Once every million years or so I venture outside of my Taco Bell comfort zone and find a Mexican restaurant that I just can’t get enough of. That is the case with La Paz, a great, greasy little restaurant tucked away on Center Street in sunny El Segundo.
After trying (and enjoying) many different items from their menu, I have finally fallen into a dish that I can never get enough of, the Super Deluxe (Wet) Burrito. The menu says it comes with ground beef, rice, beans, lettuce, guacamole and cheese, but La Paz Restaurant (just like La Paz, Bolivia and their constitution) is happy to make substitutions.
Cafe Brasil is one of those restaurants that has always been elusive to me. I have driven or walked past it in Palms countless times, but never gotten up the courage to step inside.
I finally took the plunge and stepped into the Cafe. At first I was confused by the place. There are three different seating areas. One is inside, one is semi-outside, and one is for real outside. I found a table in the semi-outside, but then realized I had to order at a counter. Ordering at a counter always puts a lot of pressure on the consumer, especially if they don’t know what they are going to order. Under this deep pressure, I went with every unvegan’s default choice, steak.
For my final day of Turkish Food Week, I’d like to wrap up with a few more interesting dishes I encountered on my journey. We’ll return to my regular unvegan lifestyle next week!
Not as unhealthy as real cigarettes.
Cigarette bread is a mysterious food that was first served to me at the Ban Ban Cave Restaurant in Cappadocia. Considering how many cigarettes Turkish people smoke everyday, I wouldn’t have been surprised if someone told me cigarette bread was just a new way they found to ingest tobacco. For all I knew, it could have been bread wrapped around an actual cigarette. I bit in with immense curiosity and found it to just a thin shell of bread, wrapped around ricotta cheese and fried. This is probably only slightly healthier than actual cigarettes. It quickly became one of my favorite dishes in Turkey.
In the frozen wasteland of Cappadocia, the man running my cave hotel recommended a restaurant close by, called Orient. It was a short trek, but froth with difficulties like ice and snow. After a few slips and close brushes with icy death, I made it inside.
I checked out the menu, remembering that the guy at my cave had recommended the steak. After a short glance, I found the “Minute Steak.” The name wasn’t terribly specific and I wondered what it could possibly mean. Did it take a minute to cook? A minute to eat? Maybe it was minute in the sense of being small? Perhaps it was Turkey’s version of Minute Maid? My curiosity got the best of me and I ordered.
Before I left for Turkey, a friend of mine told me I had to go to a restaurant called Doy Doy in Istanbul. Since he hadn’t been to Turkey in a couple years, I took him seriously. It’s not often that someone remembers the name of a restaurant they went to in a foreign country while traveling the world, even one with a name so memorable as Doy Doy.
I was told that I could find Doy Doy behind the Blue Mosque, which isn’t exactly a small building. In fact, it’s hard just to tell what the front of the mosque is, let alone the back. I encircled the building before I found a cobblestone street that I hoped would lead me to Doy Doy. I rounded a corner, and there in bright yellow stood a building with a sign reading Doy Doy. I finally made it, but would it live up to the expectations?
Where I come from, we have a very limited view of what we call “kebabs.” For starters, we spell them k-e-b-a-b-s and assume that is the only way they can be spelled. Believing that the Turks just couldn’t spell the word, I laughed my way through all of the restaurants in Turkey that said k-e-b-a-p-s. Eventually, I realized that it was just another spelling of kebabs. I guess the restaurants got the last laugh.
Spelling, though, is not the only difference in perception of kebabs that I have with Turkey. I have also always been under the impression that kebaps are pretty much just foods grilled on sticks. Again, Turkey proved me wrong…twice!
A kebap. From pottery?!
The first strange kebap I had was the “Pottery Kebap.” This was in the Uranus Cave Restaurant in Cappadocia, which was a stop on my guided tour. Before delving into this mysterious kebap, I’d like to go off on an unvegan tangent. Anyone who says it’s difficult to travel as a vegetarian is a bold-faced liar. In all my traveling, on all the tours I’ve been on, the guide always makes sure to ask if anyone is a vegetarian. This was no different in Turkey. Before arriving at the cave, my guide asked about vegetarians, but made no effort to accommodate unvegans. As such, I was stuck praying that the meal I was about to get would be fit for an unvegan such as myself.
Having just returned from a vacation in Turkey, I have decided to do a series of posts regarding my unvegan experiences abroad. Today’s review is about “pide” (pronounced pee-day), also called Turkish Pizza.
Maybe they should call this the “Turkish Calzone”
Eating something called Turkish Pizza really seems like a misnomer to me. I’m not sure if it is Turkey’s take on pizza, or perhaps they found that calling it Turkish Pizza makes it more approachable for visitors who may not have ever heard of “pide”. Either way, my first pide looked nothing at all like pizza. I got it at the Karadeniz Aile Pide & Kebap Sofrasi in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. It was called the pide with spicy meat pieces and the waiter told me the meat was beef. When it came, it looked more like a calzone than a pizza, and true to it’s word, it was full of meat pieces. The pieces, however, were not spicy, as I think they meant to write “spiced meat pieces.” Regardless, it was delicious and made me want more.
When the world shuts down on Christmas, there is only one kind of restaurant that can be counted on to stay open, the Chinese kind. With this in mind, I ventured out to West LA, to a restaurant called Hop Li. The name sounded good, since I couldn’t think of any way to make fun of it. After a decent wait (a good sign!), I was seated and leafed through the vast menu, finally settling on the Mango Chicken.
In a momentary unvegan brain fart, I completely forgot to ask the waiter to hold the vegetables.
A couple of the post-shopping delights Costco has to offer.
While most people associate Costco with huge quantities of products, I like to think of it as a great place to grab a quick bite to eat.
Beyond the free samples, Costco actually has somewhat of a restaurant, offering a few cheap meals, from chicken bakes to pizza.
By far, the best deal to be had is the hot dog combo, which is a 1/4 pound Kosher beef dog, with a drink for $1.50, but sometimes that isn’t enough. On my most recent trip to the Costco in Manhattan Beach, I also helped myself to a huge slice of pepperoni pizza. These deals are not just available to Costco members, but to anyone from the unvegan world.
You know it’s family-style because the bread is crustless.
On a recent lunch excursion from work, I found myself at Mandy’s Family Restaurant in El Segundo. Off of the main strip of Main Street, Mandy’s is a little gem tucked away into the corner of a strip mall.
As I walked in, I saw a sign proclaiming the lunch special of the day, a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, gravy and a soft drink. I kept this special in mind as I sat down and perused the massive menu. Everything looked good, but I remained intrigued by the turkey sandwich. My friend had mentioned that the seasoned fries were amazing, so I asked my waitress whether they were better than the mashed potatoes and she agreed with my friend. I made the substitution and awaited my meal.
