Great Food Finds in Cali!!

Now that I've gotten the Enoteca Fiasco behind me, there are several restaurants that must be mentioned. 


First, is Sam Woo Chinese Restaurant on Jeffrey Rd. in Irvine, CA. It's my very first pit stop after arriving at the airport. I don't even go home to drop off my luggage. It's Sam Woo or bust. This restaurant has been expanding in the past few years, so you can find this restaurant from LA to San Diego. It has great food, made quickly, and always fresh because of its robust business. It's the ONE place I will actually eat lamb. You must understand that lamb is the one thing I will not eat (or anything associated with lamb or goat, like goat cheese). I can't tolerate the gaminess, and I can smell it a mile away. So when I say I'll eat the lamb at Sam Woo, I'm serious. It's that good. My favorite dish, though, is the Hai Xian Do Fu Bao. It's a seafood and tofu casserole. I've never found a place who can replicate it yet. It's got a wonderful and delicious gravy of all the flavors and soy sauce melding together that all of the food stews in that you mix into your rice and I can't tell you how I long for it right now...



Second, is Tomikawa Japanese Restaurant, also on Jeffrey Rd. in Irvine, CA. It's sushi at its finest. The nigiri is sublime, and when you order the Amaebi (sweet shrimp, which is not to be confused with the regular shrimp, which is cooked. Sweet shrimp is raw, and would disintegrate if it were cooked), it comes with its head perfectly deep fried. If the head is fried perfectly, you won't realize you're crunching through shrimp shell. It will be like a wonderfully shrimp-flavored potato chip. Only more delicious. Everything is good there. My favorites were the yellowtail and salmon nigiri, the mango and spicy tuna roll with salmon on top, and the shrimp tempura roll. As always, my family ordered WAY too much, but it was all good. It's worth the weight you'll gain, for when will you ever be back?