March 11, 2010 1

Birrieria Jalisco (Boyle Heights)

//// By in 19: East LA

Birrieria JaliscoBirrieria Jalisco
On the gold line we got out at the Mariachi Plaza station (for those who never been there, it’s a square where you can find local Mariachi musicians gathered around for hired. It feels very Mexico there.) There’re several restaurants nearby that’s worth checking out. We chose  Birrieria Jalisco, a restaurant that has been around for 35 years known for Birria, a Mexican meat stew that’s made with goat. In fact goat is the only thing you can get in this place.

The pictorial menu on the wall is Spanish only but it’s pretty easy to figure out. You can get different parts of the goat (the waiter can translate for you) , roasted or with broth.

Birrieria Jalisco
Birrieria JaliscoIMG_2320

We shared the full size #4 on the menu: Espinazo y Pierna con consome (Spine and legs with broth). The broth was delicious! The meat was tender and melt in your mouth but it was a little gamey. You eat the meat with tortilla and condiments (lime, onion, cilantro) which came along. The goat meat taste like lamb and was very rich so it’s good to get some drink with it. We got a big glass of Jamaica (Hibiscus tea) and Horchata. And of course you can get Mexican coke there which is better than American ones.

It was a great LA experience to have truly authentic Mexican food in a Latino neighbourhood where spanish was mainly spoken. Next time I definitely want to try the roasted goat.

Birrieria Jalisco
1845 E 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033
(323) 262-4552

Tags: ,

March 11, 2010 Off

55 Degree Wine (Atwater Village)

//// By in 05: Silver Lake + Echo Park

After a delicious dinner at Viet Noodle Bar, my friend and I were craving some wine and cheese. We came upon a “Wine Bar” sign on a wine barrel down the street. It lead us to a wine store at a mini mall called 55 Degree Wine. At the back of the store is a stairway that lead you down to the dungeon cellar.

IMG_8001

The descend down to dim but cozy cellar feels GREAT!  It’s like finding a hidden spot.

IMG_8006IMG_8005

Their wine menu features four types of inexpensive flight (range from $16.50 to $28), which you can also order an individual glass from. I got the World of Terredavino flight and tried three red wine that’s more on the dry side and my friend tried the white wine flight (love the Ciu Ciu). You can get cheese plate and small dishes to accompanied your wine tasting experience. There’re  complimentary help-yourself nuts and dried fruits to nibble on.

Good wine, good cheese and mellow atmosphere, this place is a great for conversations and romantic dates. The staffs are very friendly and knowledgeable. There’s also a private room where you can host a party. When we surfaced back on the ground floor, the wine we just have are featured conveniently at the cashier  so you can buy your favorites on your way out. What a lovely neighborhood gem!

55 Degree Wine
3111 Glendale Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90039

Tags: ,

March 10, 2010 Off

Crepe Dusigne (West LA)

//// By in 11: West LA

I dropped by the other crepe place near Sawtelle for a quick bite, it’s chill and friendly.

IMG_7943IMG_7963

You can basically custom your own crepe from their list. I got a ham and cheese. While that was good, I like the potato gratic on the side even more.

IMG_7966

Nutella and Banana. Ah heaven~~ So simple and tasty.

crepesdusigne.com
11301 W Olympic Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064

Tags:

March 5, 2010 4

Otomisan (Boyle Heights)

//// By in 19: East LA, Favorite Food Entries

Ever since Freda and I started Potatomato back in 2004 we’ve been blogging about eating in Los Angeles for 6 years now. We originally started the blog as a motivation for us to explore this city and go to neighbourhoods we normally wouldn’t venture to (ex: Gardena, Lomita…etc). So it’s hard to believe that it’s only until now that we’re starting to explore east LA.  Now with the metro Gold line extension it makes exploring some of the East LA neighbourhoods like Boyle Heights more fun and adventurous.

I like the Gold line a lot since it’s still new and the stations are nicely designed. We got out at the Soto Street station and walked for about a block and reached Otomisan, a Japanese home style restaurant that has been around for 50 years. It’s regarded as a “hidden gem” among Japanese living in Los Angeles and was featured in Japanese magazines and TV shows.

otomisanotomisan

The restaurant is TINY! It only has 3 booths and 5 bar stools. It’s got a dive bar-ish quality to it (or should I say dive-restaurant?). Seems like only 2 persons work there: the husband who’s the chef and the wife who does the serving/order taking. It truly is a “mom and pop” place.  It was full when we arrived so we had to wait for awhile. They were overwhelmed with the crowd so it took a long time for the food to be served. The nice lady was very apologetic about it though so I didn’t mind the wait.

otomisan

Everything in the menu is old school Japanese homey comfort food dishes like udon, soba, rice bowls, simple sushi rolls…etc. I got the Chicken Udon. It’s a simple dish but wow it was incredibly delicious!  The udon got good texture, the chicken was good and the broth was wonderful. There’s something about it that just made it different from most of the generic Japanese places that’s abundant in this city. Perhaps it’s the real “homemade” quality to it.

otomisan
Soba with shrimp tempura. The soba is pretty good but not as good as Ichimiann or Otafuku. The tempura was excellent though. Crispy and fresh.

The food was authentic and truly excellent home cooking, way better than most places in Little Tokyo! In fact I couldn’t think of any places in LT that has worthy udon or rice bowls like these. Other than the local Latino customers (Boyle Heights is a Latino neighbourhood), a lot of the customers were Japanese and that says a lot. The couple behind us waited an hour for their table and they didn’t seem to mind at all. It’s not a “pretty” place but I like the homey vibe like I was having lunch at the someone’s home. Next time I’d love to try the rice bowls as they looked really good. I heard that their sukiyaki is excellent too.

Otomisan
2506 E 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90033
(323) 526-1150

Tags:

March 2, 2010 5

Gjelina (Abbot Kinney)

//// By in 15: Venice

My friend and I went to Gjelina for lunch on a weekday. This place is usually packed but we managed to be seated. But being seated doesn’t necessarily mean you’d be served, or the food would come on time.

We waited for quite awhile and finally got our order in, thus our waiting game has begun.  We’ve waited for what felt like a century and still haven’t seen our appetizer  (and it was next to impossible to flag down our busy server). After some enquiry, they found out that our order was mistakenly delievered to our neighboring table and no one bother to do anything about it.

IMG_7846

After much fuss, it’s finally here. Grilled Seckle Pears, Burrata, Prosciutto, Arugula & Radicchio. It’s like all my favorite ingredients in one dish. The sweet grilled pears with runny burrata has gotta be one of the most delicious combination.

After chowing down that delicious appetizer it’s more waiting for our pizza. We waited and waited…nothing. Finally we found our server and he said our pizza was burnt in the oven so they have to remake it. Can our luck really be that rotten? Two orders and both are ‘delayed’ somehow.

IMG_7857IMG_7860

Pizza: Mushroom, Goat Cheese & Truffle Oil.  It’s rather lukewarm and the bottom of the pizza is still very burnt…did they really remake it!? Pity because this would have been a perfect pizza…but at this point I was too fed up and just wanted to get out of here. They probably realized their mistakes and offer us a free dessert.

Their menu sounded very interesting and unpredictable (i’d love to try everything on it), but sadly the service was careless and lacking. I’m usually the kind of person which ‘service’ is low in my priority (as I rarely talked about it). But this time the disappointment and  frustration of bad services has outdone the taste.

Tags: ,

Older Posts
Newer Posts