April 2021 Rundown

Hello from the Strip District! Steel City


Primanti Brothers Pastrami and Cheese with copious amounts of hot sauce. Very tasty similar to Langers in a way that there is multiple flavors and textures going on.


Pamela’s Diner Blueberry Hotcakes. Holy moly those crispy edges and brown sugar in the middle. These do not need any syrup at all. Very cool looking diner!

Strong accents here in Pittsburgh lol

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I lived in the ‘burgh in the 90’s. If you get a chance, check out the triumvirate of pizza in Squirrel Hill: Napoli’s, Aiello’s and Mineo’s. They are all within a block of each other. I was always an Aiello’s fan.

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It was a very busy Easter weekend…

Sweet Lady Jane -
That triple berry cake is a delight! You can order same day via their ToastTab site if you don’t have time to do it 48 hours in advance. I am curious about their chocolate triple berry version.

République -
Mango passionfruit cream pie is good, but not yet optimal. The mangoes are not quite ripe enough to make the whole thing sing like the choir of cherubs that welcome you to the pearly gates.
The strawberry roll cake reminds me so much of Nagomi Cake House and Patisserie Chantilly…a delightful and airy vanilla sponge with whipped cream and ripe strawberries…but there’s a drizzle of passionfruit curd and lovely edible flowers. If you see strawberry cheesecake cream puffs…get some. They are so good!

Luis’ Butcher Shop (Downey) -
I’ve been to tied up that I forgot to order a brisket from Amboy. So I called a local shop offering certified Angus beef and got a great deal on a CAB whole brisket. For $5.99/lb, we got a 17 lb. brisket that they trimmed for me. Saving me a little trouble and time because I am not yet a good butcher.


It was really good. We’ve all kinds of Easter leftovers. I had brisket nachos for dinner last night.

Isla Cuban Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar (Buena Park)
We celebrated a family birthday at a local favorite. In addition to some Cuban traditional dishes, they also make a solid Loma Saltado. Theo mojitos are good here and on weekend evenings, they have a band come out and play Latin hits.

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Bodhi Leaf was just in OC Register on list of small roasters and I had a nice cup of cold brew there and a good sandwich at Eggbred. Sounds like that shopping center is happening.

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Oh, that sounds lovely…

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It goes extraordinarily well with the smoked tomato salsa I made because I had the smoker on.

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Nice! Thanks for your Thoughts + Pics and for sharing your Philly food journeys!

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Pretty!

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Stopped by ba le west minister today. The bread was as good as hyped toasty without being hard and soft on the inside.

Had the banh mi egg and pâté tasted great. Egg was medium soft, didn’t get a ton of pate flavor would have definitely liked a heartier slathering of pate. Next time maybe I’ll ask for double pate.

Dac biet was also great came with grilled pork which seems to be less common along with the usual cold cuts.

I read somewhere they make all their cold cuts in house? Is that correct?

Definitely will be back to try all their sandwiches.

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I must be on a sandwich kick…got a beef milanesa sandwich from el gaucho in redondo beach/lawndale. Crispy but tender milanesa in standard sandwich form with their house made bread. Not pictured but I doused both their regular and spicy chimchurri all over it.

Great neighborhood restaurant if you’re in the South Bay, since this part of South Bay doesn’t exactly have a ton of exciting restaurants.

Nice family run Argentinian market pre-covid you would always see old men sitting there in the shop watching soccer games.

Also they have solid empanadas.

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I love El Gaucho’s chimichurri. I used to buy bottles of that stuff!

Correct Ba Le Westminster makes it all in house. Next time ask them to put a little of their mayo or buy some to take home. Out of this world good.

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More adventures coming from all the major cities in the East Coast. Although I am holding off on NYC for now as much as I want to be in the city I don’t feel safe with recent unfortunate events.

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Did anyone here ever try Ba Le 's Fried Fish Cake sandwich?
Very curious.

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Someone please try that for me

I was in the Malibu hills today and stopped for lunch at Tavern Tomoko again. I summoned the willpower to order something besides the robata skewers and was pleasantly surprised at how good the cioppino was. Granted the fish was a little fishy (I think it was tilapia - not my favorite), but the mussels and shrimp were fine, and the broth was excellent. I sat on the deck with a wonderful view of the fast browning hill across the road.


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Found myself in Glendora today.


Obligatory Donut Man stop. Also picked up some tiger tails and other doughnuts.


Thanks to @Gr8pimpin I also made a stop to Furn Saj for my first khachapuri…it was so good…and the egg just oozed! I also picked up saj bread, dips, and lahmajune. The baked goods are exceptional. Can anyone recommend how to store leftover saj bread?

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I was going to stop by furn saj the other day but it was 15 min out of the way. Kicking myself! Looks delicious.

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Awesome, @attran99 , glad you liked it!!!

FYI, as of last week, the Furn Saj in Calabasas still had not opened.

They were still waiting for the city to greenlight them and give final inspections. Had been weeks.

You’d think they’d want tax revenues and would want to be supportive of new businesses.

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Triple bang tonight

Tire shop taqueria - carne asada tacos, chorizo tacos and a carne asada quesadilla. Best part was there was no line at 730 pm. Good as ever.

Not pictured tacos don eve- my favorite el vapor stand. Cabeza and labio tacos. Perfectly steamed and their habanero salsa kicks.

Tortas df- waited about 30 min but it was worth it. La sabrosa (milanesa, pina, quesillo). Perfectly toasted, crispy/melty grilled quesillo, with fresh fried milanesa and a grilled pina to cut through the heaviness. Added chipotle and pickled jalapeño for added zest and spice. Forgot how damn good this place was

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Damn - that’s some great eating/bang bang banging right there!

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