Civil Coffee is Now Open in Highland Park
Dec 04 2015 · 0 comments · Highland ParkRead the rest of my article on Los Angeles magazine’s Digest blog.
El Sereno: Fried Chicken and Churros (!) at Mama Churro Y Mas
Nov 14 2014 · 1 comment · Desserts, El Sereno, MexicanFile this under “only in L.A.” If you love fried chicken and churros, you can get both, served together as one, at Mama Churro y Mas in El Sereno. The small eatery has been serving their special, which includes two pieces of chicken and four mini churros for $4.99, for a couple of years now, and it’s just what you’d expect: sweet and savory deep-fried goodness, plus a dipping sauce of your choice.
The chicken is pretty good. The skin is reminiscent of Church’s Chicken in texture—it’s crispy, light, and not too greasy. The pieces are normal in size and not gigantically pumped up with steroids (seemingly), which helps them stay moist. No, it’s probably not the best chicken you’ve ever had, but it’s tasty and goes well with the churros, which are easily the stars of the dish. Made to order and piping hot, they have a crispy outer shell and a soft inside that melts in your mouth.
If fried chicken isn’t your thing, or you just want more churros, the Churros Rellenos are nothing short of delicious. For $2.50, you get one big churro cut in half and filled with your choice of cajeta (caramel), chocolate, strawberry, or cream. The cajeta is nice and gooey with more than just one-note sweetness. The chocolate, which tastes to be a standard Hershey’s type sauce, pales in comparison. You can also get your fried dough fix in the form of an ice cream sandwich—two o-shaped churros with a big scoop of ice cream in the center—that’s all the rage these days, or an ice cream sundae with four small churros and lots of whipped cream.
Any way you do it here, you’re set.
-Valentina
Mama Churros Y Mas
4836 Huntington Drive
323-225-6262
Giveaway: Win 2 Tickets to LA Weekly’s Sips & Sweets
Nov 13 2014 · 14 comments · UncategorizedGet ready for Sips and Sweets, LA Weekly’s holiday event on December 7th, 2pm - 5pm. It sounds pretty great to me—it’s being held at the The Majestic Downtown + The Reserve and will include sweets from bigwigs, like Nicole Rucker of Gjusta, Hans Röckenwagner of Rockenwagner Bakery, Margarita Manzke of Republique, and Zoe Nathan of Huckleberry. Sips are by Michael Lay of Faith and Flower, Robin Chopra of Corazón y Miel, Darwin Manahan of PUNCH, and Danielle Crouch of Caña Rum Bar.
Yeah, kind of a big deal for food and drink lovers, like us.
Want to go? Well, you can win two tickets here! All you have to do is:
1. Make sure you are 21+ by December 7.
2. Follow me on at least one social media platform: Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram
3. Let me know which social media platform you follow me on. Tell me your handle, please, so I can contact you if you win.
4. Enter by midnight Tuesday, November 25. I’ll be picking the winner the next morning in a raffle.
5. If you win, you must answer me by midnight November 26. If you don’t respond by then, I’ll pick another winner.
Good luck!
LA’s Best Taco Trucks
Sep 05 2014 · 0 comments · Best in LA, TacosI’m excited to share my first article for LAist: “LA’s Best Taco Trucks.” I ate a LOT of tacos to create a list that I think is pretty legit, and of course, half of the list is comprised of eastside trucks: Tacos Cuernavaca, Mariscos Jalisco, La Estrella, El Korita, and Carnitas El Momo. I hope you’ll check it out here and enjoy!
EVENT: EAT. DRINK. ART at Barnsdall Park
Aug 29 2014 · 0 comments · EventsSupport LA art, get food, drink and song. EAT. DRINK. ART. is a benefit for The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, which is run by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Their mission it is to promote, interpret, and present the art of emerging to established artists from Southern California.
This event looks really fun and will include food from Let’s Be Frank, Coolhaus, and The Urban Oven to name a few, plus drinks curated by Silverlake Wine. There’s also music from KCRW’s Dan Wilcox and lots and lots of art.
