Although I am best known for my var­i­ous dif­fer­ent roles and ap­pear­ances as a broad­cast per­son­al­i­ty, I am a busi­ness­man by trade. I work pri­ma­ri­ly with Tem­po, an e­sports team and me­di­a com­pa­ny turned game de­vel­op­ment stu­di­o; I help run the cor­po­rate side of le­gal, fi­nance, and HR ad­min­is­tra­tion. I also pro­vide busi­ness ad­vi­so­ry serv­ices to en­tre­pre­neurs and pub­lic fig­ures. You can find more de­tails on my CV.

I'm 34 years old and live in Las Vegas. In my free time, I like to write, cap­ture pho­to­graphs, train mixed mar­tial arts, play mu­sic, and pur­sue fi­nan­cial in­vest­ment op­por­tu­ni­ties. Gen­er­al­ly, I pre­fer to do ac­tiv­i­ties that ex­pose me to nov­el ex­pe­ri­ences or help me de­vel­op new prac­ti­cal skills.

Those who know me well often de­scribe my per­son­al­i­ty as “meticulously-controlled chaos.” The MBTI types me as INTJ. I'm split be­tween In­ves­ti­ga­tor (Type 5) and Chal­leng­er (Type 8) on the Enneagram. My CliftonStrengths Top 5 are De­lib­er­a­tive, Learner, An­a­lyt­i­cal, A­chiev­er, and Com­pe­ti­tion. I score high­est in Well-Being, Self-Control, and E­mo­tion­al Sta­bil­i­ty on the SPI-27. My top trait on both the Big Five and HEXACO-PI-R is Con­sci­en­tious­ness.

I don't use so­cial me­di­a much, but my pro­files are Parkzer on Twitch, Adam Parkzer on YouTube, @Parkzer on 𝕏, Adam Parkzer on LinkedIn, Parkzer on Last.fm, and Parkzer on Letterboxd. I don't have any se­cret “alt” or “friends only” ac­counts. Never send cash, gift cards, or cryp­to­cur­ren­cy to any­one claim­ing to be me—they are all im­per­son­a­tors and scam­mers.

Below, you can find my blog where I doc­u­ment my ad­ven­tures, or­gan­ize my thoughts, and share snip­pets of my life. You can browse in re­verse chron­o­log­i­cal or­der, or you can sort by these pop­u­lar cat­e­go­ries: Highlights | Food | Las Vegas | Tourism | Travel | Flights | Cruises | Face | Finance

 

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Hello, San Diego Padres vs. Los Angeles Dodgers & One Piece Night at Dodger Stadium

by   •   Face, Tourism
 

Just under a year ago, I had a tragically poor experience attending Hello Kitty Night 2025 at Dodger Stadium due to some poor planning and poor logistics on the part of the person who organized the trip. However, I learned a lot from that experience, and now I am much more familiar with Dodger Stadium (and non-suite seating at sporting venues in general).

About a month or so ago, one of my friends asked me if I wanted to join her for One Piece Night at Dodger Stadium on July 2, 2026 during the night the Los Angeles Dodgers hosted the San Diego Padres. She wanted to go because they were giving away One Piece gift bags consisting of a Luffy straw hat and a collectible trading card, and she really wanted those exclusive items. I don’t really care at all about One Piece, but this is a friend who I trust and enjoy spending time with, so I agreed to come along.

She told me that she had never been to a baseball game before, and this would be her first time. I immediately had a flashback to Hello Kitty Night 2025 and realized I had this untapped encyclopedia of knowledge in my brain about how to go to a baseball game without wanting to kill yourself. I told her that I would help handle a majority of the logistics so that we can have as pleasant of an experience as possible.

I first looked into buying individual tickets to shared suites, but upon more diligent research, I found out that there is a high risk of those kinds of shared suite tickets not coming with a gift entitlement, which would defeat the purpose of us going. I then looked into some tickets classed as “baseline club” and “dugout club,” which came with private lounge access and front-row seats to the action; those were between $1,000-2,000 per ticket. I would’ve been fine getting those tickets, but after discussing with my friend, we decided to go for something cheaper as a trial for her first baseball game, because she didn’t know if she would even enjoy the game at all.

I ultimately decided on executive club seats, which were a much more reasonable ~$400 per ticket. Although they didn’t come with a private lounge, they were on the same floor as the suites, which meant that it was much more peaceful and less congested than the regular general admission floors.

Our welcome email told us that the entry gates open two hours before the game starts, and the parking lot opens an additional half an hour before that. We ended up arriving about three hours before the game started because my friend wanted to make absolutely certain that they wouldn’t run out of gift bags. We were expecting to need to wait before being let in, but apparently, so many people were arriving so early that day that they were backed up into the street and causing a traffic jam, so they had no choice but to start letting people in early.

Two and a half hours before the first pitch, the lines to get in were already completely packed.

Fortunately, the executive club seats also come with priority access. The line was still pretty long, but nowhere near as long as the loge and reserve entrances. We had to wait for a while, but there was a friendly guy in line near us who was chatting with us, and that combined with conversing amongst ourselves made it so the wait didn’t feel that long.

Upon walking through the metal detector and passing security, we were given our straw hat and collectible card. After that point, there were no more lines for the rest of the night.

This is the entrance to the suite and club level of the field.

We made our way over to our seats in Section 229CL. This was the closest section next to where the suites start, so in theory, we were in the section with the next best possible elevated view without being inside an actual suite. I also liked that this section had an overhang; it didn’t matter for this particular game, but it sounds very convenient as shade for days when the game starts earlier, or as shelter for days when it rains.

This is what the rest of the club level looked like. As you can see, it is substantially nicer than general admission, and I think it is absolutely worth the upcharge. There are far fewer seats, more legroom, nice padding on the seat bottoms, and more space to walk around. In general, this space felt far more relaxed and easy-going than the other levels of the stadium.

The collectible cards came in their own plastic packaging, but my friend wanted to be extra safe and put the cards in another layer of hard plastic covers. We went as a group of three, and these are the three cards we got.

I told her to take pictures of the cards with her at the stadium so that the photographs could act as a substitute certificate of authenticity, in case she ever wants to sell them. However, she ultimately decided that the cards made her happy and she wanted to keep them for her own collection.

There was a lot of One Piece branding spread out throughout the stadium for the collaboration, including on the massive screens in the outfield.

The elevation of this level was perfect—far away enough that you could get a perfect bird’s-eye view of the entire field, but not so far away that everything was too small. Because we arrived early, we were able to see the players warming up.

There were some signs on the wall near the concession stand, and I tried to use it as reference to find out how to navigate to other areas of the stadium. … Then I found out that they were just decorative.

This is the view from the outfield, from the far edge of the club level. I walked over here because I was looking for a set of stairs to use to go downstairs to the loge level because my friend wanted some pizza, and there was no pizza concession stand on the suite and club level.

This far edge of the club level also had a view of the entrance. I thought it was a very funny visual seeing everyone wearing their straw hat on the inside of the gate.

We made it down to the loge level and I basically got an episode of PTSD from my prior Dodger Stadium experience. There was still about two hours to go before the first pitch, so most people still hadn’t arrived yet, but it was still absolutely packed. It wasn’t shoulder-to-shoulder like it is after the game starts, but it was still extremely congested. My friend said that she was instantly overstimulated by how many people there were everywhere already.

… Here is a random picture of a cameraman.

After walking all the way around from left outfield to first base, we made it to the pizza vendor, Batter’s Box Pizza.

My friend got a personal cheese pizza, and I got a personal pepperoni pizza. There was not enough sauce, but it was still extremely salty. It was very doughy, so I guess you’d like this pizza if the crust is your favorite part of pizza. I was not a fan of this pizza.

For my drink, I ordered a fruity non-alcoholic mocktail. It tasted like I was served a full cup of ice with a little bit of pineapple juice and grapefruit juice mixed in.

