California Shabu Shabu South Coast

We're a Treasure from the East!

2011-05-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

Let's just hope we never get buried! OK enough with the horrible puns.

For those of you who haven't picked up an issue of Locale yet, they have been providing a peek into Orange County that even some Orange Countyers (Countyites? County Folk? I digress...) may not know of. Anyhoo, I'm a little bit behind on this post, but wanted you guys to check out an article written up by Anna Tran for Locale's last issue (poke the image above for the full article). They gave us a quick review that you can catch on page two (2) and also a great shout out for our friends over at 85c on page four (4).

For up to date Locale articles, visit:
http://localemagazine.com

Smoochies,
Len

The Cal Shabu Santa Monica Blog Officially Launced!

2011-04-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

It may have taken a bit of time *ahem, ASH*, but the California Shabu Shabu Santa Monica site blog has launched!

For those of you who don't already know or have wondered where Ash has been lately, his blog will let you see what's been swirling around and taking up much of his life at the moment.

When you guys get a moment, pop on over to the blog and wish him luck on his new endeavor!

http://calshabusm.blogspot.com/

Smoochies,
Len

Did She Swallow?

2011-04-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

After a dinner together, Shabu made some new friends (and hopefully fans) in Jason and Dee. She posted up some words about us on her blog, hit the following link to take a peek:

http://didiswallow.blogspot.com/2011/04/dish-so-nice-they-named-it-twice.html

Smoochies,
Len

I Love Our Customers...

2011-02-23T09:58:00.000-08:00

but these kind of conversations are driving me insane:

*Phone rings at Cal Shabs*

Me : California Shabu Shabu, can I help you?

Earthling : Ummmmm, will you guys be busy today around 7:30?

Me : *Shaking Magic 8 Ball in order to tell the future* I'm not too sure, but the usual forecast says that we get busy between 7:00 to 8:30.

Earthling : Ummmmmmmmmmmm, ok. Do you take reservations?

Me : I'm sorry, we don't. Every seat is first come, first served.

Earthling : Well, what if I have a party of six?

Me : yeah, it's still first come, first served. Again, i'm sorry.

Earthling : Ummmmmmm, can you write my name on the list?

Me : No, sorry, but one of you could come early and scribble down a name.

Earthling : Hmmmmmm, could you save me 6 seats at 7:30, would that work?

Me : It would work, but unfortunately, that would be making a reservation, and we don't take reservations. Your best bet would probably be to come in a bit earlier just in case, but we do have lounge seating where you can grab some beer or sake. I also just brought in a Galaga/Ms. pac-man machine that would rock your socks off.

Earthling : What? Ummmmm, ok. Thanks.

Me : You're welcome, hope to see you tonight!

Sometimes i feel like smashing my phone against our grey tiled kitchen floor.

Help Wanted...Again

2010-11-23T16:04:00.000-08:00

Welllllllll, we're looking at picking up someone to join our cult...errr family. So if you're interested in slinging meat and vegetables alongside yours truly, you can check out the craigslist post here:

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/fbh/2076361716.html

or you here you go:

California Shabu Shabu in Costa Mesa is looking for an energetic and friendly server that can work well in a fast paced environment. Our application can be found online @ www.californiashabushabu.com/application.pdf.

We are looking for:
- Minimum 1 year serving experience.
- Able to work quickly under pressure, as we do get busy and our customers expect and are accustomed to a high level of service
- Energetic and ambitious attitude with constant sense of urgency while working.
- Motivated team player.
- Flexible work schedule is preferred but not required.
- Fluency in Japanese is a BIG plus.

Please fill out the application and email them to the address listed above (leonard@californiashabushabu.com) or drop them off @ 801 Baker Street #A in Costa Mesa. Ask for Leonard between 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM or 2:45 PM to 4:30 PM on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, or Fridays.

Thank you!

Please pass the message on to anyone you know who may be interested.

Smoochies,
Len

There is No Escaping the Ogre

2010-11-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

Do you see that? That's more money flying out of our bank account because of more things failing us from our original contractor/ogre. So, this time, our sealed concrete floors were rippling and bubbling up. On top of that, the original layer wasn't as strong as we were promised, so there were scuff marks and all around ugliness on the floors.

Luckily for us, our concrete guy, Carlos was able to salvage some of the headache. Sorry for all of you that came in and ate while we were grinding away the old floors. It was so loud, my brain was shaking in my skull. All-in-all, we have nice shiny concrete floors again in our bathrooms. Now we just have to get our footprints back in there!

Oooohhh Pretty
Carlos!

Do you think that was going to be it? Of course not! Tune in soon to see what else has fallen apart, yay!

Smoochies,
Len

Deja Vu All Over Again

2010-10-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

I promised these would be up about three (3) months ago, and like most promises I make about blogging, it was left unfulfilled...until NOW!

Our friends below happened to stroll in on day one - June 18th, 2009 AD and exactly again on our one (1) year anniversary.

Bao and Tim, Our First Customers

Tim Dug Out the Same Shirt Haha

Dynamaria and Mike

And here they are on our Anniversary:

Thanks for coming in and celebrating that day with us, guys!

Smoochies,
Len

You Can't Escape Beef

2010-10-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

Yowzas, has it really been almost four (4) months since our last entry? Well...we're back! This time, hopefully more frequently *ahem*.

Anyhoo, I caught this image that shows that eating beef isn't so bad and that vegans and vegetarians may find it difficult to dodge using some product in their life that has some cow in it. Cheers to you, bovine, for you are supplying us with a plethora of goodness (**we still have our vegetarian offerings**, love you). Hit this link to check out the full article at Streakr.

I know I have said this before, but check back soon with us, we'll be posting up some new stuff soon!

Smoochies,
Len

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!

2010-06-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

I am a genetically enhanced superhuman, well, at least a certain marketing/ad company thinks so. But, honestly, could you even trust a company that claims to have our best interests and can't even get my name right?

For those of you who are either too young or just not a complete geek/nerd/dork like I am, the Star Trek reference completely escaped you, please accept my apology. For those of you who want to relive that great scene of Captain Kirk screaming "KHANNNN!!!" and having it echo into outer space, take the leap of faith here. Regardless, even if you don't know what the heck I'm rambling about, you need to check out that scene. Shatner is a deity.

Smoochies,
Len

One Year Anni Part 1

2010-06-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

Yikes, that was us at 7:30 PM PST on our anniversary (click on the picture to hop to the album. Make sure to check back here soon for some more pictures, too). Needless to say, it got progressively worse from here on out.

A big thanks goes out to every one who has supported us through our first year of infancy. It's been full of bumps and brusises, but along with those, a ton of laughs, fun, and drinks...many, many, many drinks.

We hope everyone had a great time on Friday! Sorry for anybody who came around not knowing how crammed in there it turned out to be, we had no idea it would turn into such a mad house. We are truly appreciative of all the great friends and people we have met in our first year. Here's hoping there will be many more years for us to celebrate.

Cheers!
All of us @ Cal Shabu

Huge Ups for all the DJ's, Pinky Taylor, and "Sheric" for helping us with the first round of pictures.

Come Celebrate Our Baby Turning 1!

2010-06-09T16:09:00.001-07:00

The year has flown by for us, so much so that we almost forgot about our one (1) year anniversary! Ash and I had been talking since March about what to do and then *WHAMMY*, it all of a sudden is a week and a half away. Fortunately we have some pretty rad friends, and we've pulled together an event for Friday - June 18th, 2010 AD!

We're going to be be throwing $1 beer, $4 pitchers, $1 sake, and free ice cream to kiddies (or those acting like kiddies who don't want to drink with us) at you all day long. Starting at 7 PM PST we will also be hosting live art exhibitions with Pinky Taylor, Karafuru, and Kimo. Spinning some sets for us that night will be DJ's: Flashpoint Grafix, Mike Ill, Wendy City, Pretty Boy Paul, and noMSG.

Ash and I have staffed up some extra people throughout the day, so feel free to cheers us! We may have to take a quick nap between shifts to recharge our livers, though. The party stops, well...when it stops! We hope to see you guys there.

Smoochies,
Len

A Mini Bit of Perspective

2010-05-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

Doesn't the vegetable plate above look delicious and fresh? Now...can you figure out what's wrong with the plate?

If you can't, the picture below will spill the beans:

Johnny, our resident multi-tasker and one of the original vegetable platers from Cal Shabu Fountain Valley, decided it would be fun to miniaturize a plate of vegetables. To give you some kind of perspective on just how small this is, it's sitting on one of the tiny pickle plates. Which are about half the size of our ice cream plates! Sometimes, people just have too much time on their hands ha ha.

Smoochies,
Len

Fridges Aren't Supposed to be Frozen

2010-05-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

That, my friends, is what happens when empty plastic bags get too close to the condenser. Ash and I were drinking a beer when we looked at each other in disgust as the beer was pretty darn warm. Ash said he cranked the refrigerator down because it wasn't getting cold enough, so I strolled back to check it out. After scratching my head in confusion, I poked my head behind the condenser and what did I see? A frozen mess.

