There are way too many food trucks in LA to keep track, but discovering a new one, a delicious one, is like a receiving an unexpected gift on Christmas.

This Friday I checked out a stretch of road in Granada Hills known as Food Truck Row.  I discovered the place on accident a few weeks ago when I wanted to try the Bun Truck. I was surprised to find not only the Bun Truck, but a good 20 trucks lined up one after the other for blocks. I thought at first there was a street festival going on, but after talking to a few vendors, I realized this was just a regular Friday night.

Discovered some really great trucks, many I had never heard of before. Met some really cool people as well. From what I hear, the trucks are all lined up every Wednesday/Friday night,  in Granada Hills around the area of Chatsworth/White Oaks. Park in the residential area nearby and just walk on over to avoid the traffic.

Here are a few places I tried on Friday:  The Bun Truck, Bollywood Bites, Slap Yo Mama,  Mossie Lee’s, Sweet Beats.

Check out the cool video my friend Dev put together from Friday. He even caught me doing some kind of weird jig!

Part II of my Vegas adventures had me at the Venetian’s new tower, the Palazzo, dining at Sushi Samba. My cousin’s boyfriend is the manager there, so she took my sister and I there for an early dinner. First of all, I love the vibe at this place. The decor is awesome–the perfect mix of trendy, asian, and graffiti, I totally imagine  Sushi Samba as a place my friends would hang out at for drinks and pupus.

I wish I could tell you the names of what I ate–but honestly, I have no idea. I let my cousin do all the ordering and her boyfriend put together the perfect menu for us. My sister even had a drink that tasted light like cucumber and went down really smooth.

Below are two pictures of the food. Be jealous!

Check out the white stuff towards the bottom of this photo, it’s persian corn!! It was delicious.

My cousin picked out a bunch of sushi for me to eat. I devoured the tempura ones!

]]> http://slowdancingwithstrangers.com/2009/my-life/sushi-samba-at-the-palazzo-trendy-and-delicious/feed/ 0 http://slowdancingwithstrangers.com/2009/project365/pictures-from-downetownes-2-year-anniversary-party-at-bar35/ http://slowdancingwithstrangers.com/2009/project365/pictures-from-downetownes-2-year-anniversary-party-at-bar35/#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:30:40 +0000 kristel http://slowdancingwithstrangers.com/?p=592

Despite having some major camera problems, I had a great time at the Downetowne party this past Saturday at Bar35! I don’t know what happened, but about an hour into shooting, my flash went dead. I changed out the batteries, but it wouldn’t even turn on. Then my lens took way too long to focus, so I got all irritated, put my camera away, and danced with my friends instead.

I’ve got about  a week to figure out what to do about my camera. I’ll be attending my first lesbian wedding ceremony this weekend and I promised to take some pictures. I think I’m just going to buy a new body. Anybody have lots of money to share with me?

So I’ve been sick for the past couple of weeks and sadly forced to eat at places only near the house. It doesn’t usually leave us with many choices, but the other day Kimi and I went to Pearl Kai Shopping Center in hopes of getting some Thai food for dinner. Unfortunately, the place was closed and wouldn’t be open for another hour or so.  Our friend Emily was coming over to work on her FIDM portfolio and, honestly, I was starving and didn’t want to wait for Champa Thai. So, we wandered around the shopping center in search of food and stumbled upon Off the Wall Bar/Restaurant/Catering.

The place was actually pretty nice. Definitely a mellow place to grab drinks after work if you’re in the area. There’s a big screen TV above the bar and a fair number of tables (in case you don’t want to sit at the bar area), so I think it’d be a good place to hang out and eat pupus without feeling like you’re in an actual bar.  I’m guessing this is where the /restaurant part of  Off the Wall’s name comes in.

We picked up food for three, met up with Emily, and then headed back to the apartment.  We sat in the living room and stuffed our faces. It was heavenly. Emily and I both got the arare karaage chicken (all entrees came with rice and salad). Kimi got the soy miso chicken.

The food is  a little on the pricey side, but we had more than we could eat and it was delicious.  Next time–when I’m no longer sick–I’m going to try the bacon wrapped shrimp. Mmm.

This isn’t your normal plate lunch/take out kind of place, so don’t expect your staple plate lunch choices. Instead, Off the Wall takes your favorite local food and raises the bar in terms of taste.

I grabbed a menu from there–if anyone is interested, I’ll scan it and upload it here.

