The Unvegan » Los Angeles

Sandwiched by Handy Market

The Unvegan — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:00:01 +0000

You look familiar.

LA is a huge place and just when I think I know all I need to, it hits me with a surprise. Sometimes that surprise is unwanted, like closing a lane on the highway that I take to work every day. But more often, it is a pleasant surprise like Handy Market. This local market in Burbank has all the looks of any regular, old-fashioned grocer, but if you head to the back, that all changes. Back there is one of LA’s best-kept secrets, a meaty sandwich lover’s dream.

But first, I want to say that this place reminded me on many levels of another meat paradise called Superior Meats in Wisconsin. Whether it was the grill out front that supposedly is used in full force over the weekends, the friendliness of the staff, the selection of meats or the prices, I kept seeing signs of Wisconsin and the simpler life everywhere I turned.

It's kind of hard to tell, but that is meatload of meat.

As for the sandwiches, I decided to get some cotto salami, mortadella and cheddar in a roll with just oil and vinegar. I watched as the woman behind the counter sliced off half a pig’s worth of cured meat and stuffed it into the roll. Then she went to work on the cheese and made me salivate heavily. Then, I decided to match that with half a pint of mac and cheese for good measure.

By the time I got back to work and took out my sandwich, I couldn’t wait to devour my meal. I quickly learned I wouldn’t be devouring this too easily. The meat was sliced so thin and filled so much of the sandwich that they kept squeezing out. If this was the price I had to pay for so much meat, I was happy to pay it.

The meats themselves were crazy-delicious and went really well with each other. Cheddar turned out to be a good choice of cheese, as it added a degree of extra flavor to an otherwise meat-dominated feast. Really, the only thing that stood between this and my favorite sandwiches in LA from Bay Cities was the roll it was on. While worthy, it just couldn’t compare to those crunchy, yet soft fresh-baked rolls from Bay Cities. Yet, the amount of meat, the hidden gem feeling I had from eating it and Wisconsin nostalgia I felt nearly made up for it.

Stop looking at me, look at that sandwich.

The mac and cheese, on the other hand, was pretty much “whatever.” I didn’t dislike it, but it didn’t leave me wanting more like the sandwich had. Fortunately, the mac and cheese wasn’t exactly the pride of Handy Market like the sandwiches were. To that end, it didn’t disappoint me because I really didn’t have any expectations for it.

Now that I’ve tackled Handy Market, I’m pretty sure all the other valley sandwich shops have been rendered worthless to me. Some are pretty good, but Handy Market reigns supreme.

Victory Dinner at San Francisco Saloon

The Unvegan — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:00:58 +0000

Go Bruins?

After my team posted a huge victory in our rec basketball league, we decided to grab some burgers to celebrate. This led me to San Francisco Saloon, which is not located in San Francisco at all, but rather in West LA and has been serving LA since 1934. The place is more sport bar than saloon and actually has a good sports bar vibe. The burgers are named for LA and San Francisco sports teams like the Giants and the Trojan, with a few non-sports names like Hickory to join them.

Of these, I liked the looks of the Bruin the best. I’m not sure why this was chosen to represent UCLA, but it came with avocado, bacon and jack cheese. All burgers came with lettuce and tomato, so I ordered mine without such things and then chose fries from my side choices. Then, since they asked, I ordered it medium rare.

Be true to yourself.

What arrived looked like a sports bar burger should. The bun was topped with sesame seeds and a toothpick impaled each half of the pre-halved burger. Bacon and cheese protruded beyond the confines of patty and bun, waiting for my attack.

I was a little sad to find the burger cooked pretty thoroughly throughout. Typically, I would not have cared about this at a sports bar, but usually a sports bar doesn’t ask me how I want a burger cooked. As far as taste went, that was pretty much the only thing to complain about. Everything else was spot on, with the bacon being the real highlight of the meal. The fries were a good side, but nothing overly impressive. If there was anything to complain about aside from the fully browned burger, it would be the price. It isn’t terrible by LA standards, but its also priced at the gourmet burger level rather than its actual sports bar level.

