FOOD REVIEW: Chico's Restaurant (Highland Park in Los Angeles)

One of my favorite dishes are the Shrimp Tacos at Chico's Family Restaurant in Highland Park. They cost $3.75 each and are full of grilled shrimp, grilled onions and peppers and have slices of avocado and sprinkles of parsley on them. They are served on two corn tortillas each and radishes and lime are offered as garnishes.

I have had some of the other tacos at Chico's and they are okay, but the shrimp tacos are increible. If you are in the Highland Park area I strongly recommend you stopping buy and trying Chico's Shrimp Tacos! (Here's a hint, you can call ahead and they'll be ready to go in 10 minutes.)

Name: Chico's Family Restaurant.

Location: 100 North Avenue 50, Los Angeles, CA 90042.

Contact: 323-254-2445.

Visit: August 10, 2011.

AMBIANCE: B+.

SERVICE: A-.

VALUE: A.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A- (3.917/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Blue Dog Beer Tavern (Sherman Oaks, CA)

Exterior of the Blue Dog Beer Tavern

Twice-fried french fries with a bacon cheese burger

Vertical view of bacon cheeseburger and fries

As I continue my exploration of the best burgers in Los Angeles I was dragged into the valley for a plant-related errand by the husband so we decided to check out Blue Dog Beer Tavern in Sherman Oaks. Blue Dog Beer Tavern was mentioned in the now seminal LA Weekly article 30 Burger n 30 Days.

I had the Blue Dog Burger (Grilled Mushrooms, Bacon and Caramelized Onions topped with Swiss Cheese and Root Beer Bourbon BBQ sauce; price: $12) with the House Fries. Both were absolutely excellent.

The burger was medium-rare, perfectly juicy and well-maintained with a large toothpick through each half. The fries were crunchy (probably twice-fried), with the skin-on and maintained their temperature well. They went well with the BBQ sauce (provided on the side) or the basic ketchup provided.

The Other Half had The Burger with Cheese, $10 which he also enjoyed. If you're ever in the Sherman Oaks area near where the 405 intersects with the 101 I strongly recommend you stop by and have a burger at the Blue Dog Beer Tavern.

Name: Blue Dog Beer Tavern.

Location: 4524 Saugus Avenue, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.

Contact: 818-990-2583.

Visit: May 30, 2011.

AMBIANCE: B+.

SERVICE: A-.

VALUE: A-. 

FOOD: A. 

OVERALL: A- (3.667/4.0). 

FOOD REVIEW: Yujean Kang's (Pasadena, CA)

exterior of Yujean Kang's restaurant

Steamed dumpling with green onion, egg, pork and vegetable

A combination of three dishes: string beans, chicken with cashew nuts
and scallops with cucumber

Chicken with Glazed Cashew Nuts

Sauteed Blue Lake Green Beans with Roasted Pork

Mandarin Orange Cheesecake with
Fresh Fruit in Raspberry and Passion Fruit Sauce

For my birthday on May 21, I had dinner with my husband at one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, Yujean Kang's a gourmet Chinese restaurant. They do not serve you typical Szechuan Chinese cuisine, but instead use high-quality ingredients to produce gourmet-level entrees at non-gourmet prices.

Although it is one of my favorite restaurants, I haven't actually eaten at Yujean Kang's for awhile. They have two dishes on their menu which I absolutely adore. They are: 1) crispy beef with chinese baby bok choi, szechuan style; and 2) chicken with glazed cashew nuts. In fact, I almost always order these two items whenever I go there.

We started with a very interesting steamed dumpling stuffed with four interesting ingredients (cooked egg, green onions, smoked pork and some vegetable whose name I forget. Unfortunately a single order of these only included 3 dumplings so I was forced to eat 2, after taking the close up picture seen above. They were quite small, but very yummy.

Since it had been awhile since I had eaten there we only ordered one of my favorites, the chicken with glazed cashew nuts (sliced chicken breast with assorted mushrooms, fresh snow peas and vanilla beans, served with sesame seed and glazed cashew nuts). This is a truly astonishing dish. The chicken is very, very tender, melting in your mouth, but incredibly flavorful thanks to the presence of vanilla beans and a yummy slightly sweet sauce. The dish has very interesting competing textures, with sweet, crunchy glazed walnuts and very smooth, slippery mushrooms and the aforementioned chicken. Additionally, there are bright green, crunchy snow peas which provide contrasting color and another interesting texture. The pictures above do not do it justice!

