I had high expectations going there. We had a 9:45pm reservation (good food is good food at any time). We had some time so we went to IKEA first. Let me just say, we have never gone through IKEA that quickly before. I was so excited and could not wait to get to the restaurant. Once we got to the restaurant, we were seated promptly in the covered patio. I was expecting some stuck up service but was pleasantly surprised by the informal but informed service. We looked through the menu quickly and decided to go for the 5-course tasting menu, and decided to splurge completely and added on the wine pairings. The 5-course menu ran us $65 per person and the wine pairings $35 per person. Considering how easy it is to run up a high bill at very mediocre chain restaurants with very mediocre cocktails, we decided this was going to be our mini vacation for the long weekend and splurged.

Let me preface the description of what we ate by saying, I did not write down what I ate so the exact names and ingredients may be off. Before our first course, we got a nice platter compliments of the chef. Who doesn’t like free stuff? Especially free stuff that tastes amazing. It consisted of two cocktails, one had a jello-like consistency and tasted lemony, and the other looked like an egg yolk but was some other cocktail and burst inside your mouth. And the third item was in a small shot glass, and it had some caviar, creme fraiche, some crushed japanese crackers and cured fish. Yum!! If this tasted so good, I couldn’t imagine what the actual 5 courses would taste like. The first course was a sashimi style fish. Lovely! It was clear that there was a Japanese influence in the cuisine. It made me want to try Urasawa next time. There were some coriander flowers on the fish that tasted delicate and fresh. It was clear that I was eating in a fine restaurant due to the attention to detail.

While this was great, it was nothing compared to the second course… hands down… best scallops I have ever eaten! Melt-in-your-mouth scallops, that did not need a knife to cut, in combination with the beautiful curry sauce it sat upon was just pure bliss! That single dish did it for me. If I could go back and ask for all 5 courses to be the same dish, this one would be it. I have never had scallops that tasted good before that in my life. When I used my fork to cut them, it felt like I was cutting butter. I scraped up every last bit and savored it as long as I could. Although they were excellent, the remaining courses could not keep up with the scallops. I had a nicely done halibut for the 3rd course, and veal tenderloin for the 4th. I really liked the veal. The dessert course consisted of blackberries stuffed with a berry puree, a tart merengue, and a lemony yogurt-like concoction.

I will end by saying, $65 per person a very small price to pay for a great dining experience in LA. I wouldn’t recommend the wine pairing for those who are not picky about wine. I am very picky so I thought the additional $35 was definitely worth it. I plan to go back and try the full tasting next time, and maybe I will take better notes as well. This was the first Michelin-rated restaurant I’d been to and I was very impressed.

How about some shrimp in a yummy chipotle sauce? Truly delightful! I am a sucker for chipotle peppers. Also pictured is the Capitello Pinot Gris. Very pleasant wine that complimented the hors d’oeuvres.

Next up, asparagus topped with prosciutto and a fried egg… Yummo!

The best hors d’oeuvre we ordered was the Truffle Mac and Cheese. Yeah I said it right. We gobbled it up before we had a chance to take a nice picture. Other items we tried were the Grilled Brie with Fruit and Andouille Sausage, and the very disappointing Roasted Artichoke. Andouille Sausage is yet another magic ingredient that I love is almost any dish, but I don’t like artichoke in any form other than artichoke hearts. We also split a halibut entree with lentils cooked with bacon. Lentils + bacon = a new trick I will try to copy.

This may not be my favorite restaurant in the world or even in the Seattle area, but I liked the delicate treatment of the food. It is a nice, cozy restaurant with a very homemade but gourmet feel. All in all, a good experience.

I had the Kurobuta Terimayo at a Japadog and oh my goodness!! It was seriously the best hot dog I’ve ever had. Way better than anything I’ve tasted at Pink’s. I overheard someone rave about the wasabi mayo. Too bad I finished my hot dog by then and was saving my stomach for Chinese later on. Being introduced to new taste combination sends my mind imagining all the great possibilities and pairings. Can you imagine a Teriyaki mayo or wasabi mayo sauce on a beautiful piece of grilled fish? Yum! I am not afraid of Teriyaki anymore.

But I made cookies. This time it was the unhealthy but tasty kind. And tasty they were. Crunchy on the edges and chewy in the middle, just like the recipe promised. I followed it precisely but dropped the walnuts. I never like nuts in cookies. They just seem to get in the way.

Lately, I’ve made it a rule to use parchment paper always. I also used a small ice-cream scoop to measure out consistently sized dough balls. They didn’t turn out perfectly round but who cares?

A batch is baking as I am writing this. The recipe is going to yield between 4 to 5 dozen cookies. I absolutely love the aroma in the kitchen right now. The smell of fresh cookies, the melted chocolate chips and the vanilla… I think I’ll be baking these regularly now!

This is my second attempt at chocolate chip cookies, and it has set the bar high. It’s gonna be tough to beat this one! I am going to print out the recipe and put it on the fridge.

Is there something like a healthy cookie? Well this recipe comes pretty close. I followed it precisely except for the milk. I milk in the fridge had gone bad so I substituted half-and-half. Not sure if that contributed to the taste or not. I initially spooned out large cookies but those took way too long to cook. Almost suspiciously long. So I made the next batch smaller and stuck them in the top rack.

