Double Dose of Mexican Goodness

If you're an avid follower of my blog, then you know that I believe in cheap, street food. So what happens when I am invited to have an expensive Mexican dinner? Sure, I cringe at the thought of paying more than $25 per meal, but you have try everything once, right? Enter Frida's Mexican Cuisine in Beverly Hills. 

 Known for their slushy-like margaritas, we were treated to strawberry margaritas that tasted like something from 7-Eleven. 

 The food... was delicious. Yes it hurt a bit knowing that we were paying so much for Mexican food but at least it was tummy. Me friends and I decided to share a plate. I mean look at that goodness ... topped with cheese and guacamole, etc. 

Although our main dish was yummy, I could have lived my life without it. I mean, after all it's kind of offensive spending so much for Mexican food when you can get cheap one-dollar Mexican food anywhere. I mean I do live in LA. But then came the steaming hot churro with caramel sauce. THAT was seriously to die for. I could have died and gone to heaven at that moment. Now that was worth coming back for! 

Now let's not forget that good Mexican food can be found on the streets. Enter El Taquito Mexican Truck in Pasadena. For all my 626 followers, let's not forget that it's on the border of Pasadena so it's quite close to San Marino. Don't be afraid to drive a bit! It's also close to Old Town Pasadena. Anyways this truck is awesome. Their al pastor and lengua are amazing! It's a must try! Plus it's open late night for all your club rats or insomniacs out there. 

Happy Eatings! 

My Taco Truck

Praise the lord! I have found THE taco truck. My taco truck. I thought I had found THE taco truck a long time ago, but last week I found another truck that just blew the previous one out of the water. This lovely truck is located in a Japanese auto shop. Awesome. Combines my loves in live-Japanese stuff and street food.

Hello there!!! I love Pastor tacos aka BBQ pork! Whenever I see it, I always have to order it. El Taquito in Pasadena knocks it out of the park though. I also like trying their beef head and beef tongue. But wait!!!! Pineapple water!!!! Yeah you heard right. Pineapple water, not pineapple juice. De-freaking-licious!!! 

*Drool. Did I mention that it's open on weekends until 3 AM?

Happy Eatings!

Perks of a Private School

I have to admit, I've been a public school snob all my life so I was very surprised when I started graduate school at USC and was fed! USC picked up our bill. We had custom catering the first week of orientation and we also got fed during one of our reporting assignments. Then again, it might have been because they felt sorry for us since they made us take the bus to Skid Row for that assignment. Nonetheless, I was rewarded with an awesome Mexican meal at Yxta Cocina Mexicana in Downtown LA. 

The door that led into Yxta looked like something out of Alice & Wonderland. It was tiny, but once you got inside the place looked super nice unlike the questionable exterior. They had freshly made salsa that was really good. Spicy & mild were both good! The tortilla chips were addicting. Just thinking about the horchatta and strawberry juice is making me drool right now. 

And here was my main dish. El pastor tacos topped with pineapple, which is pork that is marinated with lots of spices and deliciousness. You know a Mexican place is legit if their el pastor tacos are good! 

You can check it out at: 601 S Central Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90021






On a side note, here were some snacks USC made for us as well: freshly made potato chips on a skewer! 

I should have tried this private school things years ago! I hope to gain at least 10 pounds before I finish my Masters if this keeps going on!
Happy Eatings!

How Do You Deal With Jetlaggg?

There are other ways to deal with jetlag other than having 24 hour McDonalds &Subway on call, which is what I usually do but this time I tried to switch it up a bit. Plus, In & Out only opens until 1/2ish so I decided to make a post as an ode to all those other places aside from your typical fast food joints that have been there to help me along the way to get be back on schedule!

Tommy's World Famous Burgers-Thank you for your chili! Thank you for your late night drive thrus! Thank you for your heart attack in a box hot dogs and thank you for your chocolate milk shakes! Though you have not helped me get back on schedule, you have helped me with food coma!

$3-4 will get you a crap load of food from Yoshinoya which is also open til the wee hours in the morning. By the way, their clam chowder is bomb! Who would have known right?

This is the famous Cici's cafe on Ventura. My friend and I were deciding what to eat at 4 AM in the morning. My vote was for the famous The Griddle but Cici's was so much closer that we ended up going there instead. They were quite yummy though. I still can't wait to check out The Griddle and their massive french toast. *drool*

And thank you Sprinkles Cupcakes for being there for me.

And to you Chipotle, for your burrito bowls.

And last but not least... sugar cookies! You all must seriously go out and buy this now. The best cookies you can make in your home from Pillsbury. They are the best sugar cookies ever but they are special edition and only are available when it is a holiday. See the Easter bunnies for Easter? I buy boxes of them each holiday to store up until the next one comes out. Get the Easter edition now or else you'll have to wait until July 4th. Takes only 8 minutes to have the softest melt in your mouth cookies!

I'd also like to give a shout out to my local Mcdonalds, Subway, Arby's, Pho restaurants, and of course the great Get Shaved Truck. Happy Eatings!

Taco Trucks! Mexican & Korean style!

Picture of Arturo's Taco Truck lcoated at Bellevue Drive and Fair Oaks Ave in Pasadena, 91105

If you haven't noticed by now, I do not discriminate. Good food is good food. So when I was told there was an amazing Taco Truck in Pasadena called Arturo's Taco Truck I knew I had to go. So there's been this whole Food Truck Mania in Los Angeles this past year mainly because of the infamous Koji Taco Truck, which I will talk about as well below. Side note, there's even a bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwich) Truck that was started by UCLA students, which I've yet to try. Side side note, my dinner tonight is bahn mi. Yum!

