Josef Centeno restaurants -- overrated

you have the patience of a saint! I listened to the first 5 minutes and it was pretty awful.

I’m a very big fan of Bar Ama. I think the cocktails are terrific and really like the food, especially the off the menu puffy tacos and some of the smaller vegetable plates. Service has been solid the 4-5 times I’ve been there. It’s also a great location prior to heading to shows at the Regent. Come to think of it, it’s one of the few restaurants I consistently return to downtown, which is a real testament to it, given how many new places I always have on my list to try.

I wasn’t crazy about Baco the one time I went, although that was when it first opened. I’ve heard enough lackluster stuff from others that I’ve never revisited it.

Shout outs to Lazy Ox, which was great the first few years it was open and then went downhill the 3-4 years prior to its demise. (Albeit “great” was by LA standards at the time. We’ve come a long way in 5 years.)

Best fucking taquitos in LA.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBjiJHtk0C_/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

Awesome Monday night $9 cocktails.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBjiBzxE0C4/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

Where are those taquitos from? Bar Ama?

They usually have some good food specials at the bar on Sunday nights for those looking to try at a lower price point

Not just Sunday’s, every night from 10-11 (10-12 Friday/Saturday) they institute a super cheap late night menu.

The short rib taquitos pictured are from that menu. I actually waited around an extra couple minutes to order them as I like the more than the normal potato ones, and they cost $4 less.

Monday nights there’s always a featured $9 margarita, and $11 cocktail.

I don’t know why they offer so many various deals, but it sweetens the deal considerably when it seems like they don’t necessarily need to.

As I sat next to Michael Cimarusti and his family at Ledlow on President’s Day, I contemplated how non-overrated the place is, despite my disappointment in their decision to stop offering weekday pancakes (like everywhere else in Los Angeles).

Such a bright, enjoyable space to have a meal in!

Avocado and Cream Cheese Toast came out on intensely toothsome Gjusta seeded rye. It was just the size you would want, with a generous helping of beautiful avocado, delicately caressed by the cream cheese. The heft of the toast created one of the most unique avocado toast textures I have ever had. Quite a pleasant way to begin a little brunch.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4CSBCk0Nd/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

A Breakfast Combo at Ledlow is basically salsa verde fried eggs, a couple slabs of pork belly, a mess of potatoes lovingly fried in duck fat, and two pieces of heavily buttered and grilled sourdough bread. A remarkable plate of comfort revealing a meticulous chef’s hand in each element; just right egg yolk, pork belly both meaty, but with melting fat pockets, potatoes with just the right amount of snap, and savor, and the sourdough toast hedonistic and perfect, the way toast is in your dreams. When you splash some of the Bus Driver hot sauce (made in house at Bar AMA) over the combination it really lights it up to another level. Simple, humble, comforting; superb.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4CIr9k0NM/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

A Cornmeal Waffle came dressed with just the right amount of syrup, but required additional butter (for my tastes). Still, the waffle had a just-right crispness on its outer layer, and a soft interior. Again, simple, yet remarkable. Perhaps too pedestrian for some people who love their waffles with fried chicken, or overlays of berries, cream, fountains of syrups in umpteen flavors, etc… but the focus here was clearly on making a basic cornmeal waffle, and getting the textures and balances of it just right. Quite successful.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4B_BMk0M_/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

Finally, a Turkey and Swiss sandwich (half pictured here) displayed the same attention to detail, and unfussy attitude towards a sandwich. The bread, grilled to a just right crunch, freshly sliced turkey was moist and delectable, with delicate bacon that was not too crispy, nor too soft so as to be chewy; crisp, fresh lettuce, and onions with gooey swiss cheese rounded it out. It was nothing more than it set out to be; perhaps it is lamentable that such a basic sandwich done so nicely is a thing to marvel at, and yet it somehow is. The lightly-dressed vinegar slaw on the side offering a pleasant counterbalance of astringency, and showcased some very fresh cabbage in a great way in addition to the sandwich.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4CYUsk0Nm/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

Pricing for this meal including tax and tip was $27/person. Perhaps that seems overpriced to some people, but I would say the quality, and care of preparations as well as the lovely atmosphere are well worth that price, I genuinely felt I underpaid for the meal. One imagines that if a place is where one of LA’s best chef’s chooses to take his family for holiday brunch, the place may, perhaps, not be terribly overrated, perhaps even the opposite. I grant you that this is not food that will change your life, or blow your mind necessarily, it’s just simple, good food, made with high-quality ingredients by people that care about doing classic dishes really, really well. If that doesn’t appeal to you, or you feel that such things are ought to garner titles of “hipsterism” or “overratedness”, then so be it; I, for one, feel quite fortunate to live in a city that has Ledlow in it, and perhaps others may feel similarly.

