The Unvegan » Los Angeles

Electing to Eat at Lukshon

The Unvegan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:00:05 +0000

Delukshus!

A while back, Sang Yoon opened up a place called Lukshon in Culver City. For some, this was a time to rejoice, as this was the man behind the Father’s Office burger. But for me, it was a time to…well…consider trying out Lukshon. You see, if you know me, you know my disdain for the Father’s Office burger. So it took until dineLA’s Restaurant Week to get me out to Lukshon. I went with a sizable crowd, collectively known as the Suppah Club, and we had ourselves a seat at a massive table on Lukshon’s patio in Culver City.

While we were there initially for the fixed price menu, a group of us decided to go rogue and order a bunch of things from regular menu, including some of those from dineLA. This was great, as it gave me an opportunity to try more than I would have otherwise, beginning with the Spicy Chicken Pops. These things start out as basic Shelton Farms drumettes before being topped with garlic, kecap manis (a sweet soy sauce) and spicy Sichuan salt. And yes, they were as good as they sound. I loved the combination of sweet, salty and spicy flavor and could not get enough of these. They also had a unique texture, being quite crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Get in my lamb belly!

Next came the Lamb Belly Roti Canai, an incredibly unique dish with perhaps a few too many flavors going on. The roti itself is flatbread and the belly was topped with chana dal (a type of lentil), cumin, mint and raita (a South Asian yogurt sauce). There were also pickled cauliflowers on the side, which went right to everyone else. While I was happy with this dish, I felt like I couldn’t really taste the lamb belly itself. Maybe that was the intention, and while I was happy to get protein, I would have liked to taste the meat rather than just the yogurt, cumin and mint.

A slight shortage of rib flavor.

Then we got down with some Short Rib Rendang, a beef short rib dish cooked with Malay spices and served with a red chile lemongrass rempah (spice paste) mixed with coconut cream. While I didn’t eat much of this, I found it to be quite the opposite of the lamb belly, in that none of the flavors really popped at all. Perhaps my taste buds had taken a vacation after the lamb belly, but I expect some strong Malaysian flavor and was a little disappointed to find none. Nonetheless, the beef itself was cooked perfectly and had a fair amount of its own flavor to offer.

This ain't no side dish rice.

With that taken care of, we moved on to my favorite dish of the night – Heirloom Black Rice. Tossed in with the rice was lap cheong (Chinese sausage), roasted garlic, onion and a Lily’s Farm fried egg. I couldn’t order without the onion, as we were splitting this delicious rice, but if there was any onion in the final product, it went unknown to me. The fried egg was perfectly runny and got sliced, diced and mixed in with the black rice. The result was some spectacular flavor and texture. The black rice is a bit heavier than white and has a tougher feel to it, while the lap cheong is a slightly sweet and chewy sausage that goes well with just about any form of rice. With the perfect balance, the Heirloom Black Rice was the big winner of the night in my heart.

A belly surrounded by cabbage.

But wait, we weren’t finished yet. There was still Garlic Pork Belly to be eaten. Mixed in with the slivers of pork belly was do ban jian (a spicy paste), tubular rice cakes, cabbage and garlic chives. This made for a dish I needed to pick at. You see, I wasn’t about to be eating cabbage, I do have a reputation to protect. Unfortunately, though, the dish was lacking in pork belly content. When I did find that delicious pre-bacon, it was delicious, but it felt too few and far between. The rice cakes were a nice touch though. They may have been filler, but they were delicious filler with the great flavor of the do ban jian.

On the hizzy!

Now, Lukshon has a unique policy of offering free dessert at every dinner. Ordinarily I love anything free, but I have to think a restaurant offering free dessert for every diner is offloading the costs onto its patrons anyway. And since I’m not a dessert guy, I would prefer a cheaper regular meal. But that’s beside the point, and it turned out that our desserts were delicious. I couldn’t tell you what they all were, but rest easy that Lukshon comes through on desserts.

