Jongewaard's Bake N Broil 3697 Atlantic Ave Long Beach, CA 90807 Reviewed by Jimmy L. With the help of Yelp Fans, I found this joint for taking my family for a quick lunch before heading to the aquarium of pacific. The sign was not very visible, therefore when you drove, unless you are staring at the numbers, it is very easy to by-pass the place. The decor of the restaurant is very nice and homey. From the outside of the restaurant, you will never imagine how clean it is inside the restaurant. Once my wife and I are seated, we started to look at the menu. I ordered the Country Chicken Steak with blue berry muffin and my wife ordered hamburger patty with eggs and pancake. The Blue berry muffin was served first. The muffin was very soft and moist. Literally the muffin melt in your mouth. After the muffin tasting, I just can not wait for the meal to serve. My wife felt her meal was a bit plain, but I love my dish. The chicken steak was not dry nor salty and the hash brown was cooked just right. After the meal, my wife and I also ordered a Velvet Cake. I had never tried a Red Velvet before. It was very tasty and again, the cake is very moist (I felt like a broken record). Even though the cake was a bit too sweet for me, but the sweetness is not something that is not bearable. I think the meal total is less than $25. The waitress we had was very nice and courteous. I am sure if I am in long beach again, I will def. come to this place again.

Eagle Eye

Overall: B-
Story: C+
Acting: A-
Direction: C+
Visuals: B+

Ever since I saw the preview of Eagle Eye, I had been telling my wife that we should go see this movie. After watching the movie I felt the storyline has been shown before. The topic this movie is trying to discussed is nothing new, how good things/technology may go bad and the conspiracy theory on the government collecting data.
This movie to me seems to be a merge of the story plot of Terminator and enemy of the state.

I think the Shia is playing his usual role again, a carefree teenage boy with some wits. He did showed a little more range of emotion in this movie than he was in the Terminator (did not get to see Indiana Jones 4, so can not comment on that.)

Michelle play well with her part as well, but to me, her character is not as memorable. If you asked me to summarize what is special or unique about her character, I really can not say anything except that she is playing a very typical single mom who will do anything to save her son.

The next few paragraphs will contain some spoiler, so if you have not seen the movie, you may want to skip reading forward

.....

There are few questions that doe snot seen logical to me.

1. Why does Shia has to read the sentence to unlock the project. Eagle Eye seems to still running with the project. If the point of the project was to kill the president, the machine was still carrying out the plan.

2. If Eagle Eye could have kill the Guard with a crane, why can it kill Shia the same way?

Overall though, it is not a bad movie, is just not as great as I would imagine.

Ayara Thai 6245 W. 87th Street Los Angeles, CA 90045 Reviewed by Jimmy L. A friend of mine who knows the flight attendants of Thai airways recommend this restaurant to me. I figure, if it was good enough for Thai, it should be very authentic. After doing a quick search on line, I was excited to try this place After we arrived, my wife ordered a thai ice tea along with fish cake and crab fried rice. I ordered the drunken noodle. My cousin ordered the chicken wing and panan The fish cake was a bit spicy and was a bit dried. The chicken wing was nice and crisp. The Drunken Noodle I had was very spicy. After few scoops, I can barely taste anything else. All I can feel is the numbness of my mouth. However, before I lost any sensation to my mouth, I did enjoy the sauce and the flavor of the dish The crab fried rice was very tasty. We had requested to make it non-spicy since my wife is also sharing the dish with my 1 year old baby. The rice was just cooked right and REAL CRAB MEAT is used. If you don't have any idea what to eat, I would definitely recommend the rice dish.

The Dark Knight

To me, this movie should be called the Joker more than the Dark Knight. No way that I am indicating this movie is a joke, but Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker outshines the role of the batman. Nevertheless, this is one of the best Batman movies on the big screen.

In this movie, you will see the rise of Joker and the making of Two-face. As mentioned earlier, the role of Joker is portrayed brilliantly by Heath Ledger. The Joker is portrait as this crazy individual who seeks chaos. No longer is the criminal in the super hero movie portrait as a one dimensional lunatic that just seek chaos. Joker is not only seeking chaos, but he is always playing a mind game with everyone and creating traps for everyone to fill in. I remember when Jack Nickleson portrayed the Joker in the 90's, Joker is just portrayed as this lunatic that seeks chaotic. Never was joker being portrayed as this master mind criminal.

Harvey Dent, aka Two face, was also being introduce in this movie (towards the end). The movie did a good job explaining why Dent turn from the light of Gothem into a master criminal. the lost of Love and the betral of the commerade made him start doubting the justice he belives in and turned himself against everything he ever believe. I however did not capture why he was called Two faced when he was working in district before his face was burned.

