Sonny's Hideaway: Finally the Right Mix for York Blvd.

Manila clams at Sonny's Hideaway

It can be hard figuring out what a certain location needs. In the case of Sonny's Hideaway in Highland Park, none of the earlier restaurants on York Blvd. quite clicked, but Sonny's already seems more lively than the others.

the bar got a more clubby makeover

With a well-executed gastropub-style menu, a full list of imaginative cocktails, craft beers and wines and an even a rear patio, Sonny's is a handy place for either a full dinner or drinks and appetizers -- all with a lower price point than the same place would be outside of the neighborhood.

andouille-stuffed squid

Most traces of the previous cottage-style cafe are gone, and the room is less open to the street, but cozy and dimmer with oxblood leatherette semi-circle booths and a long dark wood bar. Gone too, thankfully, are the overly-friendly servers and roaming magicians of the previous spot. The cocktail menu thoughtfully includes several refreshing virgin cocktails as well as a "low ABV" section of presumably less damaging drinks. More serious drinkers shouldn't miss the Bourbon Fig Punch -- its citrusy notes work well with some of the rich, bacon-intensive dishes on the menu. Although both cocktails and menu items include all sorts of trendy ingredients from lime oil to wormwood in the drinks to bone marrow and cocoa "soil," somehow Sonny's isn't pretentious or even particularly hipsterish. It's more like a homey bar and grill that happens to have a modern and accessible menu.
A hamburger is a good test of a gastropub, and Sonny's juicy bacon burger with pickled green tomatoes ($14 with fries) doesn't hold together for long but packs a smoky jolt of flavor. No entrees top $20, and sea bass a la plancha is a good value at $19 for a nice piece of fish with cauliflower puree. Vegetarians can try ricotta dumplings with stewed tomatoes and chard, but other than soup or salad, there's not much else that's completely meatless.
Even green vegetables like Brussels sprouts or collard greens get a heavy-duty dose of applewood-smoked bacon.Manila clams with toast ($16) come in a good-sized bowl, while meatier choices include shortribs and pork shoulder with potatoes and hominy. A tender coffee-braised pork cheek appetizer with cool apple relish and honeycomb also makes a terrific petite entree, though the andouille-stuffed squid starter goes heavy on the salt.
As usual, the server recommends the bread pudding (do people really love bread pudding that much?) but a chocolate sorbet with orange custard is a lighter finish to a dinner that can tilt to the rich side, especially if you order the bone marrow hash -- and really, why wouldn't you? Sonny's may not quite be a destination spot, but it's a useful and grown-up choice in an area that's rapidly gaining a diverse selection of restaurants.

 Three forks out of four

Highland Park is changing fast: Highland Cafe is the latest

Highland Cafe is just a few doors down from Cafe de Leche

The former El Chapin market and bakery, which had breakfast, pupusas, tacos, Mexican pastries and burritos, has become Highland Cafe, which will have Handsome Coffee, pastries, breakfast and sandwiches. It looks to be the same owners since the sidewalk tables and pastry case are the same, but with a new vintage-y look and less-Salvadoran menu.
It's hard to go wrong with more good coffee, but this changeover is another sign that Highland Park (or at least York Blvd.) is really changing fast. Someday I'd like to see another breakfast spot like Cacao that combines great coffee with creative Mexican/South American breakfast dishes -- maybe French toast with goat cajeta?

 The opening of Maxmiliano kicked the Highland Park restaurant scene into high gear. Now French bistro Ba is nearly open down the street and Garvanza's just might open one of these days. We tried Highland Park Kitchen, the much-needed makeover of Marty's, the other night. The window along York is indeed a big improvement. But the roaming magician and air-headed waitress who kept asking "Did we save room for dessert?" and "Are we going to order drinks"? were a little too intrusive for a relaxing evening, and the food wasn't anything we would rush back for.
Is anyone getting nostalgic already for the old Highland Park, or do more restaurant choices make up for losing some of the neighborhood's character?

