Last night, the Boyfriend and I ventured out for Korean barbecue at a new spot - something we’d never done before without our Korean friends.

My uncle had recommended a couple of restaurants on Garden Grove Blvd. (or mini Koreatown in this city, if you will).  We stopped by Shik Do Rak and found ourselves sitting in front of a menu where we had no clue what to order.

But never fear, the servers were really great, surprising spoke English and helped us out with what the regulars usually get - a complete combo meal for two with thin slices of beef and cubes of short ribs, along with mushrooms and onions, some sort of spicy soup and all the sides that you normally see while eating Korean fare - kimchi, pickled cucumbers, daikon, and some flat tofu-like item that’s supposedly a fish cake from reading the reviews on Yelp.  Doesn’t matter, I loved it because the sides are my favorite part!

One thing I didn’t love was the price.  Our dinner for two set us back about $60 after tax and tip.  While the beef was good, and enough to fill us both up, they were a bit stingy considering this should have fed 2-3 people.  I don’t have a huge appetite and I can only imagine if we had a 3rd person with us that it would leave us wanting more.  I also wished that they had pre-marinated the beef a little bit.  My favorite part about Korean BBQ are all the yummy spices!

All in all, it was a good dinner - but would we go here again?  I think we’ll try our hand at a couple more places before we venture to Shik Do Rak again.  Korean BBQ seems to be plentiful in this neighborhood for sure.

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Every time I go down to Orange County I always mean to stop by Hu Tieu Thanh Xuan, a Vietnamese restaurant that specializes in these yummy clear glass noodles, also known as hu tieu dai.

But for some reason I always miss it and end up somewhere else.  To make up for it, the Boyfriend and I have grubbed here three times already in the past month that I’ve been down in my old hometown.  And every time I order their special Hu Tieu Thanh Xuan Dac Biet (combination style, with the soup on the side).

My combination bowl comes with shrimp, pork slices, a quail egg and crab claw atop a mound of glass noodles and served with a side of the house broth and some sort of tomato concoction.

I like to eat this dish by pouring the tomato sauce into my bowl and mixing it up with all the noodles, meat and veggies.  Squeeze a little lime over it and I start chowing down, with a couple of spoonfuls of soup in between.  This dish is one of my favorites and I’m so glad the restaurant is still around after all these years (thanks Mom for taking me here as a kid!)

The Boyfriend likes to order Mi Hoanh Thanh, or egg noodles with won tons.   This big bowl is just about as common as Vietnamese pho and is just as hearty with pork slices and garnished with scallions and cilantro .

The best thing about this dish is are the homemade won tons and excellent broth.  In my opinion, lots of Vietnamese soups are inconsistent in taste at some places but at this broth recipe is consistent and tastes the same every time.

For my last lunch in Orange County before I drive back up to San Francisco tomorrow, this is what I ate today; what did you grub on?

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Since our god daughter Katanah arrived back in May, we always try to make an effort to see my cousin when we’re down in Orange County.

Last night, we decided to spend the evening with her and her girls for dinner and some games and fulfill on our promise that we’d do a sleepover the next time we were in town.

Here are some pictures of Katanah and Paetyn from this morning while we were babysitting.. aren’t our girls adorable?

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Yesterday I was up in Burbank for a morning meeting and decided, since I had already spent an hour driving up there, I might as well stay and explore a little bit.

It turns out that we were very close to Universal Studios and City Walk so The Boyfriend and I decided to check out the shops and have a little snack while we were at it.

Here we are acting like tourists in front of the Universal Studios entrance.. he’s pondering what’s for lunch and me blowing kisses to my paparazzi boyfriend.  Check out the flip flop action with my grown-up ‘fit! Ain’t no way I was walking around after my meeting in heels, yo..  LOL

Then we walked around City Walk and checked out various novelty gift and candy shops in order to work up an appetite for a small afternoon bite.

We decided to skip the quick service restaurants and opted to sit in the outside patio of Wasabi at City Walk so we could people watch.   Two rolls was just enough to satisfy and keep us happy in case we got stuck in LA traffic for a couple of hours.

We shared a Bank Roll with crab, salmon, and cucumber as well as a Gotta Rock-n-Roll with shrimp tempura, avocado, and topped with yummy tempura batter and eel sauce.  Mmmm…  Both rolls were yummy but a bit overpriced.  It’s to be expected though since we were in a high tourist area.

Once we were back in Orange County, we packed up a weekend bag and headed off to my cousins for dinner and a sleepover with our baby girls.  More on that later!  I do want to mention that one of our favorites food stops in the OC is Tastea in Westminster.  If you love boba (tapioca balls), you must try Tastea at least once if you’re in the area.  Our favorite is the Peach Me Freezie, a frozen slushy with yummy chunks of peaches and strawberries.  It’s super refreshing on a hot day.

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