I didn’t like the taste too much. They were too sweet for me. But my husband loved them! I guess it wasn’t a big waste of time then. Also it’s kind of nice that they have less calories than regular cookies. The cookies turned out very soft and fluffy like mini cakes. I prefer chewy cookies so next time I’ll just try a traditional recipe and eat fewer!

We found two Korean BBQ trucks at that location: Bool BBQ and the famous Kogi BBQ. We tried both, and I must say I found that Kogi definitely lived up to it’s hype. I absolutely love the Short Rib tacos! I can’t believe I lived in So Cal this long and only now found out about these trucks. There are several taco trucks in LA but I think Kogi’s concept is just brilliant. No wonder it is so popular.

I’ve noticed that LA foodies are very picky with their food trucks. While Kogi had a line, Bool had none, and Bool’s tacos were only a little less tasty than Kogi’s. There was a hot dog truck next to Kogi as well, and no line there either. However, a long line alone does not determine the taste of the food served. There is another taco truck I like on Venice that isn’t so popular but serves up amazing authentic Mexican food.

I only recently discovered that LA is the 2nd/3rd best food city (NYC is #1, and SF and LA are a toss up) in the country, so I am glad to finally know about these food trucks and LA’s street food scene.

My culinary experience so far has been relatively inexpensive. I don’t think we have ever spent more than $100 for a meal for two before. It all changed with this meal. Based on all the hype, we decided to give Bukhara restaurant in the ITC Maurya hotel a try. I figured we were eating cheaply most of the trip, let’s splurge on this one meal. I have no regrets.

We made a lunch reservation for 1pm. We seemed to have beat the lunch crowd because we were the 2nd party at the restaurant when we arrived. Soon after, it filled up. The tables and seats were beautiful. When we were seated, I felt like I was sitting at some royal dining table. We could see the chefs working in the kitchen through the glass windows. The menu wasn’t that expansive so it was amazing to see so many chefs working on so few dishes!

We couldn’t figure out what to order so we went took the staff’s recommendation and ordered the Presidential Platter. Apparently, this was what Bill Clinton ordered when he visited that restaurant. Before I describe this meal further, let me show it to you…

Are you with me? Good! Basically we were served a platter that could have fed 4 people easily. The servers explained each dish to us and suggested various combinations of meat/sauce/bread that went well together. For the first time in his life, my husband ate really delicious, authentic Tandoori Chicken. It was light years away from the stuff with red food coloring we get in most of the Indian restaurants in the U.S.

Every bite was delicious. Each piece of meat we tried was the best thing we’ve ever tasted, and each was better than the other if that makes any logical sense at all. The Naans and Rotis were delicious and we dipped them in the Daal. Even the yogurt was tasty. My husband never eats yogurt, but gobbled this up. If I had to pick one favorite among the different kababs and meats we were served, it would have to be the Sikandari Raan. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this dish, it is marinated leg of lamb that is cooked until it falls off the bone. Yummy!! Even after all these months, I still remember the taste and texture of this meat. It melted in my mouth!

We were about half way through and we started getting full! What a pity! We still persevered, telling ourselves that we may never eat such an amazing meal ever again, and kept going. We ate an incredible amount of high quality and amazing food! I was in heaven. To finish it off, we were served two desserts. Somehow we managed to eat a bite of each. The perfect end to the meal.

There are still many countries and places I would like to visit in the world. And I keep telling myself that I will not go back to the same places again because there simply isn’t enough time. But something tells me I’ll be back at Bukhara for another Presidential Platter. I’ve heard they now have a Hillary Platter, maybe I’ll have to try that. The whole meal feast costed us about $110 before tip. I would have happily paid twice that if I had to, because this was some seriously awesome food.

Much to my husband’s delight, I decided to start baking with some seriousness. And the first recipe I wanted to try was biscuits. So tonight being as good as any, I made my first attempt. I followed Alton Brown’s biscuit recipe and adjusted the baking temperature. I baked them at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. Many people say the hardest part is preparing the dough. I had to resist working it more because it looked so sticky. But sticky is better in this case. Next time I’ll pull out that pastry scraper sooner and work it even less. Also, the way they are lined up on the pan make a huge difference. Following the advice given out by many, I lined up the biscuits touching each other. The ones in the middle turned out much better than the ones in the corners.

The result was pretty fantastic for a first time try. Next time, I am going to brush the tops with buttermilk like I’ve seen in other recipes. I will also try baking them at a higher temperature. Other things to try is using all butter or all shortening.

Overall, this was a very encouraging experience! My husband was so happy. We ate a few of them with honey and the rest will be breakfast tomorrow! Now I need to learn to make some awesome gravy to go with these.

I tried the following sauces with the boneless wings (hot to mild):

• Mango Habanero
• Hot BBQ
• Caribbean Jerk
• Asian Zing

I wasn’t impressed with Asian Zing. Everyone else at the table enjoyed it, so I think it’s just my own dislike of sweet flavors with Chicken. Caribbean Jerk was tasty but peppery. Hot BBQ had the right amount of heat for me, but it was too much like traditional Buffalo sauce and I’ve had really good Buffalo sauce before including THE Buffalo sauce at Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY. So this one had some stiff competition to live up to, and it was good but not great. Then I tried Mango Habanero and I will try that one again in the future. It left my mouth burning, and I had to trade my beer for Coca-Cola to sooth my mouth, but to me that’s the whole fun of eating really hot and spicy food. This one was the #3 hottest sauce they had. I’m not sure I’m ready for the Top 2 yet. All in all, a good experience. I’ll be back for more soon.