Christakis Greek Cuisine - Tustin, CA : Spanakopita

No need for too many words. You like Greek food, try this place out. There's even live guitar music to be enjoyed.

Interior

The calm before the storm. We got there just after 5:00pm when they opened for the evening. So getting in was easy. Cozy setting. Getting out was harder since all the seats were filled.

Greek Salad

 My dinner started with a small salad. Part of the dinner meal.

Spanakopita w/rice, green beans, potato

The main dish. Spanakopita with rice, green beans, and a potato wedge. All pretty darn good. (And I don't love Greek food, but maybe that was because I didn't eat REAL Greek food.)

Spanakopita

The Spanakopita was crispy and flaky on the outside with lots of feta cheese on the inside. All good. The only thing I would say is that it was a bit dry. I myself have a dryer mouth and need lots of water so maybe that was it. Besides that, I liked that it wasn't too salty. The flavors were well balanced in my opinion. The Meat-eater thoroughly enjoyed his meal as well. Thumbs up!

Christakis Greek Cuisine
http://christakisgreekcuisine.com/
13011 Newport Avenue
Tustin, CA 92780
714-731-6600

Bluewater Grill - Tustin, CA : Vegetarian Pasta

When one goes to Bluewater Grill, one usually goes for the seafood. So as a veggie eater going out with the meat eaters, there is always a salad for you to eat. When I told them I was a vegetarian, lo and behold they asked if I wanted to see their vegetarian menu! Well yes of course, thank you!

Pasta Primavera

This was the first time going into a mainly meat/fish place where they had a vegetarian menu. I'm sure there are other places like this, it was just my very first time. So I was very grateful. They had several selections, but I chose the pasta primavera. I didn't have time to snap a picture of the veggie menu since the waitress was waiting on me. Darnit!

Now, I must admit, these noodles weren't very tasty. In fact, it's as if they forgot to put in any salt at all! There was a little bit on the grilled vegetables, but that's it. So I have to say, the pasta was really not good. Maybe just stick with the salad as that's what's usually on their menu. Although I am very grateful for the selections available, I must give it a thumbs down on quality. Sorry. =P But at least there ARE options. =)

Bluewater Grill
http://www.bluewatergrill.com/
Location eaten at:
2409 Park Avenue
Tustin, CA 92782
714-258-3474

Wasa Sushi - Irvine, CA : Veggie Dishes

I know I know, vegetarians eat pretty much the same thing at Japanese restaurants. Assorted vegetable rolls, tamago if you eat egg, maybe some inari. Not very spectacular. Well here goes another Japanese place anyway.

Shiitake "Frites"

Wasa Sushi had something a little different. Shiitake mushrooms! Was excited to try this...but sadly it just tasted burnt to me. Perhaps it was the chef and maybe on other days it's better, but it was just burnt burnt burnt. =P Not so good.

Veggie Roll

Typical vegetable roll with the avocado, asparagus, carrots, sprouts, cucumber. Can't really mess that up right? It was good.

Tamago

I eat eggs, so I had some tamago. This was also not bad. One vegetable roll and a little extra usually fills me up. I remembered Wasa was good when I went before. Perhaps it was the time of day or something where they don't have the good chef, but it was just ok for me this time. (Meat-eater's sushi wasn't spectacular either.)

Wasa Sushi (at The Market Place

http://www.wasasushi.com/

13124 Jamboree Rd.

Irvine, CA 92602

714-665-3338

Corner Bakery - Irvine, CA : Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich

Corner Bakery is cool because you can easily customize your sandwiches. They're pretty cool about it. Some places are not so cool about it. I mean, they'll do it, but they really don't mind here. Generally speaking, the staff here has been pretty good. =) Yay good staff. (I do frequent this place.)

Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich

This sandwich is usually Tomato Mozzarella on Ciabatta Ficelle. I think it probably tastes better on the ciabatta, but to make it a bit more "healthy" I decided on their whole wheat bread (harvest toast) instead. It comes with mozzarella, tomatoes, arugula, peppers, and basil with some balsamic vinaigrette. I think in this one, I left out the peppers. I usually don't like those too much. Tasted pretty good. I also substituted the side of chips with some salad. Simple and filling meal.


Corner Bakery
http://www.cornerbakerycafe.com/home.aspx

Degnan's Deli at Yosemite National Park

Camping at Yosemite with your dog really does limit where you can go. Initially we weren't going to bring the dog, but she got an eye infection so we had to bring her and give her eye-drops regularly. 

