Worrying about the Prince

photo courtesy L.A. Time Machines

The L.A. Time Machines website has put up an alert about Koreatown's wonderfully-preserved restaurant/bar The Prince...

CALL FOR ACTION: Readers of this site have been telling me that there may be big changes for the Prince Korean Restaurant a year or so down the road. I don't know what these changes are, but when one considers that the place is already perfect and very historic, this possible change, if true, is of great concern to me. I consider the Prince to be the second most important and best preserved historic restaurant interior in Los Angeles (after Musso's), as well as being one of the top five best "time machine" and cultural restaurants in general in Los Angeles. This is where the great restaurant scene in "Chinatown" was filmed. I hope people will investigate the situation and impress upon the owners of the restaurant and the Windsor apartment building how important the place is to you and Los Angeles in general. Might be a good idea to make your views known to the Los Angeles Conservancy (and join!) as well.

That would really be a shame, since the Prince is one of the few intact places in L.A. I'm glad I had my birthday there about five years ago, but I think it's time for a return visit soon.

New: Los Feliz Ledger restaurant and delivery guide

The first edition of the Los Feliz Ledger Restaurant Guide is out, covering Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater and Echo Park. While I left out a few chains and taco stands, I think it pretty much covers every other restaurant in the area. Let me know what to add for future editions.
Here's a preview of the delivery part of the guide.
Los Feliz/Silver Lake area restaurants that deliver:
American/sandwiches:
Cardone’s (Silver Lake)
Home (Los Feliz)
Chinese:
Chi Dynasty (Los Feliz)
Indian:
Agra (Silver Lake)
Electric Lotus (Los Feliz)
Italian/pizza/sandwiches:
Farfalla (Los Feliz)
Il Capriccio Pizzeria (Los Feliz)
Hard Times (Silver Lake)
Louise’s Trattoria (Los Feliz)
Michelangelo (Silver Lake)
Nicky D’s (Silver Lake)
Palermo (Los Feliz)
Japanese:
Pazzaz (Silver Lake)
Miyako (Echo Park)
Thai:
Mae Ploy (Echo Park)
Nadpob (Silver Lake)
Pattaya (Los Feliz)
Rambutan (Silver Lake)
Simply Thai (Los Feliz)
Suriyo (Silver Lake)
Tubtim (Los Feliz)

Taste test: Birthday fry-up at Inaba

premium sake sampler

My mother must have sown the seeds of a fledgling foodblogger by taking me on the orange RTD bus all the way from Santa Monica, down Wilshire Blvd. to Little Tokyo, when I was a child. We would sit at a tempura bar located somewhere on First St., and the man behind the counter would place little fried morsels in front of us one after another until we couldn't eat another bite. Then we would go across the street for red bean cakes at Mitsuru made in the same metal molds they use today. tempura of seaweed-wrapped clams

I wanted to repeat the tempura bar experience on my birthday a few weeks ago, but the only tempura bar left in Little Tokyo is in the Kyoto Grand Hotel. It's rather pricey, plus it's not open on Sundays, which was the only day we had available. So it was time for a field trip to Torrance, past the oil fields and giant malls to the strip mall that houses I-naba. Kathy and I started with sake flights, and mine had three wonderfully floral sakes. The frymaster at work

Then we checked off which type of tempura we wanted on a checklist like at a sushi bar. Inaba also specializes in housemade soba, so we tried both the hot and the cold variations. We had perfectly fried shrimp, squid, asparagus, lotus root, eggplant, stuffed shitake mushrooms, chicken and seaweed stuffed with clams. The shrimp, asparagus and chicken took to the tempura technique especially well. We left the impressive-looking sea urchin tempura for another time. Inaba is a lovely, tranquil place, and the man behind the counter really knows how to fry. cold soba noodles

It wasn't quite the funky place of my childhood -- actually the quality was much better, as they use organic items like Rocky chickens. They have a variety of set menus which combine tempura, sashimi and soba, starting at $20 up to elaborate kaiseki meals.
Restaurant I-naba
20920 Hawthorne Blvd.
Torrance
(310) 371-6675

Top trends: craft beer, sweet and savory

The Starchefs newsletter has a good list of culinary trends in the fine dining business. Craft beers and beer pairing, housemade charcuterie, heirloom grains and savory flavors in desserts are some of the trends Eating L.A. can definitely get behind. All these trends sound flavorful and creative...but what are the bad food trends this year?

Merry Christmas from Eating L.A.!

Merry Christmas from Eating L.A....this lady was standing on Venice Beach around 1936...she may not be food-related, but I thought she was pretty festive.

