The Unvegan » American

Classing it Up at The Tar Pit

The Unvegan — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:00:30 +0000

What resides within my gnocchi?

Once upon a time, I read an interesting review of The Tar Pit on LAist. It wasn’t exactly positive, but it only covered their happy hour and seemed to be more concerned with Chef Mark Peel’s children running around than with the food itself. Most disheartening, though, was Peel’s comments to the review. Needless to say, such a big time chef should not have been so concerned about one bad review and his concern made me less likely to go than the review itself. Yet, to The Tar Pit I went, and I was glad for it.

We had made a reservation, but upon arrival we found the place to be pretty empty, except for a couple of tables full of the cast of The Big Bang Theory. Overall, the ambiance of the place gave off the look of ’40s jazz club and the pianist and vocalist playing at the front of the place certainly helped with that ambiance.

Apologies for the terrible, blurry picture.

I was surprised to find a lot of good-looking unvegan options on the menu, but ultimately brought my choices down to three. We opted to split the Tar Pit Fries and Arancini, then I ordered the NY Strip Steak all for my lonesome.

The Arancini came out first, and for those unfamiliar with arancini, they are essentially Italian fried cheesy rice balls. These particular balls were packed with arborio rice and pecorino and sottocenere cheese, then thrown into a pool of harissa chili sauce. I expected to be wowed by these, especially after the waiter had recommended them over the Mac and Cheese, but I just wasn’t. They tasted no better than the last arancini I picked up at Trader Joe’s, and that just ain’t right.

Fry me a river of these and I will eat them all.

But then came the Tar Pit Fries and blew away those cheesy balls. These things were seasoned with spiced lemon salt and served with ketchup and lemon-garlic aioli and that was pretty much how the menu left it, but upon arrival these fries were a bit more than that. They had either been hand cut, or specialty-cut because these weren’t your average cookie-cutter fries. Also, the ketchup was either house made or gourmet, because it was not at all Heinz or Hunt’s. I’ve had questionable house made ketchup before, but this stuff was the real deal. The aoili was also a hit, but the real show was the fries themselves. The seasoning was perfect and the fries had a nice crisp to them that hovered somewhere between steak fries and skinny fries.

Finally, my NY Strip Steak was served. The menu said it came with gnocchi, raw milk cheddar fondue and radishes, but I had unveganly ordered mine sans radishes. This was a wise choice, but I was a little concerned when my steak arrived and I found a pile of green lumps in a light cheese sauce. This made me confused, because clearly the green lumps were gnocchi and clearly the light cheese sauce was the fondue, but neither of these were what the menu had told me. First off, fondue is a cheese dip. I love a cheese sauce with gnocchi and this “fondue” tasted great, but don’t tell me I’m getting fondue and then serve me a bit of sauce with my gnocchi. And as for the gnocchi, I was a bit disappointed. I’d never seen green gnocchi before and I hope to never see it again. This stuff has been infused with some sort of vegetable, which not only threw off the texture, but killed the flavor as well. Fortunately for The Tar Pit, the steak was amazing. It had been cooked to the perfect medium rare and cut away almost like butter with my regular non-steak knife. It had a light, salty seasoning to it and that was all it needed.

So The Tar Pit was a bit of a hit-or-miss place. I could see how a visitor might leave angry, but also how another customer might have the best meal of their life. As for me, I tried enough to get mixed feelings. It was kind of like one of those dates that you finish happy, but knowing you could do better. The girl was kinda cute, had a mild sense of humor and liked to read every once in a while, but in the end, I could meet another, better girl at any given moment. That was The Tar Pit to me.

Doubling Down at Townhouse

The Unvegan — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:00:41 +0000

Not in my Townhouse.

After seeing the frontrunner for Most Gratuitously Violent Movie of the Year (Drive, which is great by the way), some people might not have much of an appetite. Those people, though, are not unvegan and the sight of so much blood made me crave some meat. As we had seen the movie in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, my local valley friends took me to a place called Townhouse Kitchen + Bar. I knew little of what to expect, except that football would be on TV and this was a good start.

