drink local

taking a break from the korea posts to share some favorite watering holes.

sunday nights at ra sushi, one of those americanized sushi joints. happy hour starts at 8 pm. they recently raised the sake bombers from 5 to 6 bucks, but still a good deal.

you get a small hot sake (about 3-4 shots) + a 22 oz kirin. the sake is pretty harsh, but just drop it in your beer and you'll be alrite kid. i've tried a few of their hh menu items, none of them very good. but when you're paying 3.50 for a roll, you've pretty much lost your right to complain. get there early cuz this place is poppin and gets packed fast! (i go to chino hills, but i can imagine it's the same all around cuz the drinks are cheap)

the next place is on an inconscipuous corner in fullerton in a warehouse. most of these pictures from here on out were taken courtesy of the young and upcoming jomo.

bootlegger's. i had been looking for some local microbreweries nearby besides the chains and thanks to a tip from my friend paestry (who has now been transplanted back in sd, god bless her), mission accomplished.

a list of their refreshments. i felt like a kid in a candy store the first time i came in here. (~20 beers god damn!)

the sample flight is a good way to go to be able to try a variety. 5 2 oz pours for 3 bucks, what?! in general, their prices are pretty reasonable and a little lower than what you'd expect at a craft brewery. you'll find no pretentiousness here as you're free to ponder life while wearing an old t and shorts while sipping on beer in a mason jar. my favorites so far would have to be their golden chaos and cherry Chernobyl (which sadly is no longer offered). oh funny story the first time i came here. i noticed these two older biker gentlemen, waiting for their beer. these were some tough looking mother effers, tatted up to the gills and donning their worn out jeans and leather vests. everyone had their eyes on them as they left...in a scion xB.

i did say it was in a warehouse right? a small but chill place, much like the bruery. my only complaint is that the tasting room is open only thurs-sat and they close at 9. you can often find food trucks here which is a bonus since you don't have to go chasing after them nor deal with annoyingly long lines. staff is friendly too even with an ignoramus like me.

speaking of which, the bruery is another small but rising player in the world of beer.

i was introduced to this place by a friend. same deal here...enjoy liquid bread in the same warehouse they make their beer...food trucks sometimes...mixed easy goin crowd. you can do a sample flight here too. it's around 8 or 9 bucks, but you do get to keep the glass to bring home for your kids. lots of interesting libations to enjoy although not as many offered compared to booty's.

holla

Summer is finally here

Finished summer school on Wednesday. Got apps and GREs to do this month, but at least the stress of classes are over for a few weeks. To celebrate, I went up to Mt. Baldy with a few friends. Unfortunately, they were out of shape. Damnit. So we didn't quite make it to the top, which was a bummer because I think we had less than a mile to go. I plan to do another trip up there soon....with people who are able to do it. =p Still, we did almost 13 miles that day.


A cat I met about halfway through our trek.


Where we stopped. This part of the trail is called The Devil's Backbone. Can you see why? Pretty steep on both sides. Hands are sweating just thinking about it haha...It was pretty crazy going on that.

As soon as we got down, all of us were starving...and it was just about my favorite time of the day...happy hour! Not the best or healthiest choice after a hike, but I wanted a cold beer...


Chicken nachos. I know I wrote about these a few posts back, but I only post them again because they've upgraded their nachos. First of all the portions are at least 50% bigger than last time. This plate was huge. It came with chicken, diced tomatoes, green onions, beans, pinto beans, and lots of cheese and jalapenos (I requested extra) dolloped with 2 small scoops of sour cream and 1 scoop of guac. They've also put on some salsa roja and verde on it, whereas in the past, all they had was pico de gallo. Despite the size increase, I found there was about the same amount of chicken as they had offered before. I'm not sure if there was a price increase though...I forgot to check the receipt. In the right top corner, you can see my Delirium Tremens ($4.25).


Kid A ordered the classic sliders ($6.25). 4 sliders with shoestring fries and a pickle wedge. Their fries are pretty good...thin and crispy. Sliders are not super good or bad, but always a safe choice when you're here.


Kid B ordered the buffalo wings. The wings were a bit on the dry side, but they were pretty meaty.

As I've said before, this Yardhouse is smaller than your average bear, hence the add-on "Bar and Grill." The size reduction means less beers offered. Still it's close to home, so I don't mind too much.

