AnythingGood

Milk

2007-10-29T00:03:00.000-07:00

Milk makes their own chocolate ice cream sandwiches. Or get a hand-dipped Nutty Buddy, chocolate-dipped mint ice cream bon bon, or a freshly made cookie. Milk is amazingly delicious and I'm glad I don't live any closer to it.

Milk
7290 Beverly Blvd
(323) 939-6455

Cafe Tropical

2007-10-01T00:41:00.000-07:00

The guava and cheese pies here are legendary in some circles and deservedly so: the crust is flaky and guava jam balances the cream cheese filling just so. For a dessert it's not overly sweet and is the perfect accompaniment to a steaming cup of fresh cafe con leche. The Cuban sandwich is filled with ham, lomo (roasted pork), melted swiss and a thin slice of pickle, all hot-pressed till flat between two pieces of crusty bread. Stop by on a sunny weekend afternoon, grab an outdoor table and watch the Silver Lake musician types stroll in to start their day.

Cafe Tropical
2900 W Sunset Blvd
Silver Lake
(323) 661-8391

Elite Restaurant

2007-09-24T00:08:00.000-07:00

Following my trip to Vietnam I was really craving a bite of seafood wrapped in a rice flour so I headed out to Elite again to sample some of the dumplings that I'd missed last time. I was in luck on this trip and got to try the wonderful red clam and shark fin dumplings that they had run out of on my last visit. Aside from these, shrimp hargow was another favorite dish as were the rich slices of roasted pork belly. Nicole and I both agreed that we'd pass next time on the roast duck. I might prefer the sense of discovery that comes with the passing steam carts at some of the larger dim sum houses, but it's the food at Elite that will keep me coming back.

Elite Restaurant
700 S. Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park
(626) 282-9998

Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea

2007-08-27T00:46:00.000-07:00

How it took a coffee house from Chicago to see the huge potential for a cafe at Sunset Junction I do not know, but it's our gain. Open just a week (since last Friday), Intelligentsia was already doing a booming business yesterday afternoon. Cafe tables spill out of the front door onto the sidewalks of Sunset, all the better to sit and watch people (and their dogs) sauntering by. Intelligentsia has been voted best coffee in Chicago and you can tell they take it seriously. My cappuccino was as smooth as they come.

3922 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles

Yuca's on Hollywood

2007-08-20T00:10:00.000-07:00

The new Yuca's is all that you loved about the old location minus having to stand in a liquor store parking lot to place your order. Dora took over the old Casa Diaz space--conveniently located across from American Apparel so you can pop over to buy some red tighty-whities while you wait--and is gradually introducing the tried-and-true Yuca's menu to former Casa Diaz patrons. She's onto something as each time I've been since she opened a few months back, the line gets just a bit longer.

Aside from the improved seating possibilities, those of you who can't make it up to the old Yuca's on Hillhurst before they close around 6 may now have a shot at eating some of their delicious food as they're open till 8-ish at the new location. (And they might even be open later than that on some nights.)

As for la comida, it was as good as ever. I had my regular cochinita pibil burrito (though I must be sure to request that they not pile in rice next time, something they do not typically do at the Hillhurst location.) MJL had the scrambled eggs in mole which he also enjoyed (though alas, it does not photograph well). For the public transportation-minded, it's a quick walk up from the Sunset/Vermont Red Line station.

Yuca's
4666 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles (Los Feliz)

Clifton's Cafeteria

2007-07-17T00:31:00.000-07:00

A lot has changed in LA's downtown since Clifton's opened near the corner of Broadway and 7th St seventy years ago. The same stretch of pre-WWII movie houses are still standing, but in various states of repair. I'm pretty sure the Mexican apothecary shop next door is new to the area, give or take 20 years. What hasn't changed is the chance to get a full meal of so-retro-it's-cool-again classics as mac & cheese (no shaved black truffles here), creamed corn or stuffed peppers. This restaurant is a relic in more ways than one. Once a small chain or restaurants which were each individually and exotically decorated (the last one that closed had a South Seas theme), this particular location is done up as a High Sierras/National Park lodge including various stuffed moose, deer and pheasants as well fir trees and a waterfall or two. In fact, Smokey the Bear himself might feel right at home if he didn't mind eating off of a tray. The food is more of a walk down nostalgia lane than a gustatory experience (I was particularly excited to see that they serve Texas Toast) but I highly recommend it if you're ever downtown and looking for a uniquely LA diversion. Clifton's is something of a treasure.

Clifton's Cafeteria
648 South Broadway
Los Angeles
213.627.1673

Larkin's

2007-07-09T00:10:00.000-07:00

Located in a ramshackle Craftsman cottage on Colorado Boulevard, Larkin's has found in its location what must be the perfect expression of its Southern, soul food-inspired menu. Fried catfish, an heirloom tomato salad with fried okra, a hot skillet of creamy mac and cheese, spicy jambalaya, sauted collard greens, mashed potatoes and gravy--all the hits are here, expertly done. For now it's BYOB (the excellent Colorado Wine Company is just down the street) and the waiter will gladly uncork your bottle and pour into clever Mason jar glasses. Sure you're within a stone's throw of the 210 Freeway, but pausing for a moment after dinner on Larkin's front porch you can almost hear the long chirp of cicadas and smell the sultry air of a Southern summer night.

Larkin's
1494 Colorado Blvd
Los Angeles (Eagle Rock)
(323) 254-0934

Frank

2007-07-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, dining after 10 pm is much easier to do in New York than it is in LA. Still, one doesn't want to eat just anywhere. So when trying to think of a place to go for a late dinner, somewhere lively but where I could sit alone, my thoughts turned to Frank. I grabbed a stool at the open window by the bar which perfectly framed the street scene of al fresco diners and Second Avenue passers-by. A huge arugula salad with goat cheese and a glass of chilled Rosa Giulia from Puglia made a nice starter. Rigatoni al Ragu this night was inexplicably served as rigatoni with links of Italian sausage. Refills of wine were slow to come and I had to ask repeatedly for water. Still, I get the impression that the crowd at Frank (and it was a crowd, even at this late hour) come for reasons not entirely related to the food. I'd go back for the same.

Frank Restaurant and Vera Bar
88 Second Ave (between 5th and 6th)
New York
(212) 420-0202

Osteria al Doge

2007-06-25T00:20:00.000-07:00

Short of a trip to Venice, Osteria al Doge offers a pretty good introduction to Venetian cuisine. As you might expect from a city that built its riches as the center of a seafaring empire, dishes such as grilled branzino (seabass), cozze al vino bianco (mussles in white wine) and carpaccio di tonno (thinly sliced yellowfin) have a prominent place here. So too do classic dishes like fegato alla Veneziana, stir-fried calves liver with browned onions and red wine vinegar, that provide a hint of the tastes that might have been inspired by a Venetian mariner's contact with the salty/sweet/sour dishes of the Far East. Start off with simple Venetian fare such as a soup of pasta e fagioli or fill your plate from a selection of grilled vegetable antipasti that are on display next to the bar. Polipo al carbone, grilled imported octopus with oven-roasted tomatoes and black olives, is a standout as an antipasta, and tagliolini alla chitarra, homemade pasta with veal and wild mushroom ragu, is rich and satisfying enough to sustain me on a 7-hour plane ride back to Los Angeles. (Damn you and your delays, John F. Kennedy airport!)

Osteria al Doge
142 W 44th St (bet B'way and 6th Ave)
New York
(212) 944-DOGE (3643)

Langer's Deli

2007-06-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

Situated on a corner of MacArthur Park for the past 60 years and skipping distance from the Red Line subway stop of the same name, Langer's is legendary on both coasts for its pastrami (and has a James Beard award to prove it). Succulent and juicy, Langer's pastrami is piled on fresh, crusty rye bread and served with mustard and two fresh deli-style dill pickles. It's positively the best I've ever had. A cup of homemade chicken noodle soup down and I'm back to Hollywood on the train in 15 minutes flat.

Langer's Delicatessen
704 S Alvarado St
(213) 483-8050

Meals by Genet

2007-06-04T00:31:00.000-07:00

It's hard to count the number of Ethiopian restaurants in the stretch of Fairfax just south of Olympic, but as exotically named as they all are, Meals by Genet still always sounded to me like the most curious. Having nothing whatsoever to do with the homosexual French tightrope-walker-loving poet, it turns out that in Ethiopia "Genet" is pronounced like "granite" and is a common woman's name (and in this case, that of the smiling chef-owner). While we did have to wait awhile for a table to be cleared for us, once we were seated service couldn't have been more attentive, starting with our waiter who flamboyantly draped clean cloth napkins across our laps and counseled us on ordering the right combination of food for our party of 7. We ended up with two large trays of mostly vegetarian options as well as grilled marinated steak and dorowot, the famous Ethiopian stewed chicken in a red pepper and butter sauce. In addition to the heaps of vegetables which included several types of lentils, collard greens and some salad, we went through several plates of folded injera, the thin, spongy bread with which you grab and eat most everything. At our waiter's suggestion, we also ordered bottles of Harar, the wheaty Ethiopian beer which perfectly complemented the subtle spice of the food. Ethiopia was once part of the mighty Italian Colonial Empire so there are a few pastas on the menu as well. But with food this good, I recommend sticking to the traditional East African items and saving the fall-back menu as a consideration the next time you're out for Albanian (or perhaps Libyan) food.

