There are two things I absolutely love to eat when I go to LA – sushi and Mexican food. It’s a Mexican breakfast that I often day dream about – some huevos rancheros, chilaquiles or a breakfast burrito. Growing up in California I obviously love Mexican food, but when I moved to LA I was delighted to find such a variety of good quality Mexican places from gourmet to hole-in-the-wall. Even better, it’s not just Mexican restaurants that have good quality Mexican food. Since the ingredients are so widely available and so many Californians have grown up with Mexican influence, you can eat pretty decent Mexican food at places that have “California cuisine” or “American cuisine”.
For lunch one day in LA, Adi took me to Toast Bakery Café on 3rd Street. I had driven past this place a lot and the line was always around the block for brunch. So I was excited to finally try it. I was really torn between the breakfast burrito and the Oscar (thin strips of chicken, guacamole, fresh salsa, eggs over medium and melted cheese, sit atop grilled corn tortillas), but I didn’t want to eat too heavily so I went for the Oscar. It was the perfect portion size. Every ingredient tasted incredibly fresh and natural. The corn tortillas tasted authentic and the dish in general wasn’t over salted. It made me really consider getting that tortilla press I’ve been thinking of… Because so far I’m capable of making everything that goes into a Mexican breakfast except for fresh tortillas. And I know when I go back to the UK, I won’t have easy access to homemade tortillas like I do in Arizona (a little corner shop 2 minutes down the road).. Ah well you make do with what you have right!? Maybe that’ll be a Christmas present from Mom and Dad?
** For all my former NBCU friends working on the Universal lot, please have a breakfast burrito at the commissary for me, with extra salsa.
Now SUSHI.
I think sushi in LA became a soft spot for me when I moved there after a year in New York where good and affordable aren’t adjectives you often use to describe sushi. I felt so deprived after a year of only eating sushi on special occasions that I went a little overboard when I got to LA. J There were a few places where the staff started to recognize me – Sushi Dan (Studio City), I Love Sushi (Melrose & Gardner), and the random little sushi place walking distance from me on Sunset. Ooh Yes – there was lots of salmon sashimi, yellowtail, seared tuna, Volcano (baked scallop) rolls, and my favorite chicken teriyaki roll at Sushi Dan. At one point, I realized I was an addict when I was going more than once a week… Oh but how can you go wrong?! I am slowly trying to branch out too. As always, my dear friend Adi has recently inspired me to try new foods. So on this last trip, I finally did it and tried sea urchin. Now I’ve heard amazing things about it. It’s even made a cameo in the movie PRIME with Uma Thurman who describes it as “better than s*x”. And just to see the giddiness in Adi’s face as Nagao took out the special box of sea urchin and prepared it for her – I knew I had to at least try it. So I did. It was interesting… I was so stunned watching Adi enjoy eating it, that I forgot to take a photo. But here’s one to jog your memory in case. It’s very creamy and not at all as fishy as I thought it would taste. I can’t quite describe it. I think I’m going to have to try it again. I feel like it’s one of those things like fois gras or sweet bread or even lamb – where it’s something you can learn to love. It’s almost as if your palette doesn’t know what to do with this extraordinary and exotic taste and texture.
Now SUSHI.
I think sushi in LA became a soft spot for me when I moved there after a year in New York where good and affordable aren’t adjectives you often use to describe sushi. I felt so deprived after a year of only eating sushi on special occasions that I went a little overboard when I got to LA. J There were a few places where the staff started to recognize me – Sushi Dan (Studio City), I Love Sushi (Melrose & Gardner), and the random little sushi place walking distance from me on Sunset. Ooh Yes – there was lots of salmon sashimi, yellowtail, seared tuna, Volcano (baked scallop) rolls, and my favorite chicken teriyaki roll at Sushi Dan. At one point, I realized I was an addict when I was going more than once a week… Oh but how can you go wrong?! I am slowly trying to branch out too. As always, my dear friend Adi has recently inspired me to try new foods. So on this last trip, I finally did it and tried sea urchin. Now I’ve heard amazing things about it. It’s even made a cameo in the movie PRIME with Uma Thurman who describes it as “better than s*x”. And just to see the giddiness in Adi’s face as Nagao took out the special box of sea urchin and prepared it for her – I knew I had to at least try it. So I did. It was interesting… I was so stunned watching Adi enjoy eating it, that I forgot to take a photo. But here’s one to jog your memory in case. It’s very creamy and not at all as fishy as I thought it would taste. I can’t quite describe it. I think I’m going to have to try it again. I feel like it’s one of those things like fois gras or sweet bread or even lamb – where it’s something you can learn to love. It’s almost as if your palette doesn’t know what to do with this extraordinary and exotic taste and texture.
Speaking of textures, this trip also introduced me to a new sushi roll experience. The place Adi took me to was this small, tucked-away sushi restaurant in Brentwood called Nagao’s. It’s in a random little shopping center with mostly locals dining inside. It’s very intimate and we were lucky to get a seat at the sushi bar since it filled up within minutes of us arriving. So this new experience was one of Nagao’s “No Rice Rolls”. I ordered the Moonlight #1 with cucumber on the outside and scallop, crab, asparagus, burdock root and smelt eggs on the inside.
As you can see this thing was just beautiful. The incredibly fresh and sweet scallop was glistening and the roll was so perfectly compact and stayed together despite being rolled with cucumber! This was one of those food experiences where I put a piece in my mouth and my eyes rolled into the back of my head. The softness and sweetness of that scallop completely blew me away. Its freshness was only magnified by the crunch of the masterfully cut cucumber “skin”. I felt like my taste buds were dreaming. So THAT is how scallop should taste?? I’ve recently come to realize that my satisfaction with food is not only as a result of the sensation WHILE eating but what I am left with AFTER eating. I am growing increasingly fond of foods that are delicious and satisfying yet don’t leave me feeling weighed down. The food at Nagao’s is a perfect example of this. It was sushi as it should be eaten. The ingredients were of superior quality. The portions were extremely reasonable (along with prices!). And most importantly it wasn’t deep fried and/or smothered in some sort of mayo sauce. I’m guilty of eating that type of sushi on occasion, but if I had the choice – I’d eat at Nagao’s every other day if I could! At this point I’ll take whatever sushi I can get since sushi in the UK isn’t exactly ‘cheap’ or of high quality or very popular for that matter. And until I can return, I’ll be dreaming of that scallop.
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