California Trip - other food destinations

We didn't just chase food trucks all day long (although, it was fun!), we also visited (more than) a few places around town...

First off, not in town but it needs to be mentioned, we had our first Mexican food experience in a long time at a place in Albuquerque New Mexico called El Charritos.

We each had a twin helping of enchiladas:

And sopaipillas came with every meal. They brought us these things with a squeeze bottle full of honey. I've never had one. Now I know what I was missing. Fried dough? Yes, please. (seriously... that should have been the meal).

They had a little patio, so we could bring Meg. You can tell she was as excited about the experience as we were!

Truly.

Our Mexican food experience continued when our friend introduced us to Norma's Tacos in Pasadena.

It's a cute little taco stand made from a converted gas station.

The tacos were good and super fresh, made with fresh handmade tortillas, the sauces were excellent and it was a gorgeous day out. Although, they put guacamole on everything, and I mean everything. So if you aren't a fan, as I am not, you may want to be very specific about that. (I know, I know... from California and I don't bow to the glorious avocado... it's a curse I suppose).

One place we ended up at late at night a few times... The House of Pies in Los Feliz.

The House of Pies has been on the Food Network and has an interesting Hollywood-flavored history. Rumor has it, Quentin Tarantino worked on "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction" here as did Charlie Kaufman with "Being John Malkovich." If they wrote at night, I'm not sure how... the lighting in this joint is pretty bad for writing. They don't seem like guys who write in the bright light of day... but that's just an observation. Perhaps the pie made up for the horrible lighting.

Behold... the pie.

This is the peanut butter cream pie, which was amazing. I'm a big peanut butter fan. The crust was perfect and the filling to whipped cream ratio was really good. (Although, we later were introduced to the banana cream pie, and I never looked back at the peanut butter again. But I'm guessing, any of their cream pies are superb.)

Another place we frequented was a place on Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta called Everest. It's a drive-thru fast food joint. They have great chicken sandwiches (The Mediterranean Chicken is excellent), salads and breakfast burritos. Great prices, open late and the food was consistently good.

They also have a dog-friendly patio! (Yes, that's Barkley in a stroller. A dog stroller. I'll revisit this again, later.)

The other cool thing about Everest... it was transformed into "Deb's Restaurant" in the HBO series Big Love. It's where Sarah and Heather worked. So, we were eating at a location from one of our favorite shows, which was fun to talk about. I wish I would have snapped a picture of it when they were filming here years ago... I had no idea at the time! They also filmed at a few other locations in the area including Chili John's in Burbank and Wild Thyme in Pasadena.

While visiting downtown LA to see a sort of variety show hosted by the delightful Charles Phoenix (Which I shall talk about in another post!), we grabbed dinner at a place called Starry Kitchen.

There were some bold choices on the menu that day like, the Chinese Hoisin Hamburger, crunchy tofu balls, basil friend rice and assorted pork Banh Mi and lemongrass chicken wrap and sandwich options. Since they were slammed that day, they were crossing off menu items left and right, leaving us with little to choose from. When my Mom got to the front of the line, she ordered something... I can't remember what... and the owner yelled "That's the most f***ing-est boring thing on the menu!!!". He was cute about it... but... I think it took us all by surprise. So, because of his outburst, she ordered something else, they ran out of it and she went with her "boring" choice anyway. My "boring" choice was the lemongrass chicken wrap and basil fried rice. The wrap tasted pretty good, but a bit messy and drippy (hard to eat while sitting on a bench), so I couldn't finish it because I was starting to wear it. I love the lemongrass flavor. A burst of citrus with earthy undertones... very fresh and summery. The basil rice was really good, too. If you are ever near Starry Kitchen... I recommend a visit.

A close up of that sign in the room... referring to their crunchy tofu balls.

And this sign was sort of awesome... and notice their lack of beverages and placement of empty cup on the floor. Definitely was a busy day for them.

So, I'll leave you with Jones Coffee Roasters in Pasadena. We found this place on a food truck gathering night, and I ended up going back to pick up a pound of coffee.

Great atmosphere... including live music the night we were there.

