Posts Tagged ‘Southern California’

Matsuyama Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar Grand Opening!

The residents of Orange County, Westminster to be specific, have a new sushi restaurant in town, Matsuyama Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar. I am here to tell you that if you are a fan of great sushi, you do not want to hesitate checking it out. I promise you, you have never had a sushi experience like this. In my youth I looked forward to things like Christmas and getting my driver’s license. As I got older, things like tax refunds and stock dividend checks were anticipated anxiously; they all pale in comparison to how much I was looking forward to last Saturday and the Grand Opening of Matsuyama Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar.

Friends and followers at Facebook thought that I turned vegetarian because most of my food photos lately have been of fruits and vegetables that we either juice or barbecue. For the previous three years, those photos were all of the various sushi rolls that my friend, Song Kim, invented; each a true work of art. In October, the sushi photos stopped. Many put one and one together and came up with vegetarian. The fact of the matter is that Song decided he wanted to open his own place. I tried going back to the establishment I met him at and enjoyed for more than three years, but it was not the same. It is one thing to know the ingredients, but if you do not know how to put them together, it is not going to be the same. I decided I was going to have to wait for Song to open his new place. Read more…

Rock and Brews, El Segundo

A couple of weeks ago, my buddy Phil told me about a new restaurant in El Segundo that had 50 beers on tap, so it did not take much convincing to get me to head over to Rock & Brews last Saturday to check it out. Rock & Brews is partially owned by Gene Simmons, so it was a safe bet that with the combination of rock and roll and 50 beers on tap this was going to be a pleasurable experience.

The weather was so-so, but we wanted to go for a bike ride and I figured it would be easier to find parking with motorcycles than with a full-sized car. As it turns out, Rock & Brews has plenty of off-street parking, which was a pleasant surprise. The building of the restaurant itself reminds me of an auto repair garage. I was told it was supposed to resemble being backstage at a concert venue. All I can say is that I must be getting asked backstage at the wrong places. Rock & Brews was bigger than some venues I have attended. That being said, when it is open it only has three walls as the north side opens into a large patio. While this is not a problem when the weather is nice, it will be interesting to see what it is like when the weather is foul. Read more…

Waves of Grain Beerfest 2012 – Roundhouse Aquarium Fundraiser

These photos were taken at the Waves of Grain Beerfest 2012, held at Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach, CA. This was a fundraiser for Roundhouse Aquarium in Manhattan Beach, an environmental organization committed to fostering and promoting the education of the oceans, tidelands and beaches of Southern California. It is tough to beat a fundraiser that showcases craft beer, but Waves of Grain did just that by providing craft beers from around the country as well as several local breweries.

Local breweries in attendance included Bootleggers Brewery from Fullerton, Cismontane Brewing Company from Rancho Santa Margarita, Golden Road Brewing from Los Angeles, El Segundo Brewing Company, Hangar 24 Craft Brewery from Redlands, Strand Brewing Company from Torrance, Smog City Brewing from Tustin and Old Orange Brewing Company from Orange. Other breweries in attendance included Allagash Brewing Company, Anchor Brewing, Ballast Point Brewing Company, Black Market Brewing Company, Chimay, Drakes Brewing, Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Karl Strauss Brewery, Kona Brewing Company, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Lost Coast Brewery, New Belgium Brewing, North Coast Brewing Company, Schneider-Weisse Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Stone Brewing Company, Unibroue and Widmer Brothers Brewing. Read more…