While enjoying my pizza and juice, I was able to watch the crew prepare the field for play.

In celebration of One Piece Night, someone got dressed up in a Luffy costume and threw the first pitch.

After celebrating his pitch, Luffy went up to the cameras and officially declared the start of the baseball game.

I noticed that this particular section of seats was empty for some reason. It was funny thinking that maybe someone just bought out all the seats in that area because they happened to be cheaper and they just wanted to collect more gift bags. The collectible cards from previous collaborations have sold on auction websites for several hundreds to thousands of dollars, so technically, I guess this could be quite a lucrative way to make a profit.

To the grave disappointment of Los Angeles Dodgers fans, the San Diego Padres started the game with quite a substantial lead.

The personal pizza wasn’t enough to fill me up, so I also ordered some surf and turf tacos. I am pretty sure they put about six times more salt into the tacos than the recipe called for. They were edible, but not even remotely good, and I would never get them again.

I ordered this along with some Diet Coke in a standard, non-souvenir fountain drink cup. It was much smaller than I expected, and it is unfortunate that fountain drinks do not come with refills, but fortunately, I was able to get free tap (non-bottled) water.

My friend got ground beef nachos. They were marginally better than the tacos, but still way too salty.

For dessert, we shared a churro sundae. This was the best thing we ate at the stadium—not because it was delicious, but because it was the only thing that wasn’t bad. It basically tasted like generic ice cream that you’d get in bulk from a grocery store.

Partway through the game, my friend decided to enter the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation’s 50/50 Raffle. This is a program where you buy raffle tickets and your purchase price is added to a jackpot pool. At the end of the eighth inning, a winner is selected from the raffle tickets; the winner wins half the jackpot, and the other half of the jackpot is donated to the charity.

The raffle entries scale up depending on how much you spend. If you pay US$20, you get 10 tickets; if you pay US$50, you get 50 tickets; if you pay US$100, you get 150 tickets; and if you pay US$150, you get 300 tickets. My friend opted to get 300 tickets for $150, so she ended up with a comically long receipt with all her raffle entry numbers.

At the seventh inning stretch, I got up from my seat and went to the edge of the suite level beyond the overhang so I could get a picture of everyone standing up with their Luffy straw hats on.

One nice thing about having executive club seats is that you get your own server who will take your orders and deliver food and drinks directly to you. Apparently they can also arrange special celebration desserts, like for this person who was celebrating his birthday.

At the bottom of the eighth, the winner of the 50/50 Raffle was selected. My friend did not win. In fact, she failed to even match the third digit…

With only one strikeout to go at the top of the ninth, we left our seats and headed downstairs to the field level. The Los Angeles Dodgers had a hefty lead by this point, so it seemed like the bottom of the ninth would not be played and the Dodgers had basically secured a win already.

The reason we came all the way down? Because we heard that there would be a One Piece drone show after the game ended, and they would be letting fans onto the field to watch the show from there so they can get a better view. It seems like other people were aware of this as well, because field level was packed with people waiting (with their straw hats on, of course) for the gates to open.

After the game was fully wrapped up, they opened the gates and a flood of fans entered the field.

They soon dimmed the lights in preparation for the drone show.

In an ultimate bait-and-switch, the drone show started… far in the distance. The view was blocked by the structure of the stadium. I’m pretty sure we would’ve gotten a better view just by staying in our seats.

Regardless, it was neat to be able to go on the field, and I’m glad I was able to get that opportunity. I didn’t even get to do that when I went on the paid tour last time, so it was nice that they let fans have that experience for free after the game.

In an effort to try and get a better view, we walked out of the stadium, but then we had some issues with tall trees blocking a portion of the drone show instead.

On our way out into the parking lot, I saw a jumbo replica of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2025 World Series Championship ring.

I didn’t wear the straw hat at all during the game, but I figured I should probably at least get a goofy picture with it at the end, for the memories. So, here I am with the Luffy straw hat. … I look like a rice farmer.

Overall, I had quite a fun and pleasant experience this time around. The type of seats you buy absolutely matters at Dodger Stadium, and I think the premium price of executive club seats was beyond worth it for the money. It was a perfect balance of getting both a public and private experience—public in the sense that you still feel like you’re in the middle of the action, but private in the sense that you have your own special floor with far fewer other people to deal with.

 

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Hello, High Summer 2026 Tasting Menu at Michael Mina in the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip

by   •   Food, Las Vegas
 

Last Thursday (yes, I am about one week behind on blog posts), I had a chance to try the new High Summer 2026 tasting menu at Michael Mina inside the Bellagio Resort & Casino. I was lucky enough to be the first guest to try this limited-time tasting menu. To be clear, this wasn’t a special invitation or a promotional event, and I paid full price for my meal. It just happened to be coincidence that the day I showed up was the first day they started serving this menu, and my reservation was at 5 PM right when they opened, so I was the first diner through the door that day.

In addition to this High Summer 2026 menu for US$250 per person, there were two other tasting menu options—a signature tasting menu for US$195, and an extended Restaurant Week prix fixe menu for US$120. The signature tasting menu had a wine pairing for US$125 and a premium wine pairing for US$295. I opted for High Summer not only because it was new, but also because it seemed from the course list that it was far better value than the signature menu in terms of the variety of courses and the amount of food. Furthermore, the other menus had a bunch of supplements for add-ons or upgrades to more premium items, while the High Summer menu basically had everything included.

On the day of my dinner, I walked to the Bellagio and made my way into the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden, as the entrance to Michael Mina is situated inside the installment. When navigating the Las Vegas Strip by public transportation or by foot, I always give myself a bit of a buffer in case I run into unexpected delays, such as landing on unlucky Monorail timing or running into dense tourist congestion. On this day, it wasn’t too busy, so I arrived a bit early; while I waited for my reservation time, I strolled through the Conservatory until the hostess showed up at her podium outside the front entrance of Michael Mina.

I was seated deep into the restaurant. They already had a small, one-person table prepared for me, likely in response to my reservation placed ahead of time. The table was all the way in the center-rear close to the windows, so I had a nice view of the entire restaurant.

On a somewhat related note, this made for an interesting conundrum with regards to photography. Because I was seated next to the windows, I had fantastic natural sunlight. However, the rest of the restaurant was extremely dim. As a result, due to the intensity of the angled sunlight and the darkness of the rest of the restaurant, all my pictures had exaggerated highlights and shadows. I tried to fix it as best I could in post-production using my camera’s sensor data and the raw image files, but my skill in that is nowhere close to where I would like it to be, so as a disclaimer, some of the food might seem unnaturally saturated or vibrant in some of my pictures.

 
The tasting menu started with a caviar parfait with smoked salmon, crème fraîche, and egg mimosa.

The waiter recommended that I grab this with my fingers and eat the entire thing in one bite. This was actually quite sizable, so I had to stretch my mouth to near maximum height in order to fit this in. I technically could’ve eaten it “sideways” by putting the caviar portion into my mouth first, but I wanted to keep it “upright” so that, when I bite down, it mixes all the ingredients optimally in my mouth.

As you’d probably expect from a dish like this, it was an absolute explosion of incredible flavor. I really like caviar, and having that mixed in with other intense flavors made it almost overstimulating. This caviar parfait was basically like if you had an attribute slider on how delicious you wanted something to be, and you just cranked it all the way up as high as it can go.

I looked at some old Michael Mina menus online and saw this listed on some tasting menus as a supplement for US$55. This might sound crazy to hear me say this about a single bite of food, but if you are a caviar enthusiast, I’d go as far as to say that trying this at that price point is worth it, as this really pushes your taste buds to their limits and may enlighten you on just how much flavor a single bite of food could possibly have.

Next was ahi tuna crudo with Dapple Dandy pluot, umeboshi, and mint.

