Damiano

Pizza and beer is like a marriage made in heaven, they always go well together.  In LA, one of the best places to get pizza and beer is Damiano.   Located in the Fairfax district of LA, right accross the famous Canter's Deli.   Inside you can see pizza being made in the left counter and a huge beer selection in the glass-door coolers on the right.   We sat in one of the dark unlit booths further into the place.  

Floris Apple 3.6% ABV, a Belgian Lambic beer.  I had  this to start with, it comes in a beautiful dark bottle with metallic green foil on the neck.  Lambic beers undergo spontaneous fermentation with the vat left open for sometime in the bewery for the multiple strains of air-borne yeasts to accumulate.  The beer pours cloudy amber with a white foamy head that easily subsides.  The nose is definitetly sweet green apple.   The mouthfeel is medium with some carbonation and a tart bite in the end.  The taste is like apple cider, with some malty wheatiness to it and a slight hint of cinnamon.  Crisp and fresh, very drinkable.

We got some Fried Clams $ 9.95,  as appetizers.  The batter was crunchy and the clams were not overcooked, nice and fresh, very flavorful. 

We also got a Large Thin Crust Three-topping Pizza $19.00,  with italian sausage, ham and pineapple.   It's all about the dough at Damiano.  Crunchy in the bottom with good browning yet still foldable with some chewiness.

Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale  7.0 % ABV, a Belgian Style Strong Pale Ale.  Brewed from the the town of Hitachi in Japan where the electronic manufacturing company with the same name is from.  I love the owl logo on the bottle.  Brewed with wild red rice,  this is the only beer I know that has a sake-like complexity.  The nose is red rice, herbal, with some hints of strawberries.  The mouthfeel is bitter up-front with light-medium body and high carbonation.  The taste is definitely red rice, malty, with a sake after-taste.  This brewery makes unique and very interesting beers.  Their Hitachino White Ale is on of my favorite wheat beers.   This is not the type of beer I would drink regularly, but very interesting.

Damiano

412 N Fairfax Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90036 

(323) 658-7611

Chicken Day: A Damn Good Chicken

Located in the middle corner of a strip mall on Western in Koreatown is Chicken Day.  A Korean style chicken place.  Parking is strictly valet in the basement for a buck.  Free if you can find street parking after hours.  The place is spacious with indoor and patio seating.  Several paintings on the wall with a common theme, chicken :).   There is a counter on the right side when you go in, this is where we made our orders and proceeded to get seated to wait.  There is a large flat screen TV on the wall playing Korean shows, some with English subtitles.  The owner was the one who took our orders and served our food, she was very friendly, conversational and accomodating.  Not afraid to speak English.  Eventhough, I know it was a little difficult for her to do so.  She gave us something in a plate, three, one for each of us, white and small which I thought were marshmallows.   It was the wet towelettes  for our hands :).   

Chicken Day Salad $ 3.45, this is delicious, the sweet pineapple puree was a surprisingly good dressing.  Very refreshing.  It compliments the spicy chicken very well.

Special Spicy Sauce Chicken Boneless $ 14.90,  this is a lot of chicken 22 pieces.  Almost like Bufallo chicken,  it is sweet and sour, very garlicky and a little spicy.  I was expecting to get toasted on the spiciness level like in Kyochon and Bonchon but here it is quite mild.   I wonder if you could ask them to up the spiciness level, maybe next time.  

Fried Chicken Drumsticks $ 13.90, again, this is a lot of chicken, eventhough it is hard to scale with the picture.  This is a huge plate with over 12 pieces of drumsticks stacked on.  This is the one I liked best,  cooked to perfection.  Crispy light aromatic batter and falling off the bone meat inside.  A damn good chicken, reminds me of Sunburst chicken growing up. 

People have been comparing the chicken here with Kyochon and Bonchon, so here is my two cents.  Kyochon and Bonchon to me are so similar in so many ways that even in the name they differ only by two letters.  Both I think are really good chicken, crispy caramel glazed skin and spicy enough to make you cry... for more.   At Kyochon and Bonchon, 20 pieces of  drumsticks will set you back around $ 30.  Their spicy and soy garlic chicken,  are more expensive, but better than Chicken Day.   Of the three Kyochon is my favorite.

