February 22, 2012

Don Julio Margarita Dinner at Border Grill

Posted by the minty under alcohol education, cocktalian, dessert, events, food, foodie alert, great cocktails, hot bartenders, restaurant reviews, tasting menu | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Mexican 75

Happy National Margarita Day! A few weeks ago, I was invited to Don Julio‘s Margarita Dinner at Border Grill in Santa Monica.The four courses were paired with Don Julio cocktails and spirits. We started with the Mexican 75 (Don Julio blanco, persimmon orange puree, cava) with the lobster ceviche. All the cocktails are the creation of head cantinero (bartender) Alexander Fazio of Border Grill.

lobster ceviche with Seville orange

We started with the lobster ceviche with Seville orange, grilled persimmon, fresh ginger and crispy plantain chips. I used the chip to scoop up the chunks of lobster. Although I knew it was an appetizer, I knew I wanted more!

Jalisco Slip

The next cocktail, the Jalisco Slip, was my favorite. Made with Don Julio reposado, chai tea and honey, it was a bit sweet but mostly I liked the spicy tones to it. Later I found out it’s not actually tea but a spice mix the Chefs Susan and Mary Sue came up at their original City restaurant (which by the way, they’re doing a City Night at Border Grill Downtown on February 29– more info here). The spice mix has cardamon which makes sense since that’s the main component that makes chai so tasty.

roasted beets with greens and grains

The next course was the favorite of the night. The roasted beets was tossed with toasted Israeli couscous, black kale and a whole grain mustard vinaigrette. Chef Susan talked about putting this dish on the brunch menu with a fried egg. Yes, please. It was a gorgeous dish and mentally I wondered if I could ask for me. How embarrassing, another dish I wanted more of!

Anejo Viejo

 

The next cocktail was the Anejo Viejo (Don Julio anejo, fennel, blood orange). I found this too sweet for me so I would adjust something (or more tequila, please!).  I’m wondering if there was simple syrup in this.

Don Julio braised pork belly

 

The fennel in the cocktail was picked up by the pickled fennel salad in the Don Julio braised pork belly. The portion was enormous with an artichoke and sunchoke ragout. I actually had to take some of this home. I suppose it was a good thing the lobster ceviche was on the smaller side but I still wanted more couscous!

arroz con leche

 

For dessert, we got a shot of the Don Julio 1942 to go with the arroz con leche (rice pudding). The sipping tequila was the perfect thing for this smooth sweet dessert with crispy phyloo, dulce de leche and crema sabayon. The tequila was probably closer to an aged bourbon. And most people will tell you if you like bourbon, you’ll like the aged tequilas with its caramel and vanilla notes.

Don Julio tasting

 

You may be wondering where are the margaritas for this margarita dinner. Here are a couple of recipes from Border Grill from a few years ago. But may I suggest Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s margaritas by the gallon recipe if you’re prepping for a party to celebrate National Margarita day.

 

Don Julio

Border Grill

Los Angeles – 445 S Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90071 – (213) 486-5171

Santa Monica – 1445 4th St., Santa Monica, CA 90401 – (310) 451-1655

Las Vegas – at Mandalay Bay 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89119 – (702) 632-7403

 

February 21, 2012

DTLA: Brunch at Baco Mercat

Posted by the minty under brunch, cocktalian, dtla lunch, food, foodie alert, restaurant reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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tangerine mimosas

A couple of weeks back, I saw some tweets about brunch at Baco Mercat. Seeing as I’ve enjoyed both lunch and dinner at the recently opened spot on Main Street, I could help but think brunch would be fantastic. The biscuits and gravy were calling my name. Loudly.

biscuits and gravy

I’m not a huge breakfast person but when I do eat breakfast, I prefer savory items. Getting the biscuits and gravy is the ultimate comfort food breakfast. The biscuit was so fresh and flaky and it was the perfect amount of bacon and cheddar cheese as well. Add a fried egg to the mix and you got yourself breakfast. Or brunch. Or “hair of the dog” as Baco is calling their brunch menu.