Meals by Genet
1053 S Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles
(323) 938-9304
closed Monday and Tuesday

Hong Kong Deli

2007-05-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

The first time I ate in the nearly empty Hong Kong Deli, I did so thinking I was ignoring my better judgment. Usually a restaurant without patrons is empty for a reason. Maybe it was the dim lighting, so rare for a Chinese restaurant, or maybe the convenient location on Cahuenga Boulevard almost next door to the Hotel Cafe that has kept me coming back. On a recent visit, a large bowl of wonton soup was enough for three of us to share, the fragrant, clear chicken broth and savory wontons a perfect starter course. Kung Pao beef (pictured) wouldn't have been a selection I would have normally chosen but was my favorite on a recent night. The beef was lean and tender, in a spicy sauce with the crunchy peanuts I love. Chicken with broccoli was a hit. Even the sushi which my independent-minded friend Mary insisted on ordering seemed to be first rate. (I admit, I've had the hankering and ordered it before too.) Hong Kong Deli must surely be doing a booming business in take-out or delivery since there are still rarely more than a few tables full of people. But for no-frills American-Chinese standards (and the occasional piece of albacore), it really can't be beat.

Hong Kong Deli
1643 N Cahuenga Blvd
(323) 957-1998

La Taquiza

2007-05-21T00:59:00.000-07:00

Confused as to why the Natural History Museum was dark and empty last Friday night when we were looking for a DJ and the Deerhoof show, (apparently they call it First Fridays for a reason; the next event is June 1st), that provided just the opportunity to stop by for a taco or two at an old haunt from my days at USC. Tortillas are patted out fresh by hand and a spit of meat roasts as you order at the counter. We sampled al pastor, grilled shrimp as well as fish tacos. All were great but tasted even better slathered in fresh avacado salsa that you can help yourself to at the bar. La Taquiza may be one of the brighter spot on the culinary map around USC but it's not all that shines on Figueroa--be sure to check out the fantastic Felix the Cat neon sign for the old Chevy dealer across the street, it's something of a local landmark.

La Taquiza
3026 S Figueroa St
Los Angeles
(213) 747-4849

Momofuku Noodle Bar

2007-05-14T00:41:00.000-07:00

So it's raining and cold, you're starving, and you've already been waiting half an hour for seats together to open up at Momofuku. Do you continue to press your face against the window or rush straight into the Italian pastry shop on the same corner and gorge on gelato and biscotti? Luckily our patience eventually pays off and we figured out why Momofuku is worth the wait. Marinated baby octopi, tender little things, started us off. I'm generally not a fan of octopus but these were as delicious as any I've ever had. The Momofuku Ramen is served in a huge bowl with a fragrant broth topped off with slices of roasted Berkshire pork belly, shredded pork, fresh English peas, chopped scallions and a soft-poached egg. It's rich and satisfying this night. The chocolate and pistachio gelato next door turned out to be worth the wait too, and a perfect way to top off our meal.

Momofuku
163 1st Ave
New York
(212) 475-7899

Elite Restaurant

2007-05-07T00:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, the dim sum at Elite Restaurant is as good as they say. We even saw Jonathan Gold himself there today, photographer and kids in tow. (Will he follow S.Irene's lead on this one and write it up in next week's LA Weekly? Stay tuned.) We were also lucky enough to end up sitting next to a friendly fellow who insisted that we order the savory pancakes. Excellent choice as it turns out, and as the bustling new restaurant's owner, he should know. In fact, everything (minus the hour and a half wait for a table) was excellent--the shrimp har gow, the Macau roasted pork, the buttery and delicate baked scallop dumplings, even the sea cucumber and bamboo pith dim sum. By the time we were seated close to 2:30, the kitchen was out of the famouse shark fin and red clam dumplings which greatly disappointed some at our table. But on a positive note, it's all the more reason to return for dim sum at Elite another day.

Elite Restaurant
700 S. Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park
(626) 282-9998

Yuca's

2007-05-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday is tamale day at Yuca's, as if you needed another reason to stand in the parking lot of a liquor store on Hillhurst waiting for your lunch to be handed to you wrapped in tinfoil and served in a brown paper bag. Having recently sampled the cochinita pibil at Loteria Grill and Chitzen Itza, I confirmed what I had been thinking all along--Yuca's does it best. Of course everyone knows this by now (they won a James Beard award a few years ago for gosh sakes), but sometimes it's nice to have a reminder, especially with a fresh hot cochinita pibil burrito (no beans please). Dora was nowhere to be seen on this particular Saturday afternoon visit. When asked where she was, Socorro said she's been so busy, preparing as they are to appear on the Oprah show on Monday. Set your Tivo, Oprah is coming to Los Feliz.

Yuca's
2056 Hillhurst Ave.
Los Feliz
(323) 662-1214

The Oinkster

2007-04-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

In deference to Pulitzer Prize-winning Jonathan Gold, I just had to check out his recommendation last week for The Oinkster. It didn't hurt that the new-ish Colorado Blvd restaurant specializes in slow roasted pulled-pork barbeque and Belgian-style fries and is about 10 minutes from my house. Eastern North Carolina is generally considered the home of pork barbeque in the U.S. and I've eaten my fill of it on summer trips to see family back East. (We typically froze several pounds of it to fly it back with us to our home in Texas where the word barbeque is synonymous with beef.) Oinkster's pork sandwich was absolutely delicious, but didn't exactly remind me of those NC pulled-pork sandwiches of my youth. NC-style sauce is typically redolent of vinegar and black pepper, neither of which was particularly in evidence in the squirt bottles at Oinkster. I thought the meat lacked some of the charred, smoky character that you find at Parker's in Wilson or family favorite King's BBQ (pronounced bah-be-que) up I-95 in Petersburg VA. Come to think of it, Oinkster's has more in common with a simple but fantastic sandwich I had at a stand next to the Borough Market in London a few years back, pulled and assembled fresh for me off a whole roasted pig right there off the street. At any rate, Oinkster is showing a lot of love for the food they serve and that's a huge plus in my book. Both the pork and the crispy Belgian fries were delicious and the scene is very Eagle Rock-hipster-goes-out-for-a-cheap-dinner. (My order with a drink was about $11.) Can't wait to go back.

The Oinkster
2005 Colorado Blvd
Eagle Rock
323-255-oink

Supper

2007-04-23T00:05:00.000-07:00

Supper is the type of low-key Italian spot that any neighborhood would love to call its own. Since this particular neighborhood happens to be the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the denizens here are of a particular sort--youngish, a foreign accent here, a tattoo there, hooded sweatshirts all around. There isn't a bad table in the place, even the communal dining table where we sat just inside the door, since proximity to the hip crowd is all part of the fun. (A few tables spill out onto the sidewalk or you can sit inside, or in back or even down a tiny flight of stairs in the basement.) A starter of bruschetta with white beans and pancetta was salty and delicious. I had a special of the night, spaghetti in a tomato and prosciutto sauce, while David tried a tagliatelle with fresh porcini mushrooms. For dessert a hazlenut panna cotta with chocolate sauce was just the ticket. (Thanks to New York magazine for the pic; it was too dark for me to take one.)

Supper Restaurant
156 E 2nd St
New York
212 477-0823

Triumphal Palace

2007-04-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

I'd worried that without roving steam carts the sense of discovery at a dim sum house just wouldn't be the same. But along with that sense of discovery can come the stress of getting the attention of the servers only to find they're pushing along yet another selection of chicken feet or various cartilagineous balls not meant for Western palates. In the end, you settle on another order of pork shiu-mai just to sate your hunger and dream of a restaurant with menus.

After finally making it out to Triumphal Palace yesterday, I'm that much more in the menu camp as far as dim sum is concerned. After lingering over the English-language menu while sipping our hot tea, my friend David and I made our selections then sat back and waited for the orders to appear. The kitchen started us with the amazing, crispy-skinned and succulent braised pork belly, then followed shortly thereafter with the shrimp dumplings with pea shoots, triangular chiu-chow style dumplings (stuffed with vegetables and seafood), shrimp har gow, bbq pork bao and the simple but satisfying wide shrimp rice noodles doused with soy sauce that I just love. Lightly golden fried crab cakes have no place on a steam cart at all and here they were perfect, served with pieces of sliced fresh papaya and mango. We waited at least a half an hour for a table when we arrived around noon but by 2 when we left the crowd had diminished considerably. Good to remember for next time since Triumphal Palace is open for dim sum daily till 3.

