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AnonymousAnother great sushi place is Bonsai Beach on Hermosa Avenue and about 8th street in Hermosa Beach. The sushi is so fresh! The selection is great, but they don't always have everything on the menu. I would rather have it that way, though, because it tells you they don't order a ton and then use it the following day. Also, I would recommend going on a weekday. That way you can sit at the bar and talk to the sushi chefs. It is not crowded. They also have a Benihana-type room if you prefer.
AnonymousAs a high school teacher today I am so amazed to find that sushi is one of the favorite foods among students! I am surprised because sushi has become the cool/ hip food. Everyone seems to have some kind of exposure to it. Times have surely changed. I remember in elementary school when my mom would pack me sushi. My friends would point and stare at my ethnic cuisine. They would think I was strange for eating anything wrapped in seaweed. Seems like now students would love to have a sushi lunch. There are so many assignment possibilities associated with ethnic cuisine. Students can research a culture and with it bring in a food from the culture they research. This is great for classes such as history, geography, language, etc. For sushi I recommend the restaurant KABUKI. It is a hip sushi chain with real affordable prices. I went out with a group of 4 and we all ate well for about $60. We really enjoyed ourselves.
John Yamazaki
AnonymousWhen I was student teaching in a rural Northern California farm town, I covered a unit on China with my third grade class. The unit came about as an adjunct course of study as the students were reading Mulan in the District adopted reading text. Over the course of the unit, I really wanted to expose my students to aspects of Chinese culture other than those they saw at the on local Chinese restaurant or in the popular media. So I gave all kinds of zany things a try. We worked on Caligraphy, made clay soldier statues, disected a silk worm chrysali, and even managed to make some Chinese food--I mean I couln't study China and not let them know that there was more to Chinese food that half-and-half with orange or lemon chicken, broccoli beef, roast pork, and egg rolls. The kids really enjoyed this, and what was more I made the food as part of a math lesson on multipication.
For statrters, I choose something simple--noodles in seasame sauce with green snow peas. The recipe was right there in the literature text, so I figured why not. As printed the recipe served four. I presented the class with the recipe, and told them we'd make it together if they could figure out how to expand the recipe to feed the entire class. As part of the assignment, they were to develop a strategy to expand the recipe, check to see if their stategy produced reasonable results, and then create a poster that explained the strategy they used to expand the recipe. I reminded them to try and think of a way of using patterns to help them in their task. For the most part the class simply added the ingredients several times until they got the desired result, but one of the five groups of four used a skip counting approach. Building from the two strategies we had a nice discussion on the benefits of each strategy. I then gave a brief introduction of multiplication--then we meassured our ingradients, made the dish, and ate together as a class. The lesson was a hit, and students saw first hand the practical application of being able to multiply.
Asian food as part of your curiculum is a good way to increase student motivation and interest. The kids loved working on the problem, and in their stuggle to accomplish their task, they learned not only to appreciate a bit of Asian culure, but also to appreciate the wonders of multiplication
Anonymousthe islam workshop we took mentioned muslim/chinese food. that got me very interested so i looked around:
Mas' Islamic Restaurant
601 e. orangethrope ave
aneheim, ca 92801
http://www.ocweekly.com/food/feature-review/moo-shoo-muslim/24593/
AnonymousBrothers Sushi in Woodland Hills is also very highly regarded. It is located on Ventura Blvd., close to De Soto, on the South side of the street. Reasonably priced, with an awesome array of fresh sushi that is expertly prepared. The place is not much to look at from the outside, but it is a local favorite. Has a great selection of sake and imported Asian beers, and if you happen to be there at the right time you will witness the wild fighting between the owner/chef and his wife/hostess. Great fun for the entire family. One night he threatened to throw his knife at her...you had to be there.
AnonymousPHO: (Faa) a delicious Vietnamese Noodle Dish that is available widely in US. But, did you know the history of Pho. Check out the article below for more info...
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The Evolution of Pho
Soup Rooted in Vietnam Becomes Americanized
By Andrea Q. Nguyen
Special to the Mercury News
Ask someone to name a Vietnamese dish, and he or she will most likely say pho (rhymes with "duh''). Twenty-nine years ago, who would have dreamed that the national soup of Vietnam would be so well embraced in America?
Perhaps it's because Vietnamese emigrants decided to settle all over the United States, and wherever we are, there's sure to be pho. The heady broth, chewy rice noodles, sweet spices and scintillating herbs provide comfort in a bowl.
Long confined to Vietnam and immigrant communities, pho is becoming the most popular Asian noodle soup in the United States. Check the phone book for pho in Santa Clara and San Jose and you'll find more than 25 listings, including mom-and-pop operations and the prolific Pho Hoa franchises. One Southern California chain, Pho 2000, caters specifically to beef-loving Korean-Americans.
