50s Daze at Dal Rae Steakhouse

Did you know that the 1950s never left Dal Rae in Pico Rivera? In fact, as I was driving up Washington Blvd, I already knew I was going somewhere special. From a few streets away, I could already see the tall beautiful neon sign with the restaurant name in blazing red lights. No cheesy backlit plastic for Dal Rae. It was class all the way.

Upon entering the lobby, I was greeted by live music in the bar and two hostesses, who with their almost bouffant hair-dos helped set the stage for my 50s time warp. Inside the bustling restaurant, my eyes took in the wood paneled walls and the black leather banquettes and I truly felt like I was back in time.

Once seated, iced relish trays were swept onto to the table while drink orders were taken. While perusing the menu, we were able to crunch our way through cold crisp veggies. It's amazing to start your meal with fresh produce edibles. For someone who's eaten at a lot of restaurants, this was a welcome first for me.

Speaking of the menu, Dal Rae's vintage menu contained old standbys like lobster thermidor, oysters Rockefeller and tableside Caesar. Desserts even included relics like bananas flambé and cherries jubilee.

With all the choices, it was hard to decide but eventually everyone made their selections. After placing our orders, French bread, breadsticks and thick cracker wafers came out, soon followed by garlic bread. For our presently carb-conscious world, a lot of people would be running out the door screaming, but hey, in my 50s daze, I took helpings of both.

Appetizers were ordered, but the one that held the most fascination was the escargot cooked in garlic butter. The aroma was so strong that I think people from the bar could have smelled it; yet, it was also so tantalizing that I may have been willing to forget that escargot was French for snails and sampled the dish anyway.

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My Secret Recipe: Korean Octopus Dinner Show

Octopus has never been a must try for me and in fact, it's usually a must avoid food for me. The thought of eating tentacles was never that appetizing. So I surprised even myself when I agreed to dinner with friends at My Secret Recipe, a Korean restaurant known for its primarily octopus dishes.

Upon our arrival, I was thankful that the friend who offered to take us on this culinary journey, was actually Korean. A Korean only menu and a wait staff who spoke very limited English may have proven very difficult for the rest of our group to handle, but with her there, it was smooth sailing.

We didn't have a clue as to what she ordered, but soon after, a large pan came out filled with cabbage, green onions, bean sprouts, more veggies and peeking through all that, we could see the bright red of the chili marinated baby octopus. Two other plates also came out with one containing noodles and chili and the other with pork belly meat. Our waitress simply dumped both noodles and pork into the pan and let the whole thing start to cook over the burner that was in the middle of our table.

After awhile, our waitress returned with tongs and a scissor and before our astonished eyes, she pulled up one of the baby octopuses from its head and while its tentacles were dangling in the air, proceeded to cut it into pieces with her scissor back into the pan. Then she did the same with the second one. We had thought the octopus was already cut up, so seeing it whole was a definite surprise and actually was the cause for the giggles. After the unexpected show, she started stirring everything in the pot until the food took on a bright red color.

A few minutes later, we were finally able to dig in. Although we had ordered medium hot, the octopus and veggie casserole definitely still had a punch. I'm glad we stuck with medium, because I think hot would have been way too much to handle.

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