Going Along With The Change *UPDATED*

So before I go any further, I have the worst news in the world or at least in SoCal...

The best sushi restaurant in Southern California, Sushimi, is permanently closed. Words cannot describe how I am feeling right now. I discovered this friday night at sushi night with some friends after work so I could see their Hawaii pictures (I was unable to go with them due to work) and to catch up. I discovered the paper that had been taped on the door that read: "We are permanently closed. Thank you for all your support." All I could think of at the moment was no more cheap prices for superb sushi, no more herb dynamite sauce (I have yet to find it at any other sushi restaurant so I am going to have to find the recipe online), the best salmon is no more, and just the sameness of going to the same restaurant for years is gone. Really, I was in shock after discovering this. I'm sorry I had to be the bearer of bad news.

We ended up going to Kabuki, the restaurant I mentioned previously in "I like it Raw" earlier this month. I'll get into this after I mention another sushi restaurant that I went to last week.

If there was another sushi restaurant I could think of that has amazing sushi, that would be Niko Sushi in Santa Clarita. Like Sushimi, the salmon here is also pretty amazing. The only reason why I don't eat here more often is because it is really expensive to dine at this restaurant. Salmon here is almost $5.00 for 2 pieces. Enough said. But I only stopped here because I had a little craving and I was in the area so I thought I'd drop by for something quick. Only had two orders of salmon and one order of freshwater eel. My stomach was happy.




I went back to Kabuki last night to try it out once more. I discovered that our sushi chef that night is the parent of one of my preschoolers at work so I thought it was pretty neat to see him in his element. And the fact that I'm one of his daughter's teachers is helpful because I know he wouldn't give me anything bad! I'm glad we tried Kabuki again because I think I might just call it my sushi home for now. Everything we had last night was fresh, great, and changed my previous thoughts of Kabuki. Rebekah ordered the chicken teriyaki since she is pregnant and can't enjoy anything raw. She thoroughly enjoyed it. Eunice ordered her usual freshwater eel. She was hoping it would taste the same, like at Sushimi, and it passed the test with flying colors. She is now calling Kabuki her new home. I started off with two orders of salmon, which were simply fabulous. I was hoping to get a Baked Alaskan roll there but Kay said they didn't have herb dynamite sauce so I just stuck to raw sushi that night. I ended up making one more order of salmon because it was oh so good!




I then made one order of freshwater eel with no sauce. Loved it of course. Ended up making another order of it. I also want to point out that you have the option of also ordering sea eel here, which we couldn't do at Sushimi. Personally, I enjoy the fresh water better because of the fattiness of the eel. Sea eel is leaner. Of course they both have the same flavor, but sea eel lacks in having fat so it doesn't pleasure you the way freshwater does.



I'm glad I got Eunice to try both freshwater and sea eel. I wanted her to try it out and get a feel of what the differences are. She liked the sea eel but still prefers the freshwater.


Just look at the difference between the two--freshwater and sea.

So looking at my second order of salmon, I saw a green onion shaped like a heart. Random, but I thought it was cute!



I then made one order of red snapper, but he wouldn't let me have it! He said he doesn't recommend the snapper here but did recommend the halibut. I'm not a halibut fan, so I said it was okay. He said he would let me know later why he doesn't recommend the snapper. I'll be asking him first thing monday morning at work when he drops off Vivian (My favorite preschooler by the way, shh! We aren't supposed to have favorites!) I'll update you later when I get my answer!

**UPDATED 9/15/09** The reason why Kay wouldn't let me have the red snapper is because he let me know that they don't get it fresh at Kabuki. Well, that's a bummer but I appreciate him being honest!

Eunice ordered the eel and avocado roll. She wanted me to try it first and I loved it. She loved it too and ate the whole roll. So proud of her! I loved how he made the avocado chunky on top. Avocado and eel are perfect together.



My last order of the night was Volcano 2. Oh scallops, how I just love them! Hadn't made this order in quite some time. And wow, I need to remind myself to order it WITHOUT the spicy sauce! Oh my goodness, it was way too spicy. I was reaching for water with every bite, which of course, we all know that doesn't do much at all! Eventually I just took it to go. I'm rubbing off the sauce and will eat it as is later today!



