BEST Pho! Vietnamese Food in SoCal & Promposal

Hey guys, I'm here in Manhattan and the next couple of weeks are gonna be really, really exciting. One step at a time, let's get some dinner. This is a place I've only been to once and I remember it being just the most ridiculously delicious restaurant, Cascalote Latin Bistro. I was here maybe three years ago, I still remember it. I'm gonna go eat here tonight with a friend I haven't seen in a long, long time. Actually, I'm really surprised I found this place. All I remember is it's around this area and it starts with a C. I chalked this all up to food intuition. I don't remember what I had last time, but I remember everything I had was ridiculously delicious. I haven't seen Jennifer in like 20 years. No, it's been a decade. Okay, so are you ready for some good food? Yeah. All right. Guacamole and some fresh calamari. Is that a fried lemon? Yeah, it's guac. Oh, you guys are awesome. You will eat this. I will eat it. Me too. It came from her. I love guac. You can never turn down fresh guac. Let me know, Jennifer. Yeah? Good? This is amazing guac. Wow, I'm still being wowed by that guac right now. That's why this place is so awesome. Yeah. Like, everything is so quick here. Yeah. Guac. The simple fried calamari is ridiculous here. I tried this fried lemon. I've never done this before. This might be a really bad food that I make a mistake. I'm not sure. That's really sour. As it should be. It's okay. Oh, that's sour. Yeah? That is really sour, right? It's not as good as a fried pickle. That's for sure. I'm so excited. Oh, Jennifer's salmon looks awesome. Nice. Do you guys make this at home too? No. Gotcha. Can I try your salmon? Yes. You got to eat first. Otherwise, I feel bad. Wow. It's really soft. Look at this. This is why I found this place again. Ridiculous, right? Yeah. Really, really hot. Oh, my god. That salmon. The flavor just keeps coming. I love this place. You guys should check it out. Well, that was a delicious dinner. Great seeing Jennifer again. So, let me tell you guys what I'm doing. Well, right now, I'm in Flushing. I'm in Sheraton. And tomorrow, I'm about to hit on a two-week fun adventure. So, tomorrow, I'm going to Los Angeles. It's going to be a really fun few days. So, tomorrow, Friday, I'm getting to Los Angeles. Saturday, I'm having a food day with the winners of the contest. They're going to meet me in Los Angeles. Or actually, more specifically, San Gabriel. And we're going to eat the heck out of that town. And then on Monday, I'm attending a food award show. I don't even… I'm not really 100% sure what it was. I was nominated. And now, I'm going to attend. I don't even know if I won. So, they just won all the nominees there. I'm not really sure about this award show because I actually had to pay to be there. Don't people who get nominated usually, like, attend award shows for free? Anyway, I was going to be in LA anyway. So, I'm going to go. And I'm going to take you guys with me. And then on Tuesday, it's finally happening. I'm heading back to Japan. I'm so freaking excited. I got a ton of food I want to try. A ton of experiences I want to try. It's just going to be the funnest thing ever. So, tonight, I got to get some sleep. My flight is really early in the morning. So, I bid you all good night. Good morning. It's really gloomy weather today. But, this is a perfect day to go to Los Angeles. Let's go. This definitely does not feel like spring. Because Japan is actually not that too bad. It's pretty warm over there. I'm just going to bring a light jacket. It's freezing cold here in New York. And what I'm looking forward to right now, it's just a great meal when I land. Cannot wait. A little time before my flight. And I just saw a place where I can get some awesome breakfast. Lounge has some of the greatest food of all airport lounges. Crispy French Toast. That looks great. Smoked Salmon. Frittata. I love the food in this lounge. Dallas and Miss Mike Convention. So, this means I'll arrive in LA at the height of rush hour. That's not going to be fun. I guess I'll get something to eat. Got a Chipotle Spicy Sandwich. Look a lot better on the pictures. Pretty soggy sandwich. Pickles. Tastes better than lunch. Not all that spicy though. But food therapy is helping me get over this delay a little bit. Make me feel a little better. This is my car. Okay, let's see if we can finally get out of here. At this point, I'm pretty hangry. I'm like, I'm just, I'm starving. I just want to go. I