La Cabinita: Que rico after all these years!

I'd go back just for the chips.

Every so often, it's a good idea to check in with an old favorite to make sure it's still worth recommending. I must have started going to La Cabanita in Montrose soon after it opened in 1989. In those days it was half the size it is now and offered only beer and questionable wine margaritas. But we were happy that the food was substantially better than most of the Mexican restaurants of 1990s Silver Lake, and I always ordered the rajas con crema -- homemade tortillas and roasted chiles in cream sauce.
This might have been my first visit back since I started this blog in 2004, and I'm happy to report that for the most part, it was still a good experience -- plus, they've got real margaritas now! I'm not sure why some of the other reviews are so varied, though it's true the service can be a bit slow, it's generally packed with kids and sometimes there's a wait -- but none of this was a problem for us.
I was craving chips before we even sat down, but this basket of freshly-fried, perfectly crunchy chips was the best I've had in ages, with good green and red salsas. Matt really liked the mole enchiladas last time he ate there, but this time he tried chicken tamales with mole and salsa verde -- the sauces were good, but one tamale was overcooked.

My Chiles a la cabinita (above) were stuffed with chicken, almonds and raisins, similar to Chiles en nogada, which they also serve. The overall effect was just a touch too sweet, but balanced out when kicked up with some salsa roja. Handmade tortillas were perfect for sopping up black beans and cheese. The Yelpers are right about one thing -- order the special dishes rather than the usual tacos or burritos for maximum effect.
The verdict? The quality is still there, but La Cabanita's flavors seem just a little muted compared to some newer places. La Cabanita is the same as it always was -- the difference is that it's been joined by Cacao, Yxta, Loteria, Malo and other nuevo-Mexican restaurants that offer more vibrantly-flavored alternatives to the same old Mexican combination plates. Cacao might have an edge in flavor, but La Cabanita's got the booze, so take your pick. Prices are moderate -- higher than a taco joint, lower than say, Rivera.

La Cabanita
3445 N. Verdugo Rd., Montrose
(818) 957-2711

Kyochon Chicken now open in Glendale

The Glendale Galleria has one of the better food courts in any ordinary, Hot Topic kind of mall. There's not just one but two stalls from perfectly respectable Massis Kebab, and a Brazilian place that has some of the best garlic collard greens around. Now there's another reason to not to fear the mall quite as much: Kyochon Chicken has opened a location in the mall, but it's substantially different from the 6th St. minimall location. The menu is both broader and narrower: there's several types of salads, chicken wraps and bowls and macaroni & cheese (huh?). But the chicken itself -- the centerpiece of this temple of Korean fried chicken worship -- is only available in wings, instead of the drumsticks, which are a superior crunch delivery system. The other fatal flaw, however necessary to operating in a mall food court, is that, judging from the speed with which my order was filled and the resulting lukewarm chicken, it must be cooked ahead of time in large batches. Now, as everyone who has been to Kyochon knows, it might take its own sweet time coming out but when it does you will be amply rewarded. The lukewarm wings still had a nice sweet and spicy flavor, and the broccoli salad with raisins and bacon wasn't half bad.
Verdict: If you desperately want to taste this stuff and you happen to be near the Galleria, it's not a bad lunch option. But if you want a real Korean fried chicken experience, go to the Sixth St. location, or to Bonchon, which is preferred by our fellow bloggers at Franklin Avenue.

Americana kicks off "gourmet" farmer's market

Shoppers at the Americana at Brand will get a slightly more authentic experience when Gigi's Farmer's Market debuts this Saturday from 10-2. This is the first time I've heard of a farmer's market with a production designer! They promise more than 30 vendors of honey, olives, nuts, bread, cheese, fruits and vegetables, flowers, seafood and wines as well as tacos from Frida's and cupcakes from Crumbs.
I don't know who Gigi is, but apparently she was able to persuade the Montrose Farmer's Market that they wouldn't provide too much competition, since the northern Glendale neighborhood was originally protesting the new market.
Update: Also there are Domenico's Artisanal Foods' fresh pastas, sauces, tapenades, stuffed peppers, ready-to-go meals and the famous sun dried tomatoes from the Cheese Shop of Beverly Hills.

(photo LATimes)

Palate after Frank Bruni: A dissenting view

Rillettes are now served in a crock, instead of a Mason jar.

