Tomorrow's Cinco de Mayo! Does this mean tequila, tequila, tequila for you? I hope you're balancing that out with something healthy at the very least, hah. I compiled together a tasty recipe that actually is very simple though looks complex. By looks complex, I mean that it is very colorful and sure to impress. The cool thing about it also is that you can have it hot or cold; I had it both ways and it brings out different types of tastes since the colder version is more reminiscent of the salsa feel. Anyhow, let's get to it!

Step 1: Ingredients (yields 6-8 servings)

• oil
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeds removed & diced
• 2 cups whole corn kernels
• 2 cups couscous, dry
• 2 cups black beans, cooked and drained (about 1 standard can)
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tsps taco seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 2 medium Roma tomatoes, seeds removed & diced
• 1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• hot sauce choice, optional

Step 2: Prepping the ingredients
Dice onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes. Chop cilantro. Keep separately. Place a large pot on medium-high heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Once hot, add in diced red onions.


Step 3: Mixing
Stir until just onions are just starting to turn translucent (~2-3 minutes). Then add red bell pepper for another 2 minutes. Quickly add in corn and stir for approximately another 2 minutes. Add couscous and coat well in the oils. Add black beans.  Stir for another 2 minutes before adding in broth. The broth will cause the couscous to expand. To prevent it from burning at the bottom of the pot, make sure to stir every once in a while. When the liquid is nearly all absorbed, season with taco seasoning and garlic salt.


Step 4: Finishing
When everything is thoroughly mixed, turn off heat and add in tomatoes and cilantro. You don't want these to overcook. Before serving (you can do hot or cold), you can add some sort of hot sauce to give it some heat. I used a Caribbean lime chile sauce from Slapfish that gave a spicy sour kick. Alternatively, I suppose you could add some jalapenos into the couscous but this is a better way to ensure everyone adjusts their individual heat accordingly.


Photography by Minerva Thai.

2301 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose, CA 95128
Pricing - $ | Dining - Casual, To-Go | Cuisine - Mediterranean
http://www.falafelsdrivein.com

It was through the help of you awesome readers and Yelpers that I made my way to Falafel's Drive-In during my random trip to San Jose. Okay well it wasn't too random but that's only because we made an "excuse" for it. To be honest, a cheap plane ticket convinced us to book a flight up north but to veil ourselves from the lie that we needed to go, we called it Duc's birthday trip. Anyhow, without any foreknowledge of what kind of food the city held, we turned to you all. Thanks for the recommendation! 


What I didn't know before we stepped foot here was that Duc has never had falafel before. "WHAT?!" you scream. I know, I know. Let's be honest here though - before he met me and we started seeing each other, he lived off of bacon, eggs, Spam, and rice. While that may sound appealing to some of you, ultimately it's not good. So instead, I'll introduce him to fried green balls in San Jose. They do mean drive-in here in terms of set-up but it looks like it has been a long while since the place catered to vehicles. The long line moved quickly as people put in their cash-only orders to get some tastiness in their mouths. To keep occupied, there was an immense seating area that was covered in an impressive painted mural highlighting the best of San Jose. We even saw a neat homage to Yelp painted!


So take a look at the juicy goodness that is our order. Based on everyone's rave reviews and the namesake, we had to opt for falafel. So, we got the Large Falafel ($8.00 in combo with banana milkshake - a delicious pita sandwich consisting of falafel balls, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, tahini sauce, and their famous hot sauce). They included quite a bit of the falafel. The custom hot sauce and tahini sauce added the necessary lubrication for crunchy balls BUT the falafel was good on its own. I felt like I would not have gotten through the large myself though because there was a slight saltiness that pervaded after too much consumption. For the both of us, we didn't like banana milkshake at all - it looked like they used plantains (took a peek into the kitchen) which aren't as sweet as the everyday banana until completely ripe. Just a preference remark of course.

To fill out the meal, we also got the Gyro in a Pita ($5.25 small - a spiced beef steak, slowly cooked and stuffed in a pita with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and tahini sauce). The pieces weren't thinly sliced as I am used to with other gyros in pita but that does not detract from the deliciousness. It's one of the few examples where I see using iceberg lettuce is okay, and I loved the tahini sauce that thinly coated each well-seasoned, soft morsel of meat. Alongside it was an order of their Pineapple Malt ($3.25), a tad disappointing order of a drink with a canned pineapple taste. Overall, still very tasty and we were able to look around the walls to get an idea of where to explore in San Jose next!


Photography by Duc Duong.