Even though this is one of the best Batman movie, I have to say the role of Batman is much less memoriable. Not saying Chrsitan Bale did a poor job portraying the role of Batman, is just that the storyline of the criminal seems much stronger.

Pike Place Chowder 1530 Post Alley Seattle, WA 98101 Reviewed by Jimmy L. My wife and I have a split opinion on this place. I enjoyed the england chowder and the crab roll, where my wife still enjoyed the SF fisherman wharf 's chowder better. However we do agree that the clam within the chowder is very tender and chewy. The crab roll is made of "real" crab meat, not those fake meat you may see some store used. I ordered the lunch special which contains a half crab roll and a 8oz soup with drink. The total including tax is about $12. If you are a soup person, you can try 4 different type of soups (8 Oz each) for $13. Bookmark

Seattle Trip

Summer in Seattle can not be more perfect. Without rain, the temperature is about 70ish degree. For someone who can not stand the heat, Seattle is great in the summer time. I arrived first in Seattle for Business initially with my wife and my kid following me few days later for our vacation and attending my cousin's wedding.

Transportation wise from the Airport to Downtown Seattle is very convenient. (Unlike LA, actually no major city is as non convenient as LA) A typical bus ride from the Airport to Downtown cost $2.25 at peak hour and $1.50 at non peak hour. I took 194 from the Zone B at the airport to the heart of the city and the entire ride takes less than 20 minutes. If you prefer taxi, I think the meter will run about $30 depending on the location of the Seattle you are staying in. After getting off the highway, the bus will then go underground through a tunnel. If you look at the floor of the tunnel, you can actually see the foundation of the track which may later be use by a subway system. Also, in Seattle, from 7am to 7 pm, 1st street and 3rd street are ride free zone. Basically you can go anywhere within downtown on a bus with paying a cent. (So convenient!!!)

Typically a hotel in the downtown area runs about $200+ a night. Staying in Belltown is about $150 a night and is about 5 blocks away (5 minutes walking distance). Even though the hotel, Ramada, is a bit old and the carpet seems dirty, overall the hotel is fairly pleasant. The staff are very attentive and very responsive. If you need any service such as Boeing tour (which is about $60 including taxes) or town car service (which is about $40 to the airport), the hotel clerk can easily arrange the service for you.

On the first day of the trip, my wife and I met with the family and went down to China town (which locates at the international district) for dinner. It was a typical Chinese food restaurant, nothing special. After dinner, my wife and I went back to my cousin's apartment since my wife is helping with bride's makeup for the wedding. After she finished the wedding makeup, my wife and I had to take the baby back to the hotel.

On the 2nd day of the trip, we walked from Ramda to Pike Market Place (which takes about 10-15 minutes). We saw the flying fish, the golden hog, and the giant clock. The flying fish tradition as many have seen on TV is a store front where after customer orders a fish. The stockboy on the outside will pick up what you ordered and throw the ordered fish in to the middle of the store and caught by the stockboy in the middle. While they do this, these men will also sing and dance as they progress. Turning right after you enter the market, you will see numerous fresh fruit and veggies. If you turn right on the intersection right before entering the pike market, you will see the pike place chowder, which is another famous local eat spot. After pike place chowder, if you headed down to the pike market again and then turn right, you will see La Panier Bakery. If you follow the road down, you will get to the original Starbucks store. After the visit to the Pike Market, my wife and I had to go back to my cousin's place in preparation of the wedding.

The 3rd day of the trip is pretty much taken by the wedding itself, therefore not much sight seeing was done. We did went down to the Scupture garden where the wedding took place. and after the wedding we went to Waterfront Seafood for the reception.

On the 4th day which Seattle downtown happened to be hosting Bite of Seattle event. the whole event is hosted on the park next to the music project and space needle. My whole family and I went to this event in the afternoon. walking through the crowd we saw varies type of food vendor. The mini carnival was fairly interesting and entertaining. When we almost done, my nephew wanted to go on the carousel, here has to be the fastest carousel I have ever seen. This carousel had to be operating at 5 times the speed of a normal carousel. Later in the afternoon, we met up at downtown again eating dollar oyster in a local bar. I guess Seattle is full of seafood bar where oyster is extremly cheap. On a normal weekday, you can go to Eilliot Oyster house and get an oyster for $.50 each.

fifth day is our final day at the city, we walk on the pier and was just enjoying the view of the ocean. The 5 day trips went by so fast, my wife and I still can not remeber everything we done. We did learn a few thing in this trip to Seattle

1. if you have a young baby, some taxi may be willing to take you and your family without a car seat. But some taxi may not
2. if you have a baby and arrived the airport early, don't worry. Between Gate A and B, there is a playground for the kid. Take your kids there, they will enjoy for sure.

