Bao!
When we decided to move from Los Angeles to New Orleans, we knew that there would be less diversity. Even though New Orleans is one of the most diverse cities in the country, especially with its rich history, it is hard to compare any city in this country to Los Angeles or New York. We were, however, quite surprised when we discovered that there was a massive Vietnamese population here.
For many of you, New Year’s Resolutions are constructed during the beginning of January. You’re wrapping up the calendar year, unwrapping the last of your holiday presents and thinking about ways to improve your life. New year, new you… right?
For some of us, however, the concept of a year is much different. When we leave high school, or college, our live change dramatically. Growing up, before we ever come near the strenuous weight of adulthood, the year is based on school. Most schools run from August/September until May/June. The summer is that vacation which we all yearn for throughout the nonstop hustle and bustle of the year. As a former physical education teacher at Los Angeles Unified School District, I know that feeling all too well.
Head over to Dumpling Monster while you still can; soon there will be lines out the door and prices will increase! Years and years ago, we wrote one of the first reviews for Sunny Blue. Even though we don’t (and shouldn’t) take any credit for their success, when we first started going there, there weren’t any lines whatsoever. Once it got popular, there’d often be a thirty minute wait and eventually the quality even dipped a bit. The two founders opened another location in Culver City and were rarely at the Main Street Santa Monica location ever. We were thrilled for their success, but it lost the magic it once had. 
Something similar might happen with Dumpling Monster. The prices are great and the food is both fresh and flavorful. Most dumpling spots are either dirty hole in the walls or really high-end spots with long waits, like the two in Century City Mall. This is the perfect middle ground. It is clean, well organized and easy to access. It isn’t very busy because the shop is hiding behind a pet boarding facility on Santa Monica Blvd, but once people discover this spot it will be busy.
We first tried it for delivery and were thrilled with the price and quality of the food. We decided to go into their physical location and found the overall experience equally exceptional. My only issue was that the crispy beef roll was served with a side of sriracha. Since their other dumpling dipping sauces are complex flavor profiles, this was disappointing. Fortunately, the roll itself was so good that it didn’t need sauce.
It is only a matter of time before their delivery wait times increase, their small seating area is packed and their prices go up. It is hard to predict if the quality goes up or down, but you should definitely try it sooner than later. Being on top of the game, or in front of the pack, helps you stay hungry and fit.
They travel really well! We recommend delivery for those lazy nights.
And make sure to ask for extra dipping sauce. I usually run out halfway through an order.
When we were recently house hunting in Louisiana, we drove through the state capital of Baton Rouge. With a population of 1/4 million and the home to LSU’s ~30,000 students, you’d imagine the food between New Orleans and Lafayette (the heart of Cajun country) would be pretty good. It is. Unfortunately, there are a lot of very popular and extremely busy seafood restaurants and when you’re traveling, you don’t have time to wait for an hour or two. We didn’t even have enough time to find parking for those spots. After checking Yelp, we headed to the more historic downtown area, easily found a free parking spot in front of a beautiful church and walked in Milford’s on Third.
“I really hated the movie, but I liked the message at the end.” That is what I told Alana when we left the theater at Universal City Walk. We just saw Dumbo a few days ago and were planning on either seeing Shazam or Hellboy. With our AMC Stubs A-List, we try to go to the movies as often as possible. Even though we love fun blockbusters, most of our favorite movies end up being smaller releases like Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I’m a sucker for anything related to nature or animals. When I saw they were playing Mia and the White Lion, I ldid a bit of research to find out more. The description gave me Life of Pi vibes; I had to see it. (I know Life of Pi had a tiger and not a lion.)
We’re not Hawaiian, but as you’ve seen on the blog, we’ve spent some time there and Hungry is a huge fan of Hawaiian food. Why? The answer is simple. Hawaiian food screams love and spreads the aloha spirit. Hawaiian food embraces the mana of the islands, from the mighty volcanoes to the powerful yet serene oceans. Every time you grab a plate of loco moco from the local family restaurant, or a pile of pancakes covered in lilikoi and macadamia nuts from the town’s diner, you want to throw up the shaka as you walk out the door. There is just something magical about the Hawaiian culture because of the loving people that you’ll find there.
At this point on our journey of discovering the best food in LA, we’ve gone a bit out of order, but bear with us. This was the first time that we went somewhere “on our list” that left us disappointed with the overall experience. With that being said, I wouldn’t call it a bad dinner, there were just a lot of areas for improvement…a lot.
(Note: We would like to apologize for the poor quality of the photos. Even though we brought the good camera, as we mention soon, the lighting quickly went from bad to awful, so we had a hard time capturing the food.)
There was a lot of excitement leading up to Pacific Rim. The 2013 release of the first Pacific Rim directed by Guillermo del Toro allowed the creative mastermind a huge budget which would be needed to create such a large-scale blockbuster. With a star-studded cast and a composer as the top of their game, what could possibly go wrong? Any nerd that loved transformers, Gundam, Godzilla or nearly anything in the realm of science fantasy fiction would surely love this, right?
Well, that was the problem. Expectations were far too high and nearly everyone that it aimed to please was, to some degree, disappointed. The result was a relatively poor domestic box office performance, although the overseas audience (especially in China) agreed with the fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, enjoying the sheer entertainment value the film brought.
Fast forward to 2018 to the sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising, and expectations were far lower. Without legendary creator Guillermo del Toro, composer Ramin Djawadi and the first movie’s lead actor, we felt the film took a much different approach. Using a much smaller budget, they decided to use John Boyega’s skills to create a much more charming experience. The result was a film that made its budget back on opening weekend, dethroning Black Panther, despite its much lower score (~25%) on Rotten Tomatoes.
BOOM! We are halfway through our Top 10 Movies of All Time list! I suspect it’s only going to get better and better with each coming week as we near the cherished #1 movie. If you missed the others, here are #6, #7, #8, #9, and #10. Are we going to see some duplicates coming? Maybe! If you want to know more about the people behind the list, take a look at the braintrust. Feel familiar? Okay, let’s go!
Kai – “The Fifth Element”
