Recently in Fish Category

I humbly admit this food blog may not always be the ultimate source for diners seeking somewhere new to eat or something new to try, but still I receive plenty of emails from restaurants near and far, offering me to come in and enjoy their new offerings so I can include them in the blog.

And although I am all for trying something new, most of the time I am not able to make it to these places for various reasons - the restaurant's in New York, they are not in my price range or such as the recent one I was tempted by, their specials are midweek and are located farther than my 20-mile radius of cities I frequent. 

I don't always have the time or energy to drive far for dinner after work, let alone in traffic to go to West Los Angeles. So even though I may not be heading here any time soon, maybe some of you out there are more adventurous than I, and are willing to go try Taco Tuesday at The Spanish Kitchen.

The special taco menu on Tuesdays sounds amazing, with tacos such as the Mexican BBQ Pork with chipotle cabbage and cotija cheese, or the Beer Battered Halibut with corn avocado salsa - YUM! There's also some vegetarian selections. 

Let me know if you go and if the tacos are as tasty as they sound.

A few weeks ago, I was sent out to work out of one of our other sister papers' office in Torrance and while I was only there for a couple days, I thought I would venture out for lunch and see what the city had to offer.

The first day, on my way into the office I passed by a sushi place that caught my eye and I knew I had to try it for lunch - Sushi Boy.

From the outside it looked like a fast-food type of sushi bar and even though that didn't sound too appealing, I was intrigued.

As I walked in, it was just what I thought - fast food. They did add some cool Japanese art throughout the dining area to get a more authentic Japanese restaurant feel to it.

The menu featured a variety of sushi rolls, sashimi and sushi, as well as combo meals with salad noodles and bowls offered.

Wanting to try a little of everything I ordered the Takumi value meal for $6.80 which came with four pieces of california roll, one salmon and one shrimp sushi serving, three pieces of tekka maki and kappa maki each (tuna and cucumber, respectively) and a spicy tuna hand roll.

Each value meal comes with a serving of miso soup, or get a fountain drink instead for a few cents more.

My order came out pretty quick - ten minutes or less - and with the price, I was a little hesitant.

Everything looked surprisingly fresh for how quick it was served. The soup was okay but there wasn't much, if any, tofu which I'm used to having in my miso soup.

I dug into the Califoria rolls first - they were average, nothing special but pretty good for fast food. I don't know what type of wasabi they served but it didn't taste like wasabi I've had before and it wasn't necessarily good.

The cucumber and tuna tasted fresh but the seaweed was sometimes a bit too chewy. The salmon and shrimp tasted pretty fresh and not fishy. I wish I had better wasabi to serve it with.

The best item by far was the spicy tuna hand roll. Not only did the spicy tuna have the right amount of heat but there was plenty in there and it all fit perfectly with the cucumber and rice.   

When I first spotted Sushi Boy I never seen anything like it and I thought maybe I was trying something that could only be found in Torrance but as I perused the to-go menu I discovered there is a Sushi Boy in the San Gabriel Valley!

Or at least a version of what seems like a franchise. The company has 12 California locations in all including one in West Covina - Marukai West Covina at 1420 Azusa Ave. 

I will definitely have to try Marukai in West Covina one day but I may still call it Sushi Boy because it sounds cooler. For the other locations, visit www.sushiboy.net .

For the variety and price, I was happy with the quality of my lunch at Sushi Boy.

SECOND DAY

For lunch on my second day in Torrance I thought I would entrust my new Blackberry to help me find something I hoped would be different and unique.

Craving noodles, I was torn between a Thai restaurant and a curry one.

Since I don't have too much experience with curry I thought I would give the Curry House a try and it was only across the street from the office.

When I stepped in it was a nice sit-down restaurant. I was seated by a hostess and soon visited by my waitress. She sensed I was new there and gave me more time to look over the menu.

I don't know much about what exactly is normal for a curry restaurant menu but there I knew it didn't seem normal to have jambalaya on the menu.

The jambalaya entree was special to Curry House because it also included curry sauces. 

I really wanted to try something with a good curry sauce but the Jambalaya-style curry meal came with rice and I was still craving pasta or noodles so I went with something else.

The Seafood Tofu Shirataki Fettuccine ($10.05), featured shrimp, white fish, baby clams, squid, onion and bell pepper in a curry cream sauce - perfect! Pasta and curry all in one.

I ordered hot tea and water but there was a wide variety of beverage options with tropical iced tea, iced oolong and green teas, shirley temple, iced cafe au lait and more.

And if you have a reason to celebrate or feel like a little libation they also serve alcoholic beverages such as plum wine and Kirin Ichiban, a Japanese beer, on tap.

The table settings and the atmosphere of the restaurant was nice but it didn't seem too busy at the time but I was having a late lunch so I hope, for their sake, there was more customers there a little earlier.

Despite not having too many customers, my meal took a little while but that only made me believe it was freshly made to order by real cooks in the kitchen.

By the time I did get my plate, I was pretty hungry. It was hot but luckily for me not too hot (I can't stand extreme temperatures in my mouth).

