Sushi Yuzu

Sushi Yuzu
10118 Riverside Dr
Toluca Lake, CA 91602
818-763-8355

Sushi Yuzu was on the LA Eater list of essential sushi restaurants in the Valley.  I had a very good experience at another sushi place on the list, Kazuki Sushi, so I wanted to try another restaurant on the list.

Sushi Yuzu is a small restaurant with the sushi bar in the back, and a few tables in the other parts of the restaurant.  They have their own parking lot, but it's small.  There is parking on busy Riverside Dr.  It's a pretty pretentious restaurant, full of arrogant people.  Not the type of restaurant I want to spend any time in.  So, I decided to get my order to go.

Kani Kimizunose $7-wild crab leg with Japanese Hollandaise sauce. The crab legs were very good!  Tender, good flavor and fresh.  But the Hollandaise sauce was just too over the top.  Ruined the entire piece of sushi. 

Kani-ashi $7-wild snow crab legs with ginger on top.  A little bit bigger than the kimizunose, and just as flavorful and fresh.  Well worth the price!

Now why are these two the same price?  I would figure the hollandaise sauce would be extra.

Bake crab and salmon roll $14.  Baked salmon roll with soy paper, cucumber and avocado.  Baked crab dynamite on top.  This was too salty.  When the top portion with the browned piece came off, this was very good.  But, the creamy topping was just too salty.

Asian Roll- $16.  Inside-shrimp tempura, asparagus. Outside spicy tuna, avocado with soy paper.
This was very good.  Maybe not worth the $16 price.  But, good fresh sushi.  The spicy tuna maybe the best I've ever had.  The avocado was fresh.  But, the shrimp tempura wasn't crunchy, either it had been sitting around too long or cooked at too low of a temperature.

Service was good.  The people who work there are nice.  They did tell me my order would take 40 minutes because I ordered a baked roll.

Sushi Yuzu was the best sushi I've ever had.  The two rolls I ordered were off.  But, the sushi was good.  I would only go back to get a to go order and would try different rolls.

Flautas-Closed

Flautas
3650 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90008
323-299-9314

Flautas is in the food court of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall.  I was in the area and decided to give them a try.

I wanted the shrimp flautas but they were out of them.  So, I just got a quesadilla $4.35, which cheese, lettuce, red onions, and tomatoes.  It was fine, nothing outstanding.

Service was good, but slow.  The guy working was a nice guy, but it just took too long for him to make the order.  A few people got in line after me and he was still working on my order.  Either they need to hire more help or have him work at a faster pace.

I wouldn't go back to Flautas. I can't believe they are out of shrimp already!!  I mean come on, get your act together!

Teddy’s Tacos-Moved

Teddy’s Tacos
15485 E Valley Blvd
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
626-392-3988


I read this story about Teddy's Tacos being saved from demolition for a stupid chain Mexican fast casual restaurant.  So I decided to go to Teddy's and support the mom and pop business!  The story says Teddy's is in City of Industry, but their Facebook page says they are in La Puente. Kim Tar, which is a restaurant I reviewed back in 2009, is about 50 yards west, and they are in La Puente.

Teddy's is a small restaurant.  The building is basically 90% kitchen and 10% counter.  There are some tables in the front.

Shrimp Taco, $3.25.  Grilled shrimp, lettuce, and crema.  This was a great shrimp taco.  One of the best I've ever had!!  Corn tortilla, filled with well cooked and seasoned grilled shrimp. The creama was the highlight.  Light, creamy, refreshing adding a touch of coolness to the taco.  I wanted to order their fish taco, but they use marlin and I've never had marlin.

Service is good.  The young lady helping me, was very nice and friendly.

I would go back to Teddy's Tacos any time.  I hope they find a new location!  It was be a shame to lose such a great place for a shrimp taco!!

Rainbow Donuts

Rainbow Donuts
1432 S Azusa Ave
West Covina, CA 91791
626-917-4933

I haven't been to the shopping center where Rainbow Donuts is located, in about 2-3 years.  Last week I drove by and noticed that a Boston carpetbagger donut chain opened up in the same shopping center!  Then I read the story about Teddy's Tacos being saved from demolition, at least for a few months, and they mentioned Rainbow Donuts.  So, I decided to support the mom and pop business!

Both donuts were good, and much better than any carpetbagging chain!! 

Coconut glazed donut  $1.  A ton of coconut on this donut.

Chocolate glazed donut $1.  A large donut, with a generous amount of chocolate. 

I got there about 3:30pm, so the donuts had been sitting around for awhile.  I'm sure the donuts will taste better in the morning!

Service is good. 

Rainbow Donuts is a part of the fabric of this community for 30 years.  It's sad they may struggle with a carpetbagging chain, right next door. 

