‘Palms’
Having a new bar open up in walking distance is always awesome. Even if it is terrible, it is comforting knowing you can get drunk locally and stumble home. And if it doesn’t suck, it can be a place to become a local. So when The Garage opened up in Palms, I was so damn excited that I went pretty much immediately, but being opening weekend I gave them some time to work out their kinks before a real judgment. This is the real judgment.
Over in Palms, a relatively new Thai place called Moo Moo threw its hat into the ring of Westside Thai restaurants. The place has a decidedly authentic flair inside despite the brightly colored lettering on its sign. In this case, I mean authentic in that it has the ambiance of a little corner Mexican restaurant with hastily cobbled seating arrangements.
Indonesian food is one of those peripheral Asian varieties like Burmese or Khmer. Unlike the Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Thai restaurants that dot nearly every corner in the city, you have to work to find these more unique options. Of course if you are of Indonesian descent, you likely know where to get the best Indonesian food, but for someone like me it isn’t so easy. As it happens, though, I heard from the mouth of an Indonesian that Simpang Asia was awesome and I knew I had to try it out.
While LA has its fair share of Middle-Eastern restaurants, Kabab Grill in Palms boasts something I haven’t seen elsewhere: its own pita oven. Growing up with the Middle-Eastern restaurants of southeastern Michigan, I just kind of assumed every place had their own oven, but in LA I learned this was not the case. Yet, a pita oven alone does not make a place great, so I was eager to see how this Syrian-flavored place would taste and hoped it didn’t taste like the blood and tears of civil war (too soon?).
Not too long ago, @estarla told me I had to check out Scoops Westside. This wasn’t just some random command, but a nudge to let me know that I’d be crazy to live in Palms and not go. I heard loud and clear and made sure to check it out. While only a few minute walk from Chego, Scoops is in an old corner strip with little else around. Nonetheless, I have never judged food based on what else nearby and the lack of interest nearby only made Scoops seem even more interesting.
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.
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.
For a few months now, I have driven by El Nopal in Palms nearly every single day. And on just about every one of those days, I say to myself, “I want to eat there.” But it is not simply because I love Mexican food, it is because of what is written just below the name of the restaurant on their sign: Home of the Pregnant Burrito. I’m a pretty literal guy and assumed there was some sort of burrito fetus residing in the larger burrito. This proved to not be the case, but it does give me an idea for an awesome burrito if I ever open up my own Mexican place (read: never). Anyway, onto the burrito.
Many months ago, someone was telling me about a delicious pizza chain from the Midwest called Godfather’s. Being from the Midwest, I was a bit surprised until he told me it was from that other Midwest. You know, like Kansas and stuff. Then Godfather’s started getting a lot more attention because of some dude named Herman Cain that wants to be President. So when I ordered some pizza delivery from a place called Godfather’s that recently appeared in Palms, I was thinking this was one and the same as the fabled Godfather’s I had heard so much about. I was wrong, for the first time.
Moving to a new place is never easy. Driving habits and living habits have to change, but more importantly, eating habits have to change. This can be easy for some, but when you have a meat blog it can be tough to say goodbye to the Taco Bell that once resided across the street. But it is also an opportunity to try new things, so as I woke up on my first real weekend in my new place, I realized it was time for a stroll around the area in search of food. Quickly, I found Taco Plus.