Dōnatsu-Closed

Dōnatsu
330 E 2nd St Ste C
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-265-7545

Dōnatsu is a vegan donut shop that recently opened in Little Tokyo.  It's in the shopping center across 2nd Street from Kura Revolving Sushi!  It's a fairly small shop with a few tables inside. 

Apple fritter- $3.50!  This was awesome!  First, this was freshly made, warm to the touch.  So smooth it just melted in your mouth.  Good flavor, not too sweet, and good amount of apple.

Service was good.  There were two apple fritters in the display case.  Instead of getting those, the guy at the counter went to the back and got me a freshly made apple fritter!  You can't beat that!

I would go back to Donatsu anytime!  

Lettuce Toss It

Lettuce Toss It
15934 Los Serranos Country Club Dr
Ste B
Chino Hills, CA 91709
909-606-9995

David Allen wrote about Lettuce Toss It in 2016.   I wanted to give them a try because fresh salad is always a good choice. Lettuce Toss It is in the same shopping complex as the Chino Hills location of Shi Foo, a damn good Chinese restaurant.

At Lettuce Toss It you can choose between one of the salads or you can pick you own ingredients to make a salad.

I made my own salad, $9.95 and $4.95 for eight well seasoned and cooked shrimp.  I got half spring mix and spinach as the base.  Then I had mushrooms, shredded carrots, broccoli, roasted corn, and black beans.  Honey mustard dressing on the side.  This was a huge salad, all fresh and the best part- there was no water on the vegetables.  So the dressing stayed on!!  I liked the shrimp, and felt it as worth the $4.95 price.  But, really $9.95 for salad, isn't a good deal. 

Service was good.

While I liked my salad, and thought the ingredients were fresh, I won't go back to Lettuce Toss It.  It's too pricey for what you're getting.  Even if the portions are huge. 

The Pier Grill-Closed

The Pier Grill
1810 E Rte 66
Glendora, CA 91740
626-691-6570

The Pier Grill is in the same shopping center as Thai Diamond BBQ, ZuZu Chicken, and the now closed, China King Buffet.  Maybe I should try all the other restaurants in the center, including a sushi restaurant!  I went on a Monday night about 7pm and the place was basically empty.  Maybe 2-3 tables were being used, one was the owner and his wife.  

Grilled ahi tuna, $12.99, with pier cole salw, brown rice, and garlic bread.  The ahi tuna was cooked rare- which is fine for a thin piece of tuna.  Well seasoned, a good sized portion, and cooked perfectly.  The brown rice and pier cole slaw were good.  I got the lemon oregano sauce on the side.  It was way too tangy.

Service was good.

The Pier Grill is a good place to get seafood.  I don't know of many seafood restaurants in Glendora.  This is a good option.  Fair prices, good portions, and good food.

Burgerlords

Burgerlords
110 N Ave 56
Los Angeles, CA 90042

I went to Burgerlords in Chinatown, and while I wasn't really impressed with the vegan burger.  But, I went to their brand new location in Highland Park to try the pastrami tofu, as written by LA Eater.  But the pastrami tofu wasn't ready to be served to customers.  They said it's still being refined so they can sell it to the public.  So I decided to order the vegan tofu nuggets.

This location used to be the Good Girl Dinette, and Burgerlords opened on Saturday, March 16, 2019. 

 

Vegan tofu nuggets, $4.95.  This was great.  Very well seasoned tofu in a very crunchy batter, fried to a crunchy golden brown.  This was so good.  

Service is good.

I wasn't happy that the tofu pastrami wasn't on the menu, but the vegan tofu nuggets were great!!  I would go back to Burger Lords just for these nuggets!

Ahi Poki

Ahi Poki
1377 E. Gladstone
Glendora CA 91740
909-305-6002

Ahi Poki is a chain, with store in Calfornia and Arizona.  It's the usual poke bowls, were you choose the proteins and toppings you want.  They have a fully cooked chicken option for those who do not eat or like seafood.

This Ahi Poki was located at the western end of a huge shopping center in Glendora.   If you entered off a Lone Hill, you would go through traffic for people going to the many other stores include a big box store and a Home Depot.  You're better off going on Gladstone to get here.  I think this entire shopping center is filled with chain restaurants!

Regular bowl- $10.95- two proteins- kimchi shrimp, ahi tuna- in a sweet citrus and creamy citrus sauce, with brown rice as the base.  Topped with corn, mangos, green onions, crab salad, and cucumbers.

Everything here is fresh.  I liked the kimchi shrimp option- good flavor and much better than plain shrimp.   I think the portion size is a bit small, and the proteins are strictly measured.  They'll give you more toppings but I want bigger portions of protein.

