Eat Drink Style Food Blogging Gets Owned. Doh.

Discovered by Rameniac.

Eat Drink Style 1st Choice Noodle House, Alhambra - Heavy Noodling Chiu Chow Style

It's rare that I'll find myself craving something a bit on the heavier side. One of my pet peeves is the doze that seems to happen after lunch around 2 pm. Thank god I haven't had the pleasure of crashing my dome into my monitor. But occasionally during cold weather, I'll enjoy something a bit more comforting and rich. If you're into Korean-style Chinese black bean noodles jja jyang myeon ( 자장면 / 炸酱面 ) or Burmese-influenced Northern Thai curry noodles called khao soi (ข้าวซอย), this featured noodle dish may be your next new thing. This is a Chiu Chow-Chinese noodle dish called satay egg noodles. Can you tell I love copying and pasting Asian language characters from Wikipedia?

For the 100th time, a brief background on Chiu Chow Chinese ( 潮州; mandarin: Chao Zhou; vietnamese: Trieu Chau; thai: Teo Chew). Jeni loves to clown on me when I talk about this particular cuisine, which originates in Southeastern China near Fujian and just west of the island of Taiwan. Historically, they are some of the smartest, fastest-moving, hardest-working merchants and sojourners of China. Their footprints can be tracked in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and even the Philippines. In short, they are everywhere, and so is their food. How do you identify Chiu Chow food? Have you ever had wonton soup? Have you ever eaten flat rice or egg noodles in your soup? Have you had beef, chicken, pork or fish balls? Oyster omelettes prevalent in Taiwan? Satay BBQ dipping sauce for Chinese hot pot? Pork and duck egg congee? Those are a few of the notable dishes in Chiu Chow cuisine. When you walk into a restaurant that offers 3-4 different languages on the menu, you're in a Chiu Chow establishment. It will usually be Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian. Sometimes Thai. Also, when you hear of say a person that is Chinese-Vietnamese, it is very likely that they are Chiu Chow-Chinese born in Vietnam. In Chinese, we refer to that as 越 南 華 僑 (yue nan hua qiao) which literally means "overseas Chinese person in Vietnam".

One of the things highly prevalent in Indonesian cuisine are peanut-based sauces – satay being one of them. According to Wikipedia, peanuts were brought over to Indonesia by the Spanish and Portuguese. Satay is made of peanuts, dried shrimp, fried shallots, lemongrass and turmeric - with dozens of variations in other countries. There are nearly 7.8 million "overseas Chinese" in Indonesia. And it is very likely that this dish satay egg noodle dish is inspired by Indonesian cooking.

I first came here as I fell for the bait on the outside banner advertising various noodles. Originally looking for wontons, I found the menu to be a bit overwhelming - like looking at an Asian version of Jerry's Deli menus. Instead I cut to the chase and asked the server what I should eat. Without hesitating, she took the menu and said "satay noodles". Is it better with egg or rice noodles? She insisted on the medium-cut rice noodles, linguini width, as it "holds" the sauce better.

Within a few minutes I was brought the noodles and it smelled damn good. I was liking the colors, the tomatoes, beef and the golden satay sauce. It looked completely heavy but took the plunge regardless. The best way to describe this sauce is: uniquely delicious. There are hints of dried shrimp, garlic and shallots, lemongrass and a bit of fish sauce. In addition to the pieces of cooked beef, cucumbers and tomatoes, fried shallots are added for a nice texture.

I'm glad I went with the rice noodles as they held the sauce nicely and provided a nice slippery texture. Thin egg noodles would be too thin for the thick sauce and appear like goop. About half way into this bowl, I was full. Like muffin-top full. I fished out the last pieces of rice noodles and just thought about how I was going to handle the rest of the sauce. I came back another 3 times and each time I told them to give me less satay sauce. I love these noodles but sometimes find myself adding a little lime and fish sauce to kick it up. I'd also recommend asking for 1/2 the amount of sauce. I've eaten over a dozen versions of this popular Chiu Chow dish and I find the one at 1st Choice Noodle House to be in my top 3. If you're willing to handle a heavy load, that monitor-bashing, food coma you get may just be worth it. For the ladies, a bowl can be shared amongst two people. I recommend sticking with this dish and not the pho or wontons. Thanks for reading.

1st Choice Noodle House
1124 W. Valley Blvd.

Alhambra, CA 91803
(626) 457-1888
www.1stchoicenoodlehouse.com

Eat Drink Style Lucky Baldwin's 10th Belgian Beer Festival 2009 - Cheapest Flight to Belgium.