And the coffee is roasted on the premises. Their coffee has a rich, caramel flavor. So, it's almost sweet without any sugar. Makes for an amazing drip experience at home, or get a latte there... you will not be disappointed!

We visited dozens of other eateries... but the ones above had the most character :)

So, I still have at least 3 more California/trip posts...

awesome LA events we visited, friends' shops we visited, Meg's favorite spots and the actual 5,000 miles on the road!

After that, it's back to art-centric posts. And Halloween is coming!! yay :)

California Trip- Obsession with Food Trucks

I'm familiar with the food truck concept. We called them 'roach coaches' in high school. It was never gourmet... in fact, I remember vividly the very last purchase I made with a roach coach back in 2008. It was because there was mold all over my salsa. Period. End of food truck sentence. Gross.

Then we watched this fascinating show on the Food Network. The Great Food Truck Race. Featuring gourmet food served out of brightly colored boxy trucks. I'm listening...

There were several trucks to start and week by week, they eliminated the truck that didn't make the most money or who couldn't perform a specific culinary task. The last two trucks to compete both came from Los Angeles. The Nom Nom truck and the Grill 'em All truck. Pretty cool. The show was a mix of business plan, awesome food idea/theme/branding, good marketing, being at the right place at the right time and great food.

I thought we may accidentally come across a truck while in LA... but I wasn't going to hunt them down. I mean, come on... who does that?

Then, one Sunday, after dropping off DH at a 3 hour class in Hollywood, I made an illegal U-turn when I saw the Grill 'em All truck parked on Melrose Avenue.

I had Meg and my Mom's dog Barkley with me. This made getting out of the car, getting a burger and trying to eat this burger on Melrose Avenue a bit difficult. There were dogs and leashes everywhere. Those gathering for a burger gave the pups lots of love and attention, though, so I was able to enjoy my "Hannah Montana" burger, the plainest one on the menu (and I got a bit of a side eye and mocking tone when I ordered it), while leaning up against a wall, flamingo style.

After consuming my incredi-burger. I was now hooked and willing to chase these things. I had caught the food truck bug, sans roach sentiment.

To make my treasure hunt easier, there's a food truck app called TruxMap. So you know when and where to get your next truck fix.

Our first true food truck adventure started with a food truck party on Tuesday nights at Figueroa Produce in Highland park.

The parking lot at Fig Produce was hopping with brightly colored food trucks and tons of people, kids and dogs. Fellow foodies were sitting on parking blocks, curbs, leaning against cars and standing... all eating small portions of food on sticks, in little paper bowls and tiny plates. Everyone was smiling, too. Some of the trucks had large flat panel TV's blaring salsa music or showing a basketball game. It was like a mini food Las Vegas... in a parking lot.

That night, DH and I each had another Grill 'em All burger, shared a smoothie and two bottles of water. Almost $40. We missed getting a waffle a la mode, but a fellow foodie in line for a burger offered me a bite of his. After a few moments of hesitation, and wondering why this lovely person would part with some of his treasure, I ate a chunk of waffle off of a stranger's plate. Why I just admitted that, I am not sure. Maybe it was because it was the best waffle I've ever had. EVER. Perfect texture with a sugary crunch layer, smothered in chocolate, nutella and perfectly ripe sliced strawberries. Angels sang. Well... maybe they hummed a little, but there was music from the heavens in any case. (Little did I know, I would enjoy my very own waffle two weeks later in Pasadena, see below.) But at that moment, Jose the waffle bearer was my new best friend. Jose is a carpenter on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, too. His generosity will not be forgotten.

After this magical experience, I dragged my Mom to a food truck gathering at Jones Coffee Roasters in Pasadena.

Mom and I shared some Asian/Mexican fusion tacos and our very own Waffles De Liege waffle. Behold... the waffle:

The perfect waffle; a scoop of Fossleman's vanilla ice cream, bananas, pecans, nutella and caramel. Yes. We did. And it was $11. Worth every cent. Although, we couldn't finish the darn thing.