In the simple fried chicken area,  you can't really compare Chicken Day's to both places.  I would however, compare it to Roscoe's or Honey Kettle chicken.   Chicken Day hands down is the best.

Chicken Day

301 S. Western Ave. #107, 

Los Angeles, CA 90020

(213) 387-9933

Churrasco Latino

I was feeling the pangs of a good steak so I called on a fellow foodie and asked him for a rec on some good steaks.  What came next was a surprise.  He suggested a place where he and the Mexicans who works in his company goes to.  He said the place is popular to Mexicans specially the Gauchos in vaquero (cowboy) hats, who brings their whole family to the place.  They also have a mean steak served sizzling in a cast iron skillet.  I was in.  

La Fonda is located at the edge of a strip mall on Century boulevard in Inglewood between La Brea and La Cienega  near the Hollywood Park race track.  Not to be confused with the La Fonda on Wilshire in LA, and my favorite Columbian restaurant La Fonda on Melrose also in LA.  The place is small, with no atmosphere and booth seating.   There's a small window to the kitchen where we placed our orders and proceeded to sit down and wait for the food to come.  There is a TV on the wall was playing, of course, futbol. 

They gave us some tortillas and dips while waiting for the food to arrive.  I like the bean and queso dip for a change.

Huarache Al Pastor $ 5.75,  this was delicious, the Al Pastor meat and beans was tasty topped with salsa verde and roja, lettuce, sour cream, and queso cotya.  Me likey likey.

Churrasco Latino $ 9.99,  this is New York steak Mexican style served with arroz and salad, you can also request American style served with baked potatoes and salad.   This was served piping hot and sizzling on a bed of toasted garlic served in an iron skillet.  The aroma of the garlic and steak was so irresistible I could not wait to dig in.  I ordered my steak medium rare, but I think the extra cooking from the hot skillet pushed it to medium.   The steak was still delicious.  They gave us some A1 sauce infused with Jalapeño, that was new to me.  When it comes to steaks, no A1 sauces for me, salt and pepper will do.  

Negra Modelo 5% ABV, a Dark Lager served in a bottle.  The beer has a light, highly carbonated mouthfeel with some bitterness in the end.  It tastes slightly sour, even if I did not squeeze the lemon in, slighly sweet caramel, and some zesty spiciness.  Crisp and refreshing it goes very well with the steak.

La Fonda

4649 Century Blvd.

Inglewood, CA

310-419-7596

Benley

Benley is not really suggestive of a Vietnamese restaurant.  Neither is the food strictly Vietnamese, more of a fusion type, so I guess the name is suitable.   It is located near the right corner of a strip mall in Long Beach.  I did not have a hard time finding the place, eventhough I missed the turn going into the stip mall and had to go around.  The place is small and cozy but not cramped.  I like the decor, minimal sharp and clean.  When I got there the owner got my drink and ran next door to get her cook who was playing cards next door.  I found it amusing.   The menu was interesting.  Their Pho was expensive and I was not in the mood for it.   The entrees did not really appeal to me, but the appetizers did so I just got three appetizers.

Lemongrass Charred Pork Spring Rolls  $ 6.95,  this was really good,  the pork was smoky-charred, salty-sweet with .  Wrapped in fresh crunchy greens and some vemicelli.   It holds up on it's own without the peanut dipping sauce.

Battered Salted Cuttlefish $ 7.95,  nice and crunchy,  very fresh and well salted.  Delicious calamari.

Braised Short Rib with Avocado puree $ 6.95,  I like braised short ribs, this one was really good and served in a bed of avocado puree.  The beef is so tender it almost feels like melting in your mouth with the avocado puree.  I would have preferred to have the ribs well seasoned.  This was a good though to off-set the the salty cuttlefish that preceeded.  There are no salt and pepper shakers on the table.  I know guacamole is good on my beef tacos, but I never would have thought of serving it this way.  Yummy.

Creme Brulee $ 6.95, I have said it before and I'll say it again, "If it's on the menu I'll order it." At least for the first time ;-)   This was delicious with a nice candied ginger juliennes surprise on top.  The bottom part of the creme was cold though.

