Show 'Nuff

Pho Show
4349 Sepulveda Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90230
310-398-5200

[read this in the latest edition of Breaks magazine]

Although the Westside has plenty of Japanese, Persian, Indian and Thai restaurants, there is scant representation of Vietnamese cuisine. And we won’t get into the dearth of good Chinese food in this article.

Now Pho Show, continuing the grand pho pun tradition, is bringing a bit of the eastside to us. Culver City has been cultivating a restaurant row downtown for the past few years. But Pho (rhymes with “duh”) Show is located where Lindblade runs into Sepulveda Boulevard near shops where you can get a Thai massage or tropical fish, not by wine bars and gastropubs.

It’s a small minimalist place with mango-colored walls and hard white chairs. There are six tables for two on the sidewalk surrounded by new flowering vines and bamboo plants. On a late Monday afternoon, there were about three other tables occupied. I chose a spot outside. It was cool for a July day and the building created shade so the temperature was pleasant. The sight and sound of traffic was not relaxing, but drivers singing to their radio and babies in strollers pushed by their nannies provided atmoshere.

There are several starters and drinks, including beer, wine, and soju cocktails. I started with a glass of iced Vietnamese coffee and shrimp spring rolls. The coffee was strong and sweetened by condensed milk, but I was disappointed that it didn’t come in a Vietnamese coffee press. I like having to wait for the coffee to drip slowly from the metal contraption into a cup and then stirring it into a glass of ice. You have a choice of fish sauce or peanut sauce with the rolls. I chose fish sauce, which, for the uninitiated, is not as strong as it sounds, but is more vinegary. The “salad rolls” come in a fresh rice wrapper filled with rice noodles, shrimp, basil, mint and cilantro. They are a refreshing choice for warm weather. There are also versions with meat or tofu or you can get the fried cha gio.

There are other rice and noodle dishes with endless combinations of meat and vegetables, nothing more than $11, however pho is the main attraction. Pho is a thin rice noodle soup with a clear beef broth, various meat options and garnishes that each diner uses as desired. I ordered a basic small bowl with rare steak, but I have friends that can’t eat pho without tripe and brisket. When your server asks, request the steak on the side or it won’t be rare for long. The small bowl was a good size though at $6.75 not the deal you can get at other pho joints. The broth had a delicate beef flavor with the aroma of what I believe was cardamom and cloves. Perhaps not as hearty as some would like, but it was perfect for the summer. White and green onions floated on the top. The noodles below the surface were a bit clumped together, but fine once stirred around. The steak came on a separate dish with more onions. You also get Thai basil, sprouts and lime wedges to add at your discretion—I put in everything along with some red chili sauce, of which there are three kinds on the table.

Pho Show doesn’t have the funky “authenticity” of a place downtown or further east, but who says all pho should be eaten at a hole in the wall? Why should we have to endure the 10 freeway for Vietnamese food? There is one significant problem. Pho, like its Mexican counterpart menudo, is known as hangover food. Unfortunately, Pho Show doesn’t open until 5:30 on the weekends. But nearby you can always get a Cubano sandwich or a massage nearby while you wait.

Taco Nostalgia

La Taquiza
3009 S Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90007
(213) 741-9795

Delicacheena loves attending conferences at 'SC because it's the best university ever, but it doesn't hurt that La Taquiza is just a bit north of campus. This place has been around forever or at least since we lived on 30th St which was long, long ago. Nice to see the restaurant in a L.A. Times article about aguas frescas the following week.

Come to me tacos al pastor y carne asada con salsa rojo and a sprinkle of cilantro and onions! Carne asada is just-right tender and juicy. The pork is smoky sweet and melts in your mouth. They give you two kinds of salsa for to-go orders, but there are more options in the salsa bar. The red salsa is hot without numbing your tongue; the green is that watery avocado (I think) stuff that you get at some places, but it was a nice slightly creamy contrast to the heat, meat and grease (grease equals flavor).

I guess there are other great items to consume (TW raves about the mulitas), but I'm here to wax nostalgic about the tacos of my past. I order four at a buck and half each. Don't you want to bite into these fat babies? Bits of meat tumble out when you hoist them to your mouth, but don't let any of them get away. Savor each mouthful.

side dish: Fresh from the Toaster Oven

The Cobbler Lady
3854 Crenshaw Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90008-1821
323-298-2144
323-298-2148
contactus@cobblerlady.com


When a co-worker commented, "I haven't had cobbler in a long time," JM took it as a challenge. She would bring the best cobbler anyone had ever tasted to their friend's weekend barbecue!

