Three Bowls of Soup in LA

1 / 24 / 17

Trump is President, it’s cold for us California babies, and everyone I know is sick. We need soup, y’all. Here are three places to get a bowl of soup in the Culver City/Palms area in LA.

Sunny Blue

For a quick healthy-ish snack in the neighborhood Sunny Blue is my go-to. The staple here is the omusubi, rice balls with different fillings wrapped in nori. Balls run $3 to $4, are made to order and can be made with over ten different fillings, plus specials. I like the spicy salmon (cured salmon and spices), eggplant chilli miso, and the shiso ume (japanese pickled plum with shiso leaves). This is a quirky place (their homepage greets visitors with “This Little Place Has Balls”), but the food is interesting and consistent, which makes it all the more lovable. The menu depicts omusubsi as cartoon rice balls with eyes and personalities, while the rest of the whimsical orange chalkboard menu can be overwhelming. Apart from omusubsi, the menu is full of inexpensive sides: noodles, fresh salads, pickled veggies, kimchi and— one I couldn’t stop eating other day— fried burdock roots.

The pork curry udon comes in a small bowl for $5, less weighty than a typical bowl of udon, and more like what I would imagine is a quick street food meal on some corner of the earth. The curry flavors are bright, the broth glimmers with golden spices and fat, and the pork piles like a little tower of bacon on top of bouncy udon noodles. Don’t miss the outside seating and complimentary cold barley tea.

Phorage

This casual spot in Palms offers mostly standard pho joint fare with a twist: produce is sourced locally and proteins are sustainable. The chef here worked at the Slanted Door, so not surprisingly the food is solid. We had the pho with Washugyu beef brisket and the eggplant claypot, a bowl of peppery, caramelized eggplant and onions over broken rice. A big communal table is the focal point of the restaurant, with friendly hanging plants everywhere. There are rice plates, vermicelli, banh mi, and rolls. I hear the oxtail pho is the way to go. Prices run a little more than average pho (which makes perfect sense considering the ingredients).

Ramen Yamadaya

This ramen chain advertises its tonkotsu broth as being cooked for 20 hours, and after tasting it I would believe it. A ten hour boil extracts all the good stuff from the bones, resulting in a milky, thick broth that is as mouth to brain tingling as a bite of pork belly. There are several types of ramen here, most building off the basic pork broth base and adding spice, black garlic oil, soy, or super sized toppings including a thick, dangerous-looking slab of the tender kakuni pork belly. And while the broth is boiled forever, the chashu is not, retaining flavor and texture. The thin little egg noodles, bamboo, and half an egg are fine supporting actors. The broth here is the star.

Four Juice Bars in Oakland

1 / 2 / 17

Juices, smoothies, acai bowls and chia puddings, non-dairy warm drinks… We are on trend in Oakland and thankfully it’s without the activated $12 charcoal waters and bullshit anti-food health diets. Here are a few places in Oakland owned by people of color offering nutrients in a cup for an accessible price.

Super Juiced, Old Oakland

Adding another destination to Swan’s Market, Super Juiced is everything I want in a juice bar and a business. They use all organic produce and buy from local farms, keep prices accessible, and are committed to hiring locally, with a special focus on system-impacted young folks, who receive leadership development training. Neon pink accents brighten the store and shelves have a sweet selection of body, home and packaged food products to take home. The menu has seasonal juices, tonic shots, smoothies, a vanilla coconut chia pudding and acai bowl. I had the golden glow juice with persimmon, apple, turmeric and nutmeg, which tasted like Fall. They also have warm non-dairy drinks like their golden milk made with turmeric, spices, coconut and house made almond milk, and the hot coco choco with coconut milk, raw cacao, maple syrup, vanilla and himalayan pink salt. To start off 2017 they’ll be offering cleanses for digestion, immunity boosts, and revitalization. Prices range from $4 to $9.50.

Main Squeeze, Grand Lake

These guys are best known for their acai bowls, a traditional snack in Instagram, woops I mean Brazil. They have a pretty fruity smoothie menu, and a varied juice menu with organic produce, a seasonal juice, and lots of enhancers like tumeric, chia, and flax. I like the Orange you Glad with apple, carrot, celery, ginger, lemon, pear, and turmeric. A perfect place to hit before or after walking the lake, and often busy on those sunny weekend days. Prices run $5 to $8.

Taqueria San Jose, Fruitvale

Located right on International and 35th, this little cafe window next to Taqueria San Jose offers coffee and breakfast staples, as well as freshly made juices. They have a few fruit combos and a green juice which has pineapple, ginger, parsley, celery, nopal, and cucumber. It feels a little like Mexico here: the window is bordered in talavera tiles, there’s a sunny patio with a running fountain in back, and a sad display of Bimbo donas and snacks at the counter. The guy ordering before me said he always gets a large orange juice with two raw eggs blended, and while I was a little curious, I went for the green juice. $5 for a small.