The Luxe Buffet

The Luxe Buffet
701 N Milliken Ave Unit D
Ontario, CA 91764
909-948-6886

Luxe Buffet is a huge buffet.  One side of the restaurant is the buffet!  Most be about 30ft.  They have lots of seafood items, including sushi, snow crab legs, lobster claws, cooked shrimp and fish dishes, squid, and clams.  There were also dumplings, fried rice and chow mein, beef, chicken, and a Mongolian BBQ

Weeknight dinner buffet, $23.95.

Crab and shrimp nigri sushi, shrimp cocktail, and fried shrimp.  Both sushi was good.  Some sushi restaurants could take lessons from Luxe about how to make good sushi.  The fried shrimp was too salty!  A frozen piece of butterflied shrimp with too much batter.  Either they put too much salt before being frozen, or after being fried.

Shrimp and asparagus, shrimp and cauliflower, fried squid and green beans.  Both shrimp dishes were very salty.  The shrimp were cooked well, but they just put too much salt.  The fried squid was horrible!  Very tough as if on the steam table too long or overcooked.  The only good item on this plate was the green beans-cooked perfectly with some garlic with added good flavor but not overpowering. 

Mongolian BBQ-with shrimp noodles, mushrooms, broccoli, and onions.  While waiting for this to be cooked, I noticed they put either butter or margarine. This made it very salty along with too much soy sauce.  Everything was well cooked but too salty.

Snow crabs.  Overall good, but some legs were just too salty.  Other legs were good, with good flavor.

Lobster claws.  This was dry and very salty.  There was some type of gravy but it didn't coat the loster claws.  All the claws were dry, tough and very salty.

Caramel and chocolate ice cream- I would really like to know where they get their ice cream!  Light, yet very creamy, and full of flavor.  The caramel has caramel flavor throughout.  It wasn't only caramel syrup on ice cream.  The chocolate had so much chocolate flavor!  Wish they had ice cream cones, but otherwise, a great way to end dinner!

Service is friendly but needs improvement.  Drinks took a long time to be refilled and plates stacked up on the table before being cleared off.

I wouldn't go back to Luxe Buffet, while it's a good value, most of the cooked items are just too salty.

BCD Tofu House

BCD Tofu House
1731 Fullerton Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
626-964-7073

I went to BCD Tofu House in 2015 but never got around to posting a review.  Now, I can't find the pictures I took of the food.  So this review will be a bit different.  I am posting a picture of the outside of BCD Tofu House, but instead of a picture of the food I ordered, I am just putting a link to a picture of what I ordered.  The picture in the link is exactly what I got. 

Hot-Stone Bibimbap with tofu, rice, carrots, spinach, bean sprouts, cucumbers, $13.95 for lunch back in 2015.  This was light, fresh, pretty good sized portion.  But, it was very bland and not worth the $13.95 price tag.  If this was good, I would go back and take a picture. But, it's not worth it!

Service was good.  Pretty friendly and I didn't lack for anything.

BCD Tofu just isn't for me.  Other dishes maybe good, but I'm not a fan of what I ordered and won't go back!

Sushi Land

Sushi Land
2129 S Hacienda Blvd
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
626-369-1143

I was craving sushi and found Sushi Land after doing a search.  The first place I wanted to go, Ootoro Sushi, is closed on Sunday.  I did make it to Ootoro Sushi about a week later.  So, Sushi Land was an easy decision.  Located in the CVS shopping center that used to have China Mandarin, Sushi Land is a small restaurant with seating at the sushi bar in front and what seems to be tables in the back.  I didn't go to the back room.

All day on Sundays is Happy Hour, so California rolls, spicy tuna roll, and mixed tempura-two pieces of shrimp tempura and 3 vegetable tempura are $5.

California roll- regular price $6.  A good sized California roll.  Good, fresh ingredients!

Spicy tuna roll- regular price $6.  A bit small, but a good quality, fresh roll.

Mixed tempura-regular price $8- I'm guessing you get more pieces of shrimp and vegetable for the regular price.  This was only ok.  A frozen piece of shrimp, good batter to shrimp ratio, but not as crunchy as I would like.  Only good thing was this came right out of the fryer! 

Crunchy roll $8.  This was good, but too much of the crunchy toppings.  Otherwise fresh and tasty.

Shrimp $6 and blue fin tuna sushi- $7 special price,  Regular price-$9.  Shrimp was good, fresh and flavorful.  The blue fin tuna is a steal at $7.  Very buttery and flavorful.  Maybe the best blue fin tuna I've had.

Service was good.  Nice, friendly, and quick service.  I was never lacking for anything, drinks were refilled quickly.

I would go back to Sushi Land anytime!!  Very impressed with the quality of the fish, the service, and the good value.