Cena Vegan

Cena Vegan
Highland Park Vegan Night

Every Tuesday and Friday Nights on York Blvd, between Ave 50 and Ave 51, there are pop up vegan food stands along York.  The line at Cena Vegan is always long, unless you get there early.  The food looked good and I decided to give them a try.

They are set up on the south west corner of York and Ave 51, diagonally across from Town Pizza-which also has a vegan pizza.  The line moves pretty fast, but there is always a line.

3 taco combo- Al pastor, carne adsada, and pollo, $8.  Not sure which was which.  But, one-I think it was the pollo, was very chewy and rubbery.  But, the other two were amazing!  Both full of flavor, great texture, and you don't miss the meat!  The tortilla is freshly made, and held up to the ingredients nicely.

Service is good.  But, in order to speed up the line, they had another worker take orders on their Ipad.  He should tell people, if you're ordering with him, it will be plastic (cards) only.  I was paying cash, ordered from him and he told me he can only take plastic.  He should tell everybody that in the first place.  You can pay cash or plastic at the register/counter. 

I would go back to Cena Vegan anytime. 

Kaya Asian Cuisine

Kaya Asian Cuisine
1640 W Mission Blvd
Pomona, CA 91766
909-622-2689

Kaya Asian Cuisine is basically a sushi restaurant that also serves some Chinese dishes.  Located in the same shopping center as a LA County office and a huge warehouse lumber store, Kaya is a medium sized restaurant.  There is the sushi bar on the right as you enter, and tables spread throughout the store.

Decorated with some title on the wall and a chair rail, it's gives off a warm welcoming feel.

Tuna, $4.50 and shrimp, $4.25,  sushi.  Both are good portions, were pretty fresh.  But, the sushi rice is bland and didn't stick together.  If you dipped it into soy sauce, it would fall apart.

Crunchy roll- $9.50, shrimp tempura, with crabmeat.  There was too much sauce on this roll.  As with the sushi, the rice didn't stick together and would fall apart when dipped into soy sauce.  Next time I order this, I'll ask for no sauce.

Red Dragon roll,$9.95, shrimp tempura and crab meat inside, and tuna outside.  A very good, balance, well executed roll.  I really liked this roll.

Service was good.  There was only one server for the entire restaurant, but I wasn't lacking for anything.  They do a great delivery business, because they had two delivery persons, coming in and making deliveries throughout the entire time I was there.

While Pomona isn't known as a city with a lot of good sushi options, Kaya is pretty good. 

I would go back to Kaya.

Catch 56-Closed

Catch 56
5615 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323-667-2777

LA Eater listed the 18 best places to get fish and chips in LA.  I tried to go to one place, Searestasalt Fish Grill, but they were closed the day I went; even though their website said they were open. So, Catch 56 is the first place I tried that was on the list.

A good sized restaurant with tables spread all over.  You order at the counter.  You choose your catch- cod, salmon, shrimp, calamari, and they recently added red snapper.  Then you picked how they cook it-fried, grilled, or Hawaiian style and you pick you side-chips, cajun chips, herb rice, or spring mix salad.

I picked the cod, $11.99, fried, with chips.  This was a huge portion of cod, I would bet at least half a pound.  A light batter that made the cod very crispy,  The cod was good, I'm betting the cod was frozen, but they cut the fish in portions and make their own batter.  This isn't a frozen, premade fish and chips.  A very good example of fish and chips!!

The chips are well seasoned, and cooked to perfection!!  The chips are cut into thick rectangles, much like chips in England.

Service was good.  Nice friendly service.

I would go back to Catch 56 any time!! 

LBK Pizzeria-Closed

LBK Pizzeria
4359 Tujunga Ave
Studio City, CA 91604
818-824-3511

LBK Pizzeria was touted on LA Eater, as a popular Brooklyn pizzeria that is opening in LA.  Located in a busy part of Studio City, there is no signage on the awning, so GPS may say you've arrived but you're still not sure where it is.  It's basically a take-out place, with a counter with four bar stools, and a couple picnic tables on the sidewalk.

The pizzas are Neapolitan pizza.  I got the small Margherita pizza, $16, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce, and a piece of basil.  a 12in pizza.  The crust is awesome!! One of the best crust I've ever had.  Crispy, yet firm and chewy.  Great texture and flavor.  But, flavor was lacking in the tomato sauce.  Way too bland and just flavorless.  The cheese was fine.  This could have been an outstanding pizza if their tomato sauce had an flavor!!

Service is good.

