Fugu Talk

A YouTube video from a neighborhood French sandwich shop that I frequent:

While watching Freaks and Geeks on DVD recently, all the references to drinking “pop” brought back a bit of nostalgia for the Midwest. I just say “soda” now, or more often, specifically a Coke, Pepsi, or occasionally a Jarritos. I wish, just once, I’d ordered a “tonic” in Boston, but never tried it. If you want to order carbonated beverages in a knowledgable manner around the country and around the world, check the Wikipedia article.

Coincidentally, I just found this can of Pepsi that I left in the freezer – it puts the “pop” in pop.

When I first moved to Huntington Beach, it wasn’t hard to find lunch for $5. I can’t even get that at Carl’s Jr. anymore, but there are still some good deals, like this pastrami sandwich and heap of fried zucchini from Harry’s Cafe with a drink, for around $6. More notable – Harry’s is one of the local establishments that serves free meals on Thanksgiving.

I recently returned from my fourth trip to Waikiki. Some like the sun and surf – me, I like the food. I’ve got a few favorite eateries in the area by now, such as Ono Cheesesteak (breakfast sandwich with a cup of Kona coffee for $2.95), Jimbo’s  for Japanese noodles, and Fatty’s Chinese Fast Food (where you sit on a stool around an old-fashioned wok kitchen) in the International Marketplace.

Among new places, I tried a Puka Dog, also in the marketplace, with garlic mustard and pineapple relish.

And on the higher end of the scale, uni “sea urchin” pasta at Taormina.

One of the more polished iPhone apps (featured in on one of the Apple ads) is from UrbanSpoon – shake your device, the display spins and clicks like a slot machine and settles on a random eatery in your vicinity.

But after a couple of days trying it out, it seemed to be repeating itself, and so far had only shown me one restaurant I haven’t visited. That, and driving around, you might think Huntington Beach is a wasteland of strip malls with Del Tacos, Sizzler’s and Starbucks, but it’s really not that bad. It’s no Manhattan, but if I decide to do strike a blow against global warming and dependence on Middle East (or Canadian, for that matter) oil, I have quite a few options for lunch within a mile – decent Thai, Japanese, barbeque (although the folks at The Front Porch BBQ didn’t know what I was talking about when I asked for fried okra) and a pretty good breakfast/lunch place called the Good Day Cafe.

Unfortunately, Chinese isn’t well represented (it seems any place with “Wok” in the name doesn’t hold much promise). But if I venture further to the next strip mall, there’s yet another Thai place (last count I’ve been to seven in the HB area) called Sea Siam and a very good Japanese place, Slowfish, where I can get ramen, udon, and eel on rice.

And then on the way back, to cool off after a spicey seafood ramen, I can get a $1 scoop of Aztec chocolate or mint with chili powder ice cream at Znow’s, which somehow, in an out-of-the way strip mall next to a Quizno’s and Starbucks, made it on the radar to be named OC Weekly’s Best of OC Ice Cream.

Oddly, HB residents don’t seem all that adventurous about dining, or at least walking to dining. One of my neighbors didn’t recognize any of the restaurants I named. And when I first moved here for work, my coworkers just ate at the Westminster mall food court. But I’m not much of a culinary explorer compared to the twelve-year old New York food critic.

The New York Times article on Boston “A Science Lover’s Kind of Town” brought back some memories of my favorite Cambridge haunts, including Toscanini’s, the MIT Press Bookstore, The MIT Coop, and Mary Chung.

The article devotes a lot more space to the area museums, but I have to admit I only recall going to the MIT Museum and Boston Science Museum once, and the Harvard Museum of Natural History only recently.

Huntington Beach is far from Cambridge (in many ways), but it’s getting there. We have Mexican ice cream here, and the Znow’s in my neighborhood is particularly good. (They have the advantage of of year-long warm weather – it’s still in the high eighties this week). The local Barnes and Nobles doesn’t have a lot of MIT Press books, but it compares favorably to The Coop and the other tech bookstore I used to frequent in Kendall Square, Quantum Books. Now, if I could just find a Legal’s Seafood…

A quick dinner from one of the Famima stores (basically, Japanese 7-11′s, but better) in downtown LA. Two steamed buns and a special election edition of Jones Soda – Pure McCain Soda. It’s pretty tasty, get it while it lasts! (I assume until the election, unless McCain wins, in which case, maybe they’ll keep selling it for another 4-8 years)

I’m disappointed at the absence of drinks named after the other candidates. Can I offer you an Obama Kool-Aid? (That’s a gimme) A Palin Wild-Salmon Pepsi? (Ok, stretching) Barq’s Biden Root Beer? (Hmm, I guess it’s not that easy…)

Ever since it’s turned into a regular thing a few months ago, I’ve been meaning to check out Huntington Beach’s Surf City Nights, the Tuesdays when Main Street is blocked off converted into a small street fair. I found it’s no Third Street Promenade (I didn’t have to worry about finding parking), but it’s a nice change from the strip malls.

I took the opportunity while attending Siggraph last week to look around and see what the LA downtown bloggers are talking about. Some highlights:

The Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry. They have free guided and self-guided tours covering three floors and the garden, but I just checked out the cool bookstore.

Some cool art outside the Los Angeles Public Library:

and inside, several descending levels for each book section:

and finally, Chinatown, with one of the more ornate Metro stations:

In the mood for Vietnamese noodles, I wandered down to Sunset Beach the other day to a restaurant in Pete’s Landing only to find it closed. Although Little Saigon is right next door, it’s tough sledding here in Huntington Beach for any Asian restaurant that doesn’t serve Americanized Chinese food or have “Panda” in its name.

So I fell back to Woody’s Diner and tried their fish tacos. It’s not the obvious place to order fish tacos, but it was all right and I was surprised by the presentation:

If there’s one dish that’s emblematic of Southern California, I vote for the fish taco. Some of the specialists:

• Rubio’s – good fish tacos from a fast food chain. As opposed to bad fish tacos from a fast food chain (Del Taco)
• Wahoo’s – Asian/Mexican/Brazilian blend with a surfing vibe
• Taco Mesa – local favorite with a huge selection
• Chronic Tacos – always a line, thought not a personal favorite of mine