Archive for the 'Deli' Category

Page 2 of 4

Lemonade – Los Angeles (West Hollywood)

Published by Gastronomer on June 11, 2009 in Deli, Dessert, Los Angeles, Restaurant Review and West Hollywood. 7 Comments

With my penchant for thoroughly researching good eats, there’s hardly ever an opportunity for impulsive food buys. What usually foils my neat and tidy plans is my metabolism. When my blood sugar’s taken a dip and dinner reservations are still three hours away, my inner calculated eater takes a backseat, and any calorie will do.

That’s how I found myself at Lemonade.

Given the adorable pale yellow cursive font advertising its presence to the neighborhood, I had a hunch that this joint would have cupcakes on hand. And if not cupcakes, than something equally cute and sugary. A jolt of the refined white stuff was exactly what I needed to tide me over until chow time.

While not officially a cupcakery, Lemonade has five varieties of cupcakes for sale at two bucks a piece. Even though the cupcakes didn’t look the freshest and the man behind the counter was completely clueless about frosting flavors, I did what I had to do to keep the party train running.

I tore into my chocolate squared cupcake on Lemonade’s patio. The cupcake was oddly shaped, with an uneven muffin top and a tall dollop of frosting. A disfigured cupcake begs to eaten sandwich-style to avoid sticky noses and stretched jaws.

The frosting was chocolaty and pleasant, but the cake was maddeningly dry and dense. The cupcake tasted like it was made with indifference, as if the baker knew that a starving cupcake-loving girl would buy it regardless of its flaws. I’m such a sucker.

The mediocrity of the cupcake was quickly forgotten as soon as I arrived at M+B Gallery, which is located down the street from Lemonade and was our chief reason for venturing to this part of town. Photographer Lisa Jack’s Barack Obama: The Freshman was currently on display.

President Obama was photographed by Lisa Jack while they were both undergrads at Occidental College. These photos, which were locked away for 28 years, offer a unique glimpse at a young and self-conscious man who went on to do some amazing things. For inexplicable reasons, my favorite portraits were the ones of him smoking. The exhibit will be on display at M+B until July 18.

Click below for larger portraits of “Barry” as a frosh.

–

Lemonade
9001 Beverly Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90048
Phone: 310-247-2500

M+B Gallery
612 North Almont Drive
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone: 310-550-0050

Continue reading ‘Lemonade – Los Angeles (West Hollywood)’

Bánh Mì Mỹ Dung – Los Angeles (Chinatown)

Published by Gastronomer on June 3, 2009 in Banh Mi, Deli, Downtown, Los Angeles, Nem Nuong, Restaurant Review and Vietnamese. 15 Comments

After sampling a number of banh mi sandwiches around town, namely at Bánh Mì Mỹ Tho, Ba Le French Sandwich & Bakery, and Bánh Mì & Chè Cali, I concluded that in the San Gabriel Valley, inexplicably hefty baguettes are the main obstacle keeping good banh mi and from being truly stellar. The bread is “far too large and much, much too thick,” I wrote a few months back. “A proper Vietnamese baguette is made entirely of rice flour, which yields a crisp exterior and hollow center, thus allowing the fixins to really shine through.”

While scoping out the Chinese banquet scene in Chinatown on a Sunday afternoon, I finally encountered a baguette worth writing about. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was the closest to perfection I’ve encountered here in Los Angeles.

I found my ideal baguette specimen at a teeny tiny hole in the wall called Bánh Mì Mỹ Dung—pronounced “Me? Yoong.” The bread here is made fresh everyday by the shop’s proprietress. If the baguettes aren’t piping hot when a customer rolls in, the proprietress, also the head sandwich maker, takes an extra minute or two to carefully toast it in the oven. This small but important detail really makes a world of difference taste-wise and texturally.

The banh mi‘s innards weren’t as noteworthy as the baguette holding them together—the various meats and pickled veggies were on par with other Vietnamese sandwich shops.

