Church and State

Missed my opportunity to eat Chef Manzke's food, but Chef Josh Smith still delivered a great meal.

It was a birthday celebration, table for four on a Friday night at 8:30. It's not in a great part of town, but the actual location is pretty cool. We arrived early and sat at the bar to have some cocktails. Don't remember the names, but they were delicious and very inventive.



The place is bustling and the energy spread throughout the room. We sat down and perused the menu, classic French bistro fare with a few modern interpretations. The bread arrived shortly and was nice and hot, the outside crust was crunchy and the the crumb was fluffy, great start.



So many of the starters looked good and we were starving, so we asked our server if we could order starters and then order entrees if we were still hungry. With a little hesitation, he said that wouldn't be a problem. We ordered the following:

Moules Marinières
Steak Tartare
Escargots de Bourgogne
Rillettes de Porc
Salade Frisée aux Lardons
Gratin de Macaronis et Fromage

They were out of the Crispy Pig Ears.



The mussels were good, tender and fresh, the broth was flavorful, but could have used a little more salt. I was disappointed with the Pork Rillette, it was dry and just didn't have the texture I've had from Comme CA or AOC, I also wasn't a fan of the prune. The Frisee salad, Escargot and Steak Tartare were all decent, several of the dishes were served with french fries, they were tasty too.



The star for me was the Macaroni and Cheese. It was so rich and cheesy and the blend of cheeses was delicious. I couldn't stop eating it.

We never made to ordering entrees and decided to go somewhere else to have dessert. I would love to come back and have a more structured meal, maybe even lunch.

Kyochon - Korean Style Chicken Wings

I love all kinds of chicken wings!

So I had to try Korean style chicken wings. These weren't bad. But I would definitely go for the fried version versus the grilled version. The fat is rendered out so the skin is much crispier. I love anything spicy, so the spicy version I found much tastier than the sweet version. It definitely had some heat.



We also tried out the Sal Sal chicken strips. These were chicken tenders that were battered with flour mixed with small rice balls. Definitely better than your average chicken strip, so much crispier. The dipping sauce options were not good, all of them were cloyingly sweet and one of them was supposed to be garlic.

They were the best chicken wings I've ever had, but I can see having a craving them.

Banh Mi Cho Cu Bakery

I'm not out in the Westminster area very often, so I had to find a quality Banh Mi. Cho Cu Bakery was the place.

We ordered the #9, #3 and there most popular #1. The #9 was the egg banh mi, I loved this one. The egg was rich and well seasoned, in combination with the fresh vegetables and crusty bread, it was perfect. The #3 was the bbq pork, which is a classic, was also delicious. The pork had a nice char siu flavor. The most popular banh mi was #1 which is a combination of pork and ham. Not sure why this was the favorite, it was good, but I just didn't like the meat as much as the other choices.



The best things about this place, is the bread. It is amazingly light and crusty. Another highlight is the friendly staff, I never got her name, but the girl that helped me was so nice and informative. If I'm ever back in Westminster and I'm looking for banh mi, I'll be here.

Five Guys Burgers

Heard about them and read about them, but never had a chance to try out Five Guys. I heard they were the number one contender to the fast food burger crown out here on the left coast, that crown owned by In n Out.

Their main menu consists of hamburgers and "little" hamburgers. The hamburgers have two four ounce patties and the "little" hamburgers have just one. The key difference is at Five Guys is they have BACON! That is a great option that In n Out doesn't offer.

There are also burger topping options and they are all free. So if you're feeling simple, you can have just ketchup. Or you can be creative and get grilled mushrooms, bbq sauce and jalapenos.

I went with the classic combination of lettuce, tomato, grilled onions and mayo. All of that on a "little" bacon cheeseburger. The fries are fresh and fried in peanut oil, salted or cajun style. I went with salted and a side of cajun seasoning.

I like the fries much better than In n Out, thicker and fluffy on the inside. I also liked them salted versus cajun. The burger was good, but not better then In n Out, something about the flavors of the beef from In n Out just make it better. To compare apples to apples, next time I'll need to get my burger without bacon. The Five Guys beef lacked flavor and the cheese was pretty bland. The bun was soft with sesame seeds and nicely toasted. The grilled onions were nothing like In n Out, there was no carmelization.

As Jelp mentioned in his review, it is a bit noisy. But I didn't find it to be that big of a deal. The topping options are nice and the prices are comparable, but the burgers just aren't as good as In n Out, IMO. Looking forward to another visit to try out other combinations.

J&J Jin Jian Restaurant

With Mei Long Village being next door, I've never thought about going to J&J. But my last few visits to MLV, I noticed lines at J&J, so I decided to try it out.

