We were in L.A. in May for a conference downtown . The last time we were in L.A. was in 2010, for just a weekend. While some of our eats were simply out of convenience (close to the conference or close to where we were doing an activity), we tried to sample some L.A. classics, some fancy schmancy places, and some places that offered food that we can’t get much of in our hometown of Toronto.
L.A. CLASSICS
On our previous trip, our first stop had been Langer’s and it was again for this trip. We do love their pastrami and got the #19 again. The pastrami remains richly spiced and delicious, better than even Katz’s in our opinion. We also ordered a combo plate of chopped liver (very tasty), hot tongue (amazing - perfectly done), brisket (pretty good, not as flavourful as some), with coleslaw, tomato, raw onion, cucumber, dill pickle, cornichons, green and black olives, and their wonderful rye bread, crusty on the edge and soft inside. The chocolate egg cream also was pretty good.
We had never tried a French dip before. After doing lots of investigation, we decided to go to one of the supposed sources, Philippe’s. We sampled the beef, double-dipped, with Swiss and the lamb, double-dipped with blue. Both were lovely, with tender flavourful meat nestled between rolls that were crispy on the outside and moistened with jus on the inside. We also had a gloriously magenta pickled egg, a dill pickle, and a small cup of tasty pea soup.
FOOD HALLS/MARKETS
We stayed about a 20-minute walk from Grand Central Market, so we had an opportunity to sample from a number of the vendors. The bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich (applewood smoked bacon, cage-free over-medium egg, cheddar cheese, chipotle ketchup, in a warm brioche bun) from Eggslut was fantastic, with a drippy egg yolk and ripe avocado that we added. Ramen Hood’s creative take on avocado toast featured deep-fried crispy rice cakes, yuzu avocado, herb salad, togarashi, and chili threads. Very fun! And who doesn’t need a breakfast dessert? We decided to sample the acclaimed and humongous fresh strawberry donuts at The Donut Man. While impressive in size, the dough was a bit heavy and the overall package was a bit sweet for our tastes.
In a more dinner vein, we sampled the Salvadorean pupusa loroco con queso from Sarita’s Pupuseria, which had great crispy edges but needed a tad more salt. The gai yang at Sticky Rice featured delicious and juicy boneless chicken thighs with the eponymous rice and some mango salad. For dessert we sampled from McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams. The base was smooth and creamy, but was a bit soft and drippy, suggesting the need for a colder freezer. Oregon marionberry preserves with Eureka lemon was a great blend of sweeter fruit and tart accents. Double peanut butter chip had a peanut base, with ribbons of more peanut butter and dark chocolate chips. We also had the chocolate chess pie from Fat + Flour, which had nice dark chocolate notes.
We walked over to Smorgasburg on our only Sunday. With a dizzying number of options, it took some time for us to make our choices. We finally settled on:
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ManEatingPlant: the Fried Shroom Bao featured beer-battered king oyster shrooms, cashew hoisin, pickled serrano, cilantro, scallions, chili oil - gorgeous moist mushrooms and great flavours, but very oily. Much better was the Char Siu BBQ Bao Combo - steamed bao bun, pulled king trumpet shrooms, housemade char siu BBQ sauce, fresh cucumbers, cilantro, scallions, sesameseed - this had a crunchy mushroom texture, not reminiscent of pork, but was still yummy.
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Miya Miya Shawarma: Chicken Shawarma Wrap featured moist, smokey chicken, seasoned with “a sacred Jordanian spice blend imported from Amman”, with a creamy garlic sauce, and pickles, wrapped handmade saj bread. We got it “the Yaz Way”, with spicy garlic sauce and some pomegranate molasses.
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Glad featured a type of foccacia from the small town Recco on Italy’s Ligurian Coast. Rather than the thick pillow we are used to, this was crisp and cracker-thin. We tried the version with leek, 'nduja, Calabrian chili, and pecorino toscano - lovely, with melted cheese and moist leeks inside.
