This is my 5th visit to Maude in 6 months. I guess I have the pleasure of doing this because I don’t have many financial responsibilities. This month’s tasting features pears, and again it did not disappoint me. I love pears, and I was curious in seeing how the chef uses it in his dishes. Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. This has 1 Michelin Star.

This is the month for tomatoes. I generally love tomatoes. They can come in so many different sizes and textures, such that it makes it very tasty. I will say that the meal for me did not disappoint. We ended up getting the wine pairing which was about $70 extra. According to my buddy, the wine pairing was excellent throughout the meal and complemented the foods very well. I’ll just take their word for it.

The feature for Maude this month is corn, and it was way more awesome compared to last month. I like corn a lot, so I went in with some expectations, and I wasn’t disappointed. It really sucks to get reservations here. To get this particular reservation I called about 100 times in a given hour. If you look on my cell phone bill, you will see at least 60 5-second calls to them coupled with 40 some calls from a desk phone.

I wasn’t planning to go to this. I really wasn’t. However due to some ridiculous circumstances, I was asked to go, and I had to go. It’s been barely 2 months, and I went back to my favorite LA restaurant. One would expect and hope for the same experience considering how recent their first trip here was. So really, how was it? It was awesome. For comparison, you can also read my 2 month old review.

This could very well be my last post for food for a few weeks. Doing a special restaurant each week is getting rather grueling right now. I’ve decided to soften the blow, so I’ll go to Maude each month for the remainder of the year. This is #26 of 52 (or 26?) of my 2014 LA food expedition. For this month, the special ingredient is berries. Like my rhubarb meal that I went to 2 months ago, I was expecting this to be similar in that every dish would have strong presence and usage of some berry.

I’m getting very full. We’re now on #25, and my ridiculous challenge is starting to take its toll. I’m starting to get a little fatter and a little less motivated. It’s getting harder to find restaurants, get people to go, and to make the trip. Alas, at least I made it to this point. This is #25 of 52 of my 2014 LA food expedition. Did I mention I really don’t think I can make it to 52?

This is a hole-in-the-wall place that is a real hidden gem in the Palms neighborhood of LA. It’s Japanese cuisine served kaiseki style. There are only 10 seats per night as the meal lasts just about 5 hours. There is no sign on the front. There is simply the address. We got there at 6:50 PM, but the door was locked. It actually does not open till 7 PM on the dot.

Smoke.Oil.Salt is another one of those many tapas shareable places that has been popping up all over Los Angeles. Unlike the other restaurants I’ve been to in the past few months, this is Spanish style featuring some traditional spanish dishes. It was surprisingly good. This is #23 of 52 of my 2014 LA food expedition. Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. This restaurant unfortunately is now closed.

I have a few “safety” cards for those days I just don’t feel like making a reservation or finding a place to get fat at. I decided to use one of those safety cards tonight at a place called Phorage. This restaurant replaced Roy Choi’s Chego location in Palms and features Vietnamese food sourced with high-quality locally grown produce. This is #22 of 52 of my 2014 LA food expedition.

So a few weeks ago, I went to Tsujita for dinner. I wanted to come back for lunch to try the tsukemen style ramen, which is what it’s most known for. Across the street nearby is its sister store, Tsujita Annex which serves ramen the entire day. This one for the time being only serves ramen for lunch, and it does have a slightly different menu. For a Sunday morning at 11 AM, there were no lines or wait.