Kean Coffee - Tustin, CA : Caffe Napoli

Liking Kean Coffee a lot. Smooth lattes. And I am not a coffee drinker. But when I want some, I want it from this place.

Caffe Napoli

I tried the Caffe Napoli and it was sweeter than their regular latte. So if you like a sweet latte, then this is it! It's quite good though. Kind of like a dessert drink. Very yummy, not like a coffee. The latte art wasn't so great in this one. It came like that, I have not stirred it yet. Yeah, but hey, as long as the drink is good.

Kean Coffee

http://www.keancoffee.com/ 

1368 Newport Ave., Suite 14

Tustin, CA 92780

(714) 838-5326

Japanese Chiffon Cake - Mitsuwa Marketplace: Irvine, CA

Cake is not really one of my favorite things to eat. But when I went to Japan, I loved their cake. It's so light and airy and not too sweet.

So when I saw cakes on sale at Mitsuwa I had to get one. I had a hard time deciding, but decided to pick this cream one, even though I don't love cream.

Oh, I love this cake. It's so soft and light, fluffy, airy, creamy (not heavy), and not too sweet. Perfect for my taste buds. Love love love. It almost melts in your mouth. You don't really have to chew because it's so soft. And this cake is the not-fresh on-sale item. I wonder what the freshly made ones taste like? This is definitely an indulgence!

Bruxie (Gourment Waffle Sandwiches) - Brea, CA

Do you like waffles? I like waffles. On one of those travel shows, I saw that waffles were eaten sweet and salty in Belgium. So when I heard about this place, I really wanted to try it out. Waffles all day? Sounds great!

Roasted Mushroom & Goat Cheese

I tried the savory Roasted Mushroom & Goat Cheese waffle. There's goat cheese, basil, arugula, mushrooms, and a balsamic reduction. It's pretty much a sandwich but with waffles as bread instead. At first bite, there was hardly any goat cheese, and it didn't taste so great. After a couple of bites, you get into the more heavily spread goat cheese and the combination was perfect. Like this one a lot!! Just have to open up the waffle to spread the goat cheese more evenly for myself (since I like more evenly spread items).

Bacon, Egg & Cheddar

The Meat-eater liked his Bacon, Egg & Cheddar waffle as well. Asked for no mayo on this one.

Seasonal Creme Brulee

Afterwards we wanted something a little sweet and tried the Seasonal Creme Brulee. There's vanilla creme with burnt raw sugar pieces in it with the strawberries. The fruit is seasonal, so maybe there's blueberries or something during other times of the year. In any case, this was also good. I think having a whole one would be too much, but since we each had a piece, it was the perfect amount of sweetness.

So what do you like about waffles? If you like a flavorful sweet waffle, then this may not be for you. I cannot attest to how authentic these are since I have not been to Belgium. However, if you like a crispy on the outside, non-doughy light inside waffle (like myself), then you will enjoy these. There is no flavoring to the waffles as the food on it takes center stage. I think it's perfect this way, since the food inside is flavorful enough for me. Thumbs up!

Note: If you get something juicy, then the crispiness of the waffle will of course disappear quickly due to the moisture. Also these locations have enclosed patios with heaters for the winter. It's not a restaurant setting. Dress warmly if it's cold.

Bruxie

http://bruxie.com/

Eaten at Brea Location:

215 W Birch Street, Suite 1

Brea, CA 92821

714-255-1188

Sun to Wed: 9am - 9pm

Thurs to Sat: 9am - 10pm

Schat's Bakery - Mammoth Lakes, CA

Schat's Bakery

Passing through Mammoth Lakes, we stopped by Schat's Bakery. I didn't get a sandwich, but heard it was pretty good. Instead I got a couple of yummy looking cookies.

Oatmeal Raisin and Florentine Cookies

Could not resist the Florentine cookie....looked so delicious. Oh and yes in fact it was delicious. Nutty, sweet, crunchy.....oh and the oatmeal raisin wasn't bad either....but I liked the Florentine better. Goood stuff. Will definitely be stopping by Schat's when passing through Mammoth Lakes. It's not far from the freeway and also heard that their sandwiches are pretty darn good.

