A Foreign State of Mind
Where to go for your bo sate or brutto ma buono fix without getting on a plane
By Nancy Spiller 07/01/2010
As a child, I cooked foreign foods to escape my dull suburban surroundings. As an adult indulging my traveling jones, I’ve made a religion of eating local when going global. I’ve enjoyed bangers and mash in London, oeufs à la neige in Paris and momos in Nepal. So you can imagine the horror I felt when I saw signs in front of restaurants at a Mexican seaside resort boasting “Our Chef is from Texas,” or my lack of empathy for an anorexic American teen on our China tour who refused to eat Peking duck in Peking (she was later found snarfing peanut butter and crackers in her hotel room). On that same trip, the Chinese businessman perfecting hot dogs and hamburgers to dangle as power bait for American tourists further stirred my dark apprehensions.
I now find most travel a trial entered into less lightly. I’ve also lived in Southern California long enough to see it evolve into its own foreign food court, a place where enthusiastic diners get to imagine easily and often they are somewhere else. I no longer need to cook exotica at home or travel afar to enjoy the world’s pleasures. They’ve arrived in my backyard. Following are some favorite Arroyoland spots I visit to indulge my wanderlust when I’m not in the mood to shove my toiletries in a Ziploc bag or myself into a coach seat, or sleep anywhere other than my own bed.
Bistro de la Gare
If there is a more charming, sensual, unpretentious French country restaurant in Southern California than South Pasadena’s Bistro de La Gare, s’il vous plaît, dites-moi. The French chef/owner, Eric Ulmer, first beguiled Eagle Rock residents with Café Beaujolais, an authentic neighborhood Parisian café tucked into a string of nondescript storefronts on Colorado Boulevard. Stepping inside the door was like discovering a Perigord truffle in the desert as the eastside morphed into the Left Bank. The menu featured all the greatest bistro hits: onion soup, garlicky escargots, salade Niçoise and steak with frites, well prepared, affordably priced and served by actual French waiters. Then the troop moved their adorable Gallic selves to South Pasadena to a setting worthy of their charms. Their pretty street-corner location at 921 Meridian Ave. is near a Gold Line stop, thus the name, Bistro de la Gare.
Aiding in the seductive South of France illusion, every Thursday afternoon the street comes alive with a farmers’ market. Go sit yourself outdoors at a sidewalk bistro table or enjoy the terra-cotta–colored dining room. The waiters are still French and the food is still classic bistro fare, with lunch and dinner served daily and petit dejeuner weekends from 10 a.m. Completing the French country effect is Nicole’s Gourmet Foods next door, as well as the sensuous and seductive Barrister’s Garden Center. Quelle vie!
Bistro de la Gare is located at 921 Meridian Ave., South Pasadena. Hours are Wednesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. and 5–10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. and 5–10:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. and 5–9 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday. Call (626) 799-8828 or visit bistrodelagare.com.
Gingergrass
I’ve not been to Vietnam but became a fan of the cuisine eating often at San Jose’s abundant supply of immigrant restaurants before moving to Los Angeles. Gingergrass on Glendale Boulevard is my favorite here. Its roots go back to the defunct high-end Le Colonial, a stylish haute Vietnamese restaurant near the Beverly Center that proved unsustainable.
Its Vietnamese chefs now ply their cleavers for an always packed house in hipster heaven Silver Lake. I am addicted to their crispy whole shrimp, any of their fresh rolls with dipping sauces, green papaya salad, comforting coconut curry cod and their bo sate — cubed filet mignon with peanut sauce, yams and long beans — which makes me break my vegetarian vows all too often. Up the health quotient by ordering brown rice to mollify any guilt over having the fried banana rolls with ice cream for dessert.
The exceptional, well-paired and affordable wine list was compiled with the help of Silver Lake Wine across the street. Non-alcoholic options include an amazing ginger limeade. Also offered is the traditional Vietnamese coffee, slow-dripped into sweetened condensed milk. The buzz can last a week and will put you on par with the energy level displayed in the open kitchen.
