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Honey Badger Restaurant

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When I was walking back from lunch on Saturday, another storefront caught my eye.  The exposed Edison bulb chandeliers and dark wood surfaces made me think this was going to be a hip coffee place on the rejuvenated Main street in Alhambra, but it was actually Honey Badger — yes, the same Honey Badger as the popular coffee, tea, and study spot just a few blocks down on the same street.

Honey Badger Restaurant, unlike Honey Badger Cafe, has more of a focus on food. Their specialty is their house-made noodles, and you know how much I like noodles. So much that I returned to the same area for dinner just so I could try out the restaurant, even though it was in their soft-opening* phase.

From the limited menu, Will and I ordered the Honey Badger wings, roulette peppers, garlic noodles, and eggplant noodles.

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The roulette peppers are fried shishito peppers tossed with a savory, slightly tangy sauce. None of the ones I had were all that spicy.

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The Honey Badger wings was my favorite dish of the night. The sauce was garlicky, salty, with a slight tang that made it hard to resist licking my fingers after the wings were done.

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The man who took our ordered recommended the garlic noodles only if we were garlic lovers, and boy, was right about that. The bouncy, chewy noodles were doused in a lot of garlic.  So much so that it was almost too garlicky for me, and I do love a bit of garlic.

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The eggplant noodles were a little more muted in comparison. I liked the slightly sweet taste of the eggplant noodles. While the noodles were of a great texture, even slightly stretchy, the slight sauce on the noodles made them a bit too sticky for me.

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To drink with our meal, Will ordered an iced chrysanthemum herbal tea, light on the sugar.  It was shaken with crushed ice and was a wonderful refreshing drink to have with the meal.  I went with the classic almond milk tea (also light on sugar) and it definitely hit the spot.  If the mug looks large in the picture, it’s because it is very large.

It’s nice to have a new, different spot to dine at in the neighborhood and I’m curious to see what their more established menu will bring.

Honey Badger Restaurant
555 W Main St
Alhambra, CA 91801
(free parking in a lot right next to the restaurant)

 

* Here’s my gripe about soft openings:  I understand that they’re useful for restaurants that want to try out their menu and staff, or still have a few kinks to iron out, but if that were the case, then the restaurant shouldn’t be charging full price.   If you want diners to help you test out your restaurant, then give them a discount, or make it free.  If that’s not financially feasible, then open it to only friends and family at a discount.  It seems like restaurants use the ‘soft opening’ term so that people are less critical about their dishes. I think it’s only fair that if a restaurant is charging full price, then it should be critiqued under the same standards as fully-opened restaurants.  It’s not a criticism of Honey Badger specifically — just restaurants who hide under the ‘soft opening’ term.

Colonia Taco Lounge — Party Trays

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taco party

When we were thinking of what food to serve at Robin’s 1st birthday party, we primary wanted things that 1.) tasted good, 2.) was low effort, and 3.) most people would like.  After shooting around some options and finding pros and cons of each, I suddenly thought of Colonia Taco Lounge. Will and I already loved their food, but the question was whether or not their stuff would travel well and whether or not they would do party trays.

The answer is yes and yes.

Some taco fillings at Colonia are better suited to making the trip in a party tray from the restaurant to the park than others.  Luckily, the folks at Colonia took the stress out of deciding which fillings traveled better than others by giving us a suggested list of things to pick from. We chose the tesmole (chicken and mole), pork & pumpkin, huitlacoche, chayote, and a tray of guacamole and chips. The trays also included their delicious house-made tortilla. The total turned out to be $200 not including tip.

We were told that each tray would feed 15-20 people, so we expected four trays (plus a tray of guacamole) to feed at least 60 people. Well, their food was so good that the two meat trays were gone in a short amount of time and the vegetarian trays (huitlacoche and chayote) were also very popular.

I was happy with our decision to get the party trays from Colonia because it meant we didn’t have the stress of cooking or making food for our guests at the party, and we got to eat delicious food.  The restaurant also went out of their way to accommodate us by having a person at the restaurant on a day when they were closed (Labor day) so that we could pick up the food. A-plus!

I would have taken a picture of the food, but I was too busy eating and by the time I was done, there was not much to take pictures of.

Colonia Taco Lounge
13030 Valley Blvd
La Puente, CA 91746

Modan Artisanal Ramen

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Are you sick of the word ‘artisanal’ yet? Because I am. I should have known Modan Artisanal Ramen was going to be disappointing.

An average bowl of ramen at an above average price. But I did get to sit next to one of my fav chefs who was also eating there, so worth it! #modanartisinalramen

I was excited when I read about a ramen shop opening in South Pasadena, which is just a stone’s throw away from me. We already have Benten ramen, which works in a pinch if you don’t want to drive all the way to Sawtelle for Tsujita, but it’s always good to have other choices in the neighborhood. What really got me excited was that their menu said the veggie ramen was vegan!

Alas, it was not so.

When Will and I got to the restaurant a few nights later for dinner, the menu had the word ‘vegan’ crossed out. The noodles have egg in them, so the veggie ramen was just vegetarian, not vegan. For what it’s worth, the broth was decent and the agedashi tofu was a nice addition.

I was put off by the addition of truffle oil in Modan’s signature bowl of ramen, and I wasn’t in the mood for spicy, so I just went with the shoyu ramen. Apparently, I chose poorly. The broth was okay, but lacked a certain something that made it a good ramen broth. Whether it was richness or depth, the shoyu broth just didn’t taste like ramen broth. Maybe I should have just gone with the tonkatsu broth of the signature bowl, but if they’re not going to make a good shoyu ramen, why have it on the menu at all?

The noodles were nothing to write home about either, which just makes me angry. If noodles aren’t going to be vegan, then they’d better be good enough to warrant that!

The chashu also was a surprise to me. Instead of the slices of buttery soft pork I expected, I had two large slices of dry, slightly tough, grilled pork. It wasn’t tough enough that I didn’t give Robin some pieces, and I guess it was in her interest that the pork wasn’t more delicious because I would have eaten more of it myself.

Overall, Modan wasn’t good enough for me to go out of my way to return to, especially when Benten is slightly better tasting and a better value. I don’t mind paying more for ramen that’s exceptional, but in this case, it wasn’t.

Modan Artisanal Ramen
700 Fair Oaks Ave
Ste G
South Pasadena, CA 91030