Kevin, what the fuck are you trying to say???
And, this ain’t no fucking joke!!!
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Please elaborate, @ipsedixit. I find that specifics help in matters of subjectivity-especially in establishing commonalities of taste.
Great suggestions all around.
My wife and I checked out Roma’s Italian Market near the Pasadena/Altadena line. The owner, Rosarito, had a stack of sandwiches he’d just made (available on flatbread or regular submarine roll-we opted for the latter). It was made of three kinds of cold cuts, thinly sliced cheese and olive oil. So simple and so delicious.
We also visited Button Mash. The menu seems very influenced by Roy Choi: slightly elevated, junk food versions of beloved Asian comfort foods. It was pretty good. Prices were low for the portion sizes to which I’ve become accustomed in white-owned businesses on the outskirts of Echo Park. They must be making their money on the beer, wine, and game tokens.
I had the spam fried rice (mysteriously listed on their menu as vegan friendly) which had too much cilantro sprinkled on top (and therefore easy to remove) and way too much garlic. I love garlic, but this single bowl of fried rice had NO less than 16 whole cloves, which would be excessive even at The Stinking Rose. It wasn’t difficult to pluck out the excessive cloves, however. It also, oddly, had several halved Brussels Sprouts in the mix. I enjoyed the dish along with the Japanese Cheese Corn, which had a slightly nutty flavor that contrasted well with the sweetness of the corn and the cheese. There were ample leftovers. My wife had the Korean Cold Noodle dish which was very, very spicy. I tasted it and it gave me the impression that the general philosophy here seems to be “err on the side of extreme,” or “when in doubt add more spice.” It was flavorful, but so spicy that it was almost a chore to finish (which she didn’t, and opted to leave behind most of the spicy broth when boxing the leftovers).
The environment was loud. Button Mash is an arcade with surprisingly better food than one might expect in such a place, rather than being a theme bar with 80s arcade games. The table next to ours was a party of 12; half adults and half kids. The kids seemed befuddled by the concept of leaving the house to play video games, and at least two of them sat at the table playing games on their ipads rather than hitting up the standing Frogger or Kiss pinball machine. The staff were polite but completely overwhelmed. After finishing our meals and getting takeout boxes, we had to wait fifteen minutes for the check. We also witnessed at least three incidents of incorrect order delivery (and cancellation) at nearby tables. We got there well before peak hours and managed to land a parking space in the lot. By the time we exited, there was a line-up of illegally parked cars along the inside curb that made it difficult to pull out of the space.
The deep fried tofu balls are crunchy, creamy, and delicious. I would return for those, alone, and likely will.
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I will simply cut/paste my previous post from Chowhound to save you the click-through pain of that site.
I tried SdG many, many moons ago and had fond memories of it.
Revisited it again today and was thoroughly disappointed.
We had one of the specials, a mahi mahi and scallops dish with a cucumber inspired sauce, which was bland and utterly lifeless. Cotton balls generally have more taste than those scallops.
The salmon enchilladas were too salty, with the red sauce drowning out any chance the salmon had of flexing it’s flavor on the palate.
The shrimp gorditas sounded good, but the execution made the dish too dense.
Also, the potato soup that came with the entrees … well, let’s just say that there’s a fine but very discernable line between diluted mashed potatos and true potato soup.
The flan was chosen for dessert … and the words of the old knight from the Indiana Jones movie, “You have chosen poorly!” immediately came to mind.
Best part of the meal? The salsa that came with the gratis chips …
Am I missing something, or did we order the wrong things?
LA SERENATA DE GARIBALDI
1842 EAST FIRST STREET
(323)265-2887
so sad
it was great two decades ago with the patriarch running things
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My soup was good. Wish I could say the same about everything else. I believe it was the green one, I think, it has been quite a while.
I haven’t been to Chichen Itza in a while but I quite like El Faisan y El Venado in Highland Park. The cochinita is a little porkier and heavier than the super bright, punchy version I remember at Chichen Itza, but the salbutes and panuchos are way good, and the owner is the nicest dude in the damn world.
iirc it is a bit more expensive than Chichen, but it’s table-ish service and still not what I would call expensive. I didn’t realize until i googled it just now, but it also made Besha’s 99 Essentials this year: http://features.laweekly.com/99_essential_restaurants_2015/el-faisan.html
Ahh that place looked really good. I’ll have to check it out next time I’m in the area
Have you been back within the past 2 years?
Been back where?
El Faisan y El Venado.
Yes.
Ever have the Escabeche Oriental?
I’ll prolly be in Highland Park this weekend, so I did a lil FTC digging and found this thread…
Hey @Srsly / @ipsedixit - Your descriptions of El Faisan y El Venado had me swooning, but according to Yelp, it’s permanently closed. Say it ain’t so???
Unfortunately in this case Yelp is accurate - El Faisan y El Venado is gone, and has been replaced by Gloria’s Cafe. I haven’t been in to Gloria’s yet, but I’m pretty heartbroken about EFyEV.
If you need any other Highland Park ideas, though, I’d be happy to toss some stuff out there.
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Make sure you hit up one of the many jugos/bionicos joints in Highland Park, if it’s hot, I crave that stuff and mariscos, El Mar Azul truck is most popular but I like Mariscos El Faro in front of the Rec Center.
And the huaraches at Azteca.
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Fuzz. Thanks for the confirmation, though.
Would definitely love to hear any of your favorites in the area.