Din Tai Fung Dumpling House - $6-8 per order

It's been a while. That's because Christmas hit the Dinettes in the pocketbook something fierce. All our pennies went to Santa instead of our mouths. But, Christmas is over. And, well, ya gotta eat.

The Dinettes went on a little detour to Arcadia, of all places. Normally, when I detour, it's usually some place exotic like Kentucky. (Huh?) This time, it's Arcadia to a little chinese dumpling house. I've been told by 3 different people - all Asian - to try it.

When we arrived, the wait was out the door. All of China eats here. So, bring some patience. I HATE waiting for food. I mean, there are so many good restaurants in L.A., that you can usually go next door or across the street and still eat well. But, how many dumpling houses are there? So, we waited 30+ minutes. These things better be good.

As soon as we got in, the host handed us an order form/menu. It had a description in english and chinese, but no price. Some of the descriptions were extremely vague, such as, "Appetizer." okay...a little more please? I don't like to order blind esp. at a chinese restaurant. Feel me?

In the lobby is a window to the kitchen where you can watch the masters at work. I'm sure they feel like they're in a fishbowl. Don't tap the glass. You can watch them roll and stretch out strands of dough with efficiency. Then, they fill them and turn them into little balls. Fascinating.

These aren't southern dumplin's made of flour with white gravy. These are little delicate pockets of flour (probably rice flour) filled with delicacies, and steamed. Think soggy potsticker, or wontons from wonton soup. They're known for a soup dumpling. You bite into it and it bursts with broth. Weekends only. Alas, we were there on a Friday.

Atmosphere: loud, crazy crowded. Clean, though. Typical chinese restaurant where you can barely hear yourself think. But, who needs to think while eating? Not a good date place unless you don't want to hear what they have to say. 1 fork.

Service: I'm not crazy about the service at chinese restaurants. And I'm chinese! They're not rude, just not friendly. They don't go out of their way to make you comfy. I had to ask for water 3 times from 3 different people. But, when we put the money down, they were quick to pick it up. 1/2 fork, and that's generous.

Bathroom: Single, and clean. For a chinese restaurant, that's an accomplishment! 4 forks!

Food: There's a plaque behind the host that exclaims, "Best of LA 2006." There are reviews by food critics hailing this place. We put them to the test. We ordered 3 types of dumplings: A) juicy pork - it's one of their signature dishes. Or this if the soup dumpling isn't available. There are 10 pieces, but each is small enough to fit into a spoon. You bite in and get a little burst of broth with the pork. Delightful. Laurie: "Melted in my mouth with flavors. The best." B) pork with crab. Laurie: "Had higher hopes for it. Just ok." Agreed. I couldn't taste the crab. Tasted just like the pork dumpling. It was just ok. We still ate the whole thing. People are starving in China. We can't just throw it away. C) chicken dumplings. Laurie: "Good. They didn't skimp." They skimped on the crab, not the chicken. They barely fit on the spoon! D) Sauteed green beans with fresh garlic. Laurie: "Best bean greens I've ever had!" Fresh, crisp, barely cooked. Fan-freaking-tastic. Dessert: sweet red beans in rice. Laurie finished the whole thing. I grew up not liking it. What's with the plastic fork that came with dessert? 4 forks.

Overall rating: 3 forks. The food is great. It's so great, I'm taking my mom and dad this Friday!
Check out their website: www.dintaifungusa.com

Next up: Another Dinette detour to a thai food festival at the Wat Thai Temple in NoHo. Whoo hoo!!!

Sushi Sho - $ happy hour prices, $$ otherwise

Our guest Dinette was the always effervescent and multi-talented Kelly Keaton, a self-professed lover of food. If you ask her for directions to the nearest whatever, she'll tell what eateries are around it. She is a true Dinette.

Ambience: soft, flattering recessed lighting above the bar. I just want to be followed around in my own pool of recessed light. Subtle earth tones on the wall. Kelly: "Cute, fun. Love the colors!" The Italian art confused me a little, but it fit. I guess because they were playing jazz? And no one yelled at me when I came in!!! (see Mikato restaurant below.) 4 forks.

Bathroom: Well...you have to go through the kitchen. I really don't want to know what might be on the floor. Ignorance is total and complete bliss. The bathroom was clean. But, what are the lockers for? My keys? If you need a high chair, find it there. 3 forks.

Service: attentive. Even though we were sitting at the sushi bar, we didn't hand our order to the chefs in front of us, we handed it to the waitress.