Get your tickets here.
Highland Park: Cocktails & Wings at The Greyhound
Aug 25 2014 · 0 comments · Bars, Beer, Highland Park, Highland ParkWhile York Boulevard is evolving at neck-breaking speed, Highland Park’s other main drag, Figueroa Street, has seen slower change. Still, along with some of the best carnitas and juice places in town, new concepts have steadily emerged on Fig—Good Girl Dinette has been around for five years now, Little Cave turned into La Cuevita, there’s a legit creperie, and as of this summer, there’s even a solid vegan restaurant. You can also add to the list of newcomers The Greyhound, which introduces another category to the strip: a corner bar and grill, complete with a full food menu, 20 beers on tap, and some excellent cocktails.
The space, itself, all dark wood, brick and vintages touches, is airy and inviting. There are cozy booths to sink into and plenty of natural light, making it the perfect casual hangout for a weekend afternoon when the crowd is minimal—the nights are much more of a scene, if that’s what you’re looking for. Put simply, it’s a neighborhood bar with a mixed crowd of the usual Highland Park suspects-young and old, hipster and not hipster, long-time residents and newcomers. It’s even family appropriate until around 7.
Foodwise, the fare is somewhere in between pub and gastropub. Sure, the salads are elevated with candied pumpkin seeds and grapefruit vinaigrette (lots of grapefruit touches here to keep with the Greyhound theme) and, yes, pork belly is available, but then again, there’s the Loaded Fries, smothered in cheese, bacon and sour cream, which will pair well with most any beer. You’ll also find fourteen variations of chicken wings, ranging from Hunan BBQ to Judgement Day (meaning exceptionally spicy), served by the pound and classically accessorized with carrots, celery and a ranch-like dressing. The Ginger Spice are particularly tasty.
A menu highlight is The Greyhound Burger, a juicy mix of three types of meat on soft buttered bun (that’s not brioche) blanketed in a melted slice of shiny American cheese. Unpretentious, for sure, and undeniably delicious. Of course, a good burger makes perfect sense since one of the guys behind The Greyhound was an original partner in Father’s Office. On the meaty flipside are the less successful Steak Nuggets, chunks of marinated steak served with sriracha and crostini. The dish came out exactly as advertised, but there just wasn’t enough flavor to make it a compelling snack-y dish.
The drinks, however, don’t miss. Mateo’s Greyhound uses Plymouth Gin and fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice with well-balanced results while the Hippie Flip is a free-spirited mix of tequila, Cielo Roja bacanora, lime and Fresca. They also riff on the classic with a eponymous martini made with Lillet Blanc and grapefruit bitters. Beer lovers, who aren’t necessarily beer nerds, will appreciate that the extensive beer menu is helpfully broken into categories, like “Clean & Crisp” and “Fruity, Sour, Funky.” The selection features plenty of local brews, plus all the Belgians you could ask for. And if you want to end the night right, try a sip from The Greyhound’s treasury of digestivos—they’ve got an impressive collection that boasts some real rarities.
-Valentina
The Greyhound Bar & Grill
5570 N Figueroa St, 90042
(323)900-0300
Follow Eastside Food Bites on Instagram!
Jul 23 2014 · 0 comments · UncategorizedSo, you love food and Eastside Food Bites. Well, then you gotta follow me on Instagram (@eastsidefoodbites)! I update almost daily, and the feed goes far beyond the east side, so you can get a taste of what’s cooking all over Los Angeles—and sometimes the world. Okay, mostly just Los Angeles, but I did take a trip to Canada this summer….
Worth the Drive: DeSano Pizza Bakery in East Hollywood
Jul 17 2014 · 0 comments · Beer, Desserts, Italian, Pizza, UncategorizedThe idea that L.A. doesn’t have good pizza is an antiquated one. Sure, the perception was mostly true ten years ago—though there were always a few gems, like Village Pizzeria, Casa Bianca, and Mulberry Street, to name a few—but ever since Nancy Silverton opened Pizzeria Mozza (What, like eight years ago now?), the LA pizza floodgates have opened, bringing our fair city delicious pies of every regional persuasion. Think: 800 Degrees, Settebello, Hollywood Pies, Bestia, Tomato Pie and, now, DeSano Pizza Bakery in East Hollywood, a casual neighborhood eatery filled with communal tables and legit wood-burning ovens, serving up handmade pies that follow a strict Napoletana pizza-making process.
