As usual, my predictions were completely wrong. The online armageddon did not cause the numbers to free fall. In fact, the numbers were slightly up, and as you can see from the picture below, registration lines showed it.

Long lines at registration

Even with the long lines, I have to say that the WSOP people keep tweaking the event each year for the better, and this year was again slightly better than last year, in my opinion. Considering how large this event is, it’s amazing how well it is organized.

Unlike previous years, I was not able to enter the main event, although I got to within 6 more knockouts to winning my way in via Mega satellite. For my last table, I sat to Mini Tran‘s right but I didn’t see her make any crazy moves. In my opinion, she is a fairly straight forward old school player, compared to many of these 20 something online players who like to 3 and 4 bet you with air.

One thing I noticed was the porters were giving out bottled water and Red Bull for just the cost of a tip. I’m not sure how they can afford to give out Red Bull for free, but I’m guessing they are a WSOP sponsor. While they’re at it, Jack Links should have given away their beef jerky to the players as well.

Poker Player's Championship

This year, I entered at least one tournament each day, and if I got knocked out early, entered a second one the same day. To change things up, I tried the Deep Stack tournament at the Venetian on one of the days. I’ve played cash games there before but this is the first time I played a tournament there. From what I could tell, the tournament was run smoothly. The only person I recognized in the field was Dennis Phillips from the 2008 November 9.

There is an Asian restaurant called “Noodle Asia” right next to the poker area where they have very good Chinese food. If you’re there, try the Hong Kong style Won Ton noodles and the Lamp Chop if you’re hungry for some meat.

Seared Petit Lamb Chop at Noodle Asia - $8.95

If you need some other drinks or snacks, you can go out the door, go up the escalator, then down again to get to the Walgreens which I think is open 24 hours. This is very convenient for tournament players during their breaks.

As a sign of the times, take a look at the picture below.  Apparently everything in the casino is connected to some central server. You can’t get away from big brother in Vegas, that’s for sure.

Slot Machine at Venetian

Although I failed to cash this year, I felt at ease and never felt like I was out of place. I tried to have fun even when I was not doing well at the table. All in all, I had a good time and I will be back next year.

Once again, I find myself at the Century City area so this time we try an Italian place called Toscanova. Unlike the other chain restaurants near by, this place seems to be more of a non-chain variety. There’s seating outside in front and the side, as well as plenty of seating inside and at the bar.

We started off with Carciofi Marinati (marinated artichokes), which my friend didn’t like because it was cold but I really enjoyed. The flavoring was perfect.

My friend ordered a seafood mix plate shown below. Don’t ask me what all in in there because I’m really not sure. There were multiple fish mixed in with other stuff in there. I didn’t try any of it myself but my friend like it.

Mix Seafood - $32

Anytime I go to a Italian Restaurant, I always order Veal. My last try was in Honolulu at Assaggio with not much luck. This time around, I was very satisfied with my Veal Scallopine here. As you can see from the picture, they don’t give you any lemon slices. This worried me a little until I tasted it and it was perfect. I was enjoying my veal so much, I didn’t want to ruin it by tasting my friends fish dish.

Veal Scallopine with lemon capers - $26

Although I’ve been here before and had their desert, we decided to go elsewhere for desert.

All in all, I like the atmosphere here and on my first try of their main dishes, liked what I got. I’ll be coming back here again.

10250 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 551-0499
toscanova.com

Across the way from Houston’s in Century City, is another upscale restaurant owned by the same chain called Gulfstream for seafood. On our way to the movies, we decided to checkout this place.

The setup looks a lot like Houston’s with an open kitchen for everyone to see, and raised booths all around. One interesting difference was the white paper covering over the table cloths. This made me feel like I had to order crabs and break them with my bare hands.

To start, we got the heavenly biscuits, which come with butter and honey, and yes, they really are heavenly. Yummy.

My friend tried the Crab Cakes which I tried and liked but I’m not a big crab cakes guy. It also comes with coleslaw which I don’t like.

Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes - $32

For myself, I was tempted to try their steak, but why come to a seafood place and order steak, right? So I resisted the temptation and ordered the Salmon. The salmon was perfectly prepared but slightly light on the seasoning for my taste. Also, unfortunately, it also comes with coleslaw. My friend liked the coleslaw but I didn’t like it but I’m definitely biased.

Sedar Plank Roasted Salmon - $27

There are only 3 choices for desert so this isn’t the place to come for that. We tried the Hot Fudge Sundae which was on the house because it took a while to get.

The ambiance here is open and classy, and the service was good. My friend thought the waitress was overly attentive, and didn’t like the intense eye contact, but I liked it. It doesn’t hurt when the waitress is attractive either.  She’s no dummy. She knows who’s leaving the tip. Kudos to their hiring practice.

As for the food, it’s not spectacular but there was nothing to make me not want to return. I’m willing to give this place another try.

Gulfstream
10250 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 553-3636
hillstone.com

While in Northridge, we were driving around to see where we could get some grubs and came across Kabuki Sushi in a strip mall. At first, I thought it was part of the Kabuki chain, but even before entering, I could tell that it was too small and Mom & Pop-ish to be part of the chain.

It’s surprising that the Kabuki chain hasn’t sent these people a cease and desist order since there’s definitely confusion created by the same name, and even a very similar logo. It appears that there’s a deliberate attempt by this place to confuse prospective customers. Of course, it’s possible that this small place was first and they just haven’t bothered to sue the chain.

But I digress.

I’ve been to plenty of tiny sushi places that turned out to be a gem so I was not deterred by it’s looks. Since it’s tiny, we did have to wait a few minutes to be seated. We were seated in a booth and served by what I would describe as probably a family member or at least somebody that’s not worried about getting fired. Don’t get me wrong. She was nice enough. Just not somebody that seemed to be worried about their tip.

To get us started, we ordered some Edamame which was over cooked and almost inedible. This was certainly a bad start because any restaurant that would serve that can’t have anybody in the back that is doing some quality control. The only good thing was the waitress talked us out of ordering the large edamame and told us we should get the small. I guess she knew we wouldn’t like it.

Not deterred by the edamame, and starving, we continued our quest. Instead of my usual ordering technique, I decided to order a bunch of stuff a la carte as shown below.

Nigiri and Tempura Roll

The sushi was acceptable and fresh but nothing to write home about or go out of your way for. I wanted to find a small hidden diamond, but instead found a forgettable lump of coal sushi place. If you get the chance, skip this place.

Kabuki Sushi
9701 Reseda Blvd
Northridge, CA 91324
(818) 886-8266

After trying out the Brentwood Sugarfish many times, I decided to see how the Downtown version was.

The 7th street location is not great in my opinion as far as parking. There is no street parking and the lot that they use is around the corner and multi-story so you it can take a bit of walking to get to the actual restaurant. Of course, this is coming from the laziest man on earth.

As you can see below, the restaurant is airy with high ceilings and the windows allow you to see out to 7th street where you will see people waiting for the MTA bus since the bus stop is right in front. Most of them are probably looking back wondering why you would pay so much for some uncooked fish.

Larger than Brentwood

We ordered the Nozawa as per usual to see how consistent the quality would be between the different branches. To my pleasant surprise, the quality was very high and identical to the Brentwood branch. It’s amazing that they can get things to be so consistent.

Unagi

However, one thing that wasn’t consistent was unlike the Brentwood branch, the waiter here DID ask me if I wanted more hot tea. Apparently, it’s not the chains policy to purposely not ask.

All in all, this branch is just as good as the Brentwood branch and I will be coming back here.

SUGARFISH Downtown Los Angeles
600 W 7th Street, Suite 150
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213-627-3000

The Curry House in Little Tokyo has had a 20% discount on all spaghetti dishes for about 2 weeks but they’ve kept it pretty quiet and nobody seems to know about it. I found out about it by accident and ask how long this deal was going to be going on, and nobody seems to know.

What’s the point of having a secret discount sale? I guess that’s some type of Japanese secret marketing technique that I’m not familiar with.