On a sweltering first day of summer, we drove down Crenshaw to the Cobbler Lady in a strip mall near a Ralph's. We picked up a medium cherry, a medium peach, a mini apple, red velvet cake and a couple of cupcakes.

When it finally cooled off, UE and INK each bought a scoop of ice cream from Baskin Robbins. The refrigerated mini cobbler was stuck in the indispensable toaster oven (who could bear to turn on the regular oven in this heat even at 10:30 at night?) for several minutes. We don't know if it would have been just as good right from the store, but fresh from the toaster the crust was crisp and flaky. The apples were chunky, not mushy, not gooey as the fruit in cobblers often are. And the pastry was made all the better with the butter pecan and Heath Bar ice cream.

We don't know how everything else went over at the barbecue earlier that day, but we were happy with 31 Flavors and our toaster oven.

"Cheena" in Baja

Delicacheena ventured south to La Salina in Baja for the holidays. It was a week of cold wind, wild children and questionable plumbing, yet it was oddly relaxing.

La Salina is about forty minutes of Ensenada and twenty or so miles from there is La Bufadora. La Bufadora roughly translates to "the blowhole," where ocean water shoots up along the cliffs after being drawn into a underwater sea cave. It was not as spectacular as INK imagined, but it still evoked oohs and aahs and numerous poor photo attempts.

Si, the aquamarine sea and sky made a more delicious experience, but we had some fresh and pretty good fish and shrimp tacos at Mariscos Moreno, the stand closest to the blowhole. It was $7.50 or 75 pesos for five items. What a view if you choose to sit at the benches and enjoy your tacos garnished with shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, and hot sauces on site.

Instead, we meandered down the shop-line street to check out the deals. Lessons learned: bargain or it's no deal, get the gordidtas de nata. The sweet pancake smell tempted us on the way to the blowhole and we submitted on the walk back.

At $2 for four hockey puck diameter gorditas, INK kept being reminded that Baja wasn't dirt cheap for the tourists, but eight chewy on the outside, soft and warm on the inside disks were happily consumed by babies and all.

Dios mio! How could we forget the fresh churros sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar--cranked into hot oil, emerging curly and golden and so much better than the frozen sticks found in Los Estados Unidos.

Tamale-Mobile

Los Angeles International Tamale Festival
MacArthur Park

Mama's Hot Tamales Cafe
2124 West 7th S.
Los Angeles, CA 90057
213-487-4300

Delicacheena loves an all over L.A. weekend: French-influenced dinner in Santa Monica, the game at Barney's in West Hollywood, early morning rowing in the Marina, shots in Beverly Hills, street festival at MacArthur Park.

It was misty at home, but the clouds were holding back around downtown and didn't turn the Los Angeles International Tamale Festival soggy on Sunday. UE and INK were ready with umbrella and, most importantly, empty stomachs. We joined the foodies and mostly Latino local families crowding 7th St. along the south side of the park. The soundtrack was five second snippets of classic rock and americana, a megaphoned street evangelist ["Jesus Cristo es el salvador del mundo."], hyperspeed dance remixes and blaring canned mariachi. There was a brief reprise from the medley when The Smiths' "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" en espanol was played in its entirety while we waited in line. [Hear Mikel Erentxun. Unfortunately you hear the audience singing more.] We ahhhed the tot clad in cowboy hat, vest and bandana astride the pony getting his photo taken, surrounded by wedding photogs hawking their talent, cookware demos, and citizens for Bill Richardson or Hillary Clinton.