A quick look at the menu told me I would be getting a burger, and that burger would be the Fried Egg Burger. As we all know, I love me a fried egg on a burger. This thing was topped with the aforementioned fried egg, bacon, gouda, lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions. I asked for mine without any of the veggies and then played the waiting game. Fortunately, my waiting game was not nearly as bad as one of my valley friends, who waited just as long to get his beer as I did to get my burger. The burger wait wasn’t too long, but it was far longer than a wait should be for a beer. Nonetheless, in the middle of my own wait, I realized I had not been asked how I wanted my burger cooked. I was a little scared, but figured restaurants usually default towards the medium end.

Yes, you are looking at double patties.

Yet, when my burger arrived, I was in for a shock, and not due to vegetables as usual, because my plate was free from those bitter beings. No, the shock was my meat, which was not cooked medium and it was easy to see why he had not asked me how I wanted my meat cooked. Sitting on my bun were two patties of meat, both pretty thin and both cooked all the way through. In other words, it looked like they had cooked up two patties of grocery store frozen beef and served them to me. When I bit in, this was all but confirmed. Now, had I been at a friend’s BBQ, I would have been damn happy with the double burger, but at a restaurant I was more than a little disappointed. Yet, from the ashes of bad meat rose tasty toppings. I must admit that the gouda, bacon and egg combo worked out pretty nicely. The egg was nice and runny, although not to the extent that the plate was overflowing with yolk drippings. And of course the bacon and gouda were delicious.

Oh, the burger also came with fries, which were quite delicious. They almost made up for the…wait, no, not at all. Good fries never make up for bad beef. So, Townhouse, if you took the time to prepare some real patties, you could have some burgers worth bragging about. Instead, you hover somewhere between fast food and gourmet, which, in my world is known as no man’s land.

Plundering Paradise Cove

The Unvegan — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:00:52 +0000

Frequented by humans and seagulls alike.

The coastal land of Malibu is populated by celebrities attempting to avoid the real world and regular people who want to avoid the crowds of LA’s more local beaches. It’s also sparsely populated by restaurants that want nothing more than to serve a subpar meal while providing a breathtaking view. Or at least that’s how it usually goes – a great view = decent food. Hoping to avoid that trend, the Danto family brought back memories of high school and college by taking me, their son’s greatest friend of all time, to lunch. The Danto clan had chosen Paradise Cove and I was excited to find out what they had to offer.

Yargh, me wants to plunder yer chicken.

Parking at Paradise Cove was the first hurdle we had to jump. At $3 for 4 hours with validation, this was quite literally the only parking available that didn’t risk ticketing. But as far as city parking goes, this was a small price to pay. The next hurdle was getting seated, and although we had a reservation, we still had to wait a good 20 minutes to be seated. This was a poor show, but at least there was a nice beach and pier to visit outside while we waited. Well, sort of. Let it be known that if you are going to Malibu to avoid the crowds of LA beaches, Paradise Cove is not for you. But, if you are not lazy, a 5-10 minute walk past the restaurant takes you some pretty empty patches of beach.

Check out this giant rib thing while you wait.

Enough about beach, let’s get back to the food, because after our wait we were finally seated and could check out the menu. Disappointingly, I found myself staring at a menu dominated by seafood. I endorse seafood as consumption of animal, but I really don’t care for the stuff. Fortunately, seafood places usually like to offer some basic chicken or beef dishes and Paradise Cove was no different. I located a BBQ Chicken Breast Sandwich and decided to make it my own. It came with lettuce, tomato, onion and mayonnaise, but I ordered mine plain. Similar to seafood, I support the existence of mayonnaise, but have little need for it (especially when I have BBQ sauce to keep my sandwich moist). It also came with a choice of cole slaw or “golden french fries” and I chose the fries.

You've pickled me for the last time, Paradise Cove.

When the sandwich arrived, I was appalled to find that a spear of a pickle had taken up residence upon my plate. I whisked it away while wondering what kind of a person would order a plain sandwich, but still want a pickle spear. Clearly a crazy person, and I am not one of those. I put the bun together and got to eating. What a found was a pretty good sandwich. The chicken was tender, moist and well-grilled, while the BBQ sauce had some nice sweet and tangy flavor to it. I was glad they hadn’t just busted out some KC Masterpiece and had opted for something a bit unique. The toasted bun went well with the sandwich, but one of my first bites was tainted with the vile concoction known as pickle juice. It was only one bite, but it was one to remember. So in the end I found it to be just a good sandwich at a place with a stellar view.