I dug right into the squid and the fettucine, swirling it around in the curry sauce to get a nice taste of it.

The squid wasn't too chewy but it did have a bit of a fishy taste and after having some bites of the perfectly tender and flaky white fish I knew it wasn't that. Maybe it was the baby clams.

It was pretty easy to scoop them out of their little shells but they also had more of a fish taste than clam flavor. The fettucine was nicely cooked and the curry sauce was tasty but I was expecting it to be spicy and it wasn't.

Overall for a seafood dish it was tasty but I would skip the clams next time and maybe ask for some spicier sauce on the side or instead of.

Now, it being my second and last day in Torrance I thought I was having lunch at a restaurant that again, is exclusive to Torrance but once again I was mistaken.

Curry House is a small chain of restaurants with 11 California locations, (one being take-out only), including one near the Puente Hills mall in the City of Industry.

There is such a variety of food on their menu that it's a good thing there is one closer to me so I can try other offerings.

There is everything from salads to curry rice dishes to spaghetti dishes and even kid's meals.

Curry House in Puente Hills is at 17865 Colima Road in the City of Industry. For more information on other locations or menus, visit www.house-foods.com/CurryHouse.

So much for adventure dining in new cities.... At least I don't have to drive to Torrance to try these places again.

By Maritza Velazquez

The sushi may not be spectacular, but the price is just right. 

Sakura of Tokyo in West Covina probably has the best lunch specials of any Japanese restaurant I've ever frequented.

My lunch companions and I pondered over the expansive menu that included more than 35 lunch combination specials for at least 10 minutes before making a decision. 

After members of the attentive wait staff returned to take our orders more than once, I finally settled on a combination plate of sushi, sashimi and tempura for $8.50. It included salad, rice and a serving of miso soup. 

Probably the biggest disappointment was that the five pieces of sushi on my plate were really only just three. Two of the pieces included only egg and rice. The shrimp sushi wasn't the most fresh seafood I've ever tasted either.

But the sashimi (sliced raw fish without the rice) consisted of a good-sized helping of my two favorite fish - salmon and tuna.

The tempura, a popular Japanese dish of battered and deep- fried meat, included both shrimp and vegetables. 

If you're not familiar with sushi, or Japanese cuisine in general, Sakura of Tokyo is a great place to start. Every menu item has an accompanying photo, and each booth has a poster of the names of all the different kinds of fish.

Lunch specials range from $5.75 to $8.50 and include many different options, such as California rolls, gyoza (fried chicken dumplings), beef and chicken teriyaki and even egg rolls. 

Dinner specials at Sakura aren't too shabby either. All priced at $8.25, there aren't as many options as the lunch specials, but you can still order some of the same fare - teriyaki, sesame chicken and sushi. 

The whole staff at Sakura of Tokyo is friendly from the get-go. It was great that we never had to wait, and even our food came out in less than 10 minutes.

The restaurant is adorned with random trinkets consisting of both Japanese and ocean themes. My aquaintances and I enjoyed observing all the fun decorations - like the blow-up oversized Sapporo bottles and killer whales, combined with faux cherry blossoms and Japanese lanterns.

Sakura of Tokyo is at 533 S. Glendora Ave., in West Covina. It's open seven days a week, and closes between the hours of 3 and 5 p.m. On Sundays, it's only open for lunch from 4:30 to 9 p.m.

For more information, call (626) 960-7155.

By Emma Gallegos

If it's lunch hour, my coworkers and I are probably at Hong Kong Plaza in West Covina, even though the plaza has gotten emptier and emptier over the course of the year.

It's been a trying year for restaurants and anyone else angling for customers' waning expendable income. The year was especially tough for businesses at Hong Kong Plaza, which is awaiting the arrival of a new supermarket called HK2 owned by a younger generation of the family that owned the Hong Kong Supermarket that used to fill the gaping vacancy in the middle as the plaza's anchor.

But we still have a few expendable dollars, so at least once a week we're back at the plaza visiting old favorites like Krua Thai or the 1+1 Dumpling House. 

It helps to plan ahead and figure out what we're doing, but we still feel confident winging it and driving around the empty parking lot blindly and picking our next culinary adventure: Should we try Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Korean or Thai?  

Beijing Cuisine Garden exemplifies the spirit of Hong Kong Plaza adventure: quick, reasonably priced, fresh and intense flavors. 

None of the dishes' flavors are bland or halfway: They're spicy, salty, oily and sometimes tinged with a splash of wine. When the food went wrong, it went too far in this direction.

There was a BMW parked out in front of Beijing Cuisine Garden and men in business suits inside the restaurant, but for those of us in a different tax bracket there are lunch specials, ranging from $4.95 to $6.95, that include rice and a soup of the day.  

The waiter recommended the dishes in kung pao style, and, indeed, the dish that blew me away (and made me forget subsequent mediocre dishes) was the Kung Pao Shrimp ($6.95). Fresh shrimp tossed in with a flaming mix of bell peppers, onions and red peppers. 

