Dough Box Pizza & Bread-Moved

Dough Box Pizza & Bread
2734 N Eastern Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90032
323-346-6811

Back in 2016 I went to Dough Box Pizza & Bread, when they were a take out only business, using a commercial kitchen.  They would open up a brick and motor restaurant a few miles away.  Recently I read on LA Eater, they were going to close by the end of the year. 

I always take these closing notices with a grain of salt.  In late 2017 to early 2018 they wrote that Twoheys would going to close.  Then they wrote they are going to move to South Pasadena.  Yet, here we are in 2019 and they are still at that same location.  The South Pasadena building, the last time I went by, looks at least 2-3 months away from being able to serve the public.

Anyways,  Dough Box Pizza & Bread is really, still a take out place.  There is one small counter with no seats, for people to eat.

On their Instagram page, Dough Box had a large cheese pizza for $20, to celebrate National Cheese Pizza Day!  This pizza is called the Soto on their menu.  I liked the crust, well balanced, flaky, and held up to the toppings.  There was plenty of cheese.  But, the sauce is still too tangy for me tastes.  They need to balance the sauce with some sweetness!

Sicilian slice special $5- mushrooms, garlic, and red onions.

One thing I didn't know, was that Dough Box Pizza & Bread had Sicilian slices!  I decided to give a slice a try.  This was terrible.  The trust was too hard and the sauce was so tangy.  The toppings were fine.

Service was ok.  They told me after I ordered, it would take 1 hour and 10 minutes for the pizza to be ready.

I won't go back to Dough Box.  I only went to see their brick and mortar location.  But, the pizza isn't good. 

Munchies Vegan Diner-Moved

Munchies Vegan Diner
515 N Main St
Santa Ana, CA 92701
657-699-3076

Yes, another Vegan Big Mac review!  I heard about Munchies Vegan Diner on Instagram.  I decided to give them a try during the Labor Day Weekend, after reading parking is hard to find at times.

It's located in McFadden's Public Market, along with four other food stands, and an arcade/bar upstairs.  Parking wasn't bad, paid street parking, but on a regular weekend, it would be tough to find.

Big Much, $17 with fries.

Munchies Vegan Diner calls their Big Mac the Big Munch.  They use the Beyond Burger patties.  This was a huge burger, good flavor, the pickles stood out the most, but their sauce was kind of bland.  Fries were ok.

Service is good.

I gotta say that the Vegan Big Mac at Doomies is still my favorite vegan Big Mac, with Plant Power being second! Munchies Vegan Diner is only the second place I've tried the Vegan Big Mac, where they use a plant based burger-either the Beyond or Impossible, Veggietize Me- Impossible, is the other. 

Uncle John’s Cafe-Moved

Uncle John’s Cafe
834 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213-623-3555

I found out about Uncle John's Cafe on You Tube!  Uncle John's, located inside the Stillwell Hotell,  is part diner and part Chinese restaurant.  You can get both menus from open to close, which is 3pm.  At 5pm, they became Downtown LA's answer to Boiling Crab, it becomes a Cajun seafood place.  I knew this would be Americanized Chinese food.

The restaurant is a small galley-like setup- with tables in the front, a counter at the back, and the kitchen in the far back.  It's got an updated decor.

Spicy Shrimp lunch special- $13.50. This was terrible.  I originally order kung pao shrimp, but got this spicy shrimp instead.  I wasn't going to wait and said it's fine.  This is just an orange chicken sauce with shrimp.  The sauce was bland with little flavor.  The shrimp was deep fried and I'm betting it was frozen.  The rice was the best part of this dish. 

Shrimp fried rice- $10. As you can see, they put a ton of soy sauce into the rice.  There are green onions, and eggs in this.  A bit salty, but overall average.  I've had better, I've had worse.

Shrimp chow mein-$11.  Large pieces of onion, some cabbage, and about six medium sized shrimp were in this dish.  It was too greasy for me. I would rate this average, again.

Service was good.

I wouldn't go back to Uncle John's Cafe, for the Chinese food.  I am going to go back for their seafood. 

Update August 31, 2019

Butterfly fried shrimp, with lemon pepper fries, $12. This was frozen butterflied shrimp.  Some pieces looked as though they stuck together while frying.  Nothing special, but there were about 8-10 pieces of shrimp.  The fries were bland and flavorless! 

Shrimp with mild house sauce- mixture of Cajun, lemon pepper, and garlic butter sauces- $15/lb. The shrimp were fine, the sauce was pretty good, the garlic butter stood out the most. 

Service is good.

