The Unvegan

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10 Years of Unvegan
A Quick Bite at Burrito Express
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Twerks and Burritos at Casa Amigos

‘Chicken’

9/25/2009 Los Angeles

Sampling My Way to Rotisserie Works (CLOSED)

I love it when sides are bigger than the main course.
I love it when sides are bigger than the main course.

For a pre-movie dinner, I found myself at the Century City food court once again and looking for something new. Some of the competitors in the food court have found the best way to bring in new customers: sampling.

I will sample almost anything put in front of me, as long as it has no vegetable qualities. You wouldn’t buy a car without giving it a test drive, so why buy a meal without knowing how it will taste? Well obviously, this isn’t always possible, but when it is I think it’s great to take advantage.

The Rotisserie Works offered me a sample of their Hawaiian BBQ chicken and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had a nice sweet BBQ taste with the hint of some pineapple-like fruit. After a few other tastes, I decided the Hawaiian chicken would be filling my belly that evening. The order of chicken came with two sides, and I looked at the menu with mild distaste. All but two of the sides had words like “squash,” and “spinach,” so I ordered their mashed potatoes and mac and cheese.

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9/9/2009 Los Angeles

The Ultimate Shawarma at Sunnin Cafe (RELOCATED)

Fit for a king. Or sheik. Or whatever.
Fit for a king. Or sheik. Or whatever.

In the quest to finally find some good schwarma in LA, I made my way to a little Lebanese place called Sunnin Cafe. I have fond memories of delicious Lebanese food back in Michigan, so I hoped that this place would be at least a little awesome. Getting there was a little confusing, though, as it appeared as though there were two Sunnins, right across the street from each other. On further inspection, it looked like the larger of the two is unopened and the small place will be moving in there soon.

The inside of the little cafe gave the appearance of a generic diner. There were seats

Mmm spinning meat.
Mmm spinning meat.

at a counter and no more than ten small tables. The big difference, though, was the strong smell of the Middle East and the rotating spool of meat where a deep-fryer might typically belong. I also loved that they made no effort to hide the fact that the cooks were Hispanic. It’s a pretty widely known fact that kitchens of ethnic restaurants all over LA are filled with Hispanics, despite the fact that waiters and such fit into the ethnicity. It was refreshing to see that Sunnin didn’t hide that aspect of their business.

We ordered some “hommos” (love the spelling) to start things off.

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9/1/2009 Manhattan Beach

More Than I Could Handle at Joey’s Smokin’ BBQ (CLOSED)

A whole lotta chicken
A whole lotta chicken

For lunch one day I headed out to Joey’s Smokin’ BBQ in Manhattan Beach. I had heard that Luke Walton of the Los Angeles Lakers was somehow tied to the restaurant, which actually made me a little worried, but I still wanted some BBQ. The place was pretty small and other than the Lakers championship pennant, there was really nothing else denoting that this was in any way related to Luke Walton. Besides, half the restaurants in LA have Lakers pennants (I later found out that Walton essentially wrote a big fat check to get the place started, but it pretty much runs without him). With this in mind, my fears of a generic BBQ restaurant were slightly assuaged.

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8/27/2009 Mobile

Almost Deja Vu at the Nom Nom Truck (CLOSED)

Like a shiny beacon of Vietnamese-ness.
Like a shiny beacon of Vietnamese-ness.

A little more than eight months after my first taste of Kogi BBQ, I found myself once again standing in the parking lot of The Brig, eager to take on another food truck inspired by the fusion of Asian and Mexican food. If so much hadn’t changed in the food truck scene of LA since that first taste of Kogi, I would have felt some intense deja vu. Since the arrival of Kogi, it feels like a new food truck is unrolled every week. From the architecturally inspired ice cream sandwiches of Coolhaus to the beautiful women running Baby’s Badass Burger truck, I almost feel like LA offers more food on wheels than it does in restaurants, with more coming. Nonetheless, the official opening of the Vietnamese and Mexican fusion Nom Nom Truck was exciting for me, and I made my way to The Brig in Venice to see if I would have a new friend on wheels.

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8/21/2009 Monteverde

Costa Rican Food Week, Part V: La Bohemia

Nachos in the Costa Rican style.
Nachos in the Costa Rican style.