Taking in the view of Half Dome

We pretty much just walked the valley floor. They really don't want dogs there and it really is not dog friendly at all. They say you can go to paved areas to walk your dog, but there is no map of all paved areas. And some paved areas do not allow dogs. Phooey! There were a few people with dogs, and you can hang out at your campsite with your dog, but that's about it. No hiking on any trails in National Parks. National Forests are okay though.

Vegetarian Sandwich

During our visit at the valley floor, we stopped by Degnan's Deli for lunch. They had a vegetarian sandwich, so I was good to go.

Veggie Sandwich

It was a huge sandwich! I had it for 2 meals. Tomatoes, cheese, sprouts, greens, carrots on multi-grain bread with pesto mayo spread on it. Pretty darn good. You won't starve at Yosemite at all, since it's such a touristy spot.

Degnan's Deli
http://www.yosemitepark.com/yosemite-village-restaurants.aspx
Yosemite National Park

Jang Soo Jang Korean BBQ Restaurant - Cerritos, CA

We were brought here because of the decent food and cheaper prices. Meat eaters Korean BBQ galore. Yes, it's much cheaper than an Anjin in Costa Mesa. Quality may not be as good as Anjin but it's not bad...and for the price, it's worth it.

BBQ

While the meat eaters ate their BBQ, I ate the various banchan and ordered myself a bibimbap. Lots of little dishes to eat.

Kimchi

Sprout Namul and Japchae

Potato

There were more banchan than this of course, I just took pics of a few.

Bibimbap

Bibimbap...how can you go wrong? You put in as much or as little sesame oil and gochujang sauce as you like and mix it all up. You get a variety of vegetables in your dish too. This place is kind of old and it hasn't been updated, but as long as the food is still good, it's a pretty good value meal for everyone.

Jang Soo Jang Restaurant
http://www.yelp.com/biz/jang-soo-jang-korean-bbq-restaurant-cerritos
19107 Bloomfield Ave.
Cerritos, CA 90703
(562)924-5367

OC Fair 2012 - Costa Mesa, CA : Smoothie Shop

This is a couple of months old, but this is by far my favorite stand for food at the OC Fair.

Terri's Berries

 They have smoothies, strawberry shortcake, chocolate covered fruit...and just plain fruit too.

Lemon Lime Twister & 4 Berry Blend

Lemon Lime Twister and the 4 Berry Blend were both yummy. Nice cool refreshing drink on a warm summer day. Yup, my usual stop at the OC Fair...since everything's expensive anyway, this is worth it for me.

Corner Bakery - Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Regular drink (L), Smoothie (M), Water (r)

While at Corner Bakery, I wanted a fruity drink without going to a juice shop (Laziness ensues). So I decided to try their strawberry banana smoothie. While the taste was ok, the size was not that large. They said it included banana and strawberry puree for flavors. I don't know, I still prefer the juice places for using frozen fruit rather than a puree...seeing how it's not less expensive at Corner Bakery, and you don't get a free boost. This is what laziness gets you. Disappointed.

The Natural Cafe - Westlake Village, CA

The Natural Cafe is not a vegetarian or vegan restaurant but they offer a lot of vegetarian and vegan options. They try to use fresh local ingredients to create healthier dishes.

Interior

Apple Juice

My drink of choice was apple juice. I heart Martinelli's apple juice...yummy. Cute little bottles too.

Veggie Lasagna

The veggie lasagna consists of "spinach covered with ricotta cheese, fresh vegetables, and marinara sauce," as stated on their menu. It also includes the salad and garlic bread pictured above.

Exterior

I would say the food was ok. It depends on your palate. For me, I'm not ready for this "healthier" food and it tasted a little bland to me. I still need some salt even though I think a lot of other food places are super salty. Surprisingly, this place is not salty at all. Actually, a little more salt would be better for me. =) Interesting huh? First place I've been to where I'd like some salt. I prefer slightly bland so you can add some salt rather than most places which are too salty anyway. =) I would definitely go back to try some other foods!

The Natural Cafe

http://www.thenaturalcafe.com/

968-12 Westlake Blvd.

Westlake Village, CA 91362

805-449-0099

The Wheel of Life Vegetarian Thai Cuisine - Irvine, CA

Delicious vegetarian cuisine. Yes please! Although it's mostly Thai style vegetarian dishes, there are some Chinese style dishes as well. There are a ton of dishes for vegetarians to try. This time we only tried the Fresh Spring Rolls, Yen Ta Four noodle soup, and Prik Khing.