Maxmiliano: Brunch and patio coming soon to Highland Park's new Italian hideout

Herbs for the cooks are grown on the patio, which will soon be open for diners

Highland Park residents were long overdue for an alternative to Good Girl Dinette, the York and the old-school Mexican choices, and with the arrival of Andre Guerrero's casual, lively Maxmiliano, the restaurant scene has taken a huge step forward. It can be hard to find an Italian restaurant that doesn't have the same menu as every other one, but Guerrero is keeping things interesting with a large selection of appetizers and salads, several creative pizzas, a clutch of excellent homemade pastas and a handful of carefully-wrought mains. The Oinkster and former Max owner treated us to a tasting of all these dishes but we would have been happy to pay, since everything far exceeded expectations.

The room is casual with a green-lit wall above the open kitchen, a tiled pizza oven, a communal table in the middle and abstract strands of spaghetti on a red wall.

Among the pastas we tasted were cavatelli in a creamy mushroom sauce; tagliatelle in a meaty bolognese; and chicken ravioli with mushrooms. My favorite was angel hair pasta, with a porky, spicy amatriciana sauce packed with pancetta and jalapenos. Roasted beets were simple and satisfying with crumbled ricotta, and the market salad was elevated with several varieties of peeled cherry tomatoes. In just two weeks, news of the thick, juicy pork chop has already gotten around, so it sold out early Friday before we could order one. So instead we tried the chicken entree -- the bird doesn't get much love in restaurants, since people think of it as home cooking, but I would be hard-pressed to create a breast as moist as Maximiliano's, with olive oil-slicked spinach and a savory jus and crispy skin. Guerrero thinks restaurants, especially those with wood-fired ovens, tend to overcook their pizza so Maximiliano's pizza is more supple than crispy, with browned slices of garlic and potato on one memorable version. Matt proclaimed the cannoli ideal; I'm just not enough of an East Coaster to judge. What I did like: the affordable wines available in quartinos as well as glasses and bottles, the selection of local Craftsman beers, and the fact that all dishes are under $18. In a few more weeks, Guerrero plans to put tables and more edible plantings on the large rear patio and open for brunch. I'll certainly be back to try the coconut-lavender ice cream grown from the patio box's lavender, the cavatelli with pancetta and squid, and of course the pork chop.  

Maximiliano

5930 York Blvd.

Highland Park

323-739-6125

Four Cafe: Eagle Rock's fresh green canteen

Every neighborhood needs a cafe like Eagle Rock's new Four Cafe, with a bright, modern approach to salads, imaginative sandwiches, appealing baked goods and good coffee. Owners Michelle and Corey Wilton clearly saw that need when they transformed a Colorado Blvd. real estate office into Four Cafe, with a pleasantly rustic interior and a menu of healthy dishes prepared with organic produce.

The space was smaller than I had expected, with a small case of salads and desserts up front, a long row of tables and a counter for overflow diners.

The smoky fish in my smoked albacore, grapefruit and avocado salad (left, $7.50), proved a little too bold for the delicate flavors of grapefruit and avocado, and the lemon vinaigrette wasn't assertive enough to tie it all together, but it still made a healthy light lunch. Fellow bloggers Mattatouille and Jessica Ritz came along to help sample; Mattouille liked his pork loin sandwich with blood orange macerated fennel, while Jessica's pancetta /blue cheese/ fig salad was another combination could have used a slightly more acidic dressing to bring out its flavors.

Though we agreed that the blood orange cake and the chocolate cupcake with salted caramel icing were probably more compelling than the salads, I'm still really glad more places like Four Cafe are opening lately, with colorful fresh vegetables, delicious desserts and a commitment to quality ingredients. If I can tear myself away from Cacao Mexicatessen, I'll certainly return for a grilled asparagus sandwich with sheep's milk feta, a piece of spinach and sheep's milk ricotta tart and a brown butter lavender cookie. And breakfast is due to start in June!

Four Cafe
2122 1/2 Colorado Blvd.
Eagle Rock
323-550-1988

Good Girl Dinette: In Highland Park, why not Vietnamese comfort food?

spicy jalapeno fries, Good Girl Dinette

I was so glad when Good Girl Dinette opened in Highland Park, because it's an up-and-coming area that really needed some variety in its restaurants. I was there for the soft opening a year ago, and it's gotten even better since then with longer hours and a few really solid dishes like the crazy good spicy fries. Here's an excerpt from my review for this month's Los Feliz Ledger.

