June 29, 2009 3

The Nickel Diner (Downtown)

//// By in 06: Downtown LA

The Nickel Diner
Back to the wonderful Nickel Diner for Brunch. This time I got their famous Maple glazed bacon donut. It’s not on the menu anywhere so I had to ask the waitress for it. It was incredibly delicious! I love the texture of the donut, so soft and airy. The bacon add a nice savory touch and crispy texture. Jon called it “an artery hardening orgasm of fat, salt and sugar”. I felt guilty eating it soon after though.

The Nickel Diner
Hamburger patty and two eggs with tomato, cottage cheese and toast.
Good. Too much food for me though, especially after eating the donut.

The Nickel DinerThe Nickel Diner
The heads got new hairdo.

The Nickel Diner
524 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 623-8301

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June 17, 2009 6

Good Girl Dinette (Highland Park)

//// By in 20: Highland Park, Favorite Food Entries

A friend who lived at Mt. Washington told me about this joint Good Girl Dinette and recommended me their beef stew. I checked out their website and it says “Vietnamese Comfort Food meets American diner.” Wow what a fun concept! I immediately got a group of foodie friends and set out.

The design-y space sticks out in the rather sketchy neighborhood.

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Love the clean, casual and chic interior (especially the chairs)!

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Appetizer: Mushroom Imperial Rolls, Fresh Spring Rolls (stuffed with tofu and herbs). Good!

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Spicy Fries – russets seasoned with chilies, garlic, cilantro $4.75  So simple yet so good, I love it!!!

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Rice Cakes with Crispy Scallion tofu. I was expecting Banh Chung but turns out it’s like onigiri/riceball.

The menu ranged from the more Vietnamese staples to Vietnamese-meets-west fusion dishes. There’s the quintessential selections of Vietnamese baguette sandwiches (Banh Mi), Pho and Congee.

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The Chicken Soup Pho (good broth!) and  Slow Roasted Pork Baguettes (with pickles, homemade cilantro-maggi mayo) were also very good quality.

Then there’s the stew dishes:

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Beef Stew – Braised with carrots in Vietnamese Five-Spice. They don’t mean it lightly when they said ‘Five spice’ flavors, it’s very aromatic, complex tasting and flavorful! Though the Chinese star anise flavor was a little too overwhelming for me (too liquorice).

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Curry Pot Pies with homemade biscuit. This was my most favorite of the night. The biscuit was well made and crispy. The hot stew underneath was spiced with curry. This dish needed 20 min. prep time so order early!

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Bread Pudding. Very good~ They should consider opening a side bakery shop.

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Almond Jelly. Refreshing, creamy and wonderful! The candied Kumquat was a great touch.

This place has the perfect combine of a great idea + top quality + good execution! I wish it was located at a more accessible (for me) and safer area. The meal made me so happy and full, which means it did its job as ‘comfort food.’ (Thanks Adam for recommending it!)

Good Girl Dinette
110 North Avenue 56 Los Angeles, CA 90042

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June 16, 2009 2

The Golden State Cafe (Fairfax district)

//// By in 09: Weho

In the hip Fairfax district near the fantastic Animal Restaurant, there’s The Golden State Cafe , a cheap “gourmet fast-food” joint that features food and drinks from California, I.E. they have gelato from Scoop and hot dogs from Let’s be Frank. It seems to be a rather risky concept, since it’s not that far to go to those places, and the menu is small.

Golden State
The beer on the menu were from California breweries (though they have stuffs from Portland too). I forgot what we tried, both were good. If you get the old Rasputin beer on draft you can add a scoop of Scoops’s gelato for a beer float! I definitely want to try that next time.

Golden State
The Burger ($10) seems to be the star item. The ingredients are from California: beef from Harris ranch , cheddar from Fiscalini farms. Also with glazed applewood smoked bacon, arugula, housemade aioli and ketchup. You get to pick one side from 5 choices. Jon picked the Jalapeno cabbage slaw. The burger is delicious! I know gourmet burger is everywhere these days in this town, but it’s still nice to find one that’s well made.