Schat's Bakery

3305 Main Street

Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546

http://www.yelp.com/biz/schats-bakery-mammoth-lakes-3

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.

Kean Coffee - Tustin, CA : Honey Vanilla Latte & Italian Cappuccino

Normally I do not have a cup of coffee in the morning, but this was worth it. Heard great things about Kean Coffee and wanted to try it out. The owner created Dietrich Coffee but left the corporate world to create a coffeehouse to his ideals...Kean Coffee. There are only two locations. One in Newport Beach and the other in Tustin.

Honey Vanilla Latte

The Honey Vanilla Latte was not too sweet, not too bitter. I can taste a bit of bitterness in the coffee, but I was glad it was not too sweet. I also had an almond croissant which went really well with the latte. It was smoother than other coffees. I find Starbucks and Coffeebean to be overly sweet to cover up the bitterness. Blegh.

Italian Cappuccino

There are two varieties of cappuccino here. The Italian and American style. The American style is much bigger. Apparently this wasn't too bad either. The Italian Cappuccino, although not the same as Europe, was much closer than any other coffee place we've tried in these United States. So if you're not a fan of Starbucks, go try Kean Coffee....it's a much better alternative.

Kean Coffee

http://www.keancoffee.com/ 

1368 Newport Ave., Suite 14

Tustin, CA 92780

(714) 838-5326

Britta's Cafe - Irvine, CA : Dessert

Forgot to add the dessert in the last post. I like to keep them separate anyway for labeling purposes.

Sweet Dessert

So I don't remember what this is called since the menu is ever changing. I believe this was like an apple pie bake with crumbles and ice-cream on top. It was not bad, very sweet and yummy. Also very rich of course. So we indulge once in a while, it's okay. Just don't have it all the time. =)

Britta's Cafe
http://www.brittascafe.com
4237 Campus Drive
Irvine, CA 92612
949-509-1211

Mitsuwa Japanese Gourmet Fair June 2012 - Costa Mesa, CA : Chestnut Waffle

The Mitsuwa Japanese Gourmet Fair brings us to Costa Mesa to battle for a parking space and try something new. The Meat Eater usually tries the ramen and I try for something I can eat...sweets. (That's about the only thing vegetarian.)

Chestnut Waffle

Something I have not tried before are the chestnut waffles. These are from Kobe Fugetsudo. It's not like a Belgian waffle as we know it. It's basically like a small pancake folded over with a filling inside. Right out of the box, the waffle was rolled and wrapped in plastic. Maybe to hold it's shape?

Chestnut Waffle

Alas after unfolding, it pretty much held its shape too. The dark brown is a whole chestnut and the light brown is the filling. The large chestnut is very sweet...as is the filling. The cake was soft and moist, but not too sweet. It balanced the sweet chestnut and filling perfectly. Altogether it was good. Me likes the chestnut!

The Meat-Eater's ramen was that from Tsujita...where they have a shop in LA. He loves Santouka, but this ramen was just super salty to him. FYI, in case anyone wanted to venture up to LA, unless you like salty...don't try it.

Anyway, these fairs give us an opportunity to try a little something different. See you at the next food fair!

Mitsuwa - Costa Mesa Store

http://www.mitsuwa.com/english/index.html

665 Paularino Ave

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

(714)557-6699

Mochilato - Irvine, CA

A nice warm day is the best time to have some ice-cream. Mochilato is basically a combination of mochi (glutinous rice desert) and gelato. I don't care much for mochi. I've had mochi ice-cream which is very good, but I prefer plain ice-cream...or in this case gelato. Good gelato is hard to come by here in the United States so I wanted to give it a try.

Raspberry

The raspberry was very fruity, pretty much like a sorbet. Not exactly creamy or chewy like a gelato should be.

Stracciatella

Stracciatella was also just ok. Both flavors were nothing impressive. They did not taste like gelato at all. Seems like it's been in the freezer a while and just tastes like plain ice-cream. Nothing special. Not worth it to me. Perhaps their mochi ice-creams are what you should get. For me, if you can't get the ice-cream right, then it's not worth it. Thumbs down for me in regards to flavor, texture, and price.