Good Girl Dinette is a perfect snapshot of Highland Park at this moment
—incrementally gentrifying, but still a humble, unflashy place. Owner/chef Diep Tran cooked at Eagle Rock’s Blue Hen and ran a catering company before starting Good Girl a year ago. The high-ceilinged space is spare and a bit echoey; dinner here (or lunch on weekends) feels like getting invited to an impromptu dinner party at a cool loft-dwelling friend’s house.

Good Girl Dinette's famous chicken curry pot pie

The menu covers a range of familiar Vietnamese dishes with a few ventures into the diner category—from banh mi baguette sandwiches, to pho noodle soup, spring rolls and main dishes served with white or brown rice. Most order the chicken curry pot pie ($10), which takes 30 minutes to cook. It’s a good choice, with chunks of chicken in a mellow curry sauce hiding under a flaky disc of biscuit dough.
Don’t miss the spicy fries, topped with a flurry of diced jalapeno, chopped garlic and cilantro—order them with cilantro-Maggi mayo on the side. Beef stew ($10) sounds prosaic, but balanced five-spice powder seasoning, chunks of carrot and good quality beef cubes lift elevate it. Drinks include Vietnamese coffee or housemade citrus soda; and there’s free corkage.
Good Girl Dinette
110 N. Ave. 56
Highland Park
323-257-8980

Biking the L.A. River, but with more food

Cyclists enjoy the newly-paved L.A. River bike path.

Today's Urban Explorations bike tour of the L.A. river was a great overview of the river and its ecosystem. We learned that steelhead trout used to live in the river until the 1940s and that people still fish for carp, catfish and tilapia that have been introduced into the river. Amazingly, they tested low for contamination, but the biologist on the tour said she wouldn't personally advise eating fish from the river. The only thing missing from this tour? Food.
Here's how to experience the L.A. River bike trail, but with more eating stops:
You could start, like we did, from the L.A. River Center, which used to be Lawry's California Center. It's worth a look around the spacious gardens to appreciate how pleasant it must have been to drink margaritas in the garden with strolling mariachis. You can follow the river the whole way, or parallel the river along Blake St. for a while, then head back to the river. You'll pass under Highway 2, the Fletcher bridge and the Los Feliz footbridge. Of course you could exit here and hit up plenty of places in Atwater like the Los Feliz Cafe (formerly Eatz), Hugo's Tacos, the Sunday Atwater farmer's market, or Viet Noodle.
Or you could turn around, head back along the L.A. river and stop at Franky & Johnny's Fisherman's Seafood Outlet, on Riverside Dr. near Eads St., where they're often grilling up some fish on the patio. Returning via Figueroa, some cyclists headed to El Atacor for the famous potato tacos. But I had pupusas on the brain, so I stopped at Maria's for a loroco pupusa and took it across the street to Antigua Coffeehouse for an ice-blended caramel coffee. It was a perfect way to refuel after the ride, but I'm still planning to hit Metro Balderas on my next Highland Park ride. Any other eating suggestions nearby the L.A. River bike path?

Cacao Mexicatessen: A picante addition to Eagle Rock

Green apples wrapped in tamarindo are a spicy and delicious Mexican-inflected take on a fall treat.

After writing about my trip to Tijuana, I was seriously in need of some out-of-the ordinary Mexican food. Pig uterus carnitas at Highland Park's Metro Balderas might have been a possibility on a weekend, but as it was only Friday, we went a little more upscale at Cacao Mexicatessen in Eagle Rock. Only three months old, Cacao combines fresh, homemade food with distinctive flavors not often found in casual spots.
Succulent duck carnitas are hidden under the radishes in homemade tortillas.

Wrapped in tortillas made as soon as you order, tacos go beyond the usual carne asada, carnitas and cochinita pibil to squash blossoms with poblano strips, duck carnitas, shrimp in chipotle citrus sauce or bacon with Cacao salsa. Crispy, rich carnitas de pato -- duck confit -- would be an amazing way for for a non pork-eater to experience the lusciousness of carnitas. Shrimp enchipotlados, made with meaty, good quality shrimp, could have used some garnish but had a great spicy tang. Fresh chips are some of the best I've had, with an addictively zippy salsa. Why is it called a Mexicatessen? In addition to tables indoors and on the front porch, the housemade tortillas, guacamole, salsas and chips are all available in bulk to take home, as well as menudo on weekends and aguas frescas by the gallon. Larger entrees like mole, rellenos and tortas fill out the menu along with a good selection of artisanal Mexican chocolate and unusual coffee drinks like mocha with chile or coffee with cajeta. On weekends, there's brunch. Somewhere between the taco trucks and Downtown's new haute Mexican spots, there's a sweet spot like Cacao, where the lively cooking comes as an excellent surprise.
Update: Now I've also tried tacos of cochinita pibil and squash blossom, and the squash blossom ones in particular are really wonderful (get them with cheese, unless you're vegan, of course.)
Cacao Mexicatessen
1576 Colorado Blvd. (right next to Trader Joe's)
323-478-2791
(Closed Monday, no alcohol)