In addition to the Chicken with Glazed Walnuts, we ordered the Sauteed Green Beans with Pork, primarily to compare Yujeans Kang's version of this typical Szechuan dish with the same dish I've often ordered at Yang Chow restaurant. Honestly, I found Yujean Kang's version of the dish slightly inferior to Yang Chow's. The greens were not crunchy enough at Yujean's, although the dish was a nice contrast to the chicken. However, it was intended to be a light vegetable dish because the other two dishes contained protein and the addition of smoked pork made it seem a bit too substantial.

The third dish we ordered was one of the most expensive things on the menu, a $23 entree: the fresh spicy sea scallops with cucumber and jellyfish. The dish came with Szechuan peppercorn sauce on the side. My husband was very interested in ordering this because Szechuan peppercorns were banned for import into the United States for years (ban ended in 2005) and the spice is supposed to have an almost pharmacological effect on the tastebuds.

Hubby had dropped the knowledge that this was my birthday dinner so they insisted on providing a dessert for free. While I ran out to feed the meter (even on an early Saturday evening it is not wise to defy the Parking God in Pasadena) and when I returned there was a lovely (complementary) mandarin orange cheesecake with kiwi, grapefruit and tangerine artfully arranged around the plate. Amazingly, there was even mandarin inside the cheesecake itself, and this did not clash with the dairy-laden sweet.

All in all, Yujean Kang's is an excellent dining experience, one I would like to repeat soon, but next time I will make sure to order both of my favorite dishes!

Name: Yujean Kang's.

Location: 67 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103.

Contact: 626-585-0855.

Visit: May 21, 2011.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: B.

FOOD: A. 

OVERALL: A- (3.667/4.0). 

FOOD REVIEW: Go Burger (Hollywood, Los Angeles)

Exterior of Go Burger at Sunset & Vine

Vidalia onion rings

"duck fat fries"

my burger, with the lovely slaw and superfluous pickle

inside of my burger, with delightful bits of bacon showing

My ongoing quest to find the best burgers in Los Angeles lead me to Go Burger in Hollywood, recently. This is actually the second time I am writing this review. My first review was lost in the great Blog apocalypse of May12, 2011 which initially deleted my published review of Lazy Ox Canteen and erased my draft review of Go Burger.

 Go Burger resembles Juicy Burger (see review) and The Counter (see review) in that it is the kind of place where they have a number of set burgers but you can also select your own ingredients and design your own.

I decided to have the BLT (Double Smoked Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, BLT Burger Sauce, $11) and splurge on the fries cooked in duck fat. The person I was eating lunch with had the "Make it a Philly!" Smashed Burger (with Griddled Onions, Peppers, Pickled Jalapeños and Melted Provolone, $12) and the Vidalia Onion Rings. On the advice of the LA Weekly article "30 Burgers in 30 Days" I purposefully selected a relatively simple burger and was interested in the duck-fat fries.

It turned out that the burger was excellent, while the fries were disappointing. The onion rings were also incredible. The fries sounded better than they tasted. They ended up being somewhat soggy and not very flavorful while the onion rings were delightfully crunchy with and  relatively sweet. Another surprise was the cole slaw that was delivered with the burgers--it was also excellent. I am never fan of something other than ketchup being used to dip onion rings or fries into, but the buttermilk ranch dressing on the side was pretty good, especially with the onion rings!

The price point of Go Burger appears to be slightly higher than either Juicy Burger or The Counter but the burger seemed to also be of higher quality. It was still not as flawless as the Lazy Ox Canteen burger but I would rank it a close second to all the burgers I have eaten recently. I would definitely go back to Go Burger, to order the onion rings and try out one of their other burgers or put together one of my own design realizing that this could end up pretty pricey when cheese toppings (Vermont cheddar, American, Provolone, Monterey Jack) are $1 each and premium toppings (Blue cheese Gruyere, grilled onions, Bacon, sliced avocado, madeira mushrooms, fried egg, homemade chili, grilled red peppers) are $1.50.

Overall, Go Burger well deserves its place on the list of outstanding burgers in Los Angeles.