I was surprised when I walked in, there was nobody in the restaurant.  A group of three people came in about a minute after me.  Then two people came in about 10 minutes later.  Maybe people haven't gotten the word that Uncle John's Cafe has a seafood boil at night.  Or, since this was Labor Day weekend, everybody was going out of town!  I would go back for the seafood boil.  I thought the shrimp was fine.  I wouldn't touch the fried shrimp again.

PowWow Pizza-Closed

PowWow Pizza
4085 Atlantic Ave Ste B
Long Beach, CA 90807
562-283-0152

After going to Pizza of Venice, after seeing it on LA Eater's list of the 22 Essential Pizza in LA, I decided to go to another pizza restaurant on the list- PowWow Pizza, in Long Beach.  PowWow makes 11 of the 22 place on that list, that I have gone to!

Apparently the own of PowWow is from Cambodia, and some of the pizza has Cambodian influences.  There is also a Korean, Indian, and a Filipino influenced pizzas on the menu.

PowWow is in corner unit, with a semi circular front counter-where you place your order.  There are regular and high top tables inside, and four tables outside.  They have a pizza oven that is blasting like crazy!  It's a few blocks north of the still open, and apparently thriving Bake and Broil!

One topping medium pizza-$10, with mushrooms.  This was a great pizza!  Plenty of gooey cheese, nice rich flavorful sauce, and a decent amount of mushrooms.  The crust with dense, chewy, and had good flavor.  It held up to all the toppings like a champ!

Service was good. I could see they were busy, not only with customers in the restaurant, but online and phone orders!  The pizza oven was firing the entire time I was there.  The two people working were going non stop filling the orders.  While the guy who took my order didn't give me a time when my pizza was going to be ready- he did apologize for the wait when he brought my pizza to my table.

I would go back to PowWow Pizza any time!

The Tackle Box Southern Seafood & More-Closed

The Tackle Box Southern Seafood & More
17620 Bellflower Blvd
Unit B108
Bellflower, CA 90706
562-804-0736

I found out about The Tackle Box Southern Seafood & More when LA Eater published a story about them opening a store, after having a food truck for many years! It's a small galley style restaurant with the counter and the kitchen on the left and the dining room on the right side of the building.  It's dark with the only lights, the daylight from the windows.

Fish and Shrimp tackle box-$15 plus $10 for lobster, with mac and cheese.  You have your choice of fried or grilled seafood. I got the grilled lobster and the fried shrimp.  The shrimp was very good! Good flavor, and huge pieces of shrimp! The batter was very good, not as hard as other cornmeal batter.  This could have been great if this was made to order.  The shrimp was maybe warm, not hot.  But, fresh out of the fryer, this would be great!!

The lobster was good.  A bit on the small side, but tender and flavorful.  It was grilled with lemon butter.

Service is ok.  The lady taking the order is just going through the motions.  She isn't mean or unfriendly, but you know she doesn't want to be there!  They also charge extra, I think 45 cents if you use debit or credit cards!

I would go back for the shrimp and to try the fish, but I won't rush back. 

Szechwan Kitchen-Closed

Szechwan Kitchen
625 S Barranca Ave
Covina, CA 91723
626-598-4202

I've driven back the intersection of Barranca Ave. and Rowland St. many times.  I've noticed a few restaurants just south of the southwest corner, which has a gas station, but never ate at any of the restaurants- one Mexican restaurant and three other Chinese restaurants.  Szechwan Kitchen is a big restaurant with the front section the dining room.  There are booths along the windows, and tables in the middle of the restaurant.

Shrimp and broccoli- $13.99.  One of the very few restaurants that cuts the broccoli into smaller pieces!  They actually could add more broccoli to this dish.  There were a ton of shrimp.  This was a bit under seasoned. 

Shrimp chow mein, $8.99.  While the shrimp and broccoli was under seasoned, the shrimp chow mein was very salty!  A good amount of shrimp with the shrimp larger than the shrimp in the shrimp and broccoli. This could have been a good dish, if it wasn't so salty.

Service is slow.  While the food came quickly, they took a while to come back to the table, to check on things.  It must have been five minutes before we tracked down a server to get our check.  They were also slow to clear tables. 

I wouldn't go back to Szechwan Kitchen.  The food wasn't that good and service was slow.

Qdoba-Closed

Qdoba
1430 Mountain Ave, Ste 101
Duarte, CA 91010
626-305-0812

Qdoba Mexican Grill is a chain that started in San Diego.  There are only five locations in the LA area, and two are on college campuses!!  They are a competitor to Chipotle, and I think they are better!

Located in a strip mall with a huge electronics store and a bunch of car dealerships across the street, Qdoba is set up like all fast casual restaurants! You order at the counter and then find a seat in the large dining area.

