September 2019 Weekend Rundown

JeetKuneBao · September 8, 2019, 10:53pm

Maybe this deserves its own post…

Lately around Anaheim and Santa Ana I been seeing these small street stands offering

“Tejuino/Tepache”

Well that’s new I never seen those before or maybe I wasn’t paying much attention in my travels thru LA/OC food scene.

So a little Google Fu…

And

I found a stand in Anaheim just north of Little Arabia area. I parked because curiosity got the best of me.

My first thoughts of the tejuino…

Very refreshing, get a hint of the fermented corn some tart from the lime, a dash of salt. For me seems like a distant taste cousin of sour plum drink in a way.

The tepache was sold out so I didn’t get to try it.
I would prejudge and say that it is probably more appealing to most with the use of pineapple.

Not sure if East LA/Boyle/South Central has this

TheCookie · September 8, 2019, 11:02pm

Bizarra Capital - Philadelphia St - Uptown Whittier

Spent the day watching our godson’s tournament, which happened to be in Whittier. Perfect because your thread revival put tacos on the mind @Chowseeker1999 (we got to kill a bunch of birds with one stone). Afterward, tacos were the name of the game. Since big cocktails were also in order we opted for sit-down.

Quenching Fresh Fruit Water / Agua Fresca Margaritas w/Daily Fresh Fruit Blends (cucumber, lime)

Guava

Faustino (mitcher’s whiskey, orange, bitters,
st. germain liqueur) / Chips & Salsa

Enjoyable drinks. No complaints. The chips were okay. But the salsa was

. Vegetarians Beware: the delicious, piquant savoriness of the salsa comes from a skosh of chicken broth. So good. And nice heat from the red serranos.

Esquites - Roasted Corn, Epazote Broth, Cojita Cheese, Lime-Mayo, Fresh Crab, Bacon Crumbles

I planned to order the Calabacitas (sautéed summer squash) @glazedonut but somehow didn’t. This was a scary dish to order because it’s the type that could easily go wrong. Talk about gilding the lily. All those fattening ingredients, plus crab meat travels south to fishy quickly out of the shell. Fears allayed.

The crab was fresh and everything was in moderation. I didn’t taste much epazote in the broth, but dig deep to the corn on the bottom and it is a very good dish. I did request the bacon on the side for others to sprinkle (Sally Albright is my alter-ego). Maybe it set the dish off more, but I didn’t want it.

Tacos de Camaron - Grilled Shrimp, Cabbage, Cilantro, Morita Cream Salsa

Nice, fresh shrimp, good tortillas and creamy sauce. Tasty combos of flavor & texture (a tad salty). Would order again.

Tacos de Papas - Crunchy Fried Taco Shell, Potato, Manchego Cheese, Green Chile Salsa

I’m picky about potato tacos. I like a lot of crispy, crunch. The potatoes were soft & creamy and the fried tortilla made up for the softness of the potatoes. I should have taken off most of the greens before snapping it like I did before eating it.

I don’t like soft greens on warm food. But it’s another taco I’d order again.

Enmoladas de Pollos - Poblano & Mole Verde Chicken Enchiladas, Cream, Pickled Onions, Sesame

I only had a couple of bites. The moles were tasty with good heat, but the white meat chicken was too dry. A common mistake but kinda’ surprising from the Guisado champs.

Not pictured, not tried: My cousin LOVED her Avocado Toast w/Lox, Fried Egg & Salsa Verde. She actually changed her mind about giving me a bite. Fine, I was too full anyway. Her hubby ordered the Costa Azul - Prawns Stuffed w/Ham & Cheese, Wrapped in Bacon. Um hum, sounds like a heart attack wrapped in bacon. I didn’t try it. But again, the kitchen used restraint. It looked like they only put a small amount of cheese and a thin slice of ham. They looked to-die-for, so to speak. Everybody loved them. The little, obstacle course champ had a Cheese Quesadilla. I wasn’t super hungry but had taco brain. I’m looking forward to checking out more menu items like the Pulpo (octopus), Chimichangas, Mole Fries, a lot of stuff. Especially, since we can walk there!

Apologies, my snapping was rushed because my phone was appropriated by a 9 yr old who was polite enough to let me take a few snaps between rounds of Clash Royale.

On another note and another plus - we can throw a stone from BC and hit our son & daughter-in-law’s place. So, we got to see the little family. I was surprised to find they don’t frequent BC. Daughter-in-law likes it, but son is probably not feeling the love for their gourmet taco and their gourmet price.

The meal + 5 cocktails = $160+tip

Thanks for the recs @attran99 et al! Great day!

WireMonkey · September 8, 2019, 11:15pm

At least the one time I was there Baroo had tepache also (which makes sense given their proclivity for fermentation).