The Astronomer and I split a banh mi nem nuong ($2 – sweet grilled pork patties) on our visit. Our order was actually for a banh mi thit nuong (grilled lemongrass pork), but the woman behind the counter most likely gave us what she had on hand. We didn’t mind. That’s the way it goes sometimes when you’re dealing with Mom and Pop in an itty bitty shop.

–

Bánh Mì Mỹ Dung
314 Ord Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: 213-617-7094

Ba Le French Sandwich & Bakery – Alhambra

Published by Gastronomer on March 1, 2009 in Alhambra, Banh Mi, Deli, Los Angeles, Restaurant Review and Vietnamese. 8 Comments

I saw the billboards all over town: Disneyland—Free On Your Birthday! I figured that the promotion was just for small fries or that some other catch was involved. Upon further research, I was stoked to discover that the claim was truly as simple as it had initially seemed.

The Astronomer and I headed to the Happiest Place on Earth on an uncharacteristically rainy and cold California day to celebrate my 27th birthday. I’ve been going to Disneyland since I was kid and Love the park with a capital L. As far back as I can remember, my mom always packed along a lunch of banh mi for our family to eat during our day at Disneyland. Even now when I visit the park without my mom and brother in tow, I can’t imagine eating anything other than Vietnamese sandwiches at lunchtime.

Sticking with tradition, The Astronomer and I made a quick stop at Ba Le French Sandwich & Bakery in Alhambra before driving down to Anaheim. Ba Le was recommended to me by gas•tron•o•my reader Sharon, who is currently down in North Carolina, but grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. Thanks, Sharon!

We picked up three sandwiches to-go—banh mi thit nuong, banh mi thit nguoi, and banh mi nem noung. We entered the park around 11 AM and were ready for lunch soon after. We dined on the edge of Frontierland’s Rivers of America. Doesn’t The Astronomer look super-excited about Sandwiches Time?

First up was the banh mi thit nuong (barbecued pork). Whereas the version at Banh Mi & Che Cali featured lemongrass marinaded pork, the pork in this one was very sweet. The Astronomer didn’t like it as much as the lemongrass version, but I was down with the honey-based marinade.

Next, we split the banh mi thit nguoi, which was comprised of a variety of cold cuts, forcemeats and my favorite, pate. Everything was terrific, but I would’ve liked a thicker shmear of pate because Ba Le’s baguette is quite thick, and thus requires an improved ratio of bread to flavorful fixins. By the way, both sandwiches were humongous, so we had to save the third one for later consumption.

The happiest kids on earth at the Happiest Place on Earth.

After lunch we went on Splash Mountain twice in a row because there were no lines to speak of. You can’t see my face because I am hiding from the impending splash.

The Astronomer’s stomach didn’t feel so hot after downing two sandwiches and dropping 50 feet twice in a row, so we headed to Fantasy Land to take in some calm little kiddie rides. Here’s a pic of the Vietnamese contingent in It’s a Small World.

Our third sandwich took a severe beating, so pardon it’s wilted appearance. The nem noung (meatballs) was on par with the other two sandwiches and would’ve tasted loads better earlier in the day.

Not only did Disneyland treat me to an awesome day at the park, but they also gave The Astronomer and me free passes to California Adventure to use on a later date because we’re Southern California residents! How cool is that? You betcha boots we’re gonna bring more banh mi sandwiches on our next visit!

–

Ba Le French Sandwich & Bakery
1426 S Atlantic Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91803
Phone: 626-308-3003

Bánh Mì & Chè Cali – San Gabriel

Published by Gastronomer on January 7, 2009 in Banh Mi, Chain / Multiple Locations, Deli, Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Vietnamese. 8 Comments

With the mountains and ocean less than an hour away from home base, The Astronomer and I have a range of leisure options during the weekends. Whereas The Astronomer grew up camping and canoeing in the Midwest, my outdoor experiences consisted of sixth grade camp (Camp Fox—represent!) and lounging on the beach in San Diego.

