Some revisits

Sorry, all these pictures were taken w/ my phone.

I revisited Taco Nazo in Walnut a few months back and decided to try something else besides their fish tacos.


I ordered the mix seafood cocteles, which comes with octopus and shrimp. The squid was not fresh at all, and borderline disgusting. The "soup" was a little too sweet/ketchupy for my liking. I would have liked it with more lime.


Condiments of a blended pico de gallo, radishes, hot carrots, and a lone jalapeno. They only offer two or three salsas, and I usually just stick to the pico and the bottled Tapatio.


Carne Asasa Sope covered with lettuce, pico, and cheese. I really liked the masa . Dense and not too oily. The carne was decent...nothing too impressive, but remember this is a place more known for it's fish tacos than anything else. I was also given a grilled yellow pepper that was pretty damn hot...

Taco Nazo
1267 N Grand Ave
Walnut, CA 91789

I also made another visit to Dante's Italian Deli for their happy hour.


Caprese Sandwich. Tomatoes, fresh basil, water mozzarella, onion, oil, balsamic vinegar. This costs more than the Italian at $6.55 for a small compared to $5.75. They were still doing the happy hour 1/2 deals although the sign for it is now gone. The bread was good like last time. Fresh and a little spongy. I've never had a Caprese sandwich before, but I found the cheese to be quite bland, and the balsamic vinegar overpowered everything.


Don't forget to ask for some cherry peppers on the side. I love these things.

I still have yet to try out their pizza and pasta.

958 N Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765

Campus Eats Part 2

TGIF MANG!!!!

Oh lordy lordy, I am so glad this week is over with.

A quick caveat to the reader. These pictures were taken w/ my phone, so I apologize for the bad quality. I don't always carry around my camera and sometimes forget to bring it with me. With that said, let us continue on from yesterday's post...

Revisited Krazy Noodle Thai BBQ and ordered the Pad Thai w/ tofu ($6.50)


I suppose I should have tried it with chicken, but I've never had a good experience at any place when ordering it, as it always turns out too dry. The tofu was fine though and cooked nicely. My only real complaint was that I wished I had gotten more egg in it. Overall, I liked it although I've never really had a pad thai that blew my socks off...

Krazy Noodle Thai BBQ
20795-3 E. Amar Road
Walnut, CA
Monday - Sunday 11:30 AM - 9:00 PM

I also tried Peking Deli for the first time a few weeks ago and ordered the Fish Fillet with Tofu in Hot Bean Sauce ($10.95).


Tea and rice were quickly brought out.


The container was big, but there wasn't as much rice as you'd think, but still it was a good amount for my friend and I. They used a little too much water when cooking the rice though.


You get a bowl of soup along with your entree. I'm not sure if they do a soup of the day type of thing, but that day, I got the egg drop.


The food came out really fast. I don't think we waited more than 10 minutes. I'm not sure if this is a good thing, but there was only one other person in the restaurant besides us, so maybe that was why... I wasn't sure what kind of fish they used, but it did have a familiar fishy taste that I enjoyed. The heat level was lacking though. They marked it spicy on their menu, but it was more of a mild. My friend ordered the beef noodle soup ($5.95), which you can see in the background.

They have a pretty extensive menu, and a lot of the dishes are in the $6.50 range, so you could come here with some friends and have a nice little feast together for cheap. And the food's not bad either.

Peking Deli
1247 N. Grand Ave.
Walnut, CA 91789
Mon-Saturday 11:00-3:00 PM and 4:00-9:00 PM
Sundays closed

The long and winding road

has finally come to an end, and I have survived the semester. I did okay on my finals, but I'm on the borderline, so we'll see. What's done is done and somewhere, somehow, the band played on.

So I lied about the sushi. I have had this craving for ikura and had to get some, so I went over to the local sushi place across from Mt. Sac. Sake Sushi was formerly Jun Sushi from what I read on Yelp and famous for their $2 nigiri, which was supposedly fresh and good quality. I gave a short blurb here about my first visit with them in the summer, but no pictures.

Prices are cheap, and the service is courteous in this dimly lit, quiet restaurant.

First of all, they got happy hour 5-7 PM, which is 50% all beer. Not sure about the weekends though. They don't have anything on tap unfortunately, and just bottles. So I got a large bottle of Kirin, $3.


