mo' j grub
march 09, 2005
last friday night, i met up with j & j for dinner at kayo. they brought along their nephew b. i sat there the whole night looking at the cute little hapa kid and wondered how come hapa kids have such long eyelashes - jasmine's are the same. b cracked me up because he couldn't stand the smell of fish and since we were in a sushi restaurant - he crinkled up his nose the whole night and put his sleeve to his nose to mask the "smells". i bet he's going to tell a different story 15 years from now.
it's been awhile since i've been to kayo. they have good food at prices that you would expect. it's not too expensive, yet not super cheap either. we started off with the sake (salmon) and hamachi (yellowtail) sashimi.
their combo plates came in the typical sectional lacquer bento trays. j had the chicken teriyaki with tempura.
i had the chicken katsu (deep fried chicken cutlet) with california rolls. i know, i was bad eating fried foods but i've been pmsing for the past 5 weeks i think. :p
the other j had the chirashi deluxe. i thought their chirashi combo was such a steal - it also came with tempura and chawan mushi (steamed egg custard) - all for $16.00 or so.
we spent a good amount of time talking about hawaii and ballroom dancing. but b wanted to go home and eat ramen since he barely touched any food at our dinner. i was unlucky enough to be seated diagonally facing these two skanky chicks who kept staring me down the whole night. i don't know what their problem was - but they seriously looked like they were in drag. with their thigh high mini skirts and wooden platform shoes and 5 inch thick makeup. granted, if they really looked hot, i wouldn't complain, but if i were a man, i would have rather gone for another man.
they were probably jealous of my teeshirt jeans and my 1 inch thick makeup look. *cough*
yes, i bet they were thinking how they too can they live WITHOUT concealer. :p but that thought must have been too difficult to fathom.
kayo japanese restaurant
816 s. atlantic blvd.
monterey park, ca 91754
626.282.7525
........
on monday, i got an email from my colleague entitled "surprise". it said something about a surprise for me in our company's fridge for me to take home. as i was leaving for work, i saw a big bag from King's Hawaiian Bakery for me. i recall mentioning to her that i like the King's Hawaiian Paradise Cake - the one with the lilikoi (passionfruit), guava and lime cake filled with layers of haupia (coconut cream) filling.
when i got home, i opened up the box and *tried* to make out the name on the cake. i think it's supposed to be "winnie". of course they could be pulling the starbucks trick on me by spelling it anything BUT winnie. i was so touched that my colleague remembered that i liked this cake and coerced her mom to bring it over to our work from gardena! man, that's so sweet of her to do so. it's these little things that really make me value friendships so much.
of course it was ono! i haven't had this cake in years - literally. i only allowed myself to eat 1 slice though.
........
^ it says, TAMAYA. yes, the years of studying japanese pays off :p
went to check out a ramen place over in hacienda heights the other day. ramen places are not very common in the san gabriel valley area and what's even more UNcommon are ramen places owned by japanese folks. you're probably thinking, what the hell? right? in LA and i'm sure in many other places, ramen shops are opened by chinese folks but call me picky and a food snob but i like my japanese ramen-ya run by japanese folks. i know, i know, ramen is chinese in origin but each time i end up at some faux ramen-ya, i always end up getting pissed off for even trying it out in the first place. they can never make it taste like the japanese ramen-yas that i'm used to.
but this one in hacienda heights is run by japanese folks and so i felt a bit reassured. i ordered the obligatory ramen side dish - the gyoza - pan fried dumplings. theirs weren't bad but i wouldn't present gyoza on a dish that practically camouflages it.
i wasn't impressed with their spam onigiri though. i was temped to say "spam musubi" when ordering it but decided not to. it was quite plain and the spam wasn't seasoned with shoyu or anything else. the rice was a bit dry and not as fluffy sticky soft as what i'm used to. perhaps if they had some sauce for it, it would have been better. maybe a teriyaki sauce - similar to what the loft does?
i don't know why i didn't order a curry rice or something since i'm not a ramen girl. but i wanted to play mind games on myself and not motivate myself to eat. :p so i ordered the mabo tofu ramen (minus the soup base). they of course looked at me like i was a freak but obliged my request. like i said, i'm not a ramen girl and this didn't do much for me. i enjoyed the one i had asahi ramen better. but it wasn't bad or anything - it just didn't whet my appetite at all. again, i ought to reiterate that i'm not a ramen girl and would have been more impressed if i was a die-hard ramen fan or something.
my dinner companion had the tonkotsu ramen. i didn't taste this, so i don't know how to rate it. but my dinner companion said it was pretty good. some people just aren't as expressive as i am when describing food. :p
i'll definitely go back because they seem to have a good variety on their menu and i'd like to try out their curry rice, kim chee fried rice and tofu salad. overall, their food was decent and it's rare that i ever something like that after visiting a ramen ya because i'm usually grumbling about why do we have to eat ramen in the first place?!
tamaya
17142 colima road
hacienda heights, ca 91745
626.581.3223
[in the albertson's shopping center]