The Kung Pao Beef ($5.95) had the same addictive spicy sauce, which would have been a recipe for success except that the beef was a little tough.  

There's nothing that cools the palate like a plate of spiced cucumbers - unless of course you decide to add some jalapenos, as was the case with the Peking Cold Cucumber with Parsley and Hot Pepper ($2.95).

The dishes that had enough liquid to qualify as stews were weaker bets.

I mostly enjoyed Fish Fillet in Hot Bean Sauce ($6.95), juicy medallions of white fish and strips of tofu submerged in a red hot sauce with a hint of a rice wine. It could have stood to have a little less oil and salt.

My coworker could barely eat the Hot and Spicy Vegetable with Beef ($8.50), which came in a thick, brown broth that she said was also just too oily and salty.

Avoid the submerged dishes but try something new in Hong Kong Plaza. You don't have to have a BMW. All you have to do is literally go the extra mile from the Westfield West Covina for something that won't be bland, boring or overpriced. And, for now, there's no traffic.

Beijing Cuisine Garden is at 965 S. Glendora Ave., West Covina, and can be reached at (626) 851-8875.

By Eric Terrazas

For variety's sake, I attempt to mix some fish into my diet at least once a week.

Though I'm more of a meat eater, I could always go for a good seafood meal. And if that meal consists of shrimp, my mouth especially waters.

Since I have always been a big fan of shrimp, I decided to give Johnny's Shrimp Boat in West Covina a try recently.

I am no stranger to Johnny's Shrimp Boat, which also has locations in Whittier and East Los Angeles. I have visited the Whittier location a few times over the years.

When I made my first visit to Johnny's Shrimp Boat in West Covina, I decided to order one of their four $5.95 specials. I selected the four-shrimp meal, which includes rice, pinto beans, gravy and a soft drink.

I thought the shrimp tasted good - it was one of the better shrimp meals I have tasted.

The rice, which was doused with gravy, and the pinto beans both added to an already scrumptious meal.

Three other $5.95 specials are also offered, and those include the following combinations: two shrimp and two short ribs, two shrimp and one piece of fish, and two fish tacos. All meals come with a soft drink and rice, beans and gravy, or French fries.

For those with slightly bigger budgets, there are $6.95 specials available as well. Those include the six shrimp meal, and the two shrimp, one hamburger steak combination. Those selections also include the soft drink, rice, beans and gravy.

If you're not in the mood for shrimp, however, Johnny's Shrimp Boat offers other options.

Johnny's menu features hamburger choices such as the double burger, bacon, avocado, pastrami and chili. Sandwich choices include chicken, club, fish, Philly cheese steak, grilled cheese, pastrami and tuna. Fish tacos, and beef and chicken teriyaki are also featured on the menu.

If you're craving a salad, your choices include green, chicken, tuna and chef.

Johnny's Shrimp Boat is located at 803 S. Glendora Ave. in West Covina. For information, call (626) 813-3818.

I'm going to assume Carnaby St. Fish and Chips in La Puente was inspired by the street in the state of Washington rather than the infamous street in London.

It's nowhere near any of those streets, of course, and it is not like the shopping mecca in London. It's location is hidden by a 99 Cents store at Southill Square shopping center off of Hacienda Boulevard.

As I was looking for something new and tasty for lunch driving down Hacienda Boulevard, this little shop caught my eye when I saw the words Fish and Chips.

The restaurant is small inside, but it's popular with some locals and regulars. I waited outside for my order and ate at a small outdoor dining area in an alleyway of the shopping center.

I've never had fish and chips and I can't recall the last time I had a fish stick (probably middle school), so I thought I'd take a chance.

Just in case I wasn't crazy about the fish, I ordered the Shrimp Combo, which came with two pieces each of fried shrimp and fish, and chips or fries for $6.60 plus tax.

When I received my order, I asked for hot sauce or chili sauce but got ketchup and tartar sauce instead. I looked around at the small tables inside the restaurant and found the other condiments being used by the other patrons, so I settled with what I got.

I should have known that if a combo came with just four pieces of something that they weren't exactly popcorn-size.

The shrimp were large and split in the middle to look like a ring, then fried. The fish were long, wide pieces as well.

I tried the shrimp first, without any sauce, and was pleasantly surprised how light the batter tasted. It was not the typical fried food batter and was not dripping with grease either.

The shrimp inside was plump as well. The fish was all white with no bones and very moist.

I usually don't like adding salt to anything but the fries needed a little sprinkling. They were still a good complement to the rest of the meal.

Carnaby St. also offers fish and shrimp by the piece, lunch specials, clam, oyster and scallops, and side orders like fried rice, cole slaw and zucchini.

I think I'll try the shrimp and fish tacos they also offer next time.

I would suggest take-out. It was a little strange having people walk right by you, on their way to get a haircut at a nearby salon or after shopping at the 99 Cents store, while you're trying to enjoy some fried goodness.

Carnaby St. Fish and Chips is open 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Saturday and until 9 p.m. Friday, closed Sunday. It is located at 1627Y2 N. Hacienda Blvd., La Puente, (626) 918-9223.