Ash and I started filling up spray bottles with warm water and began squirting and chiseling away at the ice block. As customers started filing away, we asked Jorge to finish up the job. We poked our heads back later and saw Jorge had grabbed a hose and melted away all the ice in a couple of minutes...much more efficient than spray bottles that cramped up our hands ha ha. Needless to say, plastic bags are not allowed on the top rack anymore. Our apologies go out to a few customers who had to have their beers put in ice buckets that day. Sowwie!

Smoochies,
Len

Happy Birthday to Me Julies!

2010-03-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

One of our own, Julie, celebrated breaking out of her 21 years on this little green and blue planet and into her 22nd year at where? Yup, her place of employment.

Things got a little sloppy, but it was definitely a ton of fun. Well, besides me making her cry by telling her that people already left her party when I knew darn well they were just outside grabbing a smoke (sorry, my luv, you know I can't refrain sometimes). Thanks to everyone who came in to drink, laugh, and eat.

Next time you guys see Julie in here, you guys owe her 22 spankings!

On a side note, what kind of face is Yuka making over there on the right? I have no idea.

Smoochies,
Len

Happy (Lucky) 13th!

2010-03-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ooooopsies, This is a little bit late, but we just wanted to scream a big "CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 13TH YEAR IN FOUNTAIN VALLEY!!!" The original shabu shabu location in Orange County just rolled into their 14th year on March 10th, 2010 AD.

The next time you guys stop by in there, give them all a round of high fives. Especially Kenny and his only-guy-since-1992-to-still-have-a-fade haircut.

Smoochies,
Len

Our Resident Hair Stylist

2010-03-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Meet Tim. Tim cuts my hair. Tim drinks a lot of Sake.

Tim likes to help clean after drinking a lot of Sake. By cleaning I mean just pushing around the dirty stuff on the table.

Happy birthday, Tim!

You can see Tim here or make an appointment to see him at the Richard Michael Aveda Salon in South Coast Plaza on the Crystal Court side.

Smoochies,
Len

110 Roses

2010-03-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is a just a quickie...we had a bucket of 110 roses that we handed out to the ladies on Valentine's day. By the end of both shifts, we gave out our last one to our last customer. Perfectomundo!

For the best flower arrangements on the planet, visit Panage @ http://www.panage.com/ and ask for Mr. or Mrs. Yang and tell them Leonard sent ya.

Smoochies,
Len

Paranormal Activity in our Kitchen

2010-02-25T10:43:00.000-08:00

I walked in this morning to find our kitchen looking like it was possessed, but deduced shortly after that it was just more silliness at the hands of our kitchen staff. The decided to dump all the dry ice that came in with our shipments in every possible place where water would run, making the entire back area look like a scene from a really terrible horror movie (which is one of my vices, bad horror movies are soooo good). In addition to this, the floor was like an oil slick causing Ami to almost eat it a few times as she was prepping for the lunch shift. Nice to know that our insurance plan may get put to use for something not so much restaurant related.

Here's another look

Smoochies,
Len

People Love Us on Yelp!

2010-02-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

People love us on Yelp! Ok, not everyone, but most people. We've had some random hate reviews that were downright ludicrous, especially if you guys know how we are and how we treat every one that comes in to Shabu. Otherwise, we love the feedback, whether it be positive or negative. It lets us know what we're doing right and what we can do to make everyone's exprience here a bit better.

Let us know how you feel about our restaurant and throw up a review on us, yeah?

Smoochies,
Len

Pole Pullers

2010-02-18T10:21:00.000-08:00

Ha ha, that's all there is to say about that picture. It looks much worse than what was really going on, which was stripping lessons, I mean ummm...yeah.

So, as most of you guys have noticed, our front parking lot has been recently adorned with beautiful new signs that boldly state "NO RESTAURANT PARKING". We've received some comments that our neighbors aren't giving us much love, but in all fairness to them, we actually called the property management company to have them put up those signs. When the weather started cooling down and water started dropping down from the fluffy grey clouds, our business began to pick up a bit. There were a couple of shifts where the front lot was packed up with our customers, making it difficult for people visiting the other shops to find spaces to put their cars into "P". Anyhoo, sorry if you guys have to walk a little bit further than usual to put your butts into "P" at Shabu, but we promise you we appreciate it (plus you're working up a little bit of an appetite, right? RIGHT?).

We asked them to put some signs up that said something to the effect of "More Parking in Rear" at the entrances of the lot, but they screwed up and plopped them into the ground right in front of our restaurant. Besides being terrible on the feng shui front, they were also terrible eye sores. We had some help from Angel and RJ on the second pole while Ash and I were able to wrangle the first pole out of the ground.

It never ends.

Smoochies,
Len

Ogre Patches - The Grease Trap Edition

2010-02-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

For those who are following us a bit (ahem, I know it's not many so you can just shut it), you guys may remember the grease trap fiasco we were enduring back in August of 2009. For those that don't take the leap and read up on it.

Anyhoo, we've finally got that giant hole all filled in and the big farkin' truck below brought the concrete that smoothed out our gravel and our hearts.

Big Farkin' Truck

The Finishing Touches

Please keep your fingers crossed that this will be the end of the story on our grease trap and closing in on the last of the patches from the sub-par Ogre contractor, thanks!

Smoochies,
Len

Invest in Shabu Bonds

2010-02-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's not like this will go up in value, but after promising people we'd have gift cards for about five (5) months, we finally have them in. If the design looks familiar, it's because we were too lazy to come up with a new design and all the photos we took didn't come out right, so I just took our street sign and made some minor adjustments, woo hoooo!

Ask any of us if you wanna buy one (1) or seventy-three (73). I'm just sayin'.

Smoochies,
Len

Vivian's a Spicy Mango

2010-02-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

Can any guess what the picture above is? Yeppers, that's our mango sherbert with five (5) hot drops on it. I tried making it look like a sad bear, not so much. Anyhoo, the person behind this you ask?

Vivian "Bui Bui En" Peng

Since then, we've been mixing in hot drops with beer, sake, mochi...pretty much anything. I'm not sure what's going on here, but we've also been mixing mango sherbert with sake and Calpico with sake (which, by the way, is around to stay!).

The Scene of the Crime

Viv, hope school's going good for ya! See you on your next trip back down.

Smoochies,
Len

P.S. Visit 85 degrees for some ridiculously good pastries and cafe goodness.

Case of the Mondays?

2010-01-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays (please tell me you've seen Office Space). That someone is ME. For some reason, after Ash started taking off Mondays, I've had some horrific luck on Mondays at Shabu as shown from this previous post. I thought I had maybe possibly sort of kinda perhaps left that bad juju behind me, but noooOOOOOOooooo. On December 21st, 2009 AD around 10:00 AM PST, yes on the Winter Solstice, I strolled in to the restaurant to find out that our water was shut down. About fifteen (15) minutes later, we had flowing water again. Catastrophe averted!

End blog entry? HA! I wish!

Another five (5) minutes goes by and the water dries up like Jim Carrey's improvisations (oh where oh where have you gone great Jim of yesteryear?). I jog outside and and find an employee that was sent over from the Mesa Consolidated Water District. We talk it over for a bit and he explains to me that the backflow device was turned off initially (if you guys remember, it's the pipe we spent over $2000 to install before we opened). The employee turned it back on and thought that the sprinklers came on, too. So we falsely thought the water pipes were ok, until he realized that it wasn't the sprinklers, but rather a pipe that looked like it had been rammed and bent. Due to the damage, water was squirting out of the concrete like a Slip 'N Slide. He went on to explain that he couldn't allow water waste like that to continue on just so we had running water to our building. Of course we agreed and sent him on his way.

After that I made some frantic phone calls to our property management, so they called a private plumbing company, who sent Joey (pictured above). Needless to say, Joey broke the news to us...he had to jack hammer the concrete, fix the pipe, install a stop valve, and patch everything back up. That was the bad news, the good news was that they were on the ball and had us up and running in about two and a half (2.5) hours! Unfortuantely, we had to close down for lunch on the first day of Winter, but RJ, Linda, Xiao, Erin, and I ended up popping out for lunch and chowing down on some grilled fish before we headed back to the restaurant to prepare for the dinner rush.

Joey's Clean Up Job (Not a Hitman)

What I learned from all of this? Mondays are the pits.

Smoochies,
Len

Best Monday EVER

2010-01-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

So the above picture depicts our faithful customers who came in on December 7th, 2009 AD right at the beginning of our lunch shift. Why is it so dark you ask? Because the power was out for the second time in our short life at 801 Baker. About fifteen (15) people stuck it out for about thirty (30) minutes (the power was actual out for about double that time, but prior to any one coming in to boil meat) before the power came back on. What made it even more painful was the fact that it was the first rainy and cold day of the season, meaning we had more people who were craving some hot soupy goodness.