I just had a good meal at Baco Mercat. I was in the mood for a lot of vegetables and the menu fits that.

Warm roasted cauliflower with lebne etc. ($14). Lovely. That’s a big serving spoon, not a teaspoon.

Salad of castelfranco, shaved asparagus, ninja radish, cheddar, and pine nuts ($13). Bracingly sharp dressing, balanced by the cheese and nuts.

Huge serving of duck confit ($28). Simple but good. Some of the same ingredients I had in a very different context at O&W last night.

With an appetizer that would have been plenty gor two. Very nice wines by the glass.

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I have always liked the vegetable dishes here. The spaghetti squash cream corn is always something I order.

Where the O&W pics at??

It was rough. I kept waiting for them to tell me what “white people food” meant.

Finally, they addressed the question, and David Chang said “shrimp cocktails.” He named shrimp cocktails the ultimate white people food.

On behalf of all of us, I ask, “¿Qué?”

I LOVE shrimp cocktail… Mainly b/c I love cocktail sauce, though…

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As I recall, the whole premise of the podcast is that there is a designated topic, and the guests are assigned opposite sides to argue. They may or may not 100% agree with the position that they’re arguing, but the point of the podcast is to make as convincing of an argument as possible. So, whether or not David Chang’s argument was convincing is up for debate, but I think people are taking what he said in the podcast a bit out of context and definitely too seriously.

P.S. Not necessarily replying solely to you - yours was just the last response on this topic, so I wasn’t sure where to jump in. I agree with you re: shrimp cocktailz.

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O&W vegetarian (there was no pork or duck option) curry grain bowl was really good, the kind of thing I’d happily eat for a light lunch any day. I’d say hold the potatoes next time, just don’t like them with grains. Pickles were excellent.

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[[quote=“robert, post:24, topic:2430”]
Some of the same ingredients I had in a very different context at O&W last night.
[/quote]

Was this a good thing or bad, or neutral?

The grain bowls look really pleasant. I need to get over to O&W for them.

O&W also does those horrible Thomas Keller-esque 20++ course dinners by request. I know you hate them, but did you get the sense they would be creative enough to pull off that many dishes in an interesting way? Or not really?

I kind of wandered by Ledlow this morning and decided to get one of their freshly made almond croissants since they look so good (even though I’d just devoured a ton of tacos from Tacos Quetzacoatl). I was planning on just taking it with me to walk around LA and save for later on, but biting into this like was a real “holy shit” moment of pure bliss. I’ve never had a better almond croissant than this. So flakey, so buttery, a touch eggy, intensely almond-y… I ate the whole fucking thing. I would happily drive an hour or two just to eat one of these things. Unbelievable.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEROYWGk0Jc/?taken-by=compulsiveaesthete

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I dropped into Bar Ama recently because I felt like eating one of the slutty items known as a queso-rrito, and felt like trying Bar Ama’s version.

The queso-rrito as Bar Ama interprets it is like a queso-filled quesadilla turned into a grilled burrito wrapper stuffed with a ton of rice and beef picadillo. It can only be described as a behemothic uber slutty party for your mouth filled with cheese, spice, and perfectly griddled tortilla (side note: Bar Ama has been making their own flour tortillas in house fresh for a long time, and it makes a big different in taste imo, even when you grill them wrapped in a cheesy ring of slutty glory). It is not for everyone; and many people would be offended at paying $15 for what is basically an even more whorish version of an already spectacularly slutty fast food item, but for a certain time of person it is a remarkable kind of culinary achievement of pure reckless gluttony. It is served with some of the best Mexican spicy pickles I have had, but even better is the housemade Bus Driver hot sauce that you can request. Mmm

I was still in veggie mode and felt like some broccoli, so I got a plate of broccolini torrada as well. Man, the portion size on this was insane. It seemed like the $11 dishe was designed to be split by 6 people…holy cow. It was a great spin on broccolini though. Nicely grilled and plated with tepin, a nutty walnut arbol salsa with a low and slow kind of heat that supported astringency of the broccolini just right. The crispy onions added an interesting texture contrast as well as adding some sweetness into the mix. A really fun take on a broccolini plate, and an incredible value for the price.

This is also one of the few places in LA you can get Mexican wine sadly, and I had a wonderful nebbiolo from baja to go with my slutty queso-rrito. Bar Ama remains one of my favorite places to stop in for food that is cooked well, and done in ways that maybe cross the line into lunacy just a bit, but keep you anchored with nuanced wine and playfl, but delciious cocktails and a relaxed, homey atmosphere.

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Wow, I can’t believe no one answered Robert’s question in March!

The restaurant is named after Joe’s beloved dogs. One of the only breaks I see him take is to walk them.

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Somebody did answer that, maybe in another topic.

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