Fresh parmesan bread & tuna salad for lunch

Because I can

Evening all. So another weekend of eating comes to a close. My regular after-church dinner tonight consisted of a visit to a trendy ethnic place in Culver City called Pho Show (a take on the slang for “for sure” pronounced “fo’ show“) with my wife Melissa, brother-in-law Mark and good friend Diane. When Pho Show first opened a couple years ago, they served mostly what their name suggests, Vietnamese pho soup. If you haven’t had pho and you’re a soup or ethnic food-lover, you must try! This place is nicer than most places you’d normally get pho from which are usually mom & pop Vietnamese restaurants where English is a second language. Nothing against those places at all because the food is usually super-cheap and mostly delicious. Anyway, at Pho Show, you’ll find more fashionable decor with cool lounge music playing and prices that are a wee bit higher. I hadn’t been here in a long time, so I was pleasantly surprised to see they significantly expanded their menu. So for starters, we ordered a “chef’s choice” appetizer combo which meant the chef picked 3 random appetizers for us. We got Thai beef satay skewers, pot stickers w/spicy citrus soy sauce and shrimp spring rolls w/peanut sauce.

Thai beef skewers, pot stickers and shrimp spring rolls

All were well-executed. The others ordered a few dishes to share, one of which was a favorite of mine: salt & pepper fish. I snagged a piece while they weren’t looking…YUM! If you like seafood, ask for this dish next time you get Chinese (and not at Panda Express). It most likely won’t be on the menu, but just ask them to do a salt and pepper deep fried fish fillet. Basically the same thing they do with shrimp or calamari (which usually is on the menu) but instead with pieces of cod or other white, flaky fish. Every sit-down Chinese place we’ve been to has made it for us even if it wasn’t on the menu. So I glanced at the big, black chalkboard on the wall to see what the specials were. I noticed something odd: steak. Not just any steak, they were serving New York strip, T-bone and filet mignon! Huh?? I took a long look at the menu again but couldn’t stop thinking about treating my taste buds to a nice, juicy steak so, I went for it: T-bone cooked medium w/black pepper sauce. It was no perfectly-cooked steak from my favorite steak place Fleming’s, but it sure hit the spot. It came with a big scoop of fluffy fried rice. Being Filipino, I appreciated that. Anyway, it was a very good meal. I left feeling satisfied.

Salt & pepper fish

T-bone steak & fried rice

I realize my recent posts have basically been reviews of food establishments but, I promise that’s not all I’ll be blogging about. Bear with me as I continue to figure things out. It will be a work-in-progress for a little while at least. Your feedback is always appreciated!

Thanks for reading. Please comment and don’t forget to share my blog with your friends!

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” —-Virginia Woolf

Cold

Good Sunday everyone. I’m currently noshing on leftover seafood pasta that my wife brought home from dinner last night with some friends. Penne, marinara and mozzarella with mussels, clams and other unidentifiable creatures. I added a dash of red pepper flakes and a touch of sea salt to jazz it up. Turned out well for leftovers. I popped in to the drugstore earlier and contemplated picking up Panda Express or something else hot but my conscience prevented me knowing there were leftovers waiting in the fridge at home. What are you eating today?

“Gold Class” Cinema worthy of its name?

[This is a follow-up to my 1st Yelp review which can be found here.]

It pays to be honest! I’m a fan of Gold Class Cinemas on Facebook and within about a week after my first visit to the theater, I posted a comment on one of their updates saying that I hope they read their Yelp reviews (click here for that review) and provided a link to mine. I get a reply back saying they’d contact me via Yelp. Sure enough, I get a message from a theater rep saying they want to pay for our next visit including dinner and drinks. Nice!! They wanted to make things right and prove that my first visit was probably just an off-night. Anyway, after having to reschedule once, the super-helpful girl I communicated with via e-mail booked my wife and I for last night to watch “Just Go With It” @ 9:30pm…

We stepped inside the lobby and noticed there were no other customers in line. I figured most likely because it was rainy and cold outside. Nevertheless, we were greeted politely by one of the concierges. I gave her my name and she knew exactly who we were and had our tickets ready to go. Check. She proceeded to lead us herself down the escalators, both sets of which were working unlike our first visit. Check. She handed us off to a girl in the swanky lounge/bar area who seated us at a table right in front of the theater. There were several other parties waiting in the lounge and the bar was kinda hopping. Within a minute, our server greeted us with a couple of menus and took our drink orders, then gave us a few minutes to decide on our meal selections. My wife had complained previously that the women’s restroom was relatively messy and certainly not what one would expect at this type of establishment. I suggested she go check it out again even if she didn’t have to “use” it. She went and reported back that everything was just fine this time. Good job guys. Check. Our server brought our drinks (white beer and Diet Coke), took our meal order and explained to us the timeline as to how it would be served to us in the theater. We got our calamari appetizer to tide

White beer & calamari strips w/wasabi mayo

us over until the movie started. About 10 minutes prior to the movie, a girl came over and explained that we should head to our seats in 5 minutes. By the way, the calamari strips were delicious! They came with this nice wasabi mayo dip. We ate them up like they were french fries. The chives that were sprinkled on top kept falling off so I just tossed them into the dip (*note to Gold Class). Our seats were pretty much right in the center. We promptly stowed our jackets in the armrest storage, sat down, kicked our shoes off and hit the recliner button….ahhhhh yes. I was still working on my beer so I set that down on the table between our seats. Our server came out and explained everything for newbies which is what we missed last time. I noticed that, for those who missed the explanation, staff members would seat them and make sure they got the rundown. Nice correction. Check. Movie starts, then, as expected, we got our free individual popcorn bags (perfect for me since, if you know me, I don’t like sharing popcorn in a movie theater). Later, right on time, we got our entrees. Mini burger trio & fries for me, lemon chicken satay w/roasted asparagus for the wife. It was dark but I could see that the burgers looked really tasty. They also came with a side of fresh-made (I assume) potato chips. If I knew that, I might not have ordered the fries especially since they give you a ton of them. Also, the menu didn’t state that the fries are actually waffle fries, only that they are “big fat” fries. Regardless, it was all delicious. My wife’s chicken satay was juicy and flavorful. The roasted asparagus was a bit limp though. Later, we got our desserts…Strawberry Angel Bowl and Death By Chocolate a la mode. The strawberry dish was nice and light, just the right amount of sweetness. The chocolate ganache cake was a little bit rich but the flavors were nice. I was quite full already so I could only eat about half of it.

