The sun is rising behind me as I type this post, and so I begin to think...having jetlag sucks. I had a great first full day back- got a full night's sleep and stayed up all day. I even had Leah over for dinner. And so I thought, I'm not gonna have any jetlag this time. But then I slept all day yesterday. And today I was up at 5:30. I just hope I get over it soon, cause I feel really useless when I spend an entire day in my jammies.
I had a great trip back to Taiwan, so lots of posts will follow. I ate a ton, hung out with family and went shopping. But first, I spent a day in LA, and went to a couple new places to eat. After my flight landed at LAX, my sister, Christine, and I decided to have lunch with my Dad. Christine wanted to go to a new restaurant called Katsuya in Brentwood. And my Dad begrundgingly agreed. He'd been there before and hadn't really liked it.
When we entered the large space, it was rather empty. Apparently they'd just started serving lunch and the word wasn't out yet. The design of the space reminded me a lot of Gari on a giant scale. It was very clean and white, with large paintings on the wall. It was very LA, with it's white couches for seats. You could totally imagine it packed with trendy, pretty people- and I ended up reading about it in last week's U.S. Magazine. I generally dislike these type of restaurants and avoid them, but at least it was empty at lunch. Katsuya has a large central roboto grill and lots of seating. Here's a shot of the grill:
Our waitress was quite pleasant. And since Christine and I hadn't been there before, she explained to us that there are 3 kitchens- one for hot food, one for sushi and one of the roboto grill. This would end up being a minus rather than a plus. But first we ordered. My dad got a regular chicken teriyaki lunch, while I got a lunch cooked on the roboto grill that I shared with Christine. Meanwhile, Christine got an order of their spicy tuna on crispy rice. Here it is
The rice is actually grilled, and Christine enjoyed it a lot. Meanwhile, here's the salad that came with my lunch. It was waaaayyy overdressed. I only ate half of it. 
And here's my California roll that came with my lunch. It was competently made, and at least they used real crab. (which seems to be used a lot more frequently in LA than Boston)
So here's the problem with having 3 different kitchens- the timing of food is very very poor. My father's entree came out first, and he was mostly finished with it by them time my lunch came out. (His came out of the hot kitchen, and I was waiting for my food from the roboto grill). His lunch was ok, but my dad was totally correct in saying that we could get better food at the Japanese restaurant we've been going to for over 20 years, and it would've cost less. And here's my entree
By the time it arrived, it was lukewarm. And the reason why I like food grilled on a roboto grill is for the smoky flavor that comes from the charcoal. This food totally lacked that flavor. Needless to say, Katsuya was not my favorite restaurant and I can't imagine going back.After lunch, Christine wanted to visit a cupcake shop called Dainties Cupcakes.
LA is currently over run with cupcake shops (even more so than NY where the whole cupcake thing started) It's located on little Santa Monica Blvd., and it's a little hard to find because it's actually located behind a strip mall (look for a Winchell's Donut, and it's right behind that).The space is really more of a production/ office space. The owners were there taking orders when we arrived. But they do have a case full of cupcakes. All their cupcakes are devil's food, dipped in chocolate ganache and then filled with some type of flavored whipped cream. They were $3/piece and we ended up getting 10 mixed ones.
When we got home, we cut one open to share.
I thought it was OK. Whipped cream isn't my favorite thing and I found the cake rather dry. I'd much prefer a regular cupcake, even if it came from a boxed mix. However, they do look quite nice, and make pretty gifts- I gave two to Katie and Dustin.And that was my brief stay in LA, I was off to Taiwan the next day.
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