A Journey Back to the 1990's at Paradise in Gardena

Joel and I decided to have lunch at an old standby one day last week, Paradise in Gardena.  Paradise has been around for about 20 years or so, and is located right where the cities of Gardena and Torrance meet up next to the intersections of the 110 and 405 freeways.  For decades this area has been mostly commercial and industrial, and back when Paradise first opened it was just about the only place nearby for a good business lunch.

So let's go back to the early 1990's.  This part of town was basically devoid of good eats other than very casual joints, and Paradise made quite a splash.  It was cutting edge with a building that looks like a warehouse from a sci-fi flick, an eclectic interior that mixes Asian, tropical and modern styles and a California Cuisine mix of menu items inspired by various European, Asian and Pacific Island cultures.  Their Margherita Pizza has always been one of my favorites, and their Thai Chicken Pasta was another popular and daring dish when it was introduced.  One day as I was leaving the place with friends after finishing lunch, Ice Cube and his crew were walking in to have theirs.  I even proposed to my wife in a back corner of the restaurant years ago.

Ok, so there's some history to the place, and Joel and I returned for another meal in Paradise.

I had one of their daily specials, Blackened Halibut served with a Caprese Salad.  Very nice...  I enjoyed the dish a lot.  The mozzarella and tomato salad went very well with the fish, which was flavorful but not overbearing and cooked just right.

Joel went with his old favorite Thai Chicken Pasta, and his reaction to the dish highlighted Paradise's main weakness.  The restaurant is still living in the 90's and could really use an update.  That Thai Chicken Pasta, which was pushing the envelope 20 years ago is pretty boring today.  They still make the dish the same way, it's just that good Thai food, which wasn't all that accessible two decades ago, can be found all over town today.  Thai Chicken Pasta rocked in 1992, but today we want a more authentic Pad Thai or Pad See Ew noodle dish.  Quite a few of the dishes on Paradise's menu could use a similar review and update.  Same goes for the interior design.  It was too cool for school 15 years ago and looks a bit dated today.  Our tastes and expectations have changed over the years, but Paradise has remained pretty darned consistent.  It's like a time warp back into a Michael J. Fox film.

Paradise is still a pretty good stop for a business lunch, a pleasant dinner close to the office or for Happy Hour.  I'm not knocking it.  But with updates to both menu and interior, I think it could regain some of its former glory.

Cheers!
Druu

Curry House Special - Katsu Curry Rice Plate for $5.99

Curry House's most anticipated promo deal is back!  From today through Thursday, they are serving their Katsu Curry Rice plate for $5.99 during both lunch and dinner hours.  All locations, except for their San Diego restaurant and their take-out-only locations, are offering the deal.

Going Peruvian at El Rocoto in Gardena

On Artesia Boulevard in Gardena, there are two Peruvian restaurants right across the street from each other. I've always thought that was weird, sort of like finding a MacDonalds and a Burger King on opposite corners of the same intersection, or a Costco and a Sam's Club in the same shopping center. But I've eaten at both restaurants for years, and I'll have to say that there are some big differences between the two.

Joel and I headed out that direction for lunch the other day with Peruvian food on our minds, and decided to go for the restaurant on the south side of Artesia Blvd....El Rocoto. There are a couple of things about El Rocoto that set it apart from most if not all of the other Peruvian restaurants around Southern California. First, it's not strictly Peruvian but rather Chinese Peruvian. A Chinese family from Peru owns the place, and they offer a mix of dishes from both cultures. Second, while most Peruvian restaurants I've been to have been very casual eateries, El Rocoto is nice enough and has enough character to make it appropriate for a business lunch.

Ok, on to the food. First off, let's talk about the aji sauce. Every Peruvian joint serves up this spicy (or semi-spicy) green chili sauce. It's a necessary part of the meal, just like soy sauce at a Japanese joint or salsa at a Mexican place. El Rocoto always serves two varieties of the sauce, the standard green sauce and a slightly more spicy orange version. I still prefer the green, but really appreciate the extra flavor option that they offer.

My favorite dish at El Rocoto is their tallarin verde con pollo. I've tried this dish at various Peruvian restaurants across town, and so far El Rocoto serves up the best of the bunch. It's a breaded chicken breast pounded very thin served with pesto spaghetti and a couple of fried potato pieces on the side. Yup, it's a meat and carb fest that can be a bit heavy for lunch, but it's soooo yummy.

Joel opted for their pescado al ajo, or garlic fish. I know quite a few people who frequent El Rocoto, and this is the dish that comes up most often as a favorite. It's a filet of fried white fish in a garlic butter sauce served with rice. If you don't mind garlic in your lunch, this is a real winner.

Oh, and if you're going to eat Peruvian you might as well drink Peruvian too, right? Since something non-alcoholic was called for at lunch, I went straight for the Inka Cola. It's sort of like a lemon-lime soda, but with more of a sweeter taste, a darker golden color and a smell just like old-time Bazooka bubblegum. The stuff is awesome!