20% Discount

Update 6/2011:
About a month later,I found out what the real reason was for this discount. According to one of the waitresses, because of the earthquake disaster in Japan, all food items are being tested for radiation before the shipments are allowed to enter the US. This has caused a long delay in shipping the curry from Japan and so there is a curry shortage. To alleviate this problem, they are offering this discount to get people to not order curry.

Curry House
123 S. Onizuka St. #204, Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 620-0855
Map

Back to Zencu once again, but this time, it’s all vegetarian. First up, a small cucumber salad with delicious ponzu sauce.

Cucumber Salad

Next, asparagus roll with absolutely nothing else but rice. It’s a little boring and without soy sauce, there’s not much taste except for the natural taste of the asparagus. At least it’s healthy.

Asparagus Roll

I finished off with the Zaru Soba noddles like last time, even though I said I wouldn’t have it again. So I lied.

Zencu Sushi & Grill
319 E. 2nd. Street #206
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 687-7780
Map

Previously, I reviewed Sushi Go 55′s nigiri and chirashi sushi. This time, I decided to try their Sashimi Matsu.

Sashimi Matsu - $24.95

As with everything here, it was fresh and prepared perfectly and delish. However, the price must have gone up by a dollar because their website still says the price is $23.95. Even with the dollar inflation in price, I liked the sashimi here but I did like the chirashi sushi better.

Sushi Go 55 Restaurant
333 S. Alameda St. #312, Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 687-0777
sushigo55.com
Map

It’s time to go back to Century City again and this time to RockSugar which is one of those fusion Asian snazzy type places, typical of LA.

After going to restaurants in LA and Vegas, you’d think I wouldn’t be impressed by just any decor but this place is straight out of the Asian castle scene from “Inception.” Even though the table for 2 is tiny, it actually felt nice and cozy in there.

Salmon Sashimi - $13

We started with the Salmon Sashimi which had the most perfect ponzu style sauce to get the juices flowing right.

Crisp Calimari - $10

Next up, we got the Calimari. If you normally don’t like Calimari, I implore you to try this marinated Calimari. It’s not chewy at all and almost melts in your mouth. Delish. Try it.

Thai Noodles with Shrimp - $13.50

For one of our main courses, we tried the Thai noodles with shrimp. The noodles were very good but I’m not 100% on board with the mix that it’s in. Don’t get me wrong. I ate the whole thing but it’s a little different.

Shaking Beef - $25

If you like beef, try this “Shaking” beef as one of your main courses. The marinated beef is perfectly prepared and seasoned. They don’t even give you a knife to cut it with, because they know you won’t need one.

Carmalized Banana Custard Cake - $9

For one of our deserts, we had the custard cake. My friend liked it but it was not my cup of cake. I’ll pass on this one.

Warm Chocolate Cake - $9

Lastly, the chocolate cake with coffee ice cream was good but nothing I haven’t had before. In fact, it’s about the same as the bunt cake at the Hustler Casino (free at the $300 table), in my opinion.

All in all, this was a great discovery and I’ll put this on my list of places to take out-of-towners I want to impress.

RockSugar Pam Asian Kitchen
10250 Santa Monica Blvd # 654
Los Angeles, CA 90067-6609
(310) 552-9988
rocksugarpanasiankitchen.com

Yet once again, I’ve returned to Zencu. By now, you’re thinking that I go to this place every week but actually, I’ve gone there maybe about 12 times since they opened.

This time, I tried their seaweed salad and found the dressing to be tasty. I don’t usually order seaweed salad but I felt like pretending to be healthy for a change.

Seaweed Salad

Next, the big test for a “fake” Japanese restaurant: Cold Soba. They pass, but not with flying colors. The noodle itself was cooked properly and tasted fine. However, the dipping sauce was too sweet for my taste. I like mine a little more salty. I’ll probably not order it again but it’ll pass for less picky eaters.

Cold Soba

Finally, I finished it off with some Nigiri sushi, a la carte and as before, it was acceptable but nothing to write home about.

Nigiri Sushi

As before, this is a great place to hang with your friends and drink some beer during happy hour, and enjoy some good Japanese eats.

Zencu Sushi & Grill
319 E. 2nd. Street #206
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 687-7780
Map