Costa Mesa: Eat Chow

Eat Chow is one of those ambitious little restaurants that ignores its boilerplate backdrop of retail outlets that include a gun and donut shop, and row upon row of franchised fooderies. In doing so, it brings to Newport Beach, a tempered version of minimalist ambience and New American meals with a little bit of big city thinking.
While in appearance Eat Chow’s ambience is a slightly metro version of Hillcrest’s Crest Cafe, its menu lineup is multiculturally influenced - including the usual Asian and Latino twists - it is clearly New American in taste. Priced at $10-$15 a dish, most entrees play it safe enough for any type of eater.



At nine dollars, Eat Chow’s baja fish tacos with a side of black beans are reasonably priced. Using strips of locally caught Mahi Mahi, they’re as good as fish tacos can get, but far from showstoppers in terms of preparation, taste and presentation.

On the other hand, Eat Chow’s ancho chili and coffee crusted steak and shrimp enchilada might just be one of those the more interesting preparations one always sees on food shows, but seldom on an actual menu. How does coffee crusted meat taste? Smoldering with earthy richness. How does it taste crusted with ancho chili peppers? Super smokey. The meat’s taste and texture are both familiar to the palate, but unfamiliar to its situation, which results in a wonderful eating experience.



Above: The 5 oz piece of steak is served with a sweet tomatillo tasting shrimp enchilada and a mound of field greens.
Below: That’s not char you see - It’s a wonderfully tasty coating of coffee and ancho chili.



Eat Chow’s service is receptive, but at times seems understaffed during busy nights.



Eat Chow’s popular dessert is the Choco-Taco. This homemade take on the ice cream treat is the real deal: Chocolate chip ice cream is wedged into a light (almost flaky) shell and drizzled with chocolate and caramel syrups, then powdered in sugar.



Below: No stale cones here, this elephant ear is a flaky flour concoction that feels guiltless to the tongue.



Sadly, back in May, Eat Chow’s co-owner and rising chef Eric Doran was killed in a hot rod crash on his way to a car show. As it is now, Eat Chow’s efforts to bring interesting eating to an unlikely place are nothing short of a minor legacy.


Eat Chow
1802 Newport Boulevard
Costa Mesa, CA 92627-2710
(949) 650-2469
http://eatchownow.com/

Los Angeles: Lazy Ox Canteen

To live in Los Angeles and love food is to be spoiled. As an admirer, from one hundred and twenty five miles’ distance, the options and innovation, seem limitless, but at times so far away. But at those moments that we San Diegans endure submitting ourselves to L.A.’s traffic, we begin to realize that maybe the good food itself, is the cause of all the traffic.

For a couple of years now, DTLA’s small plates eatery The Lazy Ox Canteen has generated its own traffic - very little that’s new can be said about why this restaurant is so good. Located in a beneath a nondescript condominium complex in Little Tokyo, The Lazy Ox builds delicate yet rich New American dishes that are as tasty as they are stunning.



Top, left to right: diners are met with lime and chile peanuts to wash down with a selection of craft beers. Bellwether farms ricotta fritters are served atop a smear of saba sauce and with saffron honey (7).

Below, left to right: Ricotta-filled fried squash blossoms. Delicate ribbons of hand torn pasta are bathed in meat ragu, and enriched with the yolky silk of a perfectly fried egg.



Inside, Chef Josef Centeno’s Lazy Ox Canteen is a stark contrast to its sterile stuccoed storefront exterior: a dark, wood-panel polished that is both energetic and intimate.



While Los Angeles’ gourmet burger business is ultra-competitive - they’ll soon also get their own Burger Lounge - the 8 oz lazy ox burger is a real contender, and one of the better burgers I’ve had in years. Served in a cushion of brioche, the LOC’s burger is a terrific marriage of hearty beefiness and a smoldering jolt of green peppercorn mustard. Wonderfully juicy, this burger is dressed with crisp red onions, lettuce and cantal cheese.

The Lazy Ox Canteen’s success is due in large part as much to the tavern’s casual atmosphere, as it is to Centeno’s nuanced play of subtle touches of sweetness with bold demonstration of the savory. Why is it Los Angeles won’t see our Burger Lounge and raise us a Lazy Ox? Until then, buckle up and prepare yourself for a whole lot of traffic.



Lazy Ox Canteen
241 S. San Pedro St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
http://www.lazyoxcanteen.com/index.html

Terra: American Bistro, La Mesa

Years back, that farm to table dining came to North Park was bizarre. To be able to say that it now also exists in La Mesa, east of San Diego State University is still – years later – equally baffling. But it does, in the form of a Hillcrest transplant called Terra.