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MuMu Bakery: The Croissant Taiyaki seemed gimmicky, but we were curious. The dough was crisp and very buttery, but the filling (we ordered mango apple) was like cheap pie, all cornstarchy and no mango flavour.
EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN
Although Toronto has great depth and breadth of Asian restaurants, Cambodian is in relatively short supply. So for our day in Long Beach, we first stopped at A&J Seafood Shack for their beef stick sandwich, a delicious banh mi-ish creation of fragrant and lemongrass-seasoned beef in a toasted French roll, with tangy pickled papaya, cucumbers, jalapenos, cilantro, and a sriracha mayo spread.
For dinner, we tried Monorom. Dishes were fairly large and just two were sufficient for dinner. Phnom Penh Noodle had a clear, fragrant broth and was filled with supple rice noodles, sliced and ground pork, beef balls, shrimp, kidney, bean sprouts, fried garlic, cilantro, and scallions. Prahok Creme was like nothing we had tried before. A warm sauce of ground pork and smoked fish, coconut milk, lemongrass, garlic, kaffir lime leaves, and galangal was served with a colourful assortment of raw vegetables, including purple and green eggplants, cabbage, cucumber, and long green beans. Light, refreshing, and novel (for us).
While Toronto has lots of Thai restaurants, for some reason Thai boat noodles are rarely on the menu. So we made a return trip to Sapp Coffee Shop. It remains just as satisfying as many years ago. The broth has complexity and depth. And the assortment of tendon, liver, beef, tripe, stewed beef, and beef balls is lots of fun, particularly the richly flavoured stewed beef. We were equally impressed by the Jade Noodles: spinach egg noodle, with BBQ pork, roast duck, crab meat, served with sugar(!), ground peanuts, and chili powder.
There is a Pine & Crane location close to the Convention Center and even though some reports on this board indicated recent disappointment, we decided to try their Taiwanese breakfast options. Having no previous experience in this kind of food, we enjoyed it. The fan tuan was a tasty mix of pork floss, you tiao (deep-fried bread), soy braised egg, preserved vegetables, all wrapped in purple sticky rice. Thousand-layer pancake included egg, cheese, Thai basil, and chili sauce, wrapped in a somewhat dense but otherwise decent pastry - like an Asian breakfast sandwich. Chive and egg pockets packed Chinese chives, scrambled eggs, vermicelli, and a salty bean chili sauce in a similar, slightly oiler pastry. For beverages we had a teapot of Eastern Beauty (came with a timer for the steeping) and a Sea Salt drip coffee, lightly salted and with sweetened whipped cream on top.
MEXICAN
A recent trip to Mexico City meant that Mexican food in L.A. was less of a priority. Nonetheless, a day at LACMA and the Academy Museum resulted in a quick lunch at nearby Escuela Taqueria. We were impressed that they had tepache (a fermented pineapple concoction) and drank that, along with a watermelon agua fresca. We had a selection of tacos including crisp skin branzino (nice that it was not deep-fried), pancetta with cheese and avocado (very good), and slow-cooked pork rib (even better). The chicken tinga tostada and the elote were also fine.
Hunger pangs near the Santa Monica Pier led to a quick stop at Tacos 1986. The adobada (al pastor) was particularly tasty, charred and smokey. The carne asada was also quite good.
And the need for a Convention Center lunch led to El Cholo. Given its history, we decided to only order dishes that were on its 1923 opening menu. Green corn tamales featured corn off the cob, cheddar cheese, and ortega chile, and beans and rice. While the beans and rice were fairly generic, the tamale was very good. Sonora-style enchilada had layered corn tortillas, simmered chicken, salsa roja, salsa verde, and a fried egg - a bit of a mess, but quite enjoyable. They also gave us a giant basket of nachos with a mild red salsa, ensuring we had no room for dessert.
FANCIER
Ever since I learned about Evan Funke’s pastas, I wanted to try them when I next visited L.A. We decided to try them at Funke. While he wasn’t there himself making the pasta, we got to watch other members of his crew hard at work (at one point he made an appearance to touch base with his staff). Although at least one person on this board had a poor experience at one of his restaurants, our meal was a great experience.