Emergency Lights

So if that wasn't bad enough, when we turned on the hood vents, rain water started shooting out of them, splashing on top of some of our customers. UGH. It was probably the worst start we cold have possibly had for the cold season. We found out later on that our retarded sub-contractor from before flipped the panels upside down on our make-up air blowers. Instead of keeping water out of the units, we were collecting water ha ha. Alas, it is behind us now and things are smooth once again.

Collecting Rain Water From the Vents

That being said, a big "Thanks, buddies!" goes out to everyone who waited around in hopes of some boiling pots.

Smoochies,
Len

Our First Customers!

2010-01-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

Crapola, this is late. I just wanted to introduce you to our first two (2) customers!

They wandered into our restaurant randomly on June 18th, 2009 AD right at 11:30 AM PST and have since crossed our borders many times since. Thanks for stumbling in, guys.

Smoochies,
Len

We Got Lice! We Got B-lown Lice!

2010-01-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Woo hoooo! After flirting and teasing him a little bit, we finally initiated brown rice into our list of offerings at Cal Shabu. We are now serving Nishiki Premium Brown Rice at *no extra charge* for our customers while each batch lasts every day. As of now, there aren't too many people asking for it, but as demand increases, we'll be steaming up more to meet up with everyone's appetites.

Olga and Laila

Olga and Laila were our first two (2) official brown rice lovers after we tested with some customers for a few days to get the water and cooking measurements down pat. Zaal, Jake, Alex, Chris, and Renewal, you guys can finally stop hounding me now. Thanks for blowing up my phone during the last Lakers versus Clippers game. As if it wasn't bad enough we got drummed by the lesser of the Los Angeles professional basketball teams (that's right Mikey, tell Blake I say, "Hi" as he surfs the bench in his Girogio Armani suit the rest of the season).

Smoochies,
Len

Kimo's Korner

2010-01-14T10:12:00.000-08:00

Yuck, still playing catch up, ha ha. As most of you have proabably already seen in our entrance area, Kimo took over a chunk of our wall and put up a pretty sweet creation that leaked out of his head and through his hands. Coming in every day after work for a week, his mini mural evolved every day. If you guys haven't already peeped it, swing by. Don't worry, we won't force you to eat shabu.

To take a closer look at Kimo and his art (along with the goods he pumps out with IMKing) take the leap here or hop on to the IMKing site aqui.

@Kimo - We may just have to get you back in here to grab another piece of the restaurant. Thanks for all the support, bro!

Smoochies,
Len

JuBAM!

2010-01-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

To Juliann and Millie, one of the cutest couples we know. Thanks for all the good times, especially all the Jell-o shoooooooooooooooooooooots!!!

Smoochies,
Len

The Making of a Caffeine Fueled Mural

2010-01-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

Holy shnikes! Has it really been four (4) months since our last blog entry? My apologies to anyone who has actually been checking this thing.

Anyhoo, hop on the picture above for a ton of photos from the few days that Pinky (Meeseter Moostashes Kitty Meow) Taylor invaded our restaurant. For those who have seen the mural already and have been wondering, no he was not on drugs ha ha. Pinky was purely on our ridiculously strong iced coffee and coke. At one point, he had imbibed six (6) iced coffees and eight (8) glasses of coke in a two (2) hour period. This was in addition to a few root beer floats. Needless to say he was bouncing around the walls and skipping down the halls.

Through it all we've gained a crazy wall that fits into our persona perfectly as well as a great friend! Thanks to Allison and Kayley for helping us take some photos when we started getting busy =].

Check back with us soon for some photos on Kimo's imagination on one of our other walls.

Smoochies!
Len

Pinky Taking Over the World (Well OK, Cal Shabu South Coast)

2009-09-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

Pinky Taylor in the house!!! Pinky has been at our location the last couple of days painting a crazy mural. For those who aren't familiar with Pinky, he was a featured artist for Volcom, Lost, Burton, amongst other projects (click here to check out his site). The pic up top is a quick look at what he's doing, but once he's all finished, Ash and I will toss up more photos for you guys to take a peek at. Better yet, everyone's welcome to come on by tonight or tomorrow to see how thigns are coming along.

Check back soon for an update on the mural and some nice pictures of us getting blitzed at a Sake Expo ha ha.

Smoochies,
Len

Suckas!!!

2009-08-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

Julie bamboozled Jason and Matt, well, mainly Jason to the left of her. They thought that we only walk about 1.5 - 2 miles per lunch shift. I was guessing 4 or more. Julie clocked in at almost 5 miles on her pedometer on a semi-busy lunch. What did she win? A bottle of our best sake, Mizbasho Junmai Dai Ginjo. Thanks for all the shots, suckas!!

Smoochies,
Len

Things are Finally Settling Down...PSYCH!

2009-08-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

Does that hole look like it's supposed to be there? I think not. This blog entry is a bit behind schedule, bear with me a bit. So a couple weeks back, Ash and I are in the office, we sit back in our chairs and finally agree that things are finally settling down. Things are fnally running smoothly. We can finally take a deep breath and relax a bit. In comes one of our employees, drags us out to one of the drains and points out that we're backed up. Thinking that our grease trap has somehow filled up, we walked outside and noticed there was a putrid stench outside. Uh-oh.

We called OC Plumbing down to pump the grease interceptor and guess what they found. MUD, YAYYYY! Not so much. There should be nothing but water and food waste in our 1200 gallon Honda Civic sized grease trap. They snaked a camera in and just found more mud where there should have been clean pipes. Joy. Right as this is all going down, who ends up coming by for a random stop? None other than our lucky charm:

Shaun in Galoshes Ready to Get Dirty

In a nutshell, we had to jackhammer out around the entire grease trap to find out that the Ogre had screwed us once again. They never filled in the space with gravel, nor did they pack the dirt underneath the pipes. Once the concrete was poured on top of the grease trap and we rolled our cars on top *SNAP* the connections to the pipes go bye bye. Shaun and his boys had to reconnect all the piping and refill the entire hole. It was a lot of work and stinky time, but we're back in business! I'll spare you guys the details, but you can click on either of the images to check out some more pictures of what went down. Say "Goodbye" to moolah. Welcome to the world of owning your own business, I guess. Le sigh.

Smoochies,
Len

Between Shift Siesta

2009-08-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

Ash and I were messing with some of our employees while they were napping between shifts ha ha. That's all!

Smoochies,
Len

HEY! LOOK AT US!

2009-08-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

So after only six (6) weeks *ahem*, we finally have our signs up! This was supposed to minimize the calls from people who drive by and have no clue where we are, but the day after the signs went up, I still had to go to the street corner like a hooker and flag down two (2) groups of customers. Maybe we should have made the sign flash or something, any suggestions?

Steve's pants are crawling into his bunghole:

Ok ok a serious picture of Steve finishing it up for us:

Big ups for Steve Wang helping us get the signs printed and posted up (by himself because we ditched him to take care of customers ha ha).

Smoochies,
Len

Monster Munched

2009-08-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to drop a quick note and let you guys know that Elmomonster swung by incognito style and threw down a review on us!

http://elmomonster.blogspot.com/2009/08/california-shabu-shabu-costa-mesa.html

Smoochies,
Len

Sake Fest - One Buzzed Friday Lunch

2009-08-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

So we're carrying a bunch of new sakes - bringing the grand total, including the original ones, to a eleven (11). I'll follow up with a post soon letting you guys know of our special sake and beer offerings. The true reason of this post is to show everyone that the group above took down all eleven sakes in about an hour and a half (with some help from our staff, too ha ha). This may not seem like a lot, but we threw down multiple bottles of almost each sake - and some of the sake bottles were the 720ml fatties, not just the 300ml or the 180ml ones, mind you. So let's all give them a nice round of applause when you see them, yeah?

One last thing I wanted to show you guys. Below is a picture of Ash, a bit fearful before slicing Kobe for the first time at our spot:

Smoochies,
Len

Do You Like Your Meat Massaged?

2009-07-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!!! We have Kobe beef in stock to explode your taste buds with. There is some weird cattle shortage going on lately, so we were delayed about 3 weeks on this shipment and our prime beef shipments have been slowing down, too.

Anyhoo, we're not sure how long this stick is going to last considering people have been poking our ears for it and we've been making excuses about not having it in stock for far too long, but come on in and let our meat melt in your mouth *ahem*!

Kobe flavored smoochies,
Len

Pierrick Le Cool

2009-07-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

So we had our first official "event" at our restaurant this past week. As odd as it may sound, we did a French Wine pairing with our food. We were lucky enough to have Pierrick Bouquet, SoCal French wine specialist, come host the event with us. Pierrick stopped in a few weeks ago with a good friend of ours, Evelyn, to try out our food to see how he thought it would pair with French wines and came out of the dinner as excited as we were. Click on the pic above for some more photos of the night.

What we came up with was four (4) wines to be served along with fresh vegetables and a sampler plate consisting of beef, chicken, salmon, and shrimp. The event was a lot of fun, and by fun I mean buzzed, stuffed, and happy campers. It was a new experience for a lot of us to have French wines with Shabu, but we're hoping to do this again every few months with new pairings!