just want to go and eat. And I know this rush hour traffic is going to be crazy. So, I'm trying to be positive. But like, I am so hungry right now. Alright, see you in a bit. I heard this Pho restaurant, Pho 79, is supposed to be really awesome. I'm always up for Pho. Alright, I think I'm going to go for the Super Bowl. I don't know. Any time that food has super in it, I tend to want to get it. I'm also going to get the soft rice paper roll with shrimp and pork. And the papaya salad looks awesome. Literally, it's just been on a plane, I feel like, for a week. I need this. I need this right now. This is the papaya salad with beef. Apparently, it's more beef jerky than regular beef. And then my super Pho. This looks pretty super. Ridiculously good, by the way. Big old chunks of beef. Try it. Let's try the broth. This might be the best bowl of Pho I had outside of Vietnam. I think so. This broth is ridiculous. Oh, that is so beefy. Thanks to you guys who recommended this place. Oh man, I'm going to be coming here a lot. It opens at 6am. Guess what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow. I'm so happy right now. I haven't had a really good bowl of Pho since I left Vietnam. Not even something that's like 70%, 80%. That does not exist in New York. This, I mean, it's not as good as Vietnam, but it's pretty darn good. Look at this. Raw garlic on a papaya salad. That's a bold statement. That's not bad. Crispy, sweet, spicy. I think I'm going to go really good with Pho. I'm loving this Pho right now. Loving it. Oh, it makes me so happy. I just love dipping the noodles in some sweet flour paste. Serves it with some broth. Oh, I haven't been this happy since I left Vietnam. There's only one thing I want to end this night with. It's just delicious. The most delicious sugar cane juice I've ever had. And shout out to my friend Tiffany for showing this place to me. It is insane. Come here and get the matcha. You're going to be really, really happy. It's like a sumo size. This is a large. It's so good. Alright, back to the hotel because I still got a lot of work to do before heading off to Japan. Oh, by the way, this is a really nice hotel. Pretty nice view. That looks good. And what is this? I've never seen this before. This is sleep well lavender balm. It's like a lip balm or something. What is this? A little vial of perfume. Yeah, it's like a little lip balm thingy. I don't really know what I'm supposed to do with it. It smells nice. So like I said, I got to do a bunch of work. And tomorrow, I'm taking out the first winners of the contest for a food day. So I'm meeting them tomorrow at one of my favorite Xi'an places. And we're going to get the food day kicked off. And today, although the travel was kind of insane. Like, delayed flight, missed my connection. Took me like an hour to get my luggage. Took me like an hour to get my rental car. But dinner, more than made up for it. So I am a happy man. Now, I'm just going to go work out, go to bed. And I'll see you tomorrow. Alright, I'm going to take off and head to San Gabriel Valley. And I'm so excited. Because one, I'm starving. And two, I get to meet one of the winners of the contest I just had. Robert Alvarez. I'm going to meet his family there. We're going to go on a food adventure. Always exciting. Let's go eat. My first stop, my favorite Xi'an restaurant. Robert is the winner of the contest. So congratulations. So we're going to chow down on a bunch of food. And we're starting off with Xi'an food. You guys ever had Xi'an food before? No. Any allergies at all? Are you guys good with spice? Yeah. You're my perfect eating companion. Alright, we're going to pig out. See you in a bit. So it's a real contest. Robert is actually sitting here eating with me. I'm not swindling people. So we got some cold wheat noodles. A full one plate of gluten. Biang biang noodles. These are pork burgers. Some seaweed, some lamb pita, and some skewers. First Xi'an meal. Awesome. Great. So next up, more food. We're going to probably my favorite bubble tea milk tea spot. It's around the 626. It's got kind of a unique name. You guys are my favorite bubble tea shop. Milk tea shop in this area. So it's really, really good. It's really good, right? Horchata is great. Look at this. It actually has real gold inside. It's pretty good. It's supposed to be really awesome, highly recommended by my friend. There's still a lion at the door. That's pretty good, huh? You can get a foot massage while you wait for this place. That's