The Wheel Fresh Spring Rolls

The Wheel Fresh Spring Rolls were delicious. I chose this one because it's not fried. The sauce went well with these spring rolls. Great for summer when you don't want something hot....or just great because they're not fried!

Yen Ta Four with noodles from Tom Yum noodle soup

Ok, I may have chosen wrong as it was a warmer day...and this soup just made me hot. I love noodle soups...but I guess just the Chinese style ones. This was ok...but the soup was too flavorful for me. Not flavorful as in salty, but whatever their secret spice mix is. I will try their Chinese style noodles next time if I'm hankering noodles.

Prik Khing

The Prik Khing was The Meat-eater's choice and he liked it. I thought it was SPICY! Since I don't like anything spicy, I stayed away...but I did have a bit and it was good until the spice kicked in. Whew...too much for me. =)

This is a good place for vegetarians to go as there is variety and their mock meats are flavored well in my opinion. Vegetarian yumminess!

The Wheel of Life Vegetarian Thai Cuisine
http://www.wheelofliferestaurant.com/
14370 Culver Drive, Suite 2G
Irvine, CA 92604
949-551-8222
Tues-Fri
11am-3pm, 4:30pm-9:00pm*
Saturday
11:30am-3:30pm, 4:30pm-9:00pm*
*Open till 9:30pm on Friday and Saturday
Closed Mondays

Freebirds - Huntington Beach, CA : Veggie Salad

There's another place similar to Chipotle. It's Freebirds World Burrito. You get what you want on it. Just fill out the form and check what you want...they'll make it right there.

Freedom Veggie Salad

This salad includes the spring mix, black beans, roasted garlic, tomatoes, pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole. It's pretty similar to Chipotle except this one has a spring mix selection instead of just romaine lettuce.

Freedom Veggie Salad

The salad is all mixed up here. Pretty good food. Not as prevalent in Southern California yet...but it's growing.

Freebirds

http://freebirds.com/ 

18541 Beach Blvd.

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

714-841-7639

Zov's - Irvine, CA : Special Omelet

Zov's breakfast is yummy and is served until 2:30pm on weekends. I love omelettes so I tried Zov's Special Omelet. Delicious!

Zov's Special Omelet

Their omelet is very simple with tomato basil relish and feta cheese and comes with a hash brown cake and some berries. The Meat-eater though their hash brown cakes were kind of bland, but after adding some Tabasco sauce it was perfect. It could have been bland, but I added ketchup to mine and it was perfect for me. So I guess I prefer foods slightly less intense so that you can add flavors if you need to. It's easy to add a bit of ketchup or some sauce to your food, but you can't take away salt if your food is too salty, right? The omelet was good too, the cheese, basil and tomato flavors blended well together. Yum yum...will be back to try other foods!

Zov's

http://www.zovs.com/Default.aspx

3915 Portola Parkway

Irvine, CA 92602

714-734-ZOVS (9687)

SOL Mexican Cocina - Newport Beach, CA : Veggie Grilled Burrito

Flipping through the AAA magazine that we receive, we came across an article that suggested SOL Mexican Cocina as a good eats. They usually have suggestions every month, but this one was close to us...yay! So of course when we were in the area, we had to stop by.

Freebie Appetizers

Your meal starts with some fried tortillas and dip. Nope, we did not order these, they just give them to you. BTW, I enjoyed both dips mixed together. Yum.

Grilled Burrito

A vegetarian dish to be had is their grilled burrito vegetarian style. As you can see by the burn marks, the burrito was literally grilled. I actually liked this, it gave it a nice "grilled" flavor. Added a slightly different taste to your typical burrito. Me likes!

Vegetarian Style

Besides the typical beans, corn, and guacamole, there were also mushrooms in the burrito. The mushrooms were pretty darn tasty. But from the size of that thing...yeah...I could not finish it in one sitting. So full! But good!

View of the Bay

Also, there was a lovely view of the water from where we were sitting. Apparently, you can actually boat over to this place and eat. They have three docks...but it helps to call ahead and make sure they're empty to dock...or else no parking space means you do circles or go back. Either way, this place was indeed a good eats. (Apparently they just opened a place in Scottsdale, AZ. Not sure if it's the same quality though.)