Something happens to the 210 freeway every February-March. Just when you think you're heading to San Fernando or towards Azusa, you may suddenly find yourself in an area completely opposite to the Pasadena area. Greeeeeeen hills, blue skies and a sign that says Brussels. Why? Because you're in Belgium now, home to my hero, Jean Claude Van Damme. Besides the "Muscles from Brussels", double-fried fries and wine-cooked mussels, Belgians make some of the best beers in the world. Not to mention, some of the strongest. Lucky Baldwin's, a British pub in Old Town Pasadena, holds an annual Belgian beer festival. Saving you $1,000 on the flight alone!

From now till Saturday, March 7th, you can try over 50+ juicy Belgian beers. Taster glasses start at $4, full glasses at $7 and LB's also offers a festival glass for $10 – you keep the glass and if you bring it back, all your full glasses will be $6. Thanks for observing the state of the economy and our needs for delicious beer!

Last time I was here, I saw a lot of people taking notes on the Belgian beers they liked on napkins. I did the same and lost it after my 6th beer. I've gone through the trouble to ensure you have a good time here. Trust me, you'll probably be looking for these beers at stores after you've had some. Click on the image to download the PDF.

My beer connoisseur friend, Sloejams, may not have food in his fridge. But he does know beer. Here are some of his recommendations.

Sloejam's Belgian Picks

Leifmans Goudenband, 9% ----- sour

Urthel Hop It, Urthel

St. Bernardus ABT 12, St. Bernardus

Avec les Bon Voeux, 9% Dupont

Affligem Noel, 10% Affligem ----- Christmas (obviously)

Sloejam's Beginner Picks

Popperings Hommelbier, 8% Van Eecke

Mannekin Pis, Lefebvre

Avril Biere de Table, 3.5% Dupont

St. Bernardus Witbier, 5% St. Bernardus

KWAK, 8% Bosteels

ED&BM Picks
Delirium Tremens, 9% Huyghe
McChouffe, 8% D'Achouffe
Piraat, 9% Van Steenberg
St. Bernardus ABT 12, St. Bernardus
St. Feuillien Triple, 8% St. Feuillien

Good thing Sloejams is recommending some beginner picks, because you definitely don't want to start out your day with a 12% beer – especially if you're 100 lbs. and hungry. Won't be pretty. Sorry for the delayed downloading site. No other way to host a PDF. Thanks for reading and drink responsibly – make sure there's food in the stomach!

Lucky Baldwins
17 South Raymond Avenue
Old Towne Pasadena, CA 91105
(626) 795-0652

Eat Drink Style Anti-Valentine's Day Dinner

The last time Valentine's Day actually mattered to me was in my prepubescent years in elementary school - you know, the days of innocence. For this day, you begged your parents to spend their hard-earned money on cards bearing Warner Bros. & Disney characters, heart-shaped candy that tasted like chalky meth and for that special special someone in your life, a small stuffed animal or something. It was honest, unadulterated fun. But, I had my system of distributing cards. I'd save all the crappy cards like Yosemite Sam or Three Blind Mice for people with cooties or didn't pick me on their kickball teams. These jerks wouldn't get any candy at all – not even the heart-shaped meth. They would get the stock message written on the copy without even a signature. Then there was the middle-tier friends who were cool to me and talked to me, but would never trade their delicious fruit snacks or fruit roll-ups for my asian delicacies like haw flakes or seaweed rice crackers. These racist friends still got a crappy card but some candy that actually had taste, AND a curvy autograph. And the final group to receive cards were for the ladies only. More likely than not, you liked more than one girl and that's why you'll see more than one Pepé Le Pew or Mickey/Minnie cards in that box – for 10-year old players like you. Now these were the cards I spent most of my night working on. I could see my mom smiling as I tried to profess my love in my limited kid vocabulary. I would say deep things like...

"You are sweet, pretty, cute, smart, beautiful, pretty, cute, sweet, fast, funny and cute. Hope you like Pepé Le Pew. Love, Dylan."

Attached to the card that was nicely sealed, I'd give like 5-7 candies. It was a simple yet fun time for many of us. And Jeni I promise, she means nothing to me haha. You are " sweet, pretty, cute, smart, beautiful, pretty, cute, sweet, fast, funny and cute" to the 100th power.

But now, as you get older, this particular 'holiday' requires you to fork out more and more of your hard-earned cash. In a relationship, shouldn't everyday be a test of one's love and devotion for a significant other? I took Jeni to Hometown Buffet a few years back, but this time, we wanted to do an Anti-Valentine's Day thing with some friends. I decided to tie the dinner theme back to elementary school... when looking 'cool' meant bringing your lunch in a brown paper bag, and buying cafeteria food on a tray meant you were a broke loser. Harsh!

