foodiejoce's Xanga

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 10:43:22 GMT

Koji's Shabu Shabu & Sushi Bar - Orange, CA

Location: 8.5 Jocey Faces

Located deep inside of the famous Block Of Orange, Koji's is easily found while walking the many paths within the outdoor shopping area. With the guidance of a directory, any traveler will be able to find their way to the prominent corner location within the area.

Parking: 6 Jocey Faces

Anyone who has gone to the Block knows that if you want to get parking, you have to go on a weekday, or come extremely early on a weekend. When I went, I was fortunate to arrive on a Wednesday, so finding parking nearby Koji's was rather easy. But if you wanted to go to Koji's on a weekend evening, it would be a lot more difficult.

Cleanliness: 5 Jocey Faces

From the looks of the restaurant when I first entered, it was very clean and organized ... that was until I was about to be seated. There were several tables that had not been bussed yet. Because of this, I was forced to share a hot pot with my brother. If those tables had been cleaned sooner, my brother and I would have been able to have our own pots. It also didn't help that several of the hot pots were out of order.

Ambiance: 7.5 Jocey Faces

The building seems a lot smaller than what you'd think from the outside. It's somewhat dim, and the radio plays mainstream music from a radio station. Shabu shabu and sushi are divided right down the middle, so you are able to "pick your poison." It was rather comfortable, but the main problem I had was the hostess. We weren't greeted or anything like that, so I felt somewhat uncomfortable just standing there waiting for someone. Finally the manager recognized us, and had us seated.

Service: 9 Jocey Faces

EXCELLENT! Our server (Xander) was like a phantom, bringing and refilling our beverages at a moment's notice, many times not even asking us if we needed anything ... he'd just bring our drinks. PLus since it was my brother's first time to Koji's, he was very helpful in explaining exactly how shabu shabu is dont at Koji's. The 1 point deduction was in the speed of getting our order out to us. If you don't know, shabu shabu is basically boiling thinly sliced pieces of meat and vegetables into a boiling pot of water. It took them a long time to bring out RAW pieces of uncooked meat to us. Yeah ... I shook my head at that as well. Other than that little problem, everything else about the service was spot on.

Quality Of Food: 9.5 Jocey Faces

DELICIOUSNESS TO THE MAXIMUS! I had been to Koji's once before (in Hollywood), but I wasn't able to review it ... now that I have the chance, I have to say that it was QUITE EXCELLENT! I ordered the "Around The World" platter, which included beef, chicken, salmon, and shrimp. It was my version of "surf n turf." All the meats placed into the water cooked quickly, and by placing them in the 2 different dipping sauces (a citrus ponzu as well as a sesame sauce) and eating them with rice, it was just heaven. I added a little green onion & daikon radish to my ponzu to give a little extra flavor and texture, and it helped out dramatically. The textures of all the food after it had been placed in the hot pot were almost like butter: melting in my mouth and just begging to be devoured. The salmon actually surprised me. I was planning on eating the salmon as is, because it was "sushi grade," but my curiousity got the better of me, and I tried it in the hot pot. It was GREAT! It was tataki style, with the nice cooked seared meat on the outside, and the very very rare and tender inside. It was a hot and cold combination that worked really well with each other. My 0.5 deduction? The chicken was still a bit frozen. In order to cut the chicken breast as thin as they do, they need to freeze the chicken breast and then slice it. My pieces of chicken were a bit firmer than I would have liked, but they still tasted great.

Final Score: 7.6 Jocey Faces

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (yes I know it's passed already)

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 10:02:13 GMT

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving with their families and friends. I was able to spend another humble one with my family.

Hope you didn't gorge TOO much hehe. As for me, expect a review of Koji's Shabu Shabu & Sushi Bar (Orange, CA) really soon. Otherwise, TTYL!

~ Foodie Joce

CANDY REVIEWS?!

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 07:20:52 GMT

I decided to try something new: review a candy bar.

I haven't really gone to a restaurant and actually paid attention to all the details lately. I've had a lot of other things on my mind. So I decided to try something different. Please read, and give me feedback on what you think about it. Thanks again!

