Lure Fish House Ventura

Lure Fish House in Ventura is one of those places that make me want to live in Ventura. They have 5 other locations, but I have only been to their Ventura restaurant, so for now, this is the fish house I would chose to make my home away from home by the sea :)

Their Bloody Mary is superbly spicy and served with a gigantic succulent shrimp! 

Their crab cakes for $24 were enough to make it a meal for 1 or appetizers for 3, with plenty of crab meat and flavor, not requiring the remoulade side.

I loved having the option of adding anchovies to the Caesar salad for a total of $13.50, but I found the dressing a bit light on the garlic, heavy on the cheese, and anchovies were only placed on top not incorporated into the dressing.

The crispy calamari for $16 was lightly battered with slices of fried jalapeno peppers and 2 sauces (I preferred the marinara).

The Baja chopped salad for $15 was enough for a meal, especially if you added a protein. As a salad it was enough to share with at least 1 if not 2 other people.

Their wild caught sand dabs for $26 were marvelously done with lemon butter caper sauce and very generously served with 3 pieces that all had crispy edges and tender flesh. The organic green vegetable side upgrade for $2 was worth it, and the pineapple slaw is good for those wanting a sweet treat with your meal.

The white wild caught Pacific Sea Bass for $32 was deftly cooked just to the point of perfect flakiness and the organic greens upgrade on this plate had more greens than broccoli, which was appreciated. The roasted butternut squash was the perfect sweet dessert.

Kaua'i Tidepools Restaurant

My favorite meal on Kaua'i was dinner at Tidepools, located at the Grand Hyatt in Poipu. I made advance reservations about 6 weeks prior to to my trip because I'd heard from so many people that it was worth the planning and the drive. I am very happy to say there were right! 

Following a winding path from the main lobby of the hotel, it is a bit tricky to find the entrance but all the hotel employees were very helpful in steering guests to this hidden treasure. Mobility challenged guests should ask for help and the waiter said they use the service elevator for wheelchairs. 

The breadbasket was filled with freshly baked rolls (you can watch them being made as you walk towards your seat) that were entirely too tempting to offer to hungry people! Somehow I only ate one (and a half)!

We got crab cakes made with crab, kula onions, panko, lomi tomatoes and a garlic parmesan aioli for $27

Poke with wonton chips made with dynamite furikake for $23, that the non poke lover at the table declared the best poke ever :)

The most enticing menu item was the Hawaiian catch with soy glazed Hawaiian fish, cold water lobster, shrimp, scallop, molokai sweet potato, served with a lemongrass buerre blanc for $65. It was a huge portion and every bite was delicately and gently cooked to perfection highlighting all the fresh local ingredients.

The misoyaki kurobuta pork chop with furikake rice cake, seasonal vegetables, and house made bok choy kimchee for $61 was one of the best pork chops I've ever eaten and I fought to take the bone home so that I could savor it in private;)

Getting a reservation at sunset is worth the planning just to get a view like this:

Kaua'i Chinese Food and Duke's

I like to explore both local low key places and scenic touristy places, so that I get a taste of different flavors while traveling.

Garden Island Barbeque in Lihue was one of the few places where I saw no other tourists in the entire restaurant. Located in an old section of Lihue, with fans blowing, and very modest decor, they serve great Chinese food in gigantic portions for very reasonable prices.

It was too humid to order soup, but some of the tables had customers happily slurping up wonton and I was tempted to get some to go :) Instead I ordered the duck with mixed vegetables for $12.95 that could have easily fed 3 people! Luckily I was staying at a condo with a full kitchen so I took most of it back to eat later. Chock full of fresh vegetables and very good duck, it would have been enough to just order this one dish, but since I had no idea the portions were so big, I ordered more dishes that ended up with having leftovers that lasted for 2 days afterwards.

I ordered the beef Singapore noodles for $15.95, which had nice flavors and tender beef slices.

I got some snow pea pods with shrimp that were succulent, savory, and absolutely fabulous because they painstakingly prepared the snow pea pods properly, removing all the fibrous parts before cooking. For $16.95 this is was one of the most expensive items on their extensive menu and worth every cent. 

I got a side of kimchee just because it looked so good at a nearby table and it was homemade!

For a completely different experience, I reserved at Duke's weeks before my trip because it was on so many lists of a place with good food and a view. They have free valet parking (please tip) down the steep driveway next to the Royal Sonesta hotel. Follow the walkway to the host stand.