They also have some kind of special where sushi, sashimi and rolls are around 20-30% off. I'm not sure about the times for that though. I went around 5-6ish on a weekday, and the discounted price was going on. I ordered some nigiri, which all ended up being around $3.


Tuna. This was actually decent, and surpassed my low expectations from my previous visits.


Not very fresh at all and their seaweed they use isn't very good quality either.


Scallops (hotegai). This was pretty bad. I've actually had worse, but this came close to that experience at Tadashi's in La Jolla. It was not fresh at all, and I definitely paid for this the next morning, if you know what I mean. Ironically, this was in their "premium" section of sushi. That's not the exact word they used, but they have two separate sections for sushi, and this was in the section that was higher priced with things like uni and such.


I also got the regular udon $5.99. The soup came out very hot, which was a plus. I liked how they put a bunch of oyster mushrooms into the udon and the noodles were good and not overcooked. The broth, however, was a bit watery and bland, and I enjoyed Yama Bowl's broth better. Or, it could just be that they don't use msg/as much salt as Yama. Either way, I didn't like it.

Maybe their rolls are better, but I judge a place on their nigiri rather than their rolls. The yelp reviewers must have been high. The sushi is not fresh at all. On the other hand, they got 50% off beer, and I suppose it might be good with some cheap sake and rolls. But if you want good quality stuff, you're better off going somewhere else, like Sushi Koyo on DB Blvd.


Buzzed and warmed by the alcohol, I walked back to school in the cold weather.

20795 Amar Rd
Walnut, CA 91789

And with that, my rotation of the restaurants across Mt. Sac is done for the year.

A play on jomo's blog. lol =)
What I'm drinking:

I saw this at Albertson's and decided to give it a shot, since it had been a while since I'd last had a IPA. The Metolius Brewery from Portland, Oregon. Initially, This was way too bitter for me, probably due to the fact that I hadn't had an IPA for a long time. My second bottle tasted a lot better. The beer was okay, but nothing wowed me about it. This guy is a lot more descriptive about the beer than I can ever hope to be.

I'm gonna pass out now. Good night. Going to SD tomorrow for the weekend, and I'll be bringing my camera =)

Yama(npacka) Bowl(y)

With the end of the semester soon approaching, I have almost completed the full rotation of the restaurants across Mt. SAC, and reaching the end, I no longer care to finish it.

Yama Bowl. They were passing these fliers around for a chicken bowl, drink, and soup for $4.55 when school started. Prices are cheap here, but it's reflected in some of the food.

I got the chicken udon. The chicken was dark meat, and was pretty good. Not dry at all. The only veggies in the udon was green onions. The noodles were cooked right. How can you mess up noodles? Well, there are some places that do, and I'll write about those later...The broth was decent and hot, and worth the $5 bucks. It was an okay amount. Kamaboko is it?




Next up was the salad and Kauii (? i forget what this was called) roll, which was a cali+shrimp tempura inside with spicy tuna on the outside. Around 6 or 7 bucks and that included a drink. The salad was your standard iceberg mix, and the dressing was horrible, a watery thousand island dressing. Now for the roll. Click on the roll picture and try to imagine what I saw. I wish you could see how thin this layer of spicy tuna was. The roll was like a bum trying to keep himself warm with a sheet of newspaper. I understand that the quality is gona be lacking, but come on man, why you gotta play me like that. Another millimeter wouldn't hurt. All in all, I'd come here for the udon, but the rolls are mediocre at best.

The inside of the establishment is clean and well spaced. A popular place for college students no doubt. They have your standard bowls, udon, and rolls. No nigiri. Owners and workers were nice, and the food came out with little waiting time.

Yama Bowl
1225 N Grand Ave
Walnut, CA 91789

Enough of this charade. The next time I get some sushi, it's gonna be the real deal.

A Revisit to Domo Sushi and Roll

We didn't have to evacuate luckily, so thanks for your concern. Let's go on to this week's adventure: Domo Sushi and Roll

Since I knew the place was Korean owned, I was hoping they had hwedupbap. Unfortunately, I didn't see it on their menu, but I did notice on my way out that they had some specials on the wall that wasn't on their menu. I don't think I saw hwedupbap though, but I could have missed it.

I ordered a beef teriyaki bowl $5.45 and it came with some soup.

Soup was watery. It had pieces of seaweed, which was nice.


