Mamou: A Home Kitchen

Dilemma: You want to go out for a delicious meal, but you don't want a fancy schmancy fine-dining atmosphere. (Cuz you wanna wear a tank top and jeans!) Solution: Mamou. Jon and I tried Mamou for the first time a couple weeks ago, and we agreed that we would go back for when we crave "homey dinners out." After all, Mamou's concept is "a home kitchen", with the dishes inspired by the owner's family cooking and worldly travels. I like to think of it as a upscale canteen with a comforting and welcoming aura.

Warm bread basket

Truffle Oil Vegetable Mushroom Dip w/ Whole Wheat Melba Toasties

The truffle oil vegetable dip was tasty - but then again, doesn't truffle oil make everything taste better?

Aglio Olio w/ Tuna Flakes

The pasta was infused with so much flavor, it tasted delicious. The more garlic, the better!

Prime Angus Rib Eye

Delivered just how we asked: medium. The crispy outside and juicy tender meat inside left no chance for a take-home box. We cleaned it!

Red Steak Rice

You have to get this as a side for your steak (you get 2 sides). It's red rice fried with tiny steak pieces and the natural steak juice mixed in. If you don't like red rice, you can always ask for white; they give you the option.

Creamed Spinach

Classic creamed spinach, you know how it goes.

Katsuya, Studio City

Continuing from yesterday's sushi post, we'll cross the Pacific from Kai in Manila to Katsuya in Studio City. I've been to the beautifully designed [by Philppe Starck] Katsuya's in Brentwood and Hollywood and also the sushi bar Izakaya, all under the Katsu-ya Group. Now to add another location on my list is Studio City. I went for lunch and let me tell you, don't let appearances fool you. The restaurant is located in the corner of a strip mall along Ventura Blvd, and it doesn't ooze off any sort of "happening" vibe whatsoever. However, the restaurant is busy busy busy. The smart ones made reservations and the rest, well... they had to wait. A packed restaurant can only mean 2 things: cheap food or good food. I can attest that the latter of the two is true - everything we ordered was great. I would recommend ordering off the Specials Menu; all the goof stuff is on it! My favorites are the yellowtail hamachi with jalapeno and the spicy tuna on crispy rice. Chef Katsuya Uechi is on a (sushi) roll!

Kai

Easily one of my Top 5 restos in Manila. The food is amazing - for a fraction of what you would pay at the likes of Nobu/Katsuya/Matsuhisa! I think the head chef at Kai actually trained under Matsuhisa over in LA at one point. Smart move ;)

First dinner of 2010 - January 1

Alexandre >> Quiches

Savory deep-dish quiches from Alexandre