Welcome Daisy Dawg!

Under furs

Daisy Dawg

Welcome Daisy Dawg! Daisy was a shelter dawg who was adopted by DJKung's godson's family in Fresno. She is now nine months old and is a super good dawg. She had a little bit of kennel cough upon arriving at her new home, but is getting better.

Daisy the dachshund.

See how well she does "beg"! Daisy loves all types of non-dog food.

Takin' it back to Takahachi

Under food:

Takahachi

It felt like we haven't been to Taka in a while. We were craving tempura one day, so off we went. DJKung ordered the Spanish medium-grade toro (fatty tuna), beef skewers (unpictured) and tempura soba. I got my fave bento box. The only gripe we had was that the tempura shrimp was not up to Taka's par; this evening, it was rather tiny and had extra breading.

Spanish medium toro. It tasted pretty fresh, a bit firm and a bit fatty. DJKung described it as "balanced."

Tempura soba. This was pretty hearty, and DJKung commented on how rich the broth tasted.

Bento box. Isn't it purty? From top left: tempura shrimp and veggies; sashimi (yellowtail tuna, tuna, salmon); braised pork and veggies; fried oyster; grilled salmon. I never get bored of the selection and can switch up my bites. This also comes with either soup nor salad, and either white or brown rice.

Somebody next to us ordered the toro sushi, so we were kinda jealous. We ended up getting it too (copycat!).

Left: unagi (eel) hand roll. Right: two pieces of toro sushi. The unagi was devoured after a few bites. The toro sushi was good too, melt-in-your-mouth buttery tuna. Yummmm.

Back yet again at Binh Duong

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Binh Duong

DJKung was in real bad shape with the flu after his California trip. After a few days of chicken soup, he wanted to have something else to eat. As soon as he started feeling better, we were off for pho.

Besides pho, we also ordered their vegetarian crepes.

Vegetarian crepes. The filling contained mostly bean sprouts. We tasted a hint of coconut, but were unsure where it was from. I thought it was a tad greasy, but DJKung liked it.

Lettuce leaves, cilantro and pickles. Nuoc cham dip (fish sauce and lime).

DJKung also felt very restored after the meal. Once again, Binh Duong hits the spot!

Max's Restaurant, San Francisco, California

Under food:

Max's Restaurant
San Francisco, California

Our Fresno friends had high hopes for Max's Restaurant, a highly regarded fried chicken joint in the Philippines. DJKung recalled dining at a Max's in Manila and remembered that they had excellent chicken. Unfortunately,everybody was let down by their recent experience at the Max's in SF.

First, the service. It was appallingly slooow. Mind you, the Ultimate Fun Club tries not to be superserious with the non-food/fur/fun aspects of things. Max's, however, merits special mention for their truly atrocious service. DJKung found that the wait staff, even after making eye contact with you, tries its best to evade actually providing any service.

Second, most of the dishes they got was pretty bland.

Max's Teasers. Includes fried lumpia (eggrolls), fried calamari and fried pinsec (wontons). Everything was very greasy.

Sizzling pork sisig. Good. It was garlicky, fried, very tasty.


Lechon kawali. Deep fried pork belly. It is simply impossible to mess up this dish.

Fried chicken. DJKung thought that this was pre-fried and sat under the warmer lights too long.
It was dry and tough. Terrible.

Nilagang bulalo (beef shank soup). Bland bland bland. DJKung had to ask for patis (fish sauce), which took thirty minutes to arrive.

Pho 75, Fresno, California

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Pho 75, Number 2
Fresno, California



DJKung was out in Fresno over Christmas to visit some family friends. Upon arriving in the airport, he and his pops were quite hungry. Pho 75, Number 2 seemed like a good pick. It was close to the airport.



Pho 75's menu was quite extensive. The clientele was half-Vietnamese, and was packed. A table by the front had premade banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches).



A little historical tidbit. Following the Vietnam War, the Hmong refugees were relocated to, among other places, Fresno. Our Fresno friends have noted that Fresno has a very vibrant Hmong community.

DJKung, already with full-blown influenza during the flight, wanted some nourishing soup. He got the beef pho.

Garnishes for pho: basil, bean sprouts, lemon wedges, hot green pepper slices. DJKung said that everything was very fresh.



Beef pho. The serving was much larger than what DJKung usually receives. The beef was rather gamy---DJKung opined that the beef was from the local farms that he glimpsed by the highways.

Goi cuon (fresh shrimp rolls) with peanut sauce. The sauce was exceptionally fresh and was made from scratch. Even from the picture, you can tell that it was thicker and richer than your peanut-sauce-from- a mix.

Fried squid. These were on the greasy side.

DJKung's godson ordered the grilled pork chop with fried egg and veggies. Rice on the side. This is his favorite.

718 Sessions

Under fun:



718 Sessions
http://www.dannykrivit.net/



Santos Party House
96 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10013
http://www.santospartyhouse.com/



Happy New Year! We caught up with our boogie-on at Santos Party House on New Year's Day. There was a last-minute snafu with the location, as the venue was originally at Webster Hall.