Fries, you have saved my meal.

Those golden fries, however, were just as stellar as the view. With the girth of fast food fries, these suckers had been fried to the perfect degree of crispiness. And they managed to maintain a chewy center all the while. Pretty amazing.

And to wash it all down, Irwin spotted a chocolate cake he wanted us all to take part in. I usually have no need for chocolate cake or really any dessert, but I would not let the Danto family down on this one. When the massive slice of cake arrived, I happily munched on a couple of bites while letting the rest of the crew take down the lion’s share.

Finally, a cake to destroy me.

So would I recommend Paradise Cove for visitors to Malibu? Yes and no. Yes, it is a cool place to check out. The sandwich was not bad and the beach was pretty sweet. Plus, if you like seafood, the fish eaters at the table were both quite happy with their orders. One was the opah fish and the other was clam chowder with a sandwich quite literally dipped in it. I, though, probably wouldn’t return to Paradise Cove. I’m glad I got to try it, but there are plenty more restaurants with beaches in the sea of Malibu and I am eager to test them all out first.

Blue on Blue at Coral Tree Cafe

The Unvegan — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:00:37 +0000

Worth the drive to Encino?

The drive from North Hollywood to Encino on the 101 during a Friday lunch hour is quite possibly the worst 10 mile stretch of road in the nation. Yet, to meet my girlfriend for lunch, I made that drive without seeing nary a Brennan Frasier-shaped caveman. We met at Coral Tree Cafe and after such a terrible drive I was craving some comfort food to counter the traffic blues I was feeling. We walked up to the counter to order and my eyes quickly made contact with their Baked Macaroni and Cheese. It wasn’t what you would consider an ideal food for a 90+ degree day in the Valley, but looked like it would hit the spot.

This wasn’t your average, run of the mill baked mac and cheese either. Sure, they threw in multiple cheeses like sharp cheddar, monterey jack and parmesan, but they kicked it up one step further with Danish blue cheese. Then they topped it all off with a Panko flake crust. When I first dug in, I was greeted with the bluest mac and cheese I had ever tasted. But where I typically think of blue as sort of a dry cheese, this stuff was as creamy as Eric Clapton. The Panko added some delicious crunch to the mac and cheese and I devoured it with all my heart and possibly some other vital organs.

As the consumption continued, I found myself a bit overwhelmed by the blue cheese. Yes, blue cheese was an awesome and welcome addition to the cheese-fest, but it actually got to the point where I could hardly taste the other cheeses. In fact, towards the end I even dipped one of the pieced of bread that came on my plate into the cheese sauce in an attempt to buffer the blue a little bit.

Yet, there are far worse things to be done to a mac and cheese than putting in too much blue cheese. So, Coral Tree Cafe, I applaud you for getting creative with your mac. Tone down the blue a little bit and I would consider another trip to Encino in lieu of busting out another box of Kraft.

Melting at Marmalade Cafe

The Unvegan — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:00:03 +0000

Toasty

Sure, brunch is a good “meal,” but sometimes even if the clock hasn’t struck noon you need a good hearty lunch. That’s just what happened to me when I headed to Marmalade Cafe at The Grove. I skipped right over the omelets and waffles and jumped to the sandwiches. I even skipped over the burgers since I had tackled one at Ford’s Filling Station the night before. Fortunately there was a meaty unvegan sandwich on the menu that was right up my alley.

It was creatively called the Turkey Melt and made with oven roasted turkey, La Brea Bakery sourdough, avocado, bacon and provolone. Not a vegetable to be found, and I further confirmed this with the waitress when ordering. Isn’t it amazing when a menu actually tells you what comes with your meal? On top of that, it offered a choice of salad or fries, and I chose the salad because I need to be healthy. Oh I crack myself up.

My meal came quick, which was good because we had told the waitress we were in a rush. And this looked great. The bright green avocado, coupled with the reddish-brown bacon and the lightly browned toast made for some delicious-looking food porn. But looks aren’t everything, I needed it to taste delicious as well. And it tasted…well…good. The thing is, all the ingredients were good and I have no complaints. Even the fries were good. Was it amazing? No, but it’s a turkey melt and there’s really only so much you can do with it. They didn’t screw it up and that was all I needed.