Eating L.A.'s 2007 top L.A. food trends

Eating L.A. is going to break down the Best in Food 2007 into two parts: today, Top L.A. Food Trends; next up, Top Tastes of the Year. And don't worry, there's no Pinkberry involved.
L.A. gets Frenched: Bastide and Comme Ca were the high-profile openings, while on the quasi-Eastside, Sgt. Recruiter serves oysters and wine, Mes Amis goes bistro, and Cafe Stella expands.
More places to spend money: From small shops offering only the best (Froma's prosciutto from La Quercia) to medium-sized celeb-magnets (Joan's on Third expands, the Little Next Door opens) to mega-foodie amusement parks (Whole Foods Pasadena), it's been a good year for buying rare and pricey groceries.
L.A. gets its just desserts: Boule Atelier expands on the jewelbox patisserie; Crumbs and its more-is-more cupcake, Paulette macarons and Sno:LA sweeten up Beverly Hills; Milk adds ice cream sandwiches and such to the mix; Lark brings Silver Lakes the cupcakes it needed.
The city gets a buzz: LaMill Coffee will soon join Intelligentsia Coffee in Silver Lake; all of a sudden, it's not so hard to find a decent cup of joe anymore.
Local food writing has a hell of a year: Jonathan Gold wins the Pulizer; the L.A. Times debuts the Daily Dish food blog and a much-improved Guide section with more food tidbits; Epicurious spiffs up its Epi-blog with contributions from Neal Pollack, the dad everyone loves to hate; the Michelin Guide debuts in L.A. but fails to wow foodies; Los Angeles magazine publishes the definitive guide to eating locally in its November issue.

Historic L.A. food sites: Sarno's on Vermont

Not so long ago...here's a photo from Sarno's Caffe dell'Opera on Vermont Ave. in Los Feliz, (now Vermont restaurant) which was there up until July, 2000.

According to the L.A. Times, Alberto "served up Puccini nightly with the pasta, drawing a clientele that included Sophia Loren, Jimmy Durante, Gina Lollobrigida, Tony Bennett, Mario Lanza and—when he was in town—Alberto's friend, Luciano Pavarotti."

Check out the groovy font on the Lithographs sign on the left. When I was a young'un, Vermont Ave. was this cosmopolitan street with a French bookstore, German bookstore, European deli, Chatterton's bookshop, record shops...of course, it's got plenty of trendy boutiques now, but it was even cooler back in the day. Does anyone remember Sarno's?

What's going on? Mongolian in Silver Lake, restaurant week and more

Sunset Blvd. east of Silver Lake Blvd. is starting to heat up...not surprising, as Rambutan and Pho Cafe are rabidly popular and there's a couple of nearly-vacant mini-malls nearby with plenty of hole-in-the-wall potential. Last week we told you about Andiamo, the Italian restaurant coming to the former Manila Sunset location.
This week we hear Gobi Mongolian Barbecue House restaurant, run by Christina Rivera, is seeking a beer and wine license for 2825-2827 Sunset, in the same two-story complex next to Rambutan.
What's next -- the remodeling of LA Chinese, which may be the scariest restaurant in L.A.? Any other nominations for the scariest restaurant in L.A.? I've got a few in mind, I'll try and post some photos soon.

Hold that coffee craving...according to Metromix via EaterLA, Lamill on Silver Lake Blvd. won't be open until January, and is still hiring baristas.

And L.A. is getting another restaurant week, trying to get in on the buzz that restaurant weeks have in New York and elsewhere. Among the participating restaurants: Angeli, BLD, Grace, Katsuya Hollywood, Luna Park, Roy's, Vermont, Tiara, Warung. Generally, the cheaper places are charging $25 for dinner, while the pricier ones are charging $34, which is probably a good deal for places like Grace. But the usual rap on restaurant weeks is that because you're not ordering off the regular menu, you're not really getting a good representation of the restaurant.

Taste test: Spicy BBQ

Northern Thai sausage and sticky rice

Ack, so much to do...stay tuned for the Los Feliz Ledger's Los Feliz/Silver Lake/Echo Park/Atwater restaurant and delivery guide on Jan. 1, compiled by moi...amidst the chaos, we stopped in at Spicy BBQ, which isn't exactly in Thai Town, but it's not far. It holds down the corner of the Santa Monica Blvd. mini-mall that has housed Falafel Arax pretty much forever, and it's across the street from the wonderful Sasoun Bakery. While Northern Thai food can be found at places like Thai Nakorn, Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas, and a few places in the Valley, it's a little harder to find on this side of the hill. Spicy BBQ is a tiny spot run by head cook Nong and her family, with only about six tables. On a weeknight, much of the traffic seems to be folks from the neighborhood getting pad thai to go, which makes me worry that maybe not enough people are experiencing Nong's excellent Northern Thai dishes. Kao soy on right, pickles on left

