Yelp Sucks!! Sort of...

So out of nowhere I got hankerin' for some hot wings and a beer. Mmmmm tasty spicy vinegary goodness washed down with a nice pilsner. The only question was where would I want to go should I need to fulfill this craving.

For me my favorite place is Hooters, they have some awesome wings. Service isn't all that great but I like the food there. They also have a decent seafood sampler platter. Second is Buffalo Wing's n Things in Huntington Beach, though I haven't been here in well over 5 years. So I was trying to think of what other options are available to me. This brings me to Yelp.

On a normal given day they are about 80%-90% on the money with suggestions and ideas of culinary exploration. Though today I'm reminded yet again at how lame they are on occasion. So I do a search for hot wings and I'm hoping I get places that specialize in this item, though I get all these places that are not really related but because they offer it on the menu and someone decides to comment about how they did or did not have them. Really blows!

Now some of the places mentioned I wouldn't even consider getting hot wings at them... um.. the Boiling Crab is awesome for Louisiana style peel n eat shrimp and crab and what not.. but hot wings?? um.. no thanks!!

So if there is a specific culinary food item your looking for I would not recommend Yelp... perhaps Chowhound though... it's a little more of a forums board but at least it's more relevant.

Speaking of which I've still yet to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and Wingnuts.

I really think so.....

I love Japanese culture.... possibly due to my Dad being stationed in Japan and related a few stories about being there and also it was the first culture I remember being exposed, at least with some relative regularity. Either Japanese restaurants or going to Little Tokyo in Downtown LA, I was exposed to it. Hence I like the song by the Vapors...

Now as this is supposed to be a blog about food, let me preface this with I still consider myself to be a "food tourista", by this I mean that I'm still relatively new (perhaps I'm being a bit modest here). While a majority of people I have talked to have said - "You should start a blog about food" - I always scoffed at them. Yes I know there is a mini Japanese strip mall in Fountain Valley. Not too mention the ones in the South Bay (Too many to list - Gardena/Torrance) or little stretch on Sawtell in West LA (Between Pico & Santa Monica) or the patch in Costa Mesa.... While I know where these places are.. I still consider myself a tourista.

Just to add to that, I've become enamored with other Asian cultures as well. Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai... (India is in Asia but generally not considered Asian.. how does that work???) as these are what I am close to.

Now after going through that nonsensical rant.... on to what I was going to talk about.

For me food is one of the universal constants.... we all need it. Just like air and water, you really can't survive without food.  Look at how many things revolve around food, we have festivals, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduation parties... you get the picture.

We eat throughout the day... we have aisles and aisles of food in the US (which on a personal note I absolutely hate!!!).  The point is a good amount of a time is spent eating, so why not enjoy the food.

So there is this About section I get a weekly articleon Japanese food, this week it's....

Mabo don!!

Which for me I like and one of those dishes that you should try if you've never had tofu, but probably already like if you regularly eat tofu. Which by the way I like, but don't eat it as much as I would like to.. but am in no way a vegetarian or vegan. 

Yet for me I like the unagi (eel) or sake (salmon) don much better than the teriyaki ones.

I missed all of May?!?!?!? Avoid Pink's if you like hot dogs...

If you have the taste buds of a cockroach, you'll probably enjoy Pink's Hot Dogs in Buena Park at Knott's Berry Farm.


Really where do I begin with this place, aside from the customer service, this place is a  dismal failure on so many levels. Let's start with building location/layout. The place is too cramped for the amount of traffic that they get. There is one window to order and one window to pick up. It just so happens that they have all the condiments and what not around said pick up window. It really looks like a traffic jam on the 10 East of the 405 at 5PM on a holiday weekend. If you like dealing with rude throngs of people, while waiting for your food then this is your place!!

Did I mention how disgusting this place was?? Now it's not like there was puke on the floor, but I don't think you'd notice if there was. The floors and tables where pretty awful, I've seen cleaner tables at Chuck E. Cheese in Santa Ana.

Now on to the food like substance.... There are a few handful of places that I hold in a special category of crap, these are the ones that deserve a wordy worded letter, which is pretty aweful coming from me. That is the wordy worded letter, my English skills are pretty atrocious.

One, I have to say they have the worst menu on the planet. These jacked up names for hot dogs and the multitude of combination's that top them. Understand that hot dogs should not be confused with the various sausages out there, whether your various wursts, bangers or other ethnic sausages, namely the Polish. Hot dogs are in a class of their own and depending on how they are prepared can usually tell you what part of the country you are from or where you are at as well.  Generally a dog should be kosher.. all beef... no by-products or additives, who needs that?! Now you can have them prepared a number of ways but the more popular ways are mustard & onions (or sauerkraut!!), Chicago style (steamed poppy seed bun, onions, pickle wedge, tomato, yellow pepper -- my all time favorite!!). Hot dogs come steamed, grilled, pan fried, wrapped with bacon, battered and deep fried. However, this place apparently is a one trick pony, let's cover up the sub par quality of the dog with sub par quality toppings.

To think that we passed up going to Portillo's.. but alas we did not know. It was the "we've live in California for over 30+ years and never had Pink's!", they are not like the other Ca institutions, In-n-Out, Tommy's, (fill in your Ca only food establishment here). Let just say the initial sign of how crappy the dogs where... the rubber like casing they were in only encased the bland flavorless meat-like substance inside.

While Pink's is not in the category of the Golden Steer and Captain Kidd's and... I know there is another that goes here... anyway... Pink's is just north of the line of crapsville, I know I won't spend a dollar there again, but I'd be willing to sample something else if someone else paid for it.

So to summarize.. if you want a hot dog go to Portillo's.. it's just down the street in fact... about a mile East of Beach Blvd on La Palma before Dale, or go to Wienerschnitzel --- no really I'd rather have gone here compared to Pink's.  I have heard of this place called PCH in Orange.. I need to try them out... but avoid Mustard's there is one in Long Beach and one in Los Alamitos/Cypress... they suck as well, what an abomination of a "Chicago style" hot dog they serve there. Though Costco serves a decent dog at a great price... $2.50 for a half pound hot dog/polish sausage and a drink.

At least i was able to get a $5 boysenberry pie from Knott's, my receipt was a coupon.

And lastly they have mediocre onion rings as well, a small basket of rings for $3.50 there were maybe 8 in the small paper tray.