Not bad. The sauce, which is described as homemade and zesty, reminded me of a hybrid between a bulgogi marinade and teriyaki and wasn't bad. It was an okay amount of beef. It definitely was a bit more than my last visit with the chicken bowl. Veggies were your standard steamed carrots, broccoli, and cabbage. The quality of the beef wasn't that great and was a bit stringy. The rice was average. Not pictured: the siracha sauce I put in the bowl. Overall, I give the bowl a C+. The sauce was definitely better than my last visit. And this reminds me to also try the Jack in the Box teriyaki bowls....I love teriyaki, and whether it's good or bad, I gotta try it all.


I also ordered nigiri yellowtail, tuna, and salmon. These were some big ass pieces of fish, let me tell ya. They were all around $3.25 each. Pretty cheap. You have to remember this is a fast food Japanese place, so quality wasn't great, but this was expected. Still a good bang for your buck, I'd say, if you don't care about quality, and just want nigiri. But for me, I left Domo feeling empty inside, not satisifed and wanting something better. This just won't do pig....it won't do at all. They also got your mix of rolls, which I have not tried yet.

Bottom line: Prices are cheap. Service waitress was very friendly. Sushi chef was a stern and quiet man, who probably isn't afraid to bring out the belt every once in a while.

Domo Sushi and Roll
1375 N Grand Ave
Walnut, CA 91789
*Free wifi*

Afterwards, I stopped by the 7-11 next door and what did I see?

I like these. What the "hi" means I have no idea, but they definitely have an intense fruit flavor, like a lot of Asian candies, which is something I've noticed that the average American candy lacks. It starts off a bit like gum, but thicker, and gives a more pleasant chew than taffy because it doesn't give away as easily. It slowly dissolves, while you masticate the sh!t out of it. While the sugar ate away at my teeth and gave me another cavity, I found that this was a small price to pay for such an enjoyable chew. I like grape flavor as well.

Next time: A look into some korean rice cakes. Dduk yea!

Fires, Noodles, and Pies

I woke up today, hoping that the fires would have quelled down, but it had gotten worse. I am currently waiting to see whether or not we will have to evacuate, as they have already called people in the south side of DB to get out. Things are all right here, and the skies are okay, but we can definitely smell the smoke now. I hope that these fires will be controlled soon, but it doesn't look too good right now, especially with the weather being so hot. At least the winds have calmed down a bit from yesterday.

A view from the top of Diamond Bar Center, facing the south part of DB that I took earlier today.
So while I'm waiting (and because I don't want to do any school work right now), here's another post about food.

It seems that most of the restaurants across Mt. Sac are mostly a variety of Chinese and Japanese restaurants. If you want your burger fix, you can settle for Burger King, or drive down a couple of blocks to In N-Out. After another tedious week of school, I decided to check out a place called Yummy House that noticed a few weeks back, but couldn't try out because they took cash only. The front of their place says they have Taiwanese food, noodles, and dumplings. When I looked at their menu, they also had a small section for dim sum. And if you care about health ratings/are paranoid about how clean a place is, like I often am, the place got an A. However, I also remember my Chinese econ professor telling me that only real Chinese restaurants have C ratings, and the As and Bs are fakes. I know this was a Taiwanese restaurant, but just thought I'd throw that in there.



I opted for the Beef Stew Noodle. I'm not sure exactly what that stuff in the middle was, but it reminded me of an asian relish. The soup had a good amount of somewhat tender pieces of beef, noodles, and slices of some kind of cabbage(napa?). The soup was a bit sour(perhaps vinegar? as I heard that Taiwanese food uses a lot of it) and the chili oil in it gave a spicy kick, which slowly burned my lips and throat. I liked the noodles, but I couldn't finish all of the soup. The sourness of it was too much for me. My friend ordered the meatball soup (sorry no picture) which had rice noodles, cilantro, and pieces of previously frozen chicken meatballs. This soup was not spicy, and I thought the broth was rich and good. It had a lot going on in there, but what exactly was in there, I have no idea. Both of them cost around 6 bucks for a decent portion of noodle soup.
The service was curt and not very friendly. Still, I'd come here again to check out some other items.


Yummy House (located by Pho Express)
20781-2 Amar Rd
Walnut, CA 91789
*CASH ONLY*

Yesterday, I bought some pies at Coco's for a dinner party, but after sitting in traffic for a good two hours, I decided to just head back home. I was so hungry while waiting that I debated eating the pie with my hands. While I was sad that I couldn't make it (there was sashimi), at least the up side was that I had some pies. I love pies!


