Sea Empress- South Bay, Los Angeles

One food-type I miss in living in LA is the authentic Chinese food (and by authentic, that completely encompasses cheap.) Yes, you can argue that Monterey Park and Arcadia are around the corner, but I don't justify driving over 20 mins to get to my Chinese food. To narrow down even further, dimsum is only served for brunch/lunch and again I don't feel justified in going more than 20 mins. out of my way to find good dimsum. Trader Joe's dimsum just doesn't cut it sometimes, and spending more on gas than my food is even worse.

Finally, my point. Sea Empress (the sister restaurant to Empress Pavilion in Monterey Park or somewhere far like that) in the Gardena-area has amazing dimsum for super duper cheap. It's an average $2.85 for your classic dimsum dishes, and $4-something for the bigger dishes. They have everything from shrimp dumplings to chicken feet, all tasty and authentic. The only dish I'd stay away from is the Shaolong Bao, which if you're looking for a tasty Shaolong Bao (aka Juicy Pork Dumpling, aka Soup Dumpling) then refer to Din Tai Fung.

Anyways, go here for a VERY cheap and delicious mix of dimsum goodness that's more local to LA than Monterey Park or Arcadia. The cart ladies loved us so much they even hooked it up with a free noodle-thing. Another plus- they take AmEx.

Red Fort- Torrance, CA

This place was definitely nicer than any other Indian buffet place I've been to in LA. This is speaking strictly from the cleanliness/decor perspective. Food-wise it's definitely nicer than most, especially the fact the naan is made fresh, AND they offered garlic naan or plain naan. They also kept the Tandoori chicken wrapped in foil so it didn't dry out as much.

Now, I usually don't expect fantastic service at buffets in general, except for maybe the Bellagio buffet, where you literally pay for a higher quality of service, but the guy who seemed to be the manager or maybe the owner of the place really hooked it up. It might've helped that when we showed up, there was no one manning the front, and Sam and I walked around like losers trying to figure out if we could sit anymore (all tables were open except 1) and if we could just grab a plate and start eating. Or, if I whipped out a camera to take pictures of the set up/food, so he, thinking I was an actual food critic, hooked it up with extra attentive service, free mango lassi, and a few references to us being his "friends" (i.e. "Hello, friends. How is everything?" or "Friends, do you like your food spicy? You should try this salsa." How nice).


Well, I definitely stink from the curry and the garlic naan, but who can blame me. If you're willing to make the drive down from LA, it's definitely worth it.

Cafe Beaujolais- Eagle Rock, CA

Do I know how to pronounce that? No. But that's ok. The food was awesome. I haven't had too much experience with French food, and I don't often crave it, but every time I go, I'm impressed with the food in general (as a genre).

Cafe Beaujolais in particular is this super cute, quaint little French place (no crepes though). A fairly extensive menu (which I always forgot to take a photo of) which included soups, salads, seafood, land meats, pastas, and vegetarian dishes.

I was so hungry and anxious to dig in (like a true fatty) that I completely forgot to take a photo. We ordered this AMAZING goat cheese salad. Apparently they use a similar salad dressing on the goat cheese salad as the regular "mixed greens" salad, but it was delish, so who cares. No pic of le salad. BUT, here is my rack of lamb in all its glory (minus one rib which was eaten immediately).


I also sampled the filet mignon, which was served with a tasty gravy/jus. I'll go back to check out the steak and mushroom pasta. Also PLEASE remind me to not fill up on the bread. I'm horrible at that and then can hardly finish the entree portion of my meal!

A for taste. Oh, one downside which is accompanied with a story- so BF and I had a clear view of the front door, and we laughed at a guy who walked in carrying a sitting pillow. Shortly thereafter, we begin to realize our asscheeks hurt from the wooden seats which are sort of concave and definitely uncomfortable. If you don't have your own sitting pillow, maybe opt for the booths.