Mo-chica's grand opening downtown is today: Alpaca si, guinea pig comes later

Peruvian chef Ricardo Zarate's Mo-chica seemed like a wonderful  find when it opened in Mercado la Paloma south of Downtown three years ago. Zarate was quickly hailed as a talent to watch, and for a while Mo-Chica remained, if not a foodie secret, at least somewhat under-the-radar with its early closing and no-alcohol policies. Then Zarate quickly shot to the top of L.A.'s food scene when he opened the ambitious Picca in Beverly Hills. Now Mo-chica too has grown up, moving from the folksy Mercado to an industrial chic space with a full-bar across from Mas Malo on Seventh St. It's bittersweet in a way, since the sense of a find and maybe a deal too has been lost, but longer hours and a more central location certainly allows many more people to experience Zarate's always on-point cooking, now with delicious cocktails from Brian Summers and Deysi Alvarez. We were invited to sample quite a few dishes from the new menu, which is a bit more compact and casual than Picca's, but with still with plenty of creative Peruvian flavors. Here's a few highlights:

Oaxacalifornia Love, left: mezcal, blanco tequila, pineapple-rocoto; , lime juice and Tha Doggfather, a potent and tangy Pisco sour

ANTICUCHO DE PULPO: grilled octopus, roasted potatoes, jalapeno sauce

CEVICHE MIXTO: halibut, prawns, scallops, squid, red onion, rocoto, leche de tigre, camote

ALPACA ESTOFADO alpaca stew estofado, tagliatelle, aji amarillo sauce, fried organic fertile egg

What does alpaca taste like, you ask? Not as funky as most goat, closer to an earthy beef than to meats in the lamb/goat family. The piquant sauce cuts the earthiness and the fried egg. 

SOLTERITO salad: lima beans, choclo, feta, olives, English peas, queso fresco, rocoto vinaigrette

An odd combo of incredients, and the pea leaves (?) were hard to eat. But the olives, feta, potatoes, corn and peas all played very nicely together.

SANGRESITA: morcilla crostini, fried egg, jalapeno salsa

Not my favorite of the dishes: I've got nothing against blood sausage, but it wasn't a crostini you could pick up like an appetizer, but rather resting on soft bread with a lot of sauce. Just didn't work as a knife and fork dish. (Also, Peruvians really like huevos, but be careful or you could end up with a lot of fried eggs.)

PAICHE: Amazonian fish, ajiaco de arroz, cherry tomato escabeche

Paiche is an Amazon river fish with a meaty texture and mild swordfish-like flavor. Paired with a deeply flavored saucy rice and vibrant cherry tomatoes, it's filling enough to be a main course and very satisfying.

Sol y sombra  creme brulee with fruits

 Our dessert was the fruitiest creme brulee ever, which was a good thing. Though I love a solid dish of cream -- who wouldn't -- this was lightened up with purple corn, pineapple, apples, apricots and raisins. Served in an adorable enamel mini-bathtub, I could have eaten one the size of a baby's bathtub.
Mo-chica
514 W. 7th Street (@ Grand) 
Los Angeles
213-622-3744

Hours
Sun.-Sat. 11:30a-3:30p (lunch)
5:30-11p (dinner)
 
 

Fusion Burgers: Highland Park gets a familiar burger menu with a local twist

Mexican BBQ burger at Fusion Burgers

Drive down York Blvd. in Highland Park and it's hard to resist stopping for a $1 taco at one of the smoky open air taco tables dotting the street between Figueroa and Ave. 50. The tables doling out the best pastor tacos are distinguished by the pineapple speared at the top of the spit; the juices drip onto the rotating pork as it acquires the all-important crispy bits. The menu at the recently-opened Fusion Burgers, located in a former York Blvd. mini-mall taqueria, owes quite a bit to Umami Burger.
But there's at least one departure from the now-familiar burger selection: the Mexican BBQ burger, a nod to the excellent taco tables down the block.
Fusion's Mexican BBQ burger does a credible job of combining these hyper-local flavors in burger form, with a hefty charred slice of pineapple, a sweet Hawaiian-type bun slicked with aioli and coarsely-ground pork.