I got the apple pie, which was around 9 bucks. I thought that the apples could have been cooked longer, but it was okay. It was a little too sweet for me. It leaves that kind of weird taste in your mouth if you know what I mean. All in all, Coco's has some decent pies, but you really can't beat a home made pie...

The chocolate cream pie, Roughly 11 bucks. Not exactly the prettiest pie with its haphazard shavings of chocolate and ugly frosting bits. I haven't tried this one yet because I'm going to bring it into work on Monday, so I'll let you know then how it tasted.

*Update on the pie*
The word cream was misleading, as the chocolate filling turned out to be more custard than creme. It was a bit thick like pudding and enjoyable. I didn't like the frosting/creme so much around it, and would have liked more chocolate. The crust was a bit buttery and dry for my tastes, although it had been in the fridge for two days.

Coco's

20955 Golden Springs Dr
Diamond Bar, CA 91765

I cannot believe that it is 90 degrees in mid November here. This is horrible...

how now cow. and how!

As I left my last class, I sang, "Halle halle halle loo ooo yaa!" God, I love Thursdays!

You know how I do it after class. Beer. I was thinking about Porter's Pub or Round Tables at UCSD and wished that they had something like that at SAC, where you could come in and have a nice pint and relax.


What I've been drinking this month. Ever have a beer and have certain thoughts about it, only drink it a couple months or a year later, and find your opinion on it changed, for better or worse? Yup. I found it a lot different, than what I thought it tasted like, probably because it had been well over a year or more since I last had it, but still found it enjoyable. I read that the same company makes Corona.

I ate at Pho Express today across the street from Mt. Sac. A previous post with no pictures can be found here .

Same ol same but this time with an order of cha gio (5) for 5.25.


They were pretty big. I thought they were a bit overcooked because the insides were almost mushy. Taste wise was good. It'd have been nice if there would have been some mint, but that's just a personal preference. The cucumbers were a nice touch though.


Same ol veggies....nothing special to see here.

Regular sized Pho tai gau, rare steak and well done brisket for $4.75.
For a regular size, I thought the bowl was a bit smaller than other places. A good amount of meat however, more steak than brisket. The soup had a very strong beef flavor to it, which would have been more enjoyable if it hadn't been so salty. I also wanted to get a sandwich to go, but after my last experience, I decided against it, although I am willing to give the place another try. Actually what I've been craving lately is The Hat....I want a pastrami sandwich or fries.

Pho Express
20747 Amar Road Suite 8D
Walnut, CA 91789
Not sure about the hours, but I think they close at 9:00 PM
*CASH ONLY*

And lastly...

Lemonhead AND Friends. Chewy. Something I haven't seen before, until a couple weeks back, when this treat showed up in a goody bag. The only friend not shown is Orangehead, and I have never seen an Orangehead by itself either. They were a bit like jelly beans, but I preferred the hard version of these candies. Overall, I enjoyed it since it gave a variety of flavors in one box. For the poor college student and sugar junkie, Lemonheads or any other variety is a good buy because they are only a quarter, and you get a good amount of them.

Four more weeks of school...

campus loop

Like I said earlier, I've been getting through the huge number of restaurants across the street from Mt. Sac, and progress has slowly been made.
There are several places to eat at Mt. Sac, the most notable being Carl's Jr, Mountie Grill, and Campus Cafe. I opted for the Cafe, since I didn't want a burger. I've been to the Cafe several times, and have been disappointed with each visit. They have this "buffet" offer, where you pile as much as you can on a small oval plate for around 7 bucks, which is a pretty good deal, if the food wasn't so bad. The problem is that nothing is very fresh since it just sits there under heat lamps or steam trays, granted they do change it up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At least I hope they do for lunch and dinner. During this visit, I opted for the beef burrito for around $6. It came with rice, beans, beef(?), cheese, and your choice of several salsas and jalapenos, to which I got pico de gallo, salsa verde, and jalapenos. They've also got two types of red salsa...one I'm guessing is mild and the other hot. Sour cream or guac is a dollar extra. The lady gave it to me for free.