Verdugo Bar: Sundays are where it's at

Before I left for Norcal I stopped by the Verdugo Bar's beer garden for the Sunday afternoon BBQ, and it is a very cool scene. I've been hoping a beer garden would open for a long time, and although Verdugo doesn't have a kitchen, they're improvising with a barbecue area on the patio and rotating caterers. The day I was there, Evan and Alex from HotKnives were making vegan bahn mi and vegan pulled pork along with homemade potato chips.

I liked the seitan sandwich (above), but a little flesh would also be welcome to go with the good brews. I believe Evan and Alex also selected the music, which I loved, since it was like a tour of my own collection. Other Sundays will have different eats and different music:
This Sunday, Aug. 30, is Dublab with traditional (read: MEAT!) and vegan bahn mi sandwiches by Mandoline Grill, from 2-9. Check the website for the music and food for each week, but don't miss this great summer hangout.
Verdugo Bar
3408 Verdugo Rd.
Glassell Park

Galco's Live: Chow takes a tour

The folks at Chow interview John Nese, proprietor of Galco's in Highland Park. Even if you're not a soda person, the selection of beer is worth checking out. Galco's is a real L.A. original, and it's lucky Nese has such a large space for his inventory of unusual sodas.

Highland Park's Super A: A for prices, B for selection

Carne asada was well worth $3.09 a lb., but has anyone tried the marinated Cornish game hens?

Will the new El Super going into the vintage Safeway building on York St. be different or better than Super A? That remains to be seen, but for now, here's a brief tour of what you can find at Super A if you're not familiar with the market. The large store's deli counter, cooked foods, in-store tortilleria and bakery seem promising at the outset, but I'm not sure they pay off in quality of the products. The produce department also has great prices on limes, cilantro and all the staples, but there's nothing really surprising. Super A is pretty basic, but still a great place to stock up on fresh tortillas, carne asada, house-fried tortilla chips and anything else you might need for a grande fiesta.Bins of ceviche, nopales, salsa and guacamole are well-priced, but the ceviche is not recommended. Try their fresh tubs of salsa roja instead.El Super has a random shelf filled with their house brands -- this is the place if you need a pint of cajeta/dulce de leche or some achiote.I'm obsessed with "ethnic" brands of ice cream -- the only one here is Nestle's Delicias, just$2.50 a quart, which comes in an intriguing tres leches flavor as well as coconut and mango.
The best thing about Super A is probably their bakery, which turns out stacks of warm corn, wheat and whole wheat tortillas all day long at rock-bottom prices.They also make wheat germ-flecked bolillos -- certainly not 100% whole wheat, but they might make a nice change of pace for a rustic torta. How does Super A compare to the El Super markets?
Super A Foods
5250 York Blvd.
Highland Park

Other EatingLA market reviews:
Figueroa Produce
Pasadena Farmer's Market
Alhambra Farmer's Market
Whole Foods Pasadena
Fresh 'n Easy (Glassell Park)
Fresh 'n Easy (Alhambra)
Locali (Hollywood)
Seafood City (Eagle Rock)

Highland Park in NY Times: Guess they ran out of space

York Blvd.'s handmade tortilla lady

I'll be charitable and allow that perhaps the New York Times didn't have much space to allot to Highland Park in its Sunday travel article Highland Park: A New Cultural District in Los Angeles. But I wouldn't have written an article on Highland Park or York Blvd. without mentioning the wonderful taco tables that appear at dusk; the monthly art gallery walk and bike ride or Clare Graham's beautiful assemblage sculptures at MorYork, to name just a few.
Maybe they should have just run the hilarious Craigslist ad from back in September (actually I think I sent that one in to Curbed, now that I recall) where a guy tries to explain the new Highland Park. What did you think of the short piece?

