Mo-chica at the El Mercado La Paloma

El Mercado La Paloma is the epitome of LA diversity. This colorful food court is located in a less desirous neighbhorhood near USC. Inside is some of the best homestyle eats to be found in LA, and home to one of my favorite restaurants, Mochica.

"Mochica is a language from a pre-Incan civilization from the Northern coast of Peru known as the moche" from Mochica's website. Interesting, but it doesn't tell much about the food, which I will describe as a fusion. It doesn't resemble any Peruvian food I've tasted (i.e., Pollo Inca) instead Mochica has a Japanese influence, food is more refined, much care is put into the presentation.


I've enjoyed everything I've eaten here, not least their colorful beverages, which are laid out in huge plastic barrels out front. My favorite is the eye-catching Chicha Morada, a deep purple drink made from purple corn. It is surprisingly tart and refreshing. My second favorite is their Chebada, a drink made of barley, reminiscent of Korean teas I drank in my youth.

Appetizers are a must here, I recommend their sashimi grade Ceviche Del Dia. The raw pieces of fish, which changes seasonally, is prepared like a ceviche, but the size, flavor and quality of the cuts are much better. Another popular appetizer is the Causa Del Dia, a fancier version of potato salad.

Ceviche Del Dia, photo courtesy of Mo-Chica

Causa Del Dia, picture courtesy of Mo-chica

For entree, I highly recommend their Quinotta or the Lomo Saltado. Quinotto is a play on two words, quinoa and risotto. The dish is made from quinoa grain but served risotto-style, with creme fraiche and wild mushrooms. It is creamy and delicious, probably my favorite dish of all. If you're craving protein, the Lomo Saltado is the way to go, it's a generous portion of beef.

Prices are reasonable, the atmosphere is cozy, but the food is great. The unusual location makes Mo-Chica more interesting, like a secret location found by following back roads on an archaic map. The neighborhood needs improvement but I never felt threatened at La Paloma during the day and there's ample parking. It's a short drive from downtown LA and definitely worth checking out!

L'Atelier De Joel Robuchon

Ahhhh Las Vegas.... there's so many Michlin stars sparkling like diamonds along the Strip, a foodie paradise. Chris and I decided to up my foodie credentials and go to Sin City for a foodiefest. The highlight of our weekend was L'Atelier De Joel Robuchon. This place was amazing, I must say a few paradigms were shifted after my dinner here. Joel Robuchon, touted as one of the world's greatest chefs, did not disappoint.

The cuisine was Cal French, rather then classical French and the L'Atelier was not as formal as the Mansion. The seating is casual, similar to a sushi bar, and interacting with the staff and other diners was encouraged. Chris loved this arrangement but I did not.  I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with a fellow foodie next to us but I found it hard to relax. However, the uncomfortable seating did not diminish the quality of the food. Food was spectacular, we both got the Club Tasting Menu for $75 per person. It comes with five courses and choice of main entree.

The amuse bouche was foie gras with parmesan cheese foam. It was argueably the best bite of the night.

I loved the presentation of the amuse bouche and the bread. It was on pieces of finished stone, for the amuse bouche, the stone was hot, but for the butter it was ice cold. Butter had the texture of a soft cheese, I was told it was because it was imported from France.

First course was pumpkin and ginger cream with crunchy seeds, followed by crispy langoustine fritter with basil pesto.

Main entrees were the beef rib eye and the scottish salmon with aromates and cripsy potatoes. They were both good, the beef was very fatty and the salmon perfectly cooked. The Club entrees were more standard fare, dishes that would not offend anyone. While I liked the entrees, I wished I didn't order the Club menu and wished I tried something more exotic from their regular menu. Both entrees came with a side of Robuchon's famous mash potatoes, 50% potato, 50% butter.

From the regular menu we ordered the maine lobster in a tomato sauce with green asparagus. This dish would be excellent for anyone who loves lobster.

The highlight of the evening was the dessert. I ordered the traditional tartes while Chris got the ice cream and sorbets. They were scrumptious.

After dinner we saw Zumanity at New York, New York, it was a fantastic night. However the highlight of the night was the food. What a great way to start a great night out in sin city!

