Saigon Dish

I’ve heard about the legendary Phoriday for the past year from Johnny, and how much I needed to go to Saigon Dish. I had no idea my boss would end up being the creator of Phoriday but I seized the perfect chance to partake in Phoriday. Several other people from work came, including a guy from Michigan who was apparently way down with Grand Rapids Vietnamese connection.

The place had a great vibe from the get go, and it was the cleanest pho place I’d ever been to with the nicest owner to boot. The entire experience was extremely pleasant despite us being in a rush to finish during our lunch break.

Will, was nice enough to get a round of eggrolls for the table, and I almost forgot to take a picture. Thank god he came through at the last minute and reminded me to take a photo of the last eggroll. It was delicious, definitely the best eggroll I’ve ever picked up from a pho restaurant.

Will got the number 7, that one with every part of the cow in it. The one everyone orders by its number on the menu instead of the name, and here that number is 7. I never get the number 7, its not that I dislike anything in it, but I’d rather just get a ton of strips of meat. I think most of my friends order this exclusively.

Nick my new buddy who grew up in Michigan surprised the heck out of me by going with sea food. Most of the time I’m imprssed when someone from out of state makes the big leap to eat seafood, but he got it in pho proving once again that I need to judge the rest of america less harshly.

It’s always a toss up or me between Pho Tai and Pho Bo Vien, but Johnny had praised the epicness of their meatballs so I had to give them a shot. It was delicious, and I felt like I couldn’t get enough. I’m truly sold on Saigon Dish, and now Fridays provide even more to look forward to.

15725 Hawthorne Boulevard
Suite 108
Lawndale, CA 90260
(310) 676-8778

Akasaka Restaurant

The first time I came here it was somewhat of an adventure, a worthwhile quest for sushi. It started with me looking at a car that some friends sold at their shop, and following their directions for good sushi. The directions were odd, and lead us through a neighborhood, we began to think we were tricked as the neighborhood seemed to continue on. It appeared out of no where, a Japanese style building in the middle of a bunch of houses in the city of industry. We turned a corner into a driveway full of Japanese and German luxury cars, and there was an old Japanese man keeping warm by a fire outside, we were at the right place.

For the longest time I’ve been wanting to take my home girl Crystal to Akasaka House, not just because it is near her home, but because it has damn good sushi. We’ve never been never to make it over however because it’s always been kind of inconvenient with our schedules. Once I ended up living near her however it became my top priority to take her there. After a few weeks of trying to make it happen we finally made our way there, and just like I knew she would, she loved it.

Crystal was the first to order the yellowtail. We had already placed an order for Hamachi Kama so having an order of sushi seemed redundant to me. I ended up placing my own order 20 or so minutes later because it just looked so good, and she sold me on it. It was delicious, tasting so fresh.

OH NOES! obviously, we got too excited and started to devour our kama before I could take a picture. I almost didn’t put this picture up because its been attacked but I remembered that the cheek of a fish isn’t all that attractive to begin with. It’s usually served with ponzu, my favorite thing to dip Japanese food in, but this place served it up with spicy ponzu, and that only made it more <3.

Something that both of us love is oysters, and I’m pretty sure she was disappointed that we only ordered 6 instead of dozen, but I like to spread it out.  Since I was a kid I’ve enjoyed oysters even when all the kids at school thought it was the weirdest thing and made fun of me. Thank God good food is priority #1 to me, and now I’ve got friends with better taste.

One thing I had on my mind going into Akasaka House was an intense craving for octopus. I’ve been use to eating it in salad form with vinegar and cucumbers regularly for so long that I thought it’d be nice to actually get it in roll form for once. I enjoyed it of course, and I don’t know if crystal would have enjoyed it because I didn’t give her the chance. I couldn’t help but devour it while she stepped out for a smoke, and I’m pretty sure she never even saw my octopus.

This was the first time I had sweet shrimp in a long time. It’s never been one of my favorites, but it’s definitely my fathers. I forgot to take a picture of the deep fried head, and that’s a shame because it is actually my favorite part. On this visit it was ordered by Crystal because she had never had it. I was excited that she liked it a lot, and I even enjoyed it myself.

Ever since I was first introduced to it, albacore has been one of my favorite fish. Even though it’s raw it melts in your mouth so nicely that I can never get enough of it. At many places I order it as a roll just to get as much albacore as possible, but since the idea on this visit was small portions with an emphasis on variety I scaled it down to a 2 piecer.

Monk fish liver is a rarely eaten guilty pleasure of mine, but when it came out filling a bowl I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed. Usually it comes out ontop of rice so there isn’t that much of it, but suddenly I had a lot in front of me. Crystal didn’t enjoy her taste of it so that meant I was going to have to eat it all on my own. I received it halfway through the meal, but since I wasn’t up for eating all of it at once it ended up lasting through the meal and being the last thing I finished.

I almost never order rolls with tempura shrimp because I prefer soft shell crab rolls like this one so much more. Theres just something that happens the moment the crab gets fried that makes me love it even more, and then I get to dip it in ponzu sauce. This became a favorite back when my friend Jimmy owned his own sushi restaurant, and I’ve maintained the love ever since. Crystal did not enjoy it like I did, but she was full at that point so I didn’t feel too bad about ordering something she didn’t like.

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten sushi with Crystal and not enjoyed sake. Getting her into nigori, my favorite  type of sake has given me a perpetual drinking partner for one of the few drinks I still enjoy. It’s unfortunate taht we just ordered “nigori” and never caught the brand, but that didn’t hinder the enjoyment it provided us. It didn’t hinder the enjoyment of the next bottle either of course, and even now I could go for another. :X

I love this place, I love it even more now that I live close. I have a lot of overtime coming up, and I already know that most of it is going to be spent on return trips to this place. It’s delicious, and it’s down the street so I can count on it being a guilty pleasure for the next few months. My next visit will be soon I’m sure.

14926 Clark Ave
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
(626) 336-0871