It doesn't get any more "taco stand" than Yucas!

Stick to the tacos, though - they're better than the burritos IMHO. Although at least their burritos are small and you can actually eat again after having one.

Hmm. just noticed they have hamburgers and hot dogs. I wonder who orders them?

We were in Minneapolis for a conference, and kept wishing that Bombay Bistro was closer to home. They have a buffet for lunch, and the place is quite busy - usually a waiting line for a table. Dinner is less hectic and definitely more relaxed.

I don't remember if we tried the vindaloo or not - but everything was good and they had a lot of things I hadn't seen before that I wanted to try.

http://bombaybistromn.com/
(their menu lists chicken vindaloo - but they have other halal meats, including goat.

-----
Bombay Bistro
820 Marquette Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55402

My favorite brand is La Morena - the ingredients look like more killer, less filler.

Another thing to do with the peppers is make caldo tlapeño (although dried chipotles work, too). The flavor diffuses into the broth and the chiles lose a lot of their heat in the process.

This is pretty much constant: poblanos, egg batter. Garlicky, spicy tomato sauce to braise them in after they're fried.

But what goes in them? Almost anything - I've used various combinations of these ingredients. Leftovers, like chopped meat or poultry. Shrimp, roasted almonds, roasted pumpkin seeds, cilantro, epazote, cheese, chopped green onions...

Maybe it comes with Pokari...

Can anyone here read the Chinese? Is it legitimate? Are the translations even close?

Thanks - I think I've heard El Novillero, too. Another one to try!

Las Islitas update / more information

I went back with some friends, this time on a weekday. Only one old guy with a guitar, not crawling with musicians.

Our waitress spoke fluent English, and since there were more of us, we had a better sampling of what they offer.

You automatically get a bowl of ceviche at the table, along with fresh limes, totopos (but made from whole round small tortillas), saltine crackers, a bottle of salsa huichol (from Nayarit) and a bottle of Tapatio.

I noticed a lot of people having mojarra frita, and the last time I was there, the guy at the table next to ours said it was great. It was. A nice spice mix, crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, served with a green salsa that was just right.

My wife had Caldo 7 Mares - king crab, a clam, shrimp, fish and octopus. This is generally not my favorite dish for mariscos, but I admit hers was good.

Our friend had one of the shrimp dishes - I'm not sure which one, since he just pointed to the picture on the menu and we were too busy eating to ask which shrimp plate it was. They had mojo de ajo, cucaracha (chipotle - have to try that sometime), and three more that I forgot.

They don't bring the bill - whenever you're ready, you go up to the cashier's and pay there. Everything is relaxed and it seems like you can just hang out as long as you want.

I didn't see anything but mariscos on the menu. There could have been something I missed, but they really do concentrate on seafood.

Was any useful data on protein folding gained from the study? It seems like that was probably more the point than telling people if they eat a pound per day of foie gras that they'll get sick (or whatever the weight equivalent would be).

Heck, if someone ate a pound of butter every day, he'd probably get sick too. Not as interesting to research as learning about prion formation and possibly how mad cow disease develops in humans - or amyloid plaque formation, if that was the case.

I'm still unclear on the "seafood" part.

It seems like the rule is pretty much absolute with fish, but not with shellfish.

In any case, that's how I've interpreted it - OK on shellfish, not on fish.

LOL! What, Taco Bell isn't Mexican?

My advice: drive downhill - Folsom has a lot more choices (i.e. Bidwell St. Bistro), and if you want Ethnic, you'll have to slide all the way to Sacramento (or at least Citrus Heights/Orangevale) before you start getting a real choice.

http://www.bidwellstreetbistro.com

Yeah, they were Cokes. I didn't know about the caffeine thing. Yipes! Just when I thought it was safe to have a soda.

Wahib's Middle East Restaurant in Alhambra (Lebanese)
(http://www.wahibsmiddleeast.com/index...

It's listed on the zabihah.com site as halal.

-----
Middle East Restaurant
910 E Main St, Alhambra, CA 91801

Do they serve it with a jaw unhinger so you can eat it like a snake would eat a rat?
Just swallow it whole somehow and hope your stomach is up to the task!

I love my Cuisinart Griddler, too.

I tried the grill for hamburgers once, but there was a bit of smoke. Better off grilling non-fatty items, I suppose.

I grew up in Monterey Park, so Asian restaurants were pretty much the norm. If they're not crowded, noisy and hectic, something is wrong with them.

