BUCA DI BEPPO

1670 South Pacific Coast Highway
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
www.bucadibeppo.com

I drove down to Redondo Beach for a friend's bday a couple of weeks ago. There is no parking anywhere at this place so you have to get it valeted, which roughly cost around $2. Once you're inside and they get your table ready, they take you through their bustling kitchen for a quick view.

It was just four of us but we some how ordered enough for a family of ten! We first started out with a large pizza (1/2 pepperoni, sausage and red onions and 1/2 pepperoni and peppercinis. The flat thin crust pizza was full of grease from the toppings, not like that's a bad thing. The pepperoni and sausage pizza was a good combination with a little bit of spiciness and saltiness.

This other side of the pizza was just as greasy. I had to dab it with numerous napkins. The peppercinis and pepperoni accompany one another really well. The crust on both sides of the pizza was really soggy because of the grease, it reminded me of when i used to microwave Jeno's frozen pizza.

Gnocchi al telefono was a decent dish. Its potato dumplings tossed in marinara sauce and topped with fresh mozzarella and basil. It was a very hearty dish that made me full rather quickly. I was looking for the chicken cacciatore on the menu but couldn't find it. Come to find out, the restaurant 86 my favorite item from the menu! Fortunately, the waiter told us that the kitchen staff could make it for us..and so they did. It was a whole roasted chicken on top of buttery garlic mashed potatoes and smothered in cacciatore that was full of vegetables. This was so good, I kept on eating even after I was full.

It is a cool place to eat if you are really hungry or if you are with a big hungry group. There are two portions of food served at this place and they are big and bigger. ~Bootsi

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

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.

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