We were torn about getting the breakfast baco with egg and chorizo or some other items. I was eying the sausage (either merguez or pork) with fennel or English breakfast with morcilla (blood sausage) and celery. Or maybe simple like steak and eggs. The only sweet item I’d consider is the yeasted waffle .

We had the tangerine mimosas with Szchuan sweet and sour. I may try the Bloody Mary with sundried tomato and harissa mix next time.

green cabbage and papaya salad

Moving on to the more lunch part of the menu, we had the green cabbage and papaya salad. I’m a big fan of Chef Josef’s vegetables and this was his take on a Thai green papaya salad. It is fairly spicy so look out. I loved how the veg were sliced for this salad– so pretty.

bazole

 

I had the Bazole when Baco first opened and the manager had told us they were going to perhaps tweak the recipe so you can add your own spicy sauce to it. It’s still not every spicy but after having the salad, we enjoyed the relative calmness of the broth.

beef tongue schnitzel baco

 

Can’t leave Baco without a baco. We got the beef tongue schnitzel. We ordered too much but the two of us still managed to eat it all anyway.

I was very happy with brunch and it’s the little things like sitting outside on a sunny clear day in Los Angeles that made this meal even better.

Baco Mercat

408 S Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 – (213) 687-8808
 

February 17, 2012

West 3rd: Exploring the Robata Bar at Robata Jinya

Posted by the minty under craft beer crawl, food, foodie alert, restaurant reviews, wine tasting | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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uni at Robata Jinya

While ramen may be one of my favorite things, I love all things Japanese. I wanted to try the robata bar at Robata Jinya. I had gone in December to try out the ramen and fell in love with their tender pork. I wanted to check out what else was good at Robata Jinya. They have a list of house favorites but we strayed to other items on the menu.

 

hamachi with jalepeno peppers

salmon belly

We started with an array of raw stuff including uni, hamachi and salmon belly. I loved the salmon belly. The cute nigiri looked like the striping of a Cheshire cat. We also liked the uni. I felt the hamachi was sliced a little bit too thinly but I’m a bit of a fiend for raw fish.

 

grilled mushrooms and okra

beef tongue robata

 

The robata items we had were the grilled mushrooms, okra and beef tongue. The veggies were very good. While I liked the beef tongue, I am used to more tender tongue (ha!). The texture of these cubed pieces were closer to gizzard or heart.

 

agadashi

 

I was still feeling a bit hungry so we ordered agadashi and ramen for stuff that’ll stick to your ribs. The eggplant was stuffed with shrimp. Yum!

soft boiled egg for ramen

small bowl of ramen

 

The small bowl of ramen probably did me in. It was an onslaught of carbs and rich broth after a lot of clean flavors and fish. The best of both worlds.

Check out my full post about the ramen at Jinya and Yamadaya.

 

Robata Jinya

8050 W 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90048 – (323) 653-8877
 

February 15, 2012

Seattle: Mistral Kitchen

Posted by the minty under cocktalian, dessert, food, food crawls, foodie alert, great cocktails, hot bartenders, minty life, restaurant reviews, tasting menu, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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Bobby Burns

My 24 hours in Seattle was coming to a close. Before heading out to the airport, we had lunch at Mistral Kitchen, just a couple blocks away from our hotel. Just about everybody told me it was fabulous and after surplus of calories (mostly empty in the form of cocktails), a light meal was just what I wanted.

hamachi crudo

Bobby from 100 Eats 100 Days ordered the Bobby Burns cocktail (Famous Grouse Scotch, Laphroig 10, Dolin sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Peychaud’s bitters) and the hamachi crudo for the table to share. I’m pretty sure everyone was impressed by the barman wrapping the long peel around the round ball of ice. I do have to say I usually have seen this cocktail served up. Still, love that ice ball.

