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Thursday, September 08, 2022

Pink's

No, this is not about the female singer Pink, it’s about the hotdog stall in West Hollywood in Los Angeles. Got there after a long second day of shopping at factory outlets. (Again! Yep, can’t get enough of shopping.) See post on The Boiling Crab for the first day outing. My friends told me it’s famous. Many Hollywood stars frequented the store. There is always long queue outside the store. It is located along a major trunk road and the queue attracts attention and hence provides free advertisement for the stall. We arrived there around 1am. It was a little breezy and chilly around 15 degree Celsius. We joined behind a long queue that bent around a corner of the store and stretched towards the store’s parking lots behind the store. Most of the people in the queue came after clubbing. You could see it from their ‘heightened’ state of behaviour. Not necessary a bad thing. At least their noise broke the boredom of having stuck in a queue. There were eager tourists like us in the queue taking pictures with the store as the backdrop too. We read the brochure menu under the neon light of the store’s overhead signboard in the queue. As most of us were new to the place, we were spoilt for choice on what to order. So we decided to go for variety for everyone to share. 45 minutes past and it was for us to order. Chili Dog, Polish Dog, Nacho Cheese Chili Dog, Mullholland Drive Dog were among the few we ordered. Oh yes, I ordered a drink called Yoo-Hoo which tasted pretty much like chocolate milk. Soon we realized why the queue moved so slowly. Each waiter served us from the start till the end, i.e. from taking order, preparing our order and handing over our food. Our dogs were cooked right in front of our eyes with smoke and smell filling our eyes and shirt. The kitchen was a little squeeze with about 8 to 10 servers shuttling back and forth preparing customers’ order. There was a small indoor dining area with pictures of celebrities hanging all over the walls. More tables and chairs were available behind the store next to the car park. Most of the dogs came with minced meat source which was not unlike Malay Rendang source. Some dogs were spicier and juicier than the other. After a few bites, they all tasted the same. But it did fill our stomachs. The spiciness mixed well with the cool outside air temperature. I would go back again. But the queue might stop me though. http://www.pinkshollywood.com/index.htm

Saturday, September 06, 2008

The Boiling Crab

Rented a car while I was doing a layover in Los Angeles a few weeks back. After driving around and frequented shopping malls at Ontario Mills (http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=1258) and Desert Hills (http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=6), it was time to eat.


Went to a seafood restaurant named The Boiling Crab at Euclid Street in Garden Groove near LA. (http://www.theboilingcrab.com/)


First of all, the restaurant is not big. It was crowded when we arrived. We were told the waiting time about half an hour. So we took our queue number and went to a Vietnamese Café a few doors away. A unique characteristic of this Vietnamese Café is the presence of scantily clad Vietnamese waitresses around. Although there are a lot of LCD TV screens on the four walls, the eye candies are no doubt you-know-who. And one more interesting thing, no alcohol is served. Maybe they don’t have the license to do so. What goes around that looks like jugs of beer is actually Chinese tea.


First impression inside The Boiling Crab restaurant is that of a fishing village. There are fishing nets hanging on the walls and ceiling. Framed pictures of fishermen showing off their catch, fishing rods and boat anchor are part of the interior décor.


We ordered the signature Crawfish with Rajun Cajun (original) seasoning, Dungeoness Crab with Garlic Butter seasoning, King Crab legs with The whole Sha-Bang and Fried Catfish with Cajun Fries.


All our orders came in plastic bags. We were given plastic apron to wear. Tables were lined with oil absorbent papers for easy wrapping and getting rid of the shells.


The signature crawfish is not my favourite. The Cajun source was too hot. The crawfish was too small to warrant the peeling effort. The flesh did not absorb the source. It was a little bland.


Our favorite was the King Crab Legs. It was fresh and easy to handle. The Catfish came second. Nicely fried, warm and smooth on the tougue.


After eating a few dishes, all the sources tasted the same. Perhaps it was the chilly.

Try it if you have not been there.