Mochilato

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mochilato-irvine

14310 Culver Drive

Irvine, CA 92604

949-559-1116

Half & Half Tea Express 伴伴堂 - Rowland Heights, CA

Quickie post on a different kind of boba place. It's called Half & Half Tea House. They use brown sugar instead of white sugar in their drinks. They also include different Asian flavored add-ins in addition to regular boba and their drink cups are a wider shape.

Boba, Grass Jelly, Pudding (Flan)

Pictured are three different types of drinks. Starting from bottom left to right....regular boba, boba with grass jelly, and boba with pudding. Pudding is like flan, but Asians call it pudding. Not to be confused with Jell-o pudding. To drink one alone is like having a very large meal as it's very milky and filling. Two people sharing one drink is probably perfect. One regular size is just too big. I do like the brown sugar...I can taste it and like it!

Line out the door

But remember...don't get the large as it's only a bit bigger than the regular. (There are lots of demos on Youtube about this.) The line can also get crazy. This picture is only of the outside...but it's about double the length of this inside. This was from a while ago...not sure if the lines are any shorter nowadays. Standing in line for so long for just a drink may not really be worth it to some people. I'm glad I've tried it and now I know if the lines are short, I'll be there.

Half & Half

Rowland Heights (626) 810-8778

Monterey Park (626) 872-0200

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Half-Half-Tea-House-%E4%BC%B4%E4%BC%B4%E5%A0%82/116561625051332?sk=wall

GOQUARED2 (inside Mitsuwa) - Irvine, CA : Taiyaki

The new Mitsuwa in Irvine is now open! It is pretty tiny compared to the other Mitsuwas, but it's closer to me than the Costa Mesa location. They also have Santouka so the meat eaters can enjoy their yummy ramen noodles. I stopped by and tried some taiyaki from GOSQUARED2.

Taiyaki

You can watch these little fishies being made right behind the counter. I didn't eat them right away, so it got a bit soft. I bet they're better when you eat them right off the griddle. The flavor was still pretty good though. They're $2 each.

Red bean and Custard Taiyaki

Between the red bean and custard, I definitely liked the red bean better. There's also a chocolate flavor. Smaller location with less goodies to try, but you can still get your basics without driving as far.

GOSQUARED2 inside Mitsuwa Marketplace

14230 Culver Drive

Irvine, CA 92604

Restaurant Hours: 11:00 AM - 8:30 PM

Mitsuwa Umaimono Gourmet Fair - Costa Mesa, CA : Anchindo Makidora

Mitsuwa is having one of their food fairs right now! We went there before 11:00am today so that we could easily find parking and a seat at the food court to eat. Last time we went about 11:30-12:00 and it was already ridiculous. This time we got there at about 10:30am and easily found parking. We walked around the store with all the cute things in it (J-Style) and the Sanseido Bookstore. The stands outside the market already had food available. You just had to wait for the ones in the food court to open at 11:00am. The Meat-eater was waiting for their ramen shops to open. =)

Andhin-do Maki Dora Stand

Outside the food court, right when you walk in the front door, the stands were already cooking away. We were drawn by this stand making makidora or roll dorayaki. As you can see the chef is making the little pancakes in front. I like to call them little pancakes because that's what it reminds me of.

Making Makidora

Behind the chef making the little pancakes is another chef putting the stuffing into the cakes and rolling them up. As you can see, the trays are empty...they are churning them out pretty fast.

3 Flavors of Maki Dora

We chose 3 flavors. I chose the Azuki (also spelled adzuki or aduki) or red bean and Green Tea. The Meat-eater chose Custard Cream. I like the simple wrapping of the product.

Azuki Makidora

First up was the azuki flavor. This was the first one I opened up to try. Being Asian...I do like red bean treats. =) The outer pancake/cake like batter was soft, airy, and fluffy. So good...not doughy at all...but there's plenty of dough there as you can see in the picture. The red beans were also good...but a tad sweet for my taste. Strange huh? I usually like red bean but it indeed was a teeny bit too sweet for me. But overall really good!

