Eat Teach Blog

My papa had to work all day so we decided to take him out for a nice dinner to celebrate his special day. Normally, we opt for Thai food when we go out to eat – it’s the typical “brown” thing to do. But my sister was pretty set on taking him to Tommy Bahama’s Island Grille in Newport Beach. 

Aside from Sissy, none of us had been there in years and didn’t really have fond memories from the place so we were hesitant to try it again – especially because it wasn’t cheap (Yelp says $$$ and we know what that means…). If we’re eating expensive, it’s gotta be good. (Would also like to point out that my dad’s a really simple guy. He just wants what tastes good and suggested we go out to Chipotle for dinner. Love him.)

We got the tortilla soup to start out with. It was nice and hot – just the way dad likes it. Really flavorful, but not overboard with the spices.

I ordered the chicken burger w/a side of sweet potato fries. It was your average chicken burger – but they added a mango aioli that made it really stand out. And it’s hard to really impress me with sweet potato fries – I’m very partial to the sweet potato fries at Father’s Office in Culver City and no other restaurant has wow-ed me enough to want to eat them.

Dad got smoked and grilled chicken with a side of the most butter-y tasting, melt-in-your-mouth kind of garlic mashed potatoes. Also, they said it came with a side of string beans. But they brought asparagus. Maybe they’re just dumb and don’t know the difference? But I like asparagus better anyway. =)

Mom got a Veggie Burger – I was jealous of the guacamole she got with hers. They also added some sort of tomato jam that made it REALLY yummy.

Sister got a Miso Marinated Hawaiian Butterfish (she’s the most expensive date). Didn’t take pictures of that, but the fish was surprisingly good. I don’t eat fish usually (or ever), but I really liked it.

The overall experience wasn’t bad and I liked it more than I expected I would, but I still would have preferred Chipotle.

What did you do to celebrate Father’s Day?! =)

Good morning and Happy Father’s Day! Going to head out soon to the Corona del Mar Farmer’s Market, but before I do, wanted to upload some pictures from this weekend. I did a lot of branching out and tried a few new restaurants!

Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza (El Segundo, CA)

Gina and I came here for lunch on Friday. They just opened up this location recently and I was eager to try it. The restaurant always seems pretty busy, the ambience was really nice, and I love woodfired pizza! Unfortunately, I wasn’t too impressed with the food….

We started off with a Meditteranean tapa (appetizer) – Lebni, Soft Cheese. The description sounded like it’d be really flavorful: exotic spices, tomato, evoo, grilled herb flatbread. So we were looking forward to something really delicious. I think when they said “exotic spices,” they actually just meant “a shit ton of cumin.” It was hard to enjoy the food when it was entirely covered in spice. Not an exaggeration:

We also got a grilled chicken and hummus wrap and a garlic chicken pizza to share. Although the presentation was nice, I was, again, not too impressed with the taste of the food. The wrap had the same exact seasoning/taste as our appetizer. And the pizza was dry and I didn’t taste ANY garlic. C’mon Sammy’s – step up your game. I don’t understand why there were SO many people there….

We ate about 1/3 of it and boxed the rest up – never to come back again. Hahaha. Dramatic. But, probably a little bit true. They didn’t leave a great impression on my palate – sorry about it.

Luckily, we had this nice, chilled bottle of wine waiting at home for us. Made it all better:

Yokohama Sushi (Culver City, CA)

After living in Culver City for nearly two years and no longer a resident, I finally tried this sushi place. In my defense, it’s right next to a Subway, so I’ve never had the desire to eat anything else

He’s not posing. He’s just naturally that prim and proper.

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything unique – just your regular, average sushi place. Hits the sushi craving, but doesn’t really go beyond that. I’m also not too much of a sushi connoisseur. I did, however, enjoy the chilled sake they had. I think I’m much more of a cold-drink drinker. I think red wine should be served chilled and that sake should never be served warm.

The one thing that did stand out was the Gyoza appetizer we ordered. It was really deeply fried, so I only had one, but it was DELICIOUS. The sesame seed sauce it came with was even more delicious and I wanted to dunk my sushi in that, instead of the soy sauce:

Forage (Silver Lake, CA)

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures from dinner here. Probably because I was too eager to start eating. But I can assure you that no picture could really illustrate how AMAZING this food was. I got a plate of 3 sides: an arugula and kale salad with feta and breadcrumbs, a corn salad, and mac ‘n cheese (two different kinds of cheddar and grana padano). Unbelievable. The food tasted better than it looked – every bite was so, so flavorful and fresh-tasting. Apparently, they used to do this kind of “trading thing” with their customers that if customers brought in fresh produce, they would get a discount on their order. They would then use the produce in their future meals. They stopped doing that for obvious reasons…..but I like the idea. I will definitely be going back here for more…

Intellegentsia Coffee (Silver Lake, CA)

Not really a restaurant, per say. But still a notable mention. It’s a really high-end, exquisite taste type of coffee and espresso. Randy and Kent wanted to come here and splurge on a 1/2 pound of their coffee beans, so we all got a drink to end our amazing dinner. I got a soy latte – it was so creamy and delicious. Pretty expensive – and I thought Starbucks lattes were expensive! But it was a nice treat:

Now, I’m done with restaurants for the week. My goal is to be healthy and homemade for the next 5 days! Expect a lot of recipes on the blog this week…..

Just finished my breakfast: Honey Chobani, chia seeds, slivered almonds, and Farmers Market blueberries. YUM!

Now off to the farmers market to buy more fruits and veggies! I love this farmer’s market because it’s literally steps from the beach:

Corona del Mar, Newport Beach (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful fathers out there….my daddy’s gotta work on Father’s Day, but we will hopefully make something yummy for him to come home to.

What are your plans for Father’s Day?!