I usually love reading a witty and devastating takedown of a restaurant, like Leslie Brenner used to do in the L.A. Times. But visiting Palate Food & Wine after reading a review by the most influential critic in the entire country, I couldn't disagree more.
Clearly the staff had a few issues to address after Bruni's recent blog post titled The Lesser Los Angeles, and our waiter confided that there had indeed been a "big meeting" that morning. He also admitted that it was entirely possible that Bruni had suffered some of the clumsy service he encountered. "It's not a 3 star New York restaurant," he pointed out. "It's a place where the average check is $45."
He was attentive and helpful throughout the meal, actively recommending cheese selections or pickle choices for the charcuterie. Although we didn't get to talk with wine director Steve Goldun, our waiter was completely knowledgeable about the wines as well. The pacing was fine, the glassware was fine -- we were a party of eight at prime Saturday night dining hour and not only were there no service glitches, nearly everything we ordered was utterly delicious. They confirmed that the mason jars were too hard to serve the potted meats in, so they've switched to ramekins. Big deal. Duck and tuna rillettes were fine, but the La Quercia speck included with the porkfolio was amazingly smoky and complex, worth ordering as often as possible. I don't remember being too impressed by the pork belly (above) last time I ate there, but this was a different preparation, with a much crispier skin and wonderfully bitter, rich Spigarello broccoli on the side. Prawns with garlic and pistou were fresh and simple, bombarded with just the right amount of garlic. Others in our party enjoyed asparagus with sunny-side up egg and velvety celery root soup with ham and pears. With several bottles of good French wine -- my favorite was the Domaine Gauby at right -- this was no $45 meal, but it was a good and interesting one.
My only two small complaints? Like nearly every other restaurant, Palate is fairly noisy, so it's nearly impossible to converse with a larger group. And while I didn't feel anything was particularly underseasoned like Bruni said, it might be nice to put small saltcellars on the table just in case -- for the egg with the asparagus, for example.
I liked Palate when it first opened nearly a year ago, but more recently I had heard about mounting inconsistencies. Perhaps Bruni's rather scorching post was a wakeup call to remind Palate how seriously diners take their service experiences.

Palate reviewed in the Los Feliz Ledger

Palate Food & Wine got one of my rare four-fork reviews in the Los Feliz Ledger this month. I know I'm not exactly alone in liking this place, but it's so refreshing to have such a grown-up restaurant on this side of town. I'm looking forward to trying the wine bar in the back next time. Here's an excerpt from the review:

The restaurant makes its own butter and cures its own lardo; soon to come is more house-cured salumi. Wines are heavy on France but with a good selection also from Italy, Austria and the U.S., and can be ordered in small 2.5 oz. tasting pours, regular glasses or larger quartinos perfect for two people. For dinner: a good start is the porkfolio, a platter of cured meats with a trio of mustards, or Mason jars of potted chicken, pork, and other spreads. Much of the menu is buttery and porky, so balance these plates with lighter fare like vegetable brodo that comes with its own cruet of broth, corn ravioli; or beet, apple and fennel salad. There’s usually a scallop dish, carefully sautéed with corn or other garnishes, and a fish or two—skate wing was a bit chewy, but flavorful with pine nuts and raisins. Decadent pork belly and oxtails with bone marrow both call for a sturdy red.
Palate is about how the whole place works together—the choices of seating areas, the foodies-meet-Glendale crowd, the reasonably-priced wine list and the general of-the-moment buzz. Although the kitchen sometimes has trouble pacing the various courses of food and wine, it hardly seems to matter when the atmosphere is right.

Palate tickles Glendale's tastebuds

It's usually a good idea to give restaurants several weeks to shake out, but I had a feeling Palate Food + Wine was already firing on most of its cylinders just a week in, so we stopped by Tuesday evening. With no reservation, we squeezed in between two couples, and one of the gentlemen next to us suggested that the way to go was to have Steve Goldun, the wine director, suggest wine pairings for the small plates in small 2.5 ounce pours. Over the course of the meal we were helped by Steve, who also pours two wines he makes himself, handsome French server Alexandre, who is conversant in wine, and another, less-experienced server who is still working on his cheese knowledge, but everyone was friendly and helpful. It was a little tricky getting the plates and the pours coordinated, so make sure to specify if you want them in courses or all at once. The menu is short but attractive, and Palate is quite serious about the ingredients and preparations. There's a "porkfolio" as a starter with prosciutto, mortadella and lardo, as well as a few potted spreads for bread. The butter served with sliced radishes and fleur de sel is made in-house (pictured above left), as is the vinegar we spied fermenting in a storeroom. We started with the fried squash blossoms (right), a nice-sized pile in a light tomato sauce. Then we tried the scallops with corn pudding and chanterelles (below left), which managed to be crispy, tender, salty and sweet all at once. I persuaded Kathy to try the pork belly, a luscious, modest slab that didn't make you feel too guilty about devouring the crispy skin, melting fat and rich bacony meat. A salad of chioggia beets, apples and fennel alongside was a good tart complement to the rich pork. By then we were starting to make friends with everyone around us, from Christine Splichal and her two sons to Fred Eric. After a lovely cheese plate, chef Octavio Becerra offered to show us what's going on in back of the restaurant. (At this point no one knew we were writers, they're just all very excited to show off all the parts of the place). Octavio (shown in the cheese room, below) pointed out the bookshelves waiting for the gastronomic library, the long steel tables for impromptu wine tastings (an abbreviated menu will be available in back in the tasting room), the super-chilled walk-in cheese room where tastings will also be held, the loading dock patio, and the wine store space. It will all be ready in a week or two, he promises. He's also got ambitious plans for ordering whole animals and doing caja china roasts, having small private lunches in back and plenty more. I don't know if the residents of Glendale will be able to tear themselves away from the new Cheesecake Factory to check out Palate, but for sure people from nearby Silver Lake and Eagle Rock and other areas are going to be all over it.
Palate Food + Wine
933 S. Brand Blvd.
Glendale
818-662-9463