We had two great glasses of wine:
- Paltrinieri ‘Radice’ Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC, Emilia Romagna 2023
- Orange Cantina Giardino ‘Sophia’ Campania Greco IGP 2020
Wanting to save room, we split the Carciofi Alla Giudia: fried violetta artichokes, salsa di acciughe, mint, lemon - the flavorings were great, but subtle enough that you mainly got the wonderful tang from the artichokes.
We ordered 4 pastas (because why stop at 2?). Each had a description of the geographic origin and named the woman who taught him how to make it:
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Tagliatelle (Bologna, Emilia Romagna - Maestra Alessandra): remarkably thin and yet firm tagliatelle in a dangerously rich and flavourful ragù bolognese (apparently spiked with bone marrow).
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Busiate (Trapani, Sicilia - Benedetta): curly, very long noodles nestled in a cream and pesto trapanese sauce, the richness offset by the acid from pomodorini, and then accented by pecorino dolce, 'nduja, and pecorino pugliese - very impressive.
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Tortelli (Parma, Emilia Romagna - Paola): pockets filled with mortadella di bologna and ricotta fresca, with parmigiano reggiano and sugo di arrosto (a very tasty, sticky meat jus).
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Orecchiette (Bari Vecchia, Puglia - Nunzia): spinach flecked “ears” with salsiccia, broccolini, sugo di pomodoro, 'nduja, and pecorino pugliese - perhaps our favourite.
Even after all that, we were tempted by the desserts and ordered a couple:
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Meringata - chocolate panna cotta, candied almonds, coconut granita and 6 little meringues on top - interesting and delightful; as the granita melted it was more obvious how much fresh coconut was in it.
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Scimmia grassa - lovely banana gelato, a-bit-too-sweet brownie pieces, candied walnuts, and amarena cherries.
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For my birthday, I also got a gorgeous tiny chocolate cake covered in cocoa nibs.
With the bill we also got some nice biscotti and very dark truffles.
I had read about n/naka a few years ago and also put it on my to-try list. Even though it subsequently lost a Michelin star, we were still committed to going. And we were glad we did as it was a carefully constructed and graceful meal. Service was thoughtful and attentive. They replaced the white napkins with black so we wouldn’t get fuzzes on our dark pants. And chef herself came out to greet and thank us at the end.
Theuy started us off with a special birthday sip of Junmai Daiginjo Fukurotsuri sake. Then we had refreshing chilled sencha with grape and lychee, in our choice of cups.
Our sake and wine pairing started off with Nanbu Bijin “Awa Sparkling” sake, made in the traditional champagne method - lovely. Then followed the first 2 courses:
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Sakizuke: mustard greens (3 deep-fried whole leaves), Caledonia blue shrimp (farmed sustainably), caviar (locally farmed sturgeon), deep-fried corn mochi squares stuffed with yuzu purée, roasted eggplant ice cream, and corn dashi soup - marvellous overall.
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Zensai, a multi-dish “preview”, using many ingredients that reappeared in subsequent courses: 1) spring bamboo (takenoko) slices with Szechuan peppercorn leaf (kinome) and shaved bonito; 2) fava beans with puréed avocado and sugar snap peas; 3) tartlet of sashimi tuna, ponzu; 4) tempura yari-ika squid (sword-tip squid) with curry salt; 5) white asparagus tofu with clam and a tiny cucumber garnish; 6) Hokkaido wagyu beef skewer (tsukune) with soy and ginger glaze; and 7) strawberry with poached rhubarb with tofu (shira ae) and sesame - an intriguing assortment, with many little flavour and texture surprises.
Our next pairing was Parcela Eira Vedra, Fazenda Agricola Augalevada, Albariño from Rias Baixas, Galicia, 2022 - apparently the winemaker accidentally grew flor on it, which gave it interesting aromatics and hints of sherry. The 3rd course (Modern Zukuri) featured pieces of raw aori ika (bigfin squid) rolled up like noodles, yucca chips hand-painted with squid ink, rose petals, and alyssum flowers. Accompanying this was a sea urchin shell with uni pieces in a shiso base, with dashi, soy, shiso oil over a big shiso leaf - lovely fresh sea flavours.
