Amor y Tacos after rocking the vote early bird style in Norwalk.
Mole tots! The mole is super rich without being too dense, and the whole dish is addictive as all get out. I would drive back for these.
Short rib tacos. The tortillas were made on-site by a lady who greeted you with her tortilla-making stand as soon as you entered. They were soft and pillowy and chewy and a perfect vehicle for the taco. Some of the best I can remember having.
Rice and beanz
Belly n Snout, longanisa grilled cheese, sisig fries and lumpia.
Orleans n York, fried oyster plate and their chicken wings
Maple Block prime rib
A Filipino pop up downtown
Hatchet Hall, country ham, yeast rolls, chicken liver on toast, octopus, pork chop, rabbit schnitzel and the beef fat fried potatoes.
No pics for most since these are all familiar dishes to everyone here. But here are pics of the dishes from the Filipino pop up. The only dish we didn’t get was the brown rice chicken arroz caldo. Also had to throw n the pic of the Maple Block prime rib because it was so darn tasty.
The menu
The shrimp
The lumpia
The sloppy jojo
Maple Block prime rib
Nothing extraordinary this weekend. Just a fun time 
. Friday Happy Hour at Petty Cash Taqueria on Beverly Blvd.
I trust the reports on the DTLA location. Seems pretty awful. I don’t get that at the Beverly location. The pictures of the food don’t even look the same. It might not be as good as B.S. Taqueria, or taco truck authentic, but we enjoy it. Plus, I try to give credit for the use of seasonal, local, sustainable ingredients. That does come with a price though. Petty Cash must really irritate taco truck lovers.
The first time I had a margarita there it was absolutely perfect. Maybe because we sat at the bar last time or maybe because this time it was happy hour, but these were good, not great. The guacamole was very good, with toasted pepitas and not too much tomato.
$1.00 oysters that night were Martha’s Vineyard oysters. They had the Atlantic Ocean flavor, in a good way. I’m from the area, but have to admit to preferring oysters from Washington. Now, New England clams on the other hand, that’s another thing… Yum!
The HH tacos that night were Cooks Ranch Pork Belly on house-made tortillas. Apparently they’re cooking the meat differently. It’s slow cooked for hours, then fried a bit. They were tender, moist, w/some crispy fat, guacamole and pickled serranos added a perfect heat. Tasty.
The Al Pastor is cooked on a spit w/pineapple. But it was a little dry, and could have used more pop & flavor.
We’re black cat lovers
There was a DJ and the music was really good… But loud!
It was a fun Friday night.
$1.62 polish, gratis sauerkraut and drink. 2x $1.79 Tuesday specials from Popeye (damn inflation), red beans rice.
Love the cracklings in top.
Alas, the fabled unicorn…
(J_L here, trademarking this invention of uni+corn on June 10, 2016, patent pending…)
o.k., i have to admit that’s a masterful joke.
well played.
Oh, good lord, I didn’t even get the joke until you pointed it out! (yes, I am slow)
No $ shot of the center of the burger??? 
I decided to give Loqui another shot today, and it was so much better than my first visit. The mushrooms were decidedly smokier. However, I now realize that my last visit was literally marred by eating lukewarm tacos, so everything was rather bland and underwhelming. Eating them piping hot, I could appreciate the coalescing of the handmade flour tortillas, guacamole, beans, cheese, and the smoke-kissed mushrooms. As per @Dommy’s suggestion, I added the salsa seca to my tacos, and it boosted the flavors and provided a nice, crunchy counterpoint. Thanks also to @Chowseeker1999 for his/her multiple reviews of Loqui.
I visited Loqui for the first time on Friday night. I thought it was great! Loved the tortillas and thought the asada and mushroom tacos were muy solid. I fuzzed up and didn’t use that salsa though!
Was in NY over the last week and did the David Chang tri-fecta. Momofuku noodle bar, momofuku milk bar, momofuku ko.
Momofuku noodle bar was quite good. Pork buns were tasty–nothing special, but well executed. Best dish was this chilled spicy noodle dish with candied nuts and Taiwanese sausage. Nice combination of sweet and heat–very addictive.
Momofuku milk bar was not for me. Perhaps I just don’t get it. The cereal milk ice cream was just overly sweet–was over it after a couple bites. Far inferior even within its class, for example, to the soft serve at Honeymee. The crack pie–not sure what this is supposed to taste like, but I didn’t enjoy it.
Momofuku Ko was something of a disaster. This was, without alcohol, 265 a person after tax and tip. There were 18 courses. Many of them were good; others just okay. I don’t have the patience or time to go course by course, but a couple of examples:
–One of the courses that sounded the best to me was razor clams in a pineapple broth. But the broth was overpoweringly sweet–felt like Dole pineapple juice. Now obviously it was not. But there was no balance in the broth.
–One of the famous courses is aged rib eye with their own version of A-1, served with a “churro” that is actually a potato in churro form. Fun looking dish, but in the end, the steak was overwhelmed by A-1 and the churro potato was like…a decent french fry. Just nothing spectacular.
–The course that concerned me the most was chantarelle and baked egg in a dashi. After a series of early, whacky courses, this was supposed to be the comfort course. But it was all wrong. The egg was overcooked. The dashi was bland. The conception of this course was right, but the execution just wasn’t there.
–My dining partner and I ate almost none of a “chicken pie,” which was layered with chicken liver. As the 16th course, covered in a cream sauce, this was the last thing we wanted at that point in the meal.
This is not to say there were not excellent courses. There was a deft foie gras tart, a delicious dessert with rhubarb and dehydrated cake, and a spectacular dish of sweet potato mousse, creme fraiche, and caviar. There were just too many misses on this evening. And at the price point, I found myself thinking back to a meal I had at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, in a similar “casual tasting menu” context that just blew this out of the water in conception and execution.
A couple of pics:
Sweet potato mousse, caviar, creme fraiche.
Nice steak ruined by sauce and dumb potato.
Foie gras tart with lychee and other stuff. Frozen and shaved foie over the top.
Thanks for the report back on all 3 Momofukus. Sounds unfortunate (Momofuku Ko), especially dropping $265 per person.
Glad I decided against those Ko reservations then!
As usual, funny and tasty too.
Thanks for the report back. I can understand the MilkBar comments. That said, I really like a lot of their stuff, specifically their cookies. I was also pleasantly surprised by the truffles. But I also tried the cereal milk just for kicks and got no where near finishing it, so maybe that flavor is just a sweet dud.
@Ns1 - Same! I actually had reservations but ended up cancelling.