It seemed a bit sharp but I’m sensitive to vinegar outside of strictly non-savory applications. Adobo that would make your toes curl is A-okay but most fruit is just too sour for me. That said, it was certainly drinkable and reminded me of a more acid forward drinking vinegar or shrub.

TheCookie · September 8, 2019, 11:19pm

This deserves to be posted twice. It looks mouth watering!

TheCookie · September 8, 2019, 11:22pm

Kobe Bryant’s “Muse”.

JeetKuneBao · September 8, 2019, 11:44pm

I actually saw Kobe read “Dear Basketball” at the Bowl on John Williams night! (2 years ago I think…)

But yes Kobe is known to take unconventional inspiration and muses from outside of basketball and apply it. He’s a smart guy. I miss Kobe. I miss Jordan. NBA is pretty meh to me now.

TheCookie · September 8, 2019, 11:50pm

Nice!

True.

Haeldaur · September 9, 2019, 12:36am

Had a very disappointing first time at Bulgarini today for gelato. The flavor of the pistachio gelato was too firm. And the texture was just not balanced—it felt like shoving 30 ground pistachios in your mouth at once, almost too much. Hoping it was just an off day, but my girlfriend’s straciatella was also pretty ordinary. Bacio di Latte in Century City is better.

Also, I will say, having just been all over Italy where I had like 3 gelatos a day, including at great places like Otaleg, Vivoli, and Venchi among others, this texture and style was unrecognizable to me. Not saying it is inauthentic, but certainly was very different than what I’ve had in Italy.

TheCookie · September 9, 2019, 2:50am

It was your first time going or your first time being disappointed?

Haeldaur · September 9, 2019, 3:00am

First time going.

Chowseeker1999 · September 9, 2019, 3:23am

Bummer. You should give them a call; they take feedback seriously. The last time we went, I saw Leo teaching the young looking kid (who looks like he’s a part-time high school or college student) to prepare ingredients for the gelato; it sounds like he needs more practice.

tailbacku · September 9, 2019, 3:47am

Finally got to try Mh Zh. Definitely will be back!

J_L · September 9, 2019, 4:38am

FIFM.

hungryhungryhippos · September 9, 2019, 7:04am

Where is the steak from?

paranoidgarliclover · September 9, 2019, 7:47am

Were the texture of the pistachio and straciatella similar? The pistachio is def not the usual gelato consistency, and there is some texture. Never felt that the texture was overwhelming, though, so perhaps, as you said, an off day. Don’t recall the straciatella having a particularly unusual texture.

Tried Bacio di Latte once. Enjoyed it, but not something that I crave.

He was also teaching them about the pasta (I think). Heaven help him if that’s the case. The young guys were polite but completely inept on so many levels that I cannot imagine they’d do a good job with any food, TBH.

J_L · September 9, 2019, 8:15am

Playing catchup posting for the last few weeks - apologies.

Alice’s Kitchen (Monterey Park)… Classic Cantonese breakfast/brunch. Loved the customizable bowl of egg noodles (mine was served in thick broth, with braised beef tendon and turnip)!

Warm pineapple bun with butter, and macaroni soup with ham & cabbage… Both comforting and charming.

Mei Wei Jin Hai (Monterey Park)… Chinese halal bangbang after Alice’s Kitchen, which is right up the street. Big plate of chicken was indeed a large serving, but it was somewhat lacking in noodles, and depth of flavor. Their hearty steamed beef dumplings were good, as were the braised eggplants.

The Taste (L.A. Times) was held earlier this month at Paramount Studios (thanks to @CiaoBob for the great company)…

Le Comptoir: These guys had the longest line. Why? Because everyone who survived the queue was treated to a fabulous THREE-course mini tasting menu, served in succession, right on the spot!

Same Same: Curry chicken noodles was a highlight.

Honor the taco…

Yours Truly: Chef Vartan Abgaryan serves up his tasty cacio e pepe potato!

Lalibela: Ethiopian sampler platter was lovely. Really nice stews and injera!

Formosa Café… Bangbang after The Taste. The only thing was the late-night menu (items like egg rolls, orange chicken, taro ice cream with sesame balls), the taste of which were, um… Hey, did I mention the bar stays open late into the night?

For beef’s sake: Our illustrious fellow FTCer @beefnoguy dropped by on a visit to L.A. for a few days last week. Just before meeting him for omakase at Shunji, I wanted to brush up my own sakeology before the visit, so I headed to Marukai…

Shunji sake-pairing omakase… Just superb. Shunji-san adeptly (and seemingly effortlessly) matched his inventive cuisine with our sakes!

Three layers of tai (red sea bream): Tai “pasta” at the bottom, with tai sashimi in the middle, topped by tai aspic and okra. Terrific!!!