While the famous Erik M. from Chicago has been there to translate the special menu, the dishes are clearly listed in English with helpful photos. The Northern Thai sausage was strongly perfumed with kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass -- it had a wonderful flavor, but we probably should have ordered one of the spicy dips to go with it. Kao soy noodles are often said to be hard to find, but actually I see them on most Thai menus in the area. But Spicy BBQ's version is the best I've had since Lotus of Siam, with supple egg noodles and tender chicken legs dancing in a rich coconut curry broth. A small bowl of spicy pickled vegetables is served alongside to stir into the soup, adding another flavor dimension to the mild, soothing dish. Northern Thai pork curry (kang hunglay) is a more advanced dish, with large pieces of stewed pork with the skin still attached lurking in a complex red curry studded with ginger slices and peanuts. Sticky rice served in a small steaming basket is the traditional accompaniment. Everything was bursting with flavor, and I'm looking forward to returning for the spicy jackfruit salad, northern ground pork salad and spicy & sour kang som curry.
Spicy BBQ Restaurant (closed Wednesday)
5101 Santa Monica Blvd.
(323) 663-4211

Historic L.A. food sites: In Old Chinatown

Today's historic L.A. food photo from the L.A. Public Library photo collection shows a rather charmingly ramshackle restaurant in China City called Chung Dat Loo. A photographer named Harry Quillen seems to have photographed dozens of restaurants just after China City and New Chinatown were built in the late 1930s and early 1940s. China City was apparently located on North Spring Street, but unlike New Chinatown, much of it burned down, perhaps because it was so charmingly ramshackle. Streets in China City, which was built by the developer of Olvera Street, included Lotus Pool Lane and Passage of One Hundred Surprises. I can't find anything about Chung Dat Loo, but to see a menu from Chinatown's Forbidden Palace restaurant circa 1946, click here.

Gift suggestions from Eating L.A.'s friends and neighbors

Here's some foodie ideas for holiday giving, courtesy of Eating L.A.'s inbox.
How about a membership to a private subscription chocolate tasting club? Kate Coe from Fishbowl LA recommends CocoaPrive, which offers sweets like Australian apricots with chocolate and pistachios, figgy pudding truffles or chocolate and sugar jewelry.

Save your mom or yourself the hassle of Christmas dinner by ordering turkey or ham dinner from Auntie Em's Kitchen. A vegetarian menu is also available with wild mushroom lasagna.

Order up one of Echo Park photographer Jon Huck's cool photo books like Breakfast, Drawings of People with Glasses or Couples.

And former Variety reporter Nicole LaPorte recommends Platine Cookies, which can be shipped anywhere in all manner of gift boxes. They also have the frosted, decorated kind, but we think the Chocolate Galore ones look rather toothsome.

Viet Noodle Bar: A Work in Progress

This is the front at 3133 Glendale Blvd....no sign

I love the Bauhaus-meets-Kerouac look of the new Viet Noodle Bar in Atwater, with dozens of beatniky tomes piled haphazardly along the length of the restaurant. Paul Bowles? Check? F. Scott Fitzgerald biography? Check. "Paris in the Twenties"? Check. I love that there's no sign, and that everyone eating there looks exactly alike (30ish, glasses, slightly scruffy, yet attractive), and that Daily Candy thought people might have trouble finding the remote outpost of Atwater. Perfect for solo diners...lots of reading material
I just wish Viet Noodle Bar had opened with a few more menu items, especially some pho or something else warming on a blustery day like today. For now there's a jackfruit salad, spring rolls (the raw kind, not the fried kind), Viet tamales, which are rice flour pancakes and shrimp steamed in a banana leaf, and two kinds of cold noodles: turmeric whitefish and a vegetarian model. There's also the supposedly super-healthy deep green pennywort drink and Vietnamese coffee. That's about it for now, although the owner says new items are coming soon.
Whitefish bun noodles ($8)
The whitefish was nicely spiced with a curryish crust, although the noodles needed a few extra sauces to moisten them up. Cute place, but please...bring on the pho!
They're open for lunch and dinner until 11 every day (and closed from 3-5 in the afternoon).

Soul Food truck: help for starving mid-Wilshire workers

Those of us who work along the mid-Wilshire media corridor know that if we have to eat at Baja Fresh one more time, we'll plotz. Now there's The Soul Food truck, which cooks up ribs, chicken and links, served with macaroni and cheese, collard greens, beans and cornbread. It's not exactly Harold and Belle's, but it's got a lot more soul than O to Go. We'll be back to try the mac 'n cheese, since it's usually a good sign when you're jealous of what other people are ordering. Plates run around $8, and the hot links, which Mr. Soul Food says are chicken, taste a lot better than chicken should. He parks at the corner of Wilshire and Masselin (next to Variety), usually along Masselin.