The final true meal in Costa Rica (without counting the continental breakfast where a scorpion fell from the ceiling onto my girlfriend) was at another restaurant in Monteverde called La Bohemia. This restaurant was another pretty fancy one and felt good after a long day of walking on bridges in the rain forest.

To start off the meal, we ordered some nachos. When they came, they were like no nachos I had ever seen before. They were large, round chips, with beans, cheese meat, tomatoes, jalapenos and sour cream stacked on top. I suppose they would’ve been a lot cleaner than regular nachos if I didn’t have to wipe the tomatoes off of them before eating. After the wiping, though, the chips were really good.

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8/18/2009 La Fortuna

Costa Rican Food Week, Part II: Lava Rocks

Another beautiful presentation.
Another beautiful presentation.

Another restaurant we found in La Fortuna was called Lava Rocks. This place a had a much simpler atmosphere than La Choza de Laurel, but that was fine by. I searched for my new favorite food, the “Tipical” dish and found that it was called Casado here. Further research has taught me that “casado” means married, because this is the type of meal that married men get at home. Thanks for the info, Wikipedia!

Although not married, I was happy to eat like a casado. I ordered my casado with chicken again. The nice thing about the dish is that no two restaurants seem to serve it the same way.

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8/13/2009 Los Angeles

Food for the Soul at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles

A morning delight.
A morning delight.

I’d been waiting for a very long time to finally make my trip to Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles. It took the right combination of alcohol and lack of sleep from the night before to finally propel me to the location in Mid City.

My buddy and I walked in around noon and there was a short wait before we took our seats. The menu was loaded with so many varieties of chicken and waffles, without a vegetable to be found, that I really couldn’t figure out what to order. I decided to wait until the waitress arrived to make sure I ordered the right thing. Unfortunately, service wasn’t exactly the strong suit of Roscoe’s. I didn’t mind though, I wasn’t there for service, just for chicken and waffles. Finally the waitress came and told us to get combo #1, which was 1/4 fried chicken and two waffles. We happily complied.

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8/10/2009 Los Angeles

Finally, Some Indian Food at Gate of India

This vindaloo is making me thirsty.
This vindaloo is making me thirsty.

Ok, yes I know I sort of reviewed some Indian food last week from Tara’s, but that was really Himalayan. So when I went to Gate of India in Hollywood, it was essentially my first time getting some full-on Indian food since moving to LA.

A buddy of mine took me to the place because it was the best Indian he had yet found in LA. Although he is Jewish, I took his work for it. Gate of India isn’t exactly what you would imagine for a place in Hollywood. It’s in a nondescript little row of shops on a street corner. The interior conveys a sense of a banquet hall more than an ethnic restaurant, but fortunately the prices weren’t so painful, with just about everything on the menu coming in under 10 bucks.

According to my research, somewhere between 20-40% of the population of India are vegetarian. This would be enough to frighten away many meat eaters from Indian restaurants, but not me. That means the majority is still of the meat-eating persuasion. The menu at Gate of India reflected this, because while a majority of the food was meat-laden, there was still a pretty extensive vegetarian section.

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7/10/2009

Strange Meats: Chicken Head

No veggies here!
No veggies here!

It’s been a while since I’ve written about one of my strange meat escapades, so here’s a new one.

Hiking in the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines, I got to experience some of the freshest food I’ve ever eaten. Along the way, I stayed in local homes and ate the way that the locals ate. I quickly learned that Chicken Adobo is a local specialty and although adobo can be found throughout the Latin American world, I found it to be a bit different in the Philippines.

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7/8/2009 Duluth

Tastes of the Northwoods, Part III: The Green Mill

Stupid stupid celery
Stupid stupid celery

The Green Mill (affectionately referred to as “The Mill”) in Duluth is a place I have to visit every time I’m in the area. It not only has good food and drinks, but it has a great happy hour as well. What used to be 1/2 price appetizers and wings has now become 5 bucks. This isn’t such a big deal, since the prices are still so low.

Through many visits, I finally discovered the best that The Mill has to offer, Dixie Wings. These are wings with a buffalo-like sauce that stings the mouth, but always leaves me wanting more. The Mill is also one of the few places where I opt for boneless wings versus the much manlier wings with bones. For some reason, the Dixie Wing sauce just seems to work so much better with boneless wings.

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