Santos Party House is in a nondescript building with large blacked-out walls on Lafayette Street in Chinatown. The flyers mentioned that the party started at 6pm ($5 for the first 100 to get in), but even by then, the outside was eerily empty at 6pm. We were not even sure we were at the right place, but a line started to form a little after. Doors were opened at 6:30pm, so we got in for cheap. Yay!



The main floor of SPH was open that night. It had a roughly crooked rectangular layout, with two bars. There were at least three DJ booths that we saw, with the main one on stage. There was also a "serious" mixing board according to DJKung. The dance floor was wood and pretty even. The wall of speakers hanging on the wall looked impressive at first sight, but DJKung and I felt that the sound system needed a lot of improvement. The music did not really feel very warm, and it was hard to find the sweet spot on the dance floor.



This was our first time at 718 Sessions. We've been fans of Danny Krivit from his days at Body and Soul, so we expected a lot of classics, which he delivered. Even three days later, we're still humming "We're gonna stomp... all night... in the neighborhood...'coz it feels all right!" I must say that even with my eight-year hiatus from boogie-ing, the vibe is still the same. Well, apart from the cell phones and smoke-free environ, that is. The place did get pretty packed around 830p-9pm with a lot of sweaty, singin' and screamin' peoples.

Movies we watched this week

Under fun:

Donnie Darko (2001)

This was on tv during the long Christmas weekend. Donnie Darko is about a teenaged boy who may or may not be having grandiose and scary audiovisual hallucinations. I prefer to think it is the latter, and that the movie was exploring two universes. The part about the wormhole connecting the two seemed rather illogical, though.

DJKung liked the movie, but hated how uncertain the ending was.



Les Enfants Terribles (1950)

We got this at our local library (yay to public libraries!). I picked it to find out why this movie was such a classic. It is about two overgrown brats. The movie is really dated, with the acting very exaggerated. Nevertheless, the story was quite hilarious and more than a bit disturbed.

Always hoppin' at Hop Kee!

Under food:

Hop Kee Restaurant
21 Mott Street
New York, New York 10013
(212) 964-8365


I can't believe that we have not yet posted Hop Kee, the original denizen of our SUPERROTATION---DJKung's parents used to bring him here all the time since he was an itty bitty thing. I blame DJKung for the oversight; he tends to go here after work with his buddies. And he never brings home leftovers. Well, after getting our groove on at 718 Sessions, now was my chance.


The following are our top four picks whenever we go. The waiters know this by heart, because apparently, all their FIlipino customers order the same thing.


1. Salty squid with hot peppers. I love how they cooked it today and gave it a slight char. The squid is, yup, salty and chewy-crunchy. No flash-frozen precleaned squid here. You can taste the brine in 'em. Make sure you mind the peppers; sometimes they are benign, but once it a while they are hot-hot.



2. Young chow fried rice. DJKung absolutely digs the fried rice, wheareas I like mine plain white. I think this is what they call Hong Kong style cooking. You can really taste the wok sear in the rice.

3. Peking pork chops. Their sauce is a bit stickier than others'. Sometimes, they do go overboard with the vinegar, which Chibby does not like. I like to dribble a little bit of the sauce on my fried squid.

4. Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce. Hop Kee always cooks it just right. These babies retain their crunch and are just lovelt. In the summer, you can get their sauteed water spinach, which is equally good.

Alas, no oranges today. But plenty of Fresh Naps to clean your sticky paws after some serious eatin's.

Bistro 18

Under food:

Bistro 18
Montclair, NJ

Moms was in town last Christmas, so we had my (second? third?) belated birthday dinner. With the holiday traffic, we decided to stay close to home. Pickin's were slim, but I found that Bistro 18 was open Christmas Eve.

Our party of five was still short by two, but we got seated at 7pm with no problem (we had reservations). The place was not even half-full that night, probably because it was wet and cold outside.

Moms was hungry, so we mentioned to our host that we were ready to order. To which the host, in a Seinfeldian-Soup-Nazi huff replied, "I don't like my staff to take orders when the table is still incomplete, it confuses the staff in the kitchen." (WTF*?!!!) I have never encountered such a brusque response, which was odd given that (a) the place bills itself as a bisto; (b) it was not exactly bustling that night, and (c) they seemed to have a sufficient number of staff.
* what the fur

It was certainly bizarre to say the least. The host did grudgingly send a waiter to take our appetizer orders. The waiter seemed to have no problem whatsoever with taking our orders.

Bread basket.

Mozzarella, prosciutto and roasted peppers with balsamic sauce. The peppers were sweet, but the mozzarella was dry and bland. Couldn't even tell if it was buffalo mozzarella.

Potato and celery root soup. Nice starter, very light.