I left Lukshon a happy and full unvegan. While not every dish was a hit, I loved the thought behind them all, the emphasis on local sources and the overall variety of Asian influence. Plus, the great dishes were truly awesome. I also want to mention our terrific waiter, who knew the menu like the back of his hand, made some great suggestions and prevented us from over-ordering anything. With all that said, Lukshon was definitely a step up from the Father’s Office burger and Sang Yoon is moving in the right direction.

Palihouse Goes All DineLA

The Unvegan — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:45 +0000

Man salad? My assssss.

Well, it’s that wonderful time of the year again – dineLA’s Restaurant Week. Yes, it’s the time of the year where I spend too much, eat too much, and still feel happy about it. Unless, of course, I’m eating at Katana. This time around, we went with a couple friends to Palihouse in West Hollywood. I’d been to Palihouse once before, late at night when it was trying to be a bar/club. It’s also a hotel. But on this night, it was simply a restaurant to us.

While most dineLA restaurants opt for the typical 3-course meal, Palihouse diverges a bit from the path. Instead of separate appetizers and main courses, they offer a range of options and you get to choose three of them. They also throw a dessert in, so it appears to be money well-spent.

Yet, despite the array of choices, only a couple fit into an unvegan diet. The first was the Steak Frites, the second was the Chicken Apricot Pot Pie and the final one was the Pork and Truffle Pate. I’m not much of a pate guy, so I had to get a little creative for my third choice. The one that looked the best was actually something I could never see myself ordering – Caesar Salad. But wait, before you chastise me, let me tell you that this salad comes with chicken nuggets, bacon and a poached egg. I asked the waiter if I could order the salad without the “salad” part and he said it wasn’t possible. Damn it all. But then he went on to tell me that it was a pretty manly salad. Challenge accepted! I am nothing if not a man willing to try things. And try I did. The nuggets were home made and didn’t even resemble their distant cousins from Happy Meals. The bacon and poached egg were equally delicious. The cheese that came with the salad also added a nice touch. It wasn’t just some shredded parmesan, but crispy and delicious. The same could not be said for the lettuce itself, which I found wholly unnecessary. While it may have been a pretty manly salad (and I give Palihouse credit for making salad interesting), it would have just been so much better without that damn lettuce.

That's my pot pie!

But onto other things, namely the Chicken Apricot Pot Pie. This thing was exactly what it sounded like, except with a few peas and carrots thrown in to make me uncomfortable. Yet, despite these veggie inclusions, the pot pie was awesome. The crust was perfectly flaky and absorbed the juices of the pie quite nicely. The apricot contributed a unique flavor to the mix, which slightly sweetened things up and added a bit of tartness. It was the kind of unique dish that dineLA is made for, because I probably would not have ordinarily ordered it when I could have the…

Oooh more salad!

…Steak Frites instead. This thing was a 6 oz. hanger steak, topped with chimichurri butter and a petite salad. And, as a bonus (because the weren’t listed on the menu), it also came with fries. The salad had fortunately been relegated into its own bowl and I didn’t have to deal with it. I’d ordered this at a medium rare and it came out cooked perfectly. Although the hanger isn’t typically the best cut of steak, this one had some great flavor and was quite tender. The chimichurri butter was a nice touch and added some good flavor as well, but like I said, the steak itself tasted surprisingly good on its own. The bonus fries were a great side, nice and crispy.

Please stretch my oreos.

Finally, there were the desserts. Our choices were House Made Oreo Cookies or the Chocolate Muffin. The four of us ordered two of each to share and they turned out to be pretty unique. The oreos were elongated and came with a strawberry milkshake for dipping or simply drinking. This was definitely my favorite of the two desserts, as I loved the shake and cream filling. The cookie part itself was a bit rich for me, but nothing compared to how rich the chocolate muffin was. To call it a muffin is really a misnomer, as it was really a pile of chocolate cake in a bowl. It came with a carmelized banana, walnuts and banana ice cream and after a few bites, I was done for.

I call this dessert richie rich.