El Rocoto has two locations, the original restaurant at 1356 W. Artesia Blvd. in Gardena and a second restaurant at 11433 South Street in Cerritos.  I've eaten at both, and prefer the Gardena location only because of the decor.  There's a bright and happy tropical vibe at the Gardena restaurant that is bound to make you feel like you've stepped out of a strip mall and into a food adventure cruise.  Find them on the web here.

Curry House Gardena

Got a hankering for some Japanese Curry? Well, Curry House is the place to go. I've been coming here for years, and always leave having a great experience. Japanese is not all sushi and teriyaki, it's a little Indian, American, German and Italian, all with their own twist. Curry House gives their own interpretation of Indian and Italian . The staff is friendly and the place is clean and bright and also kid friendly. The food is amazing and their prices are reasonable with generous portions. I went with the wife and kiddos to the Gardena location and their kids' plates come with toys.

My wife and I had the Dry Curry which was similar to the Keema Curry, another Curry House Favorite.



I ordered it with a fabulous house salad.



She ordered her's with a awesome corn chowder.



The kiddos had the Chicken Teriyaki.


Food is $10-15 and there are monthly discounts and specials. Sign up for coupons at their website: http://www.house-foods.com/CurryHouse. They're all over SOCAL, so check out a location near you.

Hawaiian-Style Grinds at Bruddah's in Gardena

I moved to Southern California from Hawaii back when I was in high school, and even though I ended up living not too far from a little suburb called Hawaiian Gardens (funny, eh?), it took driving around town during my college years for me to find decent Hawaiian food near my new home.  One of my early finds, and still one of my favorites, is Bruddah's in Gardena.

Bruddah's is a small, casual eatery crammed between storefronts on Gardena Blvd. that attracts a regular flow of transplants from Hawaii.  The place has a laid back local vibe and the food is "ono" (that's "delicious" to those not in the know).  It's been more than a year since my last meal there, so when Joel mentioned Bruddah's yesterday as a possible lunch stop I was all for it.

Joel digs their Hawaiian combo plate, which includes lau lau and kalua pork as well as the required scoops of rice and macaroni salad.  A plate lunch can't be called a plate lunch unless it includes scoops of rice and mac salad, and not only does Bruddah's do kahlua pork and lau lau right but I'm convinced that they serve the best mac salad around.

I tried to balance the food groups a little bit with my meal and went with their daily special of shoyu chicken and chow fun.  The chow fun mixes noodles with veggies, so it wasn't the total meat and carb fest that Hawaiian food can often be.  The shoyu chicken took me back to my childhood and the mac salad disappeared in a flash.

Bruddah's food isn't fancy or upscale, it's just good local grinds.  Oh, and they make their own Portuguese sausage too.  Mmmmm...  They're closed on Monday's and offer a variety of daily specials every other day.  Grab a plate lunch and a can of one of the Hawaiian Sun drinks and you're set.

Cheers!
Druu

Going Light and Healthy with Shabu-Shabu at Shin-Sen-Gumi in Gardena

For a light, healthy and delicious meal it's pretty hard to beat shabu-shabu.  You cook it yourself, it's quick and easy, it tastes awesome and it never weighs you down.  Shin-Sen-Gumi in Gardena is a favorite lunch stop for Joel and me, and Friday was feeling like a shabu-shabu day.

One key to Shin-Sen-Gumi is to go at lunchtime.  Ok, dinner there allows you to kick back and have a few Sapporo's or Kirin's with your meal, but going for lunch will generally save you a good amount of cash.  The food is the same, but the dinner portions are a little bigger and far more expensive.  The large beef is my standard order.  A plate of paper thin beef, another plate of cut veggies, udon and tofu, a cup of rice and the standard two dipping sauces and I'm ready to rock 'n roll.  There's bar seating as well as table seating.

Shin-Sen-Gumi is having a special during the month of June.  They are offering their Japanese style hibachi BBQ dishes for $3.00 each Monday through Thursday, 6-9pm.  Also, they offer their shabu-shabu at 50% off for lunch on the 29th of each month.  The Shin-Sen-Gumi Group actually runs a total of ten restaurants, nine in Southern California and one in Tokyo.  Some specialize in ramen, others yakitori or shabu-shabu.

Another thing to consider is shabu-shabu at home.  Again, it's not only delicious and healthy but it's also great date food as you sit together cooking and eating.  We've just finished a new BITE ME! the MAN Cooking Show that features Josh Landis demonstrating how to prepare shabu-shabu at home, and we'll have the episode released tomorrow.  We'll post the episode to the blog as soon as it has been unleashed.

Cheers!
Druu

Dim Sum for lunch!

Sea Empress Seafood Restaurant
1636 W Redondo Beach Blvd
Gardena CA 90274
310-538-6868
http://www.gardenaseaempress.com/

Food was outstanding and about $35 for two hungry men.