T's Thai
Restaurant: T's Thai
Location: 1215 4th St, Santa Monica, CAPhone: (310) 395-4106
I went to lunch here on Thursday with Farnaz. She had to do errands and we stopped there and picked up thai food. I had Massaman (which they spelled differently, and I can't remember), and she had something called Mint Leaves which was chicken and mint and vegetables. The food was decent and fairly cheap. I finished what was left of my food for lunch today, but after lunch, I wasn't feeling very well, if you catch my drift. Granted it may have been what I fixed last night, though I doubt it as that was only chicken and pesto and pasta (not the healthiest, I know, but edible, and had protien).
At any rate, the food was very tasty and they price was good. The massaman was far more watery than I am used to, and it wasn't very spicy, but i can live with that for $6.95 (I think it was).
Wokcano: Asian Cuisine
Restaurant: Wokcano: Asian CuisineLocation: 33 S. Fair Oaks, Pasadena, CAPhone: (626) 578-1818
Other Locations: Downtown LA, West Hollywood, and Century City
At first glance, Wokcano seems to be a very cool place. There's tiki huts over the tables, a very tropical feel to the whole place. The menu seems very long, with lots of options, until you start reading it. As far as appeizers go, I couldn't complain. I would have gotten appetizers except what I wound up getting for dinner was a bit much. They offer 4 kinds of soup including MIso, Hot and Sour, Wonton, and Spicy Seafood Soup. Next on the Menu is the Sushi. I'm used to a seperate menu for sushi, that you mark with your pencil and they give it directly to the sushi chef, but OK, I can do this. I look at this, and they've got a ton of sushi/sashimi cuts, and a lot of rolls, but none of their rolls are very creative. Two of them start with the description: "California roll topped with..." And none of the rolls are cheap either. They start at 4.50 for the avocado or cucumber rolls and it goes up to 13 for a Volcano roll which is shrimp tempura and eel and spicy sauce. They do so many of the basic rolls that people are used to, that they don't put forth any effort for creativity. They do a whole tropical feel in their decor, but don't do it in their food. They could throw in a roll they did at a place called Blu Sushi in Florida called Cool Hawaii which had cream cheese, kiwi, tuna cucumber and something else. Except for the kiwi, it was a very standard roll; the kiwi made it very tropical.
It took me a lot longer than normal to decide what I wanted to eat because I didn't want to get a California roll (although I did anyway). I wound up with one of the Sushi dinners, the Triple Sushi. It was $23 for 3 pieces of tuna, 3 pieces of salmon, and 3 pieces of yellowtail. It was supposed to come with a Fire Island roll, although it says "special roll" on the menu, but I asked for a Rainbow roll instead. A fire Island is a "California Roll Topped with Spicy Tuna, scallion, & Smelt Egg" where a Rainbow Roll is "Tuna, Salmon, White Fish on Top of a California Roll." I didn't see the California Roll at the very end right away. The sushi was very good. The fish was extremely fresh, and thicker cut than I am used to. The dinner also came with soup and salad. I ordered Miso, of which I am a huge fan, although this tasted like the tofu had been sitting in it for a really long time and had fallen apart, so they added more. It was a little thin and bland. Steve ordered Pad Thai, which he apparently loves. It was $8. It was good, but not great. Again, it tasted thin, like they didn't have enough sause for the amount of noodles.
Akbar: Cuisine of India
Restaurant: Akbar: Cuisine of IndiaLocation: 44 N. Fair Oaks, Pasadena, CAPhone: (626) 577-9916
Other Locations: Marina Del Rey, Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach, and on West 3rd
Steve and I went to Akbar on Friday Night. I had been craving Indian Food for the past year, and so I really didn't give him a choice. This place is apparently rated by Zagat's as one of the best places to get Indian food in Los Angeles or in Pasadena or something, but I wasn't completely impressed. I ordered the Coco Lamb, which the menu describes as "Lamb cooked in a coconut sauce flavored with fennel - a rare romantic combination." I ordered it because it sounded interesting and different and it had red meat in it. It has a Chili Meter rating of a 3, but the waitress offered to take it down for me, and being a sissy, I ordered it at a 2. Their Chili Meter runs from 1 through 5, with 5 being hot enough to take the skin off of your tounge and have you lose all sense of taste for the next week. Many people don't realize how hot Indian food is, so If you're new to it, and don't like spicy, I highly suggest you ask for a mild dish. When I got the dish however, I was wishing I had ordered it at the standard 3 because it wasn't quite burning my mouth the way I like for Indian Foods. That was my mistake though. My major problem with this dish comes from the fact that it was almost bland once you got past the spicy. I couldn't taste the coconut at all, or the fennel in the so-called romantic combination. Plus it was somehow gritty with some kind of seed that I couln't identify. The lamb was, however, perfectly cooked.
Steve ordered what he says is what he always orders at Indian Restaurants: Chicken Tikka Masala. For those of you who don't know Indian food, the menu describes this one as a "House favorite - tandoor grilled chicken in a tomato sauce." Whenever I've had it, this dish has been more spicy, but it barely registered for me. Steve handles spicy food even less well than I do, and even he was adding some of the spicy sauce garnish stuff that comes with your meal (I can never remember which they are). It was very flavorful though and perfectly cooked.
I think my biggest problem was the portion size and, by association, the prices. We actually finished our meals, and the rice that we had to order seperately (which always annoys me). We also ordered nan (Indian flatbread that is cooked in the Tandoor). But we had to each order a piece because it was $2.50 per piece. Not per order and you get 2 or 3 pieces, which is what I'm used to, but per piece. The meals were $10.95 each, which is fine, but rice is seperate, an additional $2 per meal. We didn't order drinks, having only water, and still spent over $30 for the 2 of us. I could have eaten more bread as well. They also have some appetizers like samosas that look good and they also offer Lassi which is a yoghurt drink.
The atmosphere of this place was very nice, though it kind of looks like a modern Italian restaurant. My biggest problem was something with me, not a real problem with it. I just always expect Indian restaurants to have Indian people working there, and I only saw one. All of the watresses were not only not Indian they were very blonde. It kinda threw me, but this is California....