I must say again, as before, the motorized, reclining seats are one of the best things about this place. I love how there’s a limited amount of seating (hence, less chatter) and that even the front row is not a bad place to sit (they purposely leave about 20 feet between the front row and the screen).

Okay, so round 2: Bravo Gold Class. Great job you guys. I will say that, even though there’s a possibility that my wife and I received somewhat special treatment due to my brutally honest review, they made things right and our 2nd experience definitely lived up to the Gold Class name.

Oh yeah. I’m not a big Adam Sandler fan but the movie was funny and entertaining. Plenty of guy eye candy. That’s all I’ll say. Thanks for reading 🙂

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White beer & calamari w/wasabi dip….mmmmm

This was our appetizer last night. Some of the best calamari I’ve ever tasted! Beer was good too. Full dinner review forthcoming…

Free food!

So my wife and I are headed to Gold Class Cinemas in Pasadena tonight to watch “Just Go With It”. It’s a high-end theater where they serve full dinner and drinks right to your seats. Each theater only has about 40 seats and the seats are motorized recliners! Our first visit a month ago, we felt, wasn’t worth the price so I shared our experience on Yelp (here’s my review: Yelp review). Well, the theater got wind of my review and offered to pay for our next visit. So, we’re going tonight. Expect a full report late tonight or tomorrow. Have a good weekend everyone!

For you

Happy Friday foodies! It’s overcast and cold here in L.A. Rain is predicted for today and tomorrow. I LOVE it! Well I’ve been thinking a lot about what sort of content I wanted to add to this blog in the coming weeks so I thought I’d ask you guys, my hungry readers. What would you like to see me blog about? It should obviously be food-related. Besides the usual food pics, what specific topics do want to read? More about eating as a kid growing up in a household where both of my parents cooked? The food I’ve eaten during my various foreign excursions? Bad food experiences? What else? It’s up to you. Let me hear it!

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“Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?” ~Author Unknown

This morning

So I’m slowly starting to get the hang of WordPress. As you can see, I figured out how to upload a pic directly from my cellphone which is something I’ll probably doing often. It’s about 10:40am and I’m hungry! Probably going to finish up the last of the loaf of bread I baked last weekend. Need to hit the grocery today to pick up a few things for spaghetti dinner tonight. Nothing fancy. Sauce from a jar but will add some ground beef and maybe some extra herbs/spices. One of these days I’d like to create my own sauce. I’ll probably use either brown rice or wheat spaghetti noodles. Both actually don’t taste a lot different from the regular stuff and they’re better for you which is always good. The deal with garlic bread is that I prefer the loaf-style garlic bread either freshly-made from the local grocery’s bakery or frozen is fine. My wife really likes that Texas Toast kind which I like too but not as much. On our trip to the grocery a few days ago, we decided we’d get both. Problem solved.

Did you know that in the Philippines, you can order spaghetti from McDonald’s?

What are you eating today?

Testing mobile upload

I’m hungry!

"Mmmmmmmmm..." -Homer Simpson

If you’re a fan of the NBC TV sitcom “Friends”, you should be familiar with the title of my blog. Admittedly, the actual quote from the character Joey is, “Joey doesn’t share food!” as opposed to “does not”. However, that title is already taken by some dude in Brazil who has only posted 2 entries to his blog. Meh. Regardless, the title kinda sorta applies to me although I do actually share food………SOMEtimes. If my wife or someone else I’m eating with politely asks to try my food, I will share. Otherwise, like when I’m watching a movie at a theater, eating popcorn, I would rather not reach into the popcorn tub and feel someone else’s hand. Therefore, I want my OWN popcorn or, I will at least dump some out into one of those cardboard drink trays for others to partake in. Anyway, I just figured the “Friends” quote was befitting of my blog, yes?

I’m a self-proclaimed foodie and certified massage therapist. Trying to figure out how to combine the two. I enjoy eating and cooking food. In this blog, you will see the many pictures I like to take of both the food I eat and cook. You will also read my random thoughts about food, whether it be about a gourmet food truck I want to try, my food experiences growing up or about a food-related article I read. I started this blog because many of you told me I should so this is for YOU (you know who you are and I better see all of you regularly commenting on my blog posts!).

Some of my favorite eats are New York pizza (everything else is just dough with sauce & cheese on it), a basic hamburger (lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup…no cheese), pho, bulgogi, sushi, grilled cheese, fried rice, chicken noodle soup, paella, jambalaya (not too spicy please), hard shell tacos, beef stew, corn-on-the-cob, buttered movie theater popcorn, UK-style fish & chips Fleming’s steak, McD’s french fries, Arby’s roast beef sandwiches, Wienerschnitzel chili dogs, Shakey’s Mojo potatoes and any salad from Tender Greens…to name a handful.

Anyway, thank you for visiting and I hope you all get hungry from reading my blog 🙂

DON’T FORGET to please comment!! You’re awesome if you do. If you don’t than you’re …well…LAME.

“Peace & good eating!” -Chef Ming Tsai