Horrible. I'm referring to both the picture and the burrito. The beef was not good. It didn't taste like Taco Bell's ground beef, nor did it even taste like those taco seasoning packets you can buy at the market. I don't know what it tasted like. I suspect they may have used leftover beef from something else, and cooked it up for the burrito meat. Needless to say, it wasn't very good, although if you put enough Tapatio on it, it won't matter what it tastes like anymore. Overall, I would recommend it if you're looking for a filler and don't have enough time to go across the street because it's pretty big(after trying to wrap it and having the tortilla rip, she wrapped the whole thing in another tortilla), but taste wise, it's not very good. The chicken is a bit better, but it's pretty dry. The service, however, has always been friendly. But all in all, this place has me missing UCSD dorm food.

Campus Cafe (Located on the West Side of Campus)
Not sure about the hours. The day I went, they closed at 7pm. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Across the street, near the Day and Nite bookstore, is a place called Chop Chop Grill. I'm really not sure what kind of food this place is. I'm going to say Japanese/Fusion. They serve up a variety of menutems , such as rotisserie chicken ("slow roasted in our secret blend of spices for a sensational taste""), curry dishes, rice bowls, noodle soups, pastas, salads, paninis(with asian style meat in it), crepe rolls, and snacks. They also have a good drink and dessert menu. You order on a computer touch screen what you want. I decided on the grilled chicken plate, which came with an appetizers, entree, choice of green sald or veggie of the day, and choice of steamed rice, brown rice, or stir-fry noodle. Fried rice $0.49 extra.

Again, apologizes for the picture. 5-10 minutes later, my order came out. I got the veggie of the day, which turned out to be green beans and little pieces of garlic cooked in butter. The appetizer was a piece of corn bread. The total cost of the meal was $5.58 and a soda $1.79, plus tax. The veggies were good and I liked the little pieces of garlic. The green beans were probably the frozen ones, but they still tasted all right. The rice wasn't that great. It was too buttery for me. The chicken was average I'd say, and the sauce, was just a regular teriyaki sauce. The portions aren't very big, but I was content after, and the prices are fair. I'd be willing to try this place again, just because they have such a large menu. The rotisserie chicken has also got me wondering what it tastes like. It seems that they tightly control the sale of their chickens, as they write, "...only available between 11:30 AM - 3:00 PM & 5:00 PM - 8:30 PM. Only limited quantities are made each day. to ensure that you get your rotisserie chicken, please come early or reserve one with us!" Is it that popular?

Chop Chop Grill
www.mychopchopgrill.com
1253 N. Grand Ave
Walnut, CA, 91789

Lastly, a couple weeks ago I went to a place called Krazy Noodle Thai BBQ. I had been to this place once before, but no pictures on that visit.


Tom Yum Kai (Chicken). Spicy and sour soup with chicken and mushroom. $7.95 (serves 4)
I first had some Tom Yum at Spices Thai in Mira Mesa, and haven't found a place like that yet, which has me wondering which soup is the right one? Theirs is a bright orange, from their liberal use of coconut milk I believe, but everywhere else I've tried it, it's more of a transparent orange. Anyhow, the soup was good. It had pieces of chicken, which I found to be dry, tomatoes, mushrooms, cilantro, onions, and green onions. I noticed that the onions weren't cooked completely, a step above raw. I didn't mind that very much. At least I knew that the veggies weren't sitting around in the soup all day, like Taco Nazo(which is having a seasonal tamale sale btw). There was a very strong lemon grass flavor in the soup. I'd say that this was good, and definitely better than The Boat or Coconut Bay's Tom Yum.


Rad Nah (crispy or soft noodle) with your choice of meat. $6.95
Crispy noodles and Beef was chosen. I had never had Rad Nah before, so I was curious to see what the gravy would taste like. The gravy was too sweet for me. I didn't like it. I would be willing to try this dish again some place else, to see what the gravy tastes like there. What is the actual gravy supposed to taste like and made out of? I looked it up just now and one of the ingredients is yellow bean sauce. The beef was a bit chewy, but the taste was pretty good. It had been marinated in something before hand, which tasted a bit like bulgogi, but sweeter. The vegetables consisted of some baby corn, carrots, bok choy (?) and bamboo.