With its New American palette, Terra composes wholly sophisticated tasting dishes in culinary populist form: nothing too extreme, or worthy of the average eater’s condemnation.

Led by chef/owner Jeff Rossman, Terra’s Uptown residence was the recipient a consistent praise by the likes of Zagat and various local publications. Now in the Rolando area, Rossman continues to specialize in organic and sustainable food, but this time to an arguably more challenging neighborhood.



Clockwise, from top left: Terra’s decor is modest and simple makeshift New American. House water is flavored with fruit and other essences, and change often. Terra’s bread place is served with a house made hummus. The iceberg wedge is served with morsels of bacon and drizzles in both avocado buttermilk and tomato-thyme marmalade(7).



In addition to large plates and soups and salads,Rossman serves up flatbreads, snacks and small plates. Here, a tomato jar consists of a sweet pickled tomato concoction served with ricotta and bread for smearing. The tomato jar, smoky and flavorful, is aided by the bright tasting cheese crumbles.

Terra’s chipotle skirt steak is given the Californian treatment, served with pico de gallo, and a side of field greens all drizzle in avocado crema. Black beans and an interesting potato quesadilla flank this well seasoned piece of meat (19).



No New American menu would complete without a chef’s remixing of the American staple of macaroni and cheese. Rossman, blings his take with a generously sized piece of Maine lobster covered in asiago, brie, and havarti cheese (20). A ring of red carrots and squash complement this cheese plate of penne.



Dessert or no dessert, Terra ameliorates any financial hardship with a pair of house made marshmellows. Light and feathery, these taste nothing like their rubberized supermarket siblings.



Terra’s dishes are a bit rough at this stage but promising. As tasty as the mac and cheese was, it leaned a bit on the “too cheesy” side and in general, presentation deserves to be tightened, but bottom line, Terra is worthy of numerous revisits.



While sustaining a Rolando-area clientele base interested in sustainable eating may be prove an unsustainable goal, Terra’s reincarnation is a boon to the slow food movement. To have a restaurant that is homey, and oblivious to the snobbery associated with picky eating, makes farm to table seem more like the right choice, than a self-righteous one.



Terra: American Bistro
7091 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego
CA 92115
http://www.terrasd.com/

Los Angeles: Pal Cabron, Oaxacan to you?

Sometimes good tasting food is not enough to keep a good idea going. Koreatown's Oaxacan eatery Pal Cabron, is no longer living proof of this. Now shuttered, this kitschy Mexican themed sandwich shop served relatively obscure Oaxacan dishes with attitude similar to that of San Diego's own Lucha Libre Taco Shop.



Pal Cabron’s decor celebrated the humble but colorful kitsch of Mexican decor: saturated pinks, yellows and greens, along with colonial style murals and brickwork.



The works of Mexican funnymen Cantinflas and Chespirito often played on mounted lcd screens.



The adjacent Natura juice bar -with its own storefront as well as a connecting window - served delicious drinks and shakes, and juices not openly available this side of the border (try getting mamey or cactus pear drinks at your local taco shop). Here, the horchata is served fresh and topped with squirt of fruit and a layer of pecans.



It can be said that part of Pal Cabron’s demise was due to its niche cuisine: Cemitas (a Oaxacan torta) and Clayudas ( pizza-like flatbread) are not even familiar to most most Mexicans. Mexico’s southernmost cuisine are not taco shop staples.



Obscurity aside, Pal Cabron did them right. The milanesa cemita was served with generous strings and slivers of Oaxacan and Panela cheese atop a thin breaded steak.

The marinated pork cemita is served equally abundant in meat and cheese but tastefully complemented with the sharp tang of white onion slices. The cemita’s sesame seed bun is toasted on the griddle, but still soft to the bite.



Pal Cabron’s other inner Mexican dishes include the huarache - an oblong corn disk in the shape of a sandal is smothered in mole and dressed with Oaxacan quesillo. The salty cheese provides a sharp contrast to the mole’s subdued lower notes.



Pal Cabron’s mole tlayuda is similar in flavor composition, but makes for a crisp and light appetizer that begs to be shared.



In addition to signature Oaxacan plates, Pal Cabron’s menu offered various other more traditional dishes, including tacos al pastor.
Here, al pastor is done Mexico City style: marinated ribbons adobo pork with bite sized cubes of grilled pineapple. Tacos are served with onions, cilantro, and a very spicy chipotle salsa.






Sadly, Pal Cabron’s ambitious presence in Koreatown ( Koreans actually dined here) did not outlast its initial buzz, but is survived by its much older parent restaurant, La Guelaguetza. Fans of Oaxacan can seek solace in the fact that thanks to the numerous Oaxacan enclaves in LA, it will nevertheless remain a stable-footed cuisine in the city.