diver sea scallops

hearty winter greens, bacon lardons, parmasan

I love Seattle and how fresh the seafood is. The hamachi crudo was great as were the scallops though I preferred the oysters I ordered best. I also was dying for some fresh veg and the hearty winter greens fit the bill.

oysters

I ordered three each of the available Kushi and North Shore oysters. I liked the North Shore ones a bit more with the more traditional mignonette. The smaller Kushi oysters were just fine on their own.

proscuitto and arugula pizza

cutting and serving ourselves pizza

When our server dropped off a pair of scissors, we knew we were in for a DIY adventure. The tomato, Proscuitto di San Daniele and arugula pizza was not sliced. As shown in the picture, you cut yourself slices to eat.

pork belly, escarole, turnips, sultanas

The only dish we were meh about was the pork belly. It just seemed piddly. I wished we used the $12 to buy more oysters.

pork terrine, fermented pickles, dijon, micro greens

On the other hand, the pork terrine was very nice. We had to ask for more bread (which was wonderful) to go with the perfectly made potted meat.

wood fired hanger steak, potato, trumpet mushrooms, cipollini onions

I had a lot of steak recently the week before with dineLA (LA’s Restaurant Week) so I didn’t particularly find the steak riveting but it was well-cooked. I probably would have gone for the half chicken only because I wanted something comforting. Although we were thwarted from having daurade from the evening before at How to Cook a Wolf, we decided to keep it light because we were heading to lunch #2. Yep, back to Salumi to split the porchetta sandwich.

chocolate feuilletine torte, banana egg nog ice cream, hazelnut praline

Holly wanted something light for dessert. She chose the chocolate feuilletine. I told her it hardly sounded light with the banana egg nog ice cream! Then again, our other two options weren’t light either. The sticky toffee pudding with blood orange, pomegranate and Earl Grey creme fraiche would have been my choice but I was abstaining. The chocolate pretzel bread pudding with Pike XXX stout ice cream and barley malt syrup also sounded amazing.

It’s a good thing we walked around the near-empty Seattle Center after this so-called “light” meal.

Mistral Kitchen

2020 Westlake Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 — (206) 623-1922
 
Seattle Adventures in 24 Hours
 
Part 1
Pike Brewing Company
Barhopping in Seattle
Dinner at How to Cook a Wolf
Cocktails at Knee High Stocking Company
 
Other Seattle posts
 
Restaurants
Bars
 

February 15, 2012

Seattle: How to Cook a Wolf

Posted by the minty under cocktalian, food, foodie alert, great cocktails, minty life, restaurant reviews, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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The Vincenzo

Last October, I went to Ethan Stowell’s Staple and Fancy and loved it. I wanted to try another one of his restaurants during my 24 hours in Seattle and chose How to Cook a Wolf. I was pretty excited about it. I thought it’d be maybe like Animal in LA. Yes, I based this entirely on the name alone. I did zero research which is unlike me. Once we got there after bouncing around from Pike Place and a couple of bars, we waited for our table at the small bar.

the Mario

I ordered the Vincenzo (Bombay Gin, Aperol, Lillet Blanc, Dash each Grapefruit, Lavender & Orange Bitters). Ah, I liked this. A subtle Negroni-type drink. I also liked the whiskey cocktails they had including the Mario (Bulleit Rye Whiskey, Ramazzotti Amaro, Angostura Bitters) and the Sinatra (Bulleit Bourbon, Angostura Bitters, Sugar, Orange Peel). The Mario is closer to a Manhattan while the Sinatra is like an Old Fashioned. For tequila fans, they have the Locatelli (Aha Toro Tequila, Cointreau, Fresh Citrus Juices, salt) which is like a margarita.