LBK Pizzeria didn't live up to their hype.  The pizza is fine, but I would much rather go to DeSano Pizza Bakery, which makes the best Neapolitan pizza in LA!

Taco Gourmet Simply Fresh

Taco Gourmet Simply Fresh
3530 W Temple Ave
Pomona, CA 91768
909-468-0147

Next to Koji Ramen is Taco Gourmet Simply Fresh, which replaced Cantina Express- though I'm sure there were a couple restaurants in between.  Taco Gourmet is a good sized restaurant where you order at the counter.  There are tables spread throughout the L-shaped restaurant. 

Fish taco=$1.99. Talapia with tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and sour cream. You choose the toppings, but I didn't see cabbage, just lettuce.  The tortillas are freshly made, which is a good touch.  But, the talapia is grilled and bland and flavorless.  The tomatoes, onions, cilantro and sour cream are fresh, but the talapia being dry and bland makes this a waste of calories.

Service is good.  There was a long line for Taco Tuesday, but the line moved quickly. 

I don't know about the other tacos, but I wasn't impressed with the fish tacos here.  I won't return.

Monty’s Good Burger

Monty’s Good Burger
516 S Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90020
213-915-0257

Monty’s Good Burger, in Koreatown, has been open for about a month. A 100% plant based burger place, what basically is trying to be an In N Out.  The restaurant is small with a counter with about eight seats that faces the kitchen and another counter that runs along the wall.  There is a four seat table at the end of the counter.  There seems to always be a line, and you line up outside.  Helpful hint, when you're near the front door, be like the couple in the above picture.  They waited outside, not in the doorway, until they were able to move up.  Look, you stupid morons, nobody is going to cut in front of you.  But, people maybe coming out, and you're blocking the doorway.  Just wait outside, until there is room at the cashier.

Single burger, $11, impossible burger patty, follow your heart vegan cheese, house spread-a vegan thousand island dressing, lettuce, pickles, and grilled onions, on a potato bun.  Tots with vegan ranch dressing-$4.

This a a decent burger, but the impossible patty was overcooked, and charred. The bun is fine, but nothing special.  The veggies are fresh.  The house dressing is fine, though they could put more of it on the burger.

The tots were cooked perfectly!!  The vegan ranch is very good, a good spice and you won't miss regular ranch dressing.

Service is good.  The young lady taking my order was very nice and helpful.  My order came out quickly.  The interesting thing was, the owner or manager, was outside talking on the phone for almost the entire time I was waiting in line, maybe 20 minutes.  The workers were working really hard and I have no complaints.  But, even if he is the owner, it's bad form to just talk on the phone in front of your customers.  Go around the back.  You look like a lazy owner, who doesn't care.

I won't go back to Monty's.  Fat Burger sells the Impossible Burger for $9, and if you don't add the spread and cheese, it's vegan!  I think that's a better value than Monty's Burgers.

Roll Roll

 

Roll Roll 

19657 1/2 Ventura Blvd 

Los Angeles, CA 91356 

818-342-0007 

So, I'm out in the Valley and wanted some sushi.  But, I was only able to get to a restaurant at 2pm.  Many sushi restaurants in the Valley close at 3pm.  I don't want to be rushed, so I find a sushi restaurant that doesn't close at 3pm. Roll Roll is just like it's name, nothing but rolls on the menu.

It's a small restaurant, that seats maybe 20 people.  The trees can make it difficult to find the restaurant as you're driving on busy Ventura Blvd.  It's a very casual restaurant.

Their menu is very simple, rolls are $4, $7 or $11.  They have some teriyaki and side items too.

Lobster hand roll-$7, baked crawfish and cucumber.  This was the best of the rolls from this restaurant.  A good amount of crawfish, a good sushi rice, and fresh cucumbers.  A very tasty roll!  I would put this up against any other sushi restaurant I've been to!

Shrimp tempura roll,-shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber, and smelt eggs, $7 top and Tiger roll-shrimp tempura, crab meat, avocado, cucumber,  $11, bottom.

When your sushi arrives, the first thing you notice is that the rolls are small in size than other sushi restaurants.  Obviously, one way they can charge the prices.  The shrimp tempura roll was fine.  Nothing great about.  Just a little above supermarket quality sushi.

The Tiger roll was a bit bigger, fresh ingredients, and a good roll.  Well worth the prices.

Service was pretty good.  Though there was only one server, who maybe the owner, taking care of the entire place.  We didn't get out soy sauce cups, and it took awhile for refills on drinks.

I wouldn't go back to Roll Roll.  I would rather pay a little more for bigger portion sizes, and better rolls!