Asia De Cuba: Not Asian, Very Californian

I really admire people who can blog once a week. Kudos. My love to eat should match my love to write. Two months to produce a post isn't too bad? Or is it?

Here it is, two months later, my Asia De Cuba review. It will be my first BOB review. BOB stands for Bloggers on a Budget. Asia De Cuba is far from a bargain, but I went during DineLA Week (yes, two months ago, shhhh) and it was a bargain. I tried two appetizers, three entrees and three desserts for $57. Wow! Talk about celeb dining on a pleb budget.

Asia De Cuba is located inside the posh Mondrian Hotel, which is located on the ulta-hip section of Sunset Blvd. It's rumored to be Britney's favorite hotel. Celebrity sightings are common here. The food is okay, it's suppose to be "fusion". It's more about the ambiance than the food. Also, I went during DineLA week, so I'm not going to be too harsh. 3 for the food, 5 for the ambiance, Asia De Cuba gets a solid 4.

Onto the food! Appetizers were the Tunapica, a tuna tartare prepare picadillo style and Lemongrass Skewered Chicken in a coconut chili marinade, served with grilled pineapples and lychees. A+ for presentation (pictured below), the chicken was my favorite dish of the night, very flavorful. Tunapica was nothing special, I've had better tuna tartare elsewhere.

The food got worse from there. I was disappointed with the main courses. First was the best, Miso Cured Alasken Butterfish atop black beans and edamame salad with Tempura shisito pepper (pictured below). The miso cured white fish (in this case, Butterfish) is so overly done, it's not special anymore. I felt I could've found this dish at a dozen other places, just down the street. Edamame does not taste good to me out of the pod. I don't know why, I love picking them from the pod, but they taste like lima beans when served this way.

The next two entrees were utterly forgettable and better versions could be found at Black Angus. They were the Grilled Strip Steak with calabaza melon slaw in citrus ginger soy and Cuban BBQ Chicken, served with coconut sticky rice, tamarind sauce and fruit salsa. Both were bland, both were boring. Chicken was well-cooked but the marinade could've come from a jar, as far as I could tell. Pics are below.

The dinner took an upturn for dessert. Wow. Desserts were fabulous to behold and not bad to taste. My favorite were the Mexican donuts (only because the presentation was beautiful and they came to the table warm) but the Cuban Opera cake and fruit sorbet were good too. Next time, I'll order the appetizers and dessert and just enjoy the ambiance.

Here's the happy group of foodies outside the hotel. :)

Easy Peasy Delicious Hot Wings

I'm still working on finding the greatest hot wings. I have a good idea whose the winner but I'm holding out until I try more places on my list. However, I can't believe how easy it is to make Buffalo Wings at home! The secret is the combination of the broiling the meat, then simmering it in the crockpot. It is the best of both worlds and it makes cooking so easy! 


Katpot's Hot Wings

• 30 pieces  of chicken wings
• 1 cup of favorite hot sauce.  I use Red Rooster because it's cheap, 99 cents! 
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup of butter, depends how spicy you like the sauce

1. Preheat oven to broil. Rinse chicken wings and pat dry. Place on oil-sprayed cookie sheet. Optional, sprinkle sugar on the chicken to get a nice caramelization, so it looks grilled, but be careful, it burns quickly. 


2. Broil chicken about 5 inches away from heat coils. Broil for 5 mins on each side. 


3. Transfer chicken to crockpot. Pour in hot sauce and spot with the butter. Cook on low for 3-4 hours, chicken is done when it's no longer pink in the middle. Optional: serve with celery and bleu cheese. 


Interesting Tibit: 
There's two parts to the chicken wing, there's the drummette, that looks like a small drumstick and there's the flat. It's really easy to eat the flat once it's been deboned. Here's a youtube on how to do it. 

