Monday, August 8, 2011

Open Door


W:  Let me first start off by saying that I have been to this place once before so I know the quality and excellence of service that this place is able to provide. Now let me begin. Arrived in Los Angeles by 11 am and started our drinking binge at 3.

S:  We?  Folks, let me paint a picture for you guys.  There is 9 of us a '03 Toyota Sequoia and only two people were drinking in the car.  "W" and my husband.  I am not judging, just clarifying. No need to justify why we had to pregame to Open Door when we are going there for Happy Hour!

W:  Before exiting the car we decided to chug a Pacifico beer before entering the restaurant (classy right?). Anyway, my cousins have become regulars and our large party of 15 did not have to wait too long to be seated.

S:  Love the decor, it was adorable.  The place is very cute with a large faux cherry blossom tree smack dab in the middle. The restaurant is small able to fit up 20-25 people.

W:   This place is tiny, she means roughly 50 midgets or so.

S:   There is this amazing blackboard that is like an interchangeable menu. Their menu was super cute too!  That is when I set my eyes on UNI MAC & CHEESE!!!!  There's also truffles, foie gras, sweet bread....the selections...I cannot wait!  It's UNI MAC & CHEESE, this brilliant chef married two of my favorite things together. I wonder will he deep fry it...j/k.

W:  We started our meal with the “usual” as stated by our dear friend Peter, truffle buttered edamame beans and truffle oil tater tots. Truffle anything is good. Truffle on a leather shoe would make it taste fantastic. As part of the happy hour menu we flooded our table with these items. Now this is where it gets a little blurry … literally … after a few sochu drinks (flavored soju with hints of fruit juices) and saki bombs … sashimi style fish was served. We had salmon … something white  … and something else that was white … albacore …. hamachi …. Anyway each was dressed with an Asian-eque sauce. A variation of soy based sauces with a little zip and tang. I remember from my past experience that these were delicious and I could have agreed that these were the same. We ordered like kings and queens (especially me) and as the night progressed the food brought me out of my liquored induced state and clarified my vision once again.

S:  We had the Albacore Sashimi - topped with crunchy scallions and served with shiso leaves and a red Japanese berry that tasted much like a raspberry with a seed in it.  Salmon Sashimi dressed in a ponzu sauce.  The fattiness of the salmon was cut by the tang of the soy sauce mixture. The crunch provided a textual anomaly that made it surprising. The Bacon and Egg Shooter. In the glass is a beef consomme broth with a over-easy poached egg and topped off with a piece of candied bacon. You get your cow, pig and chicken all in one. First you shoot and then take a bite of the candied bacon. You get a combination of unami flavors of sweet, sour and savory.



W:  The uni mac and cheese was a complete stand out for me. We ordered two because "S" is a fatass. The waitress suggested mixing it all up and making it look like dog shit. Wrong. I did not enjoy it this way. It muddled the flavors and hid the subtle but brininess of the uni.

S:  The second order was so much better, it was one of the "rare" moments where "W" kept repeating how amazing it tasted.  There were 15 of us and everyone was very nice enough to let me finish the last few delicate bites.

W:  We ate it our way. We broke the soft poached egg and allowed the yolk to ooze all over the mac and cheese. The uni looked like little islands floating in a sea of yellow with crisp macaroni noodles nestled underneath. We scooped up a little bit of everything and entered it into our mouths. For once I was actually silent. I just looked in awe of this masterpiece and could not stop staring it at, beside the fact that I felt like a total fatass trying to get every morsel and lick the casserole dish clean. Some complained that the cheese was not strong enough and didn’t taste like mac and cheese. But I disagree. The cheese echoed the subtle smelliness of the uni in a good way. I know smelliness does not sound appetizing but eh, I don’t know how else I could explain it. Any cheese with a stronger taste would have over powered the whole dish and we would have lost all the flavors and be bombarded by cheese. Just cheese. Not uni mac and cheese. But just cheese. Go and eat out of the iconic blue box if you want mac and cheese. Go and cry me a river.  With the addition of a rich poached egg it tied the whole dish into one creamy and luscious mess.

S:  Let's not forget about the Confit Duck tacos.  It was so moist and perfectly cooked.  All portioned perfectly into a savory bite.

W:  There’s a new trend where everybody is experimenting and making all sorts of tacos. Tacos is the new thing. It’s the new steel tipped bootie for fall 2012. Now everybody thinks that they can put anything into a taco shell but the confit duck tacos are something EXTRAordinary. The succulent and tenderness of the duck leg paired with a crisp mini flour tortilla topped with ribbons of green onion and a sweet plum sauce was excellent. You had to build your own which made it even better. I love when guests are able to build their own food and become part of the food process experience. It makes the experience more enticing and brings out the sexiness of food. Putting a person in a taco and smothering them with sauce is not very sexy but when you put ingredients like the ones described above, that makes it sexy and irresistible. 

S:  I am clearly more of the eater between the two of us and "W" is more of the chef.  But we definitely enjoyed our time here.  Have you guys checked out Open Door, it has some great reviews online!  Do you think they meet par or just overrated?


Open Door
122 S Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 282-9829
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