So, little weekend trip to LA with M.We leave Friday afternoon. Pick up sandwiches at New Season on the way to the airport. Running VERY late, and I begin to panic a little as we hit
traffic and I-5 and I-84. We make it in time to inhale our sa
ndwiches before boarding the plane. Apparently, a little mayo and mustard on a sandwich can still make it through security. I had roast beef and swiss on sour dough. M had turkey and swiss on sour dough.
We get into LA, and catch a cab to get M's mom's car. Then, over to Father's Office for a little snack. Nice beer selection. We get fries. They come in a cute little shopping cart. Here's a photo someone else took. These are sweet potato. We go the plain ones. Thinner and crisper, just the way I like 'em. Served with garlic herb aioli. 
These guys don't have ketchup (don't even ask), but you can apparently bring your own, if you are thinking ahead (and if the TSA would let you carry on tomato based liquids).Somewhat satiated, we head to M's mom's place to unpack and relax a bit. Although we only made coffee and bagels in the kitchen, I've put a few photos
here 'cause I like it so much (especially the labeling).We pick up M's mom, and meet G at Le Petit Bistro. We get a 375 ml bottle of some tasty little 2001 Bordeaux. I start with celery soup while M gets endive salad with candied walnuts and hearts of palm. Salad was great, reports M. I wish the soup had more celery essence. As for the main course, we get a lot of [insert name of meat here] frites. I get what's listed as baby lamb chops and frites (aren't all lambs babies?). They are a little undercooked for my taste. M gets roasted chicken and frites, perfect. M's mom gets steak frites, again, for me a little underdone. G gets a Moroccan roasted halibut with harissa. All in all, good, but not exceptional. If nothing else, certainly filling and satisfying. I am tired and full, and nap a little on the way home.
Saturday AM, we have coffee and bagels. We brought Stumptown's Columbia La Virginia down to share, and onion bagels (from Vicente Foods) with Pulgra salted butter.
Lunch. Langer's Deli. Right across from MacArthur Park. This is the sandwich I'd been hearing about for months. Juicy hot pastrami 
(by their definition, "HOT PASTRAMI is a select cut of beef, sugar-cured and seasoned as corned beef, then slowly
smoked for tenderness and tantalizing taste and flavor, then covered with choice and costly spices."). It's good, but it is still (in my opinion) just a sandwich. Pastrami, swiss, slaw, and Russian dressing on rye. M gets and egg cream (which has no egg and no cream, can someone please
explain this to me?), and I get Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray (celery) soda. We also get a side of pickled tomatoes, crisp and vinegary. M is a little disappointed that the 'hot' pastrami is merely warm, not nearly hot enough to melt the swiss. We get a loaf of rye to take with us (it's sitting in my freezer right now).I get a nice driving tour of the City of Angels. We make a brief stop into Amobea Music (I'm trying to track down Destroyer's "Theives," no dice here), buy some shoes, and the head to my pals Mike and Debbie's place.
I haven't seem Mike for a year and half, and I haven't seen Debbie for like 5 years. And, I'd never met their adorable son Ben. Ever. They know of a little Oaxacan place within walking distance. M and I are a little skeptical, as this place is in a strip mall. Boy were we wrong. The food was AMAZING!
To start, we get 3 kinds of tamales: tamal de mole (leaf wrapped tamale with chicken and black mole sauce), tamal de salsa (chicken with mint salsa, corn husk wrapped), and tamal de rajas (veggies and cheese, also cork husk wrapped).
Main courses include mole negro (chicken with black mole sauce made from 30+ spices, peppers, chocolate, and seeds), chilaquiles (tortillas in a tomato sauce with chicken and cheese), enfrijoladas con tazajo (same as chilaquiles, except with a black bean sauce in place of the tomato sauce), and ceviche (which is quite spicy). Ben gets a grilled cheese and chicken quesadilla.
I wish I had gotten photos of the food, the place, anything. I can't seem to track down any images save the generic pic of mole on citysearch. If you are in LA, you should check this place out.
And that ends days one and two of my LA adventure. Part 2 of the report (days three and four) should appear here soon...
3 comments:
What the hell -- Langer's doesn't grill their reuben? You'll have to come in to Kenny & Zuke's and give a comparison.
What's Cooking has some interesting info on egg creams:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/NYEggCreamHistory.htm
Nearly all my books have a different explanation for the name.
Sounds fun. I hope you enjoy your time there. I have mixed feelings about SoCal - having lived there a few years.
But, if you've never have (and if you have pls ignore the rest), get an In-N-out burger, animal style, make sure it has grilled onions. Whether or not you want mustard/ketchup instead of the thousand island type sauce is up to you - but it's a fun experience. They have some pretty cool themed kiddie stickers if you ask for them - my daughter and I had fun for weeks after plastering them all over each other. The fries are good - fresh cut. Could be crisper, but decent for sure - this is my favorite fast food experience of all time.
The taquerias are legendary. Also, a few weeks back Alton Brown was there scarfing at some Argentinian roadside place (with a cop) and it looked amazing.
MSG - I've been meaning to get over to Kenny and Zuke's forever, it just never seems to happen. Lazy weekends, you know?
Carnivore - Watch for part 2 of the report, where I attack 5 meals in a day (my last day there), one of which is the highly touted In-n-Out Burger. I just got a cheeseburger, but now I'm wishing I had gotten the animal style, as was suggested to me by the lovely M. My thought was to try the standard issue cheeseburger. Anyway, more on that in part 2.
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