Food: Let's get down to business. They've got a few half priced happy hour selections. Laurie ordered none of those. She was seduced by the names of the rolls, such as O My God, and Pink Godzilla. When the O My God roll came out, Kelly said, "O My God!" It was huge with shrimp tempura, crab, avocado, spicy tuna, and smelt egg. And it tasted "O My God" good. The Pink Godzilla had crab, asparagus, was wrapped in pink soy paper and was "Pretty and yummy." I dare any manly man to order it. You won't be sorry. 4 forks! "This is my new neighborhood sushi place!"

Kelly: spicy tuna - "Nothing special." Fried calamari salad - "Just ok." K: "Have you ever had fried cheese curdles?" Umm...no. "They are SO good. They squeak when you bite into them." No wonder the calamari was just ok. No sound effects.

Me: Laurie looks at the names and descriptions of rolls. I look at the prices. Cheap and cooked are my only standards. So...my rolls were standard (don't say boring!) shrimp tempura, CA, veggie and salmon skin. Salmon skin? K: "Must be the Chinese in you." Me: "We don't throw nothin' away." I ate every bit of it's crunchy, fishy goodness. Actually, I ate every bit of everything. 4 forks.

Next Up: A Japanese restaurant on the corner of Riverside and something in Toluca Lake. I can't find the name anywhere. But, I can always find the food.

Piriya Thai Chinese - $

The Dinettes are back on track on Riverside Drive on our quest to find the best eats on the street. Honestly, we just can't wait to get to the Promised Land of Toluca Lake. There are just 2 more eateries between us and the Land of Canaan. Piriya was one of them.

Piriya is in a the Dominoes strip mall on Riverside and it's a little Thai-Chinese place that's run by a lady named Gee or Gia or something like that.

Atmosphere: Typical Asian hole in the wall with mismatched decor, hallways being used for storage, and a happy fat Buddha near the cash register, which is probably why he's so fat and happy. Jay Leno's autographed pic was sitting right next him. Maybe that's why he was laughing. If you looked long enough, you wouldn't have been able to tell them apart except that, thankfully, Jay had a shirt on. This place even had a red plastic altar on the floor beneath the counter. I've seen plenty of red plastic altars in my day. I mean, my parents have one in their house. There are red plastic candles that are always "lit." Safer to worship your idol of choice that way. This one was more elaborate. It had fake plastic incense that was also always "lit." 2.5 forks.

Bathroom: Clean, but being used for storage. I'm Chinese and I've seen this all my life. What is with my people and not being able to a) throw things away, and b) buy a storage unit?? Ai-yah! (That's Chinese for oy vey!) 2.5 forks.

Food: Laurie had thai iced coffee, duck with tofu and white rice. She liked it and thought it was tasty. That is, until I pointed out the 1/4 inch of grease at the bottom of her plate. Still, she gave it 3 forks.

Me: I had my favorite noodles - rad na. Or lad na. Or lard na. Or rard nah. E) all of the above. Rice noodles with pork and broccoli in a gravy. That's comfort food for this China girl! I loved it! Rah rah for rard lah/lad na/lad na!!! 4 forks!

The woman who owns the place also does everything else - waitress, hostess, cook. She did it all. In the hallway, there was evidence of a kid. A small pink plastic chair was at a low table that had a tv/vcr combo unit. I suspected her daughter was there on occasion.

We were there on a Sunday, but the menu said, "Closed on Sunday." Gee/Gia said she had to open on Sundays because it had been slow, and she needed to make more money for her daughter. Great. I'll have a side of guilt for dessert. So, next time I need my thai lard nah/rard na/lard na noodle fix, I'll be stopping by Piriya. I can feel like I'm doing a good deed and getting good food at the same time.

Overall rating: 2.5 forks.

Next up: Backtrack it to Susho Sho for their 1/2 priced happy hour sushi. 1/2 price sushi might scare some. And it should. So, I won't make plans for the rest of the evening...

Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant 1036 S. Fairfax- $

This weekend, we took a detour to Little Ethiopia on Fairfax because we were in the area.

If you're a vegetarian, or like to pretend to be, Ethiopian food is the place for you. Ethiopia has a high Muslim population - translation: vegetarian. Also, Ethipian Orthodox Christians fast from eating meat several times a year. But, for you meat lovers, there are loads to choose from. We couldn't pronounce half of it, but the descriptions of most dishes were similar - stewed in spices with tomatoes. I'm in.