Off the Wall
98-199 Kamehameha Hwy
Ste B-10
Aiea, HI 96701
(808) 486-9255

You know what’s the best? Discovering (by accident) a good place to eat. Today my friend and I had decided on getting food from Leo’s Taverna in downtown, but had to change plans (twice) when we couldn’t find parking and traffic was too bad.

“How about a hot dog?” he asked me. “What about Hank’s?”

I can’t say no to a hot dog, so I googled the address on my phone and we headed to Coral street.  I had heard of Hank’s Haute Dogs before, but never tried it. We parked at the end of the block, drooled over the menu, realized it was a Cash Only place, went to the convenient store down the street to pull out money, and then return to order our food. It sounds like a pain in the ass, but it was totally worth it.

My friend tried their Special of the Day (Alligator Andouille) and I had a good ol’ fashioned Polish dog. They weren’t as big as the Coscto hot dogs, but they were really delicious. Talk about gourmet hot dogs–they weren’t kidding!

We wolfed those suckers down, talked about how good it was, and then returned back to work fat and happy.

We’ll be going again soon, I promise. You should too.

Hank’s Haute Dogs
324 Coral Street
[Click here to see the location on Google Maps]

After receiving that bit of good news last week,  I can finally relax and just worry about the usual stuff, like paying for rent and bills. Ever had one of those weeks where nearly every day feels like a Friday? You’re all excited because you think the next day is Saturday, only to suddenly remember that it’s actually Wednesday and you have a shitload of things to do that day at work. That’s how my week was, so I was excited when Saturday actually arrived (for real, this time).

We decided to go on an lowkey adventure…

V.I.P. Trans? Limo service for trannies? I want limo service for chubby dykes.

Why does the Kumon logo look like that?? The “O” face looks kinda…er…slow. I don’t know if I’d be too thrilled about going there if my mom showed me a brochure and I saw that.

First stop is Toys and Joys in Kaimuki. My best friend, Miriam, gave me a tip that she saw some Hello Kitty blindboxes there and I wanted to surprise Kimi (who is crazy about Hello Kitty).

She got a Hello Kitty ballerina. And it came with gum! Those clever Japanese people.

Had to buy me something too. Kimi thinks I look like Stitch. Like in this pic.

For comparison. Maybe it’s my little teeth. Caroline does say I’m an alien.

More toys for my desk.

Kimi wanted to stop by Gulick Deli for lunch. I just came here earlier in the week and now she is addicted to their hash. Like corned beef hash with potato.

This is okazu-ya style–which means just pick and choose what you like. You get charged by each item. We shared one plate and filled it with enough carbs to put us in a food coma until dinner.

The past couple of times I’ve gone for lunch during the week, I’ve been lucky that it wasn’t too crowded. There are a few booths if you want to eat there, but I think this kind of food is best to just eat at home or back at your desk.

Depending on how hungry you are, I’d say you’d spend about $7-10 for lunch.

[googleMap]map[/googleMap]

It seems that lately everyone has been obsessed with this place, Yogurtland. My girlfriend will randomy crave it, I have a friend who dreamt about it, and my sister will ask to go there everytime we drive by.

Yogurtland is located on the corner of University ave. and Metcalf st., where Volcano Joe’s used to be. In high school, it used to be Burger King and then Mos Burger (which we always called Moss Burger).

There’s almost always a line going out the door, but it moves pretty quickly. The picture above shows their yogurt wall where you can mix and match a large variety of flavors. After you fill up your cup, you move over to their toppings bar and pick what you want. Put as much or as little as you want (topping and yogurt); Yogurtland charges you by weight.

I’m not a big yogurt fan, but even I liked their chocolate mint yogurt with oreo cookie topping.

Well, we did get good karma, but not in the way I expected.

I called my landlord yesterday to see if he had already found a tenant. He didn’t and I asked if we could do a six month lease with him. “However long,” he told me. “Stay as long as you like.”

When I told him about what happened with those people, he said, “That’s awful. Those people are so rotten. What kind of people say they’re gonna rent to you and then screw you over?” He even offered to lower the rent for the next six months, but I gracious declined and told him that just the fact that he’s been so nice about everything and said we can extend our lease was more than enough.

So, I mean, we did get good karma in the form of a bigger and better apartment. I also have a new found appreciation for my landlord. After dealing with all those potential landlords in the past weeks (plus my previous renting experience in DC), I am SO grateful for my landlord now. I’m really fortunate.

Everything worked out and perhaps this is where Kimi and I are supposed to be right now.

I can finally remove that “Moving Out” counter from my blog sidebar with a sigh of relief.