I guess basically, San Francisco Saloon, don’t try to make your burgers into something they aren’t. Your bar and burgers remind me of great sports bars I’ve been to in other places, but they don’t try to dress things up to be bigger than themselves. Now that I’ve been I know what to expect. But for unsuspecting patrons like I once was, I want a bit more of “what you see is what you get.”

Rolling Away with 101 Noodle Express

The Unvegan — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:00:22 +0000

Roll with it

It’s not too often that food court food gains critical acclaim. Yet, in the case of 101 Noodle Express (my favorite college course), the only reason I went was by recommendation from Jonathan Gold. Like KyoChon, 101 Noodle Express can be found at the Fox Hills Mall, but also in other places where you would expect it more – like the San Gabriel Valley. Almost as surprising as finding such a place in a food court is the fact that Gold doesn’t even recommend the noodles.

Gotta keep 'em separated.

Instead, the Beef Rolls are said to be all the rage. To test this claim, I ordered half of a roll. A product of Shandong, China, the roll consists of a pancake (like the scallion variety, but without the scallions), bean sauce, thinly sliced beef, cilantro and “onion.” I ordered mine without the onion, but the woman at the counter told me that meant I had to sacrifice the cilantro as well because they were mixed together. I wasn’t happy to lose the cilantro, but it is worth it drop the onion out. It was only when I got my order that I learned the onion was actually green onion. I’m not a fan, but it is certainly acceptable when mixed with cilantro. I got a side of it to test out and also some hot peppers to mix my roll if I needed.

Bring on the heat!

Without the cilantro, the three slices of roll looked like a cinnamon bun gone wrong. The taste, though, was nothing like one. The pancake had an almost tortilla-esque quality to it except that it provided flavor to the roll instead of simply being a conduit. Inside, the beef was tender and flavorful, with the beans adding another burst of contrasting flavor. Had this been the full roll, I would have been a happy man, but I decided I had to try the cilantro-onion and hot pepper mixes I had on the side. This proved to be a wise choice, as these extra flavors provided extra balance and texture to an already superb roll. Would the cilantro mix have been better without the green onions? Most certainly, but they were worth having if it meant I had cilantro to go with my roll.

While it is hard to call a mall food court a destination, the one-two punch of 101 Noodle Express really does change that notion. For west siders like me, it is whole lot easier to get to Fox Hills than Koreatown or San Gabriel. While I can’t vouch for the differences between the neighborhood locations and the mall ones, I can certainly say they left me satisfied.

Korean-Fried at KyoChon

The Unvegan — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:00:35 +0000

Food court of the future!

While fried chicken is often considered the domain of Southern cooking and Buffalo wings, it is certainly not exclusive to those cuisines. In fact, some of the best fried chicken I’ve had can be found Asian dishes like the Japanese chicken karaage. But Japan is not alone in this, as a Korean place called KyoChon just may have created the best chicken wings ever. Did I overstate that? I don’t think so.

KyoChon has a couple of locations around LA and I made my way to the most convenient one in the Culver City Fox Hills Mall. Their food court rivals that of Century City and while the KyoChon there seems a little out of place outside of Koreatown, it does seem comfortable amongst the rest of the upscale food court eateries.

A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B.

Despite having never been, I knew to order their wings. Anyone who spends enough time in the food world has heard of them and I felt a little silly for having taken so long to try them. There are two flavor options – Soy Garlic and Hot and Sweet – and I wanted them both. To do so, I ordered ten wings with five in each flavor. For the record, unlike pretty much every other wing place in the world, they would have been willing to do any combination of the sauces (ie. two soy garlic and eight hot and sweet). I was warned that the hot was really hot, but I went for it anyway.

Don't be fooled by looks, this packs some flavor.

To ease my way in, I started with the soy garlic. After one bite, I was in love. Not only was the soy garlic flavor intoxicatingly good, but also the way the chicken had been fried was near perfect – crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Could it have been a little juicier? Probably, but if that meant any sacrifice on flavor, I would not be okay with it.

Fire and sweet rain.

As for the hot and spicy, they were not kidding about the heat. It is not for the weak of heart/taste bud, but the flavor is so great that it is worth every surge of heat. It’s not hot for the sake of being hot; it is hot because that is the best way for the wings to pass on such great flavor. Also, as the sauce is much more…ummm…saucy, the wings are even juicier than their soy garlic counterparts.