More amazing Thai food photos

photo of nam prik from Phil Lees' Last Appetite blog

A few months ago I mentioned the wonderful blog RealThai where Austin Bush shares his amazing food adventures in Thailand and parts beyond. Through Real Thai, I recently found Last Appetite. I'm tempted to call these shots Thai food porn, but I actually hate how everything is porn this and porn that these days. Let's just call them beautiful photos from Thailand, charmingly enhanced by liberal use of Photoshop. Gotta learn how to do that.

Mailbag: Insider's Table -- The anti-Chowhound

I got this letter from the Cheesecake Factory asking me to join the Insider's Table, their "exclusive new program for locals in L.A. who love dining out at The Cheesecake Factory, and talking about their experience with others."
It's "a private online community where they (users) actively discuss the restaurant and gain unprecedented engagement with its leadership."
Sorry, Cheesecake Factory, I'm going to have to take a pass. I don't think you guys really want to hear what EatingLA or some of its readers think about you guys. But I'm sure there must be some readers who like the place, so if you want to go discuss the Factory with other people who love it, you can email them here.

Attention starving writers and others: The 99 Cent Chef

EatingLA's friend Billy, The 99 Cent Chef, whose tasting and video screening we attended some time ago, now has a blog with recipes. He makes things that are far better than you would imagine, strictly from ingedients found at the 99 Cent Store. I'm not sure I'll be making the soups with instant noodles, coconut milk and roast asparagus again right away, but if you're a fan of bargains, have a look.

Do any L.A. restaurants serve Wikipedia?

BoingBoing tells of a Beijing restaurant that serves wikipedia several ways. Actually it turns out it's a rare fungus, but read the comments section of the BoingBoing post.

It's historic L.A. food sites day -- an early Silver Lake market

The Mixville Market, located near Fletcher and Glendale Blvd.

Before Trader Joe's and even the Hub, before Ralph's and Hughes, Gelson's and Mayfair, Von's and Safeway, there was Silver Lake's Mixville Market. Does anyone know exactly where this was? I think it was on the site of Ralph's, but I'm not sure. In any case, the parking lot looks like a big improvement on Trader Joe's.

(From now through the end of the year, EatingLA is going to be a mite busy with holidays and finishing up various projects. Of course, we all gotta eat, so reviews will continue, but we're also introducing some historic food-related shots from the L.A. Public Library photo archive, just for fun.)

Around town part deux: more Silver Lake Italian

The gentrifying train chugs along...longtime Filipino spot Manila Sunset, one mini-mall over from Rambutan and Pho Cafe, is being replaced by Andiamo which will offer pizza, pasta and salads. So far, it looks kind of chainish, but it won't be opening for a while, so we'll see what happens. Is anyone ancient enough to remember the Afghan restaurant Magnolia that was once located in this large mini-mall?

As we said a few weeks ago, it's going to be a while before Barbrix wine bar on Hyperion is remodeled and open for business. In the meantime, you can sample their cooking by having Claudio and Adria Blotta and Matthew Poley cater your holiday party. Call 323-939-5523 for information.

Anthony Jacquet from the Getty Restaurant and Michael Morgan from Simon LA have taken over at the Grove's Whisper Lounge, which lost husband and wife team Chris and Kristine Bocchino to Malibu's Terra. If you're forced to shop during Christmas madness at the Grove, Whisper Lounge is actually a quiet, hidden spot (across from Barneys, near the parking garage) to grab a glass of wine and rest your dogs. New dishes include sizzling chili garlic prawns and scallops with Spanish olive oil and grilled ciabatta.

Paperfish debuts in BevHills

Miso-marinated black cod with yuzu-miso aioli

Joachim Splichal's newest baby Paperfish recently opened in the old Maple Drive space in Beverly Hills, with a seafood-intensive menu and modern red and white decor. Here's EaterLA's posting of an early menu.

Jazzy red bathrooms with white title floors

We also tried an excellent Maryland blue crab cake and some creative seafood flatbread/pizzas, like salmon pastrami and tuna carpaccio, and a really different unfiltered pinot noir from Daniel Schuster which worked well with the salmon pastrami.
Office buildings aren't normally my favorite locations for restaurants, but if someone wants to take me to lunch in Beverly Hills, Paperfish looks like a fun departure from the usual industry lunch spots.