Herb-crusted snails with garlic demi-glace. We were impressed by this, it was really tasty. Chewy, buttery and well-seasoned. It came with a basil sauce and a pepper sauce, I think.

Washed down the apps with the '05 Mondavi merlot that Brother D got last Thanksgiving. It was not bad, fruity but with enough weight, balanced, eminently quaffable.

Yay, Brother F and his friend made it! Of course being the good sister, I immediately dispatched him to the local wine store for more vin. This is what he got.

Frei Brothers Reserve merlot, Sonoma. What a good pick... it was a tad sweeter than the Mondavi we just had, and also worked well with the food. Brother F remembered our sojourns in Sonoma county last Thanksgiving, so he figured that the wines would sorta taste the same. Can't argue with that logic.

I was not able to go and take pictures of everybody's plates. I ordered the tuna. Brother F got the veal, I think, and his friend ordered the seafood pasta. Moms got full from the soup and bread.

Wasabi crusted yellowfin tuna. With brown gaze (soy-based?), yellow rice, steamed bok choy and wasabi on the side. I liked the tuna, which was very generous serving. I also liked the crunchy wasabi crust on the outside, kinda like a spin on your typical pepper-crusted tuna. The sauce was super-sweet and I was not fond of it. The bok choy was alright, a bit on the limp side. The rice did not work well with the fish; too many flavors going on.



Capellini (angel hair pasta) with shrimp, lobster, scallops, arugula and fresh plum tomatoes. The friend said it was pretty good.


I think this was veal scallopini with sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke. The picture does not really match the description on their online menu, so I could be wrong.

Bistro 18 has a nice selection of desserts.

Creme brulee. I think the sauce was raspberry. This was textbook-perfect: brittle crunch of the caramelized sugar and creamy, silky custard. There was also a syrupy sweet sorbet (raspberry? strawberry?) that went untouched.

I think this was ice cream in a crepe cone, but not sure.

Could not get this picture to come out clearly. This was an apple tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream.

Everybody finished their plates, which said something for the food. We even got to meet the executive chef, Ricky, that night. Very young-looking Filipino dude, and he sounded pretty serious when he mentioned his training and experience. I wonder if he was curious about the crazy table that dared to order apps without their party being complete.

Bistro18 is BYOB.

La Rural

Under food:


La Rural


Upper West Side



Happy birthday J! We celebrated at La Rural, an Argentinian joint that specializes in grilled meats a la parilla. DJKung and I arrived early, so we grabbed a malbec for him (Septimere '07) and a varietal for me (Dona Flor '05: merlot/shiraz). Both worked very well with the food.


La Rural does look a like a Buenos Aires parilla joint, with the grill visible as you walk in. I especially liked the rough-hewn wooden tables.



For apps, DJKung ordered the grilled sweetbreads and the cheese sampler. The bread was really wonderful slathered with a very garlicky pesto (chimichurri?) that was next to the salt and pepper on the table.

Grilled sweetbreads. DJKung liked it; it had the rich texture of liver.

Cheese platter. Let me see. Clockwise, from top left: manchego, cabrales, dried figs, tetilla, apple slices, brie, strawberry slices. Green and red grapes in the middle. We really like the manchego--- very creamy and nutty. The rest weren't anything standout, but it was nice to try some new cheeses. The cabrales was a superfunky blue cheese. At home, Chibby eyed it with suspicion, but Babams ate it with his customary gusto.

Birthday libations: sangria!

For our mains, DJKung was game to try the day's special, osso bucco. I was already getting full from the apps, so I got me some corn empanadas.

Osso buco. DJKung said it was a little dry, but falling-off-the -bone (?). He really liked the yellow marrow. The sauce was tomato-based, on the bland side. Side of long grain rice, cooked al dente, and delicately seasoned. Very hearty!

Empanadas de choclo (corn empanadas). They were on the small side, and fried perfectly. The filling had creamy corn and pimiento and was very yummy.

A couple of friends ordered the grilled meats assortment. The consensus was that the meats definitely had that free-range taste.

Morcilla (blood sausage) from the parilla selection. DJKung felt that the texture was too soft for his taste. The casing was tough, but I think this was from the grilling. On the right, the garlic french fries. They were crispy, salty and heavenly with ketchup.

We were going to order mate, the national Argentinian drink, but the kitchen had run out of it already. We ordered pio-pio instead.

Pio-pio. From top: dulce de leche ice cream, which was divine--- creamy dulce cut with salt. Middle: strawberry slices, on the tart side but full of flavor. Bottom: sponge roll with more scrummy dulce filling. The roll was a bit dry and overly sweet... I liked the ice cream waaay better by itself.

Crepe with strawberries and ice cream.

Birthday flan.

Of course, Ozzie Wan and The Faschiester got the tiramisu.

La Rural has a very cozy and festive vibe, ideal for either a couples date or for a large birthday group such as ours. Bring your appetite, as the meats are hearty! On a side note, the lights flickered throughout the meal, which was a little weird.