Taco salad, $7.70- romaine lettuce, black beans, corn salsa, mango salsa, guacamole-which is free, and sour cream.  They make everything fresh and in house-well at least the salsa, meats, and beans.  I'm sure the taco shell bowl was made elsewhere.  But, overall a very good item.  Everything was fresh and well seasoned.  They actually drain the black beans, so they don't soak through the shell. 

Service is good.

I would go back to Qdoba, if I was in the area.  They should open more locations in the LA area.  Their food is better than Chipotle, by a mile!

Seasons Cafe-Closed

Seasons Cafe
23415 Golden Springs Dr
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
909-860-8646

Seasons Cafe opened up where Thai Diamond Bar BQ used to be.   I believe at least two other restaurants opened in this space before Seasons Cafe came in.

It's a small restaurant with booths on the left side and tables seating on the right.  They also serve sushi, which is half priced and if you bought two, you got one free!

It wasn't that crowded when I got there around 1pm.  Maybe I missed the lunch rush?

Shrimp chow mein- $7.35.  Maybe six pieces of shrimp throughout this dish.  Good flavor, the noodles were cooked perfectly. 

Shrimp fried rice- $6.99.  Made with shrimp, carrots, and peas this was good, if a bit under seasoned dish.  Just a touch more salt would have been perfect.  Again a small number of shrimp, only 6, but everything was well cooked.

Service is good.

Seasons Cafe is pretty good.  I may try their sushi, but with all the specials, I have a feeling the sushi isn't selling well.  But, the Chinese food is good!

Beleaf Burgers-Closed

Beleaf Burgers
4024 Grand Ave
Chino, CA 91710
909-517-3907

Beleaf Burgers is in the Cravings building, that used to be a Food 4 Less.  They maybe the first vegan burger restaurant in Chino.  They use the Impossible burger.

Cravings is owned by 99 Ranch Market.  This building is split into two- a shopping area and a food court.  There are about 15 or so food stands.  But, everytime I've been there, it's not crowded at all.

Bedder Burger Classic Double-$12.75. Two impossible patties, lettuce, diced onions, pickles, carmelized onions, tomatoes, American cheese, on a toasted bun.

This was pretty good.  The burger was very hot, with the cheese nicely melted.  It was fine, but it really tasted like something anybody could make at home.  There was nothing

Service is good.  But, I called to ask where they are located, I didn't know they were inside Cravings, and they told me they were closer to a chain restaurant in the shopping center.  I tried looking around there, but couldn't find it.  So, I called again, and they finally told me it was inside Cravings.  They should have told me it was inside Cravings in the first place!

Anyways, there are better vegan burgers, including the chain, Fat Burger, so I won't be back to Beleaf! 

Honeybee Burger-Closed

Honeybee Burger
1820 N Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-452-6500

I have reviewed many restaurants in Los Feliz including Rocco's Italian Market and Deli, House of Pies Restaurant & Bakery,  Palermo Ristorante Italiano , the now closed Tangier Korean BBQ of Tokyo, Little Dom's, Best Fish Taco in Ensenada, Ye Rustic Inn, Lucifers Pizza, 1739 Public House, the now closed Mexico City, Spitz, Cruzer Pizza, Anarbagh, and Fred's 62.

Honeybee opened about three weeks ago, it's right next door to the movie theater and a couple doors down from Fred's 62.  It's a small, brightly lit space with a counter space on the right and tables on the left hand side.

Queen Bee, $12.95- double pattie with both the Beyond and Impossible patties, with house sauce, house made onion jam, lettuce, tomato, a thin ribbon of onion, and Chef Jo’s house made pickles.

This was outstanding!!  Maybe the combination of the Beyond and Impossible burgers, made it the best vegan burger I've had!!  Good flavor and textures, fresh toppings.  A huge portion too.  Well worth the price.

Service is good.

I would go back to Honeybee anytime!  What a great vegan burger!

FryMadness-Closed

FryMadness
555 S Spring St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213-797-2847

Jerk Spiced Shrimp/ Mango Pico/ House Made Caribbean Nectar- $14.  The fries are made from fresh  potatoes, but they aren't cooked to order.  They are cooked and sitting under heat lamps.  The fries would have been good, if they were hot and right out of the fryer.

The two medium sized shrimp in the picture were the biggest pieces in this dish.  There were smaller bay shrimp throughout the dish.  They shrimp had the Caribbean nectar-which was basically a sweet bar-b-que sauce.  The mango pico would have been good, if the mangoes were ripe, but they were bitter because they weren't ripe.  The jack cheese was fine. Overall, it was ok.  Not worth the $14 price tag.

Service was pretty good, after a bad first impression.  I walked in.  The lady told me to pick a table.  I then asked if they had a restroom, so I can wash my hands.  She said restrooms are for customers only.  I then told her, I am going to eat here.  I just want to wash my hands.  She gave me the key to the restrooms.  She was nice and helpful while I ordered and ate.

