It was two blocks away.

I made the right turn to El Molino from Green. I see a group of food trucks ahead—3 of them to be exact. I think pork was what they all had in common. But I wasn’t there for them.

I walked into the cafe. First thing I notice was the masks along the walls…the foundation of the establishment’s Day of the Dead theme. And of course that reminds me of Grim Fandango…an absolute classic of a computer game. (If you ever get a chance to play it, you’ll love it, despite its age. Trust me.)

There were two people working the cafe — the guy behind the counter and an elderly woman running about the store. They seemed to have everything in order, despite the noises of kids/teens on the second floor. Then I walked to the alley adjacent to the cafe, and then it hits me.

How have I not been here before?

A pretty mixed crowd sat on wooden benches that guarded the entrance and lined the alley. Up above, streams of stenciled flags with alternating lights hung over our heads. 

And, at the back end of the alley, a four-piece band (whose name I unfortunately did not catch), belting out their brand of rock with a decidedly Mexican/Latin influenced sound. 

A nice atmosphere to spend a summer night close to home.

—

The summertime Thursday night collision of food trucks and band(s) is probably the best time to visit this cafe. I’m not so sure how this place is like in other times. Apparently, this place doesn’t have Wi-Fi and is cash only. I don’t really mind those things much. I guess it’s because I frequent a lot of cash only places, and there are plenty of other places in Pasadena that can provide free Wi-Fi should you need it. 

I had their Iced Mocha when I came here. Excellent drink for a warm night. You can distinctly taste the mocha flavor and its quality. If it was colder, I would have their Hot Chocolate drink…that’ll have to wait a couple of months though.

There is little seating on the first floor of the cafe, but there are a good amount of tables outside as well as a lounge on the second floor, so this would be an ideal spot to meet and catch up with friends and colleagues. The overall location of the cafe is great — the Playhouse is down the street, and an indie film art house and Vroman’s is just a block away.

And it’s open late…always a plus to me.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/zona-rosa-caffe-pasadena#hrid:wG7C1QGrJQEYxupufABvlw

It’s almost noon on a Thursday. Since I have to work on Saturday, it’s my “scheduled day off”, as my new workplace would phrase it. So where do I find myself?

National City.

Driving around my cousin from the Philippines around San Diego that day, I get off the freeway and inevitably point out all the Filipino-centric establishments lining Plaza. After getting some gas at a gas station with inoperable credit card pay stations and an eccentric cashier who unsuccessfully tried to convince me to use my change money on some old-looking snacks, I end up parking at this strip mall which I’m pretty sure had more than one Filipino-oriented business.

Breezing past a bunch of people outside (who called themselves missionaries), we walk through the front door, and yeah….here we go.

It’s the turo-turo lunch line, and it’s growing.

The servers in green knit polos and visors behind the glass quickly grab boxes and/or cups of Styrofoam and fill them with varying portions of meat, vegetables, fish, or soup, but the one constant seems to be the large heaping gob of white Jasmine rice.

On the other side of the glass window, a line consisting of varied personalities.

The men in knit polos and khakis with Bluetooth headsets stuck in their ears.

The big smiling guy with the gray Team Pacquiao shirt. (No, it’s not Mr. Fernandez.)

The teenager in shorts with a black hat, wearing garb signifying his pride for his motherland.

The couple, both in blue scrubs, who seem to be in a bit of a hurry.

And us.

I think I’ve seen this scene before.

—

Because my cousin wanted some Filipino food that day and because I am not from San Diego, I totally decided on coming to this place based on online reviews. That doesn’t always work out for me, but in this case, I think it did.

I think I’ve seen more variety in the entrees offered in other turo-turo places or several Filipino grocery stores. But this place serves good food, and you definitely get your money’s worth.

For $7 you get a combo featuring a large amount of white rice and 2 entrees of your choosing. In truth, this combo should be enough, perhaps more than enough, for 2 people. Their portions are that big. Perhaps you’re supposed to always have baon from this place.

My two entrees were the pork adobo and chicken tinola. They were both very good and a bit better than what I expect from a traditional turo-turo joint. Although I didn’t order them, their sinigang and sisig looked pretty good too.

Best part is that $7 took care of 2 meals for me once I got back to LA. Or perhaps that’s my frugal, economical side showing again.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/titas-kitchenette-national-city#hrid:cvwYlbvxGOtNNNds_r409w

I walk through the door on Carnelian pretty tired. My hair’s probably messed up because I’ve been wearing a helmet all morning—eh, what am I thinking? In here, no one’s going to care.