It all adds up for chicken wings so great that I immediately told my wing-loving friend he had to go. He did. The next day. Yes, they are that good. With all that said, there is really only one caveat and that is that these are not Buffalo wings. There is no Buffalo sauce option here, so if you’re thinking about grabbing some game time wings or are just in the mood for Buffalo sauce, this is not the place for you. At least not that day. But come back another day, you’ll thank me later.

Delivery Upgrade at Lago D’Argento

The Unvegan — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:00:58 +0000

...and in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night.

My buddy, DCo, is a bit of a pizza snob. It works out well for me, because he likes to point me in the direction of awesome new and old pizza places. Recently, he told me about a new place called Lago D’Argento over in Silverlake. It took a bit of convincing, but finally I had a real reason to go to that part of town and decided to make a run for pizza while there. I invited another buddy, Jeff, to join and we checked the place out.

I was happy to find a good few pizza options on the menu that weren’t just the basics. One of these was called Good Morning and was topped with Serrano ham, fried egg, Vermont cheddar and some pesto and Jeff and I decided to split that. But we weren’t done there – we also went with their version of a meat lover’s called the Carnivore. This pie had salami, fennel sausage, crispy bacon and Wisconsin mozzarella. If nothing else, this place knew the states to get cheese from.

Before going any further, I should note that upon my first bite of pizza at Lago D’Argento, it was clear that this was not the kind of place for pizza snobs. If you’re looking for classic Italian pizza, do yourself a favor and don’t be fooled by the Italian name of the place. If, on the other hand, you are a huge fan of American-style pizza, this place might just be for you and you should keep reading on.

Basically, when you break it down, the dough is nothing special. Think Dominos pizza, but fancied up a bit. Sure, I know that doesn’t sound very good, but also realize that the ingredients are many levels above “fast food” pizza. While I love the fact that I’m seeing fried eggs all over the place, this was the first time I saw it on a pizza and they kept it nice and juicy. Good Morning could have used some more sauce to add flavor and actually impress me, but it was still an interesting pizza that I was glad to have eaten.

Yes, I am an obligate carnivore. What of it?

The Carnivore was a definite step up on that. Damn, meat is just so good. Each of the meats worked in delicious harmony with each other, but it just felt unfortunate that they weren’t on an equally good dough conduit.

So here’s the deal…when it all adds up, Lago D’Argento gets the job done. It’s a level up from regular delivery, but fails to be much of a worthwhile enterprise. And again, if you’re a pizza snob, you really shouldn’t have even read this far into this review.

Opening the Expo with The Lazy Ox Canteen

The Unvegan — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:00:12 +0000

Egg and pasta as one.

Sometimes a restaurant sounds incredible, but is in a difficult part of town to get to. It lingers on your to-eat list for what seems like ages until a golden opportunity comes around to seize it. For me, this restaurant was The Lazy Ox Canteen and the opportunity was twofold. First, the Expo Line from Culver City to Downtown LA was finally opening opening and second, Blackboard Eats sent me a 30% off coupon for the place. It was the perfect storm and I rode the newly opened Metro train to Little Tokyo for a piece of The Lazy Ox.

Aside from the onions, that sure is pretty.

As per usual, I decided I had to get the burger. The Lazy Ox version of a burger is pretty basic, consisting of Carmody cheese and green peppercorn mustard. In fact, the mustard doesn’t even come on the burger and is served on the side. What they don’t tell you, though, is that it also comes with lettuce, onions and an aioli. Fortunately I asked the waitress about such things before ordering and made sure to order without those vegetables. And while I was glad I was able to figure out there were veggies involved and order without, it was a surprisingly long process, as the waitress didn’t really seem to know the menu yet. I figure she was new and gave her the benefit of the doubt…at least until my burger came.

Other burger places - take note.

I took one good look at it and a little part of me died. Sitting between my buns was a slice of onion. It was an easy situation to remedy, yet I felt somewhat betrayed. The feeling of betrayal, however, quickly disappeared when I took my first bite. This burger was really quite awesome in its simplicity. The cheese had been melted perfectly, but did not have any sort of strong flavor. The bun was a slight gourmet upgrade to the old-fashioned poppy seed sort and the beef was just magnificent. It was perfectly, mildly seasoned, ground medium and cooked to an exact medium rare. I still like me some burgers with crazy fixings, but I must say that this simple, yet expertly crafted cheeseburger did wonders for my belly.