Ga Kho - Vietnamese Braised Chicken

Ga Kho picture from Sundaynitedinner

Ga Kho will kick off my month-long crockpot recipes. Why the crockpot? Well, I'm a cook, aspiring to be a chef, and to a cook, the crockpot is their best friend. Food tastes better when it's cooked slower and the crockpot allows for slow cooking with minimal effort. Everything comes out so moist and flavorful. I love it.
My inspiration for this recipe comes from Ravenous Couple, a blog filled with great Vietnamese recipes and pictures. Ga Kho means braised chicken in Vietnamese and this is a very easy, simple dish made with common ingredients. Traditionally it's suppose to be made in a clay pot but my version is in a crock pot. There's less caramelization, but the result is so tender and flavorful. It's well-worth the time.
Ga Kho
1 lb skinless boneless chicken thigh or leg
4 tsp fish sauce
3 tblsp brown sugar
2 tblsp garlic
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 can, 8 ou. young coconut juice
3 tblsp caramel sauce
1/2 jalepeno, seeded
1. Marinade chicken with fish sauce, brown sugar, garlic, salt and pepper. Marinade for at least an hour, the longer, the better.
2. Heat oven to high broil, place tray on top slot, so it's 5 inches from the oven coil. Place marinated chicken on sheets and broil in oven. Time varies on the cut of the chicken, usually 3-4 mins on each side. Broil until there's a nice crisp caramelization ontop the chicken, sprinkle brown sugar on chicken to give a better caramelization, but be careful, it may burn.
3. Place semi-broiled chicken in crockpot, try to get all the scraping too. Add coconut juice, jalepeno and caramel. Heat on low for 3-4 hours, chicken is finished when it's cooked through. Check to make sure by piercing the thickest part, the juice should run clear. You may want to flip the chicken over once while it's cooking.
4. Turn crockpot off and keep chicken inside to keep warm. Remove the drippings into a small sauce pan. Place on stove and heat on high until liquid is boiling, then reduce to low heat. Reduce the liquid down to your preferred consistency, usually 15 mins. I like to add another tblsp of caramel and cornstarch to quicken the thickening process.
5. Pour thicken sauce ontop the chicken. Serve with rice and garnish with basil leaves.

Updated Java Spice Review

I was really impressed with my initial visit to Java Spice that I decided to come back with a bigger party. The party was hosted by my Indonesian friend, who ordered for us. I was hoping to get the most authentic meal this way. I tried more dishes this visit, since it was family-style. I was very disappointed and it wasn't as good as my simple meal of noodles I had last time.  


My favorite dish of the night was the Nasi Goreny Ikam Asin, fried rice with salted fish. It is heavily flavored with garlic, as in marinated and bathed in a vat full of garlic. Emeril fans would rejoice. I couldn't taste the fish, it must've been the small salt bombs scattered throughout the rice. It was a good thing, as I don't care for salted fish.  


We also got the satay ayam, chicken sate, and the ayam panggang, BBQ marinated chicken. They tasted identical to the ones served in Thai restaurants, except it wasn't cooked as well. Their version was dry and flavorless.  


The udang goreng mentega, shrimp with butter sauce, was the most unique dish at the table. It was shrimp sauteed in a flavorful dark sauce, I'm going to guess it was fish sauce, soy sauce, or a combination of both. Their version of coconut soup, sayun lodeh, was watery and bland.  


Overall, I wasn't impressed with the meal at all. I thought I could've driven across town to a Thai joint and had a much better meal. I'll stick to their noodle dishes and exotic drinks, but I'm in no hurry to come back.

Renu Nakorn, Northern Thai in Downey

I have mixed feeling about Renu Nakorn. I hosted a meetup here in July and the food was good. However I revisted the place a few weeks ago and it was one of the worst meals I had all year.

The Good
Renu Nakorn got rave reviews, most notably from Jonathan Gold, who consistently puts Renu Nakorn on his 99 Essential list every year. The owners are the same owners that started Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas, a well-known hangout for chefs, after hours. I hosted a meetup and they did not disappoint, everyone said they had a great meal.

We started with coconut soup (pictured below), it was thick and delicious. I appreciate a good coconut soup. Next was the BBQ beef with sticky rice, which was not as good as Thai Palms. I like how the sticky rice were served in bamboo bowls, very Thai.

The main courses, the Omelet with Mussels was similar to the one served at Simbala in that it had rice flour. It was atop a bed of bean sprouts. It tasted good although the slimy rice flour is off putting. Their scallop panang had perfectly cooked scallops and was sweeter than most curry. It was delicious, my favorite dish here.