This was a refreshing crudo dish that helped restabilize my taste buds after the caviar parfait, and it had a grounding effect to prepare me for the rest of the dinner. This had a fun eating experience, as part of it involved dissecting and unraveling the rose, and then reconstructing each bite with a bit of tuna and a bit of pluot to combine the flavors evenly.

Then came the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market tomato and melon with Marcona almonds, sheep’s milk feta, passion fruit, and basil.

The mixture of tomato and melon was quite nice, and I don’t think it’s a combination that I’ve ever had before. The almonds added a great depth to its texture that made the chewing experience more fun. I’m usually not a fan of feta cheese because I think it smells like a combination of mold and vomit, but this feta was actually quite mild and not pungent. The sauce underneath was amazing. It added a creamy and gritty element to the dish, and its slightly earthy flavor worked well with the lighter and refreshing tomato.

In between the next two dishes, I was served an off-menu naan bread with three different kinds of sauces. The waiter explained with great detail what ingredients each of the sauces had, but I forgot the specifics.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first dark brown sauce, but the tan and white sauces were great. The bread was a bit too oily for my preference, but it was a type of pure oiliness that was different than greasiness, so it didn’t feel heavy or cloy at all.

The first main entrée was Australian black truffle with house-made tagliatelle, 24-month aged parmesan, and pistachio streusel.

I’m a fan of truffle and enjoyed the Australian truffle in this dish, but the rest of it was too salty and didn’t align with my personal preference (my best guess being that the aged parmesan cheese probably tarnished the entire dish’s flavor profile for my own taste buds). With that being said, I could still tell that it was a high-quality, well-made dish. Even though it wasn’t my favorite, I still finished the entire thing because it was still plentifully palatable, and I wanted to analyze it. It was rich and flavorful, and if you like aged cheese and/or salty foods, then you’d probably be a big fan of this pasta.

The second entrée was applewood-grilled branzino with hazelnut and saffron romesco, zucchini pistou, and black olive gremolata.

I love grilled fish, but believe it or not, this was my least-favorite dish of the night. The texture of the fish skin was a bit soggy. The flavor profile of the sauces was a bit vague and not particularly memorable. In my personal opinion, the sauces didn’t really seem complementary to the fish or zucchini. The fish itself had a bit of an unusual taste to it, almost as if it had been cleaned with heavily chlorinated water. It ended up leaving an aftertaste that lingered for a few minutes. (With that being said, it is very possible that this was just a bad batch and I got unlucky.)

To top it all off, they even spelled zucchini wrong on the menu and wrote it as “zuccini,” which, to my knowledge, is just a typo and not a different thing.

Next up was charcoal-roasted shellfish with red miso butter, Brentwood corn fondue, and charred lemon. Although I’d say that the caviar parfait was my favorite dish of the meal in terms of flavor, this shellfish was my favorite dish of the night if you rate it holistically with all elements beyond flavor as well.

Although just serving the highest possible quality of food during a tasting menu is great, I think they should have at least one innovative, creative, fun, and/or interactive dish if they want to ensure that the experience is memorable. This shellfish dish was absolutely that kind of dish.

They basically came out with a little campfire in a bowl. There were some shrubs and charcoal actively on fire and smoking in the middle. There was a scallop, some lobster, a few pieces of miniature corn, and a few small potatoes surrounding the fire. To eat it, I removed the seafood from its shell or the vegetable from the skewer, dipped it in the fondue, and held it above the fire to allow it to absorb the charcoal flavor.

All the seafood was very tender and flavorful. The fondue added a deeper level of richness to the food, but was still light enough that it didn’t make the seafood taste heavy. The smoke got a little overwhelming after a while, but that was an easy fix; I just placed the scallop shell on top of it to block the rising smoke, and then removed it when I needed it again to “roast” another piece of food.

Next up was Muscovy duck breast and foie gras with Kabu turnip, pickled green strawberry, and red walnuts.

This was a nice, solid, well-rounded dish. The duck breast was cooked fairly rare, which aligned perfectly with my preferences. The foie gras added a deep richness to each bite of duck. This dish made me realize that I don’t think I have ever seen foie gras paired together with duck before, which I guess is ironic. This combination worked well, and the turnips and strawberry were decent to cut through a little bit of the fattiness of the foie gras.

The final entrée of the tasting menu was prime Brandt New York strip with Mendocino porcini, black cherry, and smoked béarnaise.

This dish was fine, but not remarkable. The béarnaise sauce was incredibly salty, so I had to make sure I mixed it together well with all the steak, mushrooms, and cherries, otherwise it was so salty that it borderlined bitter. The steak had a larger ratio of fat than I would’ve preferred (and not the well-marbled kind). It was still okay, and probably made sense to include in the tasting menu as the red meat dish that adds variety to the seafood-heavy flavor storyline.

I had the option of upgrading this New York strip to a triple-seared Miyazaki wagyu for an additional US$55 supplement. I passed and just stuck with the New York strip steak. Miyazaki wagyu is definitely delicious, but as someone who mainly likes seafood and is trying to lower saturated fat consumption to maintain heart health, wagyu isn’t really something I go seeking out anymore.

As the meal was approaching its end, I was presented with my first of two desserts: Golden Lady mango shaved ice with coconut espuma and Santa Barbara finger lime, topped with an edible gold leaf.

Usually, I know shaved ice to be somewhat of a watered-down version of whatever flavor it’s supposed to resemble. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I ate some of this shaved ice and found it to be somehow more intense in mango flavor than just eating an actual mango. This was almost as if they had frozen dehydrated mangoes so that the taste of the mango was more concentrated, and then shaved that into ice.

And finally, the last dish of the tasting menu was a Valrhona dark chocolate soufflé with Madagascar vanilla crème anglaise and salted caramel ice cream.

This was “prepared tableside” to an extent, where the soufflé was cut in half and the salted caramel ice cream was placed on top. The temperature contrast between the soufflé and ice cream was nice, and the soufflé was very fluffy. I also appreciated the fact that it was pleasantly sweet, but not too sweet.

Here are some photographs that I took of the interior of the restaurant. Remember that I was the first person to show up this day, right as they opened their doors, so that’s why the restaurant seems empty. The tasting menu took right around two and a half hours to finish. This was a random Thursday evening, so it never really got fully packed at any point, but it was still decently busy during peak dinner hours.

High Summer 2026 tasting menu $ 250.00
Gratuity (18%) $  45.00
Sales tax (8.375%) $  20.94
Total $ 315.94

The table to the right shows how much I paid.

Overall, I am highly satisfied with this tasting menu, and I think it is very worth it. A lot of restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip have a huge tourist mark-up, but I think the pricing of Michael Mina’s High Summer 2026 tasting menu is very reasonable and comparable to something you’d find in a big city without any special tourist mark-ups. Of course, it is still an expensive meal, but it’s not crazy compared to other fine dining restaurants.

Speaking of fine dining, I loved that Michael Mina was an effortlessly high-end restaurant. I don’t like restaurants that shove “fine dining” down your throat by exaggerating how luxurious they are. Michael Mina does fine dining the right way by being quietly and subtly elegant, and the way they demonstrate that they are a fine dining restaurant is through the food and service. The attentiveness of the staff was top-tier and perfectly balanced; they were not intrusive, but they were extremely prompt in taking away empty plates, replacing used utensils, and refilling half-empty water glasses.

After my meal, the assistant general manager came to me and asked how I liked the tasting menu, considering that I was the first person to try it. I told him that it was great, and I asked him how much detail he wanted me to go into. He said that he wanted as much detail as I was willing to give, so I basically gave him an abridged version of what you just read here in this blog post.

He was very attentive and curious about my opinion. He seemed pleased when I pointed out the positives, and was very concerned and interested in learning more when I pointed out the negatives. For example, when I talked about the strange taste of the fish, he seemed genuinely distraught because they pride themselves in the freshness of their food; he said that he would promptly address it with the kitchen and make sure they taste the current batch of branzino to determine the best path forward.