Our internet spies also caught us on the following sites for our event (OK, so we didn't headline the event section, but just scroll around and you'll see us there somewhere in tiny font):

http://www.greersoc.com/oc-weekend/23/
http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2009/07/02/shopping/dpt-bestbuys07032009.txt
http://www.pierrickbouquet.com/wine/Agenda/Entries/2009/7/7_French_wine_tasting_and_Japanese_food_pairing_at_California_Shabu_Shabu.html

Also, please take a peek below for Pierrick's site for more upcoming events and Evelyn's site for eye blinding jewelry design:

http://www.pierrickbouquet.com/wine/Home.html
http://www.evelynh.com/

Smoochies,
Len

I Assure You, We're Open

2009-06-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

For those who didn't get the reference, do yourself a favor and watch Kevin Smith's first movie, Clerks.

Do you see how desolate the restaurant looks? This was our first Sunday that we were open for lunch (June 21st, 2009 AD). Most of our normal customers don't know that we are open on Sundays for lunch since Wayne's OG California Shabu Shabu has Sunday lunch off. Anyhoo, now you guys know we're heeeeeeeerrrrrreeeeeeee!

FYI, our hours are:
Sunday - Thursday : 11:30 AM - 2 PM / 5 PM - 10 PM
Friday - Saturday : 11:30 AM - 2 PM / 5 PM - 11 PM

OK, I have to go set up the front of the restaurant while Ash preps meat for the day. See you guys soon!

Smoochies,
Len

Soft Openings (Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter, Son!)

2009-06-22T09:44:00.001-07:00

I would like to start off this entry with a big "WOOT WOOT!" for all our friends and family that made time out for our two (2) little shin digs (especially my brother, Ivan,and Alex who drove down from Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon and drove back up Sunday morning). Also, we'd like to apologize if we weren't able to chit chat too much with everyone who came, we were just so slammed and trying to make sure everyone was fed!

On Friday - June 12th, 2009 AD, our family and a few close friends who couldn't make it out for Saturday, swung by to act as our first set of official guinea pigs! Things were a little chaotic since we were still finishing up construction and cleaning up. We had initially planned on getting people seated at about 7 PM, but that rolled into about 8 PM, ick. It was melee when we first started, because it was the equivalent of having twenty-five (25) customers all sit down at the same time to order. Needless to say, there was a bit of a lag getting everyone their orders, but Ash manhandled the pressure and flung down the plates of meat to our stomach growling guests. Right when we thought everything was going to run smoothly, our induction cookers decided on switching on and off the entire meal, causing much confusion to us, the staff, and our family (we later tested it out and found out that the burners weren't being properly vented and have since cut large vent holes out of our counters. It looks like complete @$$ right now, but Morgan is working with us to brainstorm out some ideas to cover the holes with mesh). As wonky as the night went, it all turned out pretty good in the end. On to Saturday...

Funny as it may sound, we had about five (5) or six (6) times the amount of people on Saturday, and things went a lot smoother! It may have just been jitters on the first night or maybe just the overwhelming amount of people came forced us to get all tunnel vision with the restaurant and servicing our friends. We ended up using a makeshift solution for the cookers by propping up the back with little 1/8" nuts (again, get your mind out of the gutter) to allow for better ventilation. That seemed to do the trick since the burners were on the entire night to accomodate everyone that came in. I'll let the pictures do more of the talking for our little event, but just imagine what happens when beer and sake is flowing for free an entire night. Mayhem *cough STEVE cough CHUNG*.

We've been open now since Thursday - June 18th, 2009 AD, so if you haven't come by yet, SHAME ON YOU, I mean, hope to see you soon!

Smoochies,
Len

Our Lucky Lepra-Shaun

2009-06-16T01:35:00.000-07:00

So our Irishman has managed to save our buttocks big time - we officially passed all of our inspections on Thursday - June 11th, 2009 AD! After much heartache, affliction, sleepless nights, and holes burning through our stomach linings, Shaun pulled through for us.

Again, I'll let the photos (which are not in the correct order, but give me a break, I'm running on three (3) hours of sleep and its approaching 3 AM again) tell the story for us. Though we've been signed off on for all of our inspections, we still have some loose ends to tie up. So, we will be popping open our doors for the public at 11:30 AM Thursday - June 18th, 2009 AD, so come on by for a visit and let us stuff your mouths silly with food!

We went through a couple of soft openings this past weekend, come say "Hi" to the blog in the next couple of days to check out all the chaos from those nights. We look forward to seeing you soon! Need sleepy...

Smoochies,
Len

Bamboozled: A Story of Epic Failures

2009-06-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

Yikes, has it really been about four (4) months? I don't know why it's taken so long...all right, ALL RIGHT, I know why. It's partially because we've been crazy busy, paritally because time just flew by, but most of all, it's because it's absolutely shameful how delayed we are in getting our restaurant up and running. First off, let me apologize to all of you out there who have felt duped over and over again by my empty promises of a shiny new Shabu restaurant opening up (especially to those who kept receiving those cursed automated eVite messages before I could change the date *shaking fists in air*). I know I'm wasting my knock out punch right in the beginning, but I feel like I owe at least this to every one who reads our little blog - we are finally going to open next week to the public! We're going through our final inspections this Wednesday, so please keep your fingers, toes, eyes, hair, legs, etc. crossed for us. Now that that's out of the way, I can explain the title of this post.

You guys will have to bear with me, though, as the story is a bit long. Actually, click on the photo below and you'll be bounced over to an album which will delve into more details on just how badly we were put in the tree chipper, but I'll give you a few of the lowlights.

We Thought We Were Flying High - Not So Much

My eyes are feeling droopy, but it may be due to all the epoxy fumes I've been sucking into my poor lungs the last few days (I'll explain that in the next post). Man, I am all over the place today...let me reign myself back into this thing. Let's see, where was I? Ah, ok. So, around the end of March, our Ogre disappeared on us. That's right, he up and abandoned the project - please pick up your jaws from the floor. For those of you who want to know the story, it's pretty crazy, but I don't want to air out someone else's dirty laundry all over the dub dub dub, so you'll have to come in and ask Ash or I =). After the Ogre pulled his best impersonation of Lance Burton on us, Ash and I were sent spiralling into a Twilight Zone state of mind. We ended up going almost two (2) weeks hitting up contractors that we spoke to in the past and some new contractors that were referred over to us. There was literally a parade of contractors coming in and out of our doors for a week straight. All we needed were some flashing lights and furries and we would have been lit up like Disney's Main Street in Costa Mesa.

As the fire flamed out, from the ashes arose...Shaun Gallagher - our little Irish phoenix.

The Man

Look out really REALLY soon, cross my heart (my eyes are getting watery just thinking of Pixar's UP - you guys all need to watch this and you'll know what I mean), for an entry on how Shaun has saved our collective rumps in the past month and a half from all of the Ogre's epic failures. Have you realized I can't even speak his name? From this day forward, that who we do not speak of shall now be known as the Ogre.

See you all on the site super soon and at our restaurant soon after that!

Smoochies,
Len

Chug Chug Chugging Along

2009-02-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, ok, OKAY I KNOW! The picture makes it look pretty bad, but I assure you, we're getting really close to opening up our doors. I hope every one reading this had a great Valentine's Day! We were hoping to open by February 14th, but alas, all the delays from the last post have piled up nice and high and have caused yet another excrutiatingly painful, bile producing, and stomach wall eroding delay in our opening date.

Our induction cookers have finally arrived, we had a marathon meeting with Red Mountain to figure out our plumbing issue, and construction has actually been going at a relatively brisk pace. We're still handcuffed by some of the subcontractors for our walk-in refrigerator and our hood vents, but those suckers are supposed to be delivered and installed by the middle of this upcoming week. If you can sense the lack of enthusiasm in my tone, it's because I feel like we've let a lot of people down, including some friends (sorry Charles and Catherine) whose birthdays are coming up this weekend and a wedding rehearsal dinner party I am going to have to notify tomorrow that we won't be able to take care of them anymore. We want to get this right before, we open, so we're trying hard to remain patient and focus on finishing up everything we have left.

Just a quick update...our servers have been training at the current Fountain Valley location, so if you've seen some new faces in there, BE NICE ha ha. They're actually all doing a really great job, and should be ready to rock da house once we open.

I'll keep this sucker short since we still have many many loose ends to tie up within the next week if we are to get our pots boiling for you guys soon! I'm scared to even blurt out another date, so please check back with us soon for an update and more construction pictures. Take the jump and click on the picture above to see where we are with the inside. Bear in mind that these were taken about a week ago, so we've already made a good deal of progress since then. Any positive chi you want to push our way would be greatly appreciated!

Smoochies,

Len

Ogres Have Layers

2009-01-29T14:33:00.000-08:00

Meet John, Chinese Shrek/Ogre, AKA our Contrator

That's John doing what he does best...chain smoking. That is but one simple layer of John. Underneath that is hair that hasn't been groomed for god knows how many months. Below that, are teeth that a jackhammer couldn't clean. Peel another layer back and you have his enormous pot belly hanging over the top of his jeans that have a pocket ripped half way down his thigh - to which I pointed at and he quipped in Mandarin, "You think you're over budget? I'm broke then." This, my friends, is our beloved Ogre. Even beyond all these layers, lies the core of John, who after much poking and prodding, is coming through for us.