A Quickie Dinner at Daily Grill

The Unvegan — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:00:31 +0000

More like Multi-Daily Grill

On our way out of town via the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, we were in need of a convenient place for a bite to eat. Across the street from the airport, we found the Daily Grill, an mid-level restaurant chain for American food that can found throughout California and a little beyond. As we needed to catch a flight, there was little time to dilly dally and I quickly scanned the menu and found their Penne Pasta with Chicken.

At $16.95, it was slightly pricier than my ordinary pasta expenditure, but they certainly didn’t hold back on portion size. The bowl of pasta rivaled that of C & O in size and I quickly forgot the price and instead concentrated on the sad fact that I wouldn’t be able to take the leftovers with me. Yes, I already knew I had no chance of demolishing this massive bowl of pasta.

I attempted to make dents in the pasta, but to no avail. Once I knew there was little I could do to tackle this beast, I concentrated on the taste. It was totally devoid of vegetables, which made me happy, and the pesto sauce was quite delicious. The grilled chicken was a great addition and not just some protein afterthought to make my people happy. There were also pine nuts sprinkled throughout the pasta, which were like little morsels of joy that just soaked up the delicious pesto sauce. My least favorite part of the dish was the penne itself. Although not bad penne by any means, it tasted like something I could have easily bought in a store and boiled myself. Perhaps it was made in-house, but to my taste buds it may as well have been store bought.

For a quickie meal, the Daily Grill treated us well, but it felt like that had leaned slightly towards quantity over quality. As though offering a gigantor bowl of pasta would make up for the just-decent noodles. Instead of bowling me over in size, it would have been nice to have some better penne and just enough food to fill me up. Yet as I said before, this was a quickie meal without much time to think and without an option of bringing home left overs, so the Daily Grill deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Getting Stuffed at Spice Market Buffet

The Unvegan — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:00:11 +0000

Not understanding the relation.

In my continuing quest to find the greatest buffet in Las Vegas (and eventually the world!), I may have found one to stand toe to toe with Rio’s Carnival World Buffet. Situated in Planet Hollywood, the Spice Market Buffet doesn’t fit into the Hollywood theme, at least in name. It also doesn’t bear any resemblance to a Spice Market. Nonetheless, it does use spices and the walls are adorned with food-related movie posters like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (two very similar movies). The lunch buffet cost 25 bucks, but as soon as I looked around, I knew it was going to be well worth the price.

Spread around the place were signs naming the types of food sprawled beneath. There was Seafood, Italian, Asian, American, Dessert, Middle-Eastern, Soup, Mexican and of course two Salad stations that I would have avoided completely had they not had both fruit and cheese. Our waiter, Juan, was awesome and even though his job was the simple task of clearing our plates and bringing us drinks, he was just about the friendliest restaurant worker in the world. After putting in my drink order, I had the enviable task of deciding where the hell to start eating. A brief walk and I knew just where to go.

American.

Nothing shouts America louder than slabs of beef and strips of bacon.

My foray into my native country brought me prime rib, bacon, citrus-marinated chicken and mashed potatoes. This was a hell of a strong start. The prime rib was already juicy, but the au jus I ladled onto it made it even juicier and tastier. I was lucky enough to get a thick cut, but the thickness did not get in the way of the tenderness. The thing was a bit fatty, but not so much that I felt I wasn’t getting enough meat. Plus, had I wanted more I could have just gone up and gotten it. I followed this with some delicious bacon. This stuff managed to somehow be both crispy and melty. The initial bite was nice and solid, but as soon as it got in my mouth, it melted like delicious pig-tummy butter. The mashed potatoes made a nice side and although they could have just used some sort of mix, these were the real deal: creamy, salty and full of skin. My least favorite was the chicken, which didn’t taste bad, but was just something I felt no need to waste any additional stomach space on. After all, space is everything. And the final frontier. I was ready for my next plate.

Mexican.

Gringo nachos fit for an unvegan.