Jeff & I got the Al Pastor & the Busche tacos. They were amazing. These pictures are making me salivate as I'm writing this. I definitely liked this place way more than Kogi. Okay so onto the Kogi Taco Truck...

What to say? They definitely have a really good PR Team. They got onto the whole Twitter bandwagon to let everyone know where they are and when. Are they good? Yes. Are they great? Meh... maybe. But are they worth the long wait? No. Did I still wait like an idiot since I've followed it about 3 times in the past year? Yes. Don't judge me. I may be a hypocrite but I like food. Deal with it.

Here is their burrito. Not worth it. Their tacos are way better. They're not bad. Just a waste of stomach space. If you're trying to save moolah though, this will fill you up.

Yum. Kogi's pork tacos.

Kogi also has daily specials where they have random dishes the chef wants to try out for the night. That changes day to day. As for the Mexican vs. Korean tacos debate, I think Arturo's wins hands down. There's never a line. They don't drive off to another location and make you check twitter to see when they will arrive. Their tacos are amazing. I'd venture to say best I've ever had. I want to take my mom here but she doesn't go out past 6 because it's too dark. ARTURO'S, te amo!

Happy Eatings!

The First Step in Solving Your Problem is Admitting You Have a Problem

The title says it all. I have a problem- a big problem. I love to eat. Expensive, cheap, whatever I just love to eat. I never thought it was a problem until one day during my 1st year in college I took a look at my monthly statement and say that I spent over $300 just on food for MYSELF in less than 3 weeks. Sad part was that food wasn't even expensive food. I didn't even eat out everyday since I would cook for myself at home sometimes and also eat dorm food. How I managed to rack up my bill so high with drinking boba everyday is still a mystery to me. I do, however recall drinking about 2 or 3 cups of boba every other day so I can see how the bill piled up. Well this past weekend I got to relive my first 2 years of college experience which I spent in beautiful La Jolla, San Diego since it was my friend's birthday. I technically only stayed about 1 day and 1/2 so I had to manage my time and my stomach on what I wanted to put in.

San Diego Priority 1: Tea Station. Although there are many Tea Stations all over Southern California, the one in San Diego is one of my favorites so I always try to stop by when I'm there. There are about "it" boba places to go to in SD. One is Tea Station and the other is Tapioca Express which I will mention below. So how do you decide which place to go to? Tea Station is known as the FOB (Fresh Off The Boat) Place and Tap Ex is known as the ABC (American Born Chinese) place. No joke for real. At Tea Station everyone speaks Chinese and the majority of the customers buy their drinks and go chill out playing Chinese dice games, Chinese chess, or Chinese checkers- all while bobbing their heads to Chinese music. Awesome... Tap Ex is filled with your typical college kids bringing in their laptop to take advantage of their free Internet. No Chinese music or games though which may be a good or bad thing. This is a picture of their Passionfruit Green Tea with Aloe. You can't actually see the aloe in the picture but its yummylicious self is inside there. They look like white jellies and have a great refreshing, chewy taste.

This is a Taiwanese dish: Fried Pig's Blood. As you can see, the outside has that Rice Krispy's texture. The inside was soft and gooey though. Definitely a acquired taste like stinky tofu. Don't go trying it if you can't handle stinky tofu or vietnamese dried blood.

This is Taiwanese tea flavored dumplings. Yes, the dumplings actually taste like tea. I think the tea flavor is in the skin. The green ones tasted like green tea and the white ones just tasted like tea.

Destination 2: Nozomi's. This is their Yellow Jacket Sushi. Delicious. When I used to go here I liked to order their fire rolls, which literally came wrapped in foil and was then lit on fire right in front of you. You would have to wait for the fire to extinguish before bringing your meal of course. Definitely need to go back and order that!

Destination 3: Roberto's. This is the awesomeness known as Roberto's. They are open 24 hours-perfect for college insomniacs. This place is pretty filthy and therefore awesome. This is a picture of their famous $5 Carne Asada Fries. Look at that beast! Roberto's is also the place to go for a good laugh. Watch drunk girls stumble in coming from the clubs as you are enjoying your carne asada fries and fish tacos. Dinner and a show. Who could ask for more?

Destination 4: Tapioca Express aka Tap Ex. This is the opposite place of Tea Station that I mentioned earlier. Speak Chinese to these people or ask for Chinese dice and you may just get cursed out and told to go back to China here. This is their Crispy Chicken meal! Comes with rice, veges, fried dumplings, and a boba drink!

So like I said before, the first step in solving your problem is to admit you have a problem. Though I have yet to find a solution to my eating problem, I find a even better way of diverting the problem of spending by transferring schools and finishing up college back in LA where I was later allowed to put all my food bills on my Mother's card instead. Sneaky-but when you are an addict you will find any means to get what you want and I wanted a full stomach! I haven't decided yet what to do with the pictures I haven't posted from Hong Kong yet. I may save them for when I go back in 3 weeks so if you are feeling like some good ol' Hong Kong adventures, be sure to look back on previous posts!


Happy Eatings and may you do anything possible to get the food you rightfully deserve and desire!