I'll rewind for you guys a bit, we were just starting to pick up some steam with our construction and it seemed like we would have no problem getting things done for our intended soft opening weekend of February 6th/7th. For fear of me weeping like a little girl from how depressing it is to run into even more delays this late in the game, I'm simply going to ramble everything off in probably very poor English and grammar. *Deep breath* We were *this* close to ordering all of our induction cookers from Dipo since we were told they were NSF certified just to find out that they weren't so we were back to the Mr. Induction ones that are backordered and won't arrive till February 4th (yes two (2) days before our intended soft opening), finding out that the plumbing coming into our restaurant was inefficient and we couldn't get a hold of our plumbing engineer to help recalculate everything leading us to have Wayne and Ash go through everything with Virgil from Red Mountain and now we're waiting for the great *cough* City of Costa Mesa to install a new meter for us, our walk-in refrigerator was ordered over a month ago and we still don't have doors for it making it very counter-productive in keeping it cold, our stainless steel hood vents have been in fabrication for over a month now due to the holidays and maybe just all around apathy, our grease trap installation was delayed from the rain storm we experienced last week, Ash and I drove around San Gabriel Valley trying to find an affordable Shabu pot only to find cheap ugly ones and then finding out that the pots are going to be $10 more for each one now and it's going to take about a week to get them, our Point of Sale system showed up on our doorsteps missing a cash drawer, our ABC representative has decided to pull a Keyser Soze on us right as she was supposed to come in for our inspection, the list of setbacks goes on and on (I'm sure you would rather rake your finger nails over a chalkboard than listen to me complain more) but us ramblers have been ramblin' to get everything into place as soon as possible.

Even with all these crazy hurdles, John and his crew has been working hard to get us open by next weekend. It looks like Mission Impossible, but we are all burning the midnight oil during the last remaining days before Ash and I are buried neck deep in meat, pots, water, and vegetables.

Poke John's belly to take a peek at what's been going on with construction lately. We also decided to post some movies of the grease trap excavation, because well, we like big machines making holes.

Bobcat Tearing Up the Blacktop

Caterpillar Looking for Dinosaurs

I know I said we were going to post up photos of our new staff, but that will be coming soon!

Smoochies,

Len

Training Day, Part 2

2009-01-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

Ash and I have decided to part ways...in regards to our duties at the restaurant. OK, maybe I exaggerated or mislead you guys a bit to bring you guys to the edge of your pneumatic desk chairs. Did it work? Did it? Did it? Oh well, I tried.

After our crash course on all kitchen duties, Ash and I discussed what our individual functions would entail for the restaurant. We came to the conclusion that Ash would focus primarily on the meat slicing and prep while I would focus more on managing the service and back-office. Though we have been (actually, this is a continuous work in progress) cross-trained on each others duties, we both have relatively comfortably slid into our respective roles.

We still aren't quite at where we should be in terms of truly running the big show, but I'm not at all ashamed to say that Ash is kicking some serious tail on the slicer:

Ash Kicking Some Serious Tail on the Slicer

We have to get a few pictures of the meat he's been plating, but it's darn near tear drop inducing. Ash has been getting a good mix of things by watching how Arturo and Satoshi go about preparing, slicing, and plating differently. As a result of this, Ash has developed his own style, technique, and procedures as well as coming in early in order to perfect everything that is involved.

I, on the other hand, haven't been able to put in quite as many hours honing my skills since I have my day job. Still, working 8 AM - 4:30 PM at my soul draining office job and then popping in to work at Shabs from 5:00 PM - 11:oo PM and sometimes later hasn't been a walk in the park. It's been quite an adjustment for me, especially trying to juggle around any free time I have to run my errands, see mi mama y familia, spend some time with good friends, and SLEEEP! As rough as it's been, time flies by when we are working there. Kenny has taught me how to run the waiting list over the last couple of weeks, which is pretty much managing people's expectations and wait times as well as a complicated game of human Tetris (cue theme three (3) on Gameboy Tetris) trying to squeeze in the maximum amount of Shabu lovers given the amount of seats we have available in the shortest amount of time possible while still maintaining a high level of customer service. I always thought it looked so simple, just yell out the next name on the list. Man O man, if it were truly as easy as that.

Making Sure People's Tummies are Smiling

As with preparing the vegetables and kitchen duties, there is so much going on behind the scenes in the dining and waiting areas that no one notices. The way Wayne put it, "Everyone who comes in here is so spoiled. They may have to wait to get seated, but once they sit down, they are eating within five (5) minutes. What other restaurant do you get that?" Wayne didn't mean this in a bad way at all, but he was merely reinforcing that everything we have learned boils (pun intended) down to learning the method and routine for every customer that comes in. Ash and I just have to perfect that, maintain communication between the person who runs the list and the rest of the servers, and keep our customers happy, we'll be good to go!

I Just Like this Picture, it Looks Like I'm Kung Fu Rice Boy
The Two (2) Hour Dining Culprits and Photographers

As always, great seeing you guys stop by for a peek into our chaotic lives. Thanks to Linda and Chandra for taking many unflattering photos of us which I will post in the near future.

Come feed our egos again soon to catch a glimpse of the new staff for Costa Mesa!

Smoochies,
Len

Training Day

2009-01-08T17:14:00.000-08:00

** Not to be confused with the Antoine Fuqua flick starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke of the same name. **

About a month ago, in early December, Ash and I started to oil our squeaky Shabu sprockets and began our training. From day one (1), Wayne has stressed to us that we have to learn absolutely everything that is involved in running the restaurant from open to close and kitchen to service. Since he did not want us bumbling around like idiots in the front, we started off in the back...from ground zero. Plus, Wayne only had these large t-shirts that we were swimming in, so we didn't mind hiding a bit from the public eye *ahem*.

Though it was long hours and we had to put in a lot of elbow grease, the first couple of weeks actually flew by really quickly. I won't go too much into detail, but here are some of the things we've now perfected (Yeah, right. The guys who work in the back are exponentially faster than us):

1) Washing stainless steel pots. Yes, this sounds trivial, but everybody who washes has a different technique and rhythym - one person bobbed up and down like one of those girls making lemonade at the Hot Dog on a Stick stands (We'll call him Worker X - who has since been trimmed from the staff for underperforming. Lesson learned, no matter how laid back of a boss you are to your employees, they have to respect you and their work).

Scrubby Scrubby Scrub Scrub

2) Washing and prepping vegetables. You can't imagine how much potential "food" gets dumped because customers expect the highest and freshest quality plants on their plate. Ash and I have been toying around with a few possible recipes for some stews which we may donate once or twice a week to soup kitchens, the animal shelter, and/or any other organizations that can benefit from perfectly edible, yet offensive looking vegetables.

Ash the Cabbage Picker

3) De-veining (*cough* de-shitting) shrimp. It was a mess. When is feces not a mess?
4) Massaging and rubbing giant breasts...of chicken.

5) Chopping and plating vegetables. This was the hairiest of all hairies. The way the workers arrange the vegetables, they look like little sculptures on display. When we first tried, Ash and I were infinitely slower, while the plates looked infinitely uglier. With some more practice, we started getting quicker and our plating, if I may say so myself, looked only a bit unattractive.

Not as Easy as it Looks

God, Look at My Hair. It has Since Been Repaired

This is a very condensed list of what goes on in the back. I never realized just how much work goes into making those little nine (9) inch plates of vegetables look so magical. There is no wizard in the back waving his wand around, just a bunch of very hard working guys who made time melt away with their humor and happy-go-lucky attitude. The crew, for the lack of a better description, really does work like a well-oiled machine. Hi fives go out to Sabino, Ricardo, and Oscar and an "Adios" to Worker X.

Check back soon for an update on the divorce of Ash and I in the drama filled sequel to Training Day.

Smoochies,
Len

BOBA - Blog On Blog Action

2009-01-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

Let's start this off with a big HAPPY NEW YEAR! My new year's resolution is to put in an honest effort to try and update this sucker more often (fingers crossed). Things have been absolutely whirl-wind crazy lately, though, so please accept my sincerest *cough cough* apologies if you feel neglected. I still love you...yes i do, YES I DO...ISHUBUBU there there.

Some...scratch that, most of you have probably picked up a copy of the OC Weekly some time or another to check out new restaurants, upcoming shows, yadda yadda yadda. Some of you might have even hopped on to their site and poked around a bit. My old friend and fellow blogger, Ed Wu, happened to be bouncing around on the OC Weekly food blog and...wait for it...wait for it...came across an entry about us! If you're interested *shaking fist at face* take the leap on over and check it out here:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/things-to-look-forward-to/california-shabu-shabu-to-open/

The blog is pecked out on keyboards practically daily by Edwin and Gustavo. For all of you closeted and outed foodies out there, do yourself a favor and drop on by their blog. There's an ease to their writing, almost as if they were friends telling you about the restaurant they tried last week or ranting about how terrible service was during a night out. Guys, if you're out there and are reading this, slap me at leonard@californiashabushabu.com, we'd love to extend an invitation for you guys to come out for our grand opening which should be coming up in (oh please oh please) about 3-4 weeks.

