Spring roll nom nom

555 Girl loves, loves, loves springs rolls and Brodard's famous grilled pork sausage spring rolls are the best, hands down. 

"Nem nuong"is served with a spicy, sweet peanut sauce. 

The grilled sausage is warm and contrasts with the fresh
cucumber, cilantro and lettuce wrapped inside the thin rice paper. 

The best part: Crispy eggroll skins gives the soft spring rolls a crunch with each bite. 

Brodard's is located at 9892 Westminster Ave. in Garden Grove. 

Editor's note: Avoid the long wait and ask to sit outside in the patio. 

Chef recommended Honda-Ya

One of our favorite restaurant groups in Southern California, Izakaya Honda-Ya has locations in Old Town Tustin, Lil' Tokyo and Fountain Valley.

In Tustin, there's always a long wait and most locals gravitate to the specialty of the house - grilled yakitori.

Without fail, we always order the beef tongue, pork belly and asparagus bacon. Crazy good.

On this day, however, 555 Girl decided to forego our regular order and only request chef-recommended menu items.


Here is what we found.

Gindara Miso: soft, tender and delicately marinated sweet miso black cod. OMG....

The dish is small, but each bite is absolute perfection. 

Cume-shiso tempura: Red snapper wrapped in shiso leaves with plum sauce inside.  This was served with a wedge of lemon and green tea salt. Green tea salt?? We were giddy.

Yam-somen: Thinly sliced fresh yam with cold fish broth. We really tried to love this dish, not just because it was so pretty to look at but because we love the chefs at Honda-Ya. For us, the dish was too slimy and had the flavors of raw and sour radish. 

Buta-kaku: "Soft pork with a small side of boil spinach." If you love and appreciate fat, this is probably one of the best ways to get it. The pork belly is so tender and the fat is perfectly marinated and full of flavor.

Ch. 1 Pt. Deux

555 Girl revisits Chapter One: the modern local in Santa Ana's Arts District this weekend. 

We first visited Chapter One in June, shortly after they officially opened and it seems like they have definitely settled in. Here are some highlights of the evening. 

The specials: non-menu items. 

Chile relleno - We almost didn't order this dish and it ended up being our favorite. It had a nice crisp on the outside and was spicy and creamy on the inside. 

Flaming Cheese - It was definitely cheesy but we were surprised to find it thick and almost chewy. Some of the girls loved it and others thought "eh." 

Menu selections:

Even though this dish wasn't a crowd favorite, one of our editors loved the Moroccan chicken sandwich. The best part she said was that it was one of the lighter options on the menu. The flavors tasted subtle and simple even though they really weren't. The sandwich is layered with Indian spices, yogurt, cranberry aioli, chipotle cumin flatbread and served with a lentil salad. 

The flavors of the beef culotte are interesting and perfect for someone in the mood to try something new. Here's how Chapter One describes the dish - "bacon-wrapped, coffee & chocolate crusted, dijon smashed potatoes chocolate soil, soy caramel, fried wontons, sesame powder." A little too much? It doesn't taste as complicated as it sounds.

Editor's note - We also ordered our favorite Portabella burger (not pictured.) See photos from our first visit to Chapter One - here. 

We were disappointed with the scallops. The lemon parsley puree and truffle oil were masked by a heavy layer of salt that made us wince with each bite. 


One of our 555 girls couldn't get enough of Chapter One and went again the next morning for its Sunday Brunch. She raved about the $5 champagne flights and the Grand Marnier french toast. We'll have an update soon. 

Singaporean spices heat up Lil' Tokyo

After hearing much hype about The Spice Table from friends and Mozza insiders, we were excited to head up to L.A. to taste the Southeast Asian flavors created by Chef Bryant Ng, former Mozza chef who decided to open up his own restaurant in Little Tokyo. 