Palihouse turned out to be a better dineLA meal than I had expected. While the menu could have used more unvegan options, those that fit the bill were quite good. And the one that didn’t fit the bill was at least a nice attempt. I am not really in a position to judge the dessert because I’m not much of a dessert person. However, if they toned down the richness, I think they could have made the desserts more accessible to people like me. Having tried a fair amount of their menu now, I’m not sure that I feel the need to return to Palihouse, but I definitely recommend it for anyone looking to mix things up during Restaurant Week.

Overloading on Larry’s Chili Dog

The Unvegan — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:00:14 +0000

Classic dog-in-bun.

Up in Burbank is a classic-looking hot dog shack called Larry’s Chili Dog. They have an awesome neon sign that looks like it was built in the 1970s at the earliest, but likely goes back even further. The true age of the joint is bit difficult to ascertain, for while another, smaller sign says “SERVING BURBANK FOR OVER ’50 YEARS,’” I’m not really sure what 50 years amounts to when you put them in quotes. Whatever the case, this place was definitely old and old school.

I also serve ambiguously.

The menu pretty much consists of burgers, hot dogs and the normal things you would think to put on them without getting too fancy. But they do seem to have introduced some items for the crowd that can’t handle simplicity. While simplicity is usually the name of my game, one of Larry’s specialty dogs really jumped out at me. Called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this thing consisted of a huge Louisiana Hot Link doused with chili and cheese. Not fancy, but unique enough to not be a simple chili cheese dog. The price of $6.35 was a little more than I had expected to pay here, especially without fries, but I decided the risk was worth it.

It took some time to prep, but when my Kung Fu movie of a hot dog arrived, it looked incredible. The hot link had been butterflied, which gave it a nice, even cook and an additional crevice to fill with chili and cheese. The cheese was a shredded cheddar blend and by the time I snapped a couple pictures of the dog, the cheese had melted into perfection. Just like the delicious coney dogs of my native land, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon required a fork and knife to eat.

Tigers, dragons and butterflies.

After slicing away a few bites, I found myself a happy unvegan. This hot dog concoction was sheer genius. The hot link had a nice kick to it and a perfectly crispy skin. The chili was pretty tasty and wet, but was overshadowed in flavor by the hot link. I think this was a good thing, though, as the texture was awesome and the hot link gave it a great kick. The bun did an awesome job of absorbing the chili, while the cheese did what it does best: made everything better.

The window to awesomeville.

While I thought the bun was absorbing a fair amount of chili, when I finished the dog I learned I was wrong. The grease had completely soaked through the paper it was wrapped in to prove how awesome the meal I had eaten truly was. Could I have eaten fries? Yes, but they were certainly unnecessary in the grad scheme of the carnage I had unleashed in my hot dog basket. Larry’s served up one of the best chili dogs I’ve had in LA, and I can’t wait to return, for the next “50 Years” and beyond.

FuRaiBo Knows

The Unvegan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:35:07 +0000

FuRaiBo knows fried chicken.

Oh, Little Little Tokyo, the gem of the LA’s west side. Aside from Little Ethiopia, there’s really nowhere else that you can be driving along regular LA streets, suddenly find yourself in a foreign country for two blocks, and then pop back out into regular LA again. There’s a pretty steady stream of awesome restaurants and stores in this foreign territory and for this review a group of us headed to FuRaiBo. In order to be seated immediately, we had to sit in their floor room (like a tatami room, without the tatami). This meant sitting on the floor. While this sort of seating is not common in modern Japan, it certainly still exists. The trouble with this seating at FuRaiBo, however, is that their floor seating gives a distinct lack of leg room, such that my legs couldn’t even get under the table. Nonetheless, while seating played a role in the meal, it didn’t define it.

FuRaiBo’s menu is great, and not only because the first couple pages are entirely Japanese. No, it’s great because of what it offers, which is a vast array of Japanese foods that are neither sushi nor ramen. So, in looking at the menu, I couldn’t help but think of Bo Jackson, who according to a Nike campaign back in the day, knew just about everything. It was called “Bo Knows” and I figured I could twist that around for this review.