Pal Cabron (Now closed)
3337 1/2 W 8th St
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Neighborhood: Koreatown
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cemitas-y-clayudas-pal-cabron-los-angeles

Los Angeles: Tanzore Indian Modern

I imagine the average American perception of Indian food to be similar to that of Mexican: a humble cuisine (even that reads of oxymoron) whose beauty is rooted in poverty and provincial cliches. Food of the people.
But just like the Rick Bayless's and John Sedlar's of the world continuously reimagine Mexican food in gilded form, Los Angeles' Tanzore culls a more cosmopolitan version of Indian cuisine befitting of its home in Beverly Hills.
Tanzore feels a little bit Sex and the City: high bar stools and low couches, sleek darkness in outlines of neon lights.



Tanzore’s appetizers are replete with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, most priced between $14 and $20. The chicken achari tikka is barbecued, but reamins moist in its pickle marinade. It is served with both cool and tangy chutneys (16).



Here, a Kashmiri lamb curry is prepared with the customary Indian accents of cardamom, ginger, and fennel seeds(18). The curry’s flavors are complex, but subdued for the American palate.



The highlight of this lineup is the trio of scallops (25). Served seared, these delicately tender discs are served atop tomato pilaf towers and drizzled in spinach, tomato, and coconut sauces.



The dish is as flavorful as it is stunning, which is often a challenge for the earthen tones of Indian cuisine.



While the prices seem fair for upscale cuisine, the surprise comes when one realizes that even with curry, rice is not included. Upselling is subtle and unclear, as somehow even the scallops ended having a second side order of rice and the two orders of rice and naan resulted in an additional fifteen dollar sort of surcharge (five each), and hence, what appears to be three dishes and some rice and bread results in an eighty dollar check.

Aggressive pricing aside, Tanzore’s flavors are Indian food without consequence - flavors are earthy but easy to swallow. Fans of Indian food should find its user-friendly selection as charming as both its atmosphere and service.



Tanzore - Indian Modern
50 North La Cienega Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
http://www.tanzore.com/tanzore-home.html

Photography by http://bbbites.blogspot.com/

Los Angeles: Taix

I make no pretense to “get French food.” Its allegedly classical cooking techniques, its traditions are things to which I can concede to be completely ignorant.
But aside from contemporary marvels like Los Angeles’ Church & State (at least during Walter Manzke’s tenure), French food is something I’ve sought to understand for a long time. But still to this day, it’s just ok.

I would explain any argument of its overratedness, as basically a cuisine that was relatively good at a time when other cuisine, including American, was particularly bad. I mean - really - coq au vin or tuna casserole? Boeuf bourgignon or the French influenced, but undeniably American chicken a la king? Who even serves that anymore?

While my personal belief is that New American cuisine now runs circles around the French, I thought perhaps a little history might provide some much needed insight.

After all, Echo Park’s Taix has been serving French cuisine since the days of The Great Gatsby.



Here’s one of the things about French food: Must its vegetable staples be rooted in the basics? The thought of ratatouille, or limp and soggy vegetables, sickens me. The thought of having them raw as a snack, makes me feel like a rabbit.



I have to admit the French have a way with soup. And Taix’s potato leek is delightful, creamy, and smooth. Fresh cracked pepper is a nice touch.



Taix’s wedge salad, was a bit coarse. A finer grade of iceberg would mean less of the texture of cabbage and easier eating. The salad’s bleu cheese dressing was cool and presentation was fine.



Here, steak frites was served with sweet potato fries, which were served crisp and good with salt. The steak was tender and abundant, its peppery sauce delicious enough to prefer over ketchup.



Saturday’s special, the duck a l’orange, is served with a side of wild rice. While the duck is notably (and perhaps obviously) gamey, it was moist and surprisingly modest in sweetness - a welcome choice.



Taix’s dishes are well served and good tasting, but unless you’ve a penchant for French food, not necessarily a first choice. It’s not Taix’s fault per se, it’s a matter of country style French food. Much like its old world decor, classic French dishes are an aging relic. One that we pay tribute to, and then set aside for newer things.



Service at Taix is considerate, cordial. Ambiance can be stale, even when it’s lively; during my visit, there were two drunken parties sitting across from each other shouting random pleasantries at each another. As names of screenwriters, cities, Pee Wee Herman, and Sigur Ros came into mix, so did the waiter! Even like this, it is easy to feel at home at Taix. The question is, why not just stay home, then?



Taix Restaurant
1911 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026
http://www.taixfrench.com/index.html