A soup followed with California vermilion rockfish, spring bamboo, kinome, and wakame in a light dashi broth.
The next pairing was a 2022 Chablis 1er Cru, “Vaillons”, Jean Collet & Fils - thick mouthfeel and elegant. Sashimi was the focus of the 5th course: young yellowtail, maguro, toro, and three-lined grunt fish, garnished with taro root slice, wasabi, and shiso shreds and served with houseblend soy sauce.
Our next pairing was Houou Biden “Sake Mirai”, Junmai Daiginjo. Kobayashi Shuzo,Tochigi.
Our 6th course featured fat, sweet East coast scallops, sugar snap peas and leaves, and surf clam, in a brown butter ponzu sauce with green bean purée, served in a scallop shell over some binchotan coals.
The next pairing was a Gruner Veltliner, “Ried Stein”, Bernhard Ott, 2021, Kamptal - almost savoury notes. This accompanied the 7th course: kinmedai/goldeneye snapper, artichoke, and artichoke manju in a thick dashi broth with yuzu - fragrant and beautiful.
Another sake followed: Izumibashi “Rakufumai” Dragonfly Gold Kimoto 35, Junmai Daiginjo, Izumibashi Shuzo, Kanagawa. This nicely complemented the 8th course of spaghetti with mentaiko (fermented cod roe), abalone, black truffles, and daikon sprouts. Although the truffles were nearly flavourless, the rest of the dish had plenty of umami.
The next pairing was Ad Ripa “China Blue”, Cabernet Sauvignon, Happy Canyon, Santa Barbara, 2021 - black fruit and green pepper, anise syrup/cinnamon, not too tanniny at all. This had the structure to hold up to course 9: binchotan-grilled wagyu beef (nice carmelization on the edges), pickled Tokyo turnip, broccolini, seasoned pecans, black garlic, tomatillo and green garlic sauces.
The 10th course was a light palate cleanser and a riff on sunomono: white asparagus, vinegar dashi aioli with kabosu, pine nuts, and golden pea shoots.
The next pairing was “Catskills” Junmai Daiginjo, a sake from Brooklyn made with Arkansas rice and Catskills water! Quite nice. It accompanied the 11th course of sushi: madai (red seabream), toro, needlefish, giant clam, cooked belt fish (a bit smokey), and uni and salmon roe in nori and shiso. A side of simple miso soup complemented. Then they offered, and we accepted, an extra: blue crab hand roll.
The first dessert a honey sugar crystal flower, an aromatic sorbet of yuzu and ginger, fresh cara cara oranges, and osmanthus flower gelee - great! We were then poured an unfiltered pink sake - Yamaguchi Shuzojo, Niwa No Uguisu, Doburoku Pink. It was almost like a sake milkshake.
Next came a Meyer lemon mascarpone cream cake, coated with strawberry dust, with a cherry blossom and strawberry sorbet on candied barley, and a strawberry and rhubarb garnish. Very spring and not too sweet. Also fun was a dark chocolate mochi with strawberry, and a berry mini waffle (cookie) with edible flowers.
They then made foamy matcha at the table and gave me a little elderflower vanilla blueberry lychee cake with birthday candle.
To take home, we received a madeleine of yuzu and poppyseed and a tea bag of sencha with citrus, perfect for next morning.
Vespertine was our 2-star experience. Housed in its own building, all curves and windows, it made a striking impression even before you walked in. Similar to a few other places, the main section of the meal is in one room and then you shift into another for the remainder. Dishes were intricate, exquisite, fun, and creative. Staff were friendly, always willing to answer all our extra questions about the components of each dish. The soundtrack was ambient music, sometimes making you feel you were visiting a modern art installation, but at least it wasn’t distracting. Overall, a beautiful experience.