Name: Go Burger.

Location: 6290 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028.

Contact: 323-327-9355.

Visit: May 9, 2011.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A-.

VALUE: B+.

FOOD: A-. 

OVERALL: A- (3.583/4.0). 

FOOD REVIEW: Island Flavors (Laurel, MD)

While I was on a research trip in Maryland/Delaware in early May I discovered the unassuming West Indian restaurant Island Flavors in a strip mall right off the Route 197 exit off the Baltimore-Washington Expressway (Maryland Route 295).

I'm always one to look out for really good West Indian food, and the best I have found so far is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. That's a long, long ways from my home in Los Angeles, so often when I am on the East Coast I try and sample new restaurants. In Los Angeles, there is some pretty good Caribbean food (Ackee Bamboo, Caribbean Treehouse, Kassava) and some just okay (Derrick's Jamaican Cuisine, Juicy's, Wi Jammin).

Island Flavors is in a very unassuming, somewhat unprepossessing space, with cheap plastic chairs and tables and covered steam tables. You should go to Island Flavors for the food, not the atmosphere or service.

I ordered the brown stew chicken ($7.75) and homemade sorrell ($3.50). The brown stew chicken was excellent. It is very tangy and piquant but not overly spicy. It comes with steamed vegetables and fried plantains. The sorrel was also quite good, much more heavily infused with ginger than I am used to, and quite a bit more concentrated. Halfway through eating my small brown stew chicken I knew I wanted to sample their "Curry Chicken & Roti" ($8.00) and take a large brown stew chicken to-go ($9.25) on my 6-hour flight home to Los Angeles.

The curry chicken roti ended up being very unusual, with the roti skin being uncharacteristically left open, serving as a bowl for the curry chicken stew, instead of fully enclosing the thick curry chicken stew burrito-style that I am used to. The roti skin used was delicious, lighter and more flavorable than most (I suspect butter must be involved) and by not enclosing the stew, it seemed they were able to use more tender cuts of chicken with bone attached, as opposed to the sometimes dry, boneless chicken which appears in most chicken curry rotis. The brown stew chicken I brought home to Los Angeles was just as good when I ate it microwaved after being in the refrigerator as when I had eaten it inside the Island Flavors restaurant two days before. Both dishes were better than anything I have had from any West Indian restaurant on the West Coast, except perhaps for what's served at Kassava.

If you're in the Laurel, Maryland area (about 30 minutes north of Washington, D.C.) I would strongly recommend that you check out Island Flavors and order yourself a roti and a brown stew chicken to go, you will not regret it!

Name: Island Flavors.
Location: 12633 Laurel Bowie Road, Laurel, MD 20708-2603.
Contact: 301-776-7208.
Visit: May 7, 2011.

AMBIANCE: B.
SERVICE: A-.
VALUE: A+.
FOOD: A.

OVERALL: A- (3.75/4.0).

FOOD REVIEW: Lazy Ox Canteen (Downtown Los Angeles)

exterior of The Lazy Ox Canteen

shell-on roasted fava beans, $5

yellow tail crudo w/ scallion, grapefruit & papaya salad, $14

8 oz. lazy ox burger with cantal cheese & green peppercorn mustard, $14

seared fijian albacore with lentils, pickled apple, oregano & bacon, $18

chocolate pate, $8

butterscotch pudding, $8

Recently, MadProfessah and The Other Half finally made it back to Lazy Ox Canteen, a hot restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. We went for the first time following the Los Angeles Times food reviewer S. Irene Virbila's now-famous rave review:

Lazy Ox Canteen is poised to become the restaurant of the moment. Partners Michael Cardenas and Centeno have made all the right moves. The place has an edgy energy, a cozy, casual interior with huge bare filament bulbs swaying from the ceiling and wood-clad walls, a seriously great wait staff and a wildly interesting crowd. Not to mention Centeno's deliriously inventive cooking, all at affordable prices.

I'm torn. I'd like to keep the place an insider's secret. I like being able to decide, that night, to head over to San Pedro Street for dinner and being able to get in. That's about to change. In the future, reservations are probably going to need to be made well in advance, I'm sorry to say.

We returned again this year on the same day (a birthday) and although the amazing fried chicken was not available (it typically sells out in the first hour of dinner service),we still had a stunning meal.