insane. You guys excited? Only one of you guys have hot pot before. Super excited? So you can get a bunch of stuff over there. Like the sauces, and the little snacks over there. My friend said the sesame pancake is delicious over there. Bunch of Chinese snacks here. And some dessert items, which are awesome. I got the fermented rice soup, which I love. All the ingredients for a good base. My friend said this is ridiculous. So let's try that. Look at the sesame pancake. Oh my god. It's brought me back to my childhood. Oh that fermented rice drink. So good. This is the spicy beef. It's like it's tacked by chilies. That's pretty great. I love my potatoes. These I think are the fried noodles. Here you go. Oh the noodles are good. Really amazing. Awesome. These guys got like a 3 hour drive back. You guys full? Yeah. What's your favorite thing today? For me, it was the noodles. The noodles? The noodles. Italy, if you're watching this, can you go to prom with me? You're using my video to ask a girl to prom? Hopefully she says yes. Alright, so that wraps up our food day. Thanks guys. Really great meeting you. Again, thanks for entering the contest. Hopefully you guys had a good time. Food is always fun. Okay, so on this trip in Los Angeles, I'm actually booking, I'm actually staying at a different hotel every single night. There's a couple reasons for that. One is I'm kind of in different parts of Los Angeles. Another reason is because this is better for hotel points if I did this. So this is a brand new hotel. It's here near Pasadena. And by the way, that was a great meet up. Robert was fantastic. His whole family is just as beautiful. Hopefully he got his prom date. This robot guy started coming towards me. Oh, this is so funny. This thing was all the way over there and started walking towards me or rolling towards me as soon as it saw me get off the elevator. That's really hilarious. Help you with my luggage. His name is Rich. It's definitely one of the best hotels I've been to. For sure one of the best surgeons I've been to. Probably the best. Really awesome hotel. I know I just had hot pot yesterday, but every time I'm in SoCal, I've got to have some shabu-shabu. And there's a new place that just opened up downtown Alhambra. Let's check this place out. Normally I don't like sitting this close to that much vegetables, but it's okay. I've got my broth. I've got my sauces. Oh, thank you. That's so pretty. Let's start with a piece of ribeye. Seconds and it's done. A little ponzu. A little sesame. That is a perfect bite of beef. Nice and clean. Wonderfully tender. That's why I look for one of these shabu. Prime ribeye. Much fattier. Much more marbling. This should taste so much better. Much better. Much more tender. That was a great shabu-shabu meal. Now I'm just taking a walk and it just feels so good. That's what I love about California. It's just so nice and comfortable. It's a great day so far. Another sunny day in Los Angeles. I would miss rain if I lived here. Today is the day of the food award. So that's tonight. But right now I'm heading to Orange County to see my good friend Winnie. Also for another bowl of pho because some people recommended another place I must try so I can't wait for that. So let's hit the road because just thinking about that bowl of pho is making my mouth water. A lot of people recommended Pho-Holic. It's supposed to be always packed. Look at this. It's always full. I had to park in the street. It's like all locals here. Just glancing at other people. What other people are eating. Dude. This guy beside me is eating this huge rib. Oh my god. He's using scissors to cut it apart. That looks insane. I gotta get that. Whatever that is. When this thing arrived in front of me, I about flipped out. It's filled with this massive tendon. Oh my good lord. This is the craziest thing. Greatest thing about this? Three dollars. I'm about to cry. Look how beautiful this is. So right now I'm just waiting for one more food item. Then my meat adventure will begin. My final food item has arrived. Look at these ribs. All covered in scallions. And cilantro and onions. So all my food is here. This is like meat heaven right now. Oh my god. It's so tender. Oh the flavor is so good. This thing just fall off the bone. Tell me you don't want to take a bite of that right now. Clean off the bone. Look at this. I'm just going to take a bite of this. This is where all the flavor meet up and have a dance party together. Now they're taking that part in my mouth. Oh