Benley

8191 E Wardlow Rd

Long Beach, CA 90808

(562) 596-8130

In the Meantime...

Meantime IPA 7.50% ABV, an English India Pale Ale,  it comes in a beautiful bottle with a Champagne cork,  pours orangy amber, has a huge bubbly head about three to four fingers and decent retention and lacing.  The nose is citrusy and hoppy sweet that is a little toned down compared to American IPAs.  The taste is a slightly caramel sweet, grassy, orange zest, hops, with some mint and anise undertones, and medium bitterness.  The mouthfeel is medium creamy, smooth with some carbonation.  My favorite English IPA.  Absolutely drinkable.  What I like about this beer is the way the taste lingers in your tongue, and lets you discover the depth of the flavor in stages.  Made with over 2 lbs of hops per barrel.   According to the makers: "Jam packed with English Fuggles and Goldings, the beer is brewed with as many hops as we can physically get into the copper."

House on the River

More often than not I find myself hankering for hot noodles after a night out drinking in town.  Enter Ruen Pair, one of a string of Thai restaurants occupying a mini-mall in Thai Town.  It's the one on the right when you drive into the mini-mall with the bright green signage.

Ruen Pair in Thai means “House on the River” which is accordingly appropriate since we got some Thai Boat Noodles,  that is usually served by those boats in the floating markets and along the river in Thailand.  The noodle is very hearty with beef slices, beef balls, tripe, liver and a brown soup base thickened with beef blood.  Delicious and spicy just right for a quick pick-me-up  after a night out in the bars and clubs.

We also got some Shrimp Cakes,  light crispy with a sweet and sour sauce dip.  I've been to Ruen Pair several times and my favorite dish from their menu is the Black Egg with Chili and Thai Basil, that is the bomb!

Ruen Pair

5257 Hollywood Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90027

Chicken Paella with Cardamom

I tried my hand at cooking a Chicken Paella with Cardamom,  this is my take on it though with a little Indian spice twist.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

10 small pcs  Boneless Skinless Chicken  Cutlets 

3/4 cup  Rice I used Shirakiku Calrose

1 3/4  cups  Water  (Rice to water ratio is key, it has to be 1 part  Rice to 2 parts Water plus a little bit more for an open pan)

1 large  Beefsteak  tomato diced and leave 3 round slices 

1 Medium Bell Pepper julienned (I used a yellow one)

1  tbsp Pemienton (Spanish sweet paprika)

4 Cloves of Garlic minced

5 pods Cardamom

3 tbsp Extravirgin Olive Oil

Salt and Fresh ground pepper (I use a pepper mill)

Season the raw Chicken with salt a pepper to taste, then brown in the pan on both sides under high heat.  Once the chicken are browned, remove from the pan and set aside.   Toast the crushed cardamom pods for a few seconds in the oilve oil,  throw in  the minced garlic don't let it burn so keep stirring, thow in the julienned bell peppers,  then the diced tomatoes stir thoroughly.   When the tomatoes have cooked down add the Rice.  Add a little salt and pepper to taste and the Pemienton, stir until all the rice is coated with the Pemienton.  Cook until the Rice becomes almost translucent, then add the water.  Stir to deglaze the pan and spead out the rice for even cooking.   Wait until it starts to boil then add the Chicken back, spread out evenly.  Just lay the chicken on top, just immersed in the fluids, don't mix it in.  Place the Beefsteak Tomato slices on top.  Let it simmer on high heat for 5 minutes then lower it down to low-medium and leave for 15 to 20 min.  Ressist the urge to touch, don't even try to taste.  Just leave the whole thing alone and don't cover.  You'll know when it's done when you can hear a little crackling noise from the bottom of the pan.   A proper Paella should have a crust in the bottom.  Serve and enjoy!

I might be biased,  but my Chicken Paella with Cardamom turned out delicious  ;-).  And there's that added surprise from the cardamom when you get a burst of what I would describe as a "bouquet of flowers in your mouth".  I had mine with a nice bottle of Mission St. Pale Ale  4.6% ABV, light crisp citrusy sweet, and lemony bitterness.