Pineapple fried rice $7.50
This came with some tomatoes, chicken, shrimp, egg, your random assortment of fried rice veggies, and big chunks of pineapple. This was definitely different to what I was used to having. It wasn't very sweet, and it tasted like it was flavored with curry. It was good, but I prefer the fried rice to be sweeter. I think we got two pieces of shrimp. The chicken was good, and better than that of the soup. I'd go here again because I have yet to try their pad thai and pad see ew.
The portions were a good amount and this was too much food for two people. I sat in class wanting to go to the bathroom and make myself throw up. But what can I say...I'm a pig, and I really wanted some soup. And here's my thing about Thai restaurants. Why can't I get a side of soup for myself? Can't you just ladle a bowl and charge me a buck or two for it?



Krazy Noodle Thai BBQ
20795-3 E. Amar Road
Walnut, CA
Monday - Sunday 11:30 AM - 9:00 PM

After this feast of gluttony, I walked back to school, and saw a car accident, in which the person must have ran a red, and hit another car full on, around 40 mph. Fortunately, both people seemed okay. No matter how good of a driver you are, you never know what can happen.

Writing about Chop Chop Grill makes me want to go back there, so a future post of the place will probably come. Happy lazy Sunday to you all. I love Sundays....only day where I can sleep in!

I end with a picture of my dying basil plant. Hang in there little buddy...

Taco Nazo

I don't know why the formatting is going haywire on my last post. It really bugs me, but I'll leave you with a new post, and come back to fix that one later.

Across the street from Mt. SAC, on Amar and Grand Ave, is a place called Taco Nazo, next to Starbucks. Posted on the door is a sign that says "best fish tacos in LA," which was quoted from some magazine. The fish tacos are nice and soft in texture, and you also get a good piece of fish, which fills you up. But my main reason for coming here that day was to try out a soup that was not on their menu, but instead posted on a sign outside their door, saying "Rico Caldo de Albondigas," meaning rich meatball soup for $4.99. I also ordered a fish taco and a drink, and the total came out to be around 8 bucks...If you are a Mt. Sac or Cal Poly student, you get a very small discount...I think it's around 5%.

While I was waiting for my food, I loaded up on the hot carrots, jalapenos, and radishes. They also have yellow chiles on request, which I got on another visit (sorry no pics on that one). Huge fire roasted chiles with some oil, salt and pepper. There was no hotness to it, and it was pretty good. Their salsa bar is meager with your standard pico de gallo, and another salsa, which I'm not sure as to what it is. Maybe a roasted type of salsa? I prefer the pico de gallo. I do like the fact that they offer hot carrots, but these carrots got nothing on rigobertos (formerly known as robertos on miramar) or codis. I like my carrots crunchy.

Here is my feast that I treated myself to after a long week of school. The soup came with some corn tortillas, rice, and a plate of onions, cilantro, and a lime. A quick side note on the tortillas. I never knew what to do with the tortillas when I ordered menudo. I just tore them up and put it in my soup, or ate it plain. When I told my Mexican coworker this, she told me that she likes to roll up the tortillas, and dip it in the soup, or I could use it as a sort of fork/spoon. Something to note in the future.

So how was the soup? It came with four big meatballs, and some big pieces of squash, carrots, and potatoes. The good: The soup broth was very rich, and the meatballs were good. However, while the soup was hot, I wish it came out piping hot. It also seemed like the soup had been there for a while, meaning there was a big pot of it cooked in the morning (hopefully) or the day before. I knew this because the state of the squash was disgusting. It had soaked in the broth completely, leaving it in a semi turgid state. I would really enjoy this soup here if it was fresh and hot. The rice was okay. I just put some pico de gallo on it and ate it. But still a bonus because I wasn't expecting to get any.

The fish taco was a nice piece of fish with your standard shredded cabbage, pico, and white sauce on your corn tortillas. This did not disappoint, and the several other times I got it, I was satisfied, giving them an A in consistency.

On another visit this week, I got their potato tacos, which were 3 hard shell tacos, filled with pureed? potatoes, which suprised me because I always thought it would be like the chunks of potatoes you get in a california burrito. It was very good, and the potatoes were very soft and smooth. I also got the ceviche tostada, but like the soup, the shrimp did not taste very fresh, and it was too limey, as it seemed as if the shrimp had been sitting around too long.

I will have to try some other stuff there, but it seems like what most people order are the fish tacos. I haven't seen anyone order the carne, al pastor, etc, but it is something in the future that I will get.

This damn blogger....I had to "edit" html because the font size for this thing would not change if I used their tool bar. But now it's good. Happy lazy Sunday!