So, what makes The Spice Table so special? First, it's a taste of gourmet Singaporean cuisine - not gourmet in the sense of gussied-up fare, but by expertly executed classics and street food favorites. 

Fried Cauliflower
One of their popular dishes. Perfectly fried cauliflower - think fried chicken nuggets. The dish is served with a side of chili fish sauce which helps cut the grease from the fry.

Sambal Fried Potatoes  
Heavy flavor of chile paste, but a nice spice. Crispy, homey and satisfying. As noted in L.A. Weekly's review by Jonathan Gold, these are like the fried potatoes at Mozza but with a shmear of chile paste.

Chile Prawn Satays
Good overall but not outstanding. There is a strong flavor of chile spice and the shells require a little bit of work. Editor's note: The satays are cooked on a wood burning hearth. 

Beef Rendang
Chunky, tender, hearty, well-braised beef smothered with a spicy red curry and topped off with a mild coconut sauce.

Other items to try:
Kon loh mee (egg noodles, choy sum, ground pork, char siu)
Perfectly cooked noodles, full of flavor from the ground pork. Great texture and very satisfying.

Hainanese Rice
A flavorful accompaniment to a traditional Hainanese chicken dish. The rice is cooked in chicken fat, so it has a rich and buttery flavor with a jasmine accent at the end. Definitely worth a try.

There are many Asian fusion spots on the food scene but The Spice Table excels not because by mish-mashing various cultural dishes together, but by expertly preparing classics that are rarely accessible outside of adventures to Southeast Asia. 

This post was contributed by the Honeymooners, 555 Girl's newlywed and romantic duo who will be celebrating their first anniversary this September in Spain. Look out for future posts from their culinary adventures soon. 

Too good to be true, but it's vegan.

We've been hearing great things about Free Soul Caffe in Old Town Tustin but the completely vegan fare made some of the meat lovin' 555 girls wary. 

One of our contributors is vegetarian so we thought we should go check it out. 

We were blown away. You're not going to walk away saying "It's not bad for being vegan." 

It really is that amazing. The bread was perfectly toasted, the seasoning is spot on and nothing you would expect from a typical boring old sandwich. 

The smoked vegan ham sandwich had avocado slices, sliced cucumbers and fresh cracked black pepper. This was our favorite.  

The ratio and cut of each ingredient was perfect and the "smoked ham" was truly delicious. We've tried veggie "meats" before and this was nothing like it. 

The portobello panini had roasted red bell pepper and artichoke. The salad was really fresh and perfectly seasoned. 

All the ingredients oozed and melded together and each bite was hearty and yummy....

Pièce de résistance - peanut butter torte. How the hell did they make this without using cream or butter? It was so rich and delicious. We were literally swooning.

All of their food is animal-friendly, sustainable and vegan. You won't even find honey here. 


We love you Free Soul Caffe!


Free Soul Caffe is located at 191 E. Main St. 

"Pig's head, good."

Even us OC girls venture outside county lines sometimes. 

Here's what we found on a recent visit to Stefan's L.A. Farm in Los Angeles. 

Chef Steven Richter, who was featured in Bravo's "Top Chef," offers amazing dishes that make you feel like an invited guest to one of the show's cooking challenges. 

See photos of Richter's inspired creations below.

"Pig's head" served with a yellow tomato vinaigrette and watercress salad. 

"Beef tartar" and egg, "sunny side up." 

"Mini foie gras sandwich" (left) and "Like a Big Mac" mini-slider with gouda (top).  

Small plates ranged in price from $3 to $6. 

For more information on the Stefan's at L.A. Farm visit the website here. 

555 Girl hearts David Chang

We found this video on "Munchies" VBS.TV - Watch Chang's interesting take on food which also features chef Jose Andres - "Only a crazy mind would come up with a coffee-mayo bullshit...with ham...and it's unbelievably good." -J. Andres

David Chang, chef and owner of Momofuku restaurants in New York City. Video by YouTube and VBS.TV