Tag Archives: BeiBei Chen

Fashion Food Me Movies My Outfits Restaurants & Cafes

Work Break at the Park & La Creperie Café

08/13/2011 – 2:49 AM

I’ve just settled down in bed after getting home from watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. The Perseid meteor shower was supposed to peak sometime after midnight, but unfortunately any plans to watch said meteor shower were impeded by the fact that the sky was just too cloudy. And so the last segment of Harry Potter was the replacement. But more on that later…

Let’s back track a little bit to about 12 or so hours ago, when the sun actually decided to come out. Work’s been rather busy lately as we are in the crunching period of our recent project, but the good weather that happened to emerge around lunch time was too good to pass up. BeiBei, Allan, and I decided to walk over to the nearby park and eat lunch there while enjoying the fresh air.

chiffon top – H&M, jeans – Verdugo jegging by Paige Premium Denim, bag – Marc by Marc Jacobs, high-heeled clogs – Sam Edelman

“Is that the obligatory pose?”

Our current obsession is Mexican soda, sold in glass bottles. Nothing beats soda packaged in the old-fashioned way. I’m not a fan of carbonated beverages, but I must admit the real sugar (as opposed to the high-fructose corn syrup found in most sodas manufactured here in America) highly improves the drink, reducing the overly artificial sweetness typically found in American sodas. I’m still not too keen on Coca Cola, but Sprite will do just fine, thank you.

Fast-forward to post-work time, considering how the sky was not being too friendly to us for meteor shower watching, Allan, BeiBei, Tony, and I decided to go with Plan B – finally watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. Our theater of choice – AMC Marina Pacifica 12 in Long Beach. Tony had two free AMC tickets, and I figured we could easily find some good eats around the Belmont Shore area.

Hungry and determined to eat something delicious prior to our 10:10 PM movie showing, our trusty good friend, Yelp, once again came to the rescue. We found La Creperie Café, located on action-packed 2nd Street in Long Beach. This French restaurant has four stars at a whopping 1082 reviews on Yelp. I love the 2nd Street area and I love French restaurants, so you can only imagine my delight at discovering this venue.

Their menu is extensive, filled with breakfast, lunch, and dinner items all at reasonable prices (they have a $$ price range on Yelp). It is no surprise that the majority of their menu is crepes – sweet and savory. Not to worry for those who aren’t too keen on crepes – they have a great selection of non-crepe foods as well.

Menu aside, I found their interior to be well-decorated to the theme. I was especially delighted to find that they had live music! This restaurant definitely gave off that cute, romantic type of ambiance.

After oo-ing and ahh-ing to myself about the interior of the restaurant and attempting to take decent photos with my point-and-shoot camera in the dimly lit room, I finally decided to pay attention to the menu in front of me. Choosing a dinner item was tough, but I eventually settled on the Dipollo savory crepe – fresh wild mushrooms, herbs de provence and mozzarella with chicken in a sherry cream sauce. I was pretty much sold upon reading “fresh wild mushrooms” and “sherry cream sauce.” I’m a huge fan of food with alcohol-based sauces – love the flavor the alcohol infuses. Tony chose the same dish. BeiBei ordered a side of garlic fries, which comes with three sauces – chipotle aioli, ranch, and ketchup. For her entree, she decided on a savory crepe that consisted of lobster and had a lobster-based sauce. I have unfortunately forgotten the name of the dish, and I can’t seem to find it on their online menu. The presentation of her dish was interesting. Instead of one whole crepe, it was served in mini crepe medallions. Allan ordered the steak sandwich – marinated rib eye, romaine lettuce, chipotle aioli, provolone cheese, tomatoes, red onions and avocado on toasted ciabatta, served with garlic French fries and a Caesar salad.

Pictured above in descending order: Garlic fries, sauces for the garlic fries, BeiBei’s lobster crepe medallions, Dipollo crepe, Steak sandwich. I took a taste of every single item we ordered, and I must say that each item on our table was delicious! I’m not a huge fan of lobster, but BeiBei’s dish was pretty good. You can definitely taste the lobster. I absolutely loved my dish. The Dipollo was infused with the flavor of the wild mushroom and sherry cream sauce, much to my enjoyment. Allan’s steak sandwich was tasty – not your average steak sandwich. The steak marination deserves two thumbs up.