Palomino Restaurant Rotisseria Bar 1420 5th Ave Ste 350 Seattle, WA 98101 Reviewed by Jimmy L. With a strong recommendation from my brother-in-law. My family and his went to this restaurant for dinner. Since there was a bunch of us, we decided to order a few entries and share among our-self. We ordered cups of mushroom soup, salad, pepperoni pizza thin crust, seafood Alfredo fettuccine, and Paella. the cups of mushroom soup was very good. very rich in cream and mushroom flavor with a hint of spaciness. The fettuccine was cooked just perfect. Never had I have a better pasta prepared. The fettuccine was not too soft and not undercooked. The paella on the other handy was a little bit too tangy for me. Personally I prefer the Peruvian version of this dish much better. The sauce was too watery for my liking as well. The pizza was not bad. nothing special but not bad either. As for dessert, my wife ordered the creme brulee and my sister ordered the tiamisu. Tiamisu was very rich and flavorful. The creme brulee was done very well. the creme was nice and smooth with a strong vanilla taste. This is a very nice restaurant and I kind of feel bad for people sitting next to us. we had 3 under 5 year old. So our table was a bit loud for this place. Bookmark

Waterfront Seafood Grill 2801 Alaskan Way Seattle, WA 98121 Reviewed by Jimmy L. My review may not apply to the overall dinning experience at this restaurant since my cousin had her wedding reception in this location. However here was my experience. Upon the start of the reception, we were greeted by very attentive waiter service. there are some satay chicken and beef, along with prawns and tomato + mozzarella on a stick. All these Hors d'œuvre were fairly tasty and were all nicely prepared. The Prawns were very fresh and big. The balsamic vinegar on the mozzarella ball balance nicely with the sweetness of the tomato. The satay are not over cooked. The beef and chicken are both very flavorful For kids, my cousin order spaghetti. Couldn't resist the look of the dish, I took one bite. The sauce was very tasty. The meat sauce does not over power the tomato paste and the noodle are not cooked to soft or undercooked. For main dish, I had the scallop with a white fish (not sure if is the halibut). Both types of seafood are cooked extremely well. the tenderness of the seafood were well preserved. Rarely I had such a great seafood dishes. I was very impressed. for my wife, she had the salmon with fillet Mignon. The beef was a little bit well done for her (since she likes medium rare), but the meat was still very soft and tender. The salmon was crusted outside and soft inside. This probably the 2nd best salmon dish I ever had in my life. The first was at the Emerald's restaurant in Vegas. Again, since this is for a wedding, some of the food I taste may be a bit different than what was on the menu, but I have to say this restaurant does know to cook and I am sure it is not cheap as well. However if you ever want to impress a date, look no further than this restaurant. Bookmark

Elliott's Oyster House 1201 Alaskan Way Seattle, WA 98101 Reviewed by Jimmy L. After a long meeting today, my co-worker decided to treat the customer to this location for some quality food. Seeing the reviews from everyone at yelp prior going, I was full of anticipation and excitement. One we arrived the restaurant, it took the waitress about 15 minutes to seat us, even though we had a reservation. Can't blame her since we do have a big party (11 ppl). After 15 minute, we were led to the dinning room in the back. The waitress put us in a small tiny table where everyone is pretty much bumping elbow. We had to request for a new seat, and luckily an outside seating was just cleared up for us. Since we are seating outside in the patio, some of the people in the group were feeling a bit cold. The waiter actually brought blankets to the seats since there was no heat lamp. I thought this may be a Seattle thingy, only later learned is not. Anyway, back to the food, we ordered the 2 types of appetizer towers. I have to said, the crab cake is actually quite good. The dip was not bad either. The Calamari on the other hand is nothing special. The ultimate tower ($85) contains about 10 oyster, a few crab legs and shrimps. To be honest, I just don't think the ultimate worth the money. The Oyster is decent, but I def. had better. For main course, I ordered the mushroom ravioli with crabs. the dish is actually fairly tasty, but very light in volume too. If I ever goes back to this place, I will probably order the crab cake, since I do think it is phenomenal. Typically, I will give a 4 for this type of food quality, however the waiter service was just incredibly slow. We started to ordered around 8:30, it wasn't until 9:30, the waiter asked for our main course. We waited another 30 minutes for the main course to be ready. Therefore most of the evening we were just sitting, and waiting for food. Bookmark