After a long conversation, the assistant general manager thanked me for my detailed feedback and opinions, to which I responded that I’m always happy to talk about food and learn more about how chefs express their creativity through cuisine. He joked about how he felt like he basically just interviewed me, and offered me a complimentary glass of champagne in return. I told him that I don’t drink alcohol, but let him know that I appreciate the gesture. He then offered me a non-alcoholic drink from the bar instead, but I respectfully declined that as well. (The reason I am explicitly pointing that out here is to clarify that I received literally no gifts or incentives from the restaurant that may sway the neutral integrity of my review.)

If you enjoy seafood and are looking for a nice dinner on the Las Vegas Strip, I think the High Summer 2026 menu at Michael Mina might be one of the best seasonal options available at the moment. I forgot to ask for how long they’re running this menu, but I imagine it should be sticking around until at least the end of summer.

It’s rare for me to go back to high-end restaurants a second time because I want to prioritize experiencing a lot of different locations instead, and I don’t have an infinite supply of time and money. However, based on my positive experience at Michael Mina, this is definitely a spot where I’d go back to try their winter menu if it is different enough from their summer one.

 

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Hello, Collect-A-Con Las Vegas 2026

by   •   Conventions, Face, Las Vegas
 

Earlier today, I attended the second day of Collect-A-Con Las Vegas. As you can probably tell by the name, Collect-A-Con is a convention dedicated to collectibles, primarily trading cards and anime products. Those who know me well will probably be surprised that I decided to go to a convention like this, considering that I don’t really collect anything and I actually don’t even like having too many physical possessions, especially things that don’t serve some kind of practical or utilitarian purpose.

The closest I got to being a collector was buying singles of every different Absol Pokémon card in every rarity, variant, and language I could find. I started doing that in 2018 and it lasted a little while before I lost interest. Nowadays, I only revisit it once every couple of years to see if there are any easy gaps in my collection to fill in from recent releases.

This may sound ironic or counterproductive, but… the fact that I am not a collector is actually the precise reason why I decided to go to this convention. I’ve been to a lot of conventions, but I noticed that they were mostly just the same ones over and over again. For example, I got sick of going to PAX twice a year, every year, and basically seeing the exact same thing time after time. Upon this realization, I decided that I will no longer go to PAX anymore unless I am invited to be a speaker or something, and I will generally avoid conventions that are just repeats of ones I’ve been to in the past. Instead, I want to check out conventions, events, and shows that are different from what I’m used to.

Collect-A-Con is still pretty related to video games, so it wasn’t that new to me. Also, my friend Erin Song, who runs the AgentDMG collectibles brand and consignment company with her husband, was also attending Collect-A-Con Las Vegas, so it wasn’t like I was going into it completely alone and blind. Regardless, it was still an adventurous step into new territory for me.

Upon arriving at the Las Vegas Convention Center, I picked up my wristband and headed into the hall. My first impression of it was that the convention didn’t really seem like a convention. Instead, it felt like a really big farmers’ market, but for cardboard instead of food.

When I think of a convention, I imagine a gathering of a broad variety of industry-specific professionals and enthusiasts who are all coming together to contribute their own little piece of the industry. For example, I expect to see companies premiering new flagship additions to their product lines, start-up companies seeking investment or capital, innovators showing off the latest technology and other developments, sponsors and advertisers selling goods, presenters and speakers sharing knowledge, students seeking to build a network for future employment, and entertainers providing color and flavor to the event, among others. However, when I walked into Collect-A-Con, an overwhelming majority of the booths were just people who were buying and selling trading cards.

With that being said, there were still a few booths that were unique and distinct. For example, I especially liked the ones that had custom-made art and other goods based on the intellectual property of their favorite franchises (and I will conveniently ignore the fact that they most likely did not get a proper license to do so, because it’s nice to see people’s passion projects). I also liked the live music.

Within several minutes of my arrival, I noticed some music coming from the far rear of the convention hall. I slowly made my way through the crowd and to the stage in the back, at which point I discovered that it was Jason Paige singing. I recognized him as the person who sang the original Pokémon theme song for the cartoons. He was performing a small set of Pokémon and Pokémon-related songs, and he closed his show with the main theme song that I (and probably many other people) know him for.

This was overwhelmingly my favorite part of the show. I’m someone who watched Pokémon as a kid, and when I do live stream broadcasts on my Twitch channel and take song requests, I often get asked to play the Pokémon theme song. Thus, it was quite exciting to see it being performed live in front of me as a surprise by the vocalist who originally sang it. Apparently Jason Paige is one of the recurring headliners of Collect-A-Con and does a small set every time, but because this was my first time at this convention, it was my first time seeing Jason Paige, and it was a great experience.

What made this extra funny is that Jason Paige is apparently a particularly controversial figure among the card collector community. Specifically, he was recently accused of “scamming” a child during a trade-up challenge. I was curious and did some research into it, and I found out that the accusation was made by some random guy named Bryan Kuznitz from “Boosters and Bangers Collectibles” who did a combination of making up fake facts and leaving out important context to try and make Jason Paige look bad. I didn’t look for it myself to confirm because I’m not interested in scrolling through Bryan’s social media profiles, but he allegedly posted a follow-up video apologizing for misleading the community, which is an implied admission of guilt.

With that being said, apparently there are a lot of people who just don’t like Jason Paige—in general, and unrelated to this false scamming accusation incident—which is fine. This was evident by the confused reactions I got when people would ask me what I liked most about the convention, and I answered that my favorite part was Jason Paige singing the Pokémon theme song. I don’t know Jason personally and did not even go to his meet-and-greet or autograph session afterwards. However, I can say for sure that I thoroughly enjoyed the three minutes during which he sang the Pokémon song, and I thought it was fantastic.

My overall assessment of Collect-A-Con is that I am glad I went once to see what it’s like, but I most likely would not attend again in the future. I think this is heavily catered towards people who like actually buying and selling physical collectibles, and the amount of activities to do outside of that is very limited. I’d be willing to tag along with some friends again if they wanted to go to the Las Vegas stop of the Collect-A-Con tour circuit and I didn’t have to travel anywhere for it, but that would mainly be just to spend time together with friends, rather than for the convention itself.

Of course, I took a lot of pictures at the convention. I didn’t really have a structured plan for my photography; basically, whenever I saw something that looked remotely interesting, I snapped a shot. Here is a random collection of photos I took of random things around me, with no particular meaning or significance in their selection or order:

 

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Hello, Sushi by Scratch Los Angeles in Encino, California

by   •   Food
 

Last year, I treated one of my friends to a birthday omakase dinner at Sushi by Scratch at the SLS Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California. I noticed that Sushi by Scratch had 14 different locations (some already established, and some coming soon), and I asked if she wanted to make it an annual tradition to always go to Sushi by Scratch for her birthday dinner. She agreed, so this year, we went to Sushi by Scratch Los Angeles in Encino, California. (As a side note, we promptly found out that there were only two Sushi by Scratches in Los Angeles County and none in Las Vegas, so next year, both of us will need to travel… but that’s an issue for future Adam to handle.)

This particular friend’s birthday is actually in late April, but I was not available to travel to Southern California during the times when she was free, so we ended up being over a month late for her dinner. However, last week, we finally made some time to head over to Encino Place, the shopping center where Sushi by Scratch is located.

Similar to last time, we were invited to optionally arrive up to half an hour early for canapé service. This is done in a separate area of the restaurant while the chefs are at the omakase bar preparing for dinner service. Of course, I’m not going to pass up on extra food, so we arrived about 20 minutes before our designated reservation time.

I’m not sure why they call this an optional part of the experience, because I think the canapé service is a major element of the Sushi by Scratch experience. To be clear, these are not just some random small snacks that you can get from a grocery store; these are delicious, high-quality dishes that, although small, are still things that you’d probably find listed on fine dining menus at around US$10.00 each, or more.