The view from the entrance was very impressive with a bar, live music, and walk in tables below. If you make advance reservations you will get one of the ocean view tables on the upper floor.

The seared sashimi grade Furikake Ahi Steak served with shitakke, rice, and black bean bok choy, topped with pickled cucumber salad was a delicious twist on the usual tuna tataki for $43

The main course of chicken, ribs and added coconut shrimp (+$16) served with rice, cucumber salad and macaroni salad for $29 included high quality Compart family farms pork and all natural huli huli chicken. I wanted to try their famous salad bar, but this plate was so big that there was no room for salad or dessert!

There was room for my eyes to feast on the view though...

Lana's, Waipouli Wine & Spirits and J02 in Kapa'a

One of the great pleasures in food is eating seasonally and locally, especially when the local place is Kaua'i and the local food is tropical fruit! 

I saw Lana's while driving through Kapa'a and made a mental note to pick up some fruit during my stay. I was so very happy that the woman behind the stand asked me when I wanted to eat the fruit so she could chose the perfect ripeness. 

The fruit on the bottom right of the picture is called an egg fruit, and since I've never tried one before I got one! The interior has seeds that are inedible and the flesh tastes like cooked pumpkin. I didn't enjoy it raw, but I could see making a delicious dessert or custard pie with it. There are so many varieties of natively grown bananas in Hawaii, that I wanted to try them all, but the small sampling I did was a reminder that even a fruit as common as bananas all taste different when they don't have to be shipped or trucked long distances to market.

The mango was the best I've ever tasted :) 

While at the stand I got their coconut smoothie, a rich delicious dessert in a cup!

Just down the road is the small air conditioned wine store called Waipouli Wine & Spirits. I was so impressed by their selection and prices that I bought a lovely bottle to take back to the condo to support the business and to savor a fine wine outside of a restaurant.

One of the best meals I ate was at J02 . They offer a prix fixe $45 3 course menu from 5-6pm, but I opted to order a la carte. Their refreshing unsweetened hibiscus iced tea was a welcome respite from all the fruity and sweet drinks found all over the island.

The crispy duck confit salad for $25 could have been a meal by itself, and the perfectly ripe star fruit added a nice tart accent to the rich duck confit.

I don't remember the filling in the ravioli, but this dish was delicious. The ravioli were perfectly and lightly handled.

The best dish of the night was definitely the slow braised beef cheek for $45. It was so tender and such a generous helping that I took most of it back to the condo to enjoy later. Served with vegetables and soft dumplings, this is the meal you want to eat if you love beef and are very hungry for some upscale comfort food. They have a handy parking lot in front, and lovely professional service. If you are staying in the middle part of the island this is an easy spot to access for a comfortable high quality meal. I made my reservation about 1 month in advance, so if you want to be sure to get a table, plan ahead.

Anatta's Thai Food Truck in Kauai

I ate some of the best Thai food at Anatta's Thai food truck in Lihue, Kauai (the Ace Hardware Store location). Their location at the end of the parking lot has a few plastic picnic tables, plenty of parking, and lots of locals (human and feathered) enjoying the food.

The menu has something for everyone, and you can customize with your choice of proteins, veggies, or tofu.

I chose the pad see ew with veggies for $15.95, a very generous portion loaded with beautiful fresh vegetables.

The red curry with beef for $16.95 was beautifully aromatic with tender slices of beef and plenty of bamboo shoots and cabbage.

A chicken thigh skewer for $4.75 was succulent, perfectly seared and a must!

Three tender skewers of chicken satay for $7.95 with the best Thai peanut sauce I've ever tasted.

I got 2 veggie summer rolls for the plane ride back to the mainland, which were the perfect red eye food packed with fresh veggies and with a sweet chili sauce side.

Any return trips to Kauai will definitely include a stop at Anatta's :)

Kaua'i Breakfast at Java Kai & Lunch at Kenji Burger

I spent a week on Kaua'i for a wedding celebration and found some wonderful spots, so several of my upcoming posts will all be about places on the island :)

I stayed in Lihue, so Kapa'a was only 3 miles up the road and a great place to shop, eat and walk around. A frequent stop during my stay was Java Kai.

Their oat milk latte $6 was the best I tasted on the island and the same price as the ones in Los Angeles.

