Consuming LA

May 5, 2011 · 11:00 am

Cemitas are Muy Buenas

I first heard about Cemitas from a foodie friend in New York. They’re a yummy kind of Mexican sandwich which originated in the city of Puebla and have recently gained some popularity in the U.S. They are distinguished from Mexican tortas by the fluffy sesame-seeded egg roll and typically include a combination of fresh avocado, Mexican white cheese, onions and red salsa, in addition to a meat filling. The most popular meat filling is Beef Milanesa, a piece of beef that has been pounded thin, breaded and then fried to a golden crisp. My favorite cemitas joint in town is Cemitas y Clayudas Pal Cabron (which I simply refer to as Pal Cabron) in Koreatown. Pal Cabron serves many delicious varities of cemitas including Beef Milanesa, seasoned lamb, chorizo, ham, black mole with shredded chicken breast, spicy shredded pork loin and a vegetarian cemita. The bread used by Pal Cabron, as well as the vegetables in their cemitas, are very fresh and the cheese they use, a Oaxacan string cheese, is unbelievably good.

As you can tell from the full name of the restaurant, they also specialize here in clayudas (or tlayudas), crispy flat breads which are a very popular street food in Oaxaca. Pal Cabron makes their Clayudas with tortillas imported from Oaxaca and covers them with a pork and black bean paste, Oaxacan cheese and other toppings of your choice before baking them into a hot crispy treat; they’re essentially Oaxacan pizzas. The Clayudas are good and if you’re hungry I recommend getting one as an appetizer, but the real star of the show here is the cemita. Pal Cabron is next door to a Oaxacan juice bar where you can buy a fresh mango or pineapple blossom juice to wash down your cemita and clayuda. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Cemitas y Clayudas Pal Cabron is located at 3337 1/2 W 8th St, Los Angeles (in Koreatown).

UPDATE: SAD TO SAY, PAL CABRON IS NOW CLOSED. I WILL BE ON THE HUNT FOR A NEW PLACE TO GET CEMITAS. PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH ANY SUGGESTIONS.

Clayuda (flatbread) with chorizo

Here's where you order...

...and here's where you eat.

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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"

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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.

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4 Comments

Filed under Mid-City

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

April 22, 2011 · 11:00 am

Don Ask Don Tell: Amazing and Affordable Sushi

While a lot of Angelenos are aware of Sugarfish, the expansion effort of legendary Sushi Nazi, Kozurnori Nozawa, less people are familiar with Sushi Don, the outposts of esteemed Westside sushi restaurant, Sasabune. But those in the know come to Sushi Don to eat some of the highest quality sushi in LA at surprisingly low prices. Sushi Don serves many of the same melt-in-your-mouth sashimi, nigiri and rolls as Sasabune, but at a fraction of the price.Â Â The Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice at Sushi Don is the best I’ve ever had; better than that at Katsu-ya. Â Once you’ve had it, it is something you will crave all of the time. Â And the Albacore Special (fresh slices of albacore in ponzu sauce) is perfection. Then there’s the Blue Crab Hand Rolls. Â They are perfectly prepared with the freshest blue crab and warm rice and wrapped in crisp seaweed. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. Sushi Don also serves their own homemade soy sauce!Â

There is no table service. You order at a counter and you can either take out or they will bring your sushi to you at one of the tables. The nice thing about this is that you can get in and out very quickly if you want. I go to the Valley Village location of Sushi Don (at 4816 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Valley Village; close to Studio City and North Hollywood), but I understand that there is now a second location in Pacific Palisades (at 970 Monument Street, Los Angeles).

Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice

Blue Crab Hand Roll

Not fancy; just good

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6 Comments

Filed under North Hollywood, Pacific Palisades, Studio City, Valley Village

Tagged as best cheap sushi, best cheap sushi la, best cheap sushi los angeles, best inexpensive sushi, best inexpensive sushi la, best inexpensive sushi los angeles, Best LA Sushi, cheap sushi la, cheap sushi los angeles, inexpensive sushi la, inexpensive sushi los angeles, Sushi, Sushi Don, valley village restaurants

April 18, 2011 · 10:10 am

Macarons, Not the Manischewitz Kind

For a very long time, I thought that macaroons were cookies made of shredded coconut that you ate only on Passover after the matzo ball soup and brisket. Although also made without wheat flour, the French macaron (the second “o” in “macaroon” is dropped) is an entirely different animal. ‘Lette Macarons, a cute little bakery in Beverly Hills (and a brand new location Downtown in Little Tokyo), sells only one thing to eat: French macarons, and they are pure perfection. Made primarily from almonds, sugar and egg whites and filled with ganache, buttercream, jam or caramel, these soft and chewy confections are works of art. As far as baked goods go, they are also great works of labor. According to ‘Lette’s baker, these little treats take 24 hours and 37 steps to make. ‘Lette sells over a dozen different classic and seasonal varieties including Sweet Wedding Almond, Raspberry, Rose, Madagascar Vanilla, Lemon, Earl Grey Tea and Caribbean Chocolate. My favorites are Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter and Jelly. A box with a colorful assortment makes a great gift for any occasion. Maybe I will shake things up and bring a box of these French beauties to our family Seder!

‘Lette Macarons is located at 9466 Charleville Boulevard (at Beverly Drive) in Beverly Hills and 333 S Alameda Street (Little Tokyo Shopping Center) in Los Angeles.

UPDATE: ‘Lette Macarons has a new location in Pasadena at 14 S. Fairoaks Ave. (see map below).