Taco Nazo
1267 N Grand Ave
Walnut, CA 91789

pho express

i've been eating around the mt. sac area more lately, and have discovered some places i never knew were there. like pho express, which was right across the street. i'm not sure how long they've been open for, but i never knew there was a pho restaurant there. i was on my class break, and didn't want to smell like pho, but i decided phok it since i hadn't had it for a long time. i ordered the regular size with steak and brisket for $4.75. the sides were like every other place around here: sprouts, jalapenos, and basil. i love pho broth, so i always like to try a nice spoonful before adding any condiments. it was good. not a whole lot going on in the soup, but it was much richer and oily than pho hana or saigon noodle around diamond bar. my only complaints were that the portion was a bit small, and the meat you get was even smaller than i was used too...maybe 5 good sized pieces total. or is that normal? i don't even remember the last time i had pho before that...

i was still hungry and ordered a sandwich with chicken to go, and was pretty disappointed. first was the bread. i thought it was too thin, and reminded me of those oily slices of bread i once had at this chinese porridge place in sf. second was the vegetables. they put some salad in there no joke. there were cut up salad pieces of iceberg lettuce, carrots...and some kind of weird dressing with the mayo, that made it too rich and gooey for me...the chicken had some kind of chinese style flavoring going on with it too, but it wasn't too strong. it was 3.25.

overall, i thought it was ok. i don't plan to go anytime soon because there are 2 other pho places around db that i want to try, as well as some other restaurants around the area that i want to go to too.

btw sake sushi in that same plaza has a nice beer happy hour on mon-sat, 50% off beer, so i drank a big bottle of asahi for 3 bucks. they also have sushi happy hour too, i think its 30% off for dinner. good deal in my book for the beer. the sushi, well i only tried the ikura, yellowtail, and hirame, and none were very fresh, esp the halibut. but it might be a good place for rolls. the chicken teriyaki bowl i give a C. the sauce was generic, chicken portion was small, so overall an average type of chicken bowl.

domo arigato

domo's sushi and roll

It was one of those rare days where i got out of class early, giving me a chance to grab some dinner before my next class, since i didn't pack my dinner yesterday. i decided to go to domo's, having seen it many times across the street from mt. sac when i walked over to taco nazo. it said japanese fast food and sushi with an A health rating, so i went inside around 540. There was no one inside, but people started to trickle in, some ordering to go. After looking at the menu, i decided to get the spicy teriyaki chicken bowl and the spicy tuna roll. i always have to get the teriyaki chicken whenever i go to a japanese place.

the service was pretty quick. I was first given a bowl of miso soup which was average, and had some pieces of seaweed in it. I also got a nice cup of ice water with a slice of lemon. The spicy tuna roll first came out, 8 pieces for around 5-6 bucks, i don't remember exactly, and they were good sized pieces with not that much rice (like how todai does it), and it was pretty darn spicy. however, something was a bit off, but i couldn't figure it out. still it was ok, and i wasn't expecting the best quality anyhow. next my bowl came out, and i found out that the spicy meant having a bunch of sambal sauce dumped on it. it also came with some steamed veggies, mostly cabbage, with some stray pieces of broccoli, maybe some onion and carrot, i don't remember. my first bite was mmm mmm scrumptious and yummy. but as i really tasted it, it wasn't as good...i think it was because i was just hungry...i hadn't eaten lunch and had a light breakfast. it was a good sized bowl, but my chief complaint was that there was a thin layer of chicken, only covering 2/3 of the bowl...when i say thin i'm talking about white chicken meat sliced about a little under 1 cm thick...with some vegetables, and then a lot of rice. towards the end, it got a bit nasty because the rice had soaked up all the sauce. the chicken was cooked right, not dry, and the sauce, was a bit thin, but it kinda tasted like generic brand sauce, but maybe they made it, i dunno. i regretted ordering the spicy because if i had known it was sambal sauce, i would have preferred it to be on the side, but my fault for not asking. the bowl was i think 4.25 or something like that.

prices are reasonable. when i went in, i thought mom and pops place, because i think they were married, i'm not sure...it was a korean man doing the sushi and the woman doing cashier, taking orders, etc.... its a small place, maybe holding 25 people plus a small sushi bar for 5 . i'm not sure if they sell beer and sake there either....it seems they're more known for the rolls...i didn't try the nigiri

my plan is to try all the places around mt. sac....i've tried the tap ex, jack in the crack, taco nazo, and happy bowl or wok bowl or something like that.....so more to come later.