FuRaiBo Knows Beer

$9.50 for a pitcher of Kirin or Sapporo. Just sayin’.

FuRaiBo Knows Chicken

FuRaiBo only kind of knows wings.

Well, at least the fried variety. My first dish (as pictured above) was the Tori Pirikara. This was some sweet and spicy fried chicken (nuggety in size) and delivered precisely on that promise. As with most Japanese food, the spiciness itself was questionable, but there was a little kick. The sauce went perfectly with the karaage-style texture of the chicken and was easily the highlight of my meal. I also ordered their Teba Saki (chicken wings) and to continue on the spicy theme I ordered them “Extra Spicy.” Although this had been called FuRaiBo’s Special Chicken on the menu, I was quite disappointed. The wings were pretty dry and had very little flavor. Even the extra spiciness added very little to the wings. Although the price was right at $4.10, I polished these off thinking I could do better at home.

FuRaiBo Knows Beef

FuRaiBo knows raw.

Here’s where I managed to surprise myself. I consider myself quite knowledgeable when it comes to Japan and Japanese food. Not an expert by a long shot, but still I feel pretty confident. What that said, I somehow managed to accidentally order Beef Sashimi. I don’t know what came over me, but as I read the item on the menu and said it aloud to our waitress, I kept thinking I was ordering sukiyaki. Huge difference, but one that has led me to appreciate raw meat just a little. These tender strips of beef had been seared ever-so-slightly around the edges to kill off any bacteria, but were utterly raw otherwise. They had a great even marbling and came with a ponzu sauce for dipping. I’ve gotta say, I was surprisingly happy with this cold beef. It was easy to take down, had good, beefy flavor and didn’t have any of the uncomfortable chewiness I’ve experienced with tartare. Would I trade in cooked beef for sashimi? Hell no, but I am glad to know my accidental order gave me a new appreciation for a crazy food.

By the time I had finished, my legs had fallen asleep more times than I could count, and I found myself doing my best to sprawl on the floor. While not every dish was a home run, I was very happy with my meal. It was good to eat at a restaurant that paid homage to authentic Japanese food and if I don’t hit up FuRaiBo again, it will only be because LA has so much other food to offer.

At Home at Victor’s Meats & Delicatessen

The Unvegan — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:00:47 +0000

Meatwich!

I must confess that I have lived quite literally two minutes (by foot) from Victor’s Meats & Delicatessen for the past six months, yet had not once set foot in the place until this past weekend. “Why?” you ask. Well, the answer isn’t simple. It’s also not difficult, because there is no answer save for my foolishness. And it is pure foolishness because Victor’s is a dream come true.

While part of the place is straight-up butcher, Victor’s also serves up sandwiches and assorted pre-cooked foods and salads and such. I was in for a sandwich, but I got more than I expected.

Yes, I did the muenster mash.

First, I have to say that Victor’s is slow, but not in the annoying “I’m being ignored” way, but in the “wow, they really spend a lot of time with each customer” way. In a world of fast food, I found this incredibly refreshing, even if it did mean my starving belly didn’t come into contact with meat for an extra 7 minutes or so.

I decided to go with their hot pastrami sandwich, which ordinarily comes with a plethora of toppings unfit for an unvegan. Instead, I simply went with muenster cheese and Russian dressing. I watched as my helper sliced the pastrami himself, loaded up the bread with muenster and toasted the sandwich and my mouth got into some deep watering. I also decided to get myself some mac and cheese as a side, because one can never have too much cheese.

In total my meal cost about 10 bucks and took my bag of grub back home to take care of business.