Locavore DeSano is not. The 900-degree ovens are Italian imports and so are many of the ingredients, including Mozzarella di Bufala, olive oil, and San Felice flour, which are all flown in from Naples and Campania. Adding to DeSano’s authenticity is the fact that the operation is run by actual, born-and-bred Italians-Marino Monferrato, former general manager at Cecconi’s, and pizza maker Massimiliano Di Lascio. The result is a menu of beautiful pizzas with high-quality ingredients and a slightly charred crust—the kind you find in cute, outdoor restaurants in the alleyways and piazzas of Italy.
DeSano offers traditional Napoli pizzas, including such standards as the Margherita and ricotta-laden Bianca, as well as their own house specialties, like the Verdura with broccoli rabe, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and garlic. The Pomodorini (pictured at the top), dotted with sweet and juicy Vesuvian cherry tomatoes, is as simple as it is delicious. A meatier venture, the San Genarro (pictured below) has a crowd-pleasing, spicy mix of sausage, peppadews, carmelized onions and garlic. Oh, and they also offer calzones with similar ingredients combinations.
As good as the pizza is at DeSano, they really could get away with so-so desserts, but instead they go all out. The canolli are some of the best in town, and a big reason why is that they’re stuffed to order, an almost impossible feat in LA. And because they are stuffed to order, the shell stays crispy—not soggy like most cannoli we’re subjected to. You also get your pick from seven different fillings. The Tradizionale is done the way I’ve seen it done in Italy, using the chocolate chips as a garnish on the outside, rather than mixing it with the creme, which is sweet-tooth-pleasing perfection. The Cocco Cioccolati, chocolate and coconut, is really to die for and just rich enough that you won’t be able to stop until, tragically, there’s no more.
If that scares you, try the gelato. It’s not made in house, but it is hand-crafted in small batches by local artisan Alessandro Fontana.
-Valentina
P.S. They don’t have a liquor license yet.
DeSano Pizza Bakery
4959 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles
Glassell Park: Truffle Burgers and Maui Rings from VaKA Burger
Jun 23 2014 · 1 comment · Burgers, Food Truck, Glassell Park“VaKA is going places by thinking out of the box,” says Aaron J. Perez, a Boyle Heights native and the chef behind VaKA Burger. The new restaurant pops up a few times a week at Tested L.A., a house-turned-experimental-kitchen in a residential neighborhood in Glassell Park. The concept—gourmet, grassfed burgers accessorized with house-made everything—is certainly new for the area, and the long lines VaKA attracts regularly prove that it’s the right place at the right time with the right food.
The focused menu features only three burgers: The OG, with russian dressing, thick slices of red onion and beef steak tomato, and Tilamook cheddar; The VaKA, a fancy on take on a Western Bacon Cheeseburger, topped with a beer-battered maui onionring, bacon jam, smoky barbeque sauce and muenster cheese; and The Truffle, made with a hefty dose of truffle oil, arugula, fontina cheese, carmelized onions, and roasted garlic aoli. Perez blends three signature cuts of beef to create big, juicy patties and makes all the dressings and sauces from scratch. While undeniably decadent, these well-designed burgers still master a restraint that’s uncommon in today’s burger world—all the components are balanced, so the condiments and add-ons don’t overwhelm the meaty goodness.
Inspired by flavors from his childhood, Ramirez rounds out the menu with a list of “Sides” and “Mas Sides” that seem to have been given the same deliberation as his burgers. There’s the Truffle Mack, creamy with house-made bechamel sauce; and the sweet and spicy VB Wangs, which are easy to devour and shouldn’t be missed. The Maui Rings, served with sriracha ketchup, are some of the best onion rings I’ve ever had—the Old Rasputin beer batter is so light and crispy that I likened it to “savory funnel cake air” on my first bite. Oh, and don’t forget the russian-dressing-and-carmelized-onion-covered Dirty Fries.
