March 2019 Weekend Rundown

Hah! No we got a Friday resy instead of Saturday because of the private event. :smile:

1 Like

Report forthcoming? :wink:

1 Like


Roast duck and partially cold soy sauce chicken at Ho Kee


Juicy but no crispy skin

3 Likes

pretty sure anaya’s ribs are roasted then deepfried which accounts for you calling them dry… it’s possible they weren’t great but we’ve never had a bad order… girl gets them every time.

Yes, I behaved like an animal.

2 Likes

Was going to stop by Pasta Sisters tonight but the long lines and freezing temperatures caused me to end up at F.O…

No pics of booze since I’m trying to fight off a cold but the bartender made me a nice soda with bitters and lemon. Perfect and tipped extra for being thoughtful. Btw my appologies for the terrible pictures - that’s all me!

Feel free to complain about Ketchup all you want ladies and gentlemen but Father’s Office is still pretty great. Still love the burger but rarely get it.

Pork belly al Pastor. Sitting on what seems to be a pan fried corn pudding, pork belly a light chile sauce, chicharrón pieces.

Seared butterfish, capón ata, tapenade

11 Likes

A surprisingly terrific rendition of classic shrimp pad thai (I asked my staff to surprise me from the menu), from Bangkok Palace (Echo Park)…

Loved the limited edition scallop and scallion rice, with shoyu wasabi, from Hokkaido Ramen Santouka (Mitsuwa Marketplace, Mar Vista)…

Also picked up some yummy imported sakuramochi at Mitsuwa Market in an attempt to remind myself that there is still will be a season called Spring which is supposed to follow all this interminable coldness… It worked!

Late night carb cravings led me back to Northern Cafe (Monterey Park) for hand-cut beef wide noodle soup (just the right amount of spicy kick) with extra tendon, and extra order of noodles (itself presented in a clear superior cumin broth - WOW!), sadly so-so zhajiangmian, pork sung sesame bread, and beauteous pork, chive & shrimp jiaozi.

Bangbanged after on taro, yam and ube in housemade fresh tofu custard topped with sweet ginger syrup, mango cream cheung fun, and a cup of steaming hot rosewater tea… Such incredible sweets, all from Premier Dessert Art (Monterey Park)…

My friend tried to murder me the next morning with more mystery killer kouign amanns (and a ridiculous croissant to boot!)…

The rise of Xinjiang in SoCal is afoot at Omar’s Kitchen (Artesia)! Q-loaded laghman with chicken (the chicken tastes like chicken!), ding ding chow mein with beef (more Q!), basil eggplant (incredible!), and scallion pancakes (to sop up all that juice left on the plates)…

Homemade Persian feast at a buddy’s swanky pad in Calabasas, with ghormeh sabzi, chelo kabab, zereshk polo, tahdig, and shirazi salad…

18 Likes

How were the pork belly and butterfish? They’re specials at the SaMo location, as well, and I’ve been curious about them (but have tremendous difficulty tearing myself away from the burger).

I’m assuming no relation to the westside eateries of the same name? Damn, all that stuff looks great.

Oh, I’ve always wanted homemade Persian food… ::sigh::

1 Like

You are correct: The Northern Cafes are completely separate business entities which both seem just fine with sharing the exact same name (and confusing the hell out of the dining public).

2 Likes

The pork belly was pretty good as long as you weren’t expecting something traditional. I was expecting the butterfish to be more raw in the middle since it said seared but for cooked fish it had nice texture the tapenade and caponata were nice counter points to the fatty fish… If you’ve never had the smoked eel, that is a personal favorite

1 Like

Finally made it to Tony Khachrpuri…Wonderful and so cheap!

7 Likes

Can’t wait till next week so I can have one of those!

I need to try this!

Brb looking up the live music acts at Hotel Cafe
Brb should I bang bang with Gwen meatball sandwich?
Brb what about Luv2eat?
Brb will I have room for a danger dog afterwards?
Brb can also kill time at Amoeba
Brb I have no idea what a khachapuri is…egg yolk, cheese, garlic, and bread, genius!
Brb what outfit should I wear with my new Johnston and Murphy brown chukka boots so I can meet some pretty singer songwriter women, they get famous, I eat at Hayato everyday and make a thread about it on FTC chillin in our Hollywood Hills home

4 Likes

Glad you liked Mizlala… more or less. I find they do wonderful things with vegetables, which I usually don’t order when I’m out as much as meat/legumes/grains. Laffa bread is great, and lamb tagine used to be great, and may still be – I haven’t had it in a while.

1 Like

Sesame Crisp Cakes at Good Brothers Garden in Monterey Park.

Good stuff.

1 Like

My sister’s birthday was yesterday and in lieu of cake, she asked for a churro and ice cream/gelato adventure.
Trip #1 included a stop at Gelato by Stick Station in Commerce and Churros Don Abel in East L.A. chef Brandon Choi makes gelato daily for his shop and his wholesale/catering business. While not as pure and fantastic as Leo’s Bulgarini, it’s still good and likely good because it’s a little different. His pineapple sorbet reminds me of a Dole Pineapple whip. His more recent creations of biscutto and pistachio cheesecake include super crunchy bits of cookies and crust that don’t get soggy or stale while enrobbed in frozen cream. He’s also got a ricotta flavor with figs and candied fruit that reminds me of a fresh cannoli filling. A short drive away, we stopped at Churros Don Abel for fresh churros…because gelato/sorbet always needs churros, right? These are perfect…a rich, custardy center and crunch/crispy outside with a perfect coating of cinnamon sugar.


That’s a tray of 50 fresh churros for $25.
Trip #2 brought us to Don Churros Gomez (thanks, @JeetKuneBao!) and Salt & Straw Ice Cream. Don Churros Gomez is parked in a random lot 5-10 minutes from Disneyland. The truck is closer to a nightclub with lights, a step & repeat, and velvet ropes. It’s run by Jaime and his family, who have a shop in Jalisco where they’ve been making churros since 1969. The recipe here is vegan and they have two different kinds of churros. They sell a rosca/traditional and their family recipe of churros grueso. The churros grueso is a long doughnut like youtiao/dau chao quay that’s sliced open, spread with cajeta, and then rolled in cinnamon sugar. It reminded us of a McDonald’s apple pie without the apples. It was really good and not at all heavy if you consider that it’s fried dough filled with caramel…but it is rather big and can easily be shared by 2-3 people. It was nice to chat with Jaime and hear his family’s story…and to learn that weekends can be insane…the line can be as long as 2 hours and they sell out each night they’re here…in fact, we were third to the last order before they closed up at 10:15PM last night. The traditional rosca recipe was super crunchy and rolled in cinnamon sugar, but since it’s not made with eggs…there’s no custard-like center. Still very good, just different from what some folks maybe used to.

We ended the night with a stop at Salt & Straw at Downtown Disney. The crew working there is lively and fun even at 11PM. We got to try all the flavors in stock, and didn’t have to deal with a crowd. Their black olive brittle and goat cheese ice cream is so good! Not as savory as one would think because it’s still sweet, it’s a great alternative if you want a lighter dessert. I also had the strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper…loved that flavor as well because each of the components were bright and fresh and complimented each other well.
It was a fun adventure to say the least.

16 Likes

You’re an awesome sis… :+1:

3 Likes

I am lucky to have FTC as my local fooding resource.

3 Likes

damn it i want some churros now.

5 Likes

How was the parking late at night and does Salt N Straw validate?