We started with the shell-on roasted fava beans and the yellow tail crudo with scallions, grapefruit & papaya salad. I was not happy with the fava beans. The shells were very tough and the flavor of the fava beans themselves is an acquired taste. The yellowtail salad looked more impressive than it tasted, because for $14 there should have been at least twice or thrice as much raw yellowtail. The salad looked great and was quite crunchy and piquant. But overall, it felt like a game of hide and seek looking for the crudo.

 The next item was the seared fijian albacore with lentils, pickled apple, oregano & bacon ($18). This is an incredible dish with the only bad thing that one can say about it is that there's not enough of it. It is actually an ample serving of absolutely delicious very rare albacore tuna combined with a sweet, crunchy, savory and salty mix. A must-order, in my book.

The pièce de résistance, however, was the $14 Lazy Ox cheese burger, which was produced with square cut fries and a green peppercorn mustard. The burger was cooked to perfection, exceptionally juicy with just a hint of pinkness and bursting with flavor. The fresh toppings of greens, tomato and melted cheese were kept attached to the burger through the use of a large wooden toothpick, maintaining a breathtakingly balanced burger. At first bite, both of us said "Wow! That's a good burger." Then you bite into the fries which remain quite hot for an astonishingly long time, and are amazed at how delightfully crunchy they are. The only downside of the Lazy Oxy burger and fries is the inclusion of the green peppercorn mustard. I have a strong belief tat the optimal condiment for fries is a simple ketchup and the green peppercorn mustard, although interestingly spicy, is a bit too fancy and fussy.

But, wait, there's more! For dessert we ordered the butterscotch pudding and the chocolate pâté, both of which were absolutely amazing. It's hard to choose between the two, but as a moist, very chocolatey dessert their "chocolate pate" was excellent, especially at $8.

I hope that it doesn't take another year before I return to Lazy Ox Canteen, and that they will still have these desserts on the menu, as well as the albacore and the signature burger. The service was attentive and the prices generally reasonable. Although the dining room itself is very loud when the place gets packed, a meal at Lazy Ox Canteen is one you will remember with pleasure for a long time afterwards.

Name: Lazy Ox Canteen.

Location: 1241 South San Pedro Street Los Angeles, CA 90012-3808.

Contact: 213-626-5299.

Visit: April 26, 2011 (and April 26, 2010).

AMBIANCE: B+.

SERVICE: A-.

VALUE: A. 

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A (3.917/4.0). 

FOOD REVIEW: Juicy Burger (Los Feliz/Griffith Park in Los Angeles)

The exterior of Juicy Burger, at 1820 N. Vermont, Los Angeles, CA 90027

interior of Griffith Park/Los Feliz Juicy Burger

burger and fries

Not on many lists of the best burgers in Los Angeles is Juicy Burger. However, it is often mentioned in the list of good late night dining spots in the Hollywood area. MadProfessah has long been interested in exploring excellent burgers in multiple cities, and I have taken a position (in favor of the latter) in the forthcoming In-N-Out versus Five Guys burger wars.

Juicy Burger has a very similar approach to burgers as The Counter (see MadProfessah review); you get to select the size of your burger (1/3 lb. or 1/2 lb.), then select your bun (lettuce, ciabatta bread, fresh bun), select free toppings (mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, red onions, mayonnaise, 1000 island dressing and dill pickles) and then add cheese (American cheese, cheddar, Monterey jack, blue cheese) for $.75 and premium toppings (caramelized onions, fried egg, sliced jalapenos, green chile, guacamole, onion strings, bacon strips, grilled pineapple, grilled spinach, sauteed mushrooms). You can also add premium sauces (buttermilk ranch, chipotle mayo, chipotle ketchup, garlic mayo, barbecue sauce, teriyaki sauce) for $.50.
You can also get fries (with one free sauce) for $2.50. The place is very small, not much more than a counter, but there is whole seating section outside if you want to eat your burger right there.

