Guisados: A suave and saucy rejoinder to the grilled meat taco

Tacos are described on the blackboard menu at Guisados in Boyle Heights

A caramelized-around-the-edges al pastor taco from a pineapple-topped spit on the street, or a deeply beefy carne asada taco from Tacos El Poblano in Tijuana -- they're pretty much the platonic ideal of of street food, and the one single item that converted me from baconatarian to full-on carnivore back in 2001 or so. But guisados are another thing entirely -- they're slowly-cooked stews and braises, each with its own distinct character depending on the combination of spices, meats and vegetables. And guisados make just as wonderful a taco as grilled meats do, with a lot flavor possibilities.

mole and chorizo tacos, right, calabacita and chicken tinga, left

The owners of Cook's Tortas, who revolutionized the Mexican sandwich with their East L.A. shop, are at it again with Guisados, a deceptively simple taqueria on bustling Cesar Chavez Ave. in Boyle Heights.
With a tiled white counter and a blackboard describing the tacos, the set-up is similar to a Tijuana-style taqueria which concentrates on doing one thing extremely well.
The menu is succinct -- 10 or so taco fillings, tamales made with the fillings, freshly made aguas. If you're not sure which taco to try, get the taquito sampler -- they're not the rolled, fried kind but a sampler plate of mini-tacos of all the flavors.

chicken soup, left; jamaica/limon agua, right

Tacos range from calabacitas -- a slightly salty mixture of squash, corn and peppers topped with cheese -- to sweet, spicy chicken tinga with avocado, smoky chicken mole topped with pumpkin and sesame seeds -- to just fiery-enough bistec with salsa roja. After you order, the counter-man brings over an "amuse bouche" -- or a diverterse buca? -- of terrific sopa de pollo with chunks of queso slowly dissolving into a tangy broth. The tacos are about $2.50 each -- two are plenty for lunch -- and arrive plated on thick handmade corn tortillas. These aren't really curbside tacos, they're very saucy, so it's a good thing there's plenty of seating for a napkin and fork-intensive lunch.
To drink, there are aguas of lime, jamaica or horchata -- I recommend a Mexican Arnold Palmer with half lime, half jamaica.
Between Cook's Tortas, the family's new ceviche restaurant opening soon on Atlantic (440 S. Atlantic) and Guisados, Ricardo Diaz and his partners are launching a delicious new Mexican food dynasty on the Eastside.
Guisados
2100 Cesar Chavez Ave.
(323) 264-7201

Palm Springs eats: What's new in the desert

a picnic in the Indian canyons is always a good plan in the winter months

Known more for pools, movies and mid-century architecture than for good food, Palm Springs continues to slowly add some better eating opportunities -- at least enough to fill a long weekend lounging poolside. 

Birba is a new cocktail bar/pizza spot next to Cheeky's

During last week's trip to the Palm Springs Film Festival, we couldn't pass up a trip to Cheeky's, the desert's best spot for breakfast and lunch. By now, the owners of Cheeky's have opened Birba, a pizza restaurant and cocktail bar next door that was just about to open when we were there. With its large patio along Palm Canyon Drive, herb garden and a full bar, Birba is likely to be hopping all spring.

customize a bloody mary at the King's Highway

Another favorite stop is King's Highway in the Ace Hotel, where we spotted the bloody mary bar, a fun stop for brunch. Construct a bloody mary to your exact specifications to go with chilequiles or ricotta pancakes, or order a big pot of Stumptown coffee.

Walking around the grounds of The Parker Palm Springs feels like a trip to a remote land, one much quieter and more well-decorated country than our own. The Parker's breakfast spot Norma's is now open also for dinner as an alternative to Mr. Parkers's restaurant. If you just need a little something sweet, try the pie milkshake cart or two petite pies in flavors like banoffee and espresso pecan. (King's Highway also has some good-looking pies.)
Next time, maybe we'll check out the new and expanded Cowboy Way BBQ -- they've moved out of the former Greyhound bus station to a much larger spot further down Palm Canyon; and the cafe at Shield's Date Gardens in Indio, which has added date tamales and date pancakes to the traditional date shakes.