SOL Mexican Cocina

http://www.solcocina.com/

251 E. Pacific Coast Highway

Newport Beach, CA 92660

Phone: (949) 675-9800

Homemade Whole Wheat Banana Pecan Bread

What to do with those ripe bananas...make banana bread! Been looking for a good banana bread recipe and somewhere someone suggested this one. The recipe is from Saveur.com but I've rewritten it here as well with my substitutes.

Whole Wheat Banana Pecan Bread

Mom's Banana  Bread Recipe:
Butter, for greasing pan
1 cup flour, plus more for dusting pan  (or whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. kosher salt  (or sea salt)
1 cup sugar  (or brown sugar use 3/4cup if you don't like things too sweet)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup buttermilk (or soy milk)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
2/3 cup chopped pecans
3 very ripe  bananas, mashed

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9"x5"x2 3/4" loaf pan with butter and dust with flour; set pan aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. Whisk together sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk in a medium bowl until smooth. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Add pecans and mashed bananas and whisk gently to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean, 60–65 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

The substitutions made are written in green. I like to use whole wheat pasty flour for cakes because it's softer than regular whole wheat flour. I also don't have buttermilk handy, but I do have soy milk at home. So I would say to just use whatever kind of milk you have handy. I also used less than a cup of sugar because I don't like things that are too sweet. All in all, I think it came out pretty good! It may not be as rich and creamy without the buttermilk, but I still think it's pretty darn good! It's kind of like cake because it's not doughy at all. So next time you have extra ripe bananas at home, make some banana bread. (You don't have to use my version of course.)

Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle 洪師父牛肉麵 - Irvine, CA

Cold day = warm soup noodles. Not today, but the day that these were eaten was a cold day....or I'd like to think it was. Noodles are my favorite. I prefer noodles over rice and bread. Yup yup, I'm a noodle person. So I've been meaning to try Chef Hung's noodles, but have been waiting for the insanity of a new place to go away...and for them to iron out their kinks. It also helped that we decided to go eat at around 4PM on a Saturday when it's not really meal time. 

Seasonal Vegetable with Noodle in Soup

Being a vegetarian my choice of noodle soup was limited to the vegetable noodles. You can pick what type of noodles you want. I picked "flat" noodles thinking they were like linguine but they came out to be what I would call "wide" noodles. They had "thin" noodles...making me think they were like angel hair but those were the type I actually wanted. Darnit! Oh well. The wide...I mean flat noodles were nice and chewy. Very QQ! But too much noodle for me. The thickest I like is the linguine type and anything smaller than that. Yeah, I don't really like udon noodles because it's so thick. So if you're like me and you like smaller noodles, go with the "thin" noodles. They're not really thin, they're like linguine. All in all, it was pretty good. Not TOO expensive like people were saying. It was only $7 for my veggie noodles. Maybe they lowered their prices? I wouldn't know since this was my first time there.

Now, is this broth actually vegetarian? I'm not sure. I did ask the server and he said that it was. BUT at first he said the broth was stewed with bones and that you can't taste it. So I then asked for a vegetarian broth which I thought was the tomato. Then when my dish came out, there was just tomato sauce on top of the soup (because it was too late and the dish already made) and he told me to mix it and said that there was no meat in it. Hmmm....so I think they LIE and tell you it's vegetarian when it really isn't cuz you can't taste it anyway! But you know what...you can taste something that you normally don't taste if you just drink the broth and don't eat any food with it. In any case, I at least didn't get sick. Perhaps if I had asked for the vegetarian broth in the beginning, it would've been different. Oh well, there are other side dishes you can eat besides the noodles and perhaps I'll try those out if I go back next time.

If anyone has any info on their broths for vegetarians, please let me know! Maybe I just changed my order too late and should have said vegetarian broth in the beginning. Thanks!

Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle 洪師父牛肉麵
http://www.chefhungnoodle.com/eng/index.html
Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center
2710 Alton Parkway, Suite 117
Irvine, CA 92606

Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Whole Wheat Bread

Had a hankering to have some cinnamon raisin bread...but I didn't want white bread, and I couldn't find any whole wheat ones...they're usually half wheat half white flour. So anyway, this was my first attempt at some type of bread due to a craving. That's the best reason to learn to make something right?

Wheat Dough

Dough after it's been kneaded and rested. It didn't really rise a whole lot, so I didn't put a before and after picture.