Nieves Cinco de Mayo, Fruitvale

Doesn’t nieves mean ice cream? Yes, and right across from the ice cream stand is a small cafe offering Oakland-roasted Bicycle coffee, sandwiches and juices. I’ve written about the owner’s street cart to brick and mortar success before here (it’s an inspiring story). I love the juice and smoothie menu: you get to choose up to five ingredients from the fruit, veggie, and supplement list and design your own. If you aren’t confident about making your own combos ask for recommendations or start with something simple like carrot, orange and ginger. I usually get some variation of a vampiro: beet, carrot, pineapple, and orange. $4 for a small, $5 for a medium, $6 for a large.

Five More Places to Eat and Drink in Tijuana and Ensenada

12 / 23 / 1612 / 23 / 16

Tijuana and Ensenada continue to charm me (and my taste buds). Here are a few more places to visit.

Tijuana

Cine Tonalá

This three-story movie house, cultural center, rooftop bar and restaurant has a stunning view of Tijuana. In the background the moorish tips of the emblematic Jai Alai building point skyward, as do the restaurant’s table-top gold triangle terrariums. Yes, hipsterism is creeping into this city too. Fortunately, it can’t knock the flavor out of TJ: the cocktails here are slammin, the food is tasty, and when I was there the chef was singing the praises of his almost all female badass kitchen staff.

For drinks, the Conejo Rabioso with tamarind tamarind pulp, ginger, mezcal, pineapple, ancho chile and a tajín rim is the kind of drink that immediately makes me picture the cartoon version of myself on a tropical island popping a straw into a magical giant tropical fruit and dancing around in a bikini. It was hard to have less than three.

The menu largely reps Baja-style seafood with oysters, ceviche, and tuna but there are few heavy hitters: a burger, ribs and duck al pastor tacos. The chef is a friend of my boyfriend’s and we first met in Mexico City when he was nursing an allergic reaction to eating a tarantula. I may not trust his personal eating decisions but I trust him with mine: the crab burrito is the thing I want to eat every day, the ceviche and oysters were clean and refreshing, and the dessert, a coyota (style of sugar cookie from Sonora) with nopal, piloncillo, and cactus fruit sorbet was thoughtful and unique.

Check the calendar before you go, and you can also grab drinks and snacks on the bottom floor before heading into a show.

Los Paisas

While this place doesn’t need much fame (there’s a big photo with Anthony Bourdain’s photo on the wall), it’s a good taco reference to have in your back pocket. Las Ahumaderas is made up of a block of taco stands and Los Paisas is the first on the corner. We were told to get the samuri: a tostada inside a taco with melted cheese. It comes out handroll-shaped with a splat of watery guacamole and parchment paper wrapped around to keep it intact. I wouldn’t say the meat or toppings alone made this a destination, but the crunch and melt of the cheese in each bite made up for it.

Tacos El Ruso

Tacos El Ruso is a shining example of a place that does one thing and does it very well. I would like to do one thing in my life as well as Tacos El Ruso makes carne asada tacos. The meat is always well flavored, tender, with handmade tortillas and a perfect splat of guacamole. My boyfriend’s parents said they tried tons of taquerias searching for the perfect carne asada, and El Ruso took the trophy. Open from 3 pm until they run out, which is sometimes early evening.

Ensenada

La Flor de Calabaza

This little cafe and organic market became our routine stop for a few days while heading into Ensenada. A good place for locally made gifts (chocolate, body products, honey, etc.) and for a gift to your body: the green juice. We liked the refrescante with green apple, pineapple, lime, celery and mint, and the rejuven with green apple, beet and beet leaves, lime, orange and ginger.

Tacos Marco Antonio

Once a cannery packing seafood, beans, chiles, meats and more, Marco Antonio’s warehouse is now mostly a place for seafood guisado tacos (stewed or cooked dishes that are scooped into a taco). Red cans once packaging tuna estofado are now napkin holders. Canning machines and old fishing nicknacks line the walls, along with a few cartoonish murals of cooks and sealife. Somewhere a restaurateur is attempting to replicate this warehouse taqueria by the sea, but the history, kitsch, and food here is just too distinct to be found anywhere else.

The menu depends on what’s left by the time you get there, as they open early and close around 3 p.m. We went for “only two tacos” but after the fried fish with chipotle crema and tuna adobada, we had to try the tuna in cilantro salsa and the marlin and shrimp quesadilla with chipotle crema. One look at the salsa bar and you’ll know you’re in good hands, there are several salsas and three types of onions. Wash it down with a yerba buena and lime agua fresca. I found this place via food writer Bill Esparza, his excellent blog post is linked above.

