Shutters on the Beach

Location: 1 Pico Blvd., Monterey Park, CA
Cuisine: European
Hours: MON-SAT (11:30am-2:30pm, 6pm-10pm); SUN (11am-3pm, 6pm-10pm)
Phone: (310) 587-1717
Website: www.shuttersonthebeach.com
Prices: $25/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 6
Environment: 10

Frequency: Unique

For lunch, we wanted to get everyone out of Monterey Park, but really didn't know where. Luckily we ran into Jet, who was meeting up with Frida's family at the hotel. After some brainstorming, he thought of Shutters in Santa Monica.

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Shutters on the Beach was an excellent change of scenery, right on the coast. It felt like we were in a different country. EVerything about the environment was just right. The place was clean, spacious and well lit. The seating was comfortable for our party of 7 and we had a good view of the beach. The weather was sunny, but windy by the end of our meal.

Reception

Though we tried to kill time before the reception at Hilton San Gabriel, it actually started promptly and there were no delays with dinner like pretty much every other wedding I've been to! We still made it in time for the first dish though. After In and Out, we actually made another stop for hot tea!

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The reception schedule was very efficient and everything worked out right. There was never a boring moment. The food and entertainment were both great.

In and Out Burger

Location: Garfield Ave., Alhambra, CA
Cuisine: American, Fast Food
Hours: SUN-THU (10:30am-1am); FRI-SAT (10:30am-1:30am)
Phone: (718) 961-2900
Website: www.in-n-out.com
Prices: about $6/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 9
Environment: 5

Frequency: Unique

Like it was with Jollibee in the Philippines, I was trying to find time to slip In and Out Burger somewhere into the schedule that was already filled with family get-togethers. We decided to go for it after the wedding ceremony since it would be another hour before doors to the reception were even open. And usually, there's a long wait before dinner starts. Andy found the closest one on his GPS and relayed the info. to Wil, so our 2 cars met up there shortly.

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In and Out Burger had somewhat of a diner feel because of the retro look rather than a typical fast food restaurant. There was also a good wait for the food, so I'm not sure if it's considered fast food or not. It's more similar to those healthy burger joints in Manhattan (minus the healthy of course).

Jeremy & Frida

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Little Tokyo

The original plan was to go to the beach, but it was too hard to coordinate everyone getting up on time. Also, it got a lot cooler from the previous 2 days. Evelyn planned out a bunch of possible activities and visiting Little Tokyo turned out to be a good alternative. Things started out slow as we were waiting for stores to open up, but at least we got the change of scenery and ate somewhere other than NBC!

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Yazmin Malaysian Restaurant

Location: 27 East Main St., Alhambra, CA
Cuisine: Malaysian
Hours: SUN-THU (11am-9:30pm); FRI-SAT (11am-10pm)
Phone: (626) 308-2036
Prices: ??? (covered by Jeremy & Frida)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 8
Service: 8
Value: ?
Environment: 5

Frequency: Common

After dim sum, Matt & I helped Jeremy & Frida out with some wedding activities. We drove all over LA, picking up shoes, confirming their booking at the Hilton<, picking up the reception decor and dropping off back at the hotel. It was a great workout after that big lunch! By the time we got back, it was almost time to head to the rehearsal dinner at Yazmin Malaysian Restaurant.

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We had 6 tables, which was about 60 people to fill up more than half of the spacious restaurant. I thought Malaysian was a great choice for the traditional pre-wedding dinner. In my family, it's usually a Chinese banquet, so this is a good experience to open up some people. Malaysian is somewhat similar to Chinese food, but yet different enough for the creatures of habit!

NBC (Dim Sum)

I had a feeling we would be back at this close, convenient restaurant again... just not this soon! At least it was for dim sum, so it felt like a different place. Chinese restaurants are like that. The same venue can alter the experience by offering dim sum, lunch and banquet style meals.

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Pajama Party

Since most of us were still getting used to the time zone, we just hung out at the room instead of going out again for dessert or coffee. After dinner, we looked at the clock and it was only 7:30pm, though we were really up for more than a day already. But we had to stay up to make our adjustment easier.

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We all had fun catching up. I haven't seen Matt since Andy's wedding and didn't really get to catch up with Jeremy & Kathy for Uncle Vic's Memorial. So that's one of the reasons why I took more days off than I normally would have.

NBC Seafood Restaurant

Location: 404-A S. Atlantic Blvd., Monterey Park, CA 91754
Cuisine: Chinese, Seafood
Hours: 7 DAYS (8:0am-10:00pm)
Phone: (626) 282-2323
Prices: about $12/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 8
Environment: 6

Frequency: Common

Our first dinner was close by and surprisingly good. We noticed NBC Seafood Restaurant earlier in the afternoon when Uncle Mariano drove us around the area. So we just had a relaxing walk over there for later on.

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The food was above average overall, but not nearly as good as something in one of NYC's Chinatowns. For more details, please visit the Picasa album. The service was pretty good in that they changed our plates often and got anything we asked for pretty quickly. The prices were great for the portions we were served. The restaurant space was huge and decorative, but wasn't that clean. There were flies and ants all over and the restrooms could use some maintenance.

Smooth Flying

Generally, I hate flying just because it's boring, so I always prepare a lot of things to do. Many times, I end up not doing any of them. I guess I never really know what I want to do until the moment arrives. I had the following items charged up for more hours of entertainment than the flight itself: iPod (~12 hours), game emulator (8 hours) and laptop (9 hours). Delta had personal entertainment devices with movies, games & music in every seat though, so I ended up not using any of my devices! The movie selections were actually pretty good too. I killed all of the flight time and didn't get to finish everything. There were no delays, no lost luggage and the ride was comfortable. The start of my vacation couldn't have been smoother.