Palate looks ready to roll; Newsflash: Cheesecake Factory crowded

Hordes of hungry mothers storm the Cheesecake Factory

First, the obligatory Americana report.
Observation 1) The line snaking all the way down the sidewalk for the Cheesecake Factory before opening on Mother's Day was kind of pathetic.
Observation 2) The patio at Katsuya looks pleasant, but who wants to eat expensive sushi at noon with the sun beating down? Katsuya seems like more of a nighttime spot.
Observation 3) Eleven o'clock is kind of late to start opening restaurants on Sunday. People might like to have breakfast before they shop. We ended up at Cafe Primo, a decent enough cafe that got completely slammed since it was the only place open, resulting in an angry horde of shoppers yelling at the cooks "Just hand me my bagel, right now!" (OK, that was me, but everyone was doing it.) Enough of the Americana. I suppose you could eat at the crepe stand or the Jody Maroni sausage stand if you're desperate, but better to eat somewhere else if possible. Palate Food & Wine is in the former Cinnabar space on Brand

Anyway, Octavio Becerra's Palate on Brand looks ready to open any day now. There's a grape theme, with giant shiny grapes hanging above the booths and photos of grapes screened onto the wall dividers. So yes, wine is the focus, and there's even an "eno-gastronomic library," according to this report from EaterLA.

No, this is definitely not the bar from Yee Mee Loo. Apparently it's in storage.

Quick bites: Skaf's Glendale

Glendale already has plenty of worthy Middle Eastern spots, but now Skaf's, a favorite of Valley-dwellers, has opened a Glendale branch. The location is a bit obscure, but it's just a short jog from Whole Foods or Fish King. The nicely-decorated sit-down restaurant is a step up from Zankou, yet kid-friendly, informal and reasonably-priced. We had some very smoky mutabal and a fresh-tasting fattouch salad to start, followed with chicken shwarma served with super-smooth hummus and a bright cabbage salad. There's several types of kebabs and occasional specials as well as lentil soup and felafel sandwiches -- no roast chicken, though.
Skaf's Grill
367 N. Chevy Chase Dr. (near Verdugo)
Glendale
818-551-5540

Taste test: Shamshiri on a summer evening

crusty Persian rice, left
Sometimes the best reason to try a new restaurant is when the location fits elegantly into your plans for the evening. In our case, the route last Saturday involved delivering a teenager to deepest west Glendale. I remembered from my regrettably brief tenure in Weight Watchers that Shamshiri in the same complex looked like a promising choice in that neighborhood, and Matt had never had Persian food, so voila, a plan was hatched.
Shamshiri has various locations around town -- the Glendale location has plenty of parking and a patio that's pleasant on warm nights. We started with a refreshing tomato and cucumber salad with a bracingly sour dressing -- it would have been a great foil to something oily like hummus but we didn't want to fill up too fast. I insisted Matt try fesenjan, the chicken stew made with pomegranates and crushed walnuts. Fesenjan, being a murky stew with a burnished burgundy color, doesn't photograph well, but it was delicious -- fruity without being cloying and not as oily as some versions. The fesenjan was served with a large plate of rice with the crunchy, buttery crust included, a delicacy for Persian diners. I had a chicken dish in a very mild saffron gravy (adas polo, above) served with an enormous plate of rice studded with barberries, dates, lentils and raisins. I liked the combo of tasty items in the rice, but the overall effect was a bit bland. It does end up being a lot of rice, so if you're carb-phobic, you might want to find some substitutions among the appetizer salads.
Most of the dishes are available in vegetarian versions, the prices are reasonable, portions are huge and the service was efficient -- so we'll definitely add Shamshiri to our list of reliable places in Glendale. It's more casual than some Persian restaurants, so it's a good stop on the way to a movie, shopping trip ...or Weight Watchers meeting!
Shamshiri
122 W Stocker St
Glendale
(818) 246-9541