And the best part of the night--free dessert! Kay got us dessert on him! It was so nice of him to do that for us! And let me just tell you, it was the BEST dessert that I have ever had in a really long time! He ordered Freddo. It is made up of vanilla ice cream on top of shaved ice drenched with sweetened milk, surrounded by fresh raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries, and topped with a fruit sauce. Every bite was JUST PLEASURE and JUST FUN---something I haven't had in a really long time--or at least since Carnaval in Rio! If you don't try this, you are really missing out.



Overall a wonderful experience and I will be coming back whenever my cravings pop up! I also became more openminded and thoroughly looked at the menu once more. I discovered there are new items on the menu and things I have yet to try. I think I'm really going to take this opportunity to start trying new things here. You should do the same.

Dr. Hogly Wogly's Tyler Texas BBQ

Best BBQ ever in California. Period.



Of course on the Top 10 list for best BBQ in Southern California. And in the front, I'd like to add. Dr. Hogly Wogly's is known for having the best beef brisket, ribs, Texas sweet BBQ sauce, sides, and very chill waitresses who pretty much all look the same! This is the one BBQ place I recommend you really check out. It is a definite must. You will be missing out on a good hole in the wall if you don't.

My friend Eunice discovered this place years ago and had me go with her one day to check it out awhile back. I fell in love with the look of the restaurant, how easy it was to get seated, easy to order, the bread, the sides, and meat! Also, how quickly you receive your meal. We try to make it a habit to come here one to two times a year to enjoy this goodness. Why only one to two times a year, you ask? Because I can physically feel my arteries clogging as I am enjoying my meat! It takes time for my body to adjust to this artery-clogging, high cholesterol high!

So at this time, we were seated at our table. We both ordered our waters. We then looked at our menus to set up our individual meals. First you must choose your sides. The only options are potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, and baked beans. Personally I wish they would expand on that and add mac and cheese, baked potato, mashed potatoes, greens (from what I've been hearing from others), make their french fries a side option (they aren't; you would have to pay extra to get these), or offer different sides. Of course we both ordered the baked beans. We enjoy their sweet, filling flavor. You can't find that flavor anywhere.



Eunice ordered the potato salad this time instead of the coleslaw and I ordered the macaroni salad. I enjoyed it though in my opinion, has too much mayonnaise and doesn't have much in the side dish other than the macaroni, mayonnaise, celery, and the only seasoning my tongue could grasp, salt.



We had received our bread and butter along with the sides. Seriously, there is nothing much to say other than that we love the bread, which has a slightly sweet touch to it, along with the butter. We can't get enough of it.



After a quick scan of the menu, Eunice already knew she was going to order the ribs. Me of course, that day, I went in thinking I was going to order the chicken, somehow wanted to get the beef brisket, and ended up ordering the ribs as well! It's so hard to make up your mind there when there are so many good choices to choose from! I think the next time I go, I'll order with an option of the two or three-combo meals. The prices are pretty much the same whether you get a regular plate or one of their combos. You'll end up taking the leftovers home anyways and they seem to last for almost a week!

We received our ribs rather quickly, as usual, and oh goodness, we always take a look at them for a few minutes before we start to chow down! THEIR RIBS ARE HUGE! In the past, we used to get six ribs each on our plates, but now I don't know if they are downsizing, but we got five ribs this time. Not that I'm complaining, but they did make good leftovers for a hardworking college graduate!

The meat just falls off the bone. So tender. So juicy. So meaty. So flavorful. The flavors are doing the samba in your mouth. It just brings you to new and high levels of satisfaction. I also just love the sweetness of the Texas BBQ sauce they serve on the side. Everyone has their own preference for how they like their own BBQ sauce and though I'm not completely into sweet BBQ sauce, I love it here. It really isn't too sweet at all as some people think it is; more of just a hint. I always pour the sauce all over the ribs before I dive in.



Had to get a shot with the lights to show the liquids from the ribs. The seasonings, the flavors---SIMPLY OUTSTANDING! If you choose to enjoy your ribs without the BBQ sauce, you can because the liquid is full of flavor and definitely enough to really pleasure your tastebuds. Pure and heart satisfying.



I don't know how many ribs people normally indulge at Dr. Hogly Wogly's but Eunice and I cannot intake every rib on our plate! She was able to only finish two ribs and I had just barely started the second rib when my stomach sent the message to my brain that it was too full of lovin'!

At this point, we both sit back, relax, and ALWAYS say, "Oh, my stomach. Oh, my heart! I can't wait to do this again soon!" Oh and just be careful to not fall asleep at the restaurant because you will be sleepy! Guaranteed.