I sit on one of the long blue bench tables they have here. The waitress, Gigi, asks me what I want to drink. Unlike a lot of people here who readily order mugs of coffee, I order a small glass of orange juice. Then I look around and see who’s enjoying hearty breakfasts around me.

To my left, four men, dressed in matching green shirts, talking about what they have to work on for the day. They seemed to be construction workers, plumbers, or otherwise men skilled with their chosen art of labor. The one closest to me had a pretty big Belgian waffle.

To my right, two elderly women, in colorful clothing. The one with the hat ordered the John Wayne Special. The one without the hat ordered poached eggs, with bacon well-done. They were talking about some friend of theirs.

And, directly across from me, a man with glasses and dirty brown hair. He was listening to whatever music he had on his iPhone. Then, it rings, he takes the call, and begins to speak in what I think is Portuguese.

A pretty eclectic crowd, I see, all sitting in close quarters on communal benches.

More restaurants should be like this.

—-

Ever since I decided that it was a good idea to purchase a bicycle to use in commuting to my new job in Pasadena, I’ve been attempting to do an extended bike ride most Saturday mornings—Dockweiler to Torrance Beach. That’s about 18 miles round-trip, and, if you know me well, I have not been known (ever) to be very fit and have a lot of stamina in that regard. So, I was looking for a place along the bike ride back to Dockweiler for breakfast and to just take a break. 

I eventually found Eat at Joe’s in Redondo Beach, which is a little off the beach bike route and up an incline from Redondo Beach Pier. After stopping here multiple times, I’ve come to like this place’s ambiance and their food.

As mentioned earlier, you come in and sit wherever there’s an open spot in one of the long tables they have here. You will typically share this table with other customers, and this place will get busy on a Saturday morning.

The service here is excellent. The servers will look after you and make you feel like you’re at home, from the coffee guy to the waiter or waitress taking your order.

The food is what one would expect from a quality breakfast diner. There’s nothing absolutely earth-shattering here, but from what I’ve tried, it’s all good. The John Wayne Special is a very tasty, savory breakfast dish that they have here. I must warn you that it’s pretty filling though. I’ve also had their pancakes and waffles and they’re made well and pretty tasty. 

It’s an unassuming but welcoming joint on the corner of PCH and Carnelian. And the best part for me? There’s a bike rack right outside. It’s a great pit stop before going wherever you have to go. 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/eat-at-joes-redondo-beach#hrid:qEv_L-fSs1gah8fC53rxGw

I was in line at the Mongolian BBQ station. I’m not even sure what drove me to stand here, for I knew it was going to take at least 20 minutes for my food to be cooked.

Around 10 people were queued in front of me. The person in front of me was a woman, short in stature, who eschewed putting any meat into her bowl. All she put in the bowl was a small portion of shrimp and noodles. That’s it.

She went back to her table for whatever reason, and I looked after her bowl until she got back. Her bowl and mine slowly crawled to the front of the station, and when she finally came back, our bowls of raw food were finally in front of the cook.

He was dressed in a white apron and wore a white mask as if he was protecting himself from disease. He just finished thoroughly cleaning his cooking surface from leftover grease and grime with powerful, sweeping swipes using his scraping tool. 

Then, he stepped back, grabbed a glass of water behind him, peered at the distance, recognized the seemingly never-ending line of hungry customers, and took a breath.

The cycle begins again.

He takes the next five bowls, full of meat, noodles, bean sprouts, and the like. He empties their contents on the cooking surface, separates the meat from the rest of the food, and begins cooking them with deadly efficiency. No wasted moves by his hands as he moves the food about while adding the necessary oils and sauces.

Yeah, he must have been doing this for a really long time.

Thing is, based on my observations that day, I don’t think he gets a lot of tips.

—-

When Hokkaido Seafood Buffet first opened its doors in Encino, whoever was in charge of promoting its opening made a pretty savvy move — placing TV ads in the local Asian-oriented TV channels that seemed to hammer these three themes home: $9.99. AYCE. Seafood.

And so the word eventually reached the ears of my parents, who first told me about this place. I feel now that I’ve been there enough times to write about it.

My most recent trip there was this past Father’s Day for lunch. $22.99 per person that day. We arrived early (like 11:30 am early) because I knew that on this day especially, this place would be overrun by hordes of patrons of all shapes and nationalities—ah, OK, it was mostly Filipino that day. Couldn’t help but notice.

I think this Asian buffet is one of the better ones in LA…which unfortunately isn’t saying much because most other Asian buffets I’ve been to haven’t been very good at all. And so, amongst the broad spectrum of food offered here, there are a couple of things to avoid, and a couple of things that you shouldn’t miss.

