Hawaiian poke @ The Big Daddy Shack; and burrito @ The Flyin' Jalapeno, Venice Beach (LA, California)

I am back from California, and what a trip that was! It was a combination of exhilarating and exhausting, as it is never easy travelling across so many timezones with youngsters. Indeed, it was an experience I won't forget any time soon, and I have many photos to share in the weeks/months to come. Our first stop on the trip was Los Angeles, and we stayed in a rental house near Venice Beach. I tasked hubby with the job of doing up the itinerary of our two days in LA, and he did a fab job of it! We spent our first morning in LA at the beach, then we headed over to Big Daddy Shack for lunch. This was our first time eating Hawaiian poke, a raw fish salad heavily influenced by the Japanese cuisine. Big Daddy Shack is a small eatery mainly catering for take-away orders, though there were a handful of seats and some tables for the option to dine in. The girl serving at the counter was very sweet, friendly and helpful, and I loved her purple micro braids! The staff in general were lovely and amicable, so this place gets the thumbs ups for good service.

The Big Daddy Shack's shopfront:

The order counter and kitchen:

The front page of the take-out menu:

The menu was a pictorial instruction on how to build/design your poke bowl: choose a size (Lil Daddy for US$9 that comes with one topping of your choice, and Big Daddy for US$12 that includes two toppings), pick white or brown rice, decide between ahi tuna or salmon, and finally select one sauce. For those who don't fancy raw fish, there are a few seared and grilled options to choose from, and even a grilled chicken bowl for non-fish eaters. Also available were hand rolls, salads and fruit smoothies. Hubby and I are big fans of the poke bowls. The combination of flavours, textures aromas were excellent, and I liked how nutritious these poke bowls were.

Hubby's Big Daddy poke bowl of ahi tuna with brown rice, mango and macadamia nuts, drizzled with house shoyu sauce. Mango gave some sweetness, the nuts gave a crunchy texture, and they both combine well with the sashimi tuna:

My Lil Daddy-sized poke of salmon with white rice, seaweed and avocado, in sriracha aioli sauce. I loved this combination as it was spicy and had two of my favourite ingredients (seaweed and avocado):

We got our something sweet with the Acai Bowl (US$6) with mango juice base, acai pulp, blueberries, kiwi fruit, granola and honey. Eye-poppingly red and delicious too:

We enjoyed our poke bowls, appreciated the good and helpful service (especially after our baby girl tipped half our acai bowl on the floor), and highly recommend this casual eatery for a delicious and nutritious meal in Venice Beach.

The Big Daddy Shack
79 Windward Ave
Venice, CA 90291
United States
+1-310-804-5734



Almost everything on the Big Daddy Shack's menu contained sesame (except for the fruit smoothies and acai bowl, which aren't exactly lunch material for our sesame-allergic boy), so the chick at the counter suggested we headed next door to The Flyin Jalapeno. Hubby went with the 6-year-old to order the boy's lunch, and they came back to the table with a massive Chicken Burrito (US$10). It was hefty, packed with vegetables, beans, chicken and rice, which the boy happily ate. I cannot comment on the service of The Flyin Jalapeno, but I can certainly say that the burrito was delicious!

The Flyin Jalapeno was next door to Big Daddy Shack:

Chicken burrito (:

:

The Flyin' Jalapeno
83 Windward Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90291
United States
Tel. +1-310-392-8900



[The prices above do not include taxes and tips.]