They offered two drink pairings: Dynamic (various alcohols and some juices) and Vitality (juice and other). We ordered one of each to sample the full range. Our first two drinks were each wonderful in their own ways:
- Champagne - Vilmart & Co Grand Cellier, premier cru, à Rilly la Montagne.
- Sparkling birch juice from sap in Belarus, carbonated in-house.
Our first course: featured sweet raw Maine scallops, brushed with concentrated passionfruit juice and ahi Amarillo chiles, plus scallop mousse made with passionfruit shells, petunia flowers, horseradish crisps, tiny radish slices, and kumquat.
For the next pairing, we both had kiwi cucumber juice with oxalis and lemon verbena - refreshing and herbal. This accompanied a striking presentation of alyssums, namesias, sprigs of lemon thyme, all stuck into custard of triple cream and wild onion (coating the bowl), also with pieces of kiwi, spruce tips, preserved Meyer lemon rind, lots of fresh peas, with a vinaigrette of shells of fermented split peas and wild onion oil, puffed buckwheat - just gorgeous and like eating a complex garden.
Our next pairings:
- Kuheiji, Kurodasho TAKO, 2021, junmai daikinjo sake - amazing creamy mouthfeel, fruity and floral.
- Jicama, lychee, coconut milk, elderflower, and sake lees (for two courses)
The 3rd course centred on deep sea, sweet raw prawns from Hawaii, with quince vinaigrette, salted cherry blossoms, turnips, shiso blossoms, ahi punka chile, ogo seaweed, served in a giant ice cube with cedar branches wrapped around.
The next wine was Wenzel Furmint, Stockkultur, 2021, Burgenland Austria, with prominent lemon and oaked depth. This paired with the 4th course, title Obsidian Mirror: smoked mussel panna cotta, mussel gelee dyed with cuttlefish ink, pickled shimeji mushrooms, water chestnuts, salted plum and roasted kombu oil - made all the more fun with a polished mussel shell scoop to eat it with.
We both then had a savoury beverage of rhubarb kombucha, red currant, and lipstick bell pepper. This matched up nicely with rich white kinmedai (goldeneye snapper), grilled until just done over binchotan in wild laurel leaf, served over caramelized papaya paste, with rose petals, pepper oil, Indian mala flower (fresh hibiscus), more papaya paste on pepper molasses, and sea grapes.
Our next pairings were:
- Chanterelle tea, verjus and bear bark (ossia root)
- Bussia, Poderi Aldo Conterno, Barolo DOCG, Monforte d’Alba, 2020 - tanniny but went well with the dish
The 6th course featured soft and moist coturnix quail by Brent Wolf near Napa: dry-aged breast, grilled, cured with rice koji and mushroom reduction, wax flowers. Beside this was an emulsion of quail egg and smoked butter (for dipping), with a dark top layer of alder catkins and pine cones. This was followed up with a 7th course of quail legs in a roulade of sacred pepper leaf (hoja santo), morel mushroom, miso, reduced birch sap, myrica, and gale. Delicious little packages. This came with 48-hour sourdough of heirloom oats fried in quail fat. We had to resist asking for more of this.
Our next pairings:
- fragrant and fruity non-alcoholic beer with huckleberries and roasted barley.
- Dynamic 5, 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze, Lambikbrouwerij, Geuzestekerij, no. 126, 21-22 blend: an unfruited lambic from outside Brussels, a blend of 6 brews - even my non-beer-drinking spouse thought this was nice.
Our last savoury course featured spring lamb ribeye, lightly grilled over binchotan, atop a fudge of caramelized yeast, under an onion soubise made with sorrel, lamb fat, magnolia blossom, and grass fed butter, with mini sides of fried plantain dumplings, puréed turnips, porcini, and Asian gooseberries, under nasturtium leaves, mast chickweed, elderflower, and young redwood tips. Many interesting elements, all complementing each other beautifully.