Thai Bite at Aliso Viejo

Thai Bite 26921 Aliso Creek Rd Ste J Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 Reviewed by Jimmy L. Ever since our favorite Thai restaurant changed ownership, we have not find a decent Thai restaurant yet. Well, at least until tonight. First of all, the map shown was not really accurate. The restaurant locates on the the intersection of Aliso Creek and Pacific Drive. Right next to Juice it Up and Ralph. For the appetizer, my wife ordered GOONG SARONG, which is a deep fried corn shrimp (like corn dog, but with shrimp instead). There are a total of 5 shrimps per order. Also included in the dish are some fried onion, carrot and broccoli. The taste of those deep fried veggie covered by a wanton skin is very similar to a veggie tempura. For the main course, I ordered the lemon fish, my wife ordered the Pad Thai (she was just overwhelm by the selection and decided to go with the most common dish), and my friend ordered a Green Curry. The Pad Thai was not very greasy like many we had tried before. Also, this was the first time I had a bean curd in the pad thai. Kinda different. The Green Curry was decent too. I think the stuff we ordered are some what safe, and rarely you will find a restaurant screw up those 2 dishes. As for my lemon fish, I have to say the fish was a bit dry. I had better before when I was in Asia. Half of the plate was garnish with Veggie, so you really are not getting too much fish on that dish. However the sauce on the lemon fish is actual quiet good. The total bill is close to 60 after tax and tip, so this restaurant is not cheap. However with the service, and the food quality, I would say it is worth the money. p.s. This is also the most non-spicy Thai restaurant I have been too. Even though there were pepper symbol next to the Green Curry and the Lemon Fish, both dish are fairly mild.

Tacos Ensenada at Lake Forest, CA

Tacos Ensenada 24601 Raymond Way Lake Forest, CA 92630 Reviewed by Jimmy L. Are you in a search for a good authentic cheap Mexican food, if you are, you should definitely try this place. The restaurant locates right on the cross corner of the lake forest post office and across from the lake forest library. I am not Mexican, so it is a hard sale for me to say this place serves authentic Mexican food. However, every time I am at the restaurant, you can see local Mexicans gathered at this joint. You know this can only mean one thing. This place is da place in Orange County for good Mexican eat. Usually I ordered the sandwich (torta) with the shredded pork. the pork is not dried and is very moist. Even my wife who does not like the dried taste of the pork too much approves the dish. I had also tried the carne asada variation which is also very tasty. my wife usually ordered the tostada with shrimp. My wife was surprised when she ordered the shrimp tostada for the first time. This place makes the tostada the way it was supposed to made, layer of corn chips, (not the bowl shape), lettuce, and meat. I had also tried to burrito here before, and as most people had reviewed already, the burrito is well worth the money. Here is also the only location I can find beef tongue as a meat source. Bookmark

Siam Taste of Asia in Santa Ana

Haven't had a good Thai food for awhile, so my wife and I decided to search through Yelp and find a good Thai Restaurant to go to. From our research, we found this restaurant which is highly recommended by many. Upon entering the restaurant, you will smell a very light hint of orchid. The smell of the flower will just open your senses. As recommended by many, we ordered the fish cake, the papaya salad, the chicken feet (not being recommended, but with Asian heritage, I just had to try) and the Panana with Tom Yom Soup.

Maybe is the time frame I went, the waitress and waiter (kids of the owner) were not very attentive. My water and my wife's were both on empty and the waiter never bothered to ask for refill. Any way... going back to the food right now.

When the fish cake came out, just as most people said, the food is good. My wife loved the sauced pickles that came along w/ the fish cake. Next came to plate was the papaya salad. Even though we ordered mild, the spice was still more than my wife and I can handled. (I supposed if is not spicy, it is not authentic Thai food.) Therefore, we were drinking water and eating rice through the rest of the meal. The panana was okay, it was just like any other Thai restaurant. Nothing special. the Tom Yom Soup was okay too. My wife thought that it could be a little more sour. The last dish we had was the chicken feet salad. It was something unique and we have not try before in a Thai restaurant, so we did not know what to expect. The food actually turns out to be surprisingly good. If you are okay with chewy chicken skin, I strongly suggest you try this.Before we go, the owner also treat us to a cup of coconut jell-o. The jello was very flavorful and very tasty. I wonder how come I did not see this on the dessert menu.

Overall the food is good, better than average. Typically I will give this type of food a 4 star, however due to lack of service and the price of the dish (everything is priced around 6-7 but the plate is fairly small) I had to settle for a 3 star.

If you want to see how others like me had reviewed this restaurant, please go to
http://www.yelp.com/biz/siam-taste-of-asia-santa-ana#hrid:NHhHp0Qo4p0LdD3QBCMIOA

Introduction

Besdies my family and sports, my next favorite things are Eat, Watch Movies and Travel. In this blog, I will list all the movies, locations, and food review.