I'll say it again - take note.

The burger also came with fries and a sort of chipotle aioli dipping sauce. These guys were thick-cut and not in the steak fries kind of way, but in the extra-thick regular fries kind of way. I’ve seen these attempted a few times, but none were so well executed as at The Lazy Ox. Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside was the name of the game, and these fries were ready to play ball.

The arrow points to where you want to eat. Now.

I also want to recognize that while the burger was great, there were other great dishes on the menu as well. I tried some sort of pork ragu pasta dish (pictured above) and something else that involved bacon or chorizo or some sort of delicious breakfast meat. They were both big time winners.

It all added up to The Lazy Ox being a delicious experience. So delicious, in fact, that I’m already trying to figure out a good time to return and go to town on their full dinner menu.

A Bite of The Ludo Truck

The Unvegan — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:00:58 +0000

We're just doing the Ludo Shuffle.

From the casual diner to the most ardent foodie, everyone who enjoys eating out in LA has heard of Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his LudoBites pop-up restaurants that appear from time to time. Yet, while the LudoBites are impossible to get reservations for (and even when you get reservations, you don’t even pick the times), there is a Ludo Truck that roams around town dishing out Chef Ludo’s fried chicken with no reservations (thinly veiled Anthony Bourdain reference) necessary. During a time in which I was eating a lot of fried chicken, the truck came around my office.

Keep on frying!

I had heard the Crispy Chicken Sandwich was a dream, and I wanted badly to take a bite out of one. But I found that the sandwich was topped with pickles and slaw, neither of which were to be found in the regular Buttermilk Chicken Strips. When I told the woman in the truck of my conundrum, she was quick to tell me that the sandwich was straight up the best thing on the menu and not just because of the fried chicken, but the bun as well. So I listened and ordered without the greens. I also ordered a side of fries for company.

I must say that the sandwich did a pretty good job of living up to the hype. Or, more specifically the chicken. This was no mere hastily concocted mix of batter, but rather a delicately crafted and perfectly balanced mix of spices and heaven. Coupled with Bearnaise sauce and a toasted brioche bun, I was one happy eater. Yet, while the sandwich contained two strips of chicken, it was the same price as three sandwich-less strips. While I enjoyed the bun, it didn’t taste nearly as good as another strip of chicken would have. Unless, of course, the balance of batter flavor was dependent upon a bun buffer. I didn’t think that was the case, but I was still very happy to have eaten the sandwich.

Look how small and shriveled they are.

The fries, on the other hand, were pretty much a waste of money. They were over-salted and simply not cooked in a way that made me want to keep popping them in my mouth. Rather than a crispy outside and soft interior, they felt as though they had been left under a heat lamp for a few hours. Plus, I felt like I should gotten more fries for the money.

Yet, the fried chicken was enough to move me past the lackluster fries. Next time the Ludo Truck rolls around, you will find me in line for some chicken.

Going Global at Plan Check

The Unvegan — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:00:27 +0000

Fries of the world.

A couple of weeks ago, The Backyard Bite invited me to The Burger Culture Clash, sponsored by Stussy (which apparently still exists) and Plan Check. Plan Check, by the way, is a sort of new (since February) restaurant in West LA with Chef Ernesto Uchimura of Umami Burger fame. As my love of burgers, especially those of the umami variety, I jumped at the opportunity.

Although I arrived alone, I was not the only lone eater. Just next to where I was seated, I met e*star LA and we decided to share a meal called loneliness, because it’s better than eating alone. We made quick friends over our respective blogs and Midwestern roots, then got to work at dissecting the special menu, which Plan Check will be featuring for the next month if anything tickles your fancy.

The deal was, we got the Worldwide Tribe Fries to share, an International Stussy Burger (I.S.B.) each, Stoopid Fresh Donuts for dessert and a choice of three drinks to wash it all down. The best part? Despite being a special event, this whole shindig was completely friendly to my unvegan lifestyle.