Yardhouse Bar & Grill
13881 Peyton Dr
Chino Hills, CA 91709

Heading down to San Diego tomorrow, so some good eats on the way. Cya!

Yardhouse and some homegrown

Hello. Hot today wasn't it? I had to cancel my SF trip, so I'm here putting up a new post. I was able to go down to SD for a day though and will write about that later.

Lately, the new watering hole seems to be at the Yardhouse in Chino Hills...It's a bar and grill. "The only in the area" the waitress proudly announced. What does that mean? Fewer menu items and about half the selection of beer you'd get at any other Yardhouse. Why they chose to go this route, I have no idea..


The happy hour menu. Appetizers run about 6 bucks, depending on what you get. No beer for me this visit...


Chicken nachos with jalapenos(requested). Whole lot of cheese, big chunks of shredded chicken, a small scoop of guac, and green onions all over a bed of pinto beans. I've found the nachos vary each time I come here, but for the first time today, the chicken wasn't dry. One time at the Brea location, their pinto beans were out of this world. I still to this day cannot figure out what was different from their usual bland serving of beans...Today's nachos were quite good. That and I was starving. Overall, despite its fluctuations, a reliable pick if you're stuck on what to get. They don't have salsa, but you can ask for extra pico de gallo.

I'm not sure if you have to sit at the bar to get happy hour prices. The place is a lot smaller than the Brea location, so it wouldn't hurt to ask. Service was quick and attentive, and the bartender served one hell of a stiff drink. +1 star.

Dad's been growing in the backyard:


Lettuce


Perilla Leaves


Tomatoes...which my dog has already been eating...


as well as these plums

Maybe one day, I can have a green thumb too.

Reclaiming my Sundays

Going up Grand over the hills and far away,

you come across the Stater Bros Plaza on your right side, and in it is Manna Donuts, a 24 hour donut shop that also serves sandwiches.

Bought a dozen for $6.50 to bring into work. Why? Because today is my last day working Sundays, and I wanted to celebrate. Props to all those that work every day. I just couldn't do it anymore and needed one day off the week to recoup. Jelly, crumb, maple bar, chocolate bar, glazed twist, and two rainbow sprinkles. They are not stingy w/ the jelly and use better quality stuff that actually tastes like raspberry instead of syrup. I'm also a fan of their maple bars. Their cake donuts are delicious. None of their donuts(at least the ones I've tried) are overly oily.

I also ordered the tuna sandwich for lunch (no picture sorry) for $4 bucks. You get a choice of a sub or croissant and I chose the sub. It's definitely a fatty sandwich on a somewhat airy piece of bread(I wonder if they make their own here), and the tuna salad was plain along w/ all the standard lettuce tomato, etc. A good sandwich for what you pay, but I would have appreciated some chopped onions and celery in my salad.

Overall a pretty good donut shop that also gets +1 star for being 24 hours and serving sandwiches.



My new addiction/upper to keep me going in the mornings. It's not too sweet and has a sort of plant-y (I know that's not a word, but I can't find the right word to really describe the taste) and herby flavor mixed in w/ whatever one you get. The original is fine w/ me although here I have the passion fruit and pomegranate flavors. I try to switch it up. I find that for myself it gives me just the right amount of the caffeine kick I need to stay awake in class. How do you stay up w/o caffeine or any drug? I'm always tired and need to find healthier alternatives to stay awake.

*Just looked up the key ingredients in the Passion flavor: catuaba and damiana. These herbs have a variety of remedial claims, one of them being an aphrodisiac, hence the name "Passion."

Sundays come and go too quickly. Time to enter the rat race once again.

Youngdong Tofu

Noticed a new tofu place in Chino Hills going down Grand Ave before Peyton and checked it out a while back.


Standard iceberg lettuce salad to start, but for the life of me, I cannot remember what this dressing tasted like.


Complimentary been deh dduk (mung bean pancake) that was a good size for two people to share as a small appetizer.


The banchan included three types of kimchi (the top right were two large green peppers, which I enjoyed the most) along with the standard bean sprouts, seaweed w/ gochoojang, and spicy marinated squid.