Obelisco in Fruitvale: Leticia Chavez channels comfort foods from life on the ranch

12 / 12 / 16

This past week has been a sad one for Oakland and I’ve been craving comfort food. The other day inside Berkeley Bowl I even paused in the bulk aisle when overcome by a craving for mashed potatoes, with a butter pat on top and freshly cracked pepper like something I never eat and definitely out of a Sizzler’s commercial. But mostly comfort food is the food made by my friends and family: biscuits (aunt Pat’s are the best), my sister’s pesto— always a trusty side to our fresh crab or roast chicken, my boyfriend’s breakfasts emerging from the oven to temper my hangover. Obelisco’s pozole is always something I think of in cold or gloomy times, but until last week I hadn’t actually met the chef and owner.

Her name is Leticia Chavez, she’s funny, warm and has held down this Fruitvale restaurant for almost ten years now. Leticia is from the Puerto Vallarta area, and she grew up working in her family’s restaurant and eating food straight from el rancho.

“I was raised in a small place and my dad had a ranch, so the quality of the ingredients were always good. The first time I tried a hamburger in the United States…” she made a face and waved her hand as if avoiding a bad smell.

After arriving to the Bay she actually opened a skincare business, but was called back to cooking by her disappointment with the variety of Mexican food in the area. “I kept hearing people talk about how greasy and unhealthy Mexican food is,” she said. “A lot of people here never travel to Mexico, so they image our cuisine as limited to tacos and burritos. But Mexican food can be diverse, and there’s a wide range of cuisine from one part of the country to the other.”

So she opened her own place in 2007, sourcing Niman Ranch meats and Mary’s organic chicken, and organic corn which is sent to a mill in San Leandro just for her masa. The handmade tortillas are a warm yellow and thick. Not all her other ingredients are organic due to cost constraints.

My favorite on the menu is the pozole, which is available in red, green and white. (You can read more about it in this story I wrote a while ago for SFWeekly). The white, which can be brightened with a fiery side of habanero chile, is emblematic of Leticia’s food. “It doesn’t always have to be spicy,” she said. “I like cooking with just enough so people can taste all the flavors and add more if they want.”

Besides the pozole, the albondigas (a stew with meatballs), is straight from her mom’s recipe collection (“that’s a mom dish for sure,” I said and we both giggled). And while there are daily specials, the secret is to come on Wednesdays when she always makes something different, usually regional dishes like pipian, moles, borrego, or barbacoa. There’s beer on draft, agua frescas, and usually a dairy free coconut flan.

Leticia says in 2017 there will be a new dinner menu, and I expect there to be some comfort dishes on that menu too.

http://www.obeliscorestaurant.com
(BTW for those of you who have been around, Obelisco was previously named Taco Grill and located on the other side of the Fruitvale Village.)

Two Spots for Ramen in Los Angeles

11 / 4 / 16

Is it ever ramen weather in Los Angeles? Not like I really need an excuse. Here are two ramen chains in L.A. to get your slurp on.

Shin Sen Gumi Hakata Ramen
Shin-Sen-Gumi is a chain from Japan offering a specific style of ramen from Hakata— with a lot of flexibility to add ingredients and meet your preferences. Expect thinner noodles, a rich milky broth, and a few toppings: chopped scallions, pickled ginger and sesame seeds. When you order you can choose to add more toppings and select the firmness of the noodles, the strength of the soup base, and the oil level. We added spinach, soft seaweed, an egg and fried onions, with firm noodles (I like my noodles resilient). Definitely play with the chili oil and vinegar condiments sitting on the table.

There are a number of locations in the L.A. area, we went to the one in West L.A. The space is bright, with painted brick walls and a bar right outside the kitchen windows. When we came on a Sunday night around 7:30 there was a 20 minute wait but the hostess handed us an order form while we were waiting, which sped things along. Our starter, fried potato rice cakes with cheese and cod roe inside called potemochi, came out quick and went nicely with a cold beer. A regular ramen is $6.95, with each extra toppings from $1 to $3. Note the happy hour: $1 Kirin beers 2-5 pm Mon through Thurs.

Modan Artisanal Ramen
Traditionalists will probably roll their eyes at the crispy kale toppings at this little LA chain but don’t knock it til you try it. The tonkotsu broth here doesn’t have as much depth as I wanted but it had some good flavor. There are just a few types of ramen and we tried two. The spicy ramen isn’t harsh but it lingered nicely and the black ramen’s roasted garlic played with the truffle oil nicely. Decor is minimalist, comfortable, and etsy-hipster: mason jars, edison lightbulbs, chalkboards, mis-match wood, you know it well. Plenty of non-ramen bites here including poke bowls, rolls, seaweed salad, and their signature brussels sprouts. I loved the green iced tea. Ramen runs about $9. Locations in South Pasadena and Eagle Rock.