Here's more on Palm Springs:
Cheeky's review
King's Highway review
Matchbox Pizza review

(Birba photo courtesy Birba's Facebook page)

Where have all the chefs gone this weekend? To the Sundance Film Festival!

As if all those films and filmmakers in one place weren't enough, now people at the Sundance Film Festival have the crazy idea that they should actually be able to eat decently too. So Michael Voltaggio, Ray Garcia, Mr. Chow, the London New York and even Kogi BBQ are heading out to Park City this weekend to feed festgoers at Chefdance and the Food and Wine Stella Artois Cafe. But where to find duck eggs and pork belly in Park City? Good luck with that, most ingredients are being flown in, while Voltaggio drove with a van full of provisions. Here's my story for Variety, Chefs sharpen knives at Sundance.

Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-your-Mouth Cookies: Take your cookies to a new level

I thought I was done with Christmas cookie baking, but when a copy of Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich landed on my front porch, I became re-obsessed with finding a cookie that would appeal to my less-sweet, unusual-flavor loving tastes, but might still please those like my daughter who prefer traditional, gooey, sweet cookies. This book has a little of everything, from sophisticated spicy carrot masala macaroons to enough brownie recipes so that fans of every style can find the best one for their tastes.
 
I asked for a household vote on the first recipe, and Matt chose Coffee Walnut cookies, which are nutty, thin and crispy, and perfect with a cup of coffee or dish of coffee ice cream. Some of these recipes appeared in Medrich's earlier cookbooks, like the coffee walnut cookies from Pure Desserts, but they've been re-tested and refined with extremely clear and detailed instructions -- where before these cookies were sliced off a log, now there's also an option to roll them and cut with a cookie cutter, which takes a bit more time but makes a more impressive and refined cookie.
For the next batch, I'm wavering between Chocolate chunk cookies with cherries and pecans, vanilla cream cheese sandwiches (which look much more intriguing than they sound) and Chunky Peanut Butter clouds, which are peanut butter-enhanced meringues studded with hazelnuts and chocolate. If you're a baker at all, this book will likely get a lot of use, and Medrich's recipes are so carefully thought-out and explained that you won't find similar recipes on the sometimes-unreliable interwebs. Yes, Alice is a family friend, but this book would be tempting even if I hadn't spent almost my whole life sampling her goodies from her kitchen and Cocolat.

Fiore hits the sweet spot for South Pasadena

Fiore Market Cafe in South Pasadena is furnished with rustic antiques

I moved to Pasadena too late to experience the magic of Bistro K, so Laurent Quenioux and his ant eggs had moved farther west by the time I got here. Finally there's some life in the tiny space next to the Fremont Center Theater, with the recently-opened Fiore Market Cafe.

Fiore is a labor of love from the husband/wife team Bill and Anne Disselhorst. Bill managed M Cafe for several years; Anne's done catering and now bakes cookies and cupcakes for the cafe. Though Fiore opened in the midst of nonstop downpours, it's got a great patio waiting for summer sun and a few tiny tables inside.

Sandwiches on the simple menu include a short rib sandwich on Bill's homemade bread, roast beef with horseradish creme fraiche, a nod to M Cafe with a tempeh BLT and roast chicken with walnut pesto and burrata. Salads include roast chicken and maple glazed bacon, and nice-looking prepared salads in a case such as fennel slaw and spicy udon noodles. A laughing group of knitting ladies highly recommended the onion soup and lemon bar.

Short rib sandwich sings with homemade bread, Asian slaw and pickles

 Coffee comes from Cafecito Organico, and tea and jam are locally sourced too. Much of the produce comes from the South Pasadena Farmer's Market, and Bill also plans to start a garden on the premises. Open at 11 am, it's such a sweet spot for lunch or coffee and a snack, and there's plans to open for early dinners when the patio gets warmer.

Fiore Market Cafe

1000 Fremont Ave.
South Pasadena
626-441-2280

Beer Bar at Rambutan adds 60 more beers to Sunset Blvd.