Their sunrise brekkie for $15 was a perfect papaya with greek yogurt, granola, a generous portion of delicious bacon, and a toasted bagel served with cinnamon butter.It was such a large portion that I took the bagel back to my condo to eat later. There is nothing like eating local fruit; the papaya and pineapple were the best I've ever tasted!

Portuguese sausage (home made) and egg sandwich with machego and romesco for $16 was a heartier breakfast choice and the home made sausage elevated it to a preferred choice if you like breakfast sandwiches.

Their turkey club comes with a side salad that was good on its own

and the sandwich itself was well balanced portions of all the ingredients for $16.

Kaua'i has cattle on the island and one of the few places where you can find their local beef is at Kenji Burger. The best sign of how good this place is was driving up to see an entire construction crew in line waiting for their order :)

I went to the Kapa'a location, but they have 4 in total all over the island. Of course I had to taste the Kenji burger with teriyaki, ponzu aioli, caramelized onions, cheddar, tomato and arugula for $13

I resisted the fries, which looked amazing, because I wanted to try their Misoyaki fish bowl with miso glazed black cod, arugula salad, and rice for $18. The fish was incredibly tender and fresh, some of the best I ate during my entire stay on the island.

Cantonese Food In NYC

The official reason I went to NYC was to attend a wedding, but the driving force was to eat my old familiar comfort Cantonese food in Chinatown. Although there are good Chinese places in California, something about the style and taste of the Cantonese food in NYC just doesn't exist out West. It's like finding NY pizza in Los Angeles; there are great pizzas but none have the same flavor...perhaps it's the water, air, or simply the available ingredients.

Luckily, a few hundred feet from the Hotel 50 Bowery, where I was staying, are TWO fantastic Cantonese restaurants. If you go to eat in Chinatown, bring cash! Most places DO NOT take credit cards.

NB Wing Wong was my first stop for several reasons; they are known for their roast duck jook (congee) and the wok hay of their dry beef chow fun, both these elements are hard to find anywhere on the west coast. 

I ordered waaay too much food ,but since the hotel had a mini fridge, all the leftovers were packed to go and I gave them away to a local friend the following day. 

Starting with the roast duck jook, the bowl was huge and completely loaded with duck. The best part was the flavor of the jook tasted as if it had been made by someone's grandma who knew how to cook! Using just a bit of white pepper enhanced this dish even more for those who want a bit more warmth. 

I was so happy to see that they had donut sticks that I ordered one to dip into the jook. Even though it was gigantic, I still managed to eat half of it just because it was perfectly chewy and savory, just as I remember them to be. This is another thing I don't see on the west coast and I once sent friends on a wild goose chase trying to find one while I made jook at home.

The classic shrimp with lobster sauce had GIGANTIC prawns that were perfectly cooked and very addictive.

I came for the wok hay in the dry beef chow fun and it did not disappoint! The beef was tender without too much tenderization, and the noodles were not too greasy while still not clumpy. Wok hay is the flavor of the wok that gets imparted into the food, and the obviously well seasoned woks they use added that elusive flavor to this dish to give it a savory smoky seasoning that is impossible to describe other than to say you know when you taste it that this was not made in a brand new wok.

They even make their own chili oil! It was a rare treat to get homemade chili oil served in a restaurant.

I had to get some gai lan in garlic, and even the stalks were tender!

I loved their food so much, I ordered take out the morning of my flight for my flight home, roast duck and rice (which came with cabbage) and baby bok choy. Everyone on the plane, including the stewards, was eyeing the food on my flight home ;)

The next day some local friends met up to eat before the wedding and we went to Joe's Shanghai, literally next door to NB Wing Wong and my hotel. This place usually has a line around the block, but it had been a very rainy night and morning, so it was a miracle to have no line and empty tables at noon! They also have a great machine for rainy days which wraps your umbrella into plastic as you walk in (you are obligated to use it by the staff at the front door who will help you figure it out).

They are famous for their soup dumplings, which are huge! We ordered two trays of the pork and crab and devoured the wonderful broth inside the dumplings that brimmed with crab flavor.

The green beans with garlic was also a table favorite.

My friends indulged me as I asked to order the steamed flounder which was not only beautifully presented, but also delicately cooked.

I don't miss much of NYC, but this trip reminded me of the flavors I do miss sometimes....