gutfud - the food, es ist gut

It is possible to teach an old dog new tricks.
Since first checking this place out in 2007, I’ve figured out that getting dumplings successfully off the menu and into my mouth comes in one of two options.
1. Eat in, during off hours, but not too late when many dumplings might already be sold out.
2. Phone […]

So soon after my first review, I really feel the need to revisit this.
But I want to be very clear about the topics I’m addressing.
Mongolian BBQ - 4
Heat Lamp buffet - 2
Standard menu - 3
Chinese menu - 4
Bar/Happy Hour - turning that bad boy all the way to 11!!!!
Happy Hour is M-F, 4-7 pm. The […]

Ming Dynasty caters to a diverse Goleta crowd and the variety can be distracting to the menu that suits each person best.
The prepared buffet on a Sunday afternoon seemed very popular to families, and non-Chinese. It was cheap, $13, and plentiful. It is also not for me, so of course I did not order […]

The Red Pepper is an unassuming little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant near Old Town Goleta. It is run by a very friendly Taiwanese woman and when there is time, we often request dishes off the menu that utilize whatever is very fresh that day and with more Taiwanese flavors.
No matter what you order, everyone receives a […]

Gather up your foreign devil friends and family and come on down for yum cha and dim sum in Rosemead!
Gah, they had something like 50 different items available for dim sum on a Saturday, we were overwhelmed in that good sort of way.
Four people, sharing 15-18 dishes of mostly seafood dumplings, and it came […]

Good dumplings, good prices, long queues and the risk of selling out.
Those are the good and bad things about the Dumpling Inn on Convoy. Valerie has discovered how to mitigate the bad parts: she orders take away on the phone, zips over to pick it all up, everything’s ready to go.
Yes, we do lose out […]

Some people consider Hainanese Chicken Rice to be a national dish of Singapore. For others, it is simply comfort food that reminds them of home. Home being maybe Singapore, maybe China, maybe Thailand or maybe my home.
The recipe is fairly simple. A whole chicken is boiled in water and spices, and the resulting broth is […]

The flurry of cooking over the weekend resulted in a surplus of food to be eaten. As luck would have it, I have friends who are willing to oblige.
The one thing I regret, however, is living in an area that’s not terribly convenient for a pack of people to pile over to. Sure, everything in […]

For someone who’d probably be disinherited by the Chinese clan for eating Chinese food anywhere else but the family home, I took a chance on China Pavilion after hearing some good reviews from friends.
I can say this is a good place to come for an elegant ambiance.  The tableware was all great, definitely classier than […]

pork and rice
Originally uploaded by rosidae
Trader Joe’s sells a small pork loin in the meat/deli area, it’s not the insane monster loin like at costco, but a good manageable size. It costs about $7. The first I bought I’d intended to pound flat and either wrap around another ingredient, or bread and fry as cutlets.
Instead, […]