For the time being, VaKA Burger will stay on this side of town, continuing to pop up at Tested L.A. and roaming through Glassell Park, Downtown L.A., Boyle Heights, Silver Lake, and Echo Park in their new food truck (you can’t miss it, just look for the black truck with the giant cow on the side). “We want to take VaKA to places that don’t have many local eateries….VaKA believes it’s the product, love, and passion you put in each dish that keeps the fans/customers coming back for more,” says Perez.
Check VaKA Burger’s Facebook page and Twitter for the schedule and locations. You can also follow VaKA Burger on Instagram (@vakaburgers).
-Valentina
Top photos of Chef Perez photo courtesy of VaKA Burger.
Eagle Rock: Cheese and Sandwiches from Milkfarm
Jun 09 2014 · 1 comment · Cheese, Eagle Rock, SandwichesIf there’s one food thing northeast LA needed, it was cheese. While Auntie Em’s on Eagle Rock Boulevard does have a small selection of great cheeses, up until a few weeks ago, the true cheese shop experience required a trip to Pasadena or Silver Lake. But not anymore. Silver Lake Cheese Shop alum Leah Park Fierro has filled the niche with her new Colorado Boulevard shop Milkfarm. The neighborhood spot offers local and imported cheese, assorted meats, local gourmet products, and a glass case overflowing with fresh-made sandwiches and pastries.
The cheese selection includes the favorites you expect, like Cypress Grove and Cowgirl Creamery varieties, plus more obscure finds from across the country and around the world. “I’m proud to carry some exciting cheeses that I have to special order in advance from other countries. It also feels good to bring in customer requests. I’m the cheese liason!” says Park Fierro, who happily dishes out samples to stymied customers while searching out their preferences to help them find their “it” cheese. She even slices and packages orders right at the front counter, which is a nice touch.
The sandwiches are probably the biggest draw. When I was there on a recent Saturday, customers crowded around outside before the doors even opened to get first dibs on picturesque stacks of rustic sandwiches. There was a long, thin, crusty baguette filled with shaved turkey, thick-sliced smoked mozzarella, and bruschetta; house-roasted beef on potato rosemary slices done up with horseradish aioli, saurkraut and Hooks Two Year Cheddar; and of course, the grilled cheese, which seems to be Milkfarm’s thing. These grilled cheese are not of the hardcore, cheese-and-butter-dripping variety that have become so chic—they’re more restrained with a mix of shredded cheeses and flavorful additions, like leeks, shallots and onions. It should be noted that quality, not size, is the aim at Milkfarm, so most sandwiches require a side.
To that end, you might consider a pastry. Milkfarm doesn’t make their own, but they do source them from Bread Lounge along with all the bread that’s used for sandwiches, which is great news. They also sell their baguettes and ciabatta rolls. The kouign amann is the thing to get since there’s nothing like it for miles. The rare, sugar-crusted, buttery cake with lovely denseness is impossible to stop eating until every last crumb is consumed. The chocolate chip cookies topped with sea salt will also do you right, and the croissants, filled with smoky ham and cheese are a good take-home gift to yourself.
You should also check out the handpicked selection of LA-made products, from Morning Glory Confections brittle to luscious fruit presses from Grace & I (right now they have the Hawaiian one with pineapple, mango, papaya and macadamia nuts). Going one step further, Milkfarm also hosts different local food makers, who come to sample and sell their wares, ever Saturday. They recently had Pagnol Boulanger (see that beautiful basket of bread below), and the next few weeks will bring The Fancy Boyz and Creme Caramel LA. Cheese classes and Parmigiano cracking parties are also in the works.
It’s no wonder Milkfarm is already so popular. Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?
-Valentina
Milkfarm, 2106 W. Colorado Boulevard; 310-892-1068; https://www.facebook.com/milkfarmla
