WHY Indonesian street food in its natural habitat. WHAT Set up in a parking lot behind a Duarte motel, Pondok Kaki Lima is one of L.A.’s brightest beacons of Indonesian cooking. The weekly food fair is a collection of a handful of vendors, most of which specialize in a single dish, even if they serve [...]
February 3, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY Mexican dishes with a jolt of traditional flavors in a casual, eco-friendly storefront café. WHAT Tinga’s owners were inspired by Santa Barbara’s deceptively casual La Super Rica. Their thick corn tortillas also have a house-made heft, with cochinita pibil pork tacos as spicy as advertised. Taco plates, quesadillas, burritos and tortas made with steak, [...]
January 25, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY Serious dogs served on grilled King’s Hawaiian bread. WHAT These are solid, substantial hot dogs, often topped with bacon and/or chili. Skip the heavy, bland El Mariachi, but consider the BLAST dog, with bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato and serrano chili, and by all means try the tater tots. The addition of a beer garden [...]
January 12, 2012 | Posted in
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WHY Berlin’s favorite street snack pops up at Sunset Junction, with a simple menu of saucy sausages and killer fries. WHAT Choose from pork, beef, chicken or tofu all-natural sausages and select a heat level of sauce. After they’re grilled and sliced, the sausages are topped with an organic curry-flavored tomato sauce; you can add [...]
December 24, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Small, juicy hot dogs, just like the New York original. WHAT Pink’s has competition in the line-up-for-hot-dogs department with the arrival of this New York hot dog icon, which draws huge crowds at night. Pass on the beefier but soggier jumbo dog in favor of the small, juicy, peppery original. The curly fries are [...]
November 25, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Because there’s so much more to the Mexican sandwich than carne asada—filled rolls. WHAT Seventy variations of the DF-style torta is an idea that might seem as gimmicky as popcorn-flavored ice cream. But each torta here is as precisely constructed as anything from a four-star kitchen. Choosing the best one is impossible, but the [...]
November 7, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY The best old-school stand burger in the Valley. WHAT 84-year-old Bill Elwell has been making burgers on his vintage grill in this dumpy part of Van Nuys for decades, and something about the seasoning of the grill and Bill’s technique makes for the perfect fast-food burger, complete with orange cheese and a grilled white [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Al pastor tacos at midnight. WHAT All the meats that go into the tacos and burritos are good, but the real reason the people line up every night is for the pork al pastor, among the best in taco-truck land. WHO Mexican families and the young and restless, stopping in between clubbing and bar-hopping. [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY On a coolish day there’s nothing better than a big bowl of Jinya’s aromatic tonkotsu ramen, laden with toothsome noodles and sliced pork belly. WHAT A Jonathan Gold rave put this ramen house on the foodie map, despite its location in a dark corner of a Studio City strip mall next to Marshall’s. The [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Latin-inspired café cuisine with a marina breeze. WHAT This strip mall café satisfies at all hours. At breakfast, it’s a cup of spiced Mexican coffee with the coconut oatmeal or oven-baked french toast stuffed with mascarpone. A mother-daughter duo have transformed the family’s Latin American roots into a vast, vegetarian-friendly, pan-Latin menu. At lunch, [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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