Rolled out dough with cinnamon sugar and raisins

Dough was flattened and rolled out into a rectangular shape. Sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and lots of raisins.

Resting Dough in Pan

Dough was rolled up into a log and placed inside the pan to rest. I am using a cast-iron pan as I have heard good things about it's crust when baked in such a pan.

Risen Dough

Dough has risen and been brushed with oil. You can see that it is indeed puffier than before.

Baked Loaf

After baking in the oven, it's a nice golden color, even more so than white bread of course.

Cinnamon Raisin Wheat Bread

The finished product. There are so many raisins that it kept falling out. Heh heh...oh well, the more the yummier right?

I am not putting a recipe because the result was not so good. I basically just found it on food network's website. You can experiment from there. It was originally a white dough recipe. So here's some things I've learned. For breads to rise, you need gluten. Whole wheat pastry flour has very little gluten, which is what I used because it's what I had at home. Therefore, my dough came out kind of....well doughy. Hence why it didn't come out so great...it didn't really rise a whole lot. =( The crust was crunchy tho. Anyway, this was a good learning experience. More experiments with wheat dough to come.

Le Pain Quotidien - Newport Beach, CA

Wanting to eat healthy, I am always on the lookout for these types of restaurants/cafes to open. Luckily Le Pain Quotidien opened up in Fashion Island not too long ago. They source organic ingredients whenever they can and their breads are all organic. You can see them making bread sometimes in the kitchen too.

Mushroom, Kale, and Parmesan Frittata

A seasonal special, the Mushroom, Kale, and Parmesan Frittata was pretty good. It's made with organic eggs and includes organic mesclun salad with two pieces of bread. They also offer three types of jams to put on your bread. Get the jam, they're all good...and one of them isn't jam...it's more like a Nutella type spread. All so good.

Wild Mushroom and Gruyere Omelette

From the breakfast section, the Wild Mushroom and Gruyere Omelette also comes with a salad and two pieces of bread. This was gobbled  up pretty quickly...or someone was very hungry. =)

Prosciutto and Mozzarella di Bufala

For the meat eaters that like prosciutto, this was also very delicious (not from my experience of course). It's from their tartine section...which I guess is basically an open faced sandwich.

Baguette

Lastly, we had to get one of their baguettes to go. Usually it is a long roll as baguettes usually are, but maybe this was for the holidays? Very pretty...and I definitely like that you can yank your own bite sized piece this way. More crust is also gooood. Now this place can be a tad on the pricier side....pricier than a Corner Bakery, but if you can taste the difference (like we can) you will notice the food is definitely of a better quality.

Le Pain Quotidien

http://www.lepainquotidien.us/

#1103 Fashion Island

401 Newport Center Drive,

Newport Beach, CA 92660

(949)287-5592

Hours:

Mon-Sat: 8:00AM - 9:00PM

Sun: 8:00AM - 8:00PM

The Trails - Griffith Park/Los Feliz, Los Angeles, CA

If you ever go to Griffith Park, check out the Trails Cafe. It's right along the drive up to Griffith Observatory, so parking is along the street.

Trails Cafe from the side

There is only outdoor seating, so dress warmly in colder weather. There are plenty of picnic tables and benches for you to sit and relax. It's a really nice atmosphere, if you like the outdoors, as you are surrounded by trees.

Veggie Chili and Blue Corn Bread

Their chili and corn bread were pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the edges/crust of the corn bread as that has the most flavor (to me).

Ranger Pie

The Ranger Pie was also pretty good. The edges were nice and crunchy, not doughy.

Inside the Ranger Pie

Here is a close-up of the inside of the Ranger Pie. There's potatoes, corn, carrots, peas, etc. The only thing I didn't like was the hint of black pepper...as I do not like anything spicy...but I was able to handle it.

All in all, pretty good food. As some Yelp users mentioned, it can be a bit pricey for such a simple little stand, but everything was pretty darn good. Remember, cash only. The Meat-eater enjoyed it...and he also had a cup of coffee and liked that as well. And he usually doesn't care for the over-sugared Starbucks coffee. Whenever we come back to Griffith Observatory/Griffith Park we will be stopping by here to eat!

The Trails Cafe
http://www.thetrailslosfeliz.com/
2333 Fern Dell Drive,
Los Angeles, CA 90068
323-871-2102
Tues to Sun - 8:00am to 5:00pm
Closed Mondays (except some holidays)