Sunday, March 16, 2008

Back in the Saddle

Hello loyal TasteBuds viewers:

We would like to take the opportunity to apologize for the lack of updates in forever. For a million and one reasons this thing has been super-neglected. Mainly my lack of an at home internet connection. But that doesn't mean we weren’t hitting spots, taking pics and formulating drawn out opinions. Not at all. Here we have the first post in a series of more than a handful that will re-establish the dominance of your friendly neighborhood over-indulgers.

Onward.

Cfre and I were invited by Shallowness to come check out his family owned spot, Four Seasons Steakhouse, in Rowland Heights. The spot was said to be good, but with an offer of the food being on him, we found it hard not to take Shallowness up on it.

The spot is located in an Asian indoor shopping center called Pacific Plaza. They have a food court in the back that has a bunch of other restaurants. One of the main things that sets Four Seasons apart from its neighbors is the fact that they have an English friendly menu. I’m not trying to tear on the restraints without English-speaking people at the register; I’m merely saying that, as a person who doesn’t speak anything but English, I find the place more welcoming. Or, one could go so far as to say, “less intimidating”.

All of the restaurants in the food court feature signs in what I think may be Chinese, I’m at least sure that that is what Four Seasons sign is in. But just so you know what to look for here’s their front counter.

Shallowness handled the ordering duties by asking us what kind of meat we wanted, and having already seen the illustrious images of food on the menu we both replied “steak and shrimp”.

We sat down and were surprised to get some full on appetizers with our meal. The salad had some really nice thousand island dressing and the garlic bread was awesome, but the true standout star was the soup. I don’t know exactly what kind of soup it is, I can best describe it as a less heavy version of corn chowder, but HOLY SHIT…the soup is FUCKING AMAZING.

It’s as if God came down from heaven and blessed you with a taste of perfection. But just the smallest taste. Just enough to make you spend you entire life waiting for that next taste and no matter how bad it is, in the end its all worth it when you get some more and its like you just looked Jesus in the eyes. Yup, just like heroin.

Anyways, here’s the rest of the food:

Shallowness got some pasta with shrimp on it. Looks delicious, doesn’t it?

And Cfre and I went with the same thing, I’m not sure what it’s called, but Giant steak with a handful of humongous shrimp, pasta and everyone’s food came with the same sauce and an overeasy egg. And the obligatory bowl of rice.

The plates were sizzling hot, literally. Not like “Careful, it’s hot”, more like “Watch out, this shit will melt your skin off”.

The food was awesome. Honestly, I was a little hesitant when I started to see the odd combinations of foods. I mean, the rice and garlic bread was a little weird, but the pasta was like chow mein with a kind of spaghetti sauce I’ve never seen before (Peas? Really?). But in the end everything came together in a crazy mix of the best parts of normal steakhouse offerings with a Chinese flair.

Mmmmm...

I promised not to post the pictures of Cfre licking the still-sizzling plate, but as a testament to the quality of the food, here’s a pic of my own personal aftermath.

So, yeah, if you’re in the neighborhood go get some good ass food at really good prices (around $15 a person with drink, come on you’re getting steak and shrimp) go to the Four Seasons. Fuck, even if you have a forty minute drive ahead of you (like yours truly) make the trip anyway.