The first small plate we got was a prawn dish; the prawn was decently sized, had a satisfying texture, was rich in flavor, and came served with a great sauce. We requested a non-alcoholic substitution to the welcome drink, so we received a citrusy tea instead.

The next bite was a miniature tuna roll topped with salmon roe. This was familiar, and looking back, I noticed that this was the same as one of the canapés that we were served at the Beverly Hills location.

For our last small dish before heading into the omakase bar, we were given some Japanese egg custard.

This is a picture of the “holding area” where we enjoyed our canapés. Surprisingly, a lot of people showed up only a few minutes before the 5 PM reservation time for our round of omakase. I feel like that is a big mistake on their end; if you’re paying premium prices for dinner, I’d imagine you’d want to have as much food as possible, considering how good it is.

Once attendance was taken and everyone was accounted for, the waiter gathered us all together and escorted us deeper into the building, into the dimly-lit main restaurant area. Although slightly different in design, it still had the familiar four-by-four grid of nigiri items written on miniature wood-bordered blackboards that I remembered from the Beverly Hills location. This “course list” allowed us to set our expectations for what we’d be eating that night.

After we were all seated, the bartender checked in with each of us and took our drink orders.

There was a designated wine pairing, but no non-alcoholic pairing. I did notice that there were two mocktails on the menu, so I figured I’d build my own pairing and order one of each. I asked the bartender to bring out the first mocktail early on, and then slot in the second mocktail part-way through the omakase at whatever point he thought that it would work best.

When he heard my request, I think he identified that I wanted a non-alcoholic pairing, so he said that he could actually make one for me on-the-fly. He offered making me four medium-sized drinks and spreading them out evenly throughout the omakase experience—two that were on the menu, along with two different ones that weren’t on the menu.

My friend wanted to try them just to see what they tasted like, but she didn’t want full mocktails of her own, so I ordered one non-alcoholic pairing to share with her. My friend also got some green tea.

After the bartender took everyone’s drink orders, the chefs were wrapping up their preparations, and the first round of nigiri was almost ready.

Shortly before serving the first piece, the chef mentioned that there was an opportunity to supplement some pieces of nigiri with extra caviar and/or shaved truffle. He mentioned the upcharge, but I thought the amount was so unreasonably high that I dismissed it as ridiculous and I guess my brain just immediately forgot it. It was somewhere in the ballpark of US$100-150 to have the add-ons for a handful of pieces of nigiri. Both my friend and I declined.

The dinner started with some hamachi, which is yellowtail.

Next came toro, or fatty tuna.

Afterwards was kinmedai, or splendid alfonsino.

The fourth piece was hotate, which is scallop.

With the first set of four pieces of nigiri finished, the bartender returned with my first mocktail. It made sense that each drink would be grouped with each batch of four pieces of nigiri, considering that there were four beverages and 16 pieces of nigiri. However, I think it would make much more sense if this came before the first piece, rather than after the fourth.

Next was shima aji, or striped jack.

Then came madai, which is red sea bream.

Afterwards, we received sawara, or Japanese Spanish mackerel.

Finally, the fourth piece of nigiri in this batch was masu, which is cherry trout.

The next mocktail was a citrus-based drink.

Nigiri number nine was albacore.

Following that was kanpachi, or greater amberjack.

Next was akami, which is the fleshy part of tuna.

Afterwards was a nice treat for me. One of my favorite types of sushi is escolar, but it’s rare to find it in restaurants because overconsumption of escolar can cause gastrointestinal issues, and a lot of restaurants don’t want to take the risk of people getting an upset stomach from ordering too much escolar and accusing them of causing food poisoning. This is prominent enough of a symptom that it is actually banned from being served in Japan.

I really like it because it is an extremely rich and buttery soft fish that isn’t quite like any other kind of fish. I happen to have the great fortune of not having any digestive issues with escolar, so I like to order it whenever I have the opportunity to do so. Thus, you can imagine how nice it was when I saw that escolar was already part of the omakase experience.

My next beverage was quite interesting, and was my favorite of the night. It had what I believe was chili oil in it, and I’m a big fan of spicy oils.

For the first piece of the set of four constituting the grand finale of the omakase, we were served torched wagyu beef nigiri.

That was followed by some bone marrow.

The chef then prepared unagi nigiri, which is eel, and topped it with some of the leftover bone marrow from the bone that was melted atop the eel with a torch.

To close out the night, the chef brought out some fresh uni, which is sea urchin.

The sea urchin was served as a small open hand roll instead of as nigiri or gunkan.

At the end of the meal, I received my fourth drink.

To close out the dinner, we were given a small cold dessert that resembled chocolate-covered ice cream.

The dessert also came with its own small cup of tea (so I had two beverages to go along with my dessert, if you also count the final mocktail of the non-alcoholic pairing).

Here are some additional photographs I took around the restaurant. These next three are from the bar area that you see immediately upon entering the restaurant, from which they conduct the canapé service.

And finally, these are photos of the Encino Place shopping mall. This was a multi-story structure with an underground parking garage and a bunch of different shops and restaurants laid out in a horseshoe. Sushi by Scratch was up one flight of stairs on the escalator from the ground floor, behind an unassuming door.

Omakase ×2 $ 370.00
Mocktail pairing $  40.00
Green tea $   8.00
Service charge (20%) $  83.60
Sales tax $  48.61
Total $ 550.21

The table to the right shows how much I paid.

Sushi by Scratch advertises itself as a no-tipping establishment, but they add a mandatory 20% service charge to the bill, which is functionally a forced 20% gratuity.

There’s also something strange going on with the sales tax. Unless I’m misunderstanding something, the sales tax in Encino, California should be 9.75% (composed of 6.00% to the state of California, 2.50% to Los Angeles County, and 1.25% at the local level). However, the bill charged 9.70% sales tax instead. Unfortunately, this sales tax also applied to the service charge too, which usually isn’t the case for proper gratuity.

I would hope that restaurants become honest enough to just add these charges directly into the listed base price and just have no extra fees, but in Sushi by Scratch’s defense, they did at least disclose this service fee prominently on their website and on the reservation page.

Sushi by Scratch Los Angeles was very similar to Sushi by Scratch Beverly Hills—primarily in the sense that their specialization was to add very creative and unique garnish combinations to each piece of nigiri—but it still had enough differences that it had its own unique identity. I ended up liking this experience in Encino a little bit better because the selection of fish was more diverse and they included more uncommon cuts in their rotation.

With that being said, one thing that I liked much better at the Beverly Hills location was the non-alcoholic beverage pairing. It was very weird that the bartender at Encino waited for me to finish four pieces of nigiri with just water before bringing out my first drink, and then doubled me up on drinks for dessert. Also, I felt like the Beverly Hills location was far more creative with the beverages’ flavor combinations. I did appreciate that none of the drinks at Encino were excessively sweet, and the drink with droplets of chili oil was amazing, but beyond that, I think the execution could’ve been handled better.

My assessment of this Sushi by Scratch is basically the same as the one in Beverly Hills. It is quite pricey, and if you calculate the base rate for omakase plus the mandatory service charge and sales tax, and divide it by the three canapés, all 16 pieces of nigiri, and the dessert, then you end up paying somewhere around US$12 per item. With that being said, the flavor combinations that you’ll get here are unmatched. If you have been to at least a few other omakase experiences before, primarily those focused on a traditional Edomae style, and you are looking for something more distinct and memorable, then I think Sushi by Scratch is absolutely worth a visit.

 

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Hello, THE RANCH Restaurant in Anaheim, California

by   •   Food
 

It’s that time of year again… time for me to celebrate my Twitch moderator anniversary with @PhummyLW.

