side dish: July 4th weekend

The Village Idiot
Clementine
BLD
Din Tai Fung
Tea Station
KC's Crepes

No fireworks for Delicacheena, but lots of good food, at least for UE, INK and cohorts (JM is in the wilderness).

BLD was closed on the 4th so we drove north to Village Idiot: hot-off-the-something BBQ ribs special with greens and cornbread, salmon on soba noodles, flaky veggie pie, "cheeky halves" of Heavenly Hef and Nectar of the Gods to quaff, apricot triple sec bread pudding, glorious peach shortcake.

Saturday included the dependable Clementine and finally BLD with standout special nectarine salad of spinach, chickpea fritters and ricotta. Eating all the seasonal stone fruits!

Today was about our inner cheena. Din Tai Fung: juicy pork dumplings, fried rice almost like Dad's, perfectly round and fluffy red bean bao. And taro and almond milk tea bobas from Tea Station

UPDATE: For dinner, after visiting BP and MH and the new baby. . . French bulldog, we head down Lincoln to KC's Crepes near LMU: crunchy sweet chili chicken with basil and greens, Margherita, and caramel vanilla crunch.

We'll Be Frank

Hole in the Wall
11058 Santa Monica Blvd. (Behind the Winchell's)
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-312-3632

Father's Office
3229 Helms Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90034
310-736-2224

Let's Be Frank
Helms Avenue between Washington Blvd. and Venice Blvd. on the East side of the street.
Culver City, CA

We didn't realize Hole in the Wall was closed on Sundays so we popped down to Father's Office at Helm's Bakery figuring it would be easier to find parking and a table than in Santa Monica. The Rogue Hazelnut was rich and the Grimbergen Blonde--recommended as similar to Hoegaarden--was spicy. The shoestring and sweet potato fries with aioli were addictive as usual and the oatmeal stout ribs were sweet and tender, but the burger was not up to par. The roll was over toasted and therefore crumbly and dry and the medium rare patty was closer to medium. Our neighbors at our table had a rare burger that was supposed to be medium. INK is used to the Office Burger being juicy and messy and this one wasn't.

Good thing the fries didn't fail and we were content to bring home a coupla $5 beef dogs from the Let's Be Frank truck (which used to be just a cart) across the street to eat while watching the game. . . We're always planning the next meal. Hole in the Wall burger for lunch tomorrow?

We'll let you know how the frank/Hoegaarden pairing goes.

UPDATE: The lightly spiced with a hint of lemon Hoegaarden complimented the peppery dogs. They were dense and beefy, but lacked snap. The grilled onions had just enough bite and sweetness. If we had eaten the hot dogs right away, we would have added kraut and/or the homemade relish, but the brown mustard sufficed.

Stuffed!

Munky King
7308 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Our Murakami day was pop art and food. This time the art was food. The Munky King on Melrose had a small, but satisfying exhibit of plush food. Handcrafted of felt and cotton by a variety of artists, the food was too cute and thus disturbing in its cuteness--Food with smiles or forlorn eyes, ready for consumption. Turkey legs, sticks of butter, cupcakes, and sushi rolls. Haminal, a pink rectangular guinea pig-like creature with a jaunty pineapple ring on his ear, came in a range of sizes and, as the ad claimed, was boneless and fit perfectly in the can. Delicacheena now has a small haminal at home. Tasty!



We planned on eating a late lunch/early dinner at Angeli Caffe for its comfort Italian since it was just steps away, but we always forget that they aren't open until 5 on the weekends. We turned around and snapped up a booth at The Village Idiot. We watched the last remaining light disappear as we enjoyed our meal of Fish and Chips with our beer and ice tea.

In Bruges

Picturesque canals, shopping, seafood, fries, art, good-looking natives, beer--what more could Delicacheena ask for? This quaint town in Belgium was a great way to start a vacation. [We loved the new Colin Farrell/Ralph Fiennes movie!]
Belgium fries in the rain, with mayonaise, of course.

The Chocolate Museum: Chocolate hats and purses, the largest chocolate egg, chocolate demonstrations, free samples!

We found a younger crowd at De Republic. The kip (aka chicken) fajitas, pre-wrapped in tortilla, was palatable. But made all the better by more Bruges Triple beer. Unfortunately, that didn't help the asian-esque spaghetti bolognese.

Our first truly Belgium waffle reminded us of the delight of buying crepes in France. Hmm, what toppings? Nutella is a no-brainer.