Green Tea Makidora

We ate this one when we got home. Can you see that the edges of the pancake/cake has flattened more with time? I think most things are better when eaten as fresh as possible. But the taste was still good. The edges were just a bit smooshed, but the pancake/cake itself was still light and fluffy. This was a good combination, not too sweet in my opinion...good green tea flavor...just the right amount.

Custard Cream Makidora

Last but not least is the custard cream flavor.  As you can see the cake is still fluffy along the edges...so this was actually the second one that was eaten. I put the flavors in the order of least to most liked. Don't get me wrong, they were all good! But yes, even though I didn't choose custard cream, it ended up being my most favored flavor of the three. You see, I am not a big fan of custard creamy things. There are certain things where they have been good, like in a fresh Beard Papa's cream puff in Japan...not the frozen kind...and egg tarts. But this was good...not too sweet...but still pretty sweet...fluffy cake with creamy but not heavy custard. This was done right. Mmm....we bought a few of just the custard ones and took them home. They're all gone now. =) Hey, might as well eat them while they're still fresh.

There were two other flavors we didn't try...the sesame and green bean. So if you're in the area and want to try it out, tomorrow will be their last day there 10/30.

Mitsuwa Marketplace
http://www.mitsuwa.com/english/index.html
Costa Mesa Store
665 Paularino Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 557-6699

Ikea Soft Serve : Not too bad and only for $1

I love ice-cream, and whenever I stop by Ikea, I grab a $1 soft serve cone. Yup, just $1...no tax no nothing extra. It's been that way for years now...and most recently (like last week) I stopped by Ikea and sure enough it's still $1 and it still tastes the same.

Ikea Soft Serve

Vanilla. Ok, so there are no choices in flavor and there is but only vanilla. Still...it's quite tasty. And where else can you get decent tasting soft serve for $1 these days? Not since the ice-cream trucks that drove around when I was a kid. I'd only picked up an ice-cream bar from one of those trucks about 5 years ago...and they were incredibly expensive! So the Ikea soft serve ice-cream...ever dependable....and not too shabby either. =)

Homemade Blueberry Spelt Muffins

So I wasn't sure if I should post these because these are not exactly delicious unless you're used to eating healthy. They're not bad but not great either. Anyway, I thought why not...everything is a learning experience and even though some people on Whole Foods love it (it got 4 stars after 23 ratings)...there are some that don't really love it...like myself.

Blueberry Spelt Muffins

I pretty much followed the recipe except I used the canola oil suggestion instead of butter, agave instead of sugar (I don't have white sugar at home...it is banned!!), and left out the orange zest. Apparently there's also whole wheat spelt flour and regular spelt flour...I used regular but this recipe is supposed to use whole wheat spelt. In any case...the flavor is fine...not too sweet...but the consistency is not light and fluffy like regular muffins. These indeed are a healthier version. They're kind of...drier...stiffer...opposite of light and fluffy. Although I am trying to eat healthier and have changed my taste buds into liking healthier food...this is not one of the things I like a whole lot. The picture makes it look pretty good though!

Blueberry Spelt Muffins from Whole Foods Recipes
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1464
Makes 1 dozen

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) softened butter or canola oil, plus more for greasing the pan 
2/3 cup sugar 
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 
2 eggs 
1/2 cup orange juice 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
2 cups spelt flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon grated orange zest 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
2 cups fresh blueberries

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper muffin liners. In a large bowl, cream together butter or oil and sugar. Stir in applesauce, eggs, orange juice and vanilla. 

In a second large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, zest and salt. Stir flour mixture into butter-egg mixture until just combined. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Nutrition

Per serving (1 muffin/about 3oz/87g-wt.): 180 calories (50 from fat), 5g total fat, 2.5g saturated fat, 4g protein, 30g total carbohydrate (4g dietary fiber, 14g sugar), 45mg cholesterol, 140mg sodium

Cafe Beau Soleil and Creperie - Newport Beach, CA : French Split Crepe

After eating my omelette and salad in the previous post I had room for dessert. Yeah!