First, the food to be avoided. I’d stay away from the sushi/sashimi. The tuna sashimi, in particular, didn’t look real fresh and didn’t pass the eye test to me. I also did not care much for their tempura, soups, and several of their chicken/beef offerings. They all tasted pretty bland.

Now, the food you should get. Definitely get the frog legs—as the old saying goes, it “tastes like chicken”, in a good way. I also liked their version of walnut shrimp (without the walnuts), the salt and pepper crab, and the roast beef they were serving that day. They also had peking duck on Father’s Day, complete with the buns and hoisin sauce. That was pretty good.

And, of course, I have a certain pleasure of eating a lot of cheese wontons.

Last, if you have a lot of patience, I would recommend the Mongolian BBQ station. It works like the one you typically see in the malls—fill your bowl with meat, veggies, and noodles of your choice and hand it over to the cook.

He does a great job. I’d make sure you show your appreciation to this man.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/hokkaido-seafood-buffet-encino#hrid:Svl1a15dZrj2q7wnnNTbwQ

It was 6:30a on a holiday morning. I was at the summit of the eastern path (the Star Trail), still recovering from the stairs and realizing how out of shape I (still) am.

There was a young couple taking in the hazy Los Angeles skyline to my right. The woman had a dog. The dog eventually made friends with another dog owned by an elderly man also to my right—white hair, with eyeglasses, and a red shirt covering a rather round belly. And so these three persons began to converse, and I hear them.

The elderly man was obviously a regular of the park and a local. He had an impressive knowledge of the park and the surrounding areas. The young man looked behind him to the hills toward Mulholland Drive and saw a large, imposing structure in the distance.

He asked the elderly man who lived in that place, and he did know. 

No one.

He said that it apparently was abandoned for a long time and used to be a drug house / Armenian gang lair. And it’s on sale right now.

Such are things one can overhear while hiking Runyon Canyon Park.

—

Now I’m thinking a regular hiker of the Canyon probably knows at least a little about the circumstances surrounding that monster of an abandoned house. (If you’re curious, the New York Times dedicated an entire article to this house — 2/16/11.) This is but one of several landmarks to be found in this Park, which is very popular among LA residents. This is a good place to hike, to enjoy great views of the LA skyline, and to get a good workout in while not traveling too far from home.

There are several entrances to the park, and I usually take the Fuller entrance. As with a lot of other places in the great city of Los Angeles, parking here sucks. And don’t forget to turn your car wheels in the appropriate direction when parking on the streets. You have been warned.

The entrance is nice in that there’s a unattended stand utilizing the honor code in selling water bottles and snacks for a dollar. That’s good if you forgot to bring water from home, and you will need it especially if you hike on a warm day. I must say, however, that the entrance usually smells as if several dogs just did their business nearby. Now this issue isn’t too bad for all the trails in the park (not like the trail up the Hollywood sign where you really have to keep an eye out to avoid stepping on horse droppings).

The following is my preferred route.

From the entrance, I walk a bit into the park, then take the rising trail to the right. You’ll see what seems to be an abandoned tennis/basketball court to your right before you get to a good vista point of the LA skyline.

The trail continues up, and this is where you’ll start climbing up the stairs to the next vista point. This will take a lot out of you if you aren’t particularly fit, and you’ll be finding yourself breathing heavily as you climb. At my current state of fitness, I find myself having to take a break or two while going up this way.

After reaching the summit, the trail eventually meets up with the main Runyon Canyon paved trail. You can take this trail down back to the entrance and call it a day. If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, you can do what I did once and take the paved trail further up the hills toward the Mulholland entrance. You’ll pass by several landmarks including a old gray trailer and a horse ranch to your right. Once you pass the horse ranch, take the rising trail to the left. This will take you towards another park entrance and the aforementioned abandoned mansion. You’ll then see a trail leading to what I guess is the highest point of the park. A colorful prayer box marks the top.

You can follow the trail down a steep descent back to the Vista and Fuller entrances. If you go down this way, I hope you’re wearing shoes with good traction, because you can easily trip and fall on your butt trying to descend here. Be careful. The descent down the main paved trail is a lot safer in this regard.

I think it’s a little more than a mile and a half if you hike from the Fuller entrance to the Mulholland entrance, so this is a pretty cool place to get a good hike in by doing the round-trip trail while not having to leave the heart of LA. You’ll probably be joining a lot of fellow hikers in this popular park. Apparently some folks have run into a celebrity here, but I personally haven’t. Just a lot of people and a lot of dogs. And some abandoned mansion with some iffy history behind it.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/runyon-canyon-park-los-angeles#hrid:Qhl1ffORw1IhE23pUIF36g