my god. I've never done that before. I love My favorite is so insane. I could eat this once a day. Like one dinosaur one more day. Usually. Moment of truth. How good is the broth? Oh that's beefy. And also there's so much meat in the pho itself. Oh wow. I love it. I love everything about this place. When I think of pho outside of Vietnam. This and Pho 79 are my two places. But this place more because of all the extra meat they give you. Heaven. It's pretty much done. I got as much food as I could off the bone. It's over. Now I'm on my way to pick up my friend Addy. And we're on our way to this awards thing. Which is in West Hollywood. I got changed in literally 8 minutes. I ironed my shirt. And put everything on in 8 minutes. I don't know whether that should be impressive or scary. This is Addy. Say hi Addy. We're looking for Winnie. We're out here. Winnie's here. Hi. Eva. Hi. You guys hungry? I'm mainly here to eat. She's hungry. They already ate. I don't know. It's okay. Food time. This is the tuna. This is some olives. This is awesome. It's potatoes. Tons of herbs. Beautiful. Very light. Not mushy. Wait, 4 of us are sharing that? That's very tiny. That's like Addy can eat that by herself. Really? Right? We're going to lobster later, right? Or crab? Good. So I don't care about this. Strictly so clear. Everyone. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. Both categories. That's all because you guys voted. That's so awesome. Thank you so much. Couldn't have done this without you guys. This is yours. Can't really give it to you. Thanks again. Winnie's Friends Restaurant. The District by Hannah. It's supposed to be awesome. Crab and seafood here. We did it for all the writers. The official Academy Award. For all the nominees. The writers. Get Out was here. Shape of Water. We have a special menu. The Shape of Water people were here? They won? The writer was here. Awesome. Can I come to your next party? Of course. That would be awesome. Now the eating begins. It's a really popular restaurant. Vietnamese food. I'm really excited. We didn't really eat that much at the Taste Awards. You're hungry, right? Sorry. Winnie's hungry? I'm so excited. This restaurant looks fantastic. It's rated really well too. Can't wait to try this place. Look at the lobster. Oh my goodness. It's fried in the garlic noodle. Yeah baby. I'm so excited for this. That lobster is amazing. It's so sweet. It's so good. Slightly crispy on the outside. Look how succulent the sea bass is. It's beautiful. Oh my god. Mmm. You gotta eat the sea bass. It makes me happy. And cheery. Look at this. There's noodles underneath the sea bass. Oh my god. That noodle under the sea bass. Oh my god, try that. I'm just gonna try it. Right? Oh man. Are you kidding me? With this noodle? This is uni noodle? It doesn't taste like a sneeze, now does it? It doesn't taste like... I have said before that uni's taste like the ocean sneezed. But these noodles, these are some of the best noodles I've ever put in my mouth. Wow. That was just amazing. Oh my god. The noodles are so perfectly chewy. And it's seasoned If you guys ever come here, get this. Please, do yourselves a favor. Do you have some? How ridiculous is that? Oh my god. Oh, what is this, steak? Oh, steak. Look at the onion. Oh, it's beautiful. Oh, that steak is so tender. It's seasoned so well. Oh my god. Not a single bad bite of food here so far. Seriously. I'm not just saying this because it's Winnie's friend. My kids are not. I'll come back for these noodles. Oh my gosh. Look at this, noodles, like 20,000 pulled a foot on this trip and I loved every one of them. Oh dear lord, this is awesome. That broth is so fantastic. Oh man. You can taste the hominess as well as the fanciness of this pho. This is great. So after last night, I didn't think I was going to eat again ever because that's how I felt. But my last night here in SoCal and I got to eat at Vox. Vox Kitchen one last time. I got to go get a steak. I got to go do some work and tomorrow I'm heading off to Japan. Just this massive succulent steak. I'm trying to be healthy so here's some asparagus. Look at this. Look at that juice. Look at that juice coming out of that meat. I'm so excited about this. This gets me every time, you know. My beef dumpling soup. Oh, this is going to be a super runny egg here. Oh, there it goes. There it goes. I feel pretty good though. I think that's the last thing I'm eating here in SoCal. Alright, time to get some work done. Get ready for my flight.