I would definitely visit La Creperie again and give their other menu items a try.

Following our dinner, we headed over to the AMC Marina Pacifica 12 to watch Harry Potter. It was a long movie, as expected. The awkward kissing scenes they put into the film still weird me out. Overall, I suppose the movie was alright. I’m not a huge fan of Harry Potter, really, and the whole time I kept thinking “Why? Why? Couldn’t they just do this? Couldn’t they just do that?” Regardless, the movie was still entertaining.

Summing up the day, I’ve arrived at a few conclusions: (1) I definitely would like to spend more time around 2nd Street in Long Beach and try out all the different little restaurants around there. (2) I love French restaurants. (3) Harry Potter will always just be “alright” to me. (4) I am extremely exhausted.

And with that, I bid you adieu.

Tags Allan Chiou, AMC, BeiBei Chen, Coca Cola, Coke, Crepes, Fashion, Food, French, French restaurants, H&M, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Jeans, jeggings, La Creperie, La Creperie Cafe, Long Beach, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Marina Pacifica, Mexican Coke, Mexican soda, Mexican Sprite, Movies, My Outfits, Paige, Paige denim, Paige premium denim, Restaurants, Restaurants & Cafes, Sam Edelman, Soda, Sprite, Tony Huynh, Verdugo jegging | Comments (3)

Birthdays Coffee Drinks Food Friends Restaurants & Cafes

Happy Birthday, Limzer!

07/30/2011 – 11:05 PM

Yellow Polka Dot Top – H&M, Sunglasses – Prada

Okay, so Limzer’s birthday was actually some time this past week, but his birthday party was today. He had a combined birthday celebration along with a few of his friends, kindly hosted by another one of his friends. BeiBei, Allan, and I hit up Limzer’s friend’s house in the LBC (Long Beach) sometime in the afternoon. Their little shindig was complete with DJ, bar, and a ghetto dog/taco cart! Sweeeeet.

When we arrived, Limzer was standing in as DJ. It was definitely nice seeing him as we hadn’t seen each other in a while. He used to work with us, and we haven’t really hung out since he left the company. He’s an awesome dude – I think we should definitely hang out with him more often.

The party was filled with fellow Filipinos (I’m half). Most of the highly-Filipino populated parties I attend are family occasions, so it felt a little strange for me to be surrounded by so many Filipinos at a party yet only knowing one of them. (Haha). In any case, the party was good. I only regret that I didn’t try a ghetto dog or taco because I was just too full from the food and drinks I had earlier.

I hadn’t had any coffee yet when we got to Limzer’s friend’s house, so I decided to look up coffee shops around the area. I figured we could stop by to grab some coffee while we waited for the taco cart to arrive – it was scheduled to arrive at 4PM! I used my handy-dandy Yelp app on my phone and found Portfolio Coffeehouse on 4th Street. Luckily, we were very close to 4th Street – only a few blocks away!

What struck my interest were the number of stars this joint received on Yelp (4 stars!) and the fact that they were supposedly voted the “Best Coffee House in Long Beach.” It was a short walk from the house to the coffee shop, but I still wished I had my bike with me so I could have gotten there faster; it was a hot day!

I opted for a regular latte and indulged in a slice of Oreo cheesecake. BeiBei got an iced Mexican mocha and a Napoleon. Allan purchased a paradise iced tea. Everything was pretty good, though nothing really stood out to me in a special way. Walking over to Portfolio did remind me of how long it had been since I had visited 4th Street. That street is known for its plethora of vintage shops. I think I’ll just have to visit 4th Street again sometime soon and do a little bit of shopping.

