ANIMAL
435 North Fairfax Blvd. (near Beverly Blvd.)
Los Angeles, California
website

Dear Animal, you have single-handedly restored my faith in the LA dining scene. I apologize for having any doubts about my homeland. Could I please have some more piggies and Tres Leches?

Hamachi Tostada with Herbs, Fish Sauce Vinaigrette, Peanut

Waiter recommended, perfect texture combinations, very light and a great way to start the meal. It was like having a very well-organized tartare.

Potato Agnolotti, Caramelized Onion Butter, Parmesan

Imagine the ideal bite of mashed potatoes but enveloped in a beautiful pasta coated in caramelized onions, butter and cheese. Yeah… Mind. Blown.

Melted Petit Basque, Chorizo, Grilled Bread

Technically, it’s melted cheese on sausage with toast. But, the best melted cheese on sausage with toast you will ever put in your mouth. This was recommended over the burrata and we did not regret our decision. Salty, crispy, crunchy, gooey, awesome…

Bone Marrow, Chimichurri, Caramelized Onions

I love bone marrow. But, I’ve never had it with chimichurri. It should always be served with chimichurri. Forever. I just drooled on my keyboard.

Foie Gras, Biscuit, Maple Sausage Gravy

Our waiter said that when he eats at the restaurant, he orders two so that he could eat one and the rub the other one all over his body. He added that the first time he took a bite, he immediately punched the chef in his face. Those sentiments rang true for the entire table. The foie was seared perfectly. The biscuit was possibly one of the best that I’ve ever had. The gravy was complex without compromising its integrity – it still tasted like gravy. Just really awesome gravy.

Barbecued Pork Belly Sandwich, Slaw

I didn’t expect much from this dish. If you’ve had one BBQ pork slider, you’ve had them all, right? This is completely untrue. Crispy, tender pork belly with barbecue sauce containing the perfect balance of sweetness, salt and vinegar. Even the bun was good. I was completely floored.

Heirloom Tomato, French Dressing, Olive, Hard-boiled Egg, Garlic Croutons

We needed a palate cleanser after all that delicious food. This was light and did the job. It was a touch over on the olive but the textures and flavor combinations were lovely.

Bacon Chocolate Crunch Bar, S&P Ice Cream

Party. In. Your. Mouth. This was stunningly good. Also, salt and pepper ice cream is amazing with bacon chocolate candy bars.

Sticky Toffee Pudding, Marscapone, Orange

I love sticky toffee pudding. If it’s on the menu, I’ll order it every time and this one was sublime. The orange was a nice touch. Really well done.

Tres Leches, Dulce de Leche

It’s hard to find good tres leches. Tears welled up in my eyes after the first bite. Hell, I wanted to punch the pastry chef. Definitely one of the best tres leches I’ve ever had. Ever.

Once every few years, I have a meal that literally makes me curse after every course. This was definitely such an occasion. “Holy sh*t, that’s effing good.”

Service was seamless. Our waiter was knowledgable and spent just the right amount of time at our table. One of my dining companions is a chef and he went back to personally thank the kitchen. If I still lived in LA, I would spend all of my money here.

That said, it makes me quite happy (and scared for my health) that Brooklyn Star is just around the corner from my apartment.

BROOKLYN STAR
593 Lorimer Street (between Conselyea and Metropolitan)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
website

O’Sully and I went to Brooklyn Star for dinner on a recent Friday night.  I had previously enjoyed a delicious meal with my girlfriends there but was happy to return as the menu had plenty of dishes I had yet to try.  The menu is sustainable and seasonal American Comfort Food.  Staff is super friendly and attentive.  The space is quite lovely.  The decor is inviting and almost like being in someone’s very extended kitchen.  They sat us in a big booth which was oddly the same one that I’d sat in comfortably with four friends on my last visit.

In actuality, I was on a mission.  I had one specific dish that I really wanted to try and almost slid to the floor when the waiter arrived to talk menu by saying, “Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that we’re out of Country Fried Foie and Waffles (with Black Pepper Honey) but everything else is good.” Complete. Devastation.

Alas, the show must go on…

Kool Aid (Spiked)

Old school Dr. Pepper (so silly that finding real sugar in a soda is such a foreign concept) and Kool Aid  grace the beverage menu at BK Star.  Um, awesome?!  They take it to another level with the Dr. Pepper Cocktail: gin, Dr. Pepper syrup, grapefruit juice, and soda.  But, after O’Sully ordered a regular Kool Aid, I sheepishly asked the waiter if I could have the same but spiked.  He assured that they’d done it plenty of times and it wasn’t a problem.  He delivered my Vodka Kool Aid shortly thereafter and I stifled a giggle as I drank my naughty punch.  Seriously?  Who drinks spiked Kool Aid?  THIS GIRL!  And, I’d do it again!

Bacon Jalapeno Cornbread

What’s not to like?  Cake-like cornbread flecked with bacon and jalapeno, accompanied by honey and butter is pretty awesome.  It’s even better when it comes straight out of the oven in its own mini-cast iron skillet.  Sizzling!