Bleu Cheese Burger with Fried Egg, Watercress & Caramelized Onions
Father's Office, you either hate it or you love it. I think Chef Sang Yoon does a good job on the burger but I think it's too sweet and a bit strong on the bleu cheese. And he's missing one component that, for me, takes food to another level… fried egg! I marinated ground beef with bleu cheese chunks, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, minced onions, cayenne pepper and S&P. Let that sit for an hour or two in the fridge covered with saran wrap and mold your burgers. Caramelize your onions and if you're not using a sweet wine like port, add a little sugar to give your onions a nice sweetness. Serve with arugula tossed lightly in a vinaigrette or try it with watercress, which has a delicate mustard taste that I enjoy.

Alaskan King Crab Macaroni & Cheese with Scallions & Smoked Paprika
I love crab, and I love macaroni & cheese – this dish was a perfect mesh of flavors. I made a cheese roux with flour, butter, milk and whatever brand of grated cheddar cheese and mixed the sauce in with the macaroni shells. I then sautéed the crab quickly with some garlic, smoked paprika, shallots and smoked paprika. Just enough to wake the crab up. Add this on top of the macaroni & cheese or mix it in. This was really good.

Garlicky Tater Tots
I don't know anyone that dislikes tater tots, especially kids. Versus eating large fries, tater tots were the perfect finger food. I sautéed some garlic and parsley and lightly mixed them into the freshly baked tater tots. For dipping, I mixed in some curry powder into some ketchup (inspired by Wurstkuche in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles - review coming soon!) for a nice kick. For your snobby friends, try mixing the tater tots with grated asiago cheese and a few drops of truffle oil – good stuff.

Save the Best for Last Cookies
Always the one thing kids are eyeing as they chomp down on soggy chicken nuggets and vegetables. Thanks to Sandra for baking these tasty cookies.

As we ate, we drank great Belgian beer from Cap n' Cork in Los Feliz and enjoyed the sultry sounds of my Valentine's mix, Cheesy & Sleazy, still available for free download.

Thanks for reading.

Eat Drink Style Saigon, Vietnam - Saigon Seafood Stalls

After J and I got back from eating banh xeo and bun bo hue earlier in the day, we headed back to rest. We were still jetlagged and again I found myself falling asleep to another great English Premier League match. I love that Asia has games going on all day long on TV. We woke up and it was now 10 pm and we still had not eaten. Rather than take the scooter out into the wild streets of Saigon, we decided to do it like foraging tribesman and walk around. And I has had stated earlier on my breakfast hunt, you don't need to go far to find food in Saigon. All you really have to do is stand and do a 360, and you'll realize that it is actually the food that finds you. Pho was cooking on the left. Banh mi was being prepared on the right. But straight ahead, we were attracted to a small stand lit by the greenish, fluorescent lights that seem to be so prominent in Asia. Like moths in flight, we headed towards the light source.

The lady behind the stall spotted us approaching her stand and smiled, pointing at the tiny red and blue stools in front of her. We could hear the sound of something heavy being cooked in her pan, a sound very similar to the shuffling of Mahjong tiles. Based on the pitch, we knew it could only be one thing: mollusks. But she wasn't just offering a few clams, her little humble stand offered you a nice glimpse of the ocean. She told us to come up and waved her hands over her offerings like a magician about to reveal his trick. There was an enough assortment of 'fruits of the sea' to give you a food boner. Shrimp, squid, crab and clams I had never seen before. This was like Jacques Costeau's snack shop.

There are many tough decisions you make in life, like friendships, relationships and careers. Add this seafood dilemma to the long list because there was just too much going on. I love extensive menus but when almost everything looks appetizing, I get very annoyed. So we picked a few, mainly rarities, and she asked if we wanted a choice of garlic, spicy garlic or sweet & sour tamarind sauce. We asked for one of each with our dishes.

Blood Clams with Tamarind Sauce
Beside the fact that these delicious clams are banned in Shanghai for carrying hepatitis, typhoid and dystentery, this was my first time trying the 'blood clam'. The shell itself has a pattern of rivets and a more jagged texture to your standard Manila clam. The rivets themselves are almost the perfect type of clam to serve with a sauce because they can 'hold' the sauce in its grooves. I picked up the clam and sucked all the sauce off the shell, it was slightly spicy and tangy. Quite good considering I don't really care for dishes that call for tamarind paste. All the clams were shut and suggested they were either very stubborn or not cooked through. But with little effort, the clam gave in to me. To my surprise, the clam was dark red in color, and the juice had almost a muddy brown color. I took the juice in and tasted something deep, earthy and slightly muddy. And it was fantastic. I personally decimated this blood clam village. Had I known that there was a potential threat of contracting hepatitis, I might not have eaten it. But I'm glad I did.

