Tudor Tea House by Santa Monica Beach and 2nd St Promenade

The Tudor Tea House
1403 2nd Street Corner Second and Santa Monica Blvd) Santa Monica, CA 90401
Phone:(310) 451-4107 · Fax: (310) 394-8924

I always have a weakness for afternoon tea as this habit came from college. Today I went to the bridal shower of a college friend AY and it was held in Santa Moonica at the Tudor Tea House. The tea house is nestled after walking into their shop area and the room is very cozy with cute floral wallpaper and knick knacks around the space. We had some Earl Grey and finger sandwiches, scones (warm and delicious) with some quiches. The sweets at the end I was told were very English but a bit too sweet for me. One piece which I thought was chocolate was actually fruit cake. Another piece which I thought was mincemeat pie was actually made of currants.

The service was efficient and very friendly. The servers had the English accent and were attentive to our bridal shower party.

We had a grand ole time and the table next to us had a lovely birthday celebration.

8 forks out of 10 forks

*good service

*authentic English sweets

*good location

Pa Pa Walk---the place for Mango Shaved Ice in San Gabriel!

PaPa Walk
227 West Valley Boulevard #148B
San Gabriel, CA
626-281-3889

Literally a nice 3 minute walk away from Jian Jian Restaurant we went for Mango Shaved Ice which I was craving to try after reading CC's blog entry as the place to get it! Even her hubby who dislikes Mangoes enjoys dessert (ok she eats the mango fruit).

We walked into the restaurant with many people enjoying their desserts (they do serve food but CC only comes for the Mango Shaved Ice). The Chinese name is Mango Ice Mountain! (BOY they were not kidding when they say "Mountain".) The walls are laden with many colorful paper with Chinese characters in black ink of all the special dishes! They do have a menu with English Translations (do not fret). I heard some Canto pop in the background.

After a minimal wait, we got our Mango Shaved Ice! It was gorgeous and DELICIOUS!
Topped off with a scoop of mango ice cream, the shaved ice mountain I could taste the mango and condensed milke and heaping amounts of sweetened mango pieces strewn at the base took us a bit of time to eat. In fact, CC said she usually is rolling out of the place in an uncomfortable state. They do have the option of big $8 or small $5 but of course we HAD to get the big!

Xie Xie CC for taking me to PaPa Walk for this mango shaved ice mountain!

9 forks out of 10 forks

The Girl and the Fig (Sonoma Town Square) CA

En route from Sacramento, to San Francisco, my friend MK and I stopped off in Napa and Sonoma. After the suggestions of some waiters at Domaine Carneros we went to The Girl and the Fig in Sonoma Square (110 West Spain Street, Sonoma/ http://www.thegirlandthefig.com/). *(We figured we could avoid the dinner time rush back into the City which we noticed was backed up.)

Right off the Sonoma Town Square, we went into this cute restaurant. When you first enter, there is a area to relax and have some cheese tasting and to buy their products (their fig port vinigrette is to die for!). According to MK, a food show visited this restaurant and sat in the patio in the back. We were lucky with no reservations to get a table for two in the main dining room.

Since we were not famished we opted for the famous arugula and fig salad and the fromage tower. We never had cheese and all its other accompaniements for a meal. It was a first. We had a choice of six cheese and we asked the waiter to surprise us. We had a mix of some domestic but the majority were French cheese. We were advised to eat the cheeses counter clockwise and you could choose from cow, goat and sheep's milk cheeses. The fruit, fig compote, nuts as well as the pates----chicken liver mousse, rabbit and pork were good.

Cheese Choices as advised by the waiter:

*Fiscalini Bandaged Chedder (Cow) Modesto, CA

*Jean De Brie (Cow) Seine et Morne, France

Sweet Grass Dairy Holly Sheep (Goat) Thomasville, GA

*St Maure (Goat) Loire Valley, France

Roquefort Coulet (Sheep) Aveyron, France

Petit Agour (Sheep) Pays Bosque, France

My faves are starred and my least fave was the Roquefort for its strong taste. Luckily I got more St Maure in exchange as my friend MK did not like it as much as moi. Or the chicken liver mousse in comparison to the pork pate I got to have more of as we negotiated our likes and dislikes. After all the toast points, fruit, nuts, compote, cheese, pates and salad we were full.

The fig salad was amazing and the fig port dressing was lovely! Just hints of chevre cheese, the nice bite of the arugula, bits of prosciutto were heaven and these ingredients made the salad delectable.

Now I have more of an appreciation of cheeses.

9 forks out of 10 forks

Tapa of the World -Sacramento

During my trip recently to California, I went to Sacramento. My good friend Betty took myself and my DC pal over to Tapa of the World -2115 J StSacramento, CA 95816-4738
+1 916 442 4353 (about a good 10 block walk -small ones) the first night we arrived last week (6.28.07). It was definitely hotter but not as humid as it was back in Boston.

Truth be told, this place on J Street (around 20th and 21st Street) was hit or miss. We adored the pitcher of sangria which was a value and we got more cups out of it than the waitress said we would. The sangria was a good mix of wine and fruit! The bread and butter were not special. I chose to have the gazpacho soup (cold tomato soup) and was sorely disappointed. The soup was nice but not as flavorful or multi-nuanced as the one I had at Tasca a few weeks prior. I missed the cucumber and it was very salty. We got some tapas (small dishes) to share---the mushroom empanadas were big, heavy and mushroom was filling the crust was a bit much. The Kobe beef – (Naturally raised from Snake River Farms, grilled medium rare & served with Austurian blue cheese butter and crispy onion streamers) with the fried onions was alright. I have had Kobe Beef and I was not impressed. (It was much richer tasting in Kobe, Japan than this version of Wagyu beef). The Champiñones al Ajillo -(Mushrooms sautéed in olive oil, garlic, parsley, and white wine) was good and we dunked our pieces of bread into the white wine sauce. Plato Combinado (Tortilla Española, Spanish olives, Spanish cured meats and today’s Spanish cheese) all my friends loved this dish!

The paella de mariscos took some time with a minimum of two people purchase and costs $15.50 a person! The price was very steep but the paella was very delicious! There was a generous amount of seafood and the rice was exceptionally flavorful.

Service was good and the prices were middle of the road save for the paella. There were some hits and some misses overall.

8 forks out of 10 forks