The otsumami presentation is gorgeous here, as always…

“Unorthodox” matsutake broth… This is not a traditional matsutake dobinmushi! It retains all the great aroma and ingredients, but there is an added, je-ne-sais-quoi complexity to this soup which matched our sake so well.

True sake geek: “Someone” brought their own sake stemware! And yes, it did amp up the nose and enjoyment on those sakes tremendously.

Chinmi: Karasumi with ishidai (striped beakfish)… Tried and true pairing with sake. This did not disappoint!

King Tako!!! Look at the size on those suckers! The origins of this tentacle p*rn comes from a specimen of the North Pacific giant octopus, caught in Japan. The tako was incredibly tender. Release the kraken!

Fried kaki, cubed… Shunji-san took oysters, and somehow concentrated their flavor during the prep and frying. Whoa! Oishi!

And of course, the nigiri here is casually epic…

New farmer’s market grape hybrids make an appearance: Huge, sweet, juicy!

OOE Shunji Dessert Assortment… Umeboshi sorbet is especially fantastic!

Bay Cities Italian Deli… Time to pay a visit to Godmother’s house!

Didn’t realize before that Bay Cities carried Japanese whisky as well…

Langer’s Delicatessen with our esteemed out-of-town visitor…

Creamed herring… I had never tried this before at Langer’s, and I’m sure glad I did. This was excellent.

I also learned on this visit that customers can order a mix of meats on their Langer’s sandwiches! Here, we have a delicious beef tongue and pastrami on rye!

Of course, I cannot leave Langer’s without eating a traditional pastrami on rye…

Dessert with a BYO twist! @beefnoguy brought a box of Harry’s “Mara des Bois” French strawberries to top our strawberry shortcake with fresh cream at Langer’s. Phenomenal!

Hokkaido Fair at Nijiya Market this past weekend… Nice bento, packed full of goodies from northern Japan, all for $11.99!

Kiriko (Sawtelle Japantown) celebrated their well-earned 20th Anniversary over this past weekend! XX Anniversary Omakase was off-the-chain!!!

Seafood gazpacho with uni cream and nori tempura was marvelous…

Kakiage of lobster tail and matsutake mushroom, served with shishito and sea salt… Game over, man! So great!

The latest batch of Northern California’s very own Den sake goes so wonderfully with Ken-san’s housemade bottarga, lined underneath with murasaki uni and aori ika “noodles”…

Kiriko dessert trio: Ken-san’s housemade “Honey Kiss” melon sorbet with mint absolutely rocked, and the “Mizuyokan” (boiled chestnuts with sweet red bean agar) and kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) crème caramel weren’t too shabby either!

beefnoguy · September 9, 2019, 5:20pm

Super epic rundown @J_L! Superb gatherings we had and it was a great pleasure as always! Thank you!

That Shunji style oyster fry was truly amazing and creative. Like reconstructed kaki fry with a semi moist firm center. I was thinking if it could be sandwiched between toast with a little tonkatsu sauce and mustard Shunji san as always, is like that smooth jazz musician hitting the right notes with his small plates that flows beautifully, especially with sake. I’d love to return and re-try different sake with the meal for sure! Looks like I should drop by Kiriko too!

I’m so amazed at the quality of local fruit (the ones from Japanese farmers) and wished we had access to something like this up here in NorCal. Not only that, some of them really taste like depachika (department store basement) fruit in Japan!

I can’t remember where I paired corned beef with tongue, so felt this improvisation might be fun to try at Langer’s and luckily they allowed it (pastrami and corned tongue) although I was wondering what the sandwich would look like if they were ok with a 3 meat combo on a sandwich (alas this is not a roasties rice plate restaurant haha). I think there was more pastrami in the mix, but the tongue was absolutely delicious. Agreed on the rye bread, so aromatic…especially the crispy crust that was ethereal.

The creamed herring was so nice to taste on that super hot day! Almost exact profile with aji nanbanzuke (minus the cream)… so waiting for a chef to do a fusion version (looking at Shunji’s direction haha).

Srsly · September 9, 2019, 7:38pm

Great pix! I love this place, and need to go back asap, while nights are still warm like this. Did you happen to notice the BYOB situation these days?

paranoidgarliclover · September 9, 2019, 7:54pm

Oh, those dumplings look divine.

How was this??? That sounds like something I’d really enjoy.

Back at Belle Vie last Friday, b/c why not? Roasted peach and argula salad w/ bits of smoked mozzarella, sausage roll (on a buckwheat crepe!!! Confusingly labeled as a “galette” on the menu), octopus, and crepe suzette. All yummy.

Excuse the blurry pics, partner was hungry and wanted to eat quickly.