Figueroa Produce: the anti-Fresh 'n Easy, plus 99 cent organics

The piece de resistance of Figueroa Produce is the 99 cent organic produce selection -- take that, Whole Paycheck! It's not huge, but there's some good stuff.

I wanted vegetables. But I didn't have time to hit the Pasadena farmer's market, and a family can only survive for so long on Trader Joe's plastic-wrapped produce. So I decided to check out Figueroa Produce, a store so quirky it could only exist in Highland Park. Highland Park, home of legions of taco tables, vast selections of soda pop and such cultural hybrids as Vietnamese comfort food, is one of the last refuges of the true bohemian spirit in L.A., and this medium-sized market perfectly reflects that cultural caldo. And they freely hand out 10% off coupons, which is nice too.

At the entryway, you'll find the bakery shelves, which are well-stocked with Middle Eastern items such as really cheap pita bread, pita chips, sesame cookies, as well as tortillas and six rolls that make perfect banh mi for $1.79. The meat counter has an absurdly low price for marinated carne asada meat -- something like $2.99 a pound, and it was pretty good stuff. There's also a smattering of items from just about every nationality, quite a few organic items, and lots of spices. Here's a tour of this rather interesting and extremely reasonable store, which is like the anti-Fresh 'n Easy.

Like nearby Galco's, Figueroa Produce has an interesting soda selection, but it's inexplicably slanted to the root beer side of the soda spectrum.

I know they have this squirtable dulce de leche and sweetened condensed milk at any Latino market, but it fascinates me anyway.

Another mystery: there's quite a large stock of organic cocoa beans, but what do you do with them?

All the fixings for traditional yerba mate tea are stocked, including the bombillo cup.

Figueroa Produce
6312 N. Figueroa St
Highland Park

Taco table godhead in Highland Park

Tortillas are made on the spot with a rolling machine

I was trolling around some blogs deciding where to pick up a snack on the way home when I came across Eat Drink & Be Merry's amazing post from February on Taco Stands and Tables around northeast L.A.

The roasting pineapple moistens crispy bits of pork.

I knew I had to try the Disco Ball $1 taco table, as Dylan called it, with its nopales, pastor con pina and handmade tamales. See those charred bits on top of the pastor? They might look burnt, but when they combine with some less-charred bits and crumbles of roasted pineapple, the combination of salty, crunchy, porky and fruity is pretty amazing. Plus there's grilled onions and peppers, other meats like tripas, chicken and carne asada and some deeply flavored salsas. All that would be pretty great, but add tortillas made right in front of you by the meat griller's lovely assistant, and it's kind of the rock opera of pastor tacos.
This taco table is just to the left of Antojitos Guerrero, which is at 5623 York Ave.

Good Girl Dinette: First Look

I checked out the soft opening of Good Girl Dinette Thursday night, and it seems like a promising addition to Highland Park, which has few non-Hispanic food options. My camera battery failed so photos will have to come another time. The Vietnamese comfort food concept was interesting, mostly Vietnamese but with a few diner twists like coconut bread pudding and chicken curry pot pie. Here's a few notes I left on Chowhound:
Owner/chef Diep Tran founded Blue Hen in Eagle Rock, which I had never tried. Good Girl puts a little twist on straight-up Vietnamese food, giving it a "diner" twist. The space is modern and airy, just down the street from Antigua Bread in the heart of Highland Park. Right now they're serving an abbreviated menu while they get their sea legs. We started with crispy rice cakes with scallion tofu ($4.50), a nice light appetizer with good soy/sesame oil flavor. The diner side was represented by two pot pies ($10) -- we had the cauliflower curry which was indeed comfort food, with a flaky biscuit crust and mild vegetarian filling. They were serving either vegetarian or chicken pho ($9), and we tried the vegetarian, which could use another jolt of flavor. But it's pretty hard to make good pho without beef, so that wasn't too surprising. Dessert was a really nice round of coconut bread pudding with whipped cream, not heavy or overly sweet like so many bread puddings. There will be some meatier offerings on the expanded menu, like beef stew and braised pork. The closest comparison is Viet Noodle Bar in Atwater, but prices are a bit more reasonable the food is somewhat heartier.
Banh mi are $7 but they come with fries or slaw, so that seems reasonable.
Good Girl Dinette
110 N. Ave. 56
Highland Park