Triumphal Palace
500 W Main St
Alhambra
626 308-3222

Pasta with fresh fava bean sauce

2007-04-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

Fresh fava beans can be quite the challenge to prepare but I try to take advantage of their availability in the local farmers' markets at least once each spring. Tonight I spent a few hours shelling them and then found a recipe for a fresh fava bean pasta sauce that seemed like a great way to use them. I don't really know exact measurements on this one so use it as inspiration if you're going to try the same dish. (I adapted this from a recipe I found on napastyle.com so take a look at that too.)

2 cups or more of fresh fava beans, shelled
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 tsp of dried oregano
olive oil
2 cups chicken stock
pasta of your choice
freshly grated pecorino
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 of a preserved lemon (optional), diced

Remove the fresh fava beans from their pods. In the meantime, put a pot of salted water on to boil. Blanch the favas for about a minute and then remove to a bowl of cool water. Drain. Use your finger to remove the outer membrane from each bean and set them aside.

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan and cook the garlic on low heat until it just starts to brown. Add the oregano, the chicken stock, preserved lemon and all but about a 1/2 cup of the favas. Cook for a few minutes, then remove the mixture to a blender or food processor to puree. Return the fava bean puree to the saute pan.

Boil water for the pasta. Cook pasta until within a few minutes of being al dente. Add cooked pasta back into the saute pan with the fava bean puree. Add enough water from the pot to continue cooking the pasta and stir to completely coat pasta with fresh fava sauce. When done, add the rest of the whole fava beans and generously grate pecorino over the pasta. Season with salt and pepper to taste, drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and serve.

Fettucine alla Carbonara

2007-04-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

1 lb fettucine or spaghetti
6 oz pancetta, diced
1 shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
4 egg yolks
grated fresh parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Boil salted water and begin cooking the pasta.

Whisk the egg yolks together in a small bowl and set aside.

Saute the pancetta until crisp and then remove to a small plate. Add olive oil to the pan and saute the garlic and shallots. Add the wine and deglaze the pan. Reduce the liquid by half, then return the cooked pancetta back to the pan.

With a few minutes to go before the pasta is al dente, remove it to the pan with the pancetta, garlic and onion. Add enough boiling water from the pot to continue cooking the pasta. Once the pasta is cooked, remove it from the heat into a large bowl. Toss in the egg yolks and parmesan until the pasta is well coated. The eggs will cook quickly from the heat of the pasta and create a thick sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Los Balcones del Peru

2007-04-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

I realize I'm not breaking any new ground here as Los Balcones del Peru has been written about by just about everyone by now, but even still, it's walking distance from my office so I tend to end up eating there fairly often and it does deserve a mention here.

Even before I order I find I've eaten practically a whole basket of the warm, crusty bread our waiter brings to the table topped with the tangy, hot aji (Peruvian chili pepper) sauce that's served in a bowl on the side. The menu leads with about half a dozen ceviches and though many find the camarones a la piedra (a warm dish of shrimp in a vibrant yellow aji sauce) to be the most interesting, maybe I need to ask the kitchen to crank up the picante next time as I always find this dish to be colorful and beautifully presented but a bit bland. I absolutely love their basic ceviche de pescado, however. In this ceviche, chunks of firm white fish are marinated in lime and hot pepper and are served with wedges of boiled white and sweet potato and garnished with shredded red onion and ears of the freakishly large Peruvian corn. It's refreshing and delicious, just the way I like my ceviche, and begs to be washed down with a cold cerveza. Maybe next time I'm on my way to a movie at the ArcLight, I'll stop in for dinner and do just that.

Los Balcones Del Peru
1360 Vine St (south of Sunset)
Hollywood
(323) 871-9600

Bruschetta with Peas and Pancetta

2007-04-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

I bought some fresh English peas at the Farmer's Market and made a quick appetizer by sauteing them with a little butter, olive oil and some onion and pancetta. I served them on some crusty bread that I toasted in olive oil.

Grilled Halibut with Preserved Lemon

2007-04-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

I grilled some fresh halibut and sliced up some of the preserved Meyer lemons I made in January to top off the fish. I drizzled with a bit of extra virgin olive oil to top it off. Simple.

I'll post the recipe for preserved lemons soon too. It's easy and a good way to use up lemons if you're lucky enough to have your own lemon tree.

Crostata di Visciola

2007-04-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty simple dessert but looks really impressive when it's done and tastes great.

Pastry

2 1/2 cups flour
5 tbsps butter
5 tbsps shortening
2/3 cups sugar
3 egg yolks
grated zest from 1 lemon
pinch of salt

1 1/3 cups of black cherry jam (or the jam of your choice)
1 egg, beaten
confectioner's sugar (if desired)

Pastry crust: Sift flour into a bowl, rub or cut the butter and shortening into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the remaining ingredients and knead quickly to a dough. Add more butter or shortening if needed. Work it as little as possible and form into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Break off three quarters of the dough, roll it out thinly on a floured surface and then gently lift it into a 9-inch tart pan. It doesn't matter if the dough fall apart as you can just reform it in the pan. Roll out the remaining dough into 1/2 inch wide strips enough to create a lattice on the tart.

Fill the dough with jam and cover with the strips, arranged in a lattice pattern. Brush the strips with the beaten egg. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden.

Chichen Itza

2007-04-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

When starting a new relationship, it can be tempting to want to change a few things about a new boyfriend (or boyfriends, as the case may be) at first. Is he calling too often or not often enough? Maybe you don't quite approve of his choice in underwear? Such is the case with Chichen Itza, a restaurant we like a lot, but one that could do a few things differently if it really wanted to please us. A full liquor license so I could order a margarita would be a good place to start, though no doubt Chichen Itza would love to have that license too. Beer (Dos X, Modelo Especial, Corona, etc.) will have to do for now and worked just fine with the sampler antojito plate and multiple baskets of chips with black bean sauce and pico de gallo we consumed. Our waiter was extremely helpful in helping us pick from among the wide selection of Yucatan-style entrees. The table favorite was the Cochinita Pibil, the traditional Yucatan dish of slow-roasted pork marinated in achiote and bitter orange juice, wrapped in banana leaves. Pollo pibil (pictured) was also tender and delicious, as was the Tikin-Xic, sauteed sole prepared with the same achiote and orange juice marinade. Perhaps you need to be from Wisconsin to appreciate the Queso Relleno, a hollowed-out ball of fried cheese filled with ground pork, raisins and spices that itself is sliced and served over more pork. Pork anyone? This was the only dish left partially uneaten (and unshared) on the table. All the dishes were well prepared and the ingredients impecably fresh. I guess we'd just like it if Chichen Itza, could, well, lighten up a bit, maybe not take itself so seriously, you know? While I realize they're not trying to appeal to the same local MacArthur Park crowd that may eat at the many pupusa joints in the area for a fraction of the price, the formal aspiriations of Chichen Itza mean that it's not a place I'm likely to go on a regular basis, even though there are other dishes I'd love to try on the menu (in particular the appetizer of Chile Xcatic Relleno de Atun, chiles stuffed with fresh albacore tuna). All in all Chichen Itza is one of those that looks great on paper, but we're just not sure is going to end up as more than a friend. But we're open to hanging out again, and we'll just see how it goes from there.

Chichen Itza
2501 W 6th St
Los Angeles CA
213 380-0051

Rigatoni all'Amatriciana

2007-03-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

This is an easy recipe and one I decided to make today since I didn't feel like going to the store and happened to have all the necessary ingredients on hand. Of course you could make this with spaghetti or whatever pasta you want.

1 1/2 pounds rigatoni (I used half a box of Latini brand rigatoni)
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, diced
5 ounces pancetta, diced
1/2 cup dry white wine
28 oz can tomatoes, seeded (I used San Marzanos)
salt & pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino

Heat the oil and saute the shallots over a very low heat until soft. Add the pancetta and fry it for a few minutes. Pour in the white wine and continue cooking until it evaporates a little. Add the tomatoes to the pan and roughly chop up using the back of a spoon or a potato masher. Season with a little salt and pepper and cook down on low heat for no more than 15 minutes.

Separately, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the rigatoni until within a few minutes of being al dente. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pasta out of the boiling water and add it to the sauce. Add a small amount of the pasta water and continue cooking on low heat until the sauce and pasta are properly married and the rigatoni is done cooking. Sprinkle with the fresh pecorino and serve.