Proscuitto di Parma

After reviewing the menu, I figured it was easier to tell them what we didn’t want (a handful of things) versus all the items we wanted. We ordered the entire menu except for olives, turnip soup, beets, bruschetta and the baby greens). Later it turned out they were out of the rabbit liver mousse and one of the fish courses- the daurade. They did have plenty of branzino and asked if we wanted two branzinos but one would be prepared in the duarade preparation with arugula pesto, lemon, artichoke and olive. But I figured one branzino dish was enough. We kept the branzino that came with the calamari, cavalo nero (black Tuscan kale), bean stew.

We also ordered all five of the available pastas; spaghetti, spaghetti nero, tagliarini, strozzapreti and potato gnocchi.

Mixed radishes

We started with a plate of proscuitto with rosemary honey and hedgehog mushrooms.

I was more excited about the mixed radishes but we found the dish under-seasoned and a bit too oily.

beef tartare

I have a love/hate relationship with tartare. On one hand, I love it. On the other hand, I rather eat raw fish. I like a good cooked steak and I generally find beef tastier after it’s been spiced. Raw fish on the other hand, can taste amazing with just a little salt.

citrus cured escolar crudo

For this reason, I loved the citrus cured escolar more.

soft boiled eggs

soft boiled eggs - opened

I expected the soft boiled eggs to be warm. They weren’t and I supposed you can think of these as a really DIY deviled egg. I ended up mixing some of the caper aioli and crispy potato together and mashing it all up to eat.

Brussels sprouts with fried egg

Probably one of my favorite things in the world are Brussels sprouts. These were great and even better with a fried egg.

tagliarini

strozzapreti

 

Up next were the five pastas. I thought my favorite would be the spaghetti nero with the mussels but it turned out it was the vegetarian one, the tagliarini with brown butter, sage and shaved hazelnut. I also liked the strozzzapreti with the beef cheeks, oregano and mint.

potato gnocchi

spaghetti

spaghetti nero

 

I also did like the potato gnocchi. Every now and then I come across really good gnocchi. The pillowy bites were quite perfect. We accidentally were sent two spaghettis and after all the other pastas, we were quite carb-ed out. But carbs mean our brains were happy, albeit sleepy. Time for some protein!

braised short ribs

pork belly

 

I did find it weird the short ribs and the pork belly came out before the fish, our final course. The braised short ribs came with caramelized root vegetables, garlic confit and braising jus. The beef was very tender but I needed just a tad more salt.  I am not generally a fan of sweet with my savory but the pear puree with the pork belly was interesting. The dish also came with grilled treviso and saba had been drizzled on the plate. I needed this moisture for the pork belly which was a bit dry.

grilled branzino

Branzino, a type of seabass, was our final course. Served with calamari, cavalo nero (kale) and beans, the dish represented the best rustic Italian to me. It finally occurred to me this restaurant was more like a small plates or cicchetti bar. While I didn’t mind the larger meat dishes and pasta, I felt the small plates were stronger. If I really wanted good pasta, perhaps I should have gone to Ethan Stowell’s Tavolata. There’s always next time although I’d probably end up at Anchovies & Olives first.

After dinner, we headed over to Knee High Stocking Company for more barhopping to continue our 24 hours in Seattle .

How to Cook a Wolf

2208 Queen Anne Ave N., Seattle, WA 98109 — (206) 838-8090
 

February 10, 2012

SLS Hotel: Cocktails and Dessert at the Bazaar

Posted by the minty under alcohol education, cocktalian, dessert, food, foodie alert, great cocktails, restaurant reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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piggy at your service at the SLS

 

After dinner at Tres by Jose Andres, we hopped over to his other restaurant at the SLS Hotel, the Bazaar, for after-dinner cocktails and a second dessert. This was my fourth Jose Andres experience and although the chef is the common factor, none have been similar. I’ve also been to China Poblano and Jaleo in Las Vegas.

Magic Mojito

Cocktails are divided into several categories including specialty drinks, Jose’s Staff Libation Selections, SLS Classics and New Classics.