Good Girl Dinette opens Friday in Highland Park

"The American diner meets Vietnamese comfort food" is the tagline of the new Good Girl Dinette from the Blue Hen's original co-owner Diep Tran. I'm excited to have another choice for lunch and dinner in Highland Park, and I hope she plans to open for breakfast as well.
The menu will feature stews, sandwiches, hearty soups, rustic rice dishes and homemade pies -- a modern take on Vietnamese comfort food, using local, organic, sustainable and seasonal foods.
Hours will be:
Tues-Thurs (dinner only) 6-10pm,
Fri (dinner only) 6-11pm
Sat & Sun (lunch and dinner) 11am-11pm
Closed Mondays

Good Girl Dinette
110 North Avenue 56
Highland Park

Eagle Rock Brewery has a successful hearing; getting closer

Ever since I interviewed the folks from Eagle Rock Brewery for the L.A Times article on local brewers, I've been following their progress on their blog and Facebook. Today was their public hearing with the notoriously red tape-laden city of L.A. and they aced it! Hopefully we'll be able to quaff some NELA-brewed beer not too far in the future.

Good Girl Dinette opening in Highland Park

The 90042 blog reports on the imminent opening of Good Girl Dinette on Ave. 56 in Highland Park. The owner is Diep Tran, former owner of The Blue Hen. The location is just off Figueroa and convenient to the Gold Line station, so hopefully Tran will get plenty of bike and foot traffic. Tran's blog offers the chance to become a Good Girl Darling -- for $150, you can buy a tabletop and get a card for five desserts or appetizers. What do you think of this way to help raise enough money to start a restaurant? Even though I wasn't a big Backdoor Bakery fan, I was still proud that my preschooler daughter got to paint one of their tabletops years ago.

Free association: The Lemongrass (another Eagle Rock Vietnamese restaurant) offshoot that was once planned for Echo Park seems to have fallen through, and the space is once again for rent.

Also, what's going on with the former Timbo's on Ave. 64? We hear another Eagle Rock restaurant magnate is interested in the spot, which is all set up for a restaurant, but in a rather obscure location.

Cafe de Leche: Highland Park's caffeine oasis

Some longtime NELA folks probably see the opening of Cafe de Leche as the beginning of the end: a sleek modern coffee spot with Intelligentsia Coffee, full of fashionably tousled young folks with deer on their t-shirts. But Cafe de Leche keeps it real with a play area for tots in back and pastries and muffins from Porto's. Owned by Matt Schodorf and his wife Anya, there's a subtle Latin vibe to the cafe, especially when Anya is there making the Nicaraguan pinolio corn drink, which I didn't get to taste. My espresso con panna was just the little jolt of caffeine I needed to finish out the morning, and I ran into Josh from FoodGPS, who had his laptop plugged in to a convenient outlet behind the table, plus there's free WIFI.
And the coolest part? I got the bicycle discount for arriving on a bike!
Cafe de Leche
5000 York Blvd.
Highland Park
323-551-6828

My Taco might be Highland Park's best breakfast...

There's eggs hiding under that cheese...

... or not. You're welcome to differ, and please do, in the comments below, but I'm willing to bet it's right up there. Someone on Chowhound was looking for breakfast in Highland Park recently, and it seemed like Antigua Bread or possibly Juanita's were pretty much the only choices. I'm sure there's plenty of other Mexican spots in the area that serve breakfast, but it would be hard to do better than the chilequiles or huevos rancheros at My Taco. Breakfast is served all day, and you can top the breakfast plates with a nice array of salsas. The price is right, at around $5.50 per plate, incuding rice and beans. The chilequiles were like nachos that went to heaven and for their reward, were covered in eggs and cheese. The beans aren't that great, and I never eat Mexican rice, so it might be nice if you could get fruit instead, but that's a minor quibble. I don't know if the coffee's decent, because I usually pre-caffeinate before going out, but the jamaica drink goes really well with the chilequiles. My friend was so happy with his huevos that I never got a taste, but they looked good. There's also eggs with chorizo and I think eggs with nopales -- got to try that next! If you've only been for the barbacoa or the potato or goat tacos, next time, try breakfast.
My Taco
6300 York Blvd.
Highland Park
323-256-2698