Red Pearl Kitchen

2007-03-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

A boccini-toss away from Mozza and a block down from the live/work lofts that housed those hopeful contestants of Bravo's Top Design, Red Pearl Kitchen has transformed the former Meson G into a space that's lively and theatrical, where dangling paper lanterns, reclining buddhas, glossy portraits of Mao and a lively young crowd all bask in a dim, bordello-red glow. There's even a Gong Li DVD playing in the men's room. The food is also beautifully presented. Steamed shrimp dumplings (standard dim sum fare) are served in a bamboo basket with what I think was a chili and ginger-infused soy sauce on the side. The crispy, thimble-sized crab-pork spring rolls were a hit at the table too, though not my favorite. The black noodles with drunken beef and gai lan (Chinese broccoli) was rich and delicious. Udon with bacon, fried egg and smoky miso is a Asian-fusion take on the classic Roman spaghetti alla carbonara. Stir-fried shaking Kobe beef with papaya and mint packs some heat. I loved the salt and pepper shrimp and the green curry chicken satay that topped us off. Our server, Allison, was attentive and helpful. With a separate bar scene and DJ in the back corner of the restaurant it's no surprise the place was packed on a Friday night and the best reservation we could get when calling earlier that afternoon was for 9 pm.

Red Pearl Kitchen
6703 Melrose Ave
323 525 1415

Palms Thai

2007-03-23T00:43:00.000-07:00

A dozen wooden Siamese cats peer down at you from along the ceiling while waiters with headsets scurry between tables refilling water glasses and barking commands into their mouthpieces like some sort of restaurant Secret Service. The noise, the crowded tables, the Singha malt liquor going to your head and now, on stage, Thai Elvis is giving you "Fever". True, Palms Thai is no place to go for a quiet meal, but if you're looking for fast, reliable and inexpensive, it's hard to beat. While I've never tried the frogs legs or boar curry, just a couple of the more exotic delicacies they offer, I'm a huge fan of their pad kee mao, the wide, pan-fried rice noodles, served with either chicken or shrimp. Deep-fried trout with cashews and mango sauce is nice too, though I thought the fish was perhaps a bit dry under its flaky, golden crust. With a spicy bowl of tom yum gai to start (the lemongrass, chili and kaffir lime leaf-scented chicken soup with fresh straw mushrooms that Buds and I both love), we were all set to sit back and enjoy Kevin belt out one hit tune after the other. With special thanks to Miss Peggy Lee, what a lovely way to burn indeed.

Palms Thai
5900 Hollywood Blvd (at Bronson Ave)
Hollywood
323 462-5073

Seafood soup

2007-03-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

Continuing the fish stock theme, I made up a seafood soup recipe last week that I really liked. It goes a little something like this:

1 carrot, diced
1 onion, diced
6 tomatoes, seeded (I used canned San Marzanos)
1 small red pepper, diced, some seeds removed (I used a Fresno)
1/2 pound monk fish (or any firm white fish), cut into bite-sized pieces
some fresh clams
some fresh shrimp, cleaned and deveined
1 qt fish stock (see below)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
fresh shredded basil
fresh parsley, finely chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a deep sauce pan. Add the onion, red pepper and carrots and saute until soft. Add the tomatoes, thyme and oregano and any tomato sauce from the can and cook down for about five minutes. Pour in the fish stock and bring to a boil. Return to a simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add the fish to the broth and cook gently for a few minutes; add the shrimp and clams and cook until the clams open up. (Be sure not to let the fish boil or it will turn tough.) Stir in the parsley and basil. Serve the soup with fresh croutons on the side.

India Sweets & Spices, Atwater Village

2007-03-10T23:47:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite places to go within walking distance of my house, India Sweets & Spices offers a vegetarian Indian buffet with Northern and Southern specialties. Typically there are a few vegetable standbys like daal (lentils) and choley (chickpeas) along with specials like squash, eggplant or spinach in some combination or other. Order a combination plate and you'll get your choice of two vegetables, basmati rice, raita, plus a potato samosa, papadam, paratha, some firey hot pickles, and, depending on the combination you choose, a mango lassi to cut the heat. This will cost you six dollars. On other occasions I'll order a masala dosa, which eventually appears on the counter from the kitchen crisp and steaming hot and filled with buttery, spicy potato mixture. Yum.

I've actually never tried the sweets but they look good and the place is always filled with Indians so I assume the chefs know what they're doing. The giant Indian grocery store next door carries all sorts of Indian grocery staples including a nice selection of Cadbury and other British-brand chocolates and confections made for the Indian market. As an added bonus, odds are extremely good that you'll get to enjoy a rousing Bollywood musical on the enourmous flat screen TV in the brightly lit dining room while you eat. And who knows, the smiles on the beaming Indian actors faces may just match your own as you stumble back out onto Los Feliz Blvd delirious on all that ghee.

India Sweets & Spices
3126 Los Feliz Blvd
323 345-0360

Grilled Seabass in Acqua Pazza

2007-03-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

Acqua Pazza (crazy water) is a simple sauce of fresh tomato with chile pepper into which you can poach any firm white whole fish or fillet. When I learned this recipe in Italy, we used bream fillets and slipped them into the sauce to simmer until just cooked through. When I was shopping at Fish King I found some beautiful fresh seabass caught off the coast of Santa Barbara. Since these pieces of fish were thicker and better suited to grilling or pan-sauteing, I went that route. Buddy wanted to try the fish grilled, so that's what we did. Fresh tomatoes are out of season so I used some leftover canned San Marzano (Italian) ones which are great. I used a simple fish stock in my sauce so that it tasted of the sea and complemented the fish perfectly.

In my version, the fish and sauce never meet until they both show up on the plate, but the result was fantastic. Like all cooking, it's about starting with the best food you can find and improvising along the way.

1 pound seabass (two pieces)
5 tomatoes (peeled and seeded)
1 glove garlic, chopped
1 red chile pepper, diced
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups fish or vegetable stock
salt to taste

Saute the garlic and chile pepper in the olive oil until the garlic is just softened but not brown. Add the tomatoes, oregano and stock and cook about 10 minutes. Mash up the tomatoes. When complete, turn off the heat and stir in the parsley.

Separately, set the grill on high. Salt the fish well with sea salt on all sides. Oil the grill and cook the fish with the cover down for about 4 minutes. Turn and cook for another 4 minutes. The fish should not be totally cooked through but will continue cooking as the sauce is completed.

Once the sauce is done, arrange fish on a plate and spoon over the Acqua Pazza sauce.

Fish stock

2007-03-10T16:38:00.002-08:00

According to Julia Child, all that's required for a fish stock is to buy some fresh scraps and simmer them in lightly salted water for about half and hour. I'd never tried it so the other day while shopping for fish at Fish King in Glendale, I asked for a pound of fish heads and meaty skeletons. I covered the scraps until they were covered with about an inch of water then kept skimming the scum that rose to the top as it all boiled. After 30 minutes I removed the scraps to the trash and passed the liquid through a couple different strainers to remove any other little bits that remained. I used the fish stock in place of vegetable stock in an "Acqua Pazza" tomato sauce I cooked later that night for some grilled seabass.

Mao's Kitchen, Melrose and Venice

2007-03-10T01:59:00.000-08:00

The space where the old Tommy Tang's used to be on Melrose has been reincarnated as Mao's Kitchen, a branch of Mao's first outpost in Venice. I'm always a bit skeptical about Chinese restaurants where not a single Chinese person is in evidence (I think our waiter was in Dogtown and Z-Boys) but Jon and Jason vouched for the place and I'm always up for a new find. They had already ordered a Chinese chicken salad in lettuce cups when I arrived. I don't know if this dish has ever been served on the Asian continent or if it was invented by P.F. Chang's but I dutifully filled my leaf of iceberg up with the diced, stir-fried chicken with bits of green beans and cleaned my plate, the lettuce included. The menu has Chinese restaurant favorites including both kung pao and orange chicken as well as some more exotic specialties like the typically Muslim Chinese lamb with leeks which I was happy to try. Aside from the lamb, we ordered a lo mein with chicken and a salt and pepper seafood. Jason thought the lamb was the best dish--thinly sliced and stir-fried with green leeks--and it was pretty delicious. But I thought everything was really good. The salt and pepper seafood was lightly battered, deep-fried pieces of shrimp and sole, not greasy at all. The lo mein noodles with chunks of white meat chicken provided a nice balance to the other dishes. The waiter and staff were all friendly and accomodating and talk about a cultural revolution, Mao's even has their own parking lot sans valet. They just opened in late January and don't seem to have a huge following yet as they were only moderately busy on a Friday night. But hopefully with time Mao's will catch on as LA could definitely use a decent Chinese restaurant this side of the SGV.

Mao's Kitchen
7315 Melrose Ave (west of La Brea at Fuller)
323.932.9681 (call for delivery)

Indochine Vien, Atwater Village

2007-03-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

Don't do like I did and show up on a cold and rainy Monday night when the only thing you want to do is curl up with a hot bowl of pho and a blanket, because Indochine is closed on Mondays. Drat! But that's how we learn, isn't it? Go any other night and Indochine will serve you up a flavorful chicken or beef pho into which you can shred up pieces of fresh Thai basil or add bean sprouts (or not). Not juicy enough? Add some more fish or chile sauce. Need it to go? Indochine is prepared for you with styrofoam containers for the broth and separate plastic bags for the noodles and other accoutrements. Find a big bowl at home, combine it all together, and you're ready for a night of television, or a nice book, or whatever it is you do at home.

