The bruschetta was actually the best part of this meal. The bread used won't cut the roof of your mouth .

Salmon. WYSIWYG.

Why'd they fork my tiramisu?! It's tasty here, but if I had to pick, Maggiano's slice would win. Nom nom nom.

Come on down for some expensive, fairly plain and uninspiring eats! Bring some cash too ($5?), since its valet only. I must give them credit for the waitstaff though: they're very friendly and personable. There's a major non-creepy flirt on staff. And one of them was as kind as he was tall...6' 7" or something insane =O.

Villa Nova
3131 W Coast Hwy
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 642-7880

No food dishes named after bands here, but you still get rockstar quality. You can have breakfast feeling like you're in somebody's home here. That's probably because this used to be! This house turned restaurant has definitely got charm.

They close at 2pm so if you're a night owl like me... set your alarm clocks!

And don't forget to carve your initials on the gimonstrous tree outside.

Original Pancake House
1418 E Lincoln Ave
Anaheim, CA 92805

The Food
This is egg noodles with some bite to it--served with sliced pork, wontons, bean sprouts, lettuce, in a rich, hot broth. I love this with soy sauce soaked jalapenos on the side. I feel so Asian dining at these kinds of restaurants.

You can get these noodles served with about 10 combinations including pork, chicken, duck, shrimp and wontons. Some places even have deep fried shrimp in the soup. At $5-$7 each, this is pocket change.

Lately I've been eating this with the broth on the side. My dad usually gets it this way and now I see why! The soup is sipped in between bites instead and this changes up the Mi experience. A very nice worker at Mi La Cay #4 suggested me to add about 2-3 tsp of spicy mustard (from the yellow squeeze bottle) and vinegar (yeah that bottle of red stuff isn't soy sauce!) to the noodles, mix, and to be fearless.

If you are on a diet don't even think about it. The meats are fatty and the broth is rich with oil too...

It's almost making me forget about Japanese ramen.

Oh, soo good!

The Restaurants
But why are there three different Mi La Cays? And why do some of them have "China Chef" as part of the store name? I wish I could tell ya.

That nice worker I mentioned earlier turns out to be one of the family members and owners!. She let out that all of the owners of Mi La Cay are related and that this is a family run chain, but each place has their own recipe. Apparently it's their game to talk smack and brag about how their own restaurant is better than the others.

Soup-wise I can barely tell the difference. But personally, my money's on #4 (10078 Westminster Ave) because of the ever-so-friendly waitress and their smaller-cut jalapenos .

Mi La Cay
14092 Magnolia St #116
Westminster, CA 92683

China Chef Mi La Cay #4 (Uh, what happened to the others?)
10078 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92843

China Chef Mi La Cay
8924 Bolsa Ave
Westminster, CA 92683

Food: A
Value: A
Service: A
Ambience: B

Anyways, 99 cents for 2 pieces of chicken on Tuesdays. Don't forget the Cajun Fries and mashed potatoes! $24 fed four junk junkies with leftovers to look at in the fridge until its too old to eat.

Got a greasier, tastier, $6 alternative?

Popeyes Chicken
1244 E 17th St
Santa Ana, CA 92701
(714) 834-9709

50% off bun bo hue is on their business card!!

Dec. 25th search for good eats led us to Thanh Noi. You also get a light tropical retreat feel to this restaurant.

I tried
bun bo hue,
banh khoai,
and some iced coffee.

Having never tried bun bo hue outside of home, and never having banh khoai (banh xeo though), the food here is well worth the low price.

Service was a bit slow but I'll let that slide just because it was Christmas.

Thanh Noi Restaurant
413 N Euclid St
Santa Ana, CA 92703
(714) 554-9900

Bring a friend, or thirty. It's really more of a party hall than a restaurant. Waiters and bussers wear earpieces/headsets JUST to annoy me.
Banana's Bay was only at about 30% capacity and it still was a never ending wait for our food. I think the waiters are just using up their rollover minutes at work.