Razor Clams with Spicy Garlic Sauce
I'll never forget the way we had to remove a razor clam from its shell back when I worked in a restaurant. A razor clam can range anywhere from 4" to 8-9" with varied widths of 1/4" to 1". The shell is rectangular and opens exactly like a book. With the head and tail ends of the clam exposed, this isn't the most protected clams out there but it's not easy opening. In order to get the clam out you take a paring knife, nudge the blade in between the shell and slash down the line of the shell, basically slicing the clam lengthwise. What happens next varies. You'll either see the clam ooze out of one end, wriggling in pain or see some sort of bodily fluid ooze out of the body. One time, that fluid nailed a colleague in the face and she shrieked in disgust. It's a bit cruel but the fastest way to get it in your stomach. The ones I had here with by far a midget version of American razor clams. The shells were super thing and with enough force, can probably be broken quite easily. I loved these clams for their king mushroom-like texture and garlicky sauce. This dish was also completely finished.

Sea Snails with Garlic Sauce
I enjoy evicting these mollusks out of their homes. A simple pronged utensil, a steady pull and you've got your buck naked snail. I love snails but it's VERY easy to overcook them. When they are overcooked, they are almost rubber-like – not tasty. We didn't finish these.

As we sat there in front of the stall, we completely forgot about our surroundings. This whole seafood meal only cost EIGHT DOLLARS and was more than worth it. We were in the middle of a busy intersection in Saigon's District 1, eating seafood. I think we're too used to eating seafood this fresh by the sea. I didn't think about it during the time, but you may want to be careful considering the fact that not many vendors refrigerate or ice their goods. Seafood generally has to stay cool, so be aware. But if this seafood stall wasn't doing things right, it wouldn't be packed every night with customers. For the most part, if you're willing to be adventurous with street food, you'll be rewarded. This stall is one of many in the city. I had heard that there was even a seafood alley in the city. Man how I love blood clams and razor clams! Thanks for reading.

Saigon Seafood Stall
Bui Vien (1/2 a block east of De Tham)
District 1

More postings on Saigon, Vietnam:
Saigon, Vietnam - Hello Saigon, Nice to Meet You and Eat You
Saigon, Vietnam - Banh Xeo 46A, a Taste of Vietnamese Crepes
Saigon, Vietnam - Bun Bo Hue, An Afternoon with Nguyen Thi Thanh

Eat Drink Style The Official Soundtrack of Valentine's Day

One more day until Valentine's Day and for a lot of people, this silly day means a lot. But with the recession, many people are choosing to stay in and fiddle with the stove and devirginize those Calphalon pots and pans. Tonight is a big night, and things may go well for you and your date. You've ironed your whole Old Navy outfit. You've trimmed your nose hair finally. Chicken is cooked perfectly in the oven. Wine is being uncorked. Ikea candles are lit. You've got way too much cologne but that's okay. But something is awfully dry and weird, and it's not the chicken breast.

Where is the ambiance?! Where is the sound of love?

This is where I enter with wings, bow/arrow and adult diapers. To really improve the chances of you sealing the deal tonight, I've compiled this erotically disturbing collection of songs/hymns/moanings/wailings that have somehow been interpreted as 'music'. This is all yours for the price of $free.99. Look at what you get!

Wow that's awful! If you can listen to this whole thing without hurting yourself or anyone, then you are the ultimate Cassanova. Good luck and enjoy!

Free Download ---> Cheesy & Sleazy Volume 1 (Zshare)
Free Download ---> Cheesy & Sleazy Volume 1 (Badongo)

Eat Drink Style Pliny the Younger - The Philosopher Has Arrived Again

For any beer enthusiasts out there, this is a good week. Russian River Brewing Company announced the release of this limited, American/Triple IPA masterpiece known as "Pliny the Younger". Not the elder version, for there are more hops and only brewed once a year. Word is that you can find it at some of my favorite beer bars:

Verdugo Bar, Glassell Park
Blue Palms, Hollywood
Father's Office, Culver City
Library Alehouse, SaMo

and also, at the newly opened, Surly Goat in West Hollywood, also a child of Verdugo Bar's Ryan Sweeney. Stop in for this beer, guaranteed to be a tapped keg in a few days. Here's a review on Beer Advocate. I personally find this beer to be a 36-24-36 kind of beer.