Business was delicious. The pastrami was definitely not the best I’d ever had, and got to be a bit salty at times, but still made me very happy. I was more than happy to have muenster cheese, which simply is not offered as an option at enough places. Honestly, I’m not sure of the last time I saw it outside of my own fridge. The Russian dressing was a nice addition of flavor and kept the sandwich from getting too dry, although the pastrami was plenty juicy. Finally, there was the bread itself. I must say, while it did not compare with bread like that of Bay Cities, it was still quite good. It held up strong and I feel like it would be great for something like a Philly cheese steak as well as simple deli sandwiches like mine.

Could I get muenster on top of this?

The mac and cheese made for a nice side, but wasn’t really anything special. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as Victor’s isn’t some revolutionary deli, but it still could have been a little more interesting.

So, Victor’s is awesome. No, it is not the best sandwich in the world. No, it is not the fastest service in the world. But you know what, the place is damn endearing, the prices are damn good and it is seriously worth checking out, even if you are more than two minutes away.

Wing Time at The Irish Times

The Unvegan — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:00:09 +0000

The look of good times.

Pop quiz: What are the only five-letter sovereign nations that contain two Is? If you and five of your best trivia-playing friends can’t come up with India and Haiti, you probably don’t want to be at The Irish Times in Palms on Tuesday nights. You see, every Tuesday is Trivia Night and begins sometime between 9 and 9:30, but were it simply a bar with trivia it would not be worthy of meat-blogging. Fortunately that is not the case, because every Tuesday also means $5 buffalo wings. And while they have a full kitchen and a decent bar food selection, there is really no other option in my mind.

Ordering must be done at the bar and The Irish Times is notoriously slow to take bar orders. I’ve never seen more than one bartender, yet that is almost part of the charm of the place. Yet, while it might take some time to order, the food comes out pretty fast and I quickly found myself staring down a plate of sexy, glistening wings. They were accompanied by those nasty wing-groupies known as carrots and celery, which are like the ugly girls that pretty women keep around to feel better about themselves. They’re harmless in that they don’t impact the flavor of the wings and there is always a friend willing to take them down, but they are wholly unnecessary.

Vegetables aside, the wings were quite good. The sauce was exactly what I expect from bar wings. Nothing fancy, nothing creative and nothing disappointing. It matched up nicely with the blue cheese dressing and my pint of Fat Tire. There was, however, one minor hitch. A few of the wings had spent a bit too long in the fryer and were chewier than necessary. Luckily, this hadn’t dried out the wings, but it definitely prevented them from toppling the Backstage as my favorite LA bar wings.

Yet while they may not be the best, I will certainly be returning to The Irish Times and ordering them again as I pit my trivia brains against the rest of the bar in a battle for eternal glory (and $30 off my bar tab).

Chipotle x 8 at Ocho Mexican Grill

The Unvegan — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:00:09 +0000

The S stands for stubby.

Chipotle is kind of the gold standard of Mexican fast food (I mean, unless we’re talking Taco Bell). You can find it pretty much anywhere, the prices are pretty good and there is no doubt that it’s fast. But it is not alone…all over there are copycats and similar joints that may or may not have existed before the rise of Chipotle. Ocho Mexican Grill in downtown LA is one of those copycats…sort of. A combination of my buddy Joel and a 50% Scoutmob discount convinced me to visit this downtown twist on Mexican fast food fare and I entered with high expectations.

I quickly found Ocho to be a twisted version of Chipotle. It offered burritos, bowls, salads and tacos, then just like Chipotle, there were troughs of ingredients to pick and choose from. I learned that the “Ocho” stood for the 8 different “meat” choices and I use meat in quotes because one of those choices is vegetarian. This was definitely more options than Chipotle, with the exotic options of mahi mahi and tiger prawns making things a bit exciting.

Mmmmm cheese sauce.

I opted for the grilled steak and then moved on to where Ocho truly upped the ante – toppings, salsas and sauces. Sure, I went with classics like their organic brown rice and organic pinto beans, but got a little crazy with their hica-mango (a mix of chopped jicama and mango. They had intriguing yellow and fiery habanero salsas, but I decided to play it safe with red hot, which was one spice level below the habanero. Finally, Ocho made it just a little more interesting with sauces like southwest, agave vinaigrette and buttermilk ranchero. There was only one sauce that I had my eyes on, though…three cheese. Oh and let’s not forget the regular shredded cheese on top of that. Then, while I usually shun away from chips at Chipotle, I put my 50% off to good use and picked up some chips and guac.