The place seats about 35 people and specializes in Shanghainese food like it's neighbor MLV. The Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings), have been getting a lot of fanfare recently, as well as other steamed dumplings. They have a pretty lengthy menu, with Chef specialties, noodles, dumplings and rice.

We ordered a lot of dishes, our meal started with the following:

Sauteed Spinach
Marinated Smoked Fish (Cold Plate)
Chinese Mustard Greens with Bean Curd (Cold Plate)

The spinach was not the freshest, but it was sauteed nicely with a hint of garlic. Both cold plates were good, but the fish was really delicious. It had a similar flavor to Chinese red braised beef, a little sweetness and some saltiness. The next set of dishes were:

XLB
Scallion Pancakes
Shanghai Noodles
Steamed Vegetable Dumplings
Shengjian mantou

I thought the XLB was good, but not better than MLV next door. The dumpling skins were too thin and broke on contact, letting all of the delicious broth leak out. The Shanghai Noodles looked promising, but lacked seasoning. The Scallion pancakes, were crispy but also lacked salt. I did enjoy the vegetable dumplings and shengjian mantou.

Typical service for a Chinese restaurant in SGV and he prices a comparable. This is another decent Shanghainese restaurant, but there are so many, each with strengths. At the end it just comes down to your preference.

Bottega Louie

Great space. Great Service. Good food.

Showed up around 11:30 on Memorial Day. We had a party of three and no reservations, we were seated immediately. None of us had been here before, so we browsed the menu thoroughly. The top half of the menu broken down by salads, soups, pizzas, entrees, sandwiches and pasta. The bottom half has small plates, poultry, meat and seafood.
It's kinda confusing how it's broken up, but in the end it all works out.



We ordered the following, Mache Salad, Gazpacho, Aranchini, Yellowtail Crudo, Cauliflower Gratinee, Chicken Carcioffi and the Kobe Beef Burger.



The salad and soup started off our meal, both were delicious. The salad was light and refreshing, it included shredded chicken, avocado, green onions. celery, mache, lemon and olive oil . Just a really clean and simple salad, the chicken was seasoned perfectly.



The gazpacho was poured at the table, with the vegetable condiments prepared in the bowl. It was a well made gazpacho, but would have been better with a little heat.



The small plates were good, the arancini and crudo were a bit pricey for what they were. I thought cauliflower was a bit under cooked and could have been a bit cheesier.



The chicken carcioffi was nice, but because it is served a la carte, there was no starch to help the saltiness of the dish. With capers and artichoke hearts, the sauce was just too salty. The dish had a lot of potential but just wasn't well executed.



I didn't taste the burger, but it looked pretty good. The fries were average. Last but not least, were the desserts. We had the lemon tart and budino, I don't have a sweet tooth, so I skipped this course. But I was told they were both delicious.

Kanda Sushi

I'd been reading reviews on Chowhound about this place. Could it be true? A traditional sushi restaurant in the Conejo Valley that doesn't make all kinds of specialty rolls with ridiculous sauces?



It's true! We sat at the sushi bar on a Saturday night, it was 7pm. The sushi bar which seats about 15 people was empty. Two sushi chefs worked behind the bar and a server took our drink orders. The owner and head sushi chef is named Mitsu, he was the previous chef at Sushi Tei in Oak Park several years ago. His focus is on fresh fish with several varieties flown in from Japan.



We our meal consisted of the following:

Ankimo appetizer - Monk fish liver steamed in sake with grated spicy radish and yuzu ponzu
Albacore Nigiri
Wlid Alaskan Salmon Nigiri
Kohada Nigiri
Amberjack Nigiri
Tuna Tataki Sashimi
Raw Octopus Nigiri
Hamachi Nigiri
Japanese Uni
Shishito Peppers
Spicy Scallop Handroll
Toro Handroll

Everything was fresh and simply prepared. All of the nigiri was seasoned or sauced by Mitsu-san, so there was no need for any dipping. The Kohada, Amberjack, Albacore and Octopus were excellent.



The handrolls are not what you normally see, instead of the "sno-cone" rolls you see at most sushi restaurants. Kanda's handrolls are more like cigars, a uniform tube shape. They also don't use mayonaise for their sauce. So the Spicy Scallop Handroll was a bit strange for me, the sauce was too sweet and seemed like it had miso in it.

We sat at the bar for about two hours and the bar never got full. As the their websites states Kanda does not offer any soy paper or "unauthentic" items. Their decision not to offer the typical sushi experience may hurt their business.

The service was excellent, the prices were on the high end. But if you're looking for a wider variety of fish that is fresh as can be, then Kanda is a great option. I'm looking forward to Kanda being my local sushi spot.

More photos here