Indochine also makes a nice guoi cuon (spring roll) filled as it is with fresh steamed shrimp, rice noodles, chicken, lettuce and mint. They also make an amazing fresh lemonade or nuoc da chanh if you're inclined to order it in Vietnamese. The atmosphere is very low key, clean and modern, a perfect stop on the way home or no-hassle spot to grab a quick dinner with a friend. They even have a few spots at the counter for solo diners.

Indochine Vien
3110 Glendale Boulevard
Atwater Village
(323) 667-9591

Oomasa, Little Tokyo

2007-03-04T11:52:00.000-08:00

Was it all that feminist art that was making me so hungry for sushi at 10:45 on a Saturday night? What luck to stumble upon Oomasa just off of 1st Street in the outdoor Japanese Village Plaza Mall as it's open till midnight on Saturday. There was a mob of other MOCA opening patrons in the entryway all waiting with a plastic number for the next available wooden booth. All the more reason for Mark and I to grab two open seats at the sushi bar. Hamachi was of the melt-in-your-mouth variety; toro also excellent but a bit more firm; my ikura sushi was also top rate, the nori wrapper crisp and the salmon eggs briny and fresh as they popped in my mouth. Mark enjoyed his sweet shrimp sushi but found the standard presentation of their crispy deep-fried heads off-putting and superfluous. I took a bite anyway. Service from our Japanese sushi chef was friendly and efficient. Oomasa is a definite find, very reasonably priced, and as such may end up as one of my stand-by spots for a sushi fix.

Oomasa Restaurant
100 Japanese Village Plz Mall (corner of E 1st St and S Central Ave)
Little Tokyo
(213) 972-9640

Mozza Pizzeria, Hollywood

2007-02-19T15:36:00.000-08:00

After the Robert Wilson opening at the ACE Gallery, Chris, Mark, Dave and I dared to show up at Mozza without a reservation at 9:30 on a Friday. Having been told on the phone that the wait for a table would be about an hour, we decided that we had nothing better to do anyway and would be content drinking prosecco at the bar until a table was ready. Lucky for us, our determination paid off in about five minutes as the hostess gave us the smile and nod and lead us through the lively dining room to our table. I was just back from Rome and really dying for some excellent pizza, and a little bit ready to be disappointed by all the Mozza hype. I ordered an anchovy pizza and Chris took one with sausage/fennel and we agreed to share. It turned out to be a great combination. The Mozza crust is thin, slightly chewy with just a bit of bite and crunch. It was superb and better than any I had in Rome. The tiny anchovies on my pizza were lightly marinated in vinegar, brushed with fresh lemon juice, and burst with flavor on the crispy tomato-sauced crust. The sausage and fennel was hearty and savory. We all split an order of the butterscotch pudding, amazing with its sweetness balanced with just a faint amount of fleur de sel, a salted Brittany caramel piece in dessert form. I think we drank an entire bottle of prosecco and then Mark topped us off with a glass each of moscato. I've eaten at Mario Batali's Otto in New York a few times and thought the pizza was fine but that the experience was all about the appetizers and wine. In Mozza he and Nancy Silverton bring it all together in a fun space with the best quality food, excellent service and a fairly reasonable menu. If you can get a table.

Mozza Pizzeria
641 N Highland Ave (at Melrose)
323 297-0101

Pho Cafe, Silver Lake

2007-01-30T00:57:00.000-08:00

A bright beacon of glass and light is drawing you near in an otherwise darkened strip mall, Pho Cafe is pulling you in from the street, you're a firefly heading for the white light of 2841 and now you're inside and seated in an orange plastic chair under a 200 watt lamp and looking over the simple yet smartly designed menu. What to order? There are vegetarian options if you're so inclined but pho ga, or chicken pho, seems a good bet and turns out to be very good bet, even better when some fresh basil is shredded into the broth and jalepeno slices are dropped in to give it all some kick. Spring Rolls #3 are filled with lemon grass-grilled beef, shrimp and vermicelli rice noodles and are accompanied by peanut and nuac mam dipping sauces which are both extremely satisfying in that umami-flavored way they have. While it's a freshly made lemonade for me this night, Pho Cafe does have quite a nice selection of Asian beers including several I've not seen before. The people watching is fantastic and the crowd may all work down the street at the Echo Park American Apparel for all I know. It's just that kind of scene.

Pho Cafe
2841 W Sunset Blvd (at Silver Lake Blvd)
Silver Lake
213 413-0888

Les Halles, New York

2007-01-26T00:20:00.000-08:00

I'd had cassoulet on my mind lately what with the cold weather and all in LA so when the NY Times mentioned a few places that have it on the menu this season in New York I thought that seeking one of them out would give me some small sense of purpose while on business there last Monday night. So I made my way down to Les Halles, not thinking at first that this was Tony Bourdain's restaurant (or was at one time. I wonder if he's still cooking or if writing best selling books while traveling the world for his cable TV shows has taken over his life? Sounds pretty good to me actually.) At any rate, my friend Rika and I ordered a platter of charcuterie including a mound of rillettes and pâté which I devoured on the crusty bread. Speaking of herring with potatoes, this is what I'm talking about--deliciously oily and smokey herring fillets surrounded with sliced boiled potatoes. Finally, my cassoulet was perfect--white beans slow cooked with pork sausage and confit of duck leg. Zut alors this was good. A couple of glasses each of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and we stumbled back out onto Park Ave into the freezing night just as snowflakes were starting to fall. Not bad for a Monday night at all.

Les Halles
411 Park Ave S
New York, NY
212 679-4111

Wilson, Culver City

2007-01-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

Last weekend after stopping off at the new Anderson & Low opening at David Gallery (formerly Apex on La Brea), Jon, Jason and I had dinner at the newly opened Wilson. (I secured a reservation after finishing some shopping at Surfa's earlier that evening and they were turning away people at the door when we arrived for our 8:30 seating. So best to call ahead.) The menu is divided into FoodBar, From the Garden and Entrees. (The restaurant does have about 8 seats at the bar for walk-ins.) We settled on a warm potato/herring salad and special roasted pork belly appetizer which was unctuous and amazing. (I do prefer a smoked herring to the pickled variety Wilson's uses in this classic French pairing but I would still order this again.) I had a house-made pasta with boar ragu which was rich, hearty and pefect on an unusually cold LA night. Jason had perhaps the best entree, a roast lamb shank with white beans and preserved lemons. Jon had a monkfish stew with shrimp and scallops. Jon and Jason drank a glass or two of chianti each while I sipped on prosecco. With a location right in the middle of the up-and-coming Culver City furntiture and gallery district and just down from the acclaimed Beacon, I think Wilson will develop quite a following. I look forward to finding a reason to return.

Wilson
8631 Washington Blvd
Culver City
310 287-2093

Pasita, New York

2006-11-13T23:39:00.000-08:00

I had a quick trip to NYC last week so thought I'd do a quick wrap up on some of the food highlights. First off, my friend Steve took me to Pasita, a new Venezuelan-style pizza place and wine bar in the West Village. Pasita specializes in thin-crust pizzas and these didn't disappoint--my prosciutto and arugula pizza was excellent as was Steve's white pizza with artichokes and mushrooms. Jesse's South American-style pizza of shredded beef and manchego may have been my favorite. We also sampled the yucca fries. We'd had so many glasses of the Chilean Carmenere that the owner was nice enough to charge us for a bottle rather than a glass which we learned only when we'd finally stopped drinking and asked for the bill after all the other restaurant patrons had gone home.

Pasita
47 8th Ave (West Village between Horatio Street and W 4th St)
(212) 255-3900

Olives, New York

2006-11-13T15:13:00.000-08:00

It wasn't my idea to have lunch at Olives in the W Hotel on Union Square. It was pouring rain and I was drenched by the time we got there, but it turned out to be well worth it. I had the special three-course Greenmarket menu from which I selected minestrone soup (easily one of the best I've ever had), saffron-yellow pillows of agnolloti stuffed with braised lamb shank on a bed of tomato ragu (incredible) and, for dessert, a pairing of homemade sorbets. I also tried my friend Rika's prosciutto and fig pizza which is her favorite and a seasonal specialty. Todd English has restaurants all over the world at this point (I ate at the Beacon Hill branch of Figs while in Boston over the summer) so it was nice to find this outpost (and in a hotel no less) delivering such quality. The next time I'm in New York lunch at Olives may be my idea.