For dessert, we had fried bananas with coconut ice cream. It was the perfect ending to a great meal. There were few misses with this visit.

Omelet with Mussels

The Bad
I enjoyed the meal so much that I made an impromptu visit months later. I forgotten what their specialties were and I ordered what looked good, it was a bad mistake.

It started with the most watered-down Thai iced coffee I ever tasted. How can anyone mess up Thai iced coffee? It was the worst I ever had.
The meal started with Drunken Noodle with Seafood. It tasted okay but the seafood consisted of two mussels, two shrimps and a slice of fishcake. The noodles were mushy and clumpled together. I don't like that. Although it tasted okay, it was not appealing at all. I could've made this at home.

Next was the Kang Hung Lay, pork stew Northern style. It had chunks of pork with slabs of fat and skin attached to it. The sauce was similar to Japanese/Korean brown curry and tasted heavily of cumin and coriander. The dish was not for me. I don't know why it gets the acclaim it does, it tastes like sub par curry to me.

The Ugly
I'm not surprised that the Northern Thai menu at Renu Nakorn gets so much acclaim from other critics, most Thai restaurants cater to Americans and serve Palace-style Thai food. However I disagree, I did not like anything from the Northern Thai menu. The two dishes I didn't care for on my first visit were the two red curries from the Northern menu. They were watery, more like a soup, and not flavorful as traditional Thai curries. I reviewed the Kang Hung Lay above and it unappealing to say the least. 

I'll have to try Renu Nakorn a few more times before I decide to write it off forever. One thing I have noticed is they cook their seafood perfectly and that is an art. But after my last visit, I promptly took it off my favorites list. The clumped noodles and watered-down coffee was inexcusable.

Renu Nakorn's Northern Thai menu

Being Bourdain: Discovering the Pupusa

Continuing my Being Bourdain series, this month I discovered El Salvadorean food.  I sought out well-known LA eateries that make the famed pupusa, El Salvador's most well-known dish. And I was pleasantly surprised to find a new cuisine, very different from their neighboring Latin countries. 

Some background information on El Salvdor (from wikipedia): 

It is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. Ninety percent of Salvadorans are mestizo (mixed Native American and Spanish origin). Some report their race as being White; this population is mostly of Spanish descent, including some of French, German, Swiss, and Italian descent. El Salvador is 8% indigenous, mostly Pipil, Lenca and Kakawira (Cacaopera).

El Salvador's most notable dish is the pupusa. Pupusas are a thick hand-made corn tortilla (made using masa de maíz or masa de arroz, a maize or rice flour dough used in Latin American cuisine) stuffed with one or more of the following: cheese (usually a soft Salvadoran cheese, a popular example is Quesillo con loroco), chicharrón, and refried beans. Loroco is a vine flower bud native to Central America. There are also vegetarian options, often with ayote (a type of squash) or garlic.

Sarita's

 

I found this gem roaming the sawdust floors of Grand Central Market in Downtown LA. It doesn't look like much, but this food stand has some of the best El Salvadorean food I've ever tasted.


Their specialty is the pupusa, an El Salvadorean pancake, that is made of either masa de maize or arroz, cheese and a choice of filling. By far my favorite is the chicarrones, I've tried the carne asada and the queso but they don't come close to their chicarrones in terms of flavor.


Sarita's pupusas are made to order and come out piping hot. They're served with a spicy cabbage slaw. They've also got great fried plantains and other El Salvadorean dishes. Prices are good too.

Pupusas are made-to-order, right in front of you.

La Pupusa Loca

This is a familiar hole-in-the-wall El Salvadorean place, I don't think you can get more authentic than this. While it's not my favorite, I do give kudos for an extensive menu of uncommon dishes.


I recommend their fried meat pies, it comes three to an order. They're akin to large-sized fried chinese dumplings but they taste meatier. Think of a dumpling filled with Taco Bell ground beef.


My favorite thing to order is their ensalada fresca. I'm not sure exactly what it is, it tastes like watered down orange juice, reminiscent of a sangria, with fruit floating in it. It's delicious, refreshing and not cloyingly sweet.