Considering that I only post about this once a year, you might not have any context behind this and have no idea what I’m talking about. If that’s the case, then there are two pieces of prerequisite reading to get caught up: my restaurant reviews of the Capital Grille in Costa Mesa, California and Bello by Sandro Nardone in Newport Beach, California. If you don’t know how to read, the simple summary is that I go to a high-end restaurant together with my Twitch moderator once a year to treat him to a nice dinner on the anniversary of him becoming my mod.

This year, Phummy asked me to take him to THE RANCH Restaurant in Anaheim, California. For those who read my most recent blog post, that’s the reason I was staying at the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort—so I could be in relatively close proximity to the restaurant (and because I enjoy going for walks around the Anaheim Convention Center, Disneyland Resort, and Anaheim GardenWalk areas).

As a side note, for those who are paying extra close attention, this blog post is a bit late for a few reasons. First, we had our dinner last Friday, but I didn’t have a chance to get around to blogging about it until today because I recently had some extremely packed weeks of work, so I’ve been spending the last several days balancing it out by playing video games (which is rare for me now), watching movies (which is even rarer), and just relaxing in general after doing only core work of critical or time-sensitive importance. Second, our actual anniversary is in the middle of Phummy’s final exam week at his university, so we decided to wait for him to wrap up so he can focus fully on excelling in his academics.

 
Upon our arrival at the restaurant, the hostess confirmed our reservation and brought us to our table. While walking us there, she asked if we were celebrating a special occasion. Phummy, of course, confidently informed her that we are celebrating our anniversary, and ended it at that. I, of course, have to clarify that we are celebrating a work anniversary and that we are not a gay couple. The hostess found that very amusing.

After being seated, a couple of other staff members asked us whether we were celebrating anything special, upon which we repeated the process of Phummy proudly declaring that we are celebrating our anniversary, and me needing to stipulate that it is a work anniversary. Everyone who spoke with us seemed to find the dynamic very amusing.

Not long afterwards, Phummy let me know that, when he booked the reservation on the restaurant’s website, he put a note in the “special request” section to make the experience as romantic as possible for us. If you haven’t noticed by now, Phummy finds great enjoyment in intentionally making the “anniversary” term confusing or misleading for people in hopes that they think we are a gay couple.

After speaking with us, it seemed like all the staff members were very on board with joining Phummy in trolling me and really emphasizing just the “anniversary” part of “work anniversary.” What I think happened was that the hostess and staff saw Phummy’s special request, but when we walked in, we didn’t look anything like a romantic couple, so they held back under the belief that there had been some kind of error or misunderstanding. However, after confirming directly with us about our “relationship,” it seemed like every staff member enthusiastically committed to Phummy’s joke.

 
While we were deciding what to eat, we were brought out some complimentary bread. There were seven orbs of five different kinds of bread arranged in a flower shape. This is the first restaurant that I’ve ever seen do something like this, and I appreciated their creativity. The bread quality was also pretty good, though I didn’t have that much of it because I didn’t want to fill up my stomach too much with carbs.

I accidentally came into this dinner not hungry because there was a bit of a mix-up. Phummy originally told me that the dinner was on Saturday the 23rd, but then later said that apparently the reservation actually went through for Friday the 22nd instead. I confirmed the schedule change and updated it in my calendar, but I guess I forgot to update it in my brain. I accidentally ate some free dinner at my hotel’s restaurant on Friday with my elite status vouchers, and only after finishing two entrées did I remember that I was supposed to meet up with Phummy. Thus, my meal at THE RANCH was actually my second dinner of the day.

Our waiter asked if we wanted to order any drinks. I told him that I don’t drink alcohol, but gestured over to Phummy to see if he wanted anything. I then found out / remembered that Phummy is not yet of legal alcohol drinking age in the United States. So instead, we both ordered mocktails.

I ordered a hibiscus and jalapeño mocktail. It was quite strong and intense, and it gave a nice kick every sip.

While delivering our drinks, the waiter asked what kind of work anniversary we were celebrating, i.e., what we do for our jobs. This is a bit of a complex question, considering that my main job is being the Director of Corporate Operations at Tempo, and my secondary job is being a business consultant, and Phummy doesn’t work together with me in either of those. I told our waiter that, and then further elaborated that Phummy is a Twitch moderator, which in normal people terms, is functionally similar to being a personal digital media assistant. Our waiter was very interested in this, so he stood at our table for a few minutes while I fairly thoroughly explained everything.

Then I looked over at Phummy. His drink was already empty.

The waiter asked Phummy if he wanted another one, to which he confirmed.

For our appetizer, we got a Robbins Island Tasmanian Wagyu Beef carpaccio with white alba clamshell mushrooms, black truffle, wild arugula, and pecorino romano.

This was good, but the beef was sliced comically thin. And yes, I understand that the entire point of carpaccio is to cut the fish or meat into thin slices, but this beef carpaccio was so thin that it basically just ripped apart from its own weight when I tried to pick it up.

The greens supplemented the meat flavor very well. I took some of the vegetables and placed them on top of the carpaccio, then rolled it up as best I could; this made for some satisfying and well-rounded bites.

While we were having our appetizer, the waiter came back with Phummy’s second drink. I don’t quite remember exactly what all the components of the drink were, but as you can probably tell, it was a citrus-based mocktail.

The main menu had a lot of nice beef options, but was fairly limited in seafood. I’m still trying to avoid red meat where possible in order to reduce saturated fat consumption, lower cholesterol, and maintain heart health (and because I just like seafood better anyway). Thus, I was tentatively deciding on getting pan-seared halibut. However, there was also a special farm menu that day with a few additional options.

I ended up ordering pistachio-crusted Colorado lamb chops with whole grain mustard spätzle, green garbanzo beans, red spring onions, ramp chimichurri, and lamb jus as my main entrée. Yes, lamb is still red meat, but lamb is not as common as beef, poultry, or fish in the United States, so when there is a high-quality lamb dish at a restaurant, I will usually get it.

This lamb was great, but interestingly, I actually enjoyed the spätzle as the most notable part of the dish. The texture and doneness level of the pasta was perfect, both when eating it on its own as well as when combining it with a bite of lamb.

For my side, I got some grilled asparagus.

Separate from both the main menu and the side farm menu were a few special unlisted dishes, one of which was a filet mignon. Phummy is a fan of filet mignon, so that’s the dish he ordered; it came topped with a bone marrow compound butter sauce crust as a supplement, as well as with an included side of potato fingerlings.

For his side, he got lobster mac and cheese, composed of house-made pasta and Vermont white cheddar.

I ended up not being able to finish my lamb chops and asparagus, so I asked for it to be put in a to-go container. I technically could’ve finished it if I really pushed myself, but I wanted to still leave a little bit of room for dessert.

Phummy and I each ordered one dessert, but when the waiter came back, he had three plates. One of them was a complimentary celebratory dessert on the house—a Tahitian vanilla bean crème brûlée with seasonal madeleines. They wrote “Happy Anniversary” on the plate with chocolate from a piping bag.

My dessert was a hazelnut crunch bar with praline crunch, chocolate crémeux, caramelized hazelnuts, Valrhona Caramélia chocolate mousse, caramel sauce, and vanilla ice cream.

Phummy opted for the Milky Way, made with República del Cacao chocolate, malted nougat, and salted caramel ice cream.

While he was consuming it, we had an interesting discussion about the trademark implications of naming their dessert the Milky Way, and whether it would constitute infringement under the standards of likelihood of confusion. My conclusion was that, yes, the fact that they named this the Milky Way would indeed likely fall under infringement territory.

After we finished all three desserts, the waiter brought out our check. To further commit to the anniversary joke, he wrote “Happy Anniversary!” at the top of our receipt.

Here is a photograph of the main dining area of the restaurant.

While stopping by the restroom, I noticed that the door to a vacant private dining area was left open. I peeked inside and snapped a photograph.