Olives
W Hotel, Union Square
201 Park Ave South (at 17th St)
(212) 353-8345

Country, New York

2006-11-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

I've eaten at Country, Jeffrey Zakarian's restaurant in the Carlton Hotel, a number of times since that's usually the hotel I stay at while in NY. I hadn't been particulary impressed until this trip when, while waiting for my car to JFK, I decided to grab a quick bite at the bar. I ordered the clam chowder which is served ceremoniously by the waiter who pours a small carafe of clam broth and heavy cream into a bowl filled with freshly cooked clams and small chunks of smokey bacon. Enough said. Even better though was the Tuna Pizzette, an open-faced tuna sandwich with alternating strips of sourdough bread topped with sashimi-grade raw tuna on half of the pieces and what must have been olive oil-poached albacore on the others. All of this was garnished with thinly sliced, slender long French radishes, some fresh greens and a little fleur de sel. Now that's a tuna sandwich.

Country
90 Madison Ave (at 29th St)
(212) 889-7100

La Diferencia, Tijuana

2006-11-05T23:09:00.000-08:00

What could be a better antidote on a day trip to the relative grime and mayhem that is Tijuana than to find an out-of-the-way restaurant where you can relax in a colorful but quiet tiled courtyard listening to a gurgling fountain and the chirp of caged birds while sipping from a cold bottle of Sol? La Diferencia is a far cry from the places along Avenida Revolución where barkers shouting "hey buddy" try to hustle you in for a shooter of Cuervo Gold. In fact, it's on a relatively elegant Restaurant Row about 15 minutes (and only a $6 cab ride) away from the border itself. The menu features elegantly presented and rather sophisticated takes on Mexican cuisine.

I'd long wanted a chance to try cuitlacoche, the corn fungus prized as a delicacy in Mexico, and was happy to see that La Diferencia offered it in several different preparations. I opted for the appetizer of cuitlacoche crepes in tomatillo sauce which was delicious. The crepes were light little bundles filled with the earthy, black cuitlacoche and tied closed at the top with a small amount of corn husk. The cuitlacoche reminded me a bit of black beans but with a slightly funky corn aftertaste. As a main course I opted for the chile relleno de jaiba, which, as the name implies, is a chile poblano stuffed with crab. This was no greasy, batter-fried chile, but instead had been baked in puff-pastry to a golden brown and dusted with sesame seeds. The same puff-pastry showed up as an edible lid on Buddy's soup through which he could poke through to the light, clear mushroom broth hidden below. He especially liked his shrimp enchiladas which I tried and can also say were excellent. The service at La Diferencia is excellent too, which, the food aside, must account for the popularity of the place among the crowd of well-to-do tijuanenses with whom we dined. I'm not sure that a trip to TJ will ever be complete without a trip down the donky-painted-as-zebra sideshow that is Avenida Revolución, but it sure was nice to find a top-notch restaurant turning out inventive, excellent Mexican cuisine only slightly off the beaten path.

La Diferencia
Blvd. Sanchez Taboada 10611-A
Zona Rio, Tijuana B.C.
(011 52 664) 6 34 33 46

Yai Restaurant, Thai Town and Los Feliz

2006-10-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

It's always great to hear about another restaurant in Thai Town, and that's especially the case when the recommendation comes from well known local Thai chef Jet Tila. In fact, Yai was number one on the list of restaurants that Jet put together for KCRW's Good Food a few weeks ago, so that was more than enough reason for me to try it. Even better, Jet provided a list of his favorite dishes at each restaurant which made the discovery process even easier.

I'd had deep fried catfish at the old Palms Thai before, a whole fish, flash-fried to a crispy golden crunch while the inside stays moist and tender. Yai fries the whole fish too, but it's been cut cross-wise in half-inch slivers so that you can pick up and eat each little piece which is crispy almost all the way through. It's served with a red chile paste on the side so you can add your own level of kick. Jet recommended the Pad Thai but I couldn't resist trying Pad Kee Mao instead, my favorite Thai noodle dish made with the wider rice noodles which are pan fried with chicken and topped with some fresh basil. Perhaps my favorite dish though was the starter of papaya salad that my friend David suggested we order. The sweetness of the fresh papaya played perfectly with the salty, savory fish sauce and dried shrimp while chile peppers packed some heat. It's that amazing balance of flavors that makes Thai food so satisfying and exciting all at once. I look forward to working my way down the rest of Jet's list of favorites and then making my way back to the top to try Yai Restaurant again.

UPDATE:

A second outpost of Yai's Restaurant opened in February in the strip center at the corner of Hollywood and Vermont. The spanking clean interior and relatively more upscale digs make the whole Yai experience all around more pleasant. Best of all, the food is just as good and the servers couldn't have been nicer.

Yai Restaurant
5757 Hollywood Blvd, just east of Western Ave
Hollywood
323 462-0292

and

1627 N Vermont Ave
Los Feliz
323 644-1076

Skooby's Hot Dogs, Hollywood and Hermosa Beach

2006-10-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday after seeing a great Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show at the Henry Fonda, I was determined to find some food before I made my way home. One of my friends has often described me as resolute, and at least when it comes to food that much is true: I wanted a chili cheese dog and by god I was going to have one. Lucky for me, not only does Skooby's stay open till all hours of the night (3 am on weekends), they make an excellent and dare I say high quality chili dog. Both the dog and bun are custom made for Skooby's and the fries they make are hand-cut--much like the ones at In N Out--and served with a roasted red pepper aioli. Take that, Pinks. My only complaint was that they don't take credit cards and so I had to wander up Hollywood Blvd at 1 am checking various tattoo parlos and bondage gear shops for an ATM. Still, a person could do a lot worse than to end up at Skooby's after a late night out in Hollywood. As for why you'd be out at all in Hermosa Beach, you're on your own.

Skooby's
6654 Hollywood Blvd (@ Cherokee)
Hollywood

and

502 PCH
Hermosa Beach

Square One Dining, Hollywood

2006-10-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Square One is definitely my kind of place. Not only do they serve brunch till 4 pm (they're open only from 8-4 daily except Mondays), but the food is of such high quality and the presentation and attention to detail so on point that they truly do fall into that rarified category of restaurants that show love and respect for the food they serve. The hollandaise-covered poached eggs with house-cured salmon served on a bed of frisee and potato pancakes that I ate for brunch today at 3 pm was surely love on a plate. The mixed greens salad in a vinaigrette that accompanied it was garnished with the thinnest, most perfectly uniform julienne of fresh radishes; a light dusting of red cayenne pepper topped the hollandaise; the thick smoky bacon that I stole off of Nicole's plate had been cooked to a soft crunch; orange juice is fresh-squeezed. I can't wait to go back to try their lunch menu, particularly the olive oil poached albacore tuna sandwich on five grain bread. According to their website, Square One believes in serving only organic, locally sourced produce and it shows. Not surprisingly, I hear there can be quite a crowd early in the day waiting to get a seat. Here's where sleeping in offers an added bonus--by arriving after the rush today not only did we have our choice of prime patio tables, but we had the perfect vantage point from which to observe the always curious comings-and-goings at the Scientology Center across the street.

Square One Dining
4854 Fountain Ave
Hollywood
323 661-1109

Arturo's Puffy Taco, Whittier

2006-09-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

The half-life of a puffy taco is short. The flaky, deep-fried masa shell that makes it so delectable to eat also makes it painful to pick up and quick to collapse under its own weight back onto your paper plate once you do so. The puffy taco taunts--how badly do you want me?

You might just want it badly enough to drive to Whittier, home of Arturo’s Puffy Taco. Both of the filling options you expect for this Tex-Mex original, the savory ground beef picadillo, or the shredded, stewed chicken, are listed on the lighted menu board outside this taco stand that shares a parking lot with the neighborhood U-Haul franchise.

Order dos puffies with Arturo’s guacamole sauce at the outside window and then head inside to grab one of the formica-top booths that aren’t already filled with local teens or Mexican families out with their kids on a Saturday night. The cutlery is plastic, the lighting fluorescent, but what do you expect for a meal this good in LA where $10 gets you cheese enchiladas, a puffy taco, pitch-perfect rice and refried beans, fresh lemonade and $1.50 in change?

Arturo’s Puffy Taco
15693 Leffingwell Rd
Whittier, CA
(562) 947-2250

Pinkberry, LA and New York

2006-09-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

After what turned out to ultimately be a quixotic drive across town to a meeting that got cancelled while I was waiting for it to start, I decided that a stop to finally try Pink Berry, the Korean frozen yogurt place poised to soon multiply across LA, would be a good way to rescue the afternoon. I can never get enough fro-yo but this, like most all desserts for me, always means chocolate. Pink Berry prides itself on offering only two flavors, Green Tea and Original, and since I'm not typically a fan of the flavors used widely in Asian desserts (you can keep all your lycheess and dorians), I was slightly disappointed not to find my favorite flavor on offer. A few bites into my small cup of Original was enough to change my mind. The taste is fresh, not too sweet and slightly tart. It reminded me very much of a lemon cream or perhaps the taste of Key Lime Pie. This being LA, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised to find they have their own doorman, the better to manage what I've heard can be a line that normally snakes down the sidewalk. What next, a valet?