I wish I had better things to say about this place, as Chowhound and LA Times loves it, but I was disappointed with the food here. (maybe I don't like El Salvadorean food?) Of course, they have the famous pupusa, either in masa de maize or arroz. I tried the puspusa de arroz and it was good but not as flavorful as Sarita's. The masa was very bland, and it didn't ooze out cheese and filling when I cut into it. Their camarrones pupusa was my favorite, it was filled with diced, dried shrimp.


They also have Chilate con Nuegadoes. It's an unusual dish, the chilate is ground corn with a texture much like American grits. It is bland. They were whole allspice in there, I accidentally bit into one, yuck. As a contrast the nuegadoes, fried yuca donuts, were cloyingly sweet and flavorful. They remind me of korean fried yuca donuts. I like these.


Empanadas here are not like their Spanish cousin. These empanadas have mashed plantains and creme inside then they are deep-fried. They are very bland. They aren't sweet at all. I didn't care for them and wasn't thrilled I just consumed three thousand calories in one dish.


I do want to come back to taste more authentic El Salvadorean dishes. I recommend this place for authentic El Salvadorean food but not for the wayward traveler.

Foodporn Meme

The meme is simple enough, pick 5 of your favorite food-porn pics, then write about them. It also works as a great filler when you're behind writing posts. haha.

Sprinkles Cupcakes

Yes, I'm a cupcake aficionado, so when I was near Sprinkles in Newport Beach, I went a bit overboard. These pics are almost a year old, I believe the one with the turkey was the Pumpkin Pie flavor. The red is Red Velvet, of course, I can't remember the other two, but they were delicious. Yay for cupcakes!

Crumbs Bakery in Glendale

Cupcakes do make great photos. Here's some more yummies from Crumb's bakery in Glendale. I like how they have mini cupcakes, so I can try many different flavors.

Wurstkuche's Bratwurst and Belgian Fries

This is a great pic taken by my honey. It was also a great meal. They have the best belgian fries in the world.

Cima Dim Sum Table for Sunday Brunch

Ruen Pair: Seafood Salad

One of my best photos ever, doesn't the dish look yummy? It was pure luck, sometimes a really good photo gets taken, even by me! This photo should look familiar, it's featured in the post below.

Ruen Pair: Good Thai Eats!

Sometimes I just want good, cheap, satisfying, sit-in-your-belly food. I want a restaurant with no pretensions, no dressing up, no reading reviews. That's when I head out to Ruen Pair in Thai Town. It's a small, hole-in-the-wall place inside a shopping center filled with good Thai eats. I love this place because the food is great, cheap and the place is clean.

Besides being the destination for club-going drunks, this place has great morning grub. Ruen Pair's specialty is their rice porridge and their accompanying dishes. Since the porridge is so bland, it's best to get a flavorful dish to accompany it. My recommendations would be the Black Egg with Fried Basil or the Clams with Mint Sauce. Both are bursting with flavor and spice and they are delicious.

My favorite dish is their Seafood Salad (pictured below). Chris and I aren't adventurous eaters, we almost always order the same things and I order more exotic dishes when I go out with my Thai foodies. So, I've eaten a lot of Thai Seafood Salads in my life and Ruen Pairs is one of the best. It's loaded with different types of seafood, cooked perfectly and sauced with a spicy, lime sauces. I love how the squid is always soft and the shrimp are al dente but not rubbery (in other words, they were cooked separately, and they were cooked right).

Ruen Pair has good rice dishes and noodle dishes. I recommend their Pad See Ew, it's better than most. Pictured below is their Pineapple Fried Rice, which is beautiful but not as tasty as their other dishes. I hear they make a great noodle soup.

Most dishes range from $6 to $8, it's amazing, I keep ordering food and drinks and the bill still came out to less than $20. PROTIP: they only accept cash but they do have an ATM on site. After a great meal, there's always Bhan Kanom Thai, a Thai bakery, across the lot. They make great sticky rice with mangoes. And next to the shopping center there's Thailand Plaza, I go there for cheap Thai goods.