September 2, 2008 6

El Califa (Mexico City: La Condesa)

//// By in 02: Mexico

IMG_3225My co-workers and I arrived in Mexico City around 11:00 pm due to frequent delays. Tired and hungry, our clients took us to this popular Taco joint that opens till 5:00 am in La Condesa to re-fuel. Apparently it’s a popular destination for club goers for late night eats. The vibe was causal and festive. It’s got an open kitchen which you can see the food being prepared and made.

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Mexican makes lots of great beers, negra modelo is one of my favorites. The clients showed us Leon and montejo, both are really good too.

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It’s great to let the locals do all the ordering as there’s no way I would know all these great dishes on the menu. For example, not sure what this is call in Spanish, it’s a big sheet of thin grilled cheese. Crispy with great smokey flavor, I could not stop eating it.

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Very good Bean soup and chips, generally I’m not a fan of bean soup but I drank most of it. The steak with pressed grilled cheese taco was really delicious! The steak was good and very flavorful, love the slightly burned cheese.

After the meal I tried Cafe de olla – coffee with cinnamon, cloves and a bit of chocolate. It smelled wonderful and was so incredibly delicious. I’m going to try to make it at home. Though if anyone knows any cafes or Mexican restaurants in LA make this please let me know.

We were very satisfied. Pity this is the only day we get to spent at Mexico City and we had an early morning flight to Chiapas next day. Luckily, more amazing Mexican food await us there.

El Califa
Altata 22, at Alfonso Reyes, Mexico City
55/5271-6285

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August 29, 2008 2

Good Microbrew and Grill (silverlake)

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

DSCN4330I just came back from a wonderful 4 days trip to Chiapas (the southernmost state of Mexico) for a project. I saw many beautiful sights and breathtaking sceneries. Of course, I had lots of amazing food there, thanks to our client Lenn. Report coming up soon. For now, got to clean up the old entries first.

It was a baking hot late afternoon and cold beer sounded very good. We walked by Good Microbrew and Grill and went in there randomly. I was delighted to see the huge selections of beer they have, they also have beers from around the world. We got Austrian’s Salzburger Stiegl and Czech’s Czechvar. Both are really good and reminded me of the wonderful Prague/Vienna trip earlier this year. I especialy love Stigegl, it had a wonderful rich malty taste and not bitter. I’m not familiar with proper beer descriptions, but it felt smooth when you gulp it down the throat and it left a nice slightly sweet aftertaste.

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Food wise it’s mostly pub grub on the menu so I had no high expectation. We weren’t hungry so we got the Sampler Platter: potato skins, Spinach Artichoke Dip, Onion Rings and Armadillo Eggs. Trashy pub food but satisfying for us at that time and went well with the beer. I like the armadillo eggs the most, it’s actually cream cheese with jalapeno, not really eggs of armadillo.

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We went back on another night for some good beer while watching the Olympics (there’re several big screen TV inside). Jon was hungry and got a Skirt steak. Surprisingly pretty good and well plated.

They have mystery beer night on Wednesday and dinner for $9 on Tuesday. Definitely come here for the wide selection of beer, they have several tap beer also. I just wish it would stay open later in the night.

Good Microbrew and Grill
3725 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026-1527
(323) 660-3645

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August 27, 2008 2

The Lazy Daisy (Santa Monica)

//// By in 16: Santa Monica

I’ve been working on the westside recently and we had lunch at this cute Santa Monica breakfast joint.
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Even though most customers stopped by for take outs, it have a pretty outdoor patio for sit-ins.

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We waited a bit for a table. The menu is generic Los Angeles cafe food: salad, sandwiches, soups. Fresh and big portion.

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I have a Egg Benedict…hmm..’healthy’ tasting. The taste is pretty generic overall, which is alright for a local neighborhood joint. You mostly come here for the casual vibe, familiar breakfast/cafe essentials and cute patio.

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August 21, 2008 7

Kingburg Kitchen (San Gabriel)

//// By in 01: San Gabriel, Favorite Food Entries

We randomly went inside this Taiwanese place when we saw the “all handmade” signs on their windows. They specialized in Taiwanese style Fried Buns that are made to order (with variety of flavors to choose, including Vegetarian). It’d take awhile so you have to order it once you sat down. There’re instructions on the wall recommend calling before you arrive.

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Fried Bun with Pork, Sea Cucumber and Shrimp: The skin is fluffy and smooth.

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The three ingredients (Pork, Sea Cucumber and Shrimp) created a very smooth but chewy texture. It’s juicy and delicious~

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The menu also offers a Noodle + 5 Dumplings set. Sole Fish with Leeks Dumplings, the skin is very thin and light but won’t fell apart. The fish filling is smooth and tasty, I can’t help gulping them down.

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Pork with Herb Dill Boiled Dumplings: the dill gave an unusual aroma to the standard pork dumplings. Beef Noodle: the broth is too light for my preference, but the noodles are fresh and light.

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Dan Dan Noodle. I thought I was ordiering the spicy Sichuan kind, turns out it’s the Taiwanese kind that’s served with peanut sauce. It’s a little dry and heavy, bad idea to get when you already have so much dumplings and buns stuff your stomach with.

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The pickled cucumber are very good. They also sell variety of breads for take-out only (wheat, flower-bun, etc). We bought some Brown Sugar Buns and steamed at home, the mild sweetness is very pleasant. Joan concluded that she prefer Kingburg to Luscious Dumpling.

Kingburg Kitchen (626) 282-2386
715 W. Las Tunas Dr. San Gabriel, CA 91776

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August 21, 2008 4

Breadbar (Century City)

//// By in 10: Beverly Hills

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We went to Breadbar at the Century City Mall for a light meal. From the menu their sandwiches didn’t attract us as much as the salad and bread. So We got the French Country Salad: brie cheese, mesclun greens, figs, granny smith apples and honey-balsamic vinaigrette and balsamic reduction. When the plate arrived we were quite taken aback by how little mesclun greens there were. The star was definitely the slightly baked figs with melting brie. It’s a very delicious combination. I wish there were a tad more balsamic reduction too for it was very tasty.

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BREADBAR’s Bread Basket for Two: Chef’s selection of four different breads, comes with butter and spreads. I didn’t notice at that time but we only got 3 kinds of bread instead of four. Later on I saw the table next to us had baguette in addition to their basket. Oh well, too late to complain. The bread were very good indeed, definitely live up to their name. Great spongy texture, perfectly crispy crust, I especially liked the olive one. Wish I could try their baguette instead of the the double amount of walnut-raisin bread though. I prefer eating the bread with just butter or olive oil/balsamic vinegar. The spread didn’t do much for me.

Their bakery section has many other delicious looking pastries and bread too. Next time if I found myself at the Century City mall again I would just get the pastries and eat them at the bench outsides or at the food court upstairs.

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