On our way out, the hostess gave us one final departing “happy anniversary!”

This is what the restaurant looks like from the outside. The left door leads to the restaurant, while the right door leads to the saloon.

Thinking back, I probably should’ve checked out what the saloon looks like while I was there, even if it was just for a few minutes. The entryway was delineated with stanchions though, so I guess it is possible that they were having a special event there and we might not have even been allowed in as non-ticketed guests.

Wagyu beef carpaccio $  25.00
Colorado lamb chops $  74.00
Filet mignon $  74.00
Bone marrow crust $  15.00
Asparagus $  18.00
Lobster mac ‘n’ cheese $  30.00
Hazelnut crunch bar $  17.00
Milky Way $  17.00
Vanilla crème brûlée $   0.00
Mocktail ×3 $  36.00
Bottled water ×4 $  40.00
Sales tax (7.75%) $  26.82
Gratuity $  90.00
Total $ 462.82

The table to the right shows how much I paid.

The restaurant offers valet parking, but they also had a free self parking option in an adjacent lot right on the opposite side of a nearby fence, easily within walking distance.

I am about 98% sure that both Phummy and I drank regular house filtered water and not bottled water. However, I was charged for four bottles of water at US$10.00 each. Usually, the way to know for sure that you are getting paid, premium water is that they will bring the glass bottles directly to you and leave them on your table, and they definitely did not do that for us. Thus, I’m pretty sure that I ended up inadvertently paying for a different table’s luxury water supply. Having an excess US$40.00 on your bill isn’t really the best feeling, but I’m over it at this point; I had a chance to audit the check before remitting payment, so I bear a lot of the fault for not catching it before handing over my credit card.

If you’ve read my previous restaurant reviews, you may have picked up on the fact that I am very much against the United States’ tipping culture, and I will usually only add on around 15% in gratuity to my bill. However, I still assess this on a case-by-case basis, and when I notice that the staff is going noticeably beyond what I think is the standard of service, I am happy to tip more generously. Every single staff member we encountered at THE RANCH was stellar, and I could tell that they genuinely wanted to give Phummy a fun, memorable experience. Thus, my ~26% gratuity isn’t me being a hypocrite; I just thought they deserved it in this instance. Also, technically, considering that I paid an extra US$40.00 for water that I’m pretty sure we did not get, if you recalculate that as if it was extra gratuity, then I guess tipping US$130.00 on a new US$306.00 subtotal is… over 42%. 😶

Overall, I thought the food was great, but I am undecided on the value for the cost. For comparison, this is right around the price point of last year’s Chef’s Table, and I thought the experience with Chef Frankie was a league or two above THE RANCH with regards to ingredient quality, dish preparation, and portion size. The service was top-tier at both locations, but was just different; Bello by Sandro Nardone focused on chef-to-diner personalization, while THE RANCH had a broadly supportive and attentive staff.

If you’re interested in dining at THE RANCH but are concerned about the price point, I think one thing to keep in mind is that you can be a lot smarter about assembling a good meal without spending as much as I did. I think our waiter noticed that I didn’t really mind what the price was of anything, so he did a great job upselling us by describing add-ons like drinks and supplements in a very appetizing way, and reminding us about side dishes. If you’re not getting what is basically the most expensive dish in every single category, then I imagine your bill will be much more manageable than this.

Phummy is already thinking ahead to next year’s anniversary dinner and figuring out what kinds of unique and special things we can do for it. I guess I have to wait patiently for another eleven and a half more months to figure out how he plans on trolling me next…

 

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Hello, JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort in Anaheim, California

by   •   Hotels
 

For those who aren’t fully caught up with Adam Parkzer lore, I have been a digital nomad for a majority of the time since mid-2021. I leased a condo for one year between 2023 and 2024, but apart from that, I have basically been living almost full-time out of hotel rooms.

When I started my journey, I picked one hotel brand and stuck with it to accrue loyalty status and get perks. I ended up selecting Marriott due to their broad portfolio of different hotels under their brand and the frequency with which they have hotels in smaller, out-of-the-way cities and towns. Usually, earning the highest tier of status is challenging for most people, but if you’re basically treating Marriott like your landlord like I did, it actually comes quite easily. I reached Ambassador Elite within the first year and have maintained it since then, apart from the one year when I rented a condo in the middle of my multi-year journey.

When people found out that I was living in hotel rooms, they wanted me to mix in hotel reviews among the blog posts I would publish about the various tourist activities I was doing during my travels. I would post photos of hotel rooms once in a while in round-up/miscellaneous photo dump blog posts, but otherwise, I never really did full reviews because I didn’t think they would be interesting. Keep in mind that I was treating these hotel rooms as my home, so I wanted something simple, straightforward, and affordable; as a result, most of my hotel stays were in Fairfield Inns, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inns, and Courtyards—not exactly the most flashy and exciting hotels.

However, since then, I’ve been more open to being more adventurous and staying in more interesting hotels. I still don’t really do hotel reviews though, because I feel like a proper review should be very thorough; I often don’t spend enough time experiencing and analyzing all the amenities and restaurants the hotel has to offer to be able to write a great review.

With that being said, I recently had such a goofy experience that I decided to do my very first hotel review.

One of the perks of being Ambassador Elite is that you can book regular guest rooms and get complimentary upgrades, availability permitting. I almost always book the most basic room, and I almost always get upgraded to at least a slightly larger room or a room on the highest floor with the best view. Once in a while, I will get upgraded to a suite and have a separate living room and bedroom. My best upgrade so far was at MGM’s Aria Resort and Casino, where I booked the cheapest room but ended up getting a complimentary upgrade to the Aria Sky Suites (MGM has a partnership with Marriott, so many of my perks are transferrable).

Well, it was my best upgrade… until now. I am in Southern California for a short trip for a very “special” dinner, which I will blog about soon. The dinner is going to be in Anaheim, California, so I decided to stay at the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort while in town.

Like usual, I booked the cheapest room available. Upon arrival, I parked in a neighboring parking garage for the Anaheim GardenWalk because I didn’t want to use the hotel’s mandatory valet service. I checked in, and the customer service representative confirmed that I had a room with one king bed. After she explained all the amenities of the hotel, she sent me on my way to the elevator.

After getting off the elevator, I followed the signs to my room number, 1118. When I found it, I saw that the room had double doors. I was a bit confused at first, but I’d been in enough hotels already to know what had happened. I got upgraded to the Presidential Suite.

The customer service representative technically wasn’t lying when she said the room had one king bed. It’s just that she conveniently left out the fact that the room also had quite a lot more to it than just the bedroom.

The bathroom had two sinks, a standing shower, a bathtub, and a separate area with an additional door and privacy glass for the toilet.

Just the living room itself was about the size of a regular hotel room.

On the opposite side of the living room was an entire dining room.

Around the corner from the dining room was a dedicated den.

The den had a desk in addition to a small seating area.

This is the bar and kitchen area. You can’t tell because of the wall, but there is a full-sized refrigerator tucked in around the corner.

The room literally even had a foyer. From the foyer was a dedicated coat closet, as well as a powder room (i.e., a second bathroom).

I headed out to the wrap-around corner balcony to check out the view.

When I got to the west side of the balcony, I saw another balcony in the distance and thought “nice, those people also have a balcony.” Then I realized that that is also my balcony, accessible from the bedroom.

I was on this trip alone, by the way. I’m someone who is generally fine with having a small hotel room, as long as it’s clean and doesn’t smell weird. So, as you’d probably expect, my reaction when walking through the Presidential Suite and taking photographs was a combination of “this is excessive” and “what in the world am I going to do with all this space.”

This is what the first floor entryway looks like, near the valet area. Because I didn’t valet my truck, I just walked in through this area and then took the escalator up to the second floor to the hotel lobby on the second floor.

This is the common area on the second floor near the check-in desk.