Jengban Gooksoo. Underneath the greens, veggies, egg and krab was a solid amount of buckwheat noodles. The waitress then marched out with a pitcher of the "dressing" and steadily poured a sort of sweet soy sauce/vinegar mix over it all, as you can see in the picture above. I've only had this dish once, and the sauce they gave was more of a gochujang based thinned out sauce, so I was a bit surprised. If you order this, you'll probably want to share with another person. While I did like the fresh taste of veggies, the sauce got old real fast for me, and although I put a pretty good dent in it (I also shared), I didn't want to finish the rest.


My dad got the seafood mix tofu, no heat, just white. He said he liked it. You can see a lone shrimp peaking out on the left corner there...looks like he's just chillin in a jacuzzi. Except he's dead.

No complaints about the service. I'd come here again to check out the tofu soup for myself.


3233 Grand Ave. (In the Albertsons Plaza before the Shoppes next to Happy Wok)
Chino Hills, CA 91709

Ain't no thang but a chicken wang

Hello again. Sorry, I know I have been lagging with the updates. I just finished taking my finals, but the hustle never stops. School and work are wearing me down. Have you ever read or watched Harry Potter? My O-chem lab feels just like a Potions class. You have to be real careful and good with your technique, and that's no joke kid.

A quick shoutout/congrats to my two buds who made it to Western U for Veterinary Medicine. Party time! Hopefully I'll be joining you next year.

I haven't had too many exciting eats lately, but I plan to capitalize the free time I will have this week and the next. So without further ado...

Wing Stop. I had tried this place once on a previous occasion in Chino (in the 24 Hour Fitness Plaza).


They have a variety of bottled beers, but the only thing they had on tap was Newcastle and Bud Light. I told the guy I wanted the Newcastle, and he poured me a Bud. When I pointed this out, he asked if I wanted the Bud. Whoohoo, free beer!

I guess this place is popular for offering a variety of different flavors for their wings: Atomic, Cajun, Original Hot, Mild, Hickory Smoked BBQ, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Parmesan, Hawaiian, Teriyaki. You can sample their sauces before you choose. If you're wondering what the Hawaiian was, it was just a simple sweet and sour sauce. I ended up getting 10 wings, where you could choose 2 different flavors, and got the Hot and BBQ. The pictures I took with my phone aren't worth posting up, since I took better ones today, but I will say that there wasn't a whole lot of meat on the wings, and the BBQ flavor was nothing to write home about. I don't know about it being "smoked." It just tasted really sweet to me. The hot was a bit tangy and decent. I'm guessing that the wings are made to order because it took a while for our order to came out, and there was no one else in the place. Overall my impression was that it was an average place that was a bit pricey.

Wing Stop
4200 Chino Hills Pkwy
Chino Hills, CA 91709

I ended up trying it again last night w/ a friend in their Glendora location. We got the 35 wing meal that came with fries, a side of veggie sticks (carrots and celery), and the choice of two sauces (ranch, bleu cheese, and honey mustard), in which we opted for the first two. you can see the sauces hidden on the left side. The meal cost $25.29, and along with two beers (again they had a wide selection of bottled, but only Bud Light and Newcastle on tap @ $3.50 each) the total came out to be $33.88. You get to choose up to three flavors for the 35 combo.


The meal. I wish they had given us more veggies, but it was a fair amount. 4 sticks each of fresh thickly cut carrots and celery. The large fries given were a good amount but weren't as crisp as I'd have liked. At both locations, the fries had this strangely sweet flavor to them. I don't know exactly what it was...


Lemon pepper. These sort of tasted like they had been brushed with the same seasoning as the fries. I don't know why, but I think of crack when I imagine the workers sprinkling this onto the wings.


Cajun, which is just their original hot flavor with some special seasoning, which tasted mostly like oregano. The wings definitely had a nice kick that burnt your lips, but wasn't to the hotness level that you'd be sweating trying to eat these. For those that would like that, go for their "atomic" sauce.


The mild. Not much to really say about this...it is what it is.

The meat was again on the small ratio. The wings weren't drenched in the sauce, but it was still good amount. I wish we asked for the wings to come out in segments or something, so they wouldn't have gotten cold. The 35 wing combo, although it may seem a lot, is just the right amount for two people.

Service at both Wing Stops was friendly. It just takes a while for your food to come out, so be forewarned. Open until midnight.