I was interested in the New Classics like the Liquid Cherry Manhattan with the cherry spherification. It reminded me of the Manhattan I had by Devon Espinosa at Marcel’s Hatchi pop-up but that wouldn’t be such a stretch considering Marcel used to work at the Bazaar.

olive oil ice cream

I was quite full so I only took a bite of the olive oil ice cream. The texture was akin to a brownie and not silky smooth. It wasn’t bad but not quite what I was expecting. I liked the fresh grapefruit that came with the dish.

Oakason and the Little Peach

One of my friends wanted something with vodka and the server pushed the peach drink on her. Oakason and the Little Peach (Oakason Japanese peach, pear vodka, St. Germain) was surprisingly not as sweet as I expected it to be but still not the sort of thing I like. Later we saw people with martini glasses of cotton candy. I wasn’t interested in the cotton candy but still, it was interesting to see the Magic Mojito cocktail poured onto it and the cotton candy instantly melt. We had to order a side of cotton candy for the photo and snackers.

Down to Earth

 

In the end, I decided on Down to Earth (Del Maguey mezcal, Cynar, lime, orange, agave-truffle bed). I was extremely curious to know what this agave-truffle bed was but turned out it was ice. I got the essence every time I moved the straw around. It was actually a fairly amazing cocktail.

By far this restaurant had the worst service. My friends were unhappy with our server and she could sense it. Before we knew it, we were left to practically fend for ourselves. I am usually inclined to sit at the bar for cocktails but my friends wanted that second dessert. If I do come back for a meal or dessert, I will stick to the appropriate meal hour. The Bazaar is cool to show your out-of-town guests to but for a watering hole, I rather go up the street to the Roger Room.

 

The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel

465 S La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048 — (310) 246-5567
 

February 8, 2012

DTLA: Return to LQ at SK

Posted by the minty under dessert, food, foodie alert, restaurant reviews, tasting menu, wine tasting | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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BYOB - no corkage

 

LQ at SK or Laurent Quenioux at Starry Kitchen is still going strong after 6 months. I took my fine dining partner to the Downtown Los Angeles pop-up a couple of weeks ago.

 

Amuse - Dolmas, Sujuk, Tongue Pastrami

 

We started with an amuse bouche of dolmas, sujuk (ground meat) and tongue pastrami. I was looking forward to this dish as dolmas are some of my favorite things. And tongue pastrami? Get out of here! Amazing.

Congee, Confit Pork Shoulder, Blackberry Molasses & Maple Syrup Glaze, Poached Yolk

 

My fave dish of the night was the congee (rice porridge). Growing up, congee was a staple at dim sum and both my grandmothers’ houses. It was the thing we got after coming home from a vacation. I love the Chinese pork and the 1000 Year Old version but Chef Laurent’s made this upscale and at the same time really accessible. My friend who is allergic to pork and hates eggs loved this dish as well. Darn, I thought I could steal her portion!

Haddock Potato Fritters, Fava Beans

I also enjoyed the haddock potato fritters. Loved how crazy the “tentacles” of potato look after being fried. There was also a bit of a pistachio paste on the plate which was sweet and helped cut the unctuousness of the fritter.

Belize Shrimp, Morcella, Endive, Kimchi Sabayon with Soju

My next favorite dish was the Belize shrimp and the blood sausage (morcella). My friend hadn’t had blood sausage before and I had great fun describing how it’s made to her. I liked the kimchi sabayon accent. It didn’t seem too out of place or “fusion-y.”

Brussels Sprout "Casserole", Cauliflower Emulsion, Onion Jam, Scottish Partridge

Our main course was the Scottish Patridge. I haven’t had this poultry (avian?) before. It’s not quite as tender as say quail but it has more meat! Great cauliflower emulsion and onion jam.