Tags Allan Chiou, BeiBei Chen, Birthdays, Coffee, Friends, Limzer Lagrimas, Long Beach, Parties, Portfolio Coffeehouse | Comment (0)

Biking Outdoors & Recreation

2011 Mercier Kilo TT Pro Road Bike

07/28/2011 – 11:25 PM

I recently purchased a fixed-gear bike (yes, indeed, I purchased a fixie). In fact, BeiBei and Allan did too! I opted for the 2011 Mercier Kilo TT Pro (thus the title of this entry), BeiBei opted for the Mercier Kilo Stripper (yes, we are milking the name of that bike and basking in the plethora of jokes that can be had regarding BeiBei and her Stripper), and Allan opted for the Windsor Timeline. We ordered these bikes via BikesDirect per my cousin’s recommendation and various online recommendations for best places to purchase beginner bikes.

To our delight, all three of our bikes arrived on Monday; thus, we had a bike assembly party!

Pictured above is my bike in the middle of the assembly process. Pardon the photo quality, as this photo was taken with my cell phone. Assembling the bikes took longer than expected. Needless to say, it was great once we were done (or mostly done, that is. More on that later.)

I must admit I’m beginning to like my bike more and more as I look at it, even though this wasn’t initially the bike I had set my eyes on. For some strange reason, the brake cables that came with my bike seem super long. As you can see from the photo, I totally ran my brake line along the diagonal and up the back of the frame because it just seemed too long to run across the top of the frame. Obviously, this is not correct. In addition, my tires still need to get pumped.

Luckily, thanks to Yelp, I happened to come across this small bicycle shop near my house called Lakewood Cyclery. It has received great reviews and has been in operation for many, many years. Even better, reviewers have referred to the Asian man that runs the shop as the “Mr. Miyagi” of bikes. How cute!

I love the idea of little neighborhood shops with a long history and regular customers. Indeed, that is exactly what this shop seems to be. Before heading off to work, Allan and I took his bike over to see “Mr. Miyagi” to get a full tuning. The shop is quaint and filled with various bicycle parts and used bicycles. Upon entering, there was a couple of old men, who seemed to be regular customers, chatting it up with “Mr. Miyagi” (okay, his real name is Ben) and checking out the used bikes. You can immediately tell this shop has been there for quite a while, but that’s all part of the charm. Hopefully the service being done on Allan’s bike turns out to be awesome, at only $29.99 for bike tuning. I’ll be dropping my bike off tomorrow to pay a visit to Ben as well. Hopefully we can get this whole brake thing sorted out and make sure my bike is well and ready to go. I can’t wait to ride it!

Tags Allan Chiou, BeiBei Chen, Bicycles, Bikes, Biking, Fixed Gear, Fixies, Kilo TT, Kilo TT Pro, Lakewood Cyclery, Mercier, Road bikes | Comment (0)

Food Restaurants & Cafes

Rustic Canyon

04/25/2011 – 11:09 PM

As part of our goal to get through the entire list of burgers on The 10 Best Burgers in Los Angeles: 2011 Edition from LAist.com, Allan, BeiBei, and I decided to give Rustic Canyon a visit. Unfortunately, Tony, our other burger buddy, was unavailable to join us for dinner. :[

Rustic Canyon is listed as number one under the “Best Gourmet” burger section of the list.

1. Rustic Canyon, 1119 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica. When you name your standard burger the Niman Ranch burger, you have to assume it’s good. When you add a perfect slice of sharp white cheddar, onion fondue, and an exquisite crust on a juicy, medium-rare patty, you know the burger is something special. When they start sponsoring full-on burger nights (where they create unique burger concoctions) while still locally sourcing their produce? You know you’ve found the best burger in LA. – Excerpt from The 10 Best Burgers in Los Angeles: 2011 Edition

We were each extremely excited to indulge ourselves in some overpriced gourmet burgers from what is supposedly the best gourmet burger joint in Los Angeles (in 2011).

I love the minimalistic tree logo and restaurant name sign combined with the contemporary, almost-all-glass facade. The dim lighting and rustic decor created an ambiance designating of “gourmet.”

Rustic Canyon’s food offerings change daily, as you can see from the dated menu above. Might I add that specialty burgers are only available on Mondays, as Mondays are burgers & beer nights.

I love the look of their wine menu, which has a wooden cover embossed with their tree logo and “wine.” I must say that Rustic Canyon sure has design down.

Every table is served a small plate of olives as an appetizer. I’m not too keen on olives, but I gave these a shot. To me, they were basically olives, although I still ate a few of them. BeiBei tried a couple too. I don’t believe Allan had any.