The first stop was a booth frying up taco shells and taquitos, but they were temporarily sold-out of tamales so we moved on. We stopped at one of Mama's Hot Tamales Cafe booths. Mama's is a non-profit training restaurant and has a permanent location across from the park. Tamales were $3 at all the booths. According to the Mama's menu, the normal price is $2.75. They call themselves "The Tamales Capital of the World" and don't offer just the usual corn husk-wrapped variety. There were five available; we bypassed the vegan veggie and ordered chicken with vegetables from Honduras, the chicken and mole from Oaxaca, the Gutamalan pork, and chili cheese from Oaxaca. Only the cheese tamale was wrapped in corn husk, the rest were kept moist in banana leaves. The chicken with vegetables had a fry-sized length of potato, some peas and raisins and a green olive, no pit. The chicken with mole was oozing the rich, black sauce that would have been good with some rice. The meaty pork had red sauce and rice dough. Our hands-down favorite was the cheese with red and green jalapenos (rajas) that had a bit of kick and lots of flavor. Later we found that the earned best cheese tamale.

We had double-grease-torta envy even while we clutched our warm cornmeal bundles and sipped our two buck grande horchata, but a chewy on the outside, gooey on the inside cheese popusa is the only time we deviated from the tamale diet. Me Gusta Gourmet Tamales was winner of five of the six categories at last year's festival so we had to give them a try. This year they were named best beef and best pork tamales so that's what we ordered. They were wrapped in corn husks. The beef were hefty with masa, too much so, but the meat and red sauce were flavorful. The pork with green sauce were on the skinny side, but we were charged less for them. They were decent and tasted better with the mild red salsa poured on top. The cornmeal in both was fluffy and moist, but not as moist as Mama's.

We returned to the Mama's booth to find that they now had dessert tamales on sale-- strawberry and sweet corn. Delicacheena has enjoyed dessert tamales at Christmas time with pineapple and corn, but strawberry was something new. We were skeptical, but then even more delighted with the comfort food. It was like corn pudding (think New England), smooth and mushy, but with the sweet tartness of strawberries cooked down to nothingness. The sweet corn tamale was later devoured by JM. As we unwrapped the husks, the comforting smell of sweet corn revealed our treasured treat. The tamale did not disappoint as each bite melted in our mouths.

Fortifided with cornmeal and cheese, we headed off in the newly-christened Tamale- Miata-Mobile to make deliveries to the sick and infirm that could not join us that day. . .

Say goodbye to the summer. . .

Well, the summer's officially over and it's back to pushing paper. But the reminiscing lingers. Soon you can read about Delicacheena's European vacation (bratwurst and beer!), INK in NYC and various other meals to remember. . . or to try to forget.


In the meantime, have the gyro salad and spanakopita at
Papa Cristo's.
2771 West Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90006
Phone: (323) 737-2970 -- Fax: (323) 737-3571

La Super Rica y Mucho Queso

La Super-Rica Taqueria
622 N Milpas St
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Ph: (805) 963-4940

Julia Child loved it so it must be good, right? Delicacheena will be the judge of that.

La Super Rica is a little blue joint in Santa Barbara on Milpas, a street that is a mix of residences and businesses. It's easy to miss and is not much more than a counter with a tiny kitchen in back and a funny listing patio covered in tarp to the side. Twenty numbered items are listed on a blackboard and pretty much consist of different incarnations of the same ingredients: tortillas, cheese, chicken breast, about two kinds of beef, two kinds of pork, chorizo, bacon, green chiles. Most items were around two to three dollars. There is also a board of daily specials that looked to be the same both times we've visited.

You order and pay at the front corner and then pick up your paper plates (no trays)when your number is called at the side window. While you're waiting, choose your plastic utensils and salsa. There's a pico de gallo with chunks of jalapeno, a hot sauce with red flecks of chile and a tomatillo with a big dose(too big for UE) of lime. All three tasted fresh and added dimension to the fairly simple entrees.

It seems that we all were craving various combinations of cheese, green chile and marinated pork. We had the pork taco; the chile and cheese taco; the pork quesadilla; the Super Rica Especial (at $6.00 is for big spenders) all three ingredients with three tortillas; carne asada tacos and the tamal(e) with corn, cheese, potato and green chiles.

The tacos came with two tortillas and thus became two tacos each. The slightly smoky pork was well-seasoned and just fatty enough. While the cheese was oozy, the charred peppers were soft and mild. Next time we'll order the tamal without the cream sauce, but we prefer the mole-based style. Be careful and don't order everything with cheese (one dish is basically a bowl of cheese!) or it's queso overload. We also miss the tortilla chips, but we made up the loss with sat fats of cheese.

P.S. For a pleasant, if not innovative, dinner of oak grilled seafood and steak try Paradise Cafe on Ortega, a block from State Street.