A few of you guys know that Ash and I have been putting in some ridiculous hours lately training at Wayne's shop in Fountain Valley. Some of you have swung by to partake on a tasty meal and throw a few back with us while we're out on the floor. One of you even came just to see me hustle and to point and giggle at me (YES YOU, LINDA). We've had a few photos of us snapped while we have been schooled by headmaster Wayne and will post them up for you guys soon!

It's been a rough few weeks, Ash and I are heading out to Mesa tonight for a few drinks. Anyone want to buy me a Kettle Tonic and tell me everything's gonna be all right?

Smoochies,
Len

HELP WANTED, INQUIRE WITHIN

2008-12-21T13:18:00.000-08:00

Hello Boiled Meat and Vegetable Lovers,

As our puffy white clouds and dreams of construction and of an opening date becomes more of a reality, so does our need to start thinking of all our day-day-activities. It's been quite overwhelming how much (wo)man power is needed to run our restaurant, but we'll get into that in another post. On that subject, though, we realize that we are going to be in serious need of some seriously good help, seriously. In all seriousness - if you are interested, or if you know any serious individuals who are seriously fun that might be interested, we are now looking for servers!

For a copy of our employment application, take the plunge here:

http://www.californiashabushabu.com/application.pdf

All the general blah blah requirements apply, but speaking Japanese is a big plus. You can toss questions and applications my way here: leonard@californiashabushabu.com.

Seriously yours,
Len

Go Go Gadget Hot Pot!

2008-12-05T13:56:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to let you guys know that the city inspector swung by our location yesterday and we passed our rough plumbing inspection!

As I'm typing this out, the workers are packing the dirt back in the ground and spilling concrete all over the place. We'll pop on by sometime next week and take some more pictures to keep you guys updated.

WOO HOO!
Len

Like it Rough?

2008-12-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

SUPPLIES!!!! You see? We did come back not long after our last post, as promised. So...some time has passed since we were freaking out about all the bad juju that was flowing our way, but it seems like we have managed to stink palm some of the obstacles and have finally been making some progress these past few weeks.

One thing out of our control was the remodeling for the facade of our little shopping center. We were initially told that this would be finished by the end of August. Here we are, dipping into December, and we are finally seeing some semblance of the architect's rendering of the re-facade (click on the following image to see a gallery of the facade and restaurant interior construction):

After much back and forth blabber blabber with Shark Club, we finally submitted a signed parking arrangement agreement, in which both parties were satisfied, to the city of Costa Mesa. Then, it was just a waiting game, as we had to sit around for about a month for the agreement to come across a hearing with the city. Imagine our frustration due to the fact that we were told parking was not an issue when we laid down the ink and scribbled our names on the lease agrement. It has been over two (2) months since this whole parking fiasco began, and we finally have it all passed and signed off on. Once that was completed, our contractor was able to nab the permits from the city and, drum roll please *rat tat tat tat*:

As for what is probably of more interest to you, we have also made some progress on building out the inside of our restaurant (again, go ahead and click on the following image to take the plunge and peep at our construction)!

At this point, we're at what's called "rough" plumbing and framing. Now what this means is, the framing for all the walls have been created, but no actual walls are in place. As for the plumbing, all of the underground plumbing has been finished, but we are awaiting on an inspection from the city. The inspection is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday, December 4th, 2008 A.D.), in which they will pressure test water in the tubes - making sure we aren't going to do an impersonation of Katrina (is it too soon for this?) in our restaurant. Please keep your fingers, toes, and eyes crossed for us, for the quicker we pass inspection, the quicker we can resume construction!

As you can see, we still have a ways to go, but we are definitely started to build up some momentum and hopefully we can crash through a wall soon, scream "OH YEEEEEAHHH!", and have everyone yell "KOOL-AID!"

Smoochies,
Len

Webby Webby Website Finally Up!

2008-12-01T23:01:00.000-08:00

So Like, yeah...it's been over two (2) months since we've put up a post, but we assure you that we're still chugging along! First things first, after considerable time, we finally have version 2.0 of our website up and running. You can visit the site by clicking on the preview image below:

or you can take the leap of faith at http://www.californiashabushabu.com/ and poke around when you have some time. I'm still tweaking with the site and finishing up some coding, so please bear with us for the next few weeks as we tidy up the content.

Things are actually moving at a very brisk pace right now, so hop on back in a couple of days for an update on our construction and, we suppose, everything else progress!

Smoochies,
Len

Coming out of the Dark Ages - The Website Edition

2008-09-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

Harros!

This is just a quick little post to let you guys take a sneak peek at the initial phase of our website redesign:

We're still fiddling around with the background and the colors, but I think we're in the home stretch...FINALLY (you can smack the image with your mouse to see a larger version of the design)!

For those who may be curious, pop on over to http://www.99designs.com/ to take a look at how we ran our contest for the website. This is crazy idea and you get to see how the minds of artists work from all different parts of the world. Our eventual winner came from Espana of all places. Take a leap here http://99designs.com/contests/11671/ to see all of the artists who submitted designs. It was definitely a tough tough decision.

Hopefully, we will have the new site up soon (as long as I get off my lazy butt and start coding this bad boy). As always, thanks for stopping by to say "hello".

Smoochies,
Len

Coming Soon? Uhhh...Maybe.

2008-09-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

So after some fumbling around and sitting on our "COMING SOON" signs for about a month or so, Ash, Tina, and I finally decided on stringing the suckers up. After three (3) trips to our location and two (trips) to Home Depot, we finally had the correct weapons and ammo to hang up the signs. We thought that it would be a good time to get the notice out to people since it seemed like things were moving at a pretty quick pace. Boy were we wrong.

What you will find absent from this post is the usual light humor we bring around due to the major hair-yank-inducing frustration I have been faced with for the past few weeks. After we had continued to demolish the space and start framing out the kitchen, we have now hit a few snags that have caused more delays, including but not limited to: a minor conditional use permit application to ensure that the Shark Club does not gobble up all of our parking spaces during our hours of operation, the need to now install hood vents over each Shabu station rocketing our build-out expenditure by a large amount that I would not like to repeat because it makes me weep uncontrollably, and delays from our property management company with changes that we were told were already approved of months ago - again I will spare you the details so I can refrain from grabbing the plastic knife from my take out lunch and raking it down the length of my arms repeatedly. There is much more to cringe about, but we'll just leave it at that for now. I think you get the idea, though.

Regardless, we are plugging away at finishing up our final design touches with the help of our good friends Tania and Jen and making last round changes to our soon to be newly updated website! We should be making a decision on our website within the next few days, so drop back in for a visit soon and let us know what you think. If you do not see a post in more than a week, just know that my plastic knife is pretty darn sharp.

Please throw some good karma and vibes our way so we can hurry and get this fella up and running soon!

Smoochies,
Len

Drunken FroYo - Thank You, Come Again

2008-09-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings Earthlings!

I'm asking whoever is reading this to please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors as I woke up at 5:30 AM this morning, after going to bed at around 2:30 AM, and my grey matter has yet to recover.

I realize that it has almost been a full month since our last post, but things have been going pretty crazy in Shabuland. I will get to that in my next post, though (shut it! It won't take another month!). For this entry, I simply wanted to thank all of our friends and family members that came to enjoy a night that filled our heads and eyes with amazing artwork and our bellies with alcohol infused frozen yogurt along with beer and wine. For those of you who were looking for me at the end of the night at Proof Bar, please accept my sincerest apologies for not bidding you adieu, adieu, to you and you and you. My brother, thankfully, noticed that my swagger had turned into a stumble and navigated me back home in one piece before I could spray anymore people with my saliva.

We had a great turn-out - high fives go out to Steve, Howard, and Spence for putting this together and letting us utilize their space and yogurt machines. Constance, as always, thank you for being our resident paparazzi for the night (please click on the image above to see more pics from the night). We hope everyone had as great of a time as we did. For those of you who missed us that night, some of the artwork still remains at Cantaloop and is still available for you to start or add to your collection. So, stop by for a peek or just to get some tasty yogurt. If any of you local artists are laying your pupils on this post and are interested in showcasing your art, feel free to poke me at leonard@californiashabushabu.com any time!

Smoochies,

Len

Art Exhibit @ the 'Loop!

2008-08-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Most of you who are coming to visit this blog probably already have the eVite sitting in your e-mailbox, so this could just be redundant, but for those of you who never received it for whatever reason (most likely bad e-mail address, we promise we don't hate you), California Shabu South Coast and Cantaloop will be co-hosting an Art Exhibit Friday, August 22nd, 2008 AD @ 9:30 PM PST.