Pink Berry
868 Huntley Dr (just south of Santa Monica Blvd)
West Hollywood

UPDATE:

I musn't forget to mention that I stopped in at the first NYC branch of Pinkberry for a taste of home back in the fall. There's no doorman yet, much less lines down the street, but the place did have a few mid-day customers. It's on a stretch of W 32nd St lined with Korean barbecue restaurants. I understand that stores in the upper 80s, Soho and Chelsea (naturally) are also set to open, among others. I guess if Pinkberry can make it in WeHo, they can make it anywhere.

Pinkberry
7 W 32nd St (between 5th and Broadway)

Loteria Grill, Farmers Market

2006-09-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

While a more obvious choice than I typically like to post about since it's in the shadow of the Grove and so hardly off the beaten path, I must finally confess in writing my love for this food stand in the 3rd & Fairfax Farmer's Market. Since I'd eaten there with Jon and Jason just last weekend and so had satiated the normal hankering for my favorite-in-LA chicken enchiladas suizas in a tomatillo sauce with a side of black beans and arroz verde, I was free on a visit yesterday with my cousin to try something new. She and I split a plate of chile rellenos and I also ordered two tacos, one of cochinita pibil and one of papas con rajas poblanas. Actually the chile relleno was supposed to be her lunch, but the plate of food was so huge it wouldn't have been right for her not to share. Turns out there were actually two chiles. The first appeared to be the typical battered and deep-fried chile poblano, but inside it was filled with cheese and what we think was sauted squash and onions. The other was a firey dried red chile filled with black bean puree and covered in a light cream sauce. Piled along side the two was a picadillo of ground beef (?), plump raisins and slivers of almonds. Everything was delicious and the presentation really looked amazing too.

I'll admit to having eaten the taco of potatos and poblano peppers with a hint of crumbled Mexican white cheese at Loteria before so that wasn't a new one for me. I loved it again. However, I'd never tried their cochinita pibil and am happy to report that it was fantastic and not as greasy (or admittedly quite as rich and tasty) as the James Beard Award winning standard served at Yuca's on Hillhurst. Tiny slivers of pickled red onion topped the shredded pork taco which is just the type of attention to detail that keeps me coming back for more at Loteria.

Loteria Grill
Farmer's Market
3rd and Fairfax Aves

Full House Seafood Restaurant, Chinatown

2006-09-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

After checking out the Banksy show at the gallery downtown last night, a group of us headed over to Chinatown for some chow. We ended up at Full House, a lively but smaller version of the ballroom-sized dim sum/seafood houses across the street but still complete with tanks of live spot prawns, lobsters and a strictly decorative freshwater fish so enormous for the size of his tank we were certain he hadn't been able to make a turn for years. With six of us at the table, we were able to order quite a feast.

I normally don't care too much about Hot & Sour soup, but the one I had was perhaps the best example I can remember tasting. It was full of different types of mushrooms, tofu and just a hint of red pepper to give it some heat. I think I ate three bowls. Others tried the wonton soup which also looked excellent, packed as it was with vegetables including vividly green brocolli, baby squid tentacles, chicken, and pork-filled wontons. I ordered stir-fried snowpea leaves for the table which were a hit. (Spinach seemed like bad idea anyway and I love the snowpea leaves though I can't stand snowpeas themselves.) I also ordered scallops in a black pepper sauce which I thought was okay, not great. I'd never tried the thin Singapore noodles which came spicy and with a kick of curry powder and bits of shrimp and vegetables. The shrimp with candied walnuts is also a good dish to share with a lot of people since it's a heart attack on a plate. (The shrimp are lightly battered, fried and then covered in a mayonnaise-based sauce and candied walnuts.) This version had turned a bit mushy by the time it reached our table so wasn't as nice and crisp as it could have been but still rather delicious. Other dishes included a bright red sweet and sour beef which I didn't try, a half peking duck (I love eating the crispy skin on steamed buns with a little plum sauce but am always rather indifferent to the meat itself; just seems like too much trouble to get much off those tiny bones). Somewhere in there was a plate of pan-fried dumplings which are hard not to like. I'll definitely be going back to Full House and I'm sure it'll come in especially handy when there are gallery shows around the corner on Chunk King Rd this fall.

Galcos Soda Pop Stop, Highland Park

2006-08-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Galco's Soda Pop Stop, Highland Park

Galco is a fantastic shop in an old grocery store on York Blvd that specializes in hard-to-find soda pops from across the country. The store is completely filled with palletes and shelves of obscure colas and pops from across the country. I even spied some Mexican Cokes (made with real sugar, rather than corn syrup like the domestic stuff). I stopped in today and picked up 6 bottles of my family's favorite, Sun-Drop, a carbonated lemon-lime soda bottled in North Carolina which is still only otherwise distributed in little towns in NC, VA and TN. I asked for a recommendation on root beer (they carry around 40 different varieties) and was directed to Red Ribbon Home Brewed Style Root Beer from Natrona, PA. Not overly sweet (also made with real sugar), it was perfect with the Italian sub sandwich I ordered at the deli counter in the back of the store. Galco's also carries a wide selection of beer and some old time candies like Pop Rocks and Nestle 100 Grand bars. You can also pick up old-fashioned seltzer water in the refillable glass squirt containers. There's a $15 deposit on the bottle but I think I may give that I try next time I stop in. I don't know if there's another store like this one in the country so we're lucky to have it right in our backyard. The owner is super friendly and intimately knowledgable about the products he carries too.

Galco's Soda Pop Stop
5702 York Blvd
Highland Park

Orris, West LA

2006-08-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

My friend Susan was in town from Australia for a conference at UCLA this week so it presented a perfect time to finally try Orris on Sawtelle. At the waiter's recommendation we started with the fried shishito peppers with prosciutto and parmesan. Squash blossoms stuffed with shrimp mousse and olive tapenade was a perfect use of squash blossoms which are pleniful at the farmer's markets right now. Snapper carpaccio with ginger was perhaps my favorite dish of the evening. The ginger dressing was perfect on the warm, sashimi-style snapper. Dungeness crab cakes were tiny but tasty; there are three to a serving, each about an inch in diameter and they are served on a whole-grain mustard sauce. Since I was still a bit hungry we finished off the meal with an order of fried chicken a la japonaise and a side of potato dauphinois. The chicken nuggets were simply fried and served with a spicy sauce. The potatoes were rich and gooey in their cream sauce. As the little plates of food kept arriving the restaurant patio where we were seated filled up as did the interior of the restaurant until the place was totally hopping. We whiled away our Wednesday evening, Susan drinking dark Asahi beer (she the government subsidizes the wine industry and that beer is relatively expensive in Oz) while I tried both a French and Italian rose followed by a Cab/Shiraz blend from Australia. We finally opted for a dessert of flourless chocolate cake with coffee gelato before finally rolling to the car. The bill was $111 plus tip so it wasn't a cheap night out but well worth it for the feast we had.

Orris
2006 Sawtelle Boulevard
Los Angeles
(310) 268-2212

B&G Oysters Ltd, Boston

2006-08-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

Across the street from The Butcher Shop and with the same owners, B&G is a top end seafood restaurant with a casual sophisticated vibe and an awesome patio. Fresh oysters can be had from spots all along the New England coast and from Canada as well. Michelle took me here the night I arrived in Boston and I had one of the best versions of a lobster roll I can remember. The clam chowder with hunks of bacon was fantastic as well.

B&G Oysters Ltd
550 Tremont St
Boston
617.423.0550

No Name Restaurant, Boston

2006-08-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

Though right on the waterfront, this is no tourist trap. You have to walk down a lonely stretch of closed docks and follow the arrow to No Name, which is filled with locals and others who have probably been coming here for years. We snagged one of the formica tables with a view across Boston Harbor towards Logan where I had a sweet, perfectly cooked boiled lobster with butter. The seafood chowder is apparently renowned but I didn't think it had all that much flavor. Boston Cream Pie for dessert was a must and this one was perfect.

No Name Restaurant
Fishermans Wharf
15 Fish Pier St W (Cross Street: Seaport Boulevard)
617 338-7539

The Butcher Shop, Boston

2006-08-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

I ate here twice, the first time Michelle and I stopped in for wine and a house-made charcuterie/cheese plate which was excellent. We had a glass of the Bugey Cerdon sparkling rose which I would like to find here in LA. Later that week I returned with a colleague and had dinner at one of the high tables along the window. We each had the tenderloin which was a superb piece of meat. Fine dining in a very casual but cool atmosphere, the bill was $150 for two including something chocolate for dessert.