French Toast, Candied Foie Gras, Elderflower Syrup, Huckleberry Ice Cream

Chef Laurent said it took some time to get the foie gras to marry the caramel (shown as dots on the plate). I’m just glad to have a hunk of it on top of the French toast! I can get used to this savory dessert trend.

I’m looking forward to going back more often. At $45, it’s really the best tasting menu pop-up deal in town.

LQ @ SK

Starry Kitchen

350 S Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90071

get on the list

 

 

February 6, 2012

SGV: Celebrating Lunar New Year with Dim Sum at Sea Harbour

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various teas offered at Sea Harbour

 

I celebrated Lunar New Year with dim sum at Sea Harbour, touted as one of the San Gabriel Valley’s finest Cantonese Seafood restaurants. It’s been a few years since I’ve been but I always remember the food fondly.

egg rolls

siu mai

har gow

 

I’m going to have to let other people order because I usually end up with the same thing at dim sum joints you tick off what you want from an order sheet. Of course we had to get the standard har gow (crystal shrimp) and siu mai (pork and shrimp) dumplings. I found it neat they gave four egg rolls to an order.

interior of the egg roll

 

I have to say though these egg rolls were different because of the long leeks. The dumplings were good, fairly standard.

bean curd wrapped veggies

interior of veggies

Like the egg rolls, the bean curd wrapped veggies roll had some quality ingredients not normally found in such a roll. I also noticed the food I had seemed to be lacking in the usual greasy/salty flavor in some dim sum. Could it be? No MSG?

lotus wrapped rice

 

lotus wrapped rice- unwrapped

 

It occurred to me that I’ve never really shown the rice inside the neat lotus leaf wrapped rice packages (loh mi gai). Filled with sticky rice, pork and egg yolk, these savory packets would be great for a simple lunch. In dim sum, I try to avoid them to the end because I don’t want to fill up on too many carbs. Still, you can rarely control the flow of the food even when you order a la carte. When the food comes piping hot, eat it!

shrimp cheung fun

chicken feet

 

I was delighted by the plumpness of the chicken feet but could have used more of a spicy flavor. The rice paper wrapped shrimp (cheung fun) were amazingly not “trendy.” I expected some gourmet touch with asparagus but these were traditional.

spare ribs

shrimp and scallops dumplings

veggie dumplings

 

It was probably at this junction I realized I ordered way too much food for two people. We took boxes and boxes home.

I liked the spare ribs and the shrimp and scallops dumplings. We waited forever for the veggie dumplings or at least they tasted like veggie. I am not sure why I would have ordered the veggie ones.

chiu chow fun gor

shrimp and leek dumplings

 

My ultimate favorite dumplings were the shrimp and leek ones. They were plump and juicy. The chiu chow fun gor are usually my favorite and these were pretty good though I have had better versions recently. I would have liked more celery in them.

radish cake

 

I noticed a tendency of higher end dim sum houses cutting their radish (and taro) cakes in tall, big chunks rather than more flat rectangular ones. Either way, still good though you do lose some of the sear when they’re blocky.

I used to think Sea Harbour was my favorite over Elite and now I just don’t know. I’ll have to go on a side-by-side dim sum crawl or something to crown the ultimate dim sum house in the SGV.

 

Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant

3939 Rosemead Blvd., Rosemead, CA 91770 — (626) 288-3939

 

Other dim sum houses in the SGV/ LA

 

888

CBS Seafood

Dim Sum Truck

Elite Seafood

Lunasia

Monterey Park Palace

NBC Seafood

Ocean Seafood

 

 

February 6, 2012

West LA: Curry House

Posted by the minty under food, restaurant reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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salad

I had wanted to go to Hurry Curry of Tokyo across the street but the wait was long and my friend thought we were meeting up at Curry House. They didn’t have a wait so we opted to eat at Curry House instead. I can’t recall if I actually have ever eaten at this location, not when there’s Hurry Curry across the street. I was pleasantly surprised how extensive the menu was.

cream of corn soup

We put in our orders for curry and I got a salad to start. My friend ordered the chicken ginger curry with a side of tofu. And I had the Keema Curry. I have given up cooking ground meat but will sneak in dishes when eating out. Keema Curry is a ground beef curry that is marked spicy.

