Two CHOW editors on a caloric extravaganza exploring innovation, novelty, and deliciousness.
See Where We've Eaten!
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
At Street, Cultures Mingle Happily
What were those judges on Top Chef smoking? Susan Feniger lost last season's Masters when she served Kaya toast, a traditional Singapore hangover cure. It's toasted white bread slathered with coconut jam and topped with a sunny-side-up egg doused in soy sauce. It was one of the most delicious things we ate in LA, when we stopped for lunch at Feniger's Hollywood restaurant Street. (more...)
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
Riding the Gravy Train at Animal
The night we visited Animal, the meat-centric Los Angeles restaurant from chef-owners Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook, there were about nine different creatures represented on the menu. But we started with a salad, just to see how vegetables were prepared here. We weren't disappointed. A big old pile of lettuce tossed with creamy sumac dressing, chunks of feta, and beets showed up, and we demolished it. (more...)
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
Crispy Pig Ears at Lazy Ox Canteen
Everybody says you should order off the chalkboard specials at Lazy Ox Canteen, a small-plates restaurant with a decidedly meaty bent in downtown LA. But if you did that, you wouldn't get to try their best dish: pig ears with a mayonnaise-y dippin' sauce. The pig ears are deep-fried, salty, and lime-y, like chicharrones, and have a gristly, fatty texture you either love or hate: crisp, buttery, and chewy, all at the same time. Cut into strips, they were perfect for sharing, with a glass of crisp Scrimshaw pilsner. (more...)
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
LA, We Love You, But We Have Some Questions
We've had a few days to hang in LA—an incredibly fun town, for the record—but we do have a few bones to pick. (more...)
Monday, July 12th, 2010
What Does Quinotto Look Like?
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Stealth Macrobiotics in Beverly Hills
We're starting to feel a little like the guy in Super Size Me on this diet of red velvet pancakes, pork belly rice bowls, and foie gras cotton candy, so today we checked out Das Ubergeek's macrobiotic restaurant suggestion M Café for breakfast. (more...)
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Foie Gras Cotton Candy at the Bazaar
We’d heard plenty about José Andrés's theatrical dishes—ice cream cones of caviar, cotton candy foie gras, smoking cocktails—and we were, frankly, wary. How could that much flash deliver substance, too? But here we are, post-Bazaar, minds blown. (more...)
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Hittin’ a Chowhound Haunt for Lunch
One of our first stops in LA was the Chowhound-recommended Mo-Chica, a "contemporary" Peruvian restaurant inside the Mercado La Paloma near USC. The Mercado itself is an interesting, community-oriented project: The ground floor is a vibrant Latin marketplace with shops and restaurants; the second floor holds local nonprofits that work for health and social service access for low-income families. (more...)
Saturday, July 10th, 2010
Novelty Ice Cream at Scoops
Scoops, near Los Angeles City College, gets raves on Chowhound ("We got an ice cream revolution goin' on here!" said J.L. when we asked for recommendations) for its experimental flavors of melty-soft gelato. Located on a young-person-oriented strip next to a vintage sunglasses store, its interior was dim and nondescript. But the case full of creamy, pastel flavors was where it got exciting. I tried toasted rice, which tasted intensely roasty and cereal-y; nondairy maple coffee, which was good but not exceptional; and red wine cheesecake, a surprisingly delicious combination that delivered a wine-y zing with a comforting sweet, fatty dairy base. (more...)