The Butcher Shop
552 Tremont Street
Boston
617.423.4800

Hama Sushi, Little Tokyo

2006-08-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

Buddy convinced me to branch out a bit from my favorite sushi joint, Saito's, so we headed down to Little Tokyo to a place he had been once before. The inside of the tiny restaurant is mostly taken up by a u-shaped sushi bar, manned by two chefs. The waitresses brought us each steaming hot towels and took our drink order and returned with a tall, cold bottle of Sapporo to share. Over the course of the evening we downed albacore, toro (the good one at $10 per order rather than the cheaper version at $5), snapper, hamachi, more hamachi and some miso soup with clams. Did I mention the hamachi? It was the melt-in-your-mouth variety as was the albacore and toro. (It seems you can hardly go wrong with these in most sushi restaurants). The final tab was around $80 plus tip which is about what is to be expected for excellent sushi. Lucky for me I had forgotten my wallet (Oops!). Thanks Buddy. Get you next time?

Hama Sushi
347 E 2nd St
(213) 680-3454

Lou, Hollywood

2006-08-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to Lou a few weeks ago. Buddy and I rolled into the parking lot on a Monday night and I was discouraged to see drapes completely blocking the view of the restaurant interior. Thinking the place was closed, I hesitated to give the door a try but lucky for us, a peek through the curtain revealed a cool and darkly subdued dining room, with more than a view people seated and eating. So don't be fooled by the curtain if you go. You can't see a damn thing until you force your way inside.

Lou is about wine and small plates of food. We sampled a rose and the charcuterie and cheese plate, gravlax, frisee salad with goat cheese, heirloom tomato salad and a peach crumble for desert. Everything was good, though I would have liked to see a couple of simple entrees on the menu in addition to the appetizers. I would go back again to sample some more of the wines, perhaps after dining on a proper meal elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Lou
724 N Vine St
(323) 962-6369

La Parrilla, Silver Lake

2006-07-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

It took me quite a while to find Mexican food in West LA that I thought was half-way decent. So I was thrilled to find La Parrilla a few years ago, not least for the homemade guacamole that, if you're lucky, will be made on a cart right at your table. If not, it's still made to order and pairs well with the fresh tortillas and grilled meats that are the restaurant's specialty. On my most recent visit it was scorching hot outside so something light was in order. Buddy and I dug our chips into a big bowl of the fresh guac and I ordered some fish ceviche. Turns out they were out of the fish on this day so I opted for the shrimp ceviche instead. The waiter returned with an enormous dish of diced shrimp mixed with fresh tomato and onion served on a bed of shredded lettuce. Fresh leaves of lettuce were sticking up from the platter providing a green backdrop to the ceviche and crisp tostadas that sat at the side. I've had the fish ceviche at La Parrilla before and think I prefer it to the shrimp variety. But it was light and not a bad snack at all on a languid afternoon, especially when piled on a tostada with some of the piquant fresh pico de gallo and guacamole.

Buddy had the shrimp fajitas which he seemed to enjoy. Even though it was mid-afternoon, the mariachi with the Elvis-style pompadour was already working the room with his sidekick. For $6 the duo sang a rousing version of the classic "El Rey" and it was worth the money just to see Buddy fidget uncomfortably while they serenaded us. Our bowl of guacamole now empty, we stumbled back out into the blinding light of day and the cars whizzing by on Sunset fully satisfied with our meal.

La Parrilla
3129 W Sunset Blvd (Silver Lake Blvd)
323 661-8055

Chosun Galbee, Koreatown

2006-07-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

I've been searching for a new restaurant to try in Koreatown and had read several posts about this one on Chowhound so this seemed like a good night to try it. Greg and Sara had never had the Korean and there isn't much of it in Austin so they were game. We had one order each of Bulgoki and Tiger Shrimp for the grill as well as the cold spicy Bibim NengMyun noodles and Galbee Dolsot Bibimbob, the rice and vegetable dish cooked in a sizzling hot stone bowl until the rice is crispy. All of the food including the kimchee and assorted other pickled vegetables (bean sprouts, zuchini, julienned Japanese radish, etc.) they brought out were fantastic and we also were thrilled to each be served a green salad with a tasty light dressing at the start of our meal. Greg and I shared a giant Hite lager. We grilled up the bulgoki and the shrimp and ate them wrapped in fresh lettuce leaves and topped with the firey orange paste which I wish I knew the name of. We all agreed this was one of the best meals of the weekend and a great introduction to Korean food. My favorites were the bulgoki and the bibimbob. I might try another noodle dish next time since the NengMyun tasted so similar to the kimchee but it was all so good and the bill very reasonable at around $30 per person. Service was also excellent except for the surly host with earpiece who balked when when we asked for a better table. 'What do you mean by a better table?" he asked. "One that's not in the back corner of the restaurant next to the kitchen door and server station perhaps?" I replied. He found us a booth in the middle of restaurant which was perfect.

Chosun Galbee
3330 W. Olympic Blvd
(323)734-3330

Ciudad, Downtown

2006-07-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

By the time we made it from Malibu down to Venice for a walkabout through the canals and along the boardwalk and then all the way back to my house, it was already getting late. The original plan was to head to MOCA for a late-night viewing of the Rauschenburg exhibit but eating dinner was agreed to be the first order of business. Ciudad seemed a good choice as I hadn't eaten there in a few years but figured it would be a hopping spot what with all the people downtown for the MOCA and Kinky/Sidestepper show. It was indeed hopping and we were lucky enough to snag a seat on the outdoor patio with a view of the lights of the neighboring skyscrapers all around. We started with the "Chicarones" Nachos which were a special. We had a hard time getting out of our drink-server whether or not the nachos were actually chicharones (fried pig intestines) but then learned that they were in fact a facsimile made of flour so we ordered them. They were definitely interesting and a pretty amazing technical feat--a hollow puffy chip with the same heft and crunch of traditional fried pig guts--but we would have settled for some corn chips. Not only would corn tortilla chips have been easier to eat, but they would have been more flavorful than the flour "chicarones" too. Pomegranate margaritas were a hit as were our entrees. I had a special of Copper River Salmon served on a bed of minty barley and topped with a tomato jam. Copper River salmon is my favorite and I look forward to eating it whenever possible this time every year. This preparation was delicious though perhaps a bit salty. I'd love to figure out how they made that barley though. Greg and Sara both ordered the Stuffed Tomato and Chile Relleno which they managed to polish off with no trouble. For dessert we shared a piece of chocolate cake. We lingered over coffee till we were the last ones in the restaurant and never did make it to MOCA.

Ciudad
445 S. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles
(213) 486-5171

Malibu Seafood, Malibu

2006-07-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

We set out for Malibu on Saturday around 11:30 and made great time heading out the 101 and over the brilliant Kanan Dune Rd with amazing views of the Pacific as we sped down towards PCH. We wanted to eat before hitting the beach and I knew Greg would love Malibu Seafood so we parked across the street and dodged traffic as we ran across the street to wait in line. I ordered the Seafood Combo which is a fried basket of the greatest hits: fish, scallops, oysters, shrimp and fries. All were excellent but I thought the best was the fish which was perfectly moist and flakey. Sara had a fried fish and a fish taco which she loved; Greg had the fried shrimp which he also loved. We had a nice view of the Pacific from our covered picnic table on one of the lower dining patios. I hope to make it out to the 'bu again soon and next time I'm ordering the two-piece fish basket and calling it a day. Oh, the beach was amazing too and I even got in the water for the first time this year. Lovely afternoon.

25653 Pacific Coast Hwy
(one and a half miles north of Pepperdine U.)
310 456 3430

Alcove Cafe & Bakery, Los Feliz

2006-06-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

My friends Greg and Sara were in town from Austin this past weekend so I thought I'd start with a summary of all the great places we ate starting with Friday. We were all starving by the time they made it to my house from LAX that afternoon so we headed over to Hillhurst Ave. I had the crab cake sandwich per usual even though I find there to be too much bun and not enough crab cake. Sara had the brie and apple panini which she loved. I can't remember what Greg had but they loved everything and it was great to sit outside in the shade and enjoy a beautiful Southern California afternoon.

Alcove
1929 Hillhurst Ave
323 644 0100

Saito's Sushi, Silver Lake

2006-06-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

I had taken Greg to Saito's when he was in town last year and he was eager to take Sara there on this trip. We spent the afteroon checking out the last day of the Klimt exhibit and walking around the La Brea Tar Pits so were ready for some great sushi. I always start with the Albacore Salad and it did not disappoint--lightly seared melt-in-the-mouth albacore sashimi with a ponzu sauce and chopped scallions. I could eat that every day. I don't normally order tuna sushi because I don't find it to be very flavorful but Greg and Sara wanted it and I'm so glad they did. This was some of the best tuna sushi I've ever had. More like toro, this tuna was absolutely lucious. We also had the Japanese Spanish Mackerel which was superb and something my friends said they normally don't like. The halibut and hamachi were all super fresh and fantastic. I'm so lucky to have such an amazing sushi place in my neighborhood. Anyone want to go again?

Saito's Sushi
4339 W Sunset Blvd (at Fountain)
323 663-8890