~ Foodie Joce

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The Idaho Spud

I didn't purchase this candy while in Idaho because I've never been to Idaho. I actually got this candy bar while on a little excursion to the Galco's Market. My friends and I were in search of classic candies and sodas, and I happened to find this little beauty.

I've seen it mentioned before on the Food Network on "Unwrapped" so I figured I'd get one to try it.

At first glance, the label reminded me of an old fruit pie I'd get from one of the Hostess stores back in the day.

Once you open the label, an elongated oval candy bar covered in coconut flakes is what is revealed. This is the reason it is called an "Idaho Spud," because it is made to look like a potato.

I took a bite, and immediately noticed that the chocolate covering was very soft ... not firm like many typical candy bars. Inside was a soft and creamy marshmallow-like consistency with coconut flavor.

I'm not a big fan of coconut, but this candy bar was alright. It took a while for me to get used to the texture of the marshmallow, but after a couple bites, it was ok.

Would I recommend this candy to anyone? If you like coconut, then yes ... or if you want to try a local specialty that isn't available here. Otherwise, I'd stick to something somewhat smaller, and a little more local ... like a Mounds bar or something.

JoceyFace Rating: 5

WOW I HAVEN'T WRITTEN IN A WHILE!!!

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 21:47:46 GMT

I apologize to those that actually read this Xanga about the lack of updates. Honestly ... my focus has been in other places as of late (I go to CSULB now ... full time student, part time worker/manager @ Red Brick Pizza).

I want to get back into reviewing the restaurants though. Starting now I will try my best to keep you updated on the various eateries that I go to. Thanks to my friend Lorraine, I have several coupons and such for different places to eat (all enclosed in my Entertainment book hehe).

Hopefully in the coming months I'll provide intimate commentary and opinions of the restaurants I visit.

Stay tuned and you won't be disappointed!

~ Joce

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 07:18:41 GMT

Lei Garden - Washington D.C.

Location: 6.5 Jocey Faces

Located in the middle of Chinatown in Washington D.C., just past the traditional gate to the area that most Chinatowns have, it has a rather interesting position on the street. On one hand, it's very close to the MCI Center (which is where the Washington Wizards play ... Washington D.C.'s answer to the Staple Center in LA), so many of those patrons and business draw traffic to the area. But on the other hand, something that I will be mentioning in the next segment makes it difficult to get to.

Parking: 3 Jocey Faces

Parking in the East coast is significantly different than parking on the West coast. Working with a lot less space, businesses had no room to place parking lots, so they basically made consumers park on the curb ... which is what my family and I had to do. It was quite a walk to get from our parking spot to the restaurant. I could handle it, but if you have problems with your feet, or are just fatigued easily, then choose somewhere else to park.

Cleanliness: 5 Jocey Faces

The carts that were pushed around for the dim sum were well maintained, but what made me score their cleanliness so low was the fact their floor was not swept well, their vacuum was in plain sight from my table, and there was a clothing rack out that had several uniforms hanging from hangers ... next to the stairs that led to the exit. Yeah ... it wasn't a pretty picture.

Ambiance: 7 Jocey Faces

The restaurant itself was 2 stories: the regular restaurant on the bottom floor, with the dim sum service on the top floor. The top floor was quite spacious. If dim sum wasn't being served, it looked as if it could have been used as a banquet space for a wedding or something like that. Pleasant music playing in the background helped make the experience somewhat peaceful, seeing as my family hadn't really slept the night before.

Service: 8 Jocey Faces

Outside of having some food items unavailable right away, the service was rather good. Whenever I go to a dim sum place, my drink of choice is water, and I through many glasses. At Lei garden, the bus "MAN" (yes he was a 70 year old man that knew Fukien like my dad) would always make sure that everyone's water glass was filled. No glass went unlooked. Very attentive. Also, even though some of the food was unavailable, the food that WAS available was rather plentiful, and they traveled around the room several times, making rounds to all the tables.

Quality Of Food: 7.5 Jocey Faces

All of the shrimp items from the menu that I had were delicious ... plus compared to other dim sum restaurants, I had a larger selection of shrimp items. Unfortunately a lot of the other items were rather bland. You needed a lot of the provided soy sauce to enhance the flavor in some way, making it actually salty (which in turn made me thirstier). But if all you want to get is shrimp dim sum items, this is the place to be.