Name that guac!

Once it was all rolled up, my burrito looked a bit stubby and while I lamented the larger size of Chipotles, I also considered the resulting food comas and thought this might just be the perfect size. I tore away the foil and went to town. Town was delicious, by the way. They had clearly stuck to the safe side as far as the Chipotle elements, as the combination of steak, rice, beans and hot red salsa were right on par. But where these parts lacked in originality, the hica-mango and three cheese sauce took the burrito to a shiny new level. And while I hate to say it, the cheese sauce was even better than Qdoba. The chips and guac were quite tasty, but indistinguishable from Chipotle in the same vein as the steak.

It’s hard to review a place like Ocho, because while it is awesome and brings a few new things to the table, it seriously lacks in originality. I hated to mention Chipotle so much in this review, but it was too hard not to. Cafe Rio took the Chipotle concept and completely blew it away with unique offerings, but Ocho seemed content to maintain much of the status quo. It’s executed well, and the new choices make for a great meal, but in the end it is just a damn good copycat.

No related posts.

Dining in Cooks County

The Unvegan — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:00:56 +0000

Say cheese!

You may think that as a meat blogger I am constantly defining which restaurants my girlfriend and I eat at. Often that is the case, and for no other reason than that people are constantly giving me suggestions, but this weekend we reversed the trend and she took me out to dinner at a place from her own to-eat list. The place was Cooks County in Mid-City and although a quick Google search will reveal no county named Cooks, there is certainly at least one Cook County (in Illinois), which may be some sort of basis for the naming of this restaurant.

Wherever the naming comes from, this woul prove to have no bearing on the food. The menu at Cooks County is constantly changing, as our waiter told us when we noticed a couple of items missing that had been on the online menu. Apparently, this is because the place buys all their vegetables at a farmer’s market each day and that determines what will be available. I like the concept of that, but just don’t get your heart set on something before making your way to the place.

With the menu at hand, we started out with a “snack” fiscallini cheddar (from Modesto, Cal) with oat biscuits. The cheddar was of the awesome white variety, and not very sharp, which was cool although I would like mine a little stronger and more aged. The oat biscuits were definitely new to me and had a great, soft taste to partner with the cheese, but were both crumbly in texture and application. After accidentally destroying my first biscuit, I was sure to be careful with my next.

Duck legfit!

We also ordered an appetizer of Duck confit, which came with a mini salad of blood oranges, shaved fennel, pistachios and some sort of lettuce. I’m no master of duck confit, but I’ve always seen it as kind of a pulled meat. At Cooks County, though, the confit was essentially a duck leg, whole. But with our forks and knives, we quickly made the leg into confit and it was quite delicious. Duck can sometimes be oily, but this was not the case with Cooks County. We both commented that it brought back memories of China, but this confit couldn’t quite compare with Beijing duck. Yes, I realize the processes are quite different, but duck is still duck.

Bahhhhhhh

And then there was my finale, Strozzapreti. This noodle dish was prepared with braised lamb shoulder, spigarello, walnuts and pecorino. I wasn’t really sure what spigarello was, but I figured I could pass it onto my unsuspecting girlfriend if it was some sort of vegetable. It turned out that it was kind of like a spinach and was fairly easy to avoid in my meal, although next time I will be sure to order without it. As for the flavor, this main course served me well. The lamb was juicy and tender, although I would have liked to see more meat. The noodles themselves were awesome, and I will have to look out for them in the future, as they offered a unique twist. Basically, they were noodle roll-ups. The pecorino cheese was a nice burst of flavor where you might ordinarily find parmesan instead. Finally, I really liked the addition of walnuts. Nuts always seem to be an underrated addition to dishes, but they almost always make the dishes more awesome (see: Kung Pao Chicken).