The place where I was the most intimidated was in a small town in Utah, at an American place. It was a buffet (the only place open at that time of night), and every time we'd go back for the next course, they would clear our table. Everyone spoke English, but I had the feeling that the meanings of the words weren't the same. We were drinking soft drinks, no alcohol, so that couldn't have been the problem.

Real French restaurants, in France, generally have fun, professional waiters. If they see that you're willing to eat as the French do, they are generally proud of their cuisine and want to help you try things. If you go for a low calorie salad, ask "strange" questions about the amount of cholesterol in the stuffing or generally seem not to be a bon vivant, things will probably not be as fun - although the waiter will probably still be quite professional and do his best to serve you even if he feels you should not have been let out of your country with an attitude like that.

I agree. Schloss and Schlosskranz are both good - but strong. There are some blues - notably the goat - that can be good, depending on aging.

The regular Camembert, after enough aging, gets interesting. A bit grassy, not as earthy as a real French raw milk Camembert, but at least it's legal in the USA.

You can self-taste everything, and they are helpful in the store (normally).

Devil's advocate: make your own salsas. That way, no vinegar. If you can get fresh tomatillos, so much the better - but you can also make some killer sauces with chipotles en adobo, tomatoes, various dried chilis, garlic, cumin, olive oil, avocado leaves, fresh chilis, cilantro, citrus juice... there are a lot of variations!

OK maybe that's too much trouble - if you buy: sriracha, tapatio, huichol. Not too hot, not to vinegary, good flavor. Bufalo chipotle is good, too.

I had some less than stellar ground beef last time, and I thought it was the right one. I'll try the grass fed stuff next time, or read the label more carefully.

Anyone know if TJ's changes suppliers for meat wrapped under their own label? In other words, could someone buy the same package twice and get two different sources of ground beef, both meeting the package criteria but of varying quality.

Legal Seafood - fun atmosphere, lots of choices. Not cheap, though. Several locations, but only ate in the 7th street one.

-----
Legal Sea Foods - 7th Street
704 7th Street, Washington, DC 20001

What a strange article. It's like a food snob's whirlwind tour of LA's most expensive and well known restaurants. Only chefs with Names need apply. Places for the nouveau riche and glitterati - although no doubt with good enough food if you like spending that kind of money.

As many other posters already said, where's the ethnic? Where's the neighborhood, or close by, Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Lebanese, Persian, Japanese...? The places that aren't "destinations", where there's usually NO valet parking, that don't run $200 per person seem to have been hidden by the blinding light of celebrity chefs and In establishments for the upper end.

It's not so much a diss as a report by someone who came for the Movie Star's glam version of LA, not the people's. At least he liked all the places he visited, almost uncritically.

I have a peanut allergy, although I seem to tolerate peanut oil for some reason, so maybe Alton Brown is right.

Normally dim sum is not bad as far as peanuts go. If I were allergic to shrimp, then I'd be in trouble!

These are the things I watch the most carefully:

- sweet rice wrapped in lotus leaf (sometimes)
- cha siu plate (BBQ pork) - sometimes a peanut garnish (yipes) - sometimes beans (safe). Never had peanuts in Cha siu bao, though.

I would avoid Curley's at all costs, unless you want bland, boring food that is waaay over priced. We had lunch there last year, and it was the worst meal of our entire trip (yes, I'm including camp food). The meat with my pasta could easily have been reheated from the night before; in any case it was thoroughly gray. The fish & chips were tasteless and the batter lacked crunch. You can always go in and look around - the building is interesting and historic, like the rest of Ferndale.

It was so bad, we warned all our friends who might have been heading that way.
As I told my friends, it was like the food was prepared by Martians who had no idea what the original dish was supposed to look or taste like.

Thanks for the report. We've stopped even trying to find a decent, fairly priced place at Lake Tahoe. We tend to head for Truckee, but goodbye lake view.

Thanks for the reports - even though they're pretty mixed on this place. It does sound a bit more interesting and authentic than the strip mall norm, so maybe if I'm in the area and have some time to kill I'll drop by - and then there will be another report to sift through.

Oops. Here's the link.

-----
President Thai Restaurant
498 S Rosemead Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91107

President Thai on Rosemead Blvd. Just barely in Pasadena, but it counts.

Is that Blimpie's still in business?

It used to be, though - when it was The Patio. But that was 20+ years ago. The patties were huge, fresh ground prime beef, and the toppings were an afterthought. Heck, the bun was an afterthought. But then nothing lasts forever, and Cassell's time has apparently come and gone.

I think sugar actually came from India, by way of the Moors.