Category Archives: Mid-City

July 6, 2011 · 11:00 am

They Call Me Mr. Tibs

I love Ethiopian food. It’s exotic, healthy and very tasty. My favorite Ethiopian restaurant in LA is Nyala. Nyala is located in “Little Ethiopia,” the stretch of Fairfax between Olympic and Pico that is filled with Ethiopian stores and restaurants. Nyala is a great place to go for dinner after a day of shopping or movie-going at the Grove.

Ethiopian food is all about the spices and Nyala does not disappoint. For a first time visit, here’s what I recommend ordering for the table: get the Vegetarian Combination (small portions of each of their vegetable dishes including Red Lentil Stew, Yellow Split Peas, Bean Stew, Collard Greens and Mixed Vegetables, which are carrots, potatoes and cabbage cooked with garlic and ginger), the Doro Tibs (boneless pieces of chicken breast sautéed with onions, garlic, tomatoes, seasoned red pepper sauce and seasoned butter) and the Shrimp Tibs (similar to the Doro Tibs but with shrimp). You can order the food as spicy or mild as you want. I also recommend trying an Ethiopian beer or Nyala’s special iced tea. I’m not a big iced tea drinker, but I love the iced tea at Nyala; it’s spiced and really unusual.

Your dinner at Nyala will start with a complimentary appetizer of spiced hummus and triangles of fresh baked pita. I could easily eat a few plates of this. The main course dishes are presented and/or poured on top of a large round piece of Injera Bread. Injera is the essential element of Ethiopian cuisine and is soft, spongy and slightly sour. It’s not something that’s amazing by itself, but it’s the perfect accompaniment for the sauced Ethiopian vegetable, meat and seafood dishes. In addition to the large piece of Injera under your main course dishes, they bring you a basket of Injera to eat your food with. Essentially the bread is your edible eating utensil; you will not be getting a fork or spoon. You rip off pieces of Injera and use it to pinch and scoop up the rest of the food. Once you’ve eaten the meat, seafood and vegetables, you will want to enjoy pieces of the large round Injera at the bottom, which has soaked up the various sauces. Delicious.

Nyala is located at 1076 S Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles (in Little Ethiopia/Carthay neighborhood).

Hummus and Pita

Shrimp Tibs

Injera Bread aka Your Eating Utensil

A very cool restaurant

[mappress mapid=”30″]

1 Comment

Filed under Carthay, Mid-City

Tagged as Ethiopian Food, Injera, Little Ethiopia, Los Angeles Ethiopian Food, Nyala

May 18, 2011 · 11:00 am

Seafood Splendor

Providence is the most elegant, sophisticated and (along with The Bazaar) most inventive restaurant in Los Angeles. It has won all kinds of awards including two Michelin stars. Unfortunately, the high price tag prevents most of us from eating there regularly. But if you can afford it and need a restaurant to impress an important client or celebrate a special anniversary, or if you simply want to splurge and enjoy one of the best fine-dining meals you’ve ever eaten in LA, this is the place. The decor is elegant but not stuffy; minimal yet comfortable. There is an awesome wine list and the service (led by charming maitre d’ and co-owner Donato Poto) is impeccable. The food is exceptional and exciting. Each dish is a work of art. Â Simply put: this is a place where magic happens.

Chef Michael Cimarusti will start your meal out with a bit of complimentary molecular gastronomy; a plate of amuse bouches which on my last visit included a mojito gelee, a screwdriver cocktail gelatin bubble, a gruyere cheese puff, and a shooter of parsnip with port reduction on the bottom. The bread, which they will replenish throughout your meal, is excellent here, especially my favorite, a bacon brioche. The main theme at Providence is seafood and they serve some of the best and most beautiful seafood concoctions you will ever eat. I recommend ordering the tasting menu and putting yourself in Chef Cimarusti’s hands. However, if you instead decide to order specific items, make sure to get the Spot Prawns, which are baked in a block of salt and prepared tableside. I also recommend Bobby’s Block Island Scallops with Buckwheat, Dashi and Cabbage and the Spaghetti all Chitarra with Santa Barbara Sea Urchin and Green Onions. The menu is not strictly limited to seafood. If it’s available, I always order the Foie Gras Ravioli with Aromatics and Parmesan Black Truffle; it’s extraordinary. I highly recommend getting the wine pairing (remember, you’re splurging, so don’t hold back). Finally, make sure to save room for dessert. Adrian Vasquez is one of the top pastry chefs in LA; a true genius with sweets. Some of my recent favorites are his “Simple Apple Tart” with Hazelnuts, Cinnamon Calvados Ice Cream and Green Apple Sorbet and his Pumpkin Polenta with Candied Pecans, Mascarpone and Maple Syrup. Â Enjoy!

