Review: The Coffee Bean - Ultimate Dark Chocolate Ice Blended

The Coffee Bean's Ultimate Dark Chocolate Ice Blended is a dark chocolate powder blended with coffee extract, ice, milk, and chocolate-covered espresso beans.

A regular 16-ounce is $3.95.

Review: Houston's - Cheeseburger

My Favorite Chain Burger

Houston's Cheeseburger is probably a top ten burger for me. It is a bit on the pricey side though and doesn't deliver a good bang for you buck at $14 dollars though I suppose the hurt is slightly lessened by your choice of a side: coucous, coleslaw, shoestring french fries, or seasonal veggies.

The Houston's Cheeseburger is your traditional burger done well. It features a toasted, egg-washed sesame bun, a thick (1/2 pound), juicy, charred patty of coarse-ground chuck, a slice of cheddar cheese, fresh, crisp, shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, pickles, and diced onions, and mustard. Everything is well-balanced (if you couldn't tell by now, I'm a big fan of well-balanced). There's a variety of textures from the squishiness of the bun to the crunchy drizzle of lettuce to the choppy bits of the juicy patty. If you want something more exotic from your burger, this isn't it. But, if you want an honest to good, hand-crafted hamburger, Houston's Cheeseburger is a fine choice as long as you can foot the bill.

Review: Little Caesars - Italian Cheese Bread

My Favorite "Cheesesticks"

Little Caesars is a pizza chain that uses a different model than most of the major chains. Like Papa Murphy's, they generally don't deliver. Unlike Papa Murphy's, Little Caesars bakes the pizza for you. 

Review: Carl's Jr. - Big Carl

My Favorite "Big Mac"

Priced at $1.99 in the L.A. area (but $2.49 in other markets if the ads are any indication compared to a nationwide average of over $3 for the Big Mac), Carl's Jr.'s Big Carl is set to go head-to-head with McDonald's beloved Big Mac complete with an ad campaign directly challenging the Big Mac. The ads mock the Big Mac's jingle, the Big Mac's miniscule patty size, and the Big Mac's third bun. If the voices in the ads are any indication, the Big Mac is the insecure little nerd that got beat up in highschool and the Big Carl is the confident jock that everyone liked.

Review: Houston's - French Dip

My Favorite French Dip Sandwich

The best french dip I've had... Ever... Although it's not cheap at around $18. Share it with a friend in my opinion. Houston's heats a generous cut of its delectable prime rib under a salamander and then thinly-slices (but not too thin!) it and places the juicy slices inside a soft egg-washed toasted french roll. The completed french dip sandwich is then served with a light beef broth for dipping and horseradish on the side. The result is this is the only place I go for a french dip sandwich anymore. Just thinking about it makes me want to go to Houston's...

The prime rib is moist, tender, and tasty. The bread is squishy soft and bakery fresh but is sturdy enough to hold together even dipped in the broth. The ingredients mesh well together and are well-balanced. If you're looking for a french dip, Houston's is definitely the place to try.

Maybe it's unfair to compare prime rib with regular sliced beef, pork, or lamb but it's really good! An order also comes with your choice of a side: couscous, coleslaw, french fries, or seasonal vegetables.

Review: KFC - Apple Turnovers

My Favorite Fast Food Apple Pie

Now this is what I'm talking about. Having bemoaned the fate of McDonald's Fried Apple Pie, I was happy to discover a few years ago that KFC added a deep-fried Apple Turnover (they are "pies" to me) to their menu. You can see above the crisp bubbles caused by the boiling oil. It just cries "crunchy!"  And at two pies for $1, it's hard to resist ordering!

Review: Langer's - #19 Pastrami, Swiss Cheese, and Cole Slaw Sandwich

Langer's is a Los Angeles institution and a must-try destination if you're ever in the area. New York has Katz's and Carnegie Deli, Los Angeles has Langer's.

Langer's has been around for quite a while: since 1947. The then Jewish neighborhood is today a predominately Latino neighborhood which may make it seem out of place, but I like to think it's a piece of history that's far too often missing in Los Angeles. The deli has a bit of that old school '50s diner feel to it.

Review: McDonald's - Chicken McNuggets

My Favorite Chicken Nuggets

Ah, the Chicken McNugget, another McDonald's staple. Formless pieces of minced chicken bits, battered, and deep-fried to a golden, crispy sheen. I pick up these when SoCal McDonald's was running a promotion that featured four Chicken McNuggets (i.e. the child's size) for a dollar.

Review: KFC - Biscuits

My favorite fast food biscuit and currently only two for a buck in the Los Angeles area. KFC's Biscuits have a nice crust on the outside...

Review: Winchell's Donuts - French Cruller

My absolute favorite donut is the French cruller known for its unique shape and its airy texture. The French cruller is made from choux pastry which, according to Wikipedia, is "a light pastry dough used to make profiteroles, croquembouches, eclairs, French crullers, beignets, Indonesian kue sus, and gougères. It contains only butter, water, flour, and eggs. Its raising agent is the high moisture content, which creates steam during cooking, puffing out the pastry." I know right? We're smarter already!

I have no idea what profiteroles, croquembouches, gougères, and, kue sus are, but I love French crullers. Unfortunately, most donut shops don't make a French cruller, at least not the mom and pops around here (They are quite difficult to make I'm told compared to the standard donut.). Fortunately, chain donuts shops usually carry French crullers (Note that the French cruller should not be confused with the "cruller" which is just a twisted cake donut.)

And Witchell's being a chain donut shop makes French Crullers, although only on Tuesdays around Halloween so they can make Halloween donuts... Sad, I know! Mostly, because I went to two different locations before asking where the crullers were. In short, French crullers from Winchell's with maple or chocolate frosting equals yummy!

Review: Chick-fil-A - Chicken Sandwich - Fresh Version

My Favorite Fried Chicken Sandwich

A little while ago, I wrote about the Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich my brother brought me back from Texas. While there still haven't been any Chick-fil-A's erected in my vicinity, there's one in Upland near my cousin's place in Pomona. As you can see the bag is in much better shape then one that's been through LAX. The sandwich is a bit pricier here at $2.99.
The Chicken Sandwich itself looks better as well.
You can see the buttered toasted top bun and patty. Looks like the Texas patty spent a little more time in the fryer though since this one is much lighter in color.
Chick-fil-A puts its pickles beneath the patty rather than above like McDonald's. It's an arbitrary difference I think.
You can see a good view of the chicken patty here. It was made to order and tasted like it: super juicy and chock full of flavor. I loved it. It was totally worth the trip (since I was visiting my cousin anyway).


Chick-fil-A
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Review: Baja Fresh - Churros

My Favorte Churro

As a kid, I would always remember eating those long churros they served at Disneyland. I was fascinated by how they would go through the toasting machine and then were rolled through a tray of sugar and cinnamon. Sometimes, just thinking about it makes me want to go to Disneyland... But then I remember Disney now costs $66 (compared to $25 or so back then!) and those churros are now probably at least $5 a pop.

Fortunately, the other day I decided to go to Baja Fresh and saw that they now have churros(!) on the menu for 99 cents.

I think they bake it, but I could be wrong. It was very tasty: crispy, sweet, and crunchy on the outside, moist and soft on the inside. I took a good picture too! I kind of want a churro now...

Baja Fresh
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