Starting with the Worldwide Tribe Fries, these guys were covered with chorizo gravy, a fried egg and roasted pasilla chile. Almost immediately, these fries were better than any I’d ever had at Umami Burger. They had a regular cut and had been fried to just the right crisp. The egg was fried to a near-perfect runniness level and the chorize gravy and pasilla chile added a salty/meaty/spicy hint to the smorgasbord. Although it is rare that I eat fries (outside of the chili-cheese variety) with a fork, this was definitely necessary here.

Crunch bun!

Next came the I.S.B. The patty was prepared with an American Wagyu-style beef called Akaushi, then topped with jalapeno escabeche, Americanized cheese, smokey bacon, battered onion straws, knowledge sauce and held together by a “crunch bun.” e*star was quick to drop a knowledge sauce joke before we convinced the waiter to explain what the sauce was.

An amalgam of ingredients with a medium-rare patty.

It turned out to be a bacon-y thousand island-y sauce, which was just fine by me. All these ingredients kind of had the effect of making nothing stand out, although the bacon was awesome and the crunch bun was a nice touch. In case you’re wondering what a crunch bun is (I know I was), it’s like a regular bun, but with some bread crumbs stuck to the top where you might usually find sesame seeds. I liked it and could definitely see such a bun used effectively in a burger that doesn’t already have crunchy innards to give it a mix of textures. As it was, while it was hard to pick out specific flavors and I rarely support the use of Wagyu beef in burgers, it was definitely tasty enough to make me interested in their other, regular menu burgers.

This dessert is just stoopid, dood.

The Stoopid Fresh Donuts were a stoopidly intense sugar bomb. The breakdown was two “funky fresh” cooked crullers, raisin frosting, cereal milk ice cream and caramelized cornflakes. Just looking at it made me feel diabetic, but while there were no holds barred in the sugar department, it didn’t taste overly sweet like some desserts are apt to.

While there were three drinks to choose from, I went with the New Belgium Shift Pale Lager. It’s a pretty good beer that I’ve had before, but I should also mention the other two options, which were mango soda with kaffir lime and Brugal Rum or that same thing without the rum. I think I made a good choice, although I am curious how mango and lime would go with rum.

Basically, this event was a huge success on my end. First, I had never heard of Plan Check before, and now I am ready to go back and annihilate more burgers. Second, I got in some quality time with fellow food bloggers (oh yeah, also hung with The Minty a bit in there). But perhaps most importantly, I got filled to the brim with an unvegan-friendly menu and left a happy man.

Holy Corn Muffins at Dulan’s Soul Food Kitchen

The Unvegan — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:00:58 +0000

This is what happens when you Google "soul food in Inglewood."

So far, Inglewood has treated me quite nicely, but after a couple days down there I turned to Google for food suggestions. It is probably my least favorite way of finding new restaurants, as the top results are typically the restaurants with the best SEO instead of the best food. Nonetheless, I needed help for lunch and this led me to Dulan’s Soul Food Kitchen, a stone’s throw from court and with promising reviews.

The place was pretty full when I arrived and I found most seats in the restaurant taken by a good mix of people. Quickly, my eyes spotted Dulan (yeah, he has a picture of himself on the menu) and then they spotted the fried chicken lunch special for $8.99. This came with two pieces of chicken, two sides and two cornbread muffins. To test both dark and white, I got a breast and a wing, then picked mac and cheese and mashed potatoes as my sides. In true soul food fashion, each of my orders were plucked out of buffet-style troughs and dropped into a sectional styrofoam box. I paid up and took my eatings outside to enjoy.

It's really the cheesiest.

First, I took a dive into the mac and cheese. This was truly some of the cheesiest mac I have ever experienced and although I never thought I would say this, it was almost too cheesy. Yes, the parts where there was perfect balance between cheese and mac were delicious, but there really wasn’t much balance and I found myself trying to seek it out too much. I didn’t like putting so much effort into my mac, but truly I would rather complain about too much cheese than too much mac. Besides, the portion was pretty huge and while some cheese remained at the end, I was certainly full.

Go easy on that masher!

Next, I tried out the mashed potatoes. For some reason I just wanted those sides first. These guys were flooded with gravy and the gravy itself was quite tasty. The problem was that these mashed potatoes were in no need of extra liquids because they were nearly in liquid form themselves. Rather than a mash, these were essentially a puree of potatoes. A well-seasoned and salted puree, mind you, but there was little texture to fight against the gravy.