French Split

After perusing all the crepes (since we wanted something French!) we chose the French Split on the advice of our waiter who really liked it. Inside the crepe are bananas, Nutella, and some nuts (I forgot what kind), and it's topped with vanilla ice-cream. In case you don't know, Nutella is a hazelnut chocolate spread. Kind of like what's inside a Ferrero Rocher....it's actually the same company. This was so good too. I kept getting all the bananas though, and apparently more of the Nutella was on the other side of the crepe. Doh!  Even The Meat-eater who doesn't usually like chocolate things liked this. This was indeed a sweet dessert...but not TOO sweet. And I love ice-cream so this was a winner! We'll be going back to try the other goodies they have. =)

Cafe Beau Soleil
(At Fashioin Island)
http://www.cafebeausoleil.net
953Newport Center Drive,
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 634-4402

Mitsuwa Hokkaido Fair 9/17/2011 - Obanyaki

Popped over to Mitsuwa this weekend to check out their Hokkaido Fair. They have different foods brought to you from Hokkaido, Japan. It's hard for a vegetarian to find anything, but desserts are always an option. This time I found something called obanyaki.

Obanyaki stand

This is the first stand when you walk in...so it's hard to miss. It is also called imagawayaki (that's how it's listed in Wikipedia) and reminiscent of taiyaki (a red bean filled cake in the shape of a fish). There are many names for this depending on the area. I couldn't find something exactly like this.

Putting in red bean filling.

So by the looks of this, I thought it was a cake batter outside with a red bean filling inside. Looks like a lot of those Asian stands where they make small cakes with fillings...except this was much bigger.

Left back is red bean, right front is caramel

These things were huge. I couldn't wait to try this. I've never had this before! I wonder if it's the same as the other Asian waffle like batters with the different fillings inside. That's what I think it is.

Cut open...dog wants some too

So I had to cut it in half to see what it looked like. You know, it doesn't have that cake/waffle like texture...I was wrong! (The dog smells the aroma and comes out to see what it is...and if she can try some. Dogs love all kinds of food!) Anyway, back to the food...it's not what I expected! It's not a cake/waffle batter...it's more of a mochi consistency...very chewy. Interesting...never had this before. Oh these things are huge...and very filling. I think one per person is enough. I like red bean, so that was my favorite flavor, but the caramel wasn't bad either. I'm not a big fan of mochi though...so I wouldn't want to get this again...but it was pretty good...and I like trying different Japanese desserts. They're not usually TOO sweet. =)

Mitsuwa Marketplace
Costa Mesa Store
665 Paularino Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714)557-6699

http://www.mitsuwa.com/english/index.html

Dippin' Dots

If you love ice-cream like I do, then maybe you'll want to try some Dippin' Dots. It's basically ice-cream made into tiny little balls. It's flash frozen, kept at a colder temperature, and has less air than regular ice-cream. So even though it's tiny, it doesn't melt as fast and is really hard.

Mint Chip

I got my hands on my usual favorite flavor of Mint Chocolate Chip. (I seem to like the mint and chocolate combo.) I like that it's so cold and because it's so cold and hard I have to chew it a bit. Melting it in your mouth seems to take longer so I just chew. Towards the end, the rest of the balls will melt slightly and then it's kind of like regular ice-cream. It's a harder consistency than regular ice-cream but it's different and I like something a little different now and again.

http://www.dippindots.com/home.html

Le Napoleon Cafe - Irvine, CA : Macarons (Macaroons)

Upon this posting, I am not sure if this shop is still there. Someone said that they called the Irvine Spectrum and it was closed. Another one said it was closed for renovation...so maybe it'll open again later. This was visited months ago and am now just posting. They were no longer at their larger location, but relocated to a smaller shop by the movie theater. Anyhow, here are some of their macarons.