For our appetizers, we ordered the Niman Ranch hangar steak and the fried cauliflower. We chose the latter per a Yelp reviewer’s recommendation, plus it looked delicious in said Yelp reviewer’s photo.

Niman Ranch Hangar Steak

Fried Cauliflower

I very much enjoyed the fried cauliflower. I think that was the favorite at the table. The hangar steak was alright; nothing too spectacular. The serving size is very tiny, but I suppose that is understandable for a hangar steak appetizer. If ordering the hangar steak, keep it mind that it is served pretty rare – definitely very pink and slightly bloody inside.

And finally, we get to our main course – the burgers! Seeing as it was specialty burger night, we opted to order from the specialty burgers menu. Since we both love mushrooms, it was no surprise that BeiBei and I both chose the mushroom burger. Allan decided on the American burger.

Upon first bite into my mushroom burger, I was pretty satisfied. However, as I proceeded to eat this burger, I found the patty to be to salty. The bun was also extremely oily; I suppose that adds some extra nice shine to the bun, but I definitely did not enjoy the oiliness on my fingers as I ate. The flavor of the burger as a whole isn’t anything amazing, simply just “alright.” I probably enjoyed the fries the most off of this plate.

BeiBei’s mushroom burger experience was similar to mine, except quite possibly worse. Her burger was extremely oily. In fact, hers was dripping with oil. Not only were her fingers drenched, but her entire hands were covered in oil by the time she was done eating. Her plate was also swimming in the oil that dripped from her burger as she ate. My burger was oily as well, as I had mentioned earlier, but not quite as oily as hers.

You can read more about BeiBei’s experience and see photos of her oil-drenched hands over at her blog.

Allan’s American burger was exactly what you’d expect from a typical burger. His patty was just as salty as BeiBei’s and mine were. The only aspect that basically saved his burger was the inclusion of fresh vegetables. BeiBei and I each tried a portion of Allan’s burger, and all three of us agreed that the vegetables they used were definitely of high quality and extremely fresh-tasting. If anything, while eating the burger as a whole, the fresh taste of the vegetables helped cut the overly salted patty.

And our general consensus? All three burgers were “alright.” We all thought the patty was way too salty. BeiBei’s oily burger experience prevented her from being able to eat more than half of her burger.

Sure, we didn’t try their standard Niman Ranch burger, but that aside, the experience probably would have been the same, given the fact that all the burgers contain Niman Ranch patties which are all most likely marinated the same way. I’d expect their Niman Ranch burger would have been just as salty as the burgers we had tried.

The three of us didn’t agree with Rustic Canyon’s standing as the number one best gourmet burger in Los Angeles at all. In fact, from our previous experience eating at Father’s Office, we each thought the Father’s Office Burger was better than Rustic Canyon’s burgers by a landslide. Funny thing is, Father’s Office is listed in fifth place on the LAist’s list of best gourmet burgers.

Maybe it just wasn’t a good night for Rustic Canyon. I’m willing to give it another shot some time, perhaps after getting through the entire LAist top 10 list first. One thing is for sure: we definitely walked away unimpressed and with each of our wallets feeling a lot lighter.

Tags Allan Chiou, BeiBei Chen, Burgers, Food, Gourmet Burgers, Hamburgers, LAist, Los Angeles, Restaurants & Cafes, Rustic Canyon | Comment (1)

Friends Random

Friday Night on The Strand, Manhattan Beach

04/22/2011 – 11:01 PM

BeiBei, Allan, and I found ourselves restless and directionless Friday evening after we were done at work. After a stop at the nearby mall, Manhattan Village, we decided to drive over to The Strand @ Manhattan Beach to walk around and enjoy house-watching. Specifically, we set out to find a house that Allan had seen previously one evening when he was taking a walk on The Strand. This house has huge, life-size figurines of characters from animated movies, such as Sully from Monsters, Inc., Alvin and the chipmunks, and Donald Duck, on display, which can be seen through the windows. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any good photos of these figurines because the spotlights (yes, apparently there are spotlights that light up each character) weren’t on tonight. This didn’t stop us from trying, which resulted in the following photos: