Mon Ami Cafe, Garden Grove, CA

 

My entire family came to Mon Ami for dinner after attending my cousin’s high school graduation. We pretty much tore up the restaurant by taking up the whole half of the place. Good times! Because there were so many people, we were able to try a bunch of different Vietnamese and Vietnamese/French fusion dishes. It was a picture-taking opportunity for me! 😀

So here they are —

While waiting for everyone to come, I ordered fried butter calamari to munch on. They have 2 choices for calamari: butter or salt and pepper. I should’ve gone for s&p because that’s what I had last time and it was slightly better. This one wasn’t as crispy as I would’ve liked.

Mon Ami is known for really good bo ne, or filet mignon on a sizzling skillet, served with a fried egg sunny side up. They have various cooking options but select the wine mushroom sauce so that the meat will be saucy and tender. You know you’re eating at a French restaurant when your steak is served with a baguette. My favorite combo.

Crispy rice with seafood. I didn’t expect this to come out in a clay pot. But, regardless, it was yummy. The rice is golden and crispy in the bottom, and the seafood sauce gives it a sweetened taste.

This is the vegetarian version of the above – crispy rice with saucy tofu, mushrooms and veggies. We have a few veggie members of our family so this was naturally their choice. 🙂

Bo luc lac – literal translation: shaking cow. 😀 Basically marinaded beef served on a bed of salad. It was good, although I wish there were more meat than the salad. Oh well.

My dad and uncle opted for a giant fried whole fish served spring roll style, which comes with: rice paper, water to wet the rice paper with, various veggies (baby banana, cucumber, mint, basil, cilantro, etc.) for you to make your own spring rolls.

This is another vegetarian dish – crispy egg noodle topped with tofu, mushrooms, and veggies. I loved how thin and extra crispy the noodle was. You would have to eat this soon as it comes out before the noodle gets soggy with the sauce.

The BBQ chicken rice was OK. A bit dry. I don’t think Asian restaurants make very good BBQ chicken, but that’s just me.

The beef salad is similar to the bo luc lac (shaking beef) mentioned above. Again, too much veggies and not enough beef.

Overall, this is a good place to go for either lunch or dinner. I like the cute interior design, with trees and lamp posts inside making you feel like you’re dining outside on the streets of France. 🙂

The only down sides of this place: cash or debit cards only and they charge $0.50 for water (refills are free, however.)

Mon Ami
14291 Euclid St.
Ste D116
Garden Grove, CA 92843
(714) 554-9888

 

Paris Baguette Bakery Cafe, Cerritos, CA

 

 

I can’t think of a better location for Paris Baguette Bakery Cafe to open up another branch: inside a mall. It’s like a dream come true for me. Shopping then taking a break for sweet pastries and coffee. Perfect combination. 😀

There’s so much to choose from I didn’t even know where to start. You pick up a wooden tray, thin paper lining, and tongs, then you walk around and pick up whatever piece of sweet heaven that tickles your fancy. All kinds of pastries ranging from sweet potato, cheese, fruit, bite-sized, mocha twists, to cheese, butter, and corn bread. Though pastries here are a little more expensive than Porto’s, everything looks so pretty I had to refrain myself from grabbing one of each!

The iced white chocolate mocha drink was not as good as I expected. It was a little on the bland side.

What stood out to me was the canele. It looks like a downward volcano. Made with custard and caramel, with a thick dark caramelized crust, it gives you this firm and spongy bite that satisfies all your sweet taste buds.

They also make pretty looking birthday cakes. Gosh, this sure beats my usual choices of Baskin Robbins ice cream cakes!

And with much self-control, I narrowed down to just these on my tray:

If only every mall had one of these. *sighs*

 

Mon Ami Gabi, Paris Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

This is as close to France as you get while being in Las Vegas. Haha. The Mon Ami (means “My Friend” in French) Gabi is located inside the Paris Hotel on the Las Vegas strip. The name reminds me of this other restaurant also called Mon Ami in Garden Grove. But this one is a bit on the fancy side, although there were some scrubby looking dudes walking around in jeans and slippers. Ugh. Class, people!

Best escargot ever. The nice presentation didn’t make it look anything like snail. With it smothered in garlic butter, pepper, minced parsley, and pesto, you don’t feel grossed out thinking about what you’re actually eating. It’s a delicacy that doesn’t take much to get used to with all that heavenly garlic flavor.

My entree was filet mignon. I love that the fries were flat so they were crispy. I didn’t like the brown gravy poured on top, even if it made the meat softer. I’m not used to having gravy on my meat. Makes me feel like I’m eating meatloaf or something. Definitely not the best steak I’ve had.

The atmosphere is a bit noisy so it was hard to have conversations. Our table was situated near the front entrance so there were a lot of people walking past us. Not the most romantic place to dine, if you ask me.