Pho has changed much during its nearly 100-year history. At its birth, pho was basically just boiled beef, noodles and broth. Inventive cooks then developed the raw beef version (pho bo tai) and chicken pho (pho ga), and during wartime when beef was scarce, they made pork pho (pho lon). Though these and other variations exist, most people define pho as a beefy affair.
American bowls of pho are about 30 percent bigger than what's found at a street-side joint in Vietnam. Also, American pho restaurants regularly offer diners myriad options to personalize their bowls: raw beef, cooked beef (such as brisket, flap or outside flank), tendon, tripe and meatballs.
This fanciful display is a reflection of America's wealth. That is, we have options here -- an uncommon luxury in Vietnam; in fact, if you're low on money in Vietnam you may order a less-expensive bowl without meat.
On a 2003 trip to Vietnam, I didn't get many choices. At a stall in Ho Chi Minh City's famous Cho Ben Thanh market, I ordered a bowl with chewy beef tendon and was told there was none that day -- just cooked and raw beef. All one extremely busy spot in Hanoi offered was pho with cooked beef. True to the purist northern tradition, the pho was steamy hot, and no leafy garnish plate appeared. But it was one of the best I'd ever eaten. Like the locals, I sat crouched on a tiny stool and slurped up every bit. When the bowl was empty, I happily paid 11,000 dong (about 60 cents) and departed with a beefiness that lingered on my lips all afternoon.
What makes pho universally loved?
Sacramento restaurateur, chef and cookbook author Mai Pham points out that Vietnamese food offers an appealing flavor profile to the U.S. palate: "Most of the ingredients are very familiar. It's fresh and not so spicy. Visually it's easy to see. It's not mysterious.''
A smart businesswoman with foresight, Pham partnered with StockPot, a Campbell Soup Co. subsidiary in Seattle, to develop a commercial pho broth. Though made of chicken, the broth contains the bold spice notes and sweet-salty flavors found in typical beef pho.
At San Jose State University, Executive Chef Jay Marshall uses the StockPot product at an Asian noodle soup bar where diners get to pick and choose from an array of rice noodles, vegetables, herbs and protein. Because there are plenty of pho shops near campus, the chef decided to use the product to offer a more non-traditional bowl of pho. "Our students love it,'' Marshall says. "People across the board eat it. It's not tied to any nationality.''
How pho came to be is a murky issue. While scholars, cooks and diners agree that pho was invented in the early part of the 20th century in northern Vietnam, no one is certain of the specifics.
Pham recalls that in the late 1990s, when she first returned to Vietnam to do research, she found that there wasn't much written or documented on pho. In gathering oral histories from elders, she concluded that the noodle soup came from Hanoi and was influenced by both Chinese and French traditions.
Last year pho's mysterious beginnings were debated and investigated at several events in Hanoi. At one seminar, the discussion focused on the word itself. Some proposed that "pho'' was a Vietnamese corruption of the French feu (fire), as in the classic boiled dinner pot-au-feu, which the French colonialists introduced to Vietnam.
In a follow-up publication, seminar organizer Didier Corlou, executive chef of the Sofitel Métropole hotel in Hanoi, noted that charring the onion and ginger for pho broth is similar to the French method of adding roasted onion to pot-au-feu for extra brown coloring. This use of charred ingredients is one thing that sets pho apart from other Asian noodle soups.
As for the birthplace of pho, a couple of theories point to Nam Dinh province, southwest of Hanoi. One argument is that ingenious cooks in Nam Dinh City (once a major textile center) satisfied the gastronomic desires of Vietnamese and French residents by inventing the dish using local ingredients (e.g., rice noodles) and adding du boeuf for a bit of foreign extravagance. (Before the French occupation, cows in Vietnam were cherished work animals, not food sources.)
Another theory attempted to trace pho to the small impoverished village of Van Cu in Nam Dinh province. During the 20th century, as a means of survival, nearly all Van Cu villagers turned to making and peddling pho 50 miles away in Hanoi. Consequently, many pho
vendors in the capital today are from that village.
In 1954, under the Geneva Accords, Vietnam was split in two. To avoid communism, many northerners migrated southward, bringing their pho culture with them. In democratic South Vietnam, pho made a brash turn away from its conservative northern traditions.
It was embellished with more of everything -- meat, noodles and broth. The practice of garnishing pho with bean sprouts, ngo gai (thorny cilantro), hung que (Thai/Asian basil) and lime was introduced. Diners also started adding tuong (bean sauce/hoisin sauce) directly to their bowls. This freewheeling, adulterated incarnation reflected the southern Vietnamese penchant for eating wildly complicated food and lots of it.