Gingergrass is located at 2396 Glendale Blvd., Silver Lake. Hours are Sunday through Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m.; Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m. Call (323) 644-1600 or visit gingergrass.com.
Carousel
This Middle Eastern party palace in the heart of Glendale leans toward the Lebanese and their love of large social gatherings. Its striped, upholstered booths invite a crowd, and Friday and Saturday nights that’s what turns out for live music and an endless parade of mezza plates (think Lebanese tapas) and kebabs.
The menu lists nearly 50 different mezzas, such as authentic hummus, eggplant-based mutabbal (also known as baba ghannouj) and the thickened yogurt cheese labneh served as labneh harrah (topped with jalapeños, tomatoes, herbs, spices and olive oil) or labneh khaleejhi (mixed with garlic, pickled peppers, diced tomatoes and olive oil). All make for fine pita scooping. For those who believe an open flame makes any special occasion even more so, there’s a brandy-flambéed version of the house-made spicy Armenian sausage, soujuk. Once you’ve waded through the mezzas menu, you can navigate the kebab list, which includes chicken, lamb, beef, pork and even liver. Extra authenticity can be had with the Sultan Ibrahim — red mullet imported from Lebanon (served with a taratur sauce of tahini and parsley), Lebanese wines and Lebanese ice cream or pastries for dessert. Fully sated and perfectly happy, you can almost say you’ve been there and done that — sans the jet lag.
Carousel Restaurant is located at 304 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 a.m.; and Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m.; closed Monday. Call (818) 246-7775 or
visit carouselrestaurant.com.
Señor Fish
Even though the Eagle Rock location was less than 10 minutes from my Glendale home, it took lavish praise from New York Times Magazine food writer Molly O’Neill to send me racing there for fish tacos she claimed could “bring you to your knees.” My knees are now well bruised from years of enjoying its grilled fish tacos every chance I get, which is often, since first-generation Mexican-American siblings Enrique and Alicia Ramirez now have five locations (including one in South Pasadena), after starting with a Highland Park kiosk and their mother’s native Guadalajara recipes. Raves are also heard for the various seafood burritos and tostadas, and some swear by their ceviche—but I can’t get enough of the tacos. The atmosphere is authentic seaside small-town Mexican and the food is fresh, affordable and surprisingly fast. You place your order at the counter and there’s barely enough time for a full survey of the salsa bar — everything from mild green tomatillo to pico de gallo to dusky, fiery red salsas — before your order is up. But all these years later, on the subject of knees and being brought to them, I’ve got a question for Molly — did you ever try the scallop tacos?
Señor Fish is located at 4803 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 257-7167, and at 618 Mission St., South Pasadena, (626) 403-0145. Hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m.–9 p.m.
Visit senorfishonline.com.
Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli
I’ve been to Italy a lot and great Italian food, more than any other, can make me weepy for the joya. So you can imagine my thrill at finding a sob sister in Gemma of Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli. It was their perfect pine-nut–studded almond cookies tender as a Tuscan sunset that first set me off. Subsequent to my initial moist-eyed moment at the place, I discovered it was a mecca for SoCal Italian food fanatics. One food writer and instructor I know traveled all the way from Orange County to buy pastries for his wedding. Gemma and her husband, Nick, are Italian natives who’ve been baking in Eagle Rock for decades. Their core following is an enthusiastic post–World War II Italian immigrant population. Stand in front of the counter filled with the finest Italian cookies this side of the Ligurian Sea — chocolate nut meringues, almond or pistachio biscotti, unsightly but divine nuggets of cornflakes bathed in milk chocolate called brutto ma buono and, of course, the almond–pine-nut cookies — and maybe you’ll hear a neighborhood elder speaking Italian with the counter help and imagine for a delicious moment you’re in a small Italian hill town. Fa bene, grab a hankie and tell Gemma I sent you!
Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli is located at 1726 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m., and Sunday, 9:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Call (323) 255-8224 or visit eaglerockitalianbakery.com.
Nancy Spiller is the author of Entertaining Disasters: A Novel (with Recipes) (Counterpoint Press).
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