Providence is located at 5955 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (on the border between Hollywood and Hancock Park; near Larchmont).

Quartet of cocktail-inspired amuse bouches

Spaghetti alla Chitarra with Santa Barbara Sea Urchin and Green Onions

Spot prawns baked in salt and prepared tableside

Foie Gras Ravioli with aromatics and parmesan black truffle

Pumpkin Polenta with candied pecans, mascarpone and maple syrup

“Simple Apple Tart” with hazelnuts, cinnamon calvados ice cream and green apple sorbet

Comfortable and Elegant

[mappress mapid=”18″]

3 Comments

Filed under Hancock Park, Hollywood, Larchmont, Mid-City

Tagged as Best Los Angeles Restaurants, best seafood restaurant in LA, best seafood restaurant in Los Angeles, chef michael cimarusti, fancy restaurants los angeles, fine dining restaurants los angeles, la restaurants with tasting menus, los angeles fine dining restaurants, Los Angeles restaurants with tasting menus, Michael Cimarusti, providance, Providence, providence hollywood, providence los angeles, providence menu, providence restaurant, providence restaurant los angeles, providence reviews, tasting menus los angeles

May 2, 2011 · 11:00 am

The Korean Spicy Crab Soup Place That You Probably Don’t Know About and Will Absolutely Love

I don’t think a lot of non-Koreans know about Ondal 2, which is one of my favorite restaurants in LA. Dining there is a very special and unique experience involving incredibly delicious food. There are many things on the menu, but let’s not waste our time here. When you go to Ondal 2, you have to order the Spicy Crab Soup plus optional “Korean Pasta” course and optional rice course. I would recommend ordering the soup medium spicy (or even medium/mild) unless you have a super high tolerance for spicy food.

After you order, put on your apron (yes, that’s right — apron!) and let the fun begin. Since this is a Korean restaurant, the first thing they bring you is Banchan (small plates of assorted appetizers), which are excellent here and much more unusual than the typical appetizers you get in most Korean restaurants in LA. These appetizers include scallion pancake, spicy chili-coated raw crab legs, whole grilled mackerel pike, sugared seaweed, egg custard and, of course, kimchee. Soon after you’ve gotten started with the Banchan, they bring over a large pot of the Spicy Crab Soup, which will continue cooking on the burner in the middle of your table. This soup is incredibly flavorful and the yummy crab broth is chock full of crab pieces (in the shell), vegetables and exotic sea squirts. During this part of the meal, in addition to the soup, the waiter will serve you crab shells stuffed with crab meat and rice, which he prepares tableside for each person in your party.

After you’ve eaten your full of crab soup, a woman will come over to your table to begin the “Korean Pasta” portion of your meal. She adds some water to the remaining soup and then hand rips pieces of dough and tosses them into the soup to cook. After the pieces of dough have firmed up and soaked up the delicious crab soup, you pull them out with a ladle or chopsticks and enjoy a truly excellent dish of “Korean Pasta.” For the next course, they empty out all of the remaining soup and cook a really tasty fried rice dish in the pot with a special sauce, kimchee, onions and other vegetables. Make sure to keep the rice in the pot long enough to form a crispy bottom, which is my favorite part. In addition to preparing the rice, they bring you a small bowl of cold “pickle juice” and the idea is to alternate every spoon of the hot rice dish with a spoon of cold pickle juice. The flavors and temperatures complement each other beautifully; it is genius! For the finale, they bring everyone at the table an icy bowl of sweet rice water, a light and traditional Korean dessert. When the meal is over, you will be very full, but I bet you will be back because this is a truly awesome place!

Ondal 2 is located at 4566 W Washington Blvd in Los Angeles.

