MozzaPizzeria Drive By

11:15 PM.  Got out of a play.  Starving.  What is still open in LA?  Mozza Pizzeria!  I did a Mozza drive by.  No waiting. Glass of wine and the spicy clams pizza.  Sat at the bar.  In and out in 20 minutes!  Perfect closing to a long day.

Barrio Cafe in Phoenix

What to do when it's 114 degrees in Phoenix?  Eat Mexican food.  This is the answer to most questions in life. Eat Mexican food.

Best Mexican food in Phoenix?  Barrio Cafe.

http://barriocafe.com/

This place is perfect.  From concept to execution, I can not fault one thing here.  The artwork outside and inside is funky and gritty and celebratory.  The service was very knowledgeable.  And the food is amazing.  A really simple and flavorful hand chopped guacamole.  Enchiladas with the best tomatillo sauce outside of Texas.  A home made spicy cinnamon-laced horchata that's like drinking mother's milk.  The churros are perfectly crisp and pumped with a caramel sauce. Doesn't get better than this.  Photos courtesy of fellow food blogger, The Giggle Fish, aka Jennifer Wozniak.
 

Simple hand cut guacamole with cranberries.  Served with pomegranate seeds when in season.

Enchiladas suizas with some good cojita cheese and tomatillo sauce.

Crack churros injected with a caramel sauce.

Vietnamese Lobster Noodles

Best thing I've eaten in 2011.  I crave it every day.  Royal Capital Seafood in Westminster, CA.   They stir fry the lobster in ginger and scallions and seasonings.  They reserve some of the broth used in boiling the lobster and use it to stir-fry the noodles in.  The noodles taste like they were made with lobster meat.  Holy cow.  

Pop Up with Jonathan Waxman

Carbonara carbonara carbonara!  Had to get that out first because it was the most memorable and transformative food I've eaten lately.

Let's back up.  Animal was hosting a pop-up kitchen with Chef Jonathan Waxman of Barbuto fame.  He appeared on Season 1 of Top Chef Masters and was known as the zen master chicken guru.  He was so likable to me with his "if you don't like my food, suck it" attitude.  Yeah judges, suck it.

Waxman has plans to open a LA restaurant soon.  Until then, we wanted to sample his offerings.  We had some incredible moments at this dinner.  The highlights of which were his shaved raw asparagus dish.  So simple, so flavorful.  I am so copying this recipe for future parties.  Our favorite course was the pasta course.  His linguine and clams were amazing.  But the biggest revelation was the carbonara.  It was so smooth, creamy, rich and orgasmic.  I took the first bite, closed my eyes, and I was transported to some Italian movie in my mind.  I was wearing muddy galoshes, riding a bike past farms in the countryside, buying fresh eggs and pork cheeks from a local market.  I was there I tell you!

As high a pinnacle as the carbonara took me, sadly,  I came crashing down when the carnes came out.  The fantasy was over.   The chicken guru disappointed with his proteins.  Dare I say, both the steak and chicken were bland.  Such a let-down.  I guess I can take my own advice and suck it.

The whole dinner was like a final four basketball game.  Lots of ups and downs.  On the edge of my seats until the very end.  But my team lost by one point in the last second.

Sweet Ron enjoying the NV Cremant de Bourgogne Rose

McGrath baby beets, farmer cheese, beet greens and walnut oil

Highlight of the year.  Waxman's pasta dishes.

Spaghetti alla carbonara.  Best pasta I ever ate.

Linguine with clams and mussels and fennel

Niman hangar steak with salsa piccante

The deliciously sweet Tamai tiny tomatoes with basil and wilted Coleman farms kale

Jidori chicken with meyer lemon

blueberry crisp

wall of fame

 

Gul il bun Korean BBQ

It's like 11 PM.  You've been karaoke-ing for five hours with your friends from Vietnam.  You've been drinking Blue Moon, Coors and Tsing Tao.  You're starving and you need something to throw up.  You go to Gul il bun for Korean BBQ.  Hot egg tofu.  Pork belly and Kalbi BBQ with pumpkin and kimchee and all the sides.  They have the best pickled radish wraps in town to wrap your protein in.  And all this for $16.95 pp in K-town.  God love K-Town.

3055 W. 7th Street, #C
Los Angeles, CA 90010
213-380-6606

Bun Bo Hue in Little Saigon

One of my favorite go to dishes for a wicked hangover is a piping hot and spicy bowl of Bun Bo Hue.  (For Gwai Los, Bun = Rice Vermicelli noodles, Bo=Beef, Hue=Central area in Vietnam where the dish originated.)  The broth has essence of lemongrass and shrimp paste and you dress up the soup with Vietnamese herbs and lime.  So hearty.  So delicious.

Thanks to my buddy filmmaker Ham Tran for taking me to Ngu Binh in Little Saigon in the OC.  This place was packed during lunch.  Don't even think about coming here for the weekends.  They have a small menu featuring pictures. (Very Asian)  The number one is the large bowl of bun bo hue.  The number two is the small bowl.  I found the dish to be as authentic as my mom used to make in my childhood.  

In addition, they make Banh Uot and Banh Beo, two types of steamed rice cakes topped with shrimp or pork.  The nuoc cham (dipping liquid made of fish sauce) is right on here.  They have the right amount of lime and peppers to put your mouth on fire.  Nothing here is over $8.   Small menu, big flavors.  They do everything right.

Ngu Binh, 14072 Magnolia Street Westminster, CA 92683 - (714) 903-6000

Best Thai food in America: Lotus of Siam

Upon the recommendation of my friend Rebecca Dameron, we checked out Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas, off Sahara Blvd.  Often seen on a variety of food shows on TV, Chef Saipin Chutima's Thai-Issan restaurant was busy on a Thursday night with the crowd spilling out to the sidewalk.  Locals and celebrities flock here to get their spicy on. We saw Marilu Henner in the lobby and pictures of Drew Barrymore and past Presidents on the wall.  So what was all the hoopla about, I thought.  I've never had really amazing Thai food.  Can this place be that good?  Verdict: holy chilies, holy running nose, was it ever good.  The Crispy Duck in curry sauce was crispy ducky deliciousness.  And the real stunner was the Thai sea bass on a bed of drunken noodles.  Everything went great with the Singha beer.  Usually after Thai food, my palate is overwhelmed with just heat.  But after Lotus, it was heat combined with fresh Thai basil and curry and all sorts of flavors.