North End Cafe - Manhattan Beach, CA

The North End Cafe was a neighborhood restaurant like so many triple D restaurants.  It's hard to go wrong in southern California.  The weather is so often so nice that the outdoor tables are almost always an option.  This restaurant was just a block or so from one of the most beautiful beaches in the country.  It 's hard to be in a bad mood here.

You order at the register, they prepare the food and it arrives at your table.

I ordered the avocado chicken sandwich and tomato basil soup.  I washed it down with a long hammer IPA.  You can read my beer review on untappd.com.  The basil soup was really super.  The avocado chicken sandwich was pretty good.  $28 for a soup, sandwich and beer at a place where you order at the counter was a little pricey.  

I would rate north and Café 8.5 out of 10.  The food was pretty good and the location was great but something just didn't "wow"me about this place. it's still worth checking out.


The North End Cafe
3421 Highland Ave
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
(310) 546-GRUB (4782)
http://www.northendcaffe.net

Tokyo Dog - Seattle, WA

Tokyo Dog is not a traditional restaurant.  It is actually a hot dog truck, or trailer more specifically.  What makes this special is that it is a Japanese-German fusion. The hot dogs are actually high quality German wursts given a sushi treatment.  It kind of reminds me of Guy Fieri's Tex Wasabi concept which is a Tex-mex sushi fusion.

I had the Roppongi Dog which is a good quality rotterwuerst with cream cheese, teriyaki onions and spiced mayo.   I was very pleasantly surprised.  

The presentation is kind of cool.  You're not sure if you are looking at a mutant sushi roll or what.  (It looked better when he first handed it to me rather than after I handled it then took the picture.) 

They whisk the teriyaki and mayo sauce over the top of the dog like a piece of sushi.  The bread was equally high-quality.   It was a soft keiser roll obviously from a real bakery. The hot dog and onions is a very familiar taste but, after they add the cream cheese and the Japanese spices, it takes a crazy culinary turn.

Service was pretty good, especially for a truck.  I was completely confused with their menu and the young lady in the truck walked me through it and I ordered on her recommendation. 

I caught up with Tokyo Dog outside the Starbucks building in Seattle. There were two or three other food trucks outside the building at the same time.  If you show up here then you might get some choices.

I liked the Tokyo Dog so much that I decided to review it.  I would rate Tokyo Dog an 8.7.

http://tokyodog.com/