They then shifted us to a main floor lounge-like space. Our transition pairings were:
- heirloom purple corn, blood orange, pomegranate, rose water and green tomato juice
- Heiwa Shuzou “Aka Kid”, Junmai Daiginjo, Kishu: sake from red rice, largely unpolished
The above came with lily bulb custard with cherries, grilled koji cake, fresh begonia flowers, a broth of smoked huitlacoche and root vegetable tea, and palo santo - still some complexity, but a great wind down from the previous course.
Next came a hot herbal tea made from Douglas fir. This set up a forest atmosphere for a sourdough pancake, caramelized in maple syrup, with thin sheet of salted lamb fat. This was accompanied by light cream, Laphroaig 10-year scotch, maple syrup, Pakistani mulberries, and wood ruff leaves. It was like a riff on crumpets with cream.
Next came birch hard water with salt and sugar, ice cream of raw parsnip, tiger nut marzipan, caramelized milk fudge, with aloe vera and white verjus poured over, all enhanced by being served in bowls of white quartz with mother of pearl spoons.
Our last beverage was a sparkling redwood juice, sweetened with with verjus, and carbonated. This accompanied a spectacular riff on entremets: roasted beet crisp, icy sheep milk yogourt, black raspberry, roasted almond praline, beet genoise cake and black raspberry panna cotta on the bottom. Each layer rimmed the inside of a bowl and was dusted with soy meringue and butterfly pea.
As a birthday treat, I had a birthday candle made of wild cacao and an almond marzipan wick, chocolate and black sesame mousse, white chocolate ganache, and cocoa syrup, all wrapped in chocolate tuile.
DRINKING
We only got to try a few bars and rooftop patios. Just next door to where we were staying was Sauced. It offered a beautiful view of Broadway and the downtown in general. They had some fun bottles by the glass. We tried a Cabernet Sauvignon from upstate New York (!) that had been pressed in whole clusters and undergone carbonic maceration. It was served chilled and we would not have guessed the grape as it mainly tasted of strawberries. Our other glass was Le Batossay Marie Rose. Grolleau Gris, 2023. Again the grapes were pressed whole cluster and had undergone carbonic maceration. This one was all roses and yuzu.
Our other rooftop experience was at Bar Funke. Although we had eaten far too much, we had not actually drunk a lot and figured we could fit in some cocktails over time. Although the view was not as great as Sauced, the patio was still lovely, with a jasmine archway entrance. We had two excellent cocktails:
- Sicilia - tequila, amara, prickly pear, lime - nicely balanced.
- Piemonte - mezcal, grappa, rhubarb three ways, lemon - especially delicious.
After dinner one evening, we visited Mirate, a Mexican-focused restaurant and cocktail bar with a beautiful open space. We were excited to see that they had tepache on the menu, then disappointed to be told that they were out. Although they had a substantial selection of tequilas and mezcal, we decided to sample cocktails. These had lots of different flavour components that were balanced well and yet had distinctive notes. El Emperador included sonajero pomegranate ponche, green chile amaro, condesa prickly pear gin, parsley, plantain tea, and walnut ice cream - quite fabulous. El Taquero #2 had pineapple, al pastor honey, asiento y tostada washed mal bien x mirate espadin, oaxaca pineapple brandy, alma tepec, lemon, cilantro, and avocado oil - very interesting and almost as fabulous.
Thunderbolt felt more like a neighbourhood bar, very casual and informal, and a bit underclean. However the drinks were impressive, with interesting accents and beautiful balance. We tried 4:
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P-Town Boxing Club: coconut-washed rye, pandan, bitters - a nice riff on an old fashioned and very strong.
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Pastelito: tequila, guava, strawberry aperitif, hibiscus, broken coconut - this was especially remarkable, pink and with a coconut milk punch flavour and smoothness.
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La Frutera #3: tequila, guanabana, smoked pineapple distillate, pepita, cashew, cucumber, lime - white and green, very guanabana-y and also quite savoury.
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Barcelonnette: mezcal, suze, passionfruit, lime - quite nice, very tangy
Stay tuned for a separate report, covering our week on part of the Central Coast.