Just this past Saturday, TAPS Fish House & Brewery in Brea held its first annual Craft Beer Festival featuring 32 breweries and plenty of delectable eats from their own chefs. At $50 per ticket, attendees got ample tastings of both food and drink from noon to 3 p.m. I was lucky enough to attend and take a gander at what the buzz was all about


With a line wrapping around the door for the first half of the event, it was no joke at how enthusiastic guests were and how much Orange County needed this type of event. Not only did the 32 local breweries get a chance to shine in the sunlight by pouring sudsy samples but the Boys & Girls Club of Brea-Placentia-Yorba Linda benefited as partial proceeds from the event were going to be donated there. For each ticket sold, an attendee received 15 drink tickets and unlimited food.


Wondering who showed up to the event? Take a look at this long, long list:

• Anaheim Brewing
• Angel City Brewing
• Ballast Point
• Bayhawk Ales
• Beachwood BBQ
• Bootleggers Brewing
• Bravery Brewing
• Cismontane Brewing
• Dale Bros. Brewing
• Eagle Rock Brewing Co.
• El Segundo Brewing Co.
• Golden Road Brewing
• Goose Island
• Hangar 24
• I&I Brewing
• Inland Empire Brewing
• JT Schmid's
• Kinetic Brewing
• Left Coast Brewing Co
• Main Street Brewery
• Monkish Brewing
• Noble Ale Works
• Old Orange Brewing Co.
• Pizza Port San Clemente
• Ritual Brewing Co.
• Stone Brewing Co.
• Strand Brewing
• TAPS
• The Brewery at Abigaile
• The Bruery
• Tustin Brewing
• Valiant Brewing

Culinary Director Tom Hope and Executive Chef Manny Gonzalez prepared a “street food” menu with global inspirations. I could not get enough of the bratwurst, and apparently the dumplings were a hit!

• Chinatown - Crunchy Lobster Dumplings (soy dipping sauce, spicy mustard, & vegetable stir-fry)
• New Orleans - Bananas Foster Waffle a la mode (with bourbon whipped cream)
• Cuba - Mojo Marinated Chicken Skewers (red beans and rice with fried plantains)
• Hawaii - General Store (spam musubi, chicken katsu, macaroni salad, and Kalua pork)
• Italy - Salami & Capicola Stromboli (Italian cheese and vine-ripe tomato basil marinara)
• Mexico - Picadillo Tostada (onion, pepper, and chipotle-braised chopped steak)
• Middle East - Shawarma (tabbouleh, hummus, cucumber tomato salad, and tatziki)
• Japan - Crispy Rice Fried Calamari (with Thai basil chile sauce)
• Thailand - Banana Leaf Wrapped Swai (with coconut curry sauce, bamboo, Chinese broccoli, and straw mushrooms)
• Milwaukee - Classic Bratwurst (beer marinated dog with sauerkraut and grainy mustard)
• Chicago - Windy City Dog (onion, relish, yellow mustard, tomato, pickle, and sport peppers)
• Los Angeles - L.A. Dog (bacon-wrapped dog with bell peppers, onions, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and jalapenos)

But hey, let's get into the beers now shall we? With 15 drink tickets, I knew that I would not be able to get through the reel but pretended to try. My first run was bold, bourbon bold; I tried the Red Hill Red from Tustin Brewing which was aged in bourbon barrels and came in at 9.2% abv. Nice and strong on the bourbon for sure. Next up was 31 Kings from Valiant Brewing, one of the few IPAs I will tolerate but only because Valiant has their brews down to a perfect science. Everyone loved and raved about the Veranda there. Then I fell head over heels (not literally) once exposed to the Naughty Sauce from Noble Ale Works, a golden milk stout bordering on dessert beer for me. I went for this one twice because it was THAT good. A venture for some Vanilla Coconut Porter from I&I Brewing could not hold up to the creaminess of the previous stout but it was still good! I could really smell the coconut before I even drank from the glass. Then by recommendation, I went for the Limited from Ballast Point, a limited release of something one can homebrew (the recipe's even on the bottling!) that was a good relaxing beer to sip on.


Somehow I ended up with a Hef from Inland despite not drinking many hefweizens normally. By suggestion from a sour lover, I opted for a glass of the Belgian Red from Cismontes and puckered up right away. They are not kidding about being sour! Go for it if you're in need for an intense drink there. One of my last cups was the Dusk 'til Dawn (Imperial Coffee Porter) from Pizza Port which came in at 10.5% abv without tasting so. That's dangerous, right? It was smooth and rich, something I wish I had time to come back to again.

All in all, the overwhelming amount of amazing breweries in one place was nearly unbelievable. At 15 tickets, it didn't make physical sense to be able to finish them all off but I think everyone there sure as heck tried. As a stout and porter lover, I desired to give all the available ones a taste but when you have so many signature and flagship brews around, you have to give those a try too. With beer flowing and food constantly refilling, the event was a hit, and I'm sure we all hope to see another next year. My thanks to the whole crew at TAPS for putting on such an event that OC really needed and to Lee for the invitation. Now, off to stalk some of these breweries that I liked and/or hadn't heard of before this!