1365 E Gladstone St
Glendora, CA 91740

Lastly, one of the places on my list to check out was The Donut Man in Glendora, so I was looking forward to a strawberry donut for dessert, even though I was pretty full from our meal.


I was surprised to find out that it is a small little place (and funnily enough, next to a gym. oh those poor souls) that has their goods displayed in the windows, in which you order from the outside. There is no inside seating, so your choices are either eating in the car or sitting on one of the two lone benches in front of the store. If you look on the bottom left corner, you can see their apple donuts (click the pic for zoom). I've also read that they make peach donuts when its in season.


But I was here for their strawberry donut ($2.75). A glazed donut cut in half and filled with so many strawberries that it looked like that one boa who tried to eat an alligator and burst. The syrup/glaze was a little too sweet for my liking, but the strawberries were delicious, and the glazed donut was a nice light compliment. It wasn't soggy either, which was a good sign that the donut hadn't been sitting out for some time. All of this was washed down with some good ol 2% milk ($1.25). I was done after this. By the time I got home, I abandoned any hope of going out for St. Patty's Day to let my stomach have a break...


915 E Route 66
Glendora, CA 91740

24 hours. Cash only, but they got an ATM machine on the side.

Posts always take longer than I think they will. I'm out folks. Gonna sleep like a baby tonight. See yaaa.

Thai Corner

Everyone's in a corner
they'll never turn around

-John Frusciante
(I couldn't help but give a plug for one of my favorite songs.)

Hello friends, food bloggers, and creepers!
herb jankies here with your weekend update.

Last week, I checked out Thai Corner in the Stater Bros Plaza in Chino Hills. It's one of the first places you see going down on Grand Ave, next to the donut place and Tuesday Morning. It seems that that specific spot has some bad luck with business. I've seen a sandwich shop, then a wing place there, and now it's a Thai place.

I came for the lunch special, and it was $6.99 for an entree with your choice of meat, a drink (thai iced tea or ice coffee, no refills), 1 thai spring roll, and soup of the day. I had a hard time deciding because I read on Yelp that the eggplant was good, but since it had a while since I had last gotten pad thai, I ordered that with chicken.

I was pleasantly surprised when my soup came out because I was expecting tom yum.


It was a bit on the salty/sweet side, but addictingly so, and I had no problem finishing it. I think the soup base was made with some tamarind paste...It had some rice noodles, along with some overcooked mushy carrots, bean sprouts, and green onions. As for what it was, I don't know. When I asked the waitress, she simply replied, "Noodle soup.


The spring roll wasn't as greasy as other rolls I've gotten in the past. There wasn't too much filling inside my roll, and I also found a pineapple in it, which wasn''t one of the ingredients described in their menu. Winner!
The pad thai was average. The question of authenticity always comes up for me. How do I know what is real pad thai? I once went to eat with my college roommate, who was Thai, and he told me that what we were eating wasn't the real deal. At the same time, I like what I like, and I'll use the example of American Chinese fast food with real Chinese food. I like both. Back to business though. The noodles were chewy and sweet, but the chicken wasn't too great and dry. Honestly though, there hasn't really been a place where I've gotten pad thai, and the chicken wasn't dry. One complaint I had was that the green onions were raw. If it was for garnish, then my complaint isn't valid, but it would have been nice if it was cooked. Overall, a good sized portion for your money.

The service was friendly and quick, but one thing that I was slightly annoyed at was that the waitress never told me about the drink special. I only found out about it when I left the place and saw their outside flyers. If i I had known, I woulda gotten the Thai iced coffee. Oh well...everyone makes mistakes.

Would I come here again? Yes. I'm always willing to give another place a try, unless I have a horrible experience. They have a pretty wide menu, and I've been reading about larb lately in other blogs, and want to try it out here. I've only had larb once or twice, and want to try it again.

Thai Corner
14230 Chino Hills Pkwy #H
Chino Hills, CA 91709

-open daily from 11:00-2:30 and 4:30-9:00
and until 9:30 on Fridays and Saturdays

*They take card, but you have to have a $10 minimum.

For dinner today, I decided to make some chicken teriyaki. I love this stuff, and I've always got to try it, wherever I go. I don't care if it's some nice sushi place or Jack in the Box. Yet, I've never made it before, so I decided to give it a shot today, roughly adapting the recipe from mmm-yoso's blog. (If anyone is reading this from San Diego and doesn't know about this blog, it's worth checking out. I found a lot of good restaurants through Kirk's site, and it's an excellent resource for places to eat in the San Diego area. My first food blog I read too when a friend introduced it to me a couple years ago.)


