I gotta say…
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Cielito Lindo
We were going to do a bang with another place, but wifey hit the 24 hour mark after her second vaccination and the malaise started.
By the way, Olvera Street was busy.
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We decided to ride out bikes into DTLA after a long haitus… and OMG. SO many folks… At GCM at Little Tokyo and just all around… We were lucky to find a relatively isolated patch of grass across the street from GCM, but that too got more and more crowded as the afternoon wore on!
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Appointment in El Segundo = excuse to finally try Grimaldi’s. Had to reheat it after 25 minute drive home. A long, long 25 minutes with this in the backseat. But yes it lives up to the hype.
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Got both the seafood gumbo and the chicken and sausage gumbo from @alices_southern_comfort for pick up on Sunday at All Day Baby. I was incredibly excited because her gumbo sold out so quickly during the Re:Her promotion. As a reward for driving out to Silverlake from Pasadena (that’s practically the westside for me), I also picked up the crab sandwich from ADB. None of the food was photo-ready and I am a terrible photographer so no pictures. Both gumbos were dyn-o-mite! She specifically states it’s a mahogany roux and the depth of flavor was spot on. Sometimes I find darker roux to have a bit of a burnt edge or something approaching that. This was smooth as a baby’s bottom!
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File or okra?
Okra but I feel like I read it also had file powder. Now I can’t find the menu.
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I couldn’t find file recently when I made gumbo during Covid.
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I believe Penzeys sells File.
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Dang it. I went to Stater Bros, Albertsons and Whole Foods. Didn’t think of Penzeys.
I bought it at Ralphs years ago. Still works well. Flavor has diminished, but thickens just fine. The wife is not a fan of okra so I make file gumbo.
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Cafe Hiro is turning out solid meals for takeout. Had the uni spaghetti with mentaiko a la @JeetKuneBao last night.
Chef Hiro added a spicy garlic shrimp dish inspired by the shores of Hawaii. The husband loved it.
Desserts are still being comped with each entree purchased.
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thanks for the reminder for Cafe Hiro, i haven’t been there in quite a while.
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Nice! One of the waitresses recommended it to me to add mentaiko to the uni pasta. Adds another flavor element. Cafe Hiro is my favorite Japanese-Italian place!
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Maybe mentioned b/f but, just to double check, we’re talking about this place?
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It sure is! The uni spaghetti last night was perfect…lots of fresh uni mixed throughout, and I love the fresh wasabi mixed in.
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So they introduced McDonalds new crispy chicken sandwich. It’s quite obvious they’re trying to do the whole Chick-fil-A thing here. Chicken, buttered bun, pickle.
Packaging and the presentation is almost identical.
It looks good. The potato bun is nice and buttery.
The breast filet definitely lacks in the seasoning department. it was very very juicy. The coating is a strange texture. It kind of feels like a flour/panko mixture.
The bun was the best part. I think I could eat it all day. They should make some breakfast sandwiches on it.
It was just OK. I‘d get it again if I needed a fix since McDonalds is so much closer than the nearest Chick-fil-A or Popeyes. I need to try the spicy version, which has some kind of spicy sauce on it.
And of course, because I need to maintain my Yiddish figure, I had to bang it with a Popeyes chicken sandwich… and a popcorn shrimp, only $2.99 in the app.
The chicken fillet is double the thickness of the McDonalds filet. And the pickles definitely bring more to the party. Personally I think Popeyes filet could use some seasoning too. But they dress it up nicely.
Popcorn shrimp were quite tasty. Pairs great with the creole cocktail sauce (ketchup horseradish and cayenne).
I’m also posting this in the Drunk, Stoned, And Hungry Thread because I must be stoned and drunk to think that McDonalds, after spending a year developing this, could come up with something better than what they did.
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I tried the Popeyes Cajun flounder sandwich based on your recommendation and really liked it. It seems to have the seasoning they use for their spicy chicken.
Also tried the McDonalds new spicy chicken sandwich, picture below. The taste was good, but I would give the edge to Popeyes based on size and crispiness.
I’ve also seen new chicken sandwiches from KFC and The Habit, but the one that kinda caught my eye was from Mendocino Farms.
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That looks good!
That flounder sandwich is pretty big.
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I love that you and @Gr8pimpin did a first try. I saw an article (on Yahoo or something like that) yesterday about the proliferation of crispy chicken at fast-food chains. Apparently Del Taco is doing a version??? Will have to give them a whirl. 
I’ve had the crispy chicken at Mendo. It’s… fine. They call it crispy – and not fried – for a reason. For me, it does not scratch the itch for a fried chicken sandwich, although the execution is otherwise typical Mendo (which is to say, quite good).
At Mendo, I like the seasonal black turkey, and, on a recurring basis, the Peruvian Steak. The Banh Mi sandwich there is also totally tasty, as long as you don’t actually expect to it taste like a, well, a banh mi.
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