Very cheese and bacon burger: crispy onions are a nice touch

Aside from the Mexican BBQ burger ($8.50) and something involving house-processed chorizo cheese, whatever that is, there's the burger with parmesan crisp, oven-dried tomato and shitake ($8.50); the green chile burger; the triple pork; the lamb burger. There are some ambitious ideas going on here, ingredient-wise, as well as the inevitable homemade pickles, cane-sugar sweetened sodas and sweet potato fries.

There's a sudden rush in Highland Park of Salvadoran bakeries turning into Proof Coffee-pouring cafes and perfectly good carne asada joints turning into gourmet burger shops. It's true that a person can only eat so much carne asada. But there's something overly formal and awkward about these places, where the servers call you "madame" while you're ordering a burger or use the royal "we" when taking your order. Anyway, Fusion Burger, madames aside, is a welcome addition to York, since it fills a need for casual places where you won't end up dropping $60-$80 for two, as you're likely to do at the York, Ba or Maxmiliano. And the burgers are darn good.
Maybe every neighborhood could use a place that takes a hit concept, then makes it a little bit all its own.

Fusion Burgers
5933 York Blvd.
Highland Park
(323) 257-8705


 

Are you friend or foe of foie gras? Taste some now before it goes away June 30

Montes rose of syrah has a label drawn by Ralph Steadman!

Like the first time I set foot in Paris, the first time I had foie gras was a sweetly memorable experience. I was 23 and leaving Paris soon, moving back to L.A. for good. My French boyfriend wanted to take me too a really good restaurant, and suggested La Tour d'Argent. I didn't know much about food yet, but I knew that would be the kind of place I would feel uncomfortable and intimidated and they would sneer at us if we didn't order the right wine. So I suggested Hemingway's old haunt, La Closerie de Lilas, a relatively casual restaurant that was nonetheless much more expensive than I was used to. My friend insisted on ordering foie gras when he heard I'd never had it. I think it came with toast points and a glass of Sauternes; it was before we took pictures of our food so I don't recall. I fell in love immediately with the silky, slightly musky foie -- it was a potent reminder of all I was leaving behind in Paris.

Takami has views that don't quit

I don't eat it often in L.A. -- I remember a lovely foie gras done three ways at Grace, the beguiling cotton candy foie at Bazaar -- because I'd like to keep it as special as that last night in Paris.

But the state of California has decided to ban foie -- with a $1000 fine for selling it -- effective July 1. I'm sorry for the ducks and geese, but I'm not sure it's so much worse than battery cages or beef slaughterhouses or pink slime or all the other things we mostly ignore when we agree to eat animals. And there's hundreds of years of tradition behind it, which seems to count for something. So I'm coming out in favor of foie, and like the Artisan Farmers Alliance.

Seared foie gras, caramelized mango, rose reduction

With foie gras set to be banned as of June 30, many restaurants around town are doing Farewell to Foie dinners which are a bit of a devil's bargain -- one really good course of the rich liver is normally preferable to many, which could easily cause a crise de foie (French for upset tummy).

braised daikon, foie gras with shallot butter was our favorite

I was invited to sample one such dinner at Takami, accompanied by wines from Montes winery, and though it included six courses of foie, I'm happy to say the petite portions were not at all overwhelming. Takami, the Wilshire Blvd. sushi restaurant with the killer Downtown views, has always served foie dishes from French-influenced chef Stan Ota, and will be offering the dishes we tasted through the end of June, after which we will have to trek to Las Vegas or beyond for a foie fix.

nigiri of ahi tuna & foie gras with eel sauce

We enjoyed all the foie tastes -- those who like their foie paired with fruit would appreciate the one with caramelized mango, while braised daikon and shallot butter was an ideal non-sweet Franco-Japanese combination.
I wasn't very familiar with Chilean wine, and the Montes wines were excellent accompaniments to the rich dishes. I'd defnintely pick up their rose, Paso Robles syrah, or Late Harvest gewurztraminer dessert wine -- the perfect foil to the foie-gras infused chocolate truffles that ended the meal.