Photography by Minerva Thai. More photos are available on Facebook.

18507 Yorba Linda Blvd, Yorba Linda, CA 92886
Pricing - $$/$$$ | Dining - Casual, Dressy Casual | Cuisine - Japanese, Sushi
www.sushinoguchi.com


I don't see how I can expect anything less than fantastic whenever I go to Sushi Noguchi. Of course, this causes me to blab my mouth off and drag other people along (or if they say they love sushi but haven't been, I accompany their first visit here). We recommended our friend Craig to come here and enjoyed dinner ourselves. It is always a treat at Sushi Noguchi not only because everyone there is so friendly and gracious but also because the fresh fish itself is a present. We started off with some sake to get us going. Duc and I ordered a few dishes but overall, we shared an omakase.


One of the great things about omakase is the constant feeling of wonder and curiosity to see what the chef will provide. Chef Hiro-san is such a particular artisan of his craft that we just enjoyed watching him prepare dishes (we sat at the bar) instead of seeing if it was our plate or not. The starter was Deep Fried Smelt served with a Sweet, Vinegar Sauce, easily something that might turn another person off because of it being smelt. However, don't deny yourself this salty treat! The sweetness of the sauce helps mellow out smelt's natural saltiness. One of the regular menu items we ordered was the Yellowtail Sashimi in a Jalapeño Sauce because yellowtail is my favorite. While the cuts here cannot compare to the earth-shattering cut I had in Vancouver, they are still certainly amazing. The natural buttery-ness of the yellowtail shone brilliantly despite the sauce, which is still a nice accent to the fish itself. Then a plate of generously thick Jumbo Scallop with Uni & Caviar came out; if you haven't had this texture before, it may take some getting used to. The scallop is reminiscent of a briny piece of cooked tendon but a bit harder. There is definitely an edge to it. With fresh and smooth uni atop and bursts of caviar flavor, these were great for scallop lovers. Then a regular menu item order came out of the Ikaten (tempura squid) which was hands down one of the best cooked choices we made. Lightly salty and crunchy, it satisfied so many cravings.


The next plate in the omakase series was a beautifully presented Orange Clam, cut into many different styles. We really thought there were other items on the plate but Chef assured us we were just having the various parts of the clam. I particularly was in favor of the smaller slices nestled within the shell itself as they were briney and crisp, like pig ears or hard tendon. Overall, a very fresh clam that we dispensed of quickly. Then Craig got the treat of Bluefin Toro which was cut oh so handsomely. He so nicely let us have some and using just my chopsticks, I was able to separate a piece to eat. Melt-in-your-mouth goodness, yes! It was a pleasant pre-show to our next plate that we asked for because Duc and I love it so much - the Live Shrimp. Live shrimp deftly killed in front of us, taken apart, and quickly deep-fried before being presented in a fun and unique manner makes for a good meal! Salted slightly and full of crunch and bite, this is not a dish to forget or recommended to miss.


Of course, you can't avoid some nigiri. Rolled out was a plate of Kampachi, King Salmon, and Yellowtail Toro followed quickly by King Crab. Yes, yes, yes. I had a piece of the Yellowtail toro and just sat there quietly contemplating if I should order a full plate of that for myself. The King crab was subtly sweet with a fine texture.



Our last nigiri plate featured some fish that one might not typically see in a sushi restaurant: Spanish Mackerel & Gizzard Shad. I must say that if you were apprehensive coming in here about raw fish, the gizzard shad would probably scare you off since its gleaming skin was still intact on the cut. Fret not though! The shad was soft but boasted flavor and a similar sourness you naturally find in yellowtail. I was a fan. The Spanish mackerel was lovely with a touch of their own sauce and coupled with the green onions. Then Chef insisted we have some Shishito Tempura so we did, and it was a tasty finish to the fish. The shishito peppers gave a vegetal end that we only glimpsed in the wasabi smidgeons we had underneath each fish cut in the nigiri. By the way, you must try their wasabi as it has more authenticity than the reconstituted paste at other places! I mean, you really can taste the vegetal sweetness that real wasabi touts.


Alas, how could you leave the place without having a slice of their Mille Crepe dessert? It is always such an occasion when we get this because we're fascinated by the amount of effort that goes into this multi-layer cake. Thin crepe and thin spreads of cream make it an airy but still nearly decadent dessert. Our thanks to Chef Hiro-san for the choices he made for our omakase and to Jun for her constant amazing service!

Photography by Duc Duong.