This is when the cleaning begins. Your hands are covered in sauce and are messy. There is always plenty of napkins and the wet wipes to clean up. This, to me, is not always enough, so I always have something like hand sanitizer which does somewhat help in the moment.



Now it's the time for your waitress to come and ask you if you want to take the rest of your meat home. Yes, of course! They will then pour everything on your plate, including the liquid into a plastic bag, double bag it, tie a knot to keep the goodness locked in, and place your meat into a brown paper bag. I would be SHOCKED if you left Dr. Hogly Wogly's without one of these:



So the total for a plate full of ribs is $20, which I'm assuming is pretty reasonable and includes all of the sides. I'll give Dr. Hogly Wogly's Tyler Texas BBQ 4 and 1/2 hearts: ♥♥♥♥1/2. I would have given it 5 hearts if it had more side options to choose from and maybe even more dessert options. I remember the first time I came here, I ordered sweet potato pie and did not like it because they didn't let me know they had honey as one of their ingredients when I had asked (I can make sweet potato pie without it). I don't like honey at all and my tongue can tell the second it tastes it. Now I don't go there for the dessert, but some people do and I'm sure they would appreciate the variety. Overall, there is nothing wrong with having a variety of options to choose from during any part of the meal at any given restaurant you choose to settle down in.

Dr. Hogly Wogly's Tyler Texas BBQ is friend-friendly, family-friendly, kid-friendly, stomach-friendly, flavor-satisfying, and a heart happy place. I believe it when they say it is one of the top BBQ restaurants in Socal. Definitely give it a go!


8136 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Van Nuys, CA 91402

And in other BBQ news, I have also heard that The Bear Pit is also a top BBQ restaurant in Socal. I have only heard good things about it so I will definitely check this place out sometime!

10825 Sepulveda Blvd.
Mission Hills, CA 91345

I like it raw

SUSHI!! Something I cannot live without! I crave it all the time. It all started with two guy friends of mine who had made me go with them EVERY week literally until I found my love for it. It took about five sushi sessions before this love arrived. And here I am, I still can't get enough of it! I know what I love, what I don't like, and everything in between when it comes to flavors, textures, and the different types of fish. I'm also looking forward to taking a basic sushi class in October so pretty soon I'll be making my own sushi at home!

For one thing, I don't like drenching my raw goodness and rolls with sauce because I feel that it covers up the flavor of the fish. Although the only two sauces I enjoy are ponzu and herb dynamite. Oh and of course soy sauce with wasabi for the dipping of choice. Love a little saltiness to go along with my fish.

I am a salmon fanatic. That is my raw sushi of choice, no doubt! I also prefer red snapper, ahi tuna raw, white fish, sweet shrimp, eel (freshwater moreso than saltwater; although both are just fine), and clam, just to name a few. Honestly, I'm really not a fan of the tunas. Albacore and Halibut, no thank you. A little too fishy for me. White tuna, I once enjoyed, but not so much anymore. I find it to be a watery fish. Love octopus and squid. Tried sea urchin once, against my past favorite sushi chefs wishes (he knew me pretty well at that time; what he thought I would like/dislike). Never again will I try it. Period. Overall, I'm open to trying new fish in any way. That's the only way you can learn and experiment.

So if I had to choose one sushi restaurant that I think is a must go-to place, I would pick Sushimi. Located off the 5 at Newhall Ranch Road next to the Industrial Center. Amazing fish! Great prices. Not an all-you-can-eat place, so you know the fish is good. The only downside---the service. But don't let that turn you off; they have nothing to do with the fish! I have tested out many sushi bars in my time and I find I always go back to this one. I even like how you can get information on their fish from the sushi chefs, if you find the right chef that is very social. After having a salmon conversation with one of the chefs, I found that they get their salmon from either Canada or Norway. I have tried both and I find I like Canada salmon better than Norway. Norway, to me, has a slightly fishy taste (more of the flavor, not quality of fish). No complaints, I love all salmon, wherever it comes from!

So I don't have anything to report from Sushimi but I do have two other places that I have tried--Kabuki and LOVE Sushi. Kabuki is the newest sushi restaurant to open up in SCV. I went there once to test it out a couple months ago. It was a quick and simple lunch so all I ordered was salmon.