My brother, Ivan Chan who you can meet at the exhibit, has created two crazy awesome finger paintings based on two (2) of my favorite monsters of all time for this event. Both paintings will be on display at the exhibit, but here is a sneak peek for you guys (for full details, hit up http://ivanchanstudio.blogspot.com):

Yeti

Sasquatch

Here is our original invitation that was sent out:

--Begin Original Message-

"I'm sure alot of your are wondering what art, yogurt, and shabu have to do with each other...well we are planning to have a private event at Cantaloop in Santa Ana, to celebrate all of the above. =)

We will be displaying original art from local artists and most of it will be for sale. And as far as the yogurt, the kicker is that it will be spiked by your favorite liquor! So we will feature our famous Pina Colada but served the way it was meant to be served (with rum haha! Weeeee!) and chocolate yogurt smothered with Kahlua. Of course, you can have the other delicious flavors like mango, plain, pom-blueberry froyo too. Red and white wine will also provided in case any guests need further inebriation.

We are asking guests to RSVP early so we can better plan ahead. Admission to the evening's fun and festivities will be $10 which includes a free yogurt, spiked or non-spiked. So come out, bring your friends who enjoy or would like to support art, California Shabu Shabu, and our special froyo ;)

Cheers!

Check out some of our featured artists:
Emily Miles - http://www.emilymiles.com/
Jeremiah Ketner - http://www.smallandround.com/
Marisa Haedike - http://www.creativethursday.com/
Stef Choi - stefchoi.blogspot.com
Ivan Chan - http://www.ivanchan.com/

--End Original Message-

Who: Everyone and Anyone Interested in Art, Forzen Yogurt, or Shabu
What: Art Exhibit from Local Artists
When: Friday, August 22nd, 2008 AD @ 9:30 PM PST
Where: Cantaloop OC
1935 E. 17th Street
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Why: Who doesn't want to get drunk off Frozen Yogurt?!

I hope to see you all there!

Smoochies,
Len

Wine and Design

2008-08-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

Woah, It's been a few weeks since my last post. Things have been swirling around for us at whirlwind speeds and I have had barely enough time to get our own things in order, let alone sit down and dedicate some time to writing. Either way, please accept my apologies for the delay (DARA)!

After about a week of prepping all the documents, gettings things notarized (big thanks to Tina's mama who notarized everything for us), and calling the California Alchoholic Beverage Control (ABC) about a gazillion times - I finally was able to take a trip to a branch of the department in beautiful downtown Santa Ana a little while back to submit our application, license type forty-one (41), to sell Beer and Wine at our location. There was much rejoicing in the land of alchoholphiles (and here you guys thought I was kidding all this time and that it wasn't a real word - so nee ner nee ner nee ner *tongue sticking out*).

I ended up spending about two (2) hours with a lovely Vietnamese lady, by the name of Kim Hong, who was super helpful and patient. Just a little side funny, I was talking to Tina and Ash about using thick, premium paper so that everything seems official. We kind of laughed it off, but thought, "Better safe than sorry." The first thing Kim said to me after sitting down was, "Nice paper!" Ha ha, so seriously...better safe than sorry. Anyhoo, Kim and I went through a bunch of checklist items, went through all of our paperwork, paid the government a nice little chunk of change, and was handed a Notice of Application to Sell Alcoholic Beverages - which I posted up almost immediately after leaving the building:

So here we are...our fate in the hands of ABC representative Nora Amante...officially in the running to sell Beer and Wine. For those of you fidgeting right now, don't worry, included with the Beer and Wine license is Sake and Sochu *Drooooooool*!

Once we had all the ABC mumbo jumbo kicked off, since it takes approximately three (3) months to process, we have been more free to focus our energy on the design of our restaurant. Tina, Ash, and I have been kicking around ideas for a couple of months now and sketched out as much as we could how we wanted the layout of our space to be. Once we were relatively satisfied with what we came up with, we passed along all of our scribbles to our restaurant architect, Bob Parr. This is what he ended up putting together for us:

As you can see, our space is much bigger than Wayne's location (18908 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley, CA 92708), on his recommendation. Due to the popularity of Wayne's spot, he has trouble with refrigeration space, counter space, space, space, and space. Even with this in mind, our joint was much bigger than we first anticipated, so we decided on setting aside a lounge area (it's pictured above where the sofas are, but we will not be furnishing it that way). This way, we would have a dedicated waiting area and a lounge for our friends and customers who want to come by for a drink or to relax before or after a meal. We initially had forty-seven (47) seats, in comparison to Wayne's twenty-eight(28), but decided to cut this down to forty-one (41) seats in order to enlarge the front waiting/lounge area. This was going to create a very long counter.

Did you guys notice the space between the two (2) seating counters? This popped up in Ash's head so that we would be able to keep the same amount of seats while providing a walkway for people to cut across the restaurant instead of walking allllllll the way around a full counter to get to the other side - where the restrooms will be located. We also wanted to keep lines clean and crisp, so we opted for straight cuts on the bar counter instead of the typical round cut. Because of this, we were able to carve out the two handicap spots without changing the design of the counter much at all.

With the layout finished, Ash, Tina, and I were left with our favorite part of the process - interior design. We thumbed through countless magazines and books and stopped by many restaurants since we first agreed to venture into this gig together. The three (3) of us have similar tastes in design, but we lacked a true focus. We had way too many ideas to fit into one restaurant. Dan, luckily, brought us down to earth by helping us trim down our thoughts and to try and come up with a single design theme. While this was going on, we enlisted the help of my good friend Tania, to help us sharpen our focus even more. The four (4) of us bounced around to different shops (Milk + Honey, Zipangu, Old Vine, Shabu restaurants, Izakaya Wasa, and plenty of other places) in order to find some inspiration and really hone in on what we wanted to convey. This is what Tania came up with after hearing an earfull from us:

This is not our completed "look and feel", but it's a good big step in the right direction. It's still a wee bit difficult to tell from the picture, but what we wanted as our theme was to be natural, open, and simple. Since the only windows are at the front of the store, we wanted to open up our space with lit cut-outs along one wall and creating a faux storefront window along the other side. Hopefully these, along with washing the walls with light, will help soften the length of the restaurant and give the space a more unconfined feeling. We are also planning on incorporating as many natural and organic materials as possible - wood, glass, plants, etc.

Welp, that's about where we are at this point. Check back soon for an update on an art show collaboration we are hosting with Steve, Howard, and Spencer's Cantaloop OC (http://www.cantaloopyogurt.com/)!

Boogers and snot,
Leonard

Big shout outs to two people making our ideas fly while keeping our feet planted:
Tania Soo - Interior Architecture & Design
949.412.7011
taniasoo@hotmail.com

Bob Parr - Restaurant Planning Services
714.258.3901
rps1942@msn.com

Shabu Day One - Arrested Development - Part Two of Two

2008-07-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

If you have just joined us, please read the previous post to catch up. Previous as in the next one, errr..the one below this one. OK, yeah.

So where was I? Oh yeah, my exploding thumb, which after a little over two weeks has just about healed. So after we washed up my thumb, we finished off the rest of the glass, which pretty much looked like this (feel free to click on any of the pictures to be redirected to the Kodak Gallery album which pretty much sums up these two posts with pictures and captions):

Ash and Ryan Getting Ready to Chuck Some Heat

After spending some time marvelling over our glass masterpiece, Dan arrived on the scene, soon followed by Charles and Davis - just in time to start helping us rip out the carpeting. We spend some time cutting the carpet with razor blades and then attempted to pull it out by hand. The carpet barely budges, so we all dig in and really give it a pull and realize that whoever laid down the carpet before, decided to get a little happy with the glue. After five (5) minutes of tugging at the nasty woven mess, we manage to pull back about four (4) feet to reveal *drum roll* LINOLEUM. Ugh...tile after tile after tile of linoleum. They never bothered to tear it all out, instead, the carpet was glued right on top of it. In a nutshell, we were getting nowhere trying to get all of the carpet off. *DING* Ash comes up with the bright idea of yanking it all out with the carpet tied to the hitch of his Jeep. We swing open the double doors and (**warning, there is some minor cursing in this video**):

Before we really get going on the carpet, Ash, Ryan, Dan, and I decide to climb up to the roof to check out the air-conditioning unit and to check for any leaks. We swing around the back of the building and find out that none of the keys we were given opens the lock to gain access to the ladder which leads to our roof. Ash and Ryan, being the climbers they are, survey the situation and within thirty (30) seconds Ash is already on the roof with Ryan right behind him. Dan and I shrugged our shoulders and followed suit.

We pop on the roof and survey out our spot. Everything looks good so we start goofing around on the roof. Ryan and I end up messing around with some of the hardware up there:

Antics that Lead to...Well You'll Find Out

On our way back down, Ryan notices this little black box sitting on top of a little black pole. Ryan guesses it's a motion detector. So I get in front of it, bend down, wave my hand in front of it a few times and guess that it could be a camera. The four (4) of us give it no thought and begin to make our way down the ladder after a few more minutes. This:

was the last thing Ash saw, my arse in his face, before turning around to a female police officer with her gun drawn, screaming, "FREEZE! GET ON THE GROUND!"