Continuing my culinary world tour, I headed south of the border for some Mexican food. Part of the setup was a sort of taco/fajita bar, while the other side was more of a salsa station. I decided to make the most of both and created some loaded nachos. First I piled a bunch of nachos on the plate, then carefully picked out asada and chicken from their respective fajita trays, making sure not to accidentally grab any peppers. Next, I piled on their beans and then moved to the cheese. In hindsight, since the cheese was shredded and not melted, I should have put it on before the beans so it would melt, but alas, hindsight is 20/20. But I wasn’t done, I topped it off with some spicy red salsa and some guacamole, then finally returned to eat it. It looked and tasted like a thing of beauty. It had just the right ratio of components that no single ingredient overpowered. Once again, my least favorite was the chicken, because it was a bit dry, but the beans were enough to keep the mood wet. Yet, despite this wetness, the chips maintained their strength. So much so that 15 minutes into eating, they were just as crisp as they had been in the beginning. No floppy chips here. Now what?

Italian and Seafood.

Italian and Seafood living together in perfect harmony.

Since neither of these nations of food offered me enough for a full plateful (or my stomach was getting packed), I decided to combine the two. I began with pizza and lasagna, then took a couple of tempura shrimp (which really bridges the gap of Asian and Seafood). The pizza wasn’t just some half-assed effort to get kids to eat at their buffet. In fact, they had a real wood-fired oven to cook the pizza in. It didn’t compare to the wood-fired pizza at most restaurants that are dedicated to that particular food, but was certainly a big step up from chain pizza. The lasagna, though, was just plain decent. Rolled up as though it was canneloni, it tasted fine, but wasn’t special enough to waste more than a biteful of my stomach. Finally, I crunched into the shrimp tempura. I always find shrimp walks a fine line between rubbery and tasty, but this shrimp had been so thoroughly fried that any semblance of its original texture was long gone. In its place was crispy, amazing shrimp tempura, which despite being so fried, refused to be dried out. Hell, I would eat my shoe if it were fried like that. By now, I was slowing down, but still fighting.

Middle-Eastern.

These would be so much tastier with marinara! Uh what...

Like so many people throughout history, I took the fight to the Middle-East. Here I encountered hummus, pita, tandoori chicken skewers (Middle-East/India…same thing) and some chicken curry. This was definitely the most disappointing part of my meal. The hummus was just kind of too thick without being creamy. It wasn’t dry, as some hasty hummus can be, but after a few bites I was finished. As for the skewers, I found them to be a bit dry, and although I tried to moisten them up with some curry, I quickly found out that the curry was actually marinara sauce. Actually not bad marinara, but definitely not in the right place. The chicken curry had also been cooked in marinara. Again, I would have liked it had I found it in the Italian section, but this wasn’t quite right. I hoped my next plate would be better.

Asian.

And the crab rangoon said, "Hey, we're called crab yangon now, look it up."

My stomach was nearing capacity and I really just went to the Asian area to get some tastes. This began with crab rangoon (again bridging the Asian/Seafood gap), then moved to lemon chicken and beef chow mein noodles. The crab rangoon was a nice surprise of taste and tasted even better when dipped into the sweet Thai chili sauce. The lemon chicken was a strange twist on orange chicken, except they had apparently used lemon instead of orange. The difference was negligible, but still tasted pretty good. Finally, the beef chow mein tasted pretty good, but the noodles were so thick that I could hardly get them into my belly. I’m glad I didn’t start out with these noodles, because although they tasted good, they were just too filling for me to have wasted early space on.

I finished off my meal with as much fruit as I could find. I needed to do my stomach at least some sort of favor in that meal, plus I would rather have fruit than any other dessert. In the end, I was ready to pass out, but instead I had a four hour drive ahead of me. I knew that for the full four hours my digestive system would be working overtime, but it was sure worth it. This was definitely a buffet worthy of rivaling Rio. The Asian and Middle-Eastern sections could have used a little additional effort, but there was really little to complain about. Plus, I know they add even more skewers and crab legs for their dinner, so if lunch isn’t variety enough for you, dinner sounds even better.

Getting Back to Basix

The Unvegan — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:00:34 +0000

This is half of a chicken.