I wouldn't go back to FryMadness.  The fries are mediocre and it's overpriced!

Taco Adobe-Closed

Taco Adobe
121 N Lemon St
Orange, CA 92866
714-628-0633

Located just west of the Orange Circle is Taco Adobe.  It's a small space with table spread all over inside and tables outside.  I've review a few restaurants in/near the Orange Circle- Burger Parlor, Byblos Cafe, Watson Drug and Soda Fountain- which was renovated and has new owners since I reviewed it, Felix Cafe, and the now closed Beach Pit BBQ.

Blacken calamari taco- $3.75 and blacken shrimp taco- $4.50.  All tacos come with chipotle, blend of cheese, citrus cabbage, fresh cotija cheese, and special sauce.

I have never seen calamari in a taco, and I was excited to try it. The calamari was chewy and tough.  The toppings really do overwhelm the calamari.

The blacken shrimp was better, but again the toppings overwhelmed the shrimp.

Service is OK.

I won't go back to Taco Adobe.

BRB-Closed

BRB
1381 S Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
909-396-9968

BRB is a Korean restaurant that has sushi and bento boxes on their menu!  I'm not big on Korean tofu, but I decided to try their sushi.  They had a good selection of rolls, and nigri sushi, all at an good, inexpensive price.

There are tables spread throughout the restaurant with a sushi bar/counter on the right hand side of the restaurant.  It was fairly busy for a Monday at 2:30pm.

Spicy tuna roll $5.95 and shrimp tempura roll $6.95.

The spicy tuna roll was fine.  Pretty fresh, a good value, much better than the super market sushi. 

The shrimp tempura roll could have been good, if they didn't put a ton of sauce all over it! 

Sun Oh Roll- $9.95.  Tuna outside, and crabmeat and avocado inside.  This had a bit too much sauce, it wasn't soaked with sauce like the shrimp tempura roll. Good fresh tuna, avocado, and crabmeat.

Service is good.

If you want inexpensive sushi, BRB, fits the bit.  They are a Korean restaurant with Korean dishes on the menu.  But, they do a good job with their sushi!

RiceBox-Closed

RiceBox
541 S Spring St Ste 131
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213-988-7395

RiceBox came to my attention while I was walking around while waiting for a friend at Bar Ama.  Then I read this LA Eater story about restaurants using the Impossible Burger meat in other ways.  RiceBox uses the impossible burger as a filling for their dumplings.  It's not on their menu, but you can order it.  $8.50 for six dumplings.

RiceBox is located in an old theater and you can go from Broadway to Spring St, by walking through this food court-like space.  There are tons of other restaurants, including a gelato place that LA Magazine ranks as the best in LA.

RiceBox is a small restaurant with some counter seating along the window and the left side of the restaurant.  Most of the space is the kitchen and the cashier.  There are some tables outside. 

The dumplings are pan fried, with glass noodles, mushrooms, and the impossible burger meat.  It's good, but not outstanding.  There isn't that much impossible meat, and the dough is a bit tough.

Service is good.

I wouldn't go back to RiceBox for the impossible meat dumplings. 

Hotties Nashville Hot Chicken-Closed

Hotties Nashville Hot Chicken
13865 City Center Dr
Ste 3080
Chino Hills, CA 91709

Hotties Nashville Hot Chicken is located in the same shopping center as Bruxie and Pacific Fish Grill- I bet that the back of each of those three restaurant share a same wall!

Anyways, I was actually walking to Pacific Fish Grill one day, and saw some people eating fried chicken at one of the tables.  I asked where they got the chicken and they told me about Hotties.  It's a small place, with a few high top tables, and two small counter spaces at the window, on each side of the door.

Yes, in 2017 I ate fried chicken about 8 times that year.  But, since then I have been a pescatarian!  So, lucky they have fries and a truffle mac and cheese that I can eat.

Truffle mac and cheese-$4.49!  This was great!  A huge portion of mac and cheese made with cheddar, mushrooms and truffle oil and topped with bread crumbs.  The mac was very well cooked.  The cheese sauce was flavorful, and mixed well with the mac.  There were plenty of mushrooms and the breadcrumbs added a crunchy bite.

Service is pretty good.  The people are really nice.  But, it does take forever to get the mac and cheese!

I would go to Hotties again.  Everybody who eat chicken, loves their fried chicken.  They only have dark meat.  If you want white meat, you have to get their tenders or a tender sandwich.  Many said maybe not as good as Howlin' Ray's but you don't have the two hour wait.  Or the hour drive!

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!  

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-Closed

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!

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!!