I could of been in my favorite, most comfortable pair of sweats! Ready to call it a night after the devastating news, but realized I had to put my jean wearing to use, so off we went.

This place is hidden in a plaza that is connected to the end of a Target's parking lot. It is a really small place that consisted of about six or seven tables and a sushi bar that seated about 10 more people. The place was empty when we got there around ten, so we grabbed seats right in front of the tube that was playing sport highlights. There's nothing better than sushi and sports, it's almost as good as chicken and waffles.

As far as decoration goes, there is nothing fancy about this place, just a very clean simple wooden decor. Sushi wise it's plain ol' good hands down traditional sushi with couple of exotic rolls to keep everyone happy. Once I had fresh sweet shrimp here and the sushi chef kill the shrimp right in front of my eyes! That was an enjoyable experience and the shrimp without it's shell was still flinching on top of the rice! It was cheap too, I believe it was about $7 for two shrimp and then they fry up the head for you afterwards. That's what I call fresh, but I didn't get it today! I'll make sure I get it next time.

The first thing on the list was salmon skin roll. The salmon skin wasn't as crunchy as I like it, but the fresh veggies made a nice crackle when I bit into it. Really good and fresh!

Then we went for the eel roll. I always loved eel sauce from here. It's not extra thick and sweet like most places. It's simple here, it doesn't over power the roll and you can really get a good taste of the eel.

Ume roll totally tantalized my tongue. We requested this to be made without the usual shiso leaf and cucumber slices. We just wanted ume (plum) paste and nothing but ume paste. We love that tart tangy taste of this roll. It made my mouth water like crazy as soon as the ume hit my tongue.

Scallop roll was really good too! There was a delightful contrast of temperatures in you mouth when you take a bite because the rice was slightly warm and the scallop mix was cold. There was big pieces of scallops in the roll mixed with mayo and tobiko (little fish eggs). This had big scallop texture and taste.

We ended our sushi run with and order of tuna maki. I love tuna maki because it is so straight forward and the best way, I feel, to get great flavor from the tuna.

Then there was free dessert! We had a choice of green tea ice cream or slices of orange. We both picked the ice cream and it was good. What a way cap off the night...good sushi...good service...and sports on the tube! ~ Bootsi