Nice way to start off our restaurant.

At this point Ash and I are already at ground level, Ryan's on the ladder, and Dan is watching in disbelief on the roof. I hear "I SAID GET ON THE GROUND!" and I look over to Ash and he is already on his stomach with his arms stretched out to his sides (it seemed so natural). So I listen to her and sit down Indian style.

"LAY DOWN!!"

I start laying down on my back.

"ON YOUR STOMACH!!"

Ryan is already on the ground looking like Ash, so I finally get it right. Dan hops off the ladder and lies down to the right of me. In. The. Sun (mind you it was over ninety (90) degrees that day). The officer proceeds to call for back-up with her Glock pointed at us. As she, and I guess we, waited, Dan is fidgeting around so his chin and cheek don't fry on the black top and he let's out a little "I wish I was in the shade..."

"I SAID SHUT THE @#$& UP AND DON'T MOVE!"

Someone hasn't been spooned in a long time. We laid there sun tanning for a couple more minutes before another cop showed up. Another few minutes, four (4) more showed up and a fire truck with two (firemen). They grab all of our wallets and phones and stack them in a little pile as they run all of our identification cards, by now, two of the police officers are laughing because they can tell we're no harm to anyone. Still, they feel the need to cuff us and pull us to the wall. Ash and I kindly ask them to take a couple of pictures for us. Here is one officer's artistry:

Jail Bait

Dan's Tan - Check Out The Officer to the Right

Oh man, I realize that I am ranting on longer and longer with each post, so I will just give you a quick run-down of the final couple of hours there.

After they uncuff us and apologize, we tell them that we understand how bad it looked being up there with our shirts off, ripped jeans, a baseball bat, etc and that we know they were just doing their jobs. We find out that the pharmacy next door has been broken into a few times, hence all the security. So they hop in their squad cars, their motorcylces, and their firetruck and take off after we let them know that they'll all be invited for a dinner when our doors open up. We walk back into the mess that we've made and see that Ivan, James, Hae Jung, and Q have been hanging around front talking with some of the cops.

The rest of the day consisted of:

James, Ivan, and Ash Helping with the Carpet (check out all the crap flying around in the air and into our lungs)

Hae Jung trying to crowbar out the linoleum tiles

Q sitting on his arse twiddling with the drill (Hae Jung really likes that position)

Me hopping around knocking down the ceiling

Ash and Hae Jung Doing Their Thing

The Aftermath (and Dan Talking Design)

Now that we've torn down the walls...all there is now is to do is what we've been taught throughout our whole lives to do...BUILD.

Boogers and Snot,
Lennypoo

Shabu Day One - Arrested Development - Part One of Two

2008-07-16T01:11:00.000-07:00

For those of you confused by the title and the few who came across my facebook status and wondered what the heck happened, please continue to read. It's the only way I can have you first suffer through the little words and letters that are dribbling out of my mouth and off my bottom lip.

I believe that throughout most of our lives, we have been taught to build, not to break. I think that, after finally getting the keys to our location dropped into our grubby little hands, the thought of obliterating the failed business that once resided within our four (4) walls lured us in like Godzilla to Tokyo city. That and smashing stuff is...like...fun.

July 6th, 2008 A.D., the day started off normal enough - with Ash showing up to my place with handyman extraordinaire, Ryan, and a Jeep full of necessities to start the demolition:

Sledge hammer - check
Face masks - check
Drill - check
Work gloves - check
Razor blades - check
Baseballs (I'll explain later) - check
Beer - HUBBUH DUH WHA?

What kind of construction (destruction?) site is complete without beer? So we head straight over to Mitsuwa market, pickup twenty four (24) cans of whatever Japanese beer is on sale (Sapporo for $12.99, in case you were wondering), two (2) bottles of Hakutsuru, a seven (7) pound bag of ice, and a Kold to Go bag to keep everything nice and chilly.

Beer - check!

Steppin' In
The Calm Before the Storm

Our Bar

Ash - 'Nuff Said

Woah WOAH, ok now. I started getting a little too happy with the pictures. On to movies, ha ha. After a cheers and a few chugs of our beer, our first official video was:

The Ceremonial Dropping of the Sledge Hammer

Soon after that, the three (3) of us dug in and really started tearing into the space. Ryan and Ash were pounding away at the back walls as I was knocking down our drop-ceiling. A quarter of the ceiling, two walls knocked down, and probably a few too many beers later I glance at the glass window on one of the walls and kind of muttered "Too bad we don't have any baseballs". Ryan then gets up and thirty (30) seconds later, drops a baseball bag next to me complete with balls, a glove, and an Easton bat. We end up going to town on the window, first batting balls through the glass and then doing our best to win the Cy Young award by throwing fast balls while watching the glass explode around the room. All fun and games, right?

Wrong. Cut to me on one side of the glass, Ryan and Ash on the other, all of us after a few more beers. We start throwing balls through both sides of the glass when I chuck a ball towards the glass. As I'm following through with my arm going full-speed I see a ball quickly approaching and WHAMMO! It tags my the thumb, think car going seventy (70) mph into a wall versus two (2) cars both going seventy (70) slamming into each other. I quickly grab my thumb in pain, look down wondering why I'm not bleeding, and notice there's already a little puddle of blood forming in my palm due to the explosion of my thumb. Ash and Ryan help me rinse the little guy off and notice that the left side of the nail was ripped completely out. Luckily this was the only injury, except maybe to our egos. OK, my ego.

Yowzas, this is getting long already, so I will split this puppy into two (2) posts and finish up another day. I know we didn't get to the whole arrested development thing. It is completely my fault and I am taking full responsibility for it. Thanks for stopping bye for a peep, and I promise we will get to the juicy stuff next post. So, click on over to us soon!

Smoochies,

Len

Friends, Meet Shabu. Shabu, Meet Friends. Now Play Nice!

2008-07-08T14:47:00.001-07:00

I'm a little new to this whole blogspot thing, so you guys will have to bear with me as I crawl around the nooks and crannies to figure out all the whistles and bells to smoothen out the initial roughness. Enough of that, though...

Welcome to the first entry for California Shabu Shabu South Coast!

First off, for those who don't know already (I'm assuming most of you do since you are here and running your eyes left to right and top to bottom), my friends Tina and Ash and I are opening up a California Shabu Shabu in Costa Mesa. After hearing about us crooning and squawking about this for a bit over 9 months now, you'd figure we'd have a drool producing baby or something to show for it. Instead, we finally have a signed lease, a location, and, as cornilicious as it sounds, a dream to fulfill.

To give everyone a wee bit of insight into why it has taken us so long, we had initially signed a letter of intent with a location at Bristol and Sunflower in the plaza inhabited by Red Robin and Cost Plus. We endured through an obstacle course worthy of a Beat Takeshi game show including, but not limited to: two (2) plumbers to survey the location to see if we would be able to put in a grease interceptor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_interceptor), (2) contractors with their HVAC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVAC) guys come along to see if we could even vent our restaurant correctly, a move two (2) doors down and incurring a much larger space and lease, a crook of a commercial real estate agent (feel free to send Tom Gioa hate mail at TGioia@leeirvine.com) who jerked us around for four (4) months and kept reneging on promises, giving up on the crook and that location, and finally scouting out another location to find out that a different Shabu had already signed a letter of intent there...in our HOOD! HOW DARE THEY?!

After a slew of phone calls, email messages, and Wayne lighting them up, since he is doing some other work with the same retail real estate group, we have secured our location at 801 Baker Street #A, Costa Mesa, CA 92626! This spot is pretty much in the lungs of what is called SoBECA, South on Bristol Entertainment, Culture, and Arts. Most of you will recognize this location because it is right next to Shark Club ha ha, I know I just heard a collective "Ohhhh yeahhhhh, therrrrreeee!" The location looks rather shameful at the moment, but we have been promised that a remodelling of the facade should begin around the beginning of August lasting six (6) to eight (8) weeks, meaning twelve (12) weeks. In light of our shame, here is an architects rendering of our space after the face lift (go ahead and clickety click on the picture to be redirected to a Kodak Gallery album with even more pictures for your viewing pleasure):

I see that I have already rambled on much more than I intended for our first post, so I will end things pretty much here. I hope that you guys, now, have a better understanding of where we are at the moment. Check back with us soon to read what Tina, Ash, and/or I have to blab about and find out how we kicked off our first official Shabu day by busting down some walls and tearing down a ceiling!

Smoochies,
Len

Here's a shout out to some fellow bloggers, make sure to poke around on some of the ads when you have some time to help them pay a few bills:

For my brother, Ivan's, ridiculously talented art:
http://ivanchanstudio.blogspot.com/
For some daily inspiration:
http://www.makethemostofyourtime.blogspot.com/
For some foody goodness:
http://foodmakesmehappy.blogspot.com/
For some ramen madness:
http://www.ramenramenramen.net/