This is the executive lounge, accessible by anyone Platinum and above in Marriott’s loyalty program. They serve snacks and small plates throughout the day, so I stopped by here a handful of times during my stay.

Here is a small sampling of some of the hors d’oeuvres they served during the evening—miniature beef wellingtons, shrimp egg rolls, artichoke dip, salad, edamame, deep-fried shrimp, and beef empanadas. As you can probably tell from the second photograph, I really like chili sauce.

This JW Marriott had a JW Gardens on the second floor, right outside the check-in area. It obviously wasn’t anywhere near as grand or majestic as the one in JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi, but it was still nice to have a serene walk through some flowers.

One section of the JW Gardens was set up for a private event.

Near one of the entrances to the JW Gardens, there was a sign that explained more about the flowers, plants, and animals found on their property.

On the far edge of the gardens, there was a small clearing between some trees through which I was able to see the Anaheim GardenWalk. At the time that I peeked over, there was a very long line of people, but I couldn’t quite figure out what they were waiting for.

For dinner on the first night of my stay, I decided to dine at one of the on-site restaurants, Tocca Ferro Italian Chophouse. My decision was vetoed and overridden by the fact that apparently Tocca Ferro was closed for renovations.

Instead, I decided to pivot to Citriculture, which is their hybrid lobby and pool bar. I headed over to the general area, but it seemed like there were no staff members on duty. I figured that they were understaffed and the only person had walked away to take a bathroom break or something, so I sat down and browsed through the menu. After deciding what I wanted to eat, I scrolled through the news on my phone for several minutes until I noticed someone who looked vaguely like a staff member re-emerge from the shadows.

I stood up and walked over in his general direction. He looked at me, and then handed me someone’s check. After I told him that I wanted to place an order, he rerouted the check to the proper person and then asked me to hold on for a bit. I stood there like an NPC for a few minutes while I watched this guy scramble all over the place and wrangle the overwhelming two other tasks he had to do.

He eventually got to me and asked what I wanted to order. I told him I wanted the Monarch Burger. He asked me how I would like it cooked, so I asked him what is the rarest I can get it. He replied that I can get it rare.

Now, for those who are not familiar with doneness levels in burgers, you usually want your burgers cooked well-done because there can be a lot of bacteria transfer during the grinding process. There are a few exceptions to this, such as if you’re having a steak burger served as a whole cut of beef, or if the outside is seared to high temperatures first and then diced using clean cutting tools, or if it is prepared sous vide and held to a rare doneness level for about two hours. However, most fast food restaurants or bars just put a ground beef patty on a grill and are not going to go through that extra hassle to properly prepare a rare burger.

When he said I could get my burger rare, I became curious so I asked a few questions. I asked him if it was a steak burger, to which he hesitatingly said yes. I realized he didn’t know what that meant, so I clarified whether the burger was made with a single chunk of meat or with ground beef, and he confirmed that it’s a regular ground beef patty. I asked him how they cook it, and he said that they “cook it regular.” After concluding that this man has no idea what words are coming out of his own mouth, I told him that I would like my burger medium-well.

He said “ok,” then just went silent and went about the rest of his day. I got his attention again and asked him if I was going to be seated somewhere in particular or if I can just grab a seat anywhere at the bar; he replied to my “this or that” question with a very insightful “no.” I also mentioned that I wanted to apply my food and beverage credits to the meal, upon which he stared at me as if I was the first person in the history of the hotel to ever try and use a food and beverage credit. I clarified that I would like to use both the food and beverage credit that comes with the resort fee, in addition to the extra one I get from my elite status welcome gift. He eventually figured it out and printed out a receipt for me to sign.

After almost 20 minutes, my burger finally came out. Fortunately, it was a different person this time, and it seems like this was actually the real waitress who was supposed to be managing Citriculture. She realized that I wasn’t even given a glass of water, so she made up for the previous guy’s shortcomings, got me some water, and made sure I had all the sauces and utensils I needed to enjoy my meal.

According to the menu, the Monarch Burger has a patty composed of a short rib and chuck blend. In the burger is Muenster cheese, lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, shaved red onions, crispy prosciutto, white truffle and citrus aioli, and spicy nectar glaze in between a sesame brioche bun. On the side were some thick-cut fries. The vegetables were very refreshing, and overall, I enjoyed the burger.

For dinner on the second day of my stay, I went to the Parkestry Rooftop Bar and Lounge. This requires taking a special elevator found through the JW Gardens, but the door to that elevator was locked. Considering that the Italian restaurant was still closed and I didn’t want to go back to Citriculture in fear of running into the incompetent male server again, I went to the front desk to inquire about the rooftop bar. After going back and forth a few times, they informed me that the door to the elevator was indeed not supposed to be locked. Someone eventually went around through the back and opened it for me, so I was able to make my way up to the top of the building.

I had already eaten some more hors d’oeuvres that day in the lounge, so I kept my Parkestry meal simple with some buffalo chicken wings, carrots, and celery—enough to use my food and beverage credit, but not overeat.

The chicken wings tasted like the highest-tier frozen chicken wings that you’d find at a grocery store, prepared properly in the oven. The buffalo sauce was delicious and added a nice depth to the chicken wings that made them taste more notable and less generic. The vegetables were, once again, very refreshing.

With all the free food I was getting, I of course had to stop by the gym for some exercise. There were fewer weight machines than I had hoped, but it still had enough to cover all the fundamentals.

There was a plate of zen sand in the corner of the gym, along with a rake so you could draw your own zenful designs.

This is what the elevator lobby looked like on the mezzanine floor, which is the floor with the gym.

Remember the area in the JW Gardens from earlier that was set up for a private event? I was fortunate enough that I was able to participate in it too… but from my balcony. They had some fun music playing from down there, so I brought my laptop out onto the balcony and got some work done while enjoying the music.

Here is a view from one of my balconies during the night. The rows of palm trees were all individually illuminated, which made for a nice sight.

Disneyland was also visible in the distance from the balcony attached to the bedroom. Unfortunately, apparently it is still considered “off-season,” so they limit the fireworks shows to only certain days of the week—days that did not overlap with my stay at the hotel.

So, my thoughts on the hotel? You might be surprised to hear my final thoughts, considering that they literally gave me a free upgrade to a suite that usually goes for over a thousand dollars a night (though I guess this might also be a clear indication that I am excruciatingly difficult to sway with free gifts and perks).

I thought the hotel was… fine.

Just because a room is bigger doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. To be clear, the room itself was absolutely fantastic, and I’m sure someone traveling with a large group of people would’ve loved it, but for me personally, I probably would’ve enjoyed a smaller room of equal design and cleanliness just as much as the Presidential Suite. Of course, I appreciated the upgrade so I could have this very funny experience, but it wasn’t a deciding factor in my opinion of the hotel.

Overall, the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort was absolutely dwarfed in every possible metric when compared to JW Marriott hotels in Asia. The Asian JW Marriotts I’ve stayed at sat at the absolute top tier of service and luxury that I’ve experienced (and, to some extent, too top-tier, because I had pinnacle levels of service swarming around me at the JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong at all times, even during periods when I preferred to just be left alone). However, the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort just felt like a more upscale version of a regular Marriott of the non-JW variant.

With that being said, to put things into perspective, I’ve also been to worse JW Marriotts. For example, the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE just felt like a regular Marriott without the upscaledness, and I found it to be undeserving of the JW branding. Thus, I think my assessment of the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort being “fine” is actually quite reasonable.

So, would I go back to the JW Marriott, Anaheim Resort? It depends. I see myself returning under two circumstances: either during very off-season periods where room rates are as low as they can get and I’m in the mood to stick around the property to take full advantage of all the amenities, or if there is a convention going on and the hotels closer to the Anaheim Convention Center are comparatively more expensive so I end up booking at the JW and making the extra walk to whatever event I’m attending.

 

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