I love my checken fried.

Then, of course, I tackled the fried chicken. For some reason, I consider this the ultimate test of a soul food place and Dulan’s did not fail. It didn’t exactly blow me away, either, but I was not disappointed. Both the breast and wing were tender, juicy and flavorful. That was the chicken at least. The batter, though, was pretty run-of-the-mill. This is not a bad thing necessarily, because consistency is good, but I wouldn’t make a special trip to Dulan’s for their fried chicken with the knowledge that I could get something just as good or better elsewhere.

Heaven in muffin form.

The corn muffins, though, were a completely different story. I ate them as my dessert and what a dessert they were! Corn muffins and corn bread have a nasty habit of being dry and crumbling, but these guys were perfectly moist and expertly sweetened. And you know that whole issue people have with muffin bottoms being inferior to muffin tops? Not a problem at Dulan’s. Through and through, each bite was as good as the last and tasted like corn heaven.

So Dulan’s (while having a Hell of a deal for lunch) wasn’t exactly amazing. Here and there I saw some good room for improvement, but maybe I am the only one that feels that way. Since Dulan has been slinging soul food since 1975 and has a second Soul Food Kitchen (also in Inglewood), he is clearly doing a lot right. Or maybe everyone keeps going back for the corn muffins…I know I would.

Breakfast with Iron Man at Randy’s Donuts

The Unvegan — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:00:40 +0000

Uh, can I get the bigger one?

Living in LA can make you jaded. Traffic. Obnoxious Hollywood crowd. Traffic. Sometimes these things can make you forget how damn cool of a city LA can be. Case in point: The other day I was watching Iron Man 2 in anticipation of The Avengers and saw Iron Man/Tony Stark chilling inside of a giant donut, eating breakfast. Two days later, I drove by that donut and knew I had to check out its edible cousins.

That giant donut sits on top of Randy’s Donuts, an LA landmark. Aside from Iron Man 2, it has been featured in plenty of other films. Truth be told, I’ve driven past it many times; considering its location in Inglewood on the way to the airport, it is a tough landmark to miss. But never before had it been breakfast time and I was hungry. The line was minimal, and unlike its depiction in Iron Man 2, there was no interior.

Science tells me Randy's looked something like this when it opened in 1953.

While I can’t remember the last time I’ve ordered fresh donuts not from a cider mill, the prices struck me as quite reasonable, ranging from 75 cents to $1.10. The guy manning the window (one of the owners) was incredibly friendly and when I started asking questions about the donuts, he made it clear that he would happily make a custom donut for me. While I stuck on the menu for a crumb cake donut, I made a special request for an eclair with powdered sugar instead of chocolate and he happily obliged. I paid my $1.90 and set to work at photographing and devouring my donuts.

Any meat in here?

First was the crumb cake. Like my custom eclair, this was also sprinkled with powdered sugar. One thing I have learned in LA is that a cake donut is the equivalent of an old fashioned donut back in Michigan. The crumb cake is pretty much one of these, but with a rough-textured exterior to accompany the fluffy goodness inside. And let me tell you, it was nothing short of fluffy goodness.

Behold, the original Unvegan donut.

The custom eclair was another big win for Randy’s Donuts. It started out as a win because they were willing to make it for me, but also because it was delicious. Not to pull the Michigan card again, but back home we used to eat donuts called Bavarian Cream, which were essentially Boston Cream with powdered sugar instead of chocolate. This reminded me of those except it was even better. As anyone who has eaten a cream or jelly-filled donut can attest, the filling is never evenly dispersed. With my eclair, though, the custard was even throughout and the dough came just short of melting in my mouth. I fully expect to find this donut on the menu when I return. Seriously, if you go you should request it and start calling it The Unvegan. We’ll see what happens.

Anyway, it isn’t often that an icon lives up to its iconic status, but Randy’s Donuts really did. Of course, LA has a donut stand on every corner and I’m sure the majority of them churn out good donuts, but Randy’s is a must see/eat and I couldn’t be happier to have finally taken a bite out of that gigantic donut.