I quickly cooked some chicken breast in a pan, along with some cooked red cabbage and carrots. For the sauce, I used soy sauce, sake, ground ginger, garlic powder, honey, sugar, and oj. Why oj? I've used it before in teriyaki marinades for bbq, so decided to put it in for fun. Cooking is about experimenting, isn't it? Yeah, I was lazy too and used the powder. Overall, the sauce came out okay, but it felt like it was missing something. Still, I thought it was better than some of the teriyaki places I've had in the area. This isn't to boast about my cooking; rather, it's just to point out that the places that serve teriyaki aren't very good. Anyhow, I put it over some rice, and I ate it with some siracha sauce and kimchi. Overall, I was satisfied with my meal.

I do have a question though. You know at those fast food type chinese places, and you order their chicken? How does it come out so moist? Is it a different part of the chicken, or is it the way that they cook it?

Lastly, my parents went to Korea a couple weeks back, and I was very specific about what I wanted: some fresh mountain spring water(I remember having some as a kid, and it was delicious. of course memory is a very unreliable thing...) and yut, a sort of Korean rice taffy candy that will wreck absolute havoc on your teeth. What I got instead was a Polo hat and Godiva chocolates...lol. But if I've learned anything about food blogging, there are plenty of opportunities to write about food, so here ya go:

Yeah yeah yeah. I understand that the flash created that glare, but without it, the chocolates don't look as nice. I have never really eaten much Godiva before, simply because of the price, and the fact that I don't see it around at the places I shop at. Anyhow, I liked how these looked and wanted to take a picture of them. I've only eaten a couple, and they are pretty good. I think I had a truffle one, and one with some sort of honey paste. But would I go out and buy some? Hell no. I'm fine with my See's Candies, or even a Reese's Peanut Butter cup...



1 final done, 4 more to go...then it's off to San Diego!

Reflection and Tacos

I feel that the more recent of my posts are trash. I'm writing about places I've eaten, rather than places that I want to eat at. In light of this, I suppose those posts can be seen as a resource of the Mt. SAC area and my exploration of the area more than anything else. But having eaten at almost all the restaurants across the street, I found myself not really wanting anything there this week. At least with the semester coming to an end, I'll be able to do more interesting eats.

Taco time.

In the Stater Bros Plaza in Chino Hills, by Grand Ave and Chino Hills Parkway, there is a Mexican restaurant in the left corner called Crazy Coyote. I went once during the summer, and decided to check it out again. The place is a sit down type of place and is very clean and spacious. You can see the kitchen behind the counter, and the service is friendly.

I got some free chips, which were thin, a bit airy, and lightly salted. They were pretty good. Their salsa bar had your standard pico de gallo, a mild blended salsa, and a hot salsa, which tasted like it had been roasted. There were also some carrots, onions, jalapenos. The carrots were fresh and crunchy, but I don't think they really marinated it in vinegar. It was lightly seasoned and enjoyable.

The fish taco on corn tortilla $1.99 It looks like a fat piece of fish, but the batter that it was cooked in was quite thick and tasted different from regular batter used. It tasted a little bit like corn. The fish itself wasn't that great. It came with some kind of mild orange sauce(?), cabbage, onions and pico. They also have a grilled fish taco, which I might try next time.

Carne and lengua taco on corn tortillas. $1.99 and $2.49. I wasn't too impressed with the carne. It was a little dry and lacking in flavor. The tongue was slightly better. They put in a lot of cilantro and onions. The added salsa made the taco taste better.

All in all, I wasn't too impressed with this visit. My last visit was a better experience, in which I got the carne, al pastor and lengua tacos, and the carne tasted better that time. I'd come here again because of their variety in the menu. They have some soups, and advertise that they serve pozole verde on Thursdays and Sundays and mole poblano on Sunday as well. The pozole sounds interesting. I've never had or heard of it until now, and it sounds pretty good from the wiki description.

Crazy Coyote Mexican Grill
14270 Unit E, Chino Hills Parkway
Chino Hills, CA 91709

I just realized I forgot about the dduk, and will have to do that next time...