Service is good.  The lady who helped me was very nice.  She first started to put in a creamy citrus sauce, and then realized I wanted a sweet citrus sauce.  I told her, it's fine, just mix them together.  I wouldn't be so agreeable if she was rude.

I like the freshness of poke, but most poke places have small portion sizes for what you're paying.  Sure the bowl looks big, because you're getting a lot of rice or whatever base you want, and toppings which are relatively inexpensive. 

California Sun-Closed

California Sun
3903 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90029
323-800-2456

California Sun opened up in Feb. 2019.  They serve Detroit and New York style pizza.  Across Sunset Blvd. from Flore, they offer vegan options, and have beer in cans and on draft.  Silver Lake has damn good pizza with places like Tomato Pie, Garage Pizza, and the now closed Nicky D's. So, California Sun has a lot of competition!

As you walk in there a diagonal shaped bar, and to the right is the counter to order pizza.  You can get half slices, two off menu prices.  The slices are huge.  The pizza by the slice changes daily.  You can make your own New York style pizza, but Detroit style is whatever they make that day.  They have vegan options on the Detroit style.

I had plans in another part of Silver Lake, but wanted to check out California Sun.  As I walked in the guy at the counter was very helpful.  He even gave me a card where I got a free cheese slice!!  Later that night,  I dropped in to try the pizza.

Cheese slice- $5.  This was very good.  Good quality sauce, not tangy or too sweet, well balanced. Lots of cheese, good firm, yet chewy crust.  Loved this pizza!!  A huge slice, cut from a 20in pizza.  Well worth the $5 price.

Vegan Taco slice-$8. Yellow American cheese, cherry tomatoes, olives, lettuce, pickled jalapenos, el pato, carne impossible meat.  Wow, was this good.  I could do without the olives and since they put the lettuce on after reheating, it's tough to take off the olives.  But, great flavor, tons of toppings, and again, a huge portion.

Service was great!  Very friendly and helpful staff!

I would go back to California Sun anything!!

Mariscos El Faro

Mariscos El Faro
6113-6139 N Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90042
323-359-3814

I found Mariscos El Faro on LA Eater's list of 14 Essential Restaurants in Highland.  Mariscos El Faro not far from Via-Mar Seafood Restaurant.

Known for their fresh seafood ceviche, the truck is on Figueroa Tues-Sunday until about 6pm.  They have some tables set up for you to eat there.

Shrimp Ceviche Tostada-$4.40

Many ceviches I have tried are a bit too tangy for me.  But, this had the perfect balance-not too tangy,  but great flavor, with cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados, cilantro and cut up pieces of shrimp.  A very good example of a shrimp tostada.

Shrimp Taco-$2.75.  This was an interesting version of a shrimp taco.  Much like the shrimp taco from Maricos Jalico, but this example the taco shell was too soggy, they need to fry it for longer.  This was basically the shrimp tostada with a soggy tostada and some cabbage on top.

Service is good.

I would go back to Mariscos El Faro for the ceviche any time!  The two women at the table next to me, ordered the crab ceviche, and not only is it real crab, but there was tons of crab!  That's what I'm getting the next time I go!

Modern Times-Closed

Modern Times
832 S Olive St
Los Angeles, CA 90014
213-878-7008

Modern Times is one of the newer bars/breweries in the downtown LA area.  A few people have told me the food is very good at Modern Times, so I decided to check them out.

The building has a dining room right as you walk in, and the bar in the back, at the very front there is a seating area with a counter and a couple tables.  On your first visit you're not sure if you need to check in with the host or if you can walk to the bar.  The need better signage, instead of people wasting time while waiting for the host.

Double burger-$16 with $2 for the fries.  A "double" beyond burger with smoked mushrooms, shallot jam, roasted tomato spread, American coconut cheese, and lettuce.  If you bought a package of the Beyond Burger at any grocery store, you know it's a thick patty.  Here, they cut one patty in half and then pretend it's a "double burger." After one bite, the burger patty just fell apart.  It was ok,  nothing special and certainly not a double burger.  The fries were good, worth the extra $2.

Service was ok.  You order at the bar, and they only had one bartender working.  With a good crowd, he was very busy.  Oh, I saw at a table, left me stuff on the table and went to the restroom.  When I came back a group of entitled millennials girls came in, took my stuff off the table and then sat down.  Good thing I'm a nice guy, after telling them they took my table, I found a place along the counter.  Memo to you entitled millennail twits, when you see something left on a table, don't take that table.  It belongs to somebody else.

I won't go back to Modern Times.