Dinner at WP24...Amazing Peking Duck

On Friday night, my family and I went to WP24 at Ritz Carlton in Downtown for dinner. Too bad that Jason couldn't join us because he was going to be working until late... My family loves Chinese food, so they were excited to try Wolfgang Puck's interpretation of it.

Our evening started with 2006 Weingut Schloss Gobelsburg, Riesling, Urgestein (Kamptal, Langenlois, Austria). Beautiful light golden color, honey and spice on the nose, spicy dry finish. With 2 kinds of amuse-bouche, our appetites were nicely stimulated.

Appetizers...my mom had Lobster spring rolls, I had "Tasting" of dim-sum (so good!), and Tomoko had Chinese chive crystal dumplings. Wow, my sister's dish was so huge for a single-serving appetizer!

Main course time...Whole Sea Bass, baked in a Fragrant Salt Crust. Excellent!

Whole-roasted Duckling "Peking Style" with Traditional Garnishes. This is supposed to be for 2 servings. After the presentation, the duck was sliced in the kitchen. Breast was separately served into 2 plates. (one for each breast) and the leg meat was served with sauce in another plate. It was extremely delicious, and such a huge portion for 2! The skin was perfectly crispy and the meat was so succulent. The buns were just chewy enough, and they even replenished with freshly steamed ones as we kept going on. My sister especially is a Peking Duck connoisseur, and she had eaten quality Peking ducks in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and also in Japan, and she said WP24's Peking duck was the best she'd tasted. It was just gorgeous. Our waiter said that the duck was from Idaho. What a great quality duck.

The dish went perfectly with 2007 Gramercy Cellars, Grenache (Columbia Valley, WA).

Desserts were superb, too. Very elegant and complex.

The experience was quite impeccable. We enjoyed a long dinner, and Wataru quietly passed out in his chair meanwhile.

Lunch at Forage

On Day 4 of my family's visit in LA, on our way to LACMA for Tim Burton's Exhibition, we stopped by at Forage in Silverlake for lunch. My sister and mom love vegetables in California, so I thought they would like this place, too. This time, I did a combo of 3 sides. Broccolini, Kale & Arugula salad, and Barley Salad...these are my 3 top favorites of their sides.

And, yes, they all enjoyed Forage. My mom loved her big avocado sandwich. My nephew, Wataru, had a giant bacon croissant and he loved it.

Pre-theater pizza dinner at Pizzeria Mozza

In such a great timing, my family and I were invited to Cirque du Soleil's IRIS at Kodak Theater.

Before the show, we stopped by at Pizzeria Mozza for a quick dinner. Every time my family visits LA, my sister requests to eat at either Pizzeria or Osteria Mozza. We enjoyed rapini pizza and prosciutto & mozzarella pizza.

For my nephew, eating a large slice of pizza is like a battle.

IRIS was fantastic!!

Little Tokyo...Lunch at Fat Spoon

The next day, we walked to a newly-opened Fat Spoon for lunch. It's a Japanese-style curry, pasta, and salad restaurant, which is run by the same management as Aburiya Toranoko. I had been waiting for their opening.

Very cute place...we got there early to beat the crowd. Soon after, the place was packed.

Cesar Salad and Grilled Vegetable Salad. Nice portions and nice flavor. I loved the dressings.

Spaghetti Carbonara, Mentai (spicy cod roe) Spaghetti, Vegetable Curry, and Seafood Curry (with brown rice). All were really good and I loved that flavor was authentic Japanese-style "yoshoku" (western food).

I want to come back to try other dishes, too!

Little Tokyo...Family dinner at Aburiya Toranoko

It's my family's visit week. I took them to Aburiya Toranoko for dinner. Two of my friends joined us, then Jason also got to join later.

We ate, drank, and laughed for 5 hours...my family was so impressed by the food at Toranoko, and they were jealous that I've been coming here so often.

Wines were very nice, too.

Weekday breakfast at Nickel Diner

It's so different and so relaxed on a weekday at Nickel Diner.

And the food is the same good and tasty. French Toast, and egg scramble with roasted tomato, spinach, and fontana cheese.