5 Flavors

Starting from the green going clockwise...the green is pistachio, chocolate chip (I think...or something chocolaty), almond, coffee, and raspberry. These are my first macarons and they're pretty good. The outer "cookie" is light and soft but not soft like cake or cookie...it's lighter than cookies...crunchy soft if that makes any sense. I like that it's different from the traditional cake or cookie.

Pistachio and Almond in front

The paste inside, however, was kind of sweet to me. It really depends on the flavor you get. Pistachio wasn't too sweet to me, but the rest kind of were. I'm not hooked on these but I hear that these (in France) are not really too sweet and that people that aren't fond of sweets actually really like these. So I will try them from other shops and see if I can find ones I really like. =)

Le Napoleon Cafe
http://www.lenapoleoncafe.com/index.html
The Irvine Spectrum
83 Fortune Drive, Suite 219
Irvine, CA
(949) 788-0904

Yogurtland - Tasting Another 4 Flavors

It is getting warm again....so more ice-cream...well frozen yogurt actually. This time I got 1 flavor that I liked before and tried 3 more that I haven't tried before.

Four Flavors here

The topmost is Peanut Butter Cookie (I got this one last time and liked it), then it's kind of indistinguishable. The one clockwise below Peanut Butter Cookie is New York Cheesecake (it's slightly yellower and just a little of it), the bottom-most (whiter and more of it) one is Pecans & Pralines, and the pink one is Dragon Passion Tart. You can taste the peanut butter in Peanut Butter Cookie...but I haven't tried just plain Peanut Butter so don't know the difference. The New York Cheesecake was not bad...similar to the cheesecake taste...I think the tart in yogurt helps bring out the tart in cheesecake flavor. The Pecans & Pralines might be one of my newer favorites...I can taste the nuttiness in this one...and not too sweet for me. I seem to like nuttier flavors. The Dragon Passion Tart consists of dragon fruit, passion fruit, and strawberry. I liked this one too! It's very fruity, kind of tropical type of feel to it....so if you want something fruity, this is quite good to me. All in all, I liked all these flavors I tried, nothing that stood out as too sweet or salty or whatnot. Yummy choices mmm...nom nom nom.

Yogurtland
http://www.yogurt-land.com/

Guppy House - Irvine, CA : Shaved Ice & Boba Milk Tea

So we were at Diamond Jamboree again and I wanted some shaved ice. Hadn't had shaved ice in a long long time. So we headed over to Guppy Tea House and got the "to go" shaved ice. The ones you eat there are HUGE, so I thought "to go" would be enough for me.

Taro and Red Bean Shaved Ice (to go)

I remember they used to come in a wide cup with a lid type of container (kind of like Yogurtland cups) but I guess it's been a while and now it's in a big drinking cup. Kind of inconvenient for getting to the goodies on the bottom. I ordered the red bean and taro shaved ice, which comes with condensed milk as well. The red bean is the bottom most layer...looks like some condense milk and then a layer of taro, some more condensed milk and ice...and some more condensed milk. So I guess it's been a while since I've had shaved ice...but this was soooooo sweet to me. Actually I don't usually like condensed milk...perhaps without it it would be less sweet...or more ice wouldn't hurt. Stuff in Asia didn't seem so sweet...I guess this is Americanized shaved ice? Do people really like stuff this sweet? I guess you have to like condensed milk...which I don't really care for so that's probably why I didn't like it so much. (I didn't ask if you can get it without the condensed milk...that would help.)

Boba Milk Tea

Also tried someone's boba milk tea....even though Lollicup was in the same plaza...we were already at Guppy getting shaved ice so here it is. I tried it and...the boba was really mushy and small. Like it was sitting in the sugar syrup too long and it eroded, shrunk, was super sweet and mushy. Smaller than boba but bigger than pearl sized. The tea itself was...really milky. I've heard that the milk tea here isn't as good as at their original location in Cerritos so I don't usually come here to get milk tea....now I know. Now if you have a sweet tooth and want to get your sugar fix, this is the place!

Guppy House
http://www.myguppyteahouse.com/
2730 Alton Parkway, Suite 101
Irvine, CA 92614
(949) 851-9788