Tom Bergin's: Better beer, shinier shamrocks

Afternoon delight: an Irish coffee at Tom Bergin's vintage bar

Except for an awkward blind date with a guy named Michael Bolton (don't ask), most of my visits to Tom Bergin's have involved standing up in a packed the bar area, saying goodbye to somebody leaving Variety. Tom Bergin's Fairfax location makes it a perfect journalist watering hole for pubs like Variety, Los Angeles magazine, the Hollywood Reporter, Angeleno or the Condie Nasties. 
Alas, most of us don't nip out for a few scotches on our lunch hour anymore, so we saved up for farewell parties at Bergin's, where the middling food took a backseat to farewell toasts.

All the shamrocks have been replaced -- is that ex-Variety publisher Charlie Koones at the top?

After closing for several months for scrubbing and polishing, the 75-year old Tom Bergin's is now re-opened, with an all-new menu that's light on potato skins and other staples of bar food, instead concentrating on gastropubby fried chicken skin, free range burgers, Irish stew and cottage pie.
The new owners, who also run Little Dom's and Dominick's, wisely elected to leave the interior almost just the same. I hadn't realized what a lovely patina of age the place has until Los Angeles magazine's Elina Shatkin and I checked it out for lunch a few days after it re-opened. The number of historic restaurants around L.A. diminishes each year, and we should treasure each one, preferably while consuming several pints and Irish coffees.

A respectable beer list,though there's only a handful of Irish brews

The beer list has also been buffed up, with pints at a reasonable $6 that include the expected Guinness and Harp as well as O'Hara's Irish Red, Firestone Double Barrel Ale, Duvel and Stone IPA. Bottles and cans include some fairly exotic choices -- Pedigree Ale, Wexford Irish Cream Ale -- including Belgian DeuS on the reserve list at a jaw-dropping $69.

seared cod sandwich on a brioche bun

My seared cod sandwich with malt vinegar mayo was much better than anything I'd had at the old Bergin's, though $13 for a sandwich at lunch with another $3 for fries or salad means I won't be indulging too often at lunchtime.

Elina's traditional Irish breakfast (served all day!) substituted chicken sausage for the traditional pork, but supplied the requisite blood pudding along with fried eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and grilled soda bread -- a hearty breakfast, but not a cheap one at $16.
Tom, we're very glad you're back -- you never know when another reporter might move on to a new job. But I hope the regulars are ready to substitute trendier chicken skin for old-school potato skins.
Tom Bergin's Tavern
840 S. Fairfax
323-936-7151

La Cuevita opens Friday: More mescal, but the bats remain

for now, the sign remains the same

The Little Cave on Figueroa was aways a low-key place to grab a beer, with adorable Bettie Page-esque dj's spinning PIL and heavily-tattooed bartenders who invited you to the premiere of their horror movie at the bar. But despite the charm of the pitch-black interior and spooky clientele, all things must evolve. This is especially true in Highland Park, home to increasing hordes of newcomers who don't really have that many bars to choose from, compared to say, Echo Park and Silver Lake. 

A freshened-up interior has Mexican flavor

So the Little Cave is now La Cuevita, turning from goth bar for Latinos to hip Mexican bar for those who don't flinch at $12 cocktails. The interior has been spiffed up with bare rafters and touches of Mexican decor, as well as more tasteful artsy bats than the previous mascots. Who knew there were windows in the crepuscular space?

taps and tequila at La Cuevita

We tried several cocktails created by Thirsty Crow's Cooper Gillespie and Jared Mort of Oldfield's, including the namesake La Cuevita with smoky mescal and ginger beer, the jalapeno margarita with grapefruit juice, the unusual mole Manhattan with a slight chocolate taste and the refreshing Mezcalada with Clamato, Corona and mescal. There's a solid selection of tequila and mescal, the same beer taps as before, and the same two outdoor drinking areas.
On Taco Tuesday, $1 tacos and $5 margaritas help keep drinking costs down. And conveniently for the olds, there's now a highly generous happy hour that stretches from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Now if they can just bring back that dj once in a while...
La Cuevita
5922 N. Figueroa
Highland Park
(323) 255-6871