Assorted Korean appetizers

Making pasta, Korean-style

Korean Pasta cooked in the Spicy Crab Soup

Yummy hot rice dish served with cold "pickle juice"

[mappress mapid=”16″]

2 Comments

Filed under Mid-City

Tagged as Korean Food, Korean Pasta, LA Korean Restaurants, Ondal 2, Spicy Crab Soup

April 27, 2011 · 11:00 am

The Pies Have It

Are mini pies the new cupcakes? Simplethings Sandwich and Pie Shop, on hip West 3rd Street, is hoping so. They make 16 different pies in three different sizes, but the most popular are the tiny “Cutie Pies,” which I gobbled down in about three bites each. Choices include such traditional pies as Apple, Key Lime, Missouri Mud and Coconut Cream, as well as more unusual pies such as Salted Caramel, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Banoffe (which is basically caramel and banana) and a Lemon Bar Pie. Much like Sprinkles Cupcakes, there’s a chart that tells you which days of the week they will have your favorite flavors. I thought the pies were pretty good and because they were so miniscule, I didn’t feel guilty for eating a couple of them.

But Simplethings is more than just mini pies. Their menu is essentially a modern, small-portioned take on some classic American comfort foods. The sandwiches include a Thanksgiving Sandwich (roast turkey, cranberry chutney, jalapeno cornbread stuffing and sage gravy on a michetti roll). I am not one to resist anything called a Thanksgiving Sandwich and although I didn’t love the bread, I thought it was pretty good. The Sweet Potato Sandwich (grilled sweet potatos, apples, jammy onions, chevre, and cumin coleslaw on a pretzel roll) was even better and the Pulled Chicken Sandwich (arugula, pickled onion, garlic aioli and chevre on a pretzel roll) was by far the best. They also have salads and five different kinds of savory pot pies including Steak and Lager, BBQ Pulled Pork, Chicken Curry and Portabella Mushroom. You can wash down your reconceived comfort fare with a cool vintage brand soda such as Cheerwine or Stewart’s Orange and Cream.

Simplethings Sandwich and Pie Shop is located at 8310 W 3rd Street in Los Angeles.

Thanksgiving Sandwich

I love places that sell vintage brand bottled sodas.

It's a modern pie shop.

[mappress mapid=”12″]

4 Comments

Filed under Mid-City

Tagged as banoffe pie, mini pies, simplethings, thanksgiving sandwich

April 4, 2011 · 11:00 am

Bread Winners

Amazing signature bread served warm to your table soon after you are seated and order. Â Is there any greater welcome gift that a restaurant can bestow upon a hungry patron? Â Great bread is often the reason for choosing a restaurant (or if you’re watching your carb intake, a reason to avoid a restaurant where you simply can’t control yourself). Â Here’s my list of the top 5 winners in the category of best signature bread in LA:

Garlic Cheese Bread from The Smokehouse

1. Garlic Cheese Bread at The Smokehouse (442 W. Lakeside Drive, Burbank). Â This is hands down the best garlic bread you will ever eat. Â It’s salty, cheesy, garlicky awesomeness. Â Enjoy it with dinner and martinis at The Smokehouse, the iconic dimly-lit, red boothed throw-back which has sat for the past 65 years across the street from the Warner Bros. lot.

Pizza Dough Bread at Angeli Caffe

2. Â Pizza Dough Bread at Angeli Caffe (7274 Melrose, Los Angeles). Â These are small round loaves of piping hot perfection. Â If you’re dining with a hungry group (or kids), once this incredible bread is brought to your table, propriety will be abandoned, burns will be risked and this right-out-of-the-oven treat will be ripped apart and devoured instantly.

Garlic Knots at Caioti Pizza Cafe

3. Â Garlic Knots at Caioti Pizza Cafe (4346 Tujunga, Studio City). Â Hot, buttery, garlicky, soft and chewy. Â The garlic knots at Caioti Pizza Cafe, a small rustic neighborhood eatery, are extremely addictive. Â The one drawback: Â they sometimes run out.

Grilled Pita at The Great Greek

4. Â Grilled Pita Bread at The Great Greek (13362 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks). Â This is not the free (and good) bread they give you when you arrive at the Great Greek. Â You have to actually order the amazing grilled pita bread here and it would be a Greek tragedy to not do so. Â The pita is exclusively flown in from Chicago. Eat it with fresh whipped Hummus, tangy Tzatziki, or my favorite — Tarama, Greek caviar dip.

Popover to Neiman

5. Â Popovers at Neiman Marcus (9700 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills in their Mariposa restaurant; also 6550 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Canoga Park in their NM Cafe). Â Who doesn’t like popovers? Â The ones at Neiman’s are consistently perfect. Light, cripsy and flaky on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside. Â Served with strawberry butter!

That’s what I call WINNING!