Golden State
I got the Let’s be Frank hot dog (beef), you get to choose two toppings and a side. I got the Golden State relish (yummy) and sauerkraut for toppings, and the french fries is served with housemade hazelnut romesco. The hotdog is pretty good but it’s no Wurstkuche.

A nice causal place where everything is $10 and under. It’s a pretty good place for quick eats and then talk over drinks.

The Golden State Cafe
426 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 782-8331

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June 11, 2009 4

Loteria Grill (Hollywood)

//// By in 08: Hollywood, Favorite Food Entries

Loteria!Loteria!
Loteria! Everyone at work has been raving about the new-ish Loteria Grill on Hollywood Blvd ever since it opened late last year. I always missd the chance to go, either too busy at work or some other reasons. Last week was a co-worker’s birthday, so a big group of us went there for lunch to celebrate. Unlike the stall at Farmer’s Market, this Loteria Grill is a real sit-down restaurant at the touristy part of Hollywood Blvd, right next to the very cheesy Geisha House (sorry if anyone actually likes that place…). I was rather surprise at how nice the interior is. Love the high ceiling, open kitchen and natural sunlight. Of course it’s decorated with their signature “cards” theme. As soon as we sit down, they waiter brought over chips with sauce. The sauce was really good, very addictive.

Loteria!Loteria!
We got two appetizers: Queso Fundido (melted cheese) and Crispy taquitos (inside is chicken, shredded beef and potato). The Queso Fundido was really good. It came with tortilla which we ate with the melted cheese.The taquitos were pretty good too.

Loteria!
I got the Sampler plates which has all 12 of tacos served on mini hand-made tortillas. It’s a good dish for a first timer to sample all their tacos in a bite, though their sizes were more like 2 bites for me. It’s a very filling dish for sure, if Freda was with me I would definitely share it with her. The tacos are:

-Fresh cactus salda (I Love this a lot!)
-Zucchini and roasted corn succotash (refreshing)
-Mushrooms with Epazote. (it taste ok)
-Potatoes with roasted poblano peppers (Really good!)
-Chicken in mole poblano (I had this one before at the Farmer’s Market branch and I wasn’t that impressed at that time, but this time it was very good).
-Chicken stewed with chipotle peppers and home-made chorizo. (good)
–Chicken in a spicy pumpkin-seed and peanut sauce. (tasty)
-Shredded beef with guacamole. (Really good, one of my most favorite ones).
-Meatballs in tomato and chipotle sauce (Taste a little too Italian-ish )
-Pork Slowly Roasted in Banana Leaf with citrus-pickled red onion and chile habanero (pretty good)
-Pork rinds in spicy tomatillo sauce. (Really good, one of my favorites.)
–Carnitas in a spicy and smokey chile morita sauce, served with slices of avocado. (good)

Loteria!

Everyone got tacos so I only took picture of the person’s next to me. From left to right: – zucchini and roasted corn succotash, Mushrooms with Epazote, Shredded beef with guacamole, Chicken in mole poblano.

Loteria!
Flan. Rich and creamy.

I haven’t had good Mexican food for a long time so this meal blew me away. Someone in our group argues that the food is a tad bit overpriced for Mexican food, but I guess that’s expected given the location of this place. I say if you find yourself somehow unfortunately stuck at Hollywood Blvd and you need a bite, Loteria Grill is the place to go.  They have an amazing collection of Tequilas too.

Loteria Grill Hollywood
6627 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028
323.465.2500

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June 10, 2009 4

The Bowery (Hollywood)

//// By in 08: Hollywood

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The Bowery burger has became my favorite burger du jour~ What made it special is that it is a juicy, well seasoned, small but very thick patty put in between English muffins. I like how well the smaller dimension fit into my grip and bites. The thickness of the patty let you savor every meaty bite better. You can built the rest with a list of various cheese, onion, bacon, etc. to choose from. I got the gruyere cheese with caramelized onion. My mouth watered just from typing that.

The sweet potatoes fries are good as well.

The Bowery
6268 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90028

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