Ah, makes my mouth water! Personally, for me, I still prefer Sushimi over Kabuki's salmon sushi. It was just slightly fishy here. But looking passed the salmon and overall, just looking at the menu, they didn't really have an abundant list of fish. My friend Jen wanted to order something as simple as white tuna, I believe, and they didn't even offer that there. If I was someone who wanted to try sushi for the first time, I would probably go to a place that had many different offerings so I could test out the many different types of fish to figure out what I like or what I cannot bear. Overall, besides all of the above, Kabuki is a very nice restaurant, clean, friendly, and I would go back just to sample other things off their menu.

LOVE Sushi. Not really a fan of it from the beginning but I went because it was my friend Paola's turn to choose the sushi place. For one thing, when you order sushi there, you have to consume it right away because for some strange reason, the fish gets warm pretty quickly. So I try to stick to the appetizers, rolls, or eel. It just seems like they forget simple requests, like how I would like eel without the sauce and how I don't think I have ever gotten eel there without sauce.

So besides all that, they added a new roll to their menu--the Sexy Mango Roll. It sounded interesting to me so I thought I would try it out.



It is a simple roll--Shrimp and mango on top and shrimp tempura, cucumber, and avocado inside, wrapped with soy paper and served with the house sauce on the side. What appealed to me was the combination of shrimp and mango. Sounded tasty and I love the flavors of mango and shrimp together. My opinion is that it is a great roll but the whole thing was wrong for me. They had salt on the shrimp and that alone killed my curiosity and tastebuds. I don't know if they did that on accident or this was supposed to be salty to counteract the sweetness of the mango--but it did not work for me at all. I ended up just picking around it. The saltiness was too much for me to handle. Overall a roll that could be quite successful in other sushi bars but unsuccessful in this setting. Fortunately I won't allow the unsuccess of this roll to prevent me from trying this again. But maybe not here.

Now something I absolutely love. So much that I believe it is even worth it to just order it to-go on a random day, in which I did just that!



Baked Green Mussels. The flavors are just simply satisfying. The equal sweetness with a touch of salty makes for an excellent dynamite-mayo sauce. Perfect with the salty-fishy touch of the masago and flavor from the green onion. The combination--flawless! I searched online and believe I have found the perfect recipe for me. I plan on taking this recipe and making my own that way I don't have to do a quick drive just to make a to-go order!

So I say, just eat it raw! Some may love the idea and others may still believe it isn't okay to eat anything raw; it being unsafe if not clean or fresh. All I know is that you go with what your heart and stomach tell you. If it isn't something you can do, there are plenty of rolls and dishes that you can get at a sushi bar that are not raw. Wait until you see a picture of one of my favorite rolls that uses cooked fish--Baked Alaskan Roll. My mouth is watering!

Sad to report....

So yesterday my friend Diana and I went in search of that hole in the wall chili place we have been dying to try....

Chili My Soul on Balboa and Ventura in Encino, CA.

And sadly I must report, it is no longer there. My heart dropped and I know her's did too, especially because she had been telling me about this place for a year and never going. She read a note that they left on the window saying that it was closed until further notice. Let's hope that one day they will open up sometime soon, like say, this year!

What I also must report was that Chili My Soul was also featured in the Los Angeles episode of Chefs vs. the City on the Food Network. That just makes it even more sad watching them eat the different chili bowls they offer there and not being able to try any of it!




So.....we went to the Cheesecake Factory instead since we were in the area. Got my usual Mediterranean Salmon and got the Tiramisu cheesecake to go. I believe she got the garlic pasta. Of course I enjoyed my dish and she said her's was good, but nothing spectacular, or boring, meaning she wished there was more going on, on the plate.

On the way back, we decided we were going to meet up with her brothers and their friends at the concert in the park---reggae style and for a little BBQ. Great band and lively music. On the way there, we caught the "Jack in the Box" guy walking all over Bouqet. I'm pretty sure we saw him in the Burger King parking lot instead of at Jack in the Box. Maybe he realized that he doesn't like his own food? That's okay, I don't either; Jack in the Box, that is!



So I came up with a little project for myself, which I think I will actually enjoy! I'm going to take a picture of every tree and herb in my backyard and come up with recipes, on my own, and put them up here. Wouldn't it be great to use what you have and save money instead of buying it at the grocery store? Great way to get your family involved too. Maybe the next time I go down to Ralph's, I'll see less cars in the drive-thru at McDonalds. It always saddens me when I see this. COOK for your families and use the drive-thru less often!