My cheatin' heart: Chicken Al-Wazir

I cheated on my chicken last night. Zankou was my regular bird. You can always count on it, and you always know exactly how everything's going to taste. It's been a 20-year relationship -- certainly longer than any real-life one -- and sometimes after 20 years, you start to get just a teensy bit bored of the same mutabal foreplay and the climax of creamy garlic sauce perfectly combined with crispy skin, moist chicken and warm pita bread.
So I strayed to Chicken Al-Wazir. I admit it, I was seduced by the novelty factor of a different chicken. The unfamiliar salads stacked in the display case, the presence of lamb tongue sandwiches on the menu -- it was like dating a guy with a sexy foreign accent. I ordered up a whole chicken, an eggplant salad and a beef shwarma sandwich. Instead of being shaved off a large spit, the beef shwarma was first grilled on a skewer, then chopped into bite-sized pieces. It was enclosed in a large flatbread instead of a pita bread, with no sauce to speak of. It would probably have tasted good if you had never had a Zankou tarna or shwarma sandwich. Like the scent of an unfamiliar lover, the rest of the meal was about the tang.

shwarma sandwich, chicken al-wazir, eggplant salad
The chicken had a sourish, lemony tang to the garlic marinade -- quite pleasant, actually. The garlic sauce was discernably more sour than Zankou's -- again, an interesting departure. The eggplant salad, chopped up with tomatoes, lacked seasoning, although the eggplants had been nicely roasted to a char. It was fun while it lasted, but I felt slightly guilty afterwards. A perfectly fine chicken, but the whole just didn't exceed its combined parts. I don't think I'll need that illicit thrill again anytime soon -- there's something comforting about a reliable chicken who always comes through for you.
Chicken Al-Wazir
1219 S. Glendale Ave.
Glendale
(818)500-1578
Archived comments:
Anonymous said...
You should've known better than to cheat on Zankou. Nothing beats their chicken with garlic sauce. Shame on you for straying.
Anonymous said...
What about Elena's on Glendale Blvd @ Acacia? That's my favorite chicken.
Anonymous said...
Every couple of years I hope Al-Waziz gets better, but it never does. Crap falafel, undercooked chicken, every time. They must be a front for something since no one's ever in there.

Taste test: Mandaloun

Ever since I heard that the fairly new Mandaloun in Glendale was up to the level of the defunct Al Amir, which used to be in my Wilshire office building, I had been wanting to try it. Not only do they have the housemade puffy pita bread that Al Amir did so well, they offer flavored hookahs after dinner.
The scene: On Sunday nights, there is no live entertainment, but there was a very loud Lebanese wedding in the main room. We sat on the patio, but the Lebanese hip hop still came through loud and clear. Either way, it's not a spot for intimate conversations, but a place for festive celebrations. The covered patio has heaters and is clearly a better choice than inside, which has a slight banquet room feel.
The food: Although there were six of us, we ordered lightly. We weren't even able to get to the tartares, the seafood dishes, or the offal, which Kathy thought was an offal shame. If there's a part of a lamb they don't serve, I'd be surprised...brains, kidneys, and yes, "fries." We ordered mostly the meze appetizer plates, which were uniformly good and richer than at most middle Eastern restaurants. Hummus was available topped with a warm, savory ground beef and pine nut mixture; fluffy kelly green tabbouli was perfectly seasoned and nutty; dandelion greens with fried onions offered a pleasantly bitter/sweet combo; foul beans had a nicely sour dressing; and the muhammara (red pepper paste) was thicker and more flavorful than usual. We only sampled two main dishes -- the chicken kebabs were moist and perfectly cooked, but the beef shwarma was dry and largely flavorless. The slightly spicy Armenian lahmajune pizza also makes a good shared appetizer.
The menu is huge, so we'll go back sometime to delve further into the cheeses, brains, etc.
After dinner, we ordered an apple hookah instead of dessert. The tobacco, which is smoked through a real apple, was sweet and smooth -- I'm not a smoker, but it was still a fun, non-caloric end to the dinner.
The people: Large Lebanese families, for the most part
The tab: We paid about $22 each in a party of six people, with a Lebanese beer each. With wine, dessert, and more main courses, it would be easy to pay much more.
The verdict: This is a place to linger over multiple courses, not to eat and run. If price is a big consideration, Glendale offers plenty of more economical middle eastern places. But the food is top drawer and the hookahs add to the party atmosphere.
Mandaloun
141 S. Maryland Ave.
Glendale
(818) 507-1900