Then, as now, northern pho purists reacted with horror, decrying the loss of authenticity. Though philosophically liberating, tinkering with the sacred broth was an affront to strict northern cooks, whose pride and reputation rested in crafting a well-balanced bowl.
Even today, what many Americans identify as the requisite pho garnish plate is hard to find in Hanoi. For purists like my northern-born mom, only "pho bac'' (northern pho) will do.
Whether you enjoy your next bowl of pho at home, in a restaurant or at a noodle bar, you'll be part of a special culinary and cultural transformation. Like many ethnic foods introduced to this country, part of pho will forever remain rooted in Vietnam while its future unfolds at the American table.
Posted Wed, June 9, 2004, copyright San Jose Mercury News
AnonymousI was out with my sister, her husband, and their Japanese friend a couple weeks ago and we were in China town eating dinner. I asked Tomoko about takoyaki and mentioned that I liked these deep-fried balls. Then we got off to talking about Japanese restaurants...That's when I found out...[horrified, blood-curdling scream playing in the background] that teriyaki dishes were considered 'fake' Japanese food!, at least considered fake by Tomoko, the Japanese friend. Wha?
She invited the three of us to go to her house so that we'll get to eat Japanese cuisine. Little did I know that Japanese food does not end with curry, tempura, and sashimi. There's more out there![Edit by="ssamel on Jul 22, 4:49:59 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousCheated????
Well every food that is brought by Immigrant Groups go through some what of an adaptation to an American Taste. Are the Chinese Food (or any ethnic food) that you get in the US, really authentic? I am sure that you can find some authetic restaurant but its hard to find the original version of anything....
AnonymousAbsolutely. Some adapt and some are tailored for acceptance in the new culture. Some dishes never quite make the jump and are found exclusively in the homeland. One of my fondest memories is watching my fellow Canadian teacher "explore the cuisine" on the streets of Seoul after a few hours of revelry. He noticed people eating cartons of what looked like miniature onion rings (very tiny). He stumbled over and paid for a bag of "warmed rings". He started munching on them- "Hey, these aren't bad! Want some?" I shook my head vigorously. The next question was inevitable: "Do you know what these are?" "Oh yeah", I replied. "It is called Tak Rangi." He looked at me with utter incomprehension. "Fried chicken rectums". Boy was he sick! I have yet to see that particular dish make it over to Koreatown.
AnonymousJust a few days ago I went to Ma's Islamic restaurant with some friends. It was pretty good. All agreed that there was a distinct taste that separated it from regular Chinese fare. The orange chicken was much more spicier and had a curry feel to it. The pot stickers were large, but beef. And the lamb was great. The decor of the restaurant is very nice too. Everyone who went with me, even the two who live in that area were surprised this type of restaurant existed. we all would come again
AnonymousRecently I went to NBC Seafood Resturant for some Chinese Dim Sum. Although I have been to dim sum often, I was amazed at the variety and food selection. Dim Sum is a very common breakfast or brunch for many Chinese. Translated, the term Dim Sum means :" it touches a bit of the heart." Dim sum consists of a variety of dumplings and sweet buns and pastries. Dim Sum is a great way for the people to get together and talk. That is why it is always so nosy at a chinese restaurant. Dim sum is usually served from 10 am to 1 or 2 pm depending on the Restaurant.
AnonymousI love food myself. To promote Asian foods in the classroom, last year, I gave an extra credit assignment around the lunar new year where the students had to make a homemade asian themed food item to bring to class for a potluck. I used the largest online contemplation of recipes
AnonymousI'm chinese and live in the westside of LA. Where is there good "authentic" chinese food without having to drive all the way to SGV? With LA traffic, I can never get out there and am trying to find something good and local. Thanks
AnonymousCho-un (I think it's called Evergreen in English) in the big Korean complex on Sherman Way and White Oak. It sells all types of Korean food, but the best is their suhl-lung-tang, which is a soup made of beef broth that has been slow cooked. It's pretty cheap--about $7 for the soup, which includes endless ban-chan (side dishes).
BCD Tofuhouse-This is a chain that has several locations. The one in the Valley is located on Saticoy and Rindley. Their specialty is soon dubu, or soft tofu casserole. Don't let tofu scare you! It's so yummy!
AnonymousThanks Judi! I'll keep those in mind the next time I feel like having some Korean food. Anyone have suggestions for Chinese Food in the westside? I personally like Hop Li's on Pico. There's another on San Monica in west LA. Anyone know of others?