I wish I had gotten the cream of corn soup like my friend. My salad must have been straight from the fridge. It was very chilled.

ginger chicken curry

I liked the fact the ginger chicken curry comes with spinach on the rice. It’s like healthy or something.

Keema curry with soft boiled egg

I should explain Japanese spicy is not really spicy at all if you avoid the dried chiles. After topping my curry with the requisite pickled veg, I dug in.  My curry came with lots of interesting Japanese mushrooms and a soft-boiled egg. The only thing missing was spinach which I could have added.

Curry House is bright, cheery and quick. It’s not bad but I still prefer the cozier Hurry Curry across the way.

Curry House

2130 S Sawtelle Blvd., Ste 200, Los Angeles, CA 90025 – (310) 479-8477
 

February 6, 2012

Metro Balderas: Pig Uterus Tacos Recap

Posted by the minty under events, food, food crawls, foodie alert, minty life, restaurant reviews, taco trucks | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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pig uterus taco- doesn't it look like chopped up tiny intestines?

It all started in December when I encountered someone who challenged me on the “weirdest” things I ever eaten. The exchange when something like this-

Him- “What’s the weirdest thing you ever eaten? I’ve had OXTAIL!”

Me- “Pssh…that’s nothing. I’ve had bull’s penis soup.”

Him- “Oh…uh…”

Me- “And whole pig’s head, rooster testicles, live octopus and I think next I’m going for pig uterus.”

Him- “Oh…uh…I’m in for pig uterus.”

And so I had an event. And the dude didn’t show up. So…maybe he should just stick to chicken. bwowk bwowk..

special carnitas menu - weekends only

After a bit of research, I came across Metro Balderas which serves a special carnitas menu on the weekend.

Maciza – shoulder meat

Cuerito – pig skin

Buche – stomach

Costillas – rib meat

Trompa – snout

Oreja – pig ear

Nana – pig uterus

Surtida – everything but nana

salsa bar

If you ever had street tacos, most likely you’ve had some of these meats unknowingly.

I decided to get one nana, one costillas and one surtida (just to cover all my bases). Metro Balderas does also have “regular” tacos like carne asada (steak), al pastor (pork) and chicken. There’s also suadero (brisket), longaniza (Mexican sausage), tripa (tripe), cabeza (head) and lengua (beef tongue). I’ll have to come back to try their longaniza, tripa and lengua next time.

it's like a flower of condiments

 

I also got a huitacoche (corn fungus) quesadilla.

huitacoche quesadilla

 

I fell in love with huitachoche years ago and thought it was pretty funny that Metro Balderas includes whole corn kennels in their quesadilla as well. The corn fungus or mushroom as I like to call it is not actually that prevalent in this quesadilla. It’s more cheese and beans.

tacos - undressed

 

I got my tacos first and after doing the usual annoying food writer thing of taking pictures of everything, I dressed my tacos with chopped onions, cilantro, salsa and lime juice. Metro Balderas gives you these tacos on “two big tortillas” which you’ll need to pick up all the wonderful bits falling out.

tacos - dressed

 

I actually liked the nana tacos but my favorite turned out to be the surtida (everything) which included bits of the snout. I later had a bite of the snout and it’s deliciously fatty. I also liked the pig’s ear for that crunchy cartilage. If you want just meat, I recommend the costillas or the maciza.

surtida taco

The surtida is my kind of carnitas tacos. Everything but the nana seems like a good enough motto as anything.

If you want to have your own tacos adventure, get there early for the pig uterus. They sold out after some of my group ordered them.

 

Metro Balderas

5305 N Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042 — (323) 478-8383
 

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