I am a self-proclaimed “hotel person,” so it came out of left field when I suggested to The Astronomer that we go hiking in the mountains nearby. Needless to say, he enthusiastically agreed. My friend Laurie suggested that we hike to Switzer Falls for our introductory outing.

Before heading to the mountains, we drove to the San Gabriel Valley for hiking snacks. For me, the absolute best part of hiking is eating in the woods, preferably perched atop a giant rock.

Bánh Mì & Chè Cali is a local chain selling Vietnamese sandwiches, sweets and small nibbles. According to gas•tron•o•my reader Danielle, the branch in Alhambra is the freshest. However, due to time constraints, The Astronomer and I visited the one on San Gabriel Boulevard.

Sandwiches hover around $2.25 at Bánh Mì & Chè Cali. There’s also an on-going “buy two, get one free” deal that The Astronomer and I couldn’t pass up. For our three sandwiches, we chose a thit nuong (grilled lemongrass pork), bi (sliced pork skin and pork), and nem nuong (sweet barbecued meatballs). The damage was $4.50—almost as cheap as Saigon.

Bánh mì sandwiches are perfectly portable meals that hold their shape surprisingly well even after being bruised and battered in a backpack. Overall, the sandwiches from Bánh Mì & Chè Cali were decent, but not fantastic. The baguettes were too thick and not ideally crisp, and the fillings were mostly so-so. With its strong lemongrass flavor, the thit nuong was our favorite of the three. The bi sandwich lacked scallion oil and tasted dry and bland as a result. I’ll have to try the sandwiches at the Alhambra branch before I write-off Bánh Mì & Chè Cali. A Chau is still tops in my book for bánh mì sandwiches.

The hike to Switzer Falls was beauteous. However, the falls turned out to be merely a trickle because California is deprived of rain. I didn’t mind.

–

Bánh Mì & Chè Cali
135 S San Gabriel Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Phone: 626-286-8728

Bánh Mì and Moving Trucks

Published by Gastronomer on November 2, 2008 in Banh Mi, Cha Gio, Che, Deli, Restaurant Review, San Diego and Vietnamese. 4 Comments

The Astronomer is not a casual stargazer. In fact, he takes his science very seriously. After a year of quant-free fun in South East Asia, his brain was more than ready to delve into the rigors of graduate school. The Astronomer flew into San Diego from Birmingham the day before orientation started to pack up our worldly belongings and haul them to our new pad in Pasadena—home of the Rose Parade, Jackie Robinson and Dr. Drew.

Before sending him on his way, we lunched on banh mi, cha gio and che from A Chau, my favorite Vietnamese deli in San Diego. I’ve blogged twice prior (here and here) about A Chau’s wonderful sandwich offerings and continue to sing their praises.

Prices have gone up slightly since my last visit, but only by a quarter or two. The banh mi thit nguoi ($2.25) was solid, and like with all Vietnamese-American offerings, contained a more than generous portion of protein!

The banh mi thit nuong ($2.75) tasted of smoky lemongrass and reminded us of the delicious, stupendous, and fabulous sarnies we downed just a few short months ago.

We also shared three cha gio ($1 for three) because a gas•tron•o•my reader named BAM! once commented that he went out of his way to procure them and that they tasted even better than A Chau’s sandwiches. The Astronomer and I both really dug the cha gio, which was stuffed with pork and carrots, and appreciated that A Chau’s cooks made the extra effort to roll them using rice paper. I never knew the joys of blistered cha gio wrappers until spending time in Vietnam and now I consider them an essential component of the dish.

I also bought a portion of che dau hu la dua ($1.85)—sweet pandan-flavored tofu—because there’s something kinda magical about the subtlety of pandan. The che turned out to be a disappointment because the overall flavor was sweet, rather than pandan. Food coloring can be so tricky! I guess I’ll just stick to the tried and true ginger tofu from now on.