Digest

Through some mysterious connection to some former inhabitants of Ghana, noahbites heard that the best Ghanaian food in Los Angeles is at Nana & Naa.

The place is in a desolate parking lot. “There is a sign out front advertising to bring in your own fish and they’ll fry it, writing on the windows advertising kenkey and shitoo, plus something else which is hidden behind a clothing and shoes bin. Once inside, it looks like it is exclusively a market and I’m getting nervous that they don’t serve food here. Then I notice the confident, relaxed woman who I can only assume is from Ghana, eating a plate of food with her bare feet plopped up on the table.” The cooks seemed suspicious, until noahbites told them that he loves spicy food. This, he says, is the “secret password.” They let him in, through the kitchen. “As I pass through, I see big bubbling pots of ingredients and am hit by an unfamiliar spiced smell that grabs my nose aggressively at first, then caresses it into submission. The back of the restaurant is an outdoor seating area of plastic chairs and plastic tables covered by a big tent. I am officially surprised.”

He gets okra stew and banku. “We unwrap the steaming hot ball of banku (fermented corn and cassava dough), burning our hands as we tear off a small piece, pressing the sticky, grainy, doughy substance between our fingers, dip it in the thick, viscous stew and then suck the entire glob into our mouths. Our bodies melt. I’ve never tasted anything like it and I’m unbelievably happy to be able to do it at this moment. The food is wonderful.”

“I try the banku by itself and the closest comparison I can find is to eating raw sourdough,” says noahbites. “It’s sour, heavy, starchy and flavorful all on its own. Then there’s the okra stew. It has a totally independent taste of chilies, onions, okra and any number of spices I can’t pick out. But remarkably, it does not taste of fish. I grab a crispy chunk of mystery white fish and sink my teeth through the crackling skin as hot, savory oils bubble out of the pores. It’s astounding.”

The place, says noahbites, is extraordinary. “How are there three lovely women sitting in a market who are willing to make you a delicious meal unlike any you can get in Los Angeles, and all you have to do is show up and ask? I feel absolutely lucky to have visited this place and really, with all honesty, want everyone who loves food to give it a try.”

Nana & Naa International Enterprise [South LA]
4248 W. Century Boulevard, Inglewood
310-674-8052

Board Link: Review: Nana & Naa International Enterprise

Bon Mar Che Bistro calls itself a specialist in “Hong Kong New Territories Style Village Food.” For those from the new territories, the restaurant feels just like home. “[T]his place looked and smelled like some place in rural Hong Kong. … Friendly waitresses, clean open kitchen where head chef, ‘B,’ worked furiously at the wok, karaoke version of cheesy 70s canto-pop playing in the background,” says keepon. “I thought, this place is great.”

They serve the great classic of the new territories, pun choi. It “is the soul of old Hong Kong, untouched by westernization and the motherland–China,” says keepon. Pun choi is “the tub of braised vegetables and meat,” says WBGuy. On the menu, it’s called HK Traditional Village Main Dish. It’s a big, shallow wooden tub full of cabbage, bok choy, tofu, fish balls, meat balls, and pig’s skin, served with your choice of toppings. You pay a per-person charge for the tub of stuff, and then extra for each topping.

A topping called 1/2 Tasted Duck is superb. “My taste buds were numbed by the overwhelmingly fatty, old, previously frozen ducks served in Cantonese BBQ places that I forgot how duck SHOULD taste: thin layer of fat underneath the skin to provide rich yet subtle flavor, fresh, never been frozen meat that tore off easily at your first bite,” says keepon. “I kept eating to reacquaint myself with the taste of duck of my memory: ducks bred for taste and not size.”

Bon Mar Che Bistro [San Gabriel Valley]
331 W. Garvey Avenue #D, Monterey Park
626-569-0072

Board Links: A slice of Rural Hong Kong–Bon Mar Che Bistro
Bon Mar Che Bistro—Hong Kong New Territories Village Style Food?

Chronic Tacos is an excellent local minichain for that very non-Mexican specialty: California-style potato tacos. Now, there are such things as potato tacos in Mexican cooking, but these aren’t them. These are what sometimes get called “surf tacos”—fried, cheesy, and perfect for beach bums. Potato tacos are the best: $1.09 each, and best with hot salsa. Ask them to add cheese to the potatoes before they fry ’em, suggests Das Ubergeek.

They’ve also got shrimp tacos, which are best if you request that the shrimp be deep-fried, says Das Ubergeek. Get them with cabbage, sour cream, hot salsa, and maybe guacamole. They’re $3.49, and the size of a burrito. The Newport Beach branch has no seating; the Huntington Beach branch has seating, festooned with band and surf stickers. These two branches are the ones vetted by Das Ubergeek, but the chain seems to be expanding rapidly through Southern California, so check the website for new locations.

Chronic Tacos Newport Beach [Orange County]
4533 West Coast Highway, Newport Beach
949-642-2458

Chronic Tacos Huntington Beach [Orange County]
328 11th Street, Huntington Beach
714-960-0339

Board Link: REVIEW: Chronic Tacos, Newport Beach