The menu here is pretty extensive and filled with typos and Engrish. I love that there's a section called "Seafood Galore".

We probably could have dined and ditched this mess and no one would have known for hours (I can't believe Emil hasn't ever). It was very affordable though--we made out under $16 each.

Tonight, we stuck with some of the more familiar options:

Oh yeah, no unlimited Thai Tea. =\

Food: B- (probably hunger-skewed)
Value: A-
Service: C-
Ambience: B

Banana Bay
18230 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 839-5511

Late night grillin' of hot wings and drumsticks at Sope's and Tupes's on their last day at this place. I think we left a charcoal mess. Good times!

And why not? Caramelization creates a delicious sauce that is savory, sweet, spicy, salty, and thick enough to nicely coat whichever meat you decide to cook.

My cousin came over while I was preparing this dish and asked, "what stinks?!" It was fish sauce and vinegar. A lot of folks shy away from fish sauce because of the smell, but they should give it a shot! I don't sit around whiffing fish sauce, but it's a vital flavor component of the dish.

If you are really afraid of the odor in your house you can always cook it outside or as a last resort substitute soy sauce instead, but the flavor will not be the same.

And if you're strapped for time and cash, this ga kho recipe is the perfect solution (recipe adapted from Food Wishes).

Ingredients:

the marinade
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoons brown sugar

the meat
1.5 lbs chicken drumsticks (you can use any cut desired)

the sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon ginger, minced
1 shallot, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced

last second additions
2 sprigs of scallion, roughly chopped 1/2"-3/4" long
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
1 thai chili, thinly sliced

vegetable oil for frying

Method:

1. Marinade in about 2 tablespoons fish sauce and 1 tablespoons brown sugar for a least 1 hour. Rotate and redistribute marinade after the first 30 minutes.

2. Combine for the sauce: 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup fish sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup water

3. Then add to the sauce 1 tablespoon minced ginger, 1 minced shallot, and 3 cloves minced garlic.

4. Heat a pan on high heat, then add some vegetable oil. Add the chicken and rotate as it browns. This should only take a 1-2 minutes.

5. Turn down the heat to about medium so the chicken can cook through.

6. Add some of the sauce, just enough to color and kind of baste the meat as it cooks.

You could add the rest of the sauce now too, but I find it makes more sense to cook them separately so you can control the doneness of the chicken and thickness of the sauce independently.

7. Remove the chicken. Add the rest of the sauce and cook on medium high heat until it just reaches desired consistency.

8. Add the sliced jalapeno and scallion to cook just slightly as the sauce finishes. If you want more bite to the jalapeno, slice it thicker and don't let it cook too much (same with the scallion).

Serve with rice.

"Filet mignon in chunks wokked with onions, mushroom, scallion & spices served with steamed rice or fried rice & salad."

Check out my earlier post on Brodard Restaurant.

Another patisserie & café I finally got to visit in Diamond Plaza in Irvine is Bon Epi. I'm usually around here for dinner and my sleep schedule puts these visits outside Bon Epi's working hours.

These guys are in direct competition with 85C Bakery Cafe in the same plaza. It's shocking that they would open up so close. This is a gloves off, all-in, f you, full eye-contact (the stores are in view of each other!) throwdown.

Here's the lineup:

Oohh yes. I'm already addicted to these from Cream Pan in Tustin and Paris Baguette in Irvine and its MUCH more popular location in Santa Clara (northern California).

These babies are heaven! A popular strawberries and sweet cream combination paired with a flaky, buttery croissant is irresistible. Each bite was followed with some hot, black coffee and made such a perfect nighttime dessert.

This one seems like it may have been in the fridge for a few hours. That said, I still could eat these 'til I'm sweet and buttery and I keel over and my only remaining movement is restricted to signaling you a thumbs up to toss me another.

Bon Epi Patisserie & Café
2750 Alton Pkwy Ste 101
Irvine, CA 92606
(949) 251-0070