Did your momma ever say, "Use a fork like a civilized human being!" Have no fear. There are NO utensils except for the ones God gave ya! The food is served on a round communal platter. So, even though Laurie and I ordered different stuff, it all came on the same plate. Go with someone whose hygiene you trust. Feel me? You scoop up the food with a type of crepe called injera. It's made with teff flour and is greyish with dimples, which help grip the food. Some of mine still got out. It gets messy. This is not date material. Well, maybe date 5.

Food: We had shrimp tibbs - baby shrimp in spices and tomatoes, collard greens, spicy stewed red lentils, stewed yellow split peas and some other stuff that was unrecognizable, but all very tasty. Everything is saucy and goopy. If I were planning a menu to be eaten with my hands, I wouldn't have anything saucy. But, I'm not from Ethiopia, and this is WAY more fun! 4 forks!! The first time I had ethiopian food, they served the main dishes, which were all saucy, with no utensils. But, they served baklava with a fork. Go figure.

Atmosphere: Fun! We sat at a round communal table called a messob, which was made of straw. We sat on saddle chairs. Yep - they were horse saddles with legs. I was wearing a skirt, so I ate side saddle. It's covered with a colorfully embroidered piece of material. There was religious African artwork on the walls. Let's hear it for a black Jesus. Neon colored umbrellas were hanging from the ceiling. Can I take one home? 3.5 forks

Service: Well...maybe it's a cultural thing, but this left something to be desired. The waitress didn't go out of her way AT ALL. She rarely spoke. We had to wave her down on occasion. When I asked about dessert options, she said apologetically, "We only have baklava." Laurie gave the service 2 forks. I give it 1.

Bathrooms: They have 2 fairly clean singles. One of them had an air freshener called "Love Spray." I can't make that up. On the can was a picture of a kissing couple. I didn't know you could buy love in a bottle for only $3.99. I wasn't sure if it was to cover up foul odors or to spray on yourself if you want a little action. Or both? I may have to get some.

Next up: Dinettes take another detour for African food of another kind. Aunt Kizzy's Back Porch in Culver City!

Chez Nous - $$

Sushi Sho was closed, so we headed up the street to Chez Nous, a French bistro. What's a bistro? I think it's just a cafe, right? But, it's a cafe that sells croissants?

When we said that Italian Fisherman was the best on the street so far, that was BEFORE we crossed over to where the other half eats. And, lemme tell ya, I felt a little out of place, but it felt good. Maybe it's because I'm secretly a big fan of stands and burrito joints. Maybe it's because I haven't seen true table service in a long time. Gotta get out more. But, this place was really great.

Service: 5 forks!! 2 people asked for our drink orders. Our waters were never more than half empty. Very attentive.

Ambience: upscale coffee shop. Inside, there's a piano with tables along the wall, and an interesting sunken section with more tables. They have live music on weekend evenings. OR you can sit in a bakery section that's bright and sunny with a big fat pastry counter...just a warning. ALL of their handcrafted pastries looked almost too pretty to eat. Almost. But, nothing's too pretty to eat.

This might be a neighborhood French bistro, but you still can't get away from the Hollywood power lunch. We spotted a guy in a suit looking too cool for school on a Sat. afternoon talking very animatedly with another suit. I can spot a pitch anywhere. At least, I don't think he was talking about his date the night before.

Food: We thought we'd try new dishes. Cobb salad is so blase in a place like this. And onion soup would be too obvious. Laurie had a salmon sandwich. They hollowed out a homemade french roll and stuffed it with spinach, onion and salmon. Then, put the top back on and held it in place with a slice of melted cheese. It was a little tricky to eat, but she handled herself well. If there's a way to eat, we'll find it. She had a salad with their house dill dressing - "scrumptious." 4 forks.

I had the mango chutney chicken salad in cantaloupe. The chicken salad had raisins, apples, cashews and kick. It was sitting in a sculpted melon. Eating a bite of melon was refreshing against the spicy chicken salad. Perfect combo. Oh, and it came with a warm, fresh outta the oven croissant. It was buttery, flaky, and the spawn of Satan. 5 forks.

Bathroom: Red tile from top to bottom, and TWO sinks! Clean, with soft, forgiving lighting. 5 forks.

Overall rating: 5 forks. It would have been 6, but if they win, Laurie can't get 6 forks glued on a paper plate.

Another friend of mine said she'd had bad food experiences here, and now, only goes for the bread. We had a great time with attentive service and tasty, creative cuisine. Another friend had been to the Italian Fisherman before and had a bad experience. Weird. We don't know what to say, but Riverside's been good to us. So far, so yummy. Knock on wood.