Cook County was definitely a good meal and I admire their attempt to keep their menu local and fresh. It wouldn’t hurt to add a few more unvegan choices, but I imagine such options change daily. They could definitely do a little something with the acoustics, as the room got deafeningly loud despite there being no music playing. Nonetheless, Cooks County put a unique twist on a few dishes and they turned out great. As long as they can continue to churn out that innovation, Cooks County could be a player for a long time to come.

Hinano Cafe: The Diviest Cafe of Them All

The Unvegan — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:00:19 +0000

Which came first?

Ever walk into a “pizza parlor” that actually functions as more of a full-on Italian restaurant? Or how about a “Japanese place” that only serves sushi? We are constantly being misled into restaurants that either offer a lot more than expected or a lot less. And then there is Hinano Cafe in Venice, which only a crackhead would consider to be a cafe. You see, Hinano is pretty much the definition of a dive bar. Sawdust coats the floor, there are maybe five real tables and the two guys behind the bar take turns dishing out beer or flipping burgers on the lone griddle in the middle of the bar.

The most unique cafe ever.

We arrived about five minutes before the end of happy hour and walked up to the bar to order. Since the bar was called Hinano, it only seemed right to order Hinano Beer, which comes from Tahiti. I’m not sure whether the bar is named for the beer, vice-versa or if it is just a happy coincidence, but perhaps it is best to leave such questions in the realm of the chicken or the egg. As my buddy and I tried to order our beers, we were quickly met with a bad attitude as the bartender yelled, “Just tell me what kind of beers you want.” We were under the impression that we had been telling him what beers we wanted, but apparently this wasn’t the case. We repeated our orders and when he came back it was time to order food.

Food at Hinano, by the way, consists of anything that can be easily made on a griddle. And I mean easy, as they don’t even dive into the realm of teriyaki chicken. But I was here for one thing only – a burger. Hinano kind of has a reputation for their burgers, which are not only cheap, but supposedly damn good. Their cheeseburgers run the same price as regular hamburgers and anything can have bacon, hot links or chili added for an additional charge. They can also be stacked into a double for the same price as adding bacon. They usually come with smorgasbord of toppings like tomatoes, lettuce, pickles and onions, but I wanted none of these. I ordered myself a double cheeseburger with bacon, plain. In no time, my burger and a bag of chips were brought out to me. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they don’t have a deep fryer, so Hinano is a no-French fry zone. Instead, every burger comes with Fritos, Doritos or Lay’s. And you don’t seem to get a choice of chips, as my friend requested Lay’s and wound up with a bag of Fritos.

It looks like my burger just vomited a pile of veggies.

But back to my burger.

It was sitting on a paper tray basking in its own beauty, which I suddenly realized a pickle was getting way frisky with my bun. By the time I arrived on the scene, he bun had been impregnated with the juices of the pickle and a huge chunk could not be salvaged. Damn you, pickle!

With partial bun removal behind me, I went to work on the burger, which was quite good. It was plenty juicy, what remained of the bun held its own and the American cheese had been melted to perfection. The bacon was at a fast food thickness and probably not worth the upgrade price, but still a nice addition. Sometimes nothing can quite beat a simple bacon cheeseburger prepared on a griddle in the middle of a dive bar. Yet, while I enjoyed the burger, I couldn’t help but think that similar burgers exist in diners across the country. I know I’ve had my fair share of burgers like this one, but it’s probably the setting and the price that makes people fall in love with their burgers and brings them back for more, moreso than the burgers themselves.

For my part, I thought that while the dive atmosphere was great, I’ve had better, less pretentious service at places like Father’s Office, which thrives on an air of superiority (although the Hinano burger definitely tastes better). If you need a change of pace, by all means, Hinano is going to give you that, but as you eat your burger you might want to ask yourself whether you like the burger or just like the idea of eating a simple burger in a dive setting. If this were truly a cafe, I just don’t think the burger would taste so good.

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.