I think the most interesting truck was the Phydough truck. They sell only gourmet organic dog cookies. For dogs. Not human consumption. People walking up to the truck were mocking the concept, but I couldn't resist. $12.00 later, I walked away with 8 dog cookies. Two of each... peanut butter & bacon, duck fat, apple oatmeal and pumpkin . The truck was lined with AstroTurf, they had a doggie mascot inside, I paid using a snazzy new ipad credit card thingy and the owner was delightful. What's not to love? ;)

Our third trip to a food truck gathering was at the Chef's Center on San Gabriel Blvd in Pasadena.

On this visit, we tried the lemongrass chicken tacos from the Nom Nom truck, our friends had the banh mi sandwiches and then we got in the monstrous line for the Cool Haus truck, the much talked-about ice cream sandwich experience.

As if the ice cream gods were laughing at us, as we inched our way to the front of the line, the popular flavors of ice cream were being crossed off the menu. Each time the super tall guy (watching him bend down 2 or 3 feet to get to the ordering window was a hoot) serving up the goods took a pause to remove a flavor, the line got silent, and many audible "NOoooo!"'s could be heard all around us as a flavor departed into ice cream heaven.

I had my first, second and third choices picked, fingers crossed. But when I got to be the 2nd person in line, my 3rd choice was the only one available, and the lady in line in front of me got the last bit of it. So, seconds away from my turn, and 20 minutes after I got in that line, I pouted out of line like a four year old not getting her pick of carousel pony.

I wasn't interested in the beer and pretzel, mascarpone & fig, pineapple mint sorbet or earl gray sorbet flavors. I may have tried the earl gray sorbet on its own (given a different day and attitude), but I was on a mission to try the complete ice cream sandwich package that they'd been bragging about. I made the mistake of angrily shouting "sorbet has no place in an ice cream sandwich!" I wasn't going to bend, even though I was now branded the ice cream line jerk. So, Cool Haus... you get a big wag of the finger on this one. Uncool. (But of course I'll try again some other time).

We had other random food truck encounters...

NaanStop in West LA... best Chicken Tikka!

Just up the street in La Crescenta... NomNom again

And our last encounter was tracking down the Grill 'em All truck one last time, and introduced my Mom to their burgers... She had the Blue Cheer...

Nathan had the Behemoth... which has grilled cheese sandwiches for BUNS....

But I stuck with my simple Hannah Montana... ketchup only... burger... again.

We listened to the planes take off from the nearby Burbank Airport and sat on the curb, surrounded by a dozen Yahoo badge-wearing employees standing and sitting under trees on the corner of a semi-busy street. Everyone was discussing their burger choices. It was a happy burger gathering.

I could totally get used to this.

Foodie Friday - Cupcake Field trip! :)

We recently went out to explore the cupcake possibilities in the area and we found The Cupcake Shoppe in Raleigh, and Gigi's Cupcakes in Raleigh.

Both were good, in their own way, but I'm still on the bandwagon that Sprinkles in LA is the one to beat (Yes, believe the hype).

Our first stop was The Cupcake Shoppe:

We got four cupcakes:
Black and White - Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
Pretty In Pink - Fresh Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Buttercream
Peanut Butter Cup - Moist Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream
Banana Cream Pie - Banana Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Icing rolled in crushed up vanilla wafers

Then, while driving around, we stumbled upon a second cupcake shop, Gigi's. My husband was the one who spotted it, actually ;)

We got four cupcakes here, too:
Raspberry Champagne - Champagne-vanilla cake with Raspberry champagne icing
Wedding Cake - White cake topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting & sprinkled with white nonpareils
Scarlett's Velvet - Red velvet cake with a vanilla filling topped with cream cheese frosting, a white chocolate heart and red sugar crystals
White Midnight Magic - Dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate chips, topped with a white cream cheese frosting & chocolate chips

We drove straight home to conduct the cupcake review:

Raleigh Cupcake Shoppe:

Texture & Appearance: We found that overall, the cupcakes from the Raleigh Cupcake Shoppe were really dry. The cake was dry and the icing had that "crust" on it that let you know it had been exposed to air for too long. The banana cake, which is hard to do I realize, was exceptionally dry and more like a muffin. The one exception was the chocolate cake in the black and white. It was moist and tasted fresher than the others. They looked simple and elegant... nothing too big or dramatic about them. I was hoping the flavor would blow me out of the water to make up for that.