Ordinarily, I am pretty bothered when a place takes a word as simple as “basics” and turns it into “basix.” This kind of goes against being called “basic” because it has overcomplicated a basic word. So, with these overcomplicated thoughts in my mind, I headed into Basix Cafe in West Hollywood, not knowing if should expect something basic or otherwise. What I found was a nice mid-sized cafe with a nice variety of menu items ranging from pizza and pasta to fried chicken and sandwiches. They also had unvegan unfriendly salads and other such dishes, but there were certainly enough vegetable-free dishes to make me like the menu.

The menu was so big, in fact, that I had a tough time choosing what to order. The burger looked tasty, but for some reason I wasn’t in the mood for that. It wasn’t until a buddy of mine mentioned the fried chicken that I knew what I wanted. On the menu it’s called the Southern Fried Half-Chicken and it comes with mashed potatoes with gravy and succotash. Neither of these sides offended my unvegan beliefs, so I ordered without worry and waited for half of a chicken to arrive in front of me.

When it did, I was impressed to see the size of the thing. I’ve seen some small half-chickens before and this was certainly not one of them. Completely coated with fried breading, it looked both shiny and delicious. To the site was moderate pile of potatoes with gravy in the middle and what I assumed was succotash. Although I always thought succotash was just corn and beans, it turned out that this succotash also had a heap of veggies with it. This was disappointing, but at least it didn’t get in the way of my chicken.

When I did into the chicken, I found that it had been fried so well that the meat came easily off the bone. On the other hand, the breading had been reduced to sogginess in the process. There were very rare bits of crunchy breading, which was welcome in this sogfest. The taste of the breading was pretty decent, but kind of tough to see through the texture. I was stuck in a sort of conundrum where the meat was tasty, juicy and tender, but the breading was a disappointment.

The mashed potatoes were a nice addition to the party and the chicken tasted as good dipped in the gravy as the potatoes did. I avoided the succotash completely, because even though there was corn, it wasn’t worth navigating through the peppers, green beans and other such poor excuses for food.

Basix made some tasty chicken, but I don’t think frying it was their forte. If I make it back, I think a different chicken, or perhaps burger, will have to be in order.

Ungodly Food at Damon and Pythias

The Unvegan — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:00:54 +0000

Blue cheese and fries is heaven.

Greek mythology tells the tale of Damon and Pythias. It is a tale of friendship that has withstood the ages and while I won’t get into the details, calling a restaurant Damon and Pythias is kind of like saying, “you’re gonna be best friends with this place.” It is quite a claim and one that I was ready to test. Located in the heart of Westwood, Damon and Pythias serves mostly sandwiches and salads, but with some more normal entrees and even some hot dogs. The food is priced a little bit high for college students in the area, but for a working man like myself, the prices looked amazing.

The first thing you notice when walking in is the succulent smell of garlic. This is due to their garlic fries, which I just had to try. But then I noticed the menu also had other fry options, one of which being Blue Cheese fries. Struggling to choose between the two, I decided I had to have both and would just split them with the table. But fries would not be enough to get me through the meal, I also needed something meaty.

Time for a rename.

Enter the LA Cheesesteak, one of the specialties of the place. This cheesesteak was a world away from it’s cousin in Philly other than the fact that there was both cheese and steak in the sandwich. The steak was sliced up thick flank steak that had been marinated in balsamic and spices and the cheese was blue cheese dressing. On top of that, it was made with crispy onions, field greens and tomatoes. And rather than being contained by a hoagie, this cheesesteak was put inside grilled focaccia bread. I ordered mine without the onions, field greens and tomatoes to make it a true cheesesteak, then added a beer to the tab and took my seat.

While waiting for the food to come, I took a look at my receipt and noticed I had been given a 10% student discount on everything except the beer. And they hadn’t even asked me for a student ID. Still got it!

The blue cheese fries came first and looked heavenly, even Greek godly. These weren’t simply fries with blue cheese on them, but perfectly crispy curly fries that refused to get soggy even under the pressure of the blue cheese dressing. Not only that, but they were also topped with garlic to add additional, yet not overwhelming flavor.

