Niu rou mian and more in Monterey Park:
PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
If you’re anywhere in the San Gabriel Valley and determined to track the openings and closings of purveyors of exotic cuisine − say, soupy xiao long bao dumplings − you’ll end up absolutely dizzy. The area’s countless Chinese restaurants, offering regional recipes culled from every corner [...]
Salvadoran classics from North Long Beach:
PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
You can see the torch-like tower for blocks, a monument to the movie-going experience that scrapes the sky with bubblegum-colored stripes. It rises up from the Atlantic Theatre, a pink and white prewar space that, over the decades, has hosted everything from live nude revues to the [...]
Bellflower’s best (and only) Indonesian from the District:
PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
The only wind swirling around outside Toko Rame belongs to the 91 Freeway. It’s a hot rush of exhaust that shoots down to the restaurant after each passing car. But without a proper breeze, Toko Rame’s Indonesian cuisine isn’t always an obvious choice for a pre-summer [...]
Journalistic tradition dictates the compilation of lists during these quiet times, so with an eye on cheap eats, here are the best things I ate in 2008 (in no particular order), from Santa Ana to North Hollywood:
Moles La Tía’s mancha manteles
Don Huarache’s steak huarache
The Nickel Diner’s pulled-pork hash
Shin Okinawa Izakaya’s fried chicken [...]
A dual review of Five Guys Burgers and Fries and MVP Grill and Patio from the District:
PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
It’s been more than 50 years, but Southern California’s burger business is as crowded as ever. Those looking to break into the patty-flipping scene would now only be entering hostile territory, home to the fast foods [...]
Pambazos, cemitas and (of course) huaraches at Don Huarache for CityBeat:
PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
It’s a dusty world out on Don Huarache’s solitary stretch of Burbank Boulevard, a dry drag where cracked concrete abuts only the occasional nursery or upholsterer. Drop off onto the side streets and the North Hollywood neighborhood fades into rows of apartments [...]
Short notice, but here’s a chance to help out MOCA’s failing finances the easiest way possible: with your stomach. Today, between noon and 2pm, a number of artists will be hosting a bake sale outside the museum featuring everything from marionberry pie to Alberto Giacometti-style baguettes (above). More press released info after the jump:
UPDATE: Photos [...]
Downtown’s ideal diner from this week’s CityBeat:
PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
Call the Nickel Diner whatever you will – a harbinger of gentrification, a preservationist’s dream, a loft-livers’ love – but the spirit of the downtown restaurant is best represented by three little doughnut holes. They arrive on a sampler plate; at a recent brunch rush, they were [...]
A busy week, so here’s one from the District vaults:
PHOTO by RICK POON
Before dark, Izakaya Zero seems a clinical place—the white walls and white menus and white chairs aren’t so much clean and modern as they are austere. But at night it transforms, shedding the orange shadows of sunset for some carefully controlled lighting, which [...]
Harbor City’s Spanish stop from this week’s District:
PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
The Saturday crowd at Harbor City’s La Española Meats is angling for space. Up at the counter, customers are jostling to scan cases stocked with limitless links of sausage; others pass time by snacking on samples.
There’s barely enough room to turn around, and this [...]