First-time visitors to the mini-mall that houses Rambutan might not realize everything that's going on there, since several spots there don't need a sign to draw visitors. Pho Cafe has been packing them in since it opened in 2005, and now Beer Bar at Rambutan is also flying on the downlow. Designed by Bar Covell's Dustin Lancaster, the bar is going for a Northwest woodsy feel with the inevitable antlers, plaid-clad bartenders, a canoe hanging from the ceiling and shotgun shell Christmas lights. The beer list was selected by Bar Covell's Matthew Kaner, and it's well-organized with beers listed in categories of California, North America, Europe, Germany and Belgium. Each beer also has the percentage of alcohol listed -- a good clue that it takes beer seriously -- and the bottles are conveniently arranged on the wall by price level. Several good choices are available at $5, which is quite reasonable these days.
There are just four taps, but NapaSmith imperial porter was perfect for the wintry night, while Port Brewing Hop 15 Double IPA was made for true hopheads. Also on tap are Malheur Belgian Quad and Bud, for those who want the largest-sized glass for the lowest price and least amount of flavor. Coming soon are snacks made by the Rambutan kitchen, including fried chicken, Thai fried chicken and mashed potatoes, but beer drinkers can also order from the full Rambutan menu in case you're craving some drunken noodles with your ale. A few wines are also available.

 Yay: Reasonable prices, excellent selection of bottles, friendly, low-key.
Nay: Don't expect to snag a parking place in the mini-mall lot, though street parking is available further up Sunset. More taps would have been nice, and maybe a happy hour special.
Beer Bar at Rambutan
2835 W Sunset Blvd
(213) 273-8424

Black Cat Cafe sinks its claws into the ghost of Mani's

Now that Mani's has closed for good in its new Maple Drive location, let's breath a sign of relief for the arrival of Black Cat Bakery in Mani's old Fairfax Ave. location. Sorry for you Mani's fans, but the place had gone way downhill in the last decade and the oil-soaked, fruit syrup-laden baked goods were never "healthy" to begin with. 

There's already Black Dog Coffee and Animal in the neighborhood, so why add to the menagerie with Black Cat? It's actually a nod to L.A. history. Ever notice the cat sign atop venerable Silver Lake bar Le Barcito? The bar was the location of one of the seminal events in the gay rights movement, the Black Cat Tavern raid two years before Stonewall. Anyway, as co-owner Nick Coe explains it, there's no particular connection, but after looking at the Le Barcito location for a different project they realized it was a fun name that shouldn't go to waste.

Mani's space has been completely cleaned up and refreshed by new owners Nile Park and Nick Coe and now has a European neighborhood ambiance and a full Southern-inflected breakfast and lunch menu. A glass case in the front holds a few simple but tempting-looking baked goods including Mexican chocolate brownies and housemade Dingdongs. Coe, who has cooked at his own Nick's in South Pasadena and at 310 Lounge in Santa Monica, plans to continue adding more ambitious dishes to the simple menu of sandwiches, salads and breakfast fare.  

Homeboy Bakery, where Coe has been consulting on improving the baking program, supplies artisanal breads for meatball subs, muffaletas and more, and the bakery also employs a few of the rehabbed gang members. 

Farro bibimbap-style is terrific for breakfast or lunch

An early standout is farro bibimbap-style on the breakfast menu. It's a sophisticated risotto-like concoction of farro, burrata, shitakes, gently roasted tomatoes, chard and asparagus, topped with a fried egg. For a vegetarian dish, it's as decadent as they come, bursting with umami elements and textural contrast. A recent breakfast addition is Kut'ya, made from Russian kasha with almonds, chocolate, cherries and homemade almond milk, just in case there's any vegan Mani's fans still floating around. 

With dishes this imaginative, Black Cat Bakery is a great addition to Fairfax Ave. that's sure to get even more interesting in the coming weeks.

Black Cat Bakery

519 S. Fairfax Ave.

(323) 932-1500

Beer Bar at Rambutan opens Monday

Rambutan beer bar, photo from Matthew Kaner

The beer scene on the near-Eastside continues to explode with Rambutan Thai spinning off a dedicated beer bar with 50 taps and beer-friendly snacks like fried chicken. Bar Covell's Matthew Kaner consulted on the beer selection and the space already looks cozy, complete with de rigueur antlers for decoration.