Then came the cheesesteak with my additional garlic fries. The sandwich looked mighty tasty and I dug in immediately only to come back with the taste of disappointment. It seemed they had neglected to prepare my sandwich without the crispy onions. While these onions are much less offensive than their raw or caramelized buddies, they were wholly unwelcome in my cheesesteak. I opened the bread and quite easily removed them from the situation, then got back to my eating. I found the blend of blue cheese and steak to be an interesting take on the cheesesteak, but it did not compare to the Philly sort with Cheez Whiz. The steak itself was cooked quite well to a nice medium, but the blue cheese dressing seemed much better suited for the fries.

In truth, I think the LA Cheesesteak had doomed itself based on its name. Had it just been called a steak sandwich, I wouldn’t have held such high hopes for the thing. Instead, though, I found myself comparing it to the original, against which it couldn’t hold up. Taken just as itself, it tasted great (after the onions), so I will review it thus, but do not try this sandwich thinking it will be the next Philly Cheesesteak or you will be let down.

Oh and before I forget, the garlic fries were damn good, but not quite as good as the blue cheese fries. I fear the first fries spoiled me, but if you’re not a fan of blue cheese, the regular garlic fries will not let you down.

Despite my complaints, Damon and Pythias is definitely a place I would return to. For their fries alone it is worth it, and although they didn’t make the world’s greatest cheesesteak, they still came up with a unique sandwich that is often hard to find. Next time, though, there better not be any onions.

Consuming Mojo at Shakey’s Pizza

The Unvegan — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:00:57 +0000

Just like the olden days.

Shakey’s Pizza and I have a long history, dating all the way back to when I lived in Japan. I discovered Shakey’s in Kyoto and found it to have the best pizza in Japan, at least at that time. They had a modestly priced buffet and although they still served crazy Japanese-style pizza with mayonnaise and corn, they also had good old fashioned pepperoni and cheese. Plus they had delicious fried potatoes and Melon Fanta. Needless to say, every trip to Kyoto came with a stop at Shakey’s. Little did I know at the time that Shakey’s was not just some Japanese anomaly, but had begun in the US. At one point it was a pretty big deal in the US, but now there are more of them in Asia than in the US. Yet, it wasn’t until I moved to LA that I realized I could enjoy the Shakey’s goodness without a plane trip to Asia. Although I knew of Shakey’s in LA for awhile, I finally got the chance to check it out myself and see if it could live up to my memories.

This is some mojo worth eating.

I was able to convince some of my coworkers to join me at the location in North Hollywood to check out their Bunch of Lunch Buffet. This amazing deal was only 8 bucks and included pizza, pasta, potatoes, fried chicken and even salad (gross). I quickly learned that the potatoes I remembered so fondly were not simply called potatoes here. Instead, they were called Mojos. Rather than being sliced into stringy bits like fries, these had been sliced into circular hunks, breaded, seasoned and deep fried. This process created some pretty fantastic Mojos.

But what of the pizza?

Mac and chizza.

Well although Shakey’s in Japan was the best American pizza I could get, it is certainly not the best American pizza I can get in America. But that doesn’t mean the pizza is bad. In fact, for a buffet, the pizza is pretty decent. It’s not the kind of pizza I would crave too often, but it is definitely the kind of pizza i can see myself craving when I just want to eat a butt-load of pizza. The crust is flaky, yet firm enough to hand being picked up by hand. They even had a crazy pizza that day with mac and cheese on top. Nothing beats carb on carb on cheese action.

Beer button!!!!

Then there was the fried chicken. This was something I definitely didn’t remember from Japan. The breading on it was pretty decent, but the chicken itself was a bit too dry. Never fear, though, because in case of emergency dryness, every table is equipped with a beer button. Yes, a button simply made to order beer and nothing else. This was too good to be true, but since this was a work lunch, I had no chance to take advantage of it.

The gravy was real...ish.

Finally, there were the mashed potatoes. These spuds were…well…just okay. There was nothing really wrong with the flavor except for the knowledge that you could make them yourself. From a box. Yes, they were fake. Or at least they tasted that way. If not fake, then they did a really good job of capturing the taste of faux potatoes. Even if these mashed potatoes has been good, they still would have played second potato to the Mojos.

Mojos were definitely the stars of the Shakey’s show; crispy, crunchy, flavorful and delicious. The pizza wasn’t bad and certainly didn’t hurt my memory of their pizza in Japan, but there is just too much good pizza in the country for Shakey’s to be anything more than a buffet stop at a great price.