Final Score: 6.2 Jocey Faces

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 06:22:41 GMT

NEW CATEGORY ADDED TO MY REVIEW SCORING!!!

Yeah ... in all the reviews I have made, I never reviewed the serving staff or the hosts(esses) at all!!!

So now I added a 6th category: SERVICE!!!

So now I'll base all my future restaurant reviews on this new-er format. So for example Restaurant A gets these scores:

Location - 5
Parking - 7.5
Ambiance - 6
Service - 4
Cleanliness - 8
Quality Of Food - 5.5
Total - 5 + 7.5 + 6 + 4 + 8 + 5.5 = 36
Overall score - 36/6 = 6 Jocey Faces.

There it is. I'll have my review of the Chinese dim sum place I ate at in Washington D.C. rather shortly ... so STAY TUNED! Cya!

~ Joce

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 06:07:28 GMT

A REVIEW!!!

Yes I know it's been a while since I've put up ANY type of review, but with having a summer school class, and having 2 jobs, I have been rather busy. So finally today I have a review for you ... hope you guys enjoy it!

~ Joce

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Charo's Peruvian Cuisine - Long Beach

Location: 7 Jocey Faces

Located on the main "island" of the Long Beach Towne Center, Charo's is located in between Starbucks and Juice It Up, and is only a hop, skip, and a jump away from the movie theater. As soon as you park, you will be walking by this restaurant, which will automatically make you turn your head and look inside, due to curiousity alone.

Parking: 5 Jocey Faces

The parking area of the Long Beach Towne Center is varied, depending on the day you happen to be visiting the area. Since there is a generic parking area, it could take a rather long time to find a convenient parking space for your destination. But the parking area is rather large, so you are basically guaranteed to find a space ... somewhere.

Cleanliness: 8.5 Jocey Faces

It was a bit dark in the restaurant, and when I arrived there with my family, we were the only ones eating, so basically everything around was cleaned, as if we were the first customers of the day. My only downfall was the fact they leave the door open, which allows all the flying pests to come in and bother customers, and possibly contaminate food.

Ambiance: 8 Jocey Faces

With the Gipsy Kings playing in the background, and all the Peruvian artifacts hanging on the wall, it feels like you are in a little cafe somewhere in Peru. Of course, you see the people outside carrying Starbucks cups and other things like that, so the illusion is broken, but otherwise it is a very humble and homey type of atmosphere.

Quality Of Food: 7 Jocey Faces

I docked 3 points, based of my personal preferences. The beef we had ordered looked like there was more onions than beef in the dish. I have to admit though, the onions were cooked WONDERFULLY on the grill, with a slight sweetness. It reminded me almost of an Iron Chef type of dish where the beef would be used to flavor the onion, rather than the other way around hehe. The seafood dish we had was WAY too spicy in my opinion. I have a rather weak tongue, so I would have liked something a little lighter for my palette. The stars of my meal had to be the free soda refills (which is always a plus at any sit down restaurant) and the fried calimari. The calimari was fried similar to an Italian style preparation, and it was even served with a marinara dipping sauce. There was a side of ranch included as well. The calimari was very tender to the tooth, and the batter was not overly salty. The sauce helped by providing the acidity needed to cut through the oil used to fry the calimari. Good stuff. I think I ate most of the calimari haha!

Final Score: 7.1 Jocey Faces

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 06:10:59 GMT

The Original Pancake House - Anaheim

Location: 5 Jocey Faces

I had to put this score in the middle because it's not a really good location, but then again it's not a really bad location either. It's about 5 minutes away from the 91 freeway, yet you still have to turn on a few streets in order to get there. It is located on a major street (Lincoln Ave. in Anaheim), but that street is extremely long, extending past LA County). The score for location is moderate for me.

Parking: 2 Jocey Faces

When I first approached the restaurant, the entrance to the parking lot scared me a bit, since it was extremely narrow. I thought my brother and I were going to hit the large SUV at the front of the parking lot. Winding to behind the restaurant, the parking lot can probably hold about 15 cars at the most. Basically ... it's a tiny parking lot.

