Restaurant Review #135: Bamboo Cuisine, Sherman Oaks

Hot braised scallops

I normally order from Joie Luck Kitchen when I'm hanging out in the valley, but I think I might be able to do better. Since I was still full from my lunch at The Great Greek, it seemed like a good time to try an unfamiliar place: Bamboo Cuisine.

The takeout menu they mailed out is quite attractive, and probably the main thing that convinced me to order from them. It isn't

Restaurant Review #131: Mao's Kitchen, Venice

Peace not war wonton soup

Mao's is an incredibly popular Chinese restaurant. Granted, there aren't many Chinese restaurants in the area, and most of them are bad, but even so, Mao's is very good, and it's healthy, too, with not a trace of MSG.


Late in the day, the sun can really get in your eyes

It took me a while to warm up to Mao's, because my first couple of experiences with them were

Restaurant Review #113: Jin Jiang Seafood Restaurant, West LA (now closed)

Jin Jiang Seafood Restaurant has been around for at least 10 years, from what I could tell from the old reviews posted on the wall and the decor. It's a large restaurant on the second story of a classic west LA strip mall, and it looked to be completely empty at 8pm on a Sunday. The well-spaced, large tables are covered with pink tablecloths and sea green napkins.

I came in for takeout. The

Restaurant Review #84: Yangtze, Santa Monica

One of the great and somewhat undiscovered things about Yangtze is supposed to be their half price sushi bar hidden in the back of the restaurant. Too bad cheap sushi almost always means crunchy, flavorless sushi, and Yangtze is no exception. It's also generally a safe bet that if a restaurant serves Thai and Chinese in addition to sushi, they probably aren't focused enough on the sushi for it to

Restaurant Review #29: Little Hong Kong Cafe, Sawtelle, West LA

Tangerine Chicken

Not noticeably different from orange chicken except in name, the tangerine chicken consists of mostly small pieces of white meat deep fried in a thick batter. This dish is very tasty, somewhat spicy, and contains no veggies whatsover. I found that I only needed a few bites to feel full due to the heaviness of deep fried chicken combined with the artificially full feeling