TBA
St. Patrick's Day
Unplanned St. Patrick's Day driven by Ophelia and Sue. Given that it was unplanned and late, all the Irish places were probably packed, so we went to Sawtelle instead, where ROC had no wait (!!) and then to Atticus Creamery and Pies for dessert.
As an attempt at Taiwanese and Shanghainese food on the westside, ROC succeeds. The xiao long bao, particularly the pork and crab, are almost as delicate as Din Tai Fung and are almost as good, and the rice cakes, while not as flavorful, are again pretty close. The green beans and steamed dumplings are a few steps down but still not bad, the only completely disappointing dish is the beef roll. While normally not worth the long lines, for no line and the local-drive-convenience, this was worth it.
Atticus Creamery and Pies does homemade mini pies, cheesecakes, cookies, and ice cream. The banana cream pie adds coconut, which didn't work so well, but the rest was pretty good. The free cookie with Yelp check-in looked pretty dull, but was nice and chewy for such a thin cookie with plenty of chocolate.
They actually had a few other customers come in while we were there, but the general lack of a crowd was concerning. A clean, sparse interior equally sparse with customers can't be good. Other dessert places are packed, I'm hoping this place is busier on weekends or else it's not going to last long...