Cleanliness: 8 Jocey Faces

From what I was able to see, all of the wait staff and the chefs had aprons on. Plus, since their hours are limited (the restaurant is only open from 6am-2pm), customer turnover is high. With that large turnover, they have to maintain the tables and chairs ... and maintain them they did. As soon as my brother and I got there, we sat down and a recently cleaned table. Usually if one party leaves, the table is IMMEDIATELY cleaned, and another party is seated there. Very efficient.

Ambiance: 7.5 Jocey Faces

There are pro's and con's to why I scored ambiance this way. The pro's are in relation to how the decor of the restaurant was. It felt like I was in someone's kitchen. There were those "Magic Eye" posters on the wall, and at the table next to us, there was a pair of regulars just chit chatting away about the previous days events, as well as reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. The main con I had was how we were greeted by our waitress. It seemed as if she had no emotion at all. True, she had been at work since 6am, but when she took our orders, it was very ... emotionless.

Quality Of Food: 9 Jocey Faces

2 words: DUTCH BABY. Just in that order alone (that my brother decided on, thanks to the Food Network's "Secret Life of Pancakes" show), this score has been attained. It would have been a 10, but the crepes I ordered weren't as good as I'd hoped they would be. The Dutch Baby ... a pancake at first cooked normally in a griddle pan, then moved into the oven so it could rise like a souffle ... THEN it's taken out, and it is served with fresh lemon juice, powdered sugar, and lots of BUTTER. The dough was thicker than I expected it to be, so the lemon juice helped a lot withcutting through that. The powdered sugar and the butter added just the right amount of sweetness and creaminess that the Dutch Baby needed. MUY DELICIOSO!

Final Score: 6.3 Jocey Faces

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 06:09:27 GMT

Benihana - Anaheim

Location: 8.5 Jocey Faces

Ball Rd. is a major street in Anaheim, located extremely close to the Disneyland Resort. By being located on this major straightaway, many patrons are able to come by easily and enjoy the food at the restaurant.

Parking: 7 Jocey Faces

The parking lot is shared with others in the plaza area it is located at, so the score is a little lower than it should be. But, the parking area is rather easy to maneuver in, even with a larger scale car. It is straight parking, rather than slanted, so more cars can fit. So if you have a large party coming to the restaurant, you'll have plenty of space to park all of your cars hehe.

Cleanliness: 10 Jocey Faces

Seriously. This restaurant is PERSISTENT in its cleanliness. For one, before we received our meal, our waitress handed us hot towels, so that the natural oils from our hands could be removed. Crazy huh? It was like a pre-dinner warm wet nap hehe. And the chef working the teppan stove was meticulous in cleaning the surface as he worked with various meats and vegetables. Very impressive.

Ambiance: 9 Jocey Faces

The simplicity of the outside of the restaurant makes you believe you are walking into some kind of Japanese pagoda, when obviously you are entering into a dining atmosphere. The waitresses and hostesses were wearing very Japanese influenced uniforms, while the chefs had very "Japanese-ish" outfits, in order to fit with the decorum of Daruma masks, and pictures of bonsai trees. Plus the natural respect you received from all the workers was wonderful. It really felt as if you were the only ones being served at the restaurant.

Quality Of Food: 8 Jocey Faces

This would have been a lot higher, but I docked 2 points for 2 different food items I received. The first point I docked was for the salad. True it is complimentary with the dinner (as is appetizer shrimp, vegetables, and dessert), but the flavor of the miso based dressing was too sour for my personal taste. The second point I docked was for the chicken I ordered for my meal. I had a chicken and shrimp combination, and although the shrimp was absolutely wonderful, the chicken was really REALLY dry. I had to soak it in both of the sauces given to us by the chef for a long period of time in order to get SOME moisture in it. Outside of those 2 snags, the flavors of the rest of the food was magnificent ... especially the steak. Wow ... so moist, even though it was cooked on the teppan stove ... and he cooked it to the right temperature and texture. Great stuff.

Final Score: 8.5 Jocey Faces

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Tue, 21 Jun 2005 09:09:48 GMT

JUST A QUICK UPDATE!

I know it's been a while since I've updated this. I have a review of Benihana - Anaheim coming up, plus a review of The Pancake House - Anaheim as well.

I've just been busy for the past few weeks that I haven't had time to sit and do my reviews. STAY TUNED!