Next up: We gotta backtrack to Sushi Sho. They have 1/2 price happy hour sushi. Yahoo!!

General invite

Often, we don't know when we're going to eat somewhere. Either I'll call Laurie or she'll call me and we'll decide spur of the moment. Even then, the date/time might change based on our mood or the seasons. Who knows. But, I figured that if it feels pretty set, then I'll post it on the blog as a general invite and see if people want to join us.

Since Riverside looks like it'll be a pricier street, we have 2 options - eat out for dinner, but less often, or eat at lunch for the specials. We are all about eating more often than less, so we're opting for the 2nd choice.

We're going to Sushi Sho in Toluca Lake on Sat., Aug. 19 at noon. If you're free, come on by. Be our guest Dinette and I'll put it on the blog. The address is 10658 Riverside. Nearest cross street is Cahuenga. It's in a strip mall. Ya gotta eat, so why not there? And why not with us? I mean, I bathe or at least promise to.

See you there. If not, read about it and wish you were.

Italian Fisherman - $

We've finally made it to Toluca Lake, aka the Promised Land. I thought we'd never get here. This is going to be a fun ride, albeit expensive, but fun.

I've driven by the Italian Fisherman many times and have wondered what it's like inside. I guess part of the reason I haven't gone in is because I've secretly waited for it to go out of business like others in that space before it. But, this one seems to be standing the test of time. They must be doing something right.

Ambience: coffee shop comfy meets fast food friendly. There are booths with pendant lighting. Warm, deep beiges along the walls and seats. A counter stretches the length of the dining room. When we walked up to it, we were greeted by a very buxom, motherly Italian woman. She was my long lost Italian mom. I think everyone needs a large Italian mom to call you, "Honey" at the end of a long day while ordering fish. You think I'm kidding? I'm so not. 4 forks.

Bathrooms: Clean, and not being used for storage, which is always a welcome relief. 4 forks.

Food: They say their fish is broiled "to perfection." So, we gave it the Dinette test. They have different types of fish, and you get to choose your sauce - teriyaki, garlic butter, or cajun seasoning. Laurie ordered the ahi tuna steak with teriyaki glaze, their "famous garlic and onion potatoes" and a cup of homemade clam chowder for only an extra $1.50. Her soup was a great start to a really outstanding meal. They didn't tell us it was homemade, but when there's a big fat bay leaf floating around in the styrofoam cup, it's pretty obvious. It had generous portions of red potatoes. Every meal comes with their homemade sourdough bread and garlic butter. How can something so soft, delicate and tasty be artery clogging? I don't believe it! But, then again, Satan can come dressed in sheep's clothing. 4 forks.

Laurie brought her dog, so we ate on the patio. The owner offered water to the dog. Any place that offers to take care of the dog is top notch in Laurie's book.

I almost ordered the baked eggplant parmesan. But, when eating at the Italian FISHERMAN, it might be a good idea to try the fish. I ordered the trout "broiled to perfection" with cajun seasoning and steamed veggies. Lemme tell ya. They ain't kidding. I'm not that good with cooking fish because it's so hard to tell when it's done. But, this really was broiled to perfection! It was light, flaky and melted in my mouth. The cajun seasoning wasn't spicy, just flavorful. I mean, fuggedaboutit. Trout doesn't have a whole lot of meat on it, so if you've got a small appetite, this is a good dish for you. But, if you're me, you order a slice of cheese pizza. My Italian momma heated up the thin crust in the oven. She took care of me! I folded it in half and ate it like a New Yorker, or at least, like an angeleno who's been to NYC a coupla times. It was lightly sweet. 4.5 forks.

Laurie: "This place is close to being the Best on the Street." We both agreed that we have to come here more often.

Dessert: When the menu says, "Ask about our dessert selections," consider it a bit of a warning. I mean, if a restaurant isn't advertising dessert on the menu, and is making you work for it, then maybe it's best to leave it alone. I got a piece of cheesecake to split. We put our forks in and hit the hard, still frozen middle. Hmm...well, if you ignore dessert, this place is still tops. Or, if you get dessert, get it to go, so it'll be defrosted by the time you get home.

At the Italian Fisherman they make a great deal of their menu from scratch including the tomato sauce and dough. Many of their ingredients are organic with no preservatives. So, if a health conscious meal for under $10 is what you're craving, this is your place. Welcome to your new hangout. Say hi to momma for me.

Overall rating: 4.5 forks.

Next up on the Riverside whistle stop tour: Sushi Sho Japanese Restaurant.