Taste: The cupcakes tasted pretty good, but a tad bland. The chocolate cake was excellent, the icing on this cake was not too sweet and you could tell there was real butter in there. I thought that overall, these had a light taste, nothing overwhelming or overpowering... but not too exciting, either. You could taste the flour, the understated use of sugar (not too sweet, which was a plus)... it tasted fresh-ish (minus the banana cupcake for sure), although you could tell these cupcakes had been exposed to too much air, making them drier than they should have been. I wonder if I got a fresh one if I'd be raving? :) If I get a fresh batch, I'll re-do my grading ;)

Atmosphere: It's a cute little shop that looks like it used to be an older building. You can peek around to the back and see their baking area. Parking is a nightmare, so maybe you want to drive with someone who can keep the car running, or get ready to walk.

In a nutshell: Taste homemade, with good ingredients... but not a lot of punch or pizazz. Cake is dry, icing is a little blah... but it still tasted pretty "natural" and "simple". If I could get a batch of fresh ones, I feel like I could really give them a proper rating.

Overall grade: C+

Gigi's Cupcakes:

Texture & Appearance: The texture on these were perfect. Soft, creamy icing, moist fresh and soft cake. The cupcakes were much larger than the cupcake shoppe. I loved the various toppings on the icing, too. Coarse sugar (gave a fun crunch), chocolate chips, little white sprinkles and the white-chocolate heart. All fabulous. These just looked impressive and creative when you walked in the door, like being in the Wonka Factory... it's cupcakes you've seen in other places, but on steroids.

Taste: SWEET! 2 of the 4 of these cupcakes were overly sweet. Be prepared. The icing was gorgeous, and if you are an icing fan you might be thrilled because there's more icing than cake, but the icing mostly tasted like whipped Betty Crocker tub frosting, minus that tub frosting after-taste :( (I'm so sad to say that). It just didn't taste "home made" or light and buttery. It was more crisco-like, but really whipped. The raspberry icing on the raspberry/champagne was the least like tub icing, although this one is not a regular menu item (and alas, it was my favorite). The cake tasted like box mix cake, but with a kick... like they added a few ingredients or sifted it nicely because the cake was perfect, texture-wise. The red velvet cake was even moister because of a gooey pudding blob in the middle... not bad, but... it wasn't adding anything to the flavor other than keeping that hard-to-keep-moist red velvet cake... moist. So... gosh... these are BETTER than grocery store cupcakes, taste just like "homemade" box/tub cupcakes, but they tasted just a bit better than the box/tub. But sweeter. And SO much prettier and you will impress your guests (as they scrape 80% of the icing off to the side of their plates).

Atmosphere: Strip mall. Lots of sun (blinding in the afternoons). Very simple cases and some logo retail items. The cupcakes are gorgeous and are the stars of the show. It's a franchise, they are well-organized with lots of fun colors, fliers and menus. Easy and ample parking.

In a nutshell: Gorgeous to look at, lots of great creative names and flavors, well thought out as a business, but dang it... these cupcakes have the sweetest icing I've ever encountered. Perfect texture, but the flavor is a bit over-the-top and unnatural. I still would be happy to serve them (with a warning) to my guests, though... especially because they would look great in pictures.

Overall grade: B

Other cupcake places I've tried... Sugarland (which I gave an A-) , Sprinkles (which I give an A+, although it's not indicated on my blog post, but you can see pictures!), Yummy Cupcakes (I didn't blog about it, but they were pretty awful... SO dry, maybe I went too late in the middle of the week? C-) .

Again, Sprinkles is by far, the best... fresh, pretty and taste great! :)

Wouldn't it be fun to travel the world and rate cupcakes? ;)

We're going to NYC in May... might have to check out a few places and report back!

Fiesta con mucho mucho comida…

We made quite the meal for DH's Birthday :)

To read the full story and get recipes, please check out my main blog :)

Steak Chimichurri, corn cake, bread pudding and more :) All tested and tasted with much success ;)