Overall, I was somewhat disappointed with Juicy Burger. The fries were more remarkable than the burger. I ordered the 1/3 burger with a regular bun with the free toppings of lettuce, tomato and dill pickles, cheddar cheese and two premium toppings of bacon and caramelized onions I ordered it medium-rare but it appeared to be closer to medium-well (no pink left at all). It was also sort of dry and the bun seemed a bit excessive so I took off one half of it. The bacon was well-done (how can bacon ever be bad?) and the onions were excellent but overall the burger seemed excessive, and not well-balanced like the almost-identical burger I ordered at The Counter a few weeks before. However, unlike at The Counter, Juicy Burger's fries were excellent! Very crunchy, and not overly salty. For $2.50, the "small fries" were a decent portion. However, it is always my position that the best topping for fries is plain, simple ketchup (or catsup) and the chipotle ketchup was the closest option but this is still an inferior option (plus I had to go back to the store to pick up my sauce because I had ordered take-out and the first time they gave me my food without a sauce.

I would strongly recommend going to The Counter for their burgers but definitely check out Juicy Burger for their fries. Even though the burger at The Counter was more expensive, I felt that it was a better value and a higher quality dining experience. It's possible that some of Juicy Burger's classic burgers might be a better deal, but there a lot more burgers I want to try first before I give Juicy Burger a second chance.

Name: Juicy Burger.

Location: 1820 N. Vermont, Los Angeles, CA 90027.

Contact: 323-660-1211.

Visit: April 27, 2011.

AMBIANCE: B-.

SERVICE: A-.

VALUE: B+.

FOOD: A-.

OVERALL: A- (3.417/4.0). 

FOOD REVIEW: The Counter (Pasadena, CA)

1/3 lb burger with Tillamook cheddar, applewood smoked bacon,
dill pickle chips, lettuce and tomato, with a single order of fries and ranch dressing dip

interior of The Counter in Pasadena, showing streaming

The counter at The Counter

As readers of this blog know, I regularly check out burger joints (see my reviews of Five Guys Burgers and Ray's Hell Burger) I had heard about the burgers at The Counter for awhile but only realized recently that there was a location relatively close to me, in Pasadena just off Lake Avenue. Apparently it's been open since September 2009. Part of the reason why it may have gone unnoticed is that is on Shoppers Lane, a very small street parallel to Lake Avenue but "behind" a number of storefronts. In fact, The Counter is now occupying the space where Radhika's Indian Restaurant (which moved to South Pasadena) was for years.

The Counter's shtick is that you build your own burger (similar to Juicy Burger which I intend to check out in the near future) with fresh, tasty ingredients. At The Counter you can have your burger made out of beef, turkey, chicken, "veggie" or the "market selection." You can have it in sizes of 1/3 lb, 2/3 lb or 1 lb and have it on a bun or in a bowl. The number of options is actually pretty overwhelming. You get 1 cheese choice for free, then 4 free cheap toppings then as many premium toppings (like bacon, sauteed mushrooms, guacamole) for $1 each. The price point is clearly intended to be greater than the fast food burger joints In-n-Out and Five Guys which get a significant fraction of their customers who order the burgers to take out and eat later.

The Counter is more like a diner which specializes in burgers. I ordered a 1/3 beef burger on a hamburger bun, with Tillamook cheddar, Dill pickle chips, Bermuda red onion, tomatoes and lettuce blend. I added applewood smoked bacon as my premium topping. The helpful waiter told me that they generally cook all their burgers with pink in the center (medium rare). I also ordered a single order of fries and selected one of the sauces (Country Buttermilk Ranch) from the over two-dozen possibilities. I wasn't sure what to do with the sauce. I asked the waiter f it was for the burger or the fries and he said "both." I poured mine on the lettuce and tomato in my bun.

The burger was excellent, with all the ingredients I ordered blending to make a pretty spectacular burger. The fries were serviceable, but nothing to write home about. I'd say they were better than average, better than Five Guys but probably not as good as In-n-Out fries. Fries to me are important, because I really see the meal as "burger-n-fries." The fries at The Counter do not detract from the burger but do not overwhelm the burger either, which happens at many burger joints. At The Counter almost anyone can select a burger of their choice that they will enjoy; I intend to return several times and try out different combinations in order to discover the perfect burger for me.

Name: The Counter
Location: 140 Shoppers Lane, Pasadena, CA 91101.
Contact: 626-440-1008.
Visit: April 16, 2011.

AMBIANCE: B+.
SERVICE: A-.
VALUE: A-.
FOOD: A.

OVERALL: A- (3.667/4.0).