Mac and Cheese with Bacon
Kool Aid (Virgin)

Rich, creamy, salty, smokey with crunchy toasted breadcrumbs on top.  Now, that is some TASTY mac and cheese!

Grilled Veal Sweetbread Tacos, Fried Hominy, Pickled Onion, Pineapple Salsa, Lime
Country Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Hot Slaw

Sweetbread Tacos were delicious.  How could something with the words “SWEET” and “BREAD” in its name NOT be?  (Sorry, I forgot to take a photo so just made sure O’Sully modeled his half-eaten taco while I was snapping the country fried steak.)  I’m usually a taco purist but these were really nicely done.

And then, there was a miss.

Look at that photo!  If it doesn’t scream, “Yummy Southern Fried Goodness!” to you, then we have nothing further to discuss.  But, I assume that it does, loyal food blog reader, so I shall continue.  When the dish arrived at the table, I definitely gasped.  Chicken Fried Steak doesn’t look much better than that.  As we dove in, I was disappointed to find that the breading was so thick, it felt like we were eating fried batter with a bit of meat.  It was just fine but for something that looked so amazing, it wasn’t.  It’s like meeting a ridiculously attractive person and then finding out that he/she sounds like Donald Duck.  I don’t even remember if we finished it; I just wanted to pretend it didn’t happen.

Overall, we had a really nice meal.  Brooklyn Star had originally been in a different space but a fire in February 2010 shuttered them out of 33 Havemeyer and they came back to life after spending most of that year building in the old Lazy Catfish location.  Most of the food is solid (Jess and Scott were there just the other night and apparently had an epic takes-45-minutes-to-cook steak) and I’m still not sure how to feel about the “meh” chicken fried steak.  I WANT TO LOVE YOU, BROOKLYN STAR!  I intend to return for the elusive Country Fried Foie and Waffles (with Black Pepper Honey) and… Vodka Kool Aid.

Grade Pending

But, after a barely palatable stop at the new Brooklyn outpost of The Meatball Shop on Saturday, I found myself on the train and ready for a real culinary adventure.  Side note: If the name of your restaurant has the word “meatball” in it, said meatballs should evoke feelings of pure ecstasy or do what crack does to Tyrone Biggums.  Hey guys, your meatballs suck balls!

But, I digress.

During the 1930′s, the Soviet Union forcibly moved most of the entire population of ethnic Koreans from the Russian Far East to unpopulated areas of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.  Read about it.  I’ll shamefully divulge that I barely knew where Uzbekistan was, nor could I name an Uzbek dish.  Seeing the Korean-influenced food was fascinating and despite not quite being able to place their level of authenticity, the food itself was absolutely delicious.

ELZA FANCY FOOD
3071 Brighton 4th St (between Oceanview Ave & Brighton Beach Ave)
Brighton Beach, Brooklyn
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Bright orange awning greets you as you walk into a small, neutral-colored dining room.  Everything is super clean and you can catch a glimpse of the little kitchen as you’re being seated at one of the eight tables.  We sat down and stared at the menu blankly.  Drawing reference from the Times article, we ordered as follows:

Lagman
This dish totally reminded me of one of my favorite Korean dishes, yuk gae jang.  Topped with lamb that basically tasted like awesome corned beef, the fragrant broth was not as spicy as the picture would make it seem.  The noodles were perfectly cooked and had a nice texture – almost chewy but in a good way.

Hye of Eggplant
When the waitress put this plate down, I did a triple take because it just looked like kimchi.  It’s eggplant.  It was cold and delicious and not soggy.  Loved it!

Plov
I LOV PLOV.  The lamb was so flavorful and tasty while the rice was ever-so-slightly undercooked and had wonderful texture.  I would’ve eaten the whole plate had I not taken up space with crappy meatballs.

Manti
As a dumpling enthusiast, I was thrilled to find that not only were the morsels of tender lamb in the filling rich and flavorful but the dumpling skins were light and airy.  AMAZEBALLS.  Literally.

Go to Brighton Beach.  Eat at Elza.  Go to the boardwalk.  Stroll.  Get back on the train and think to yourself, “Wow, that was super delicious fun time…”

5 out of 5 Stars

Jess, Scott and I are quite the culinary adventurers as of late.  We ventured into Queens for some Sichuan torture… and we absolutely loved it.

麻辣 = “málà” = the Chinese characters for numbing and spicy.  The best thing that could happen to your mouth when you’re practically on fire is for it to betray you and develop a slight tingling sensation that lulls you into a false sense of security.  Such is the sheer brilliance of Sichuan cuisine and its fascinating burn that will only make you want more.

LITTLE PEPPER (XIAO LA JIAO)
18-24 College Point Blvd (between 18th and 20th Aves)
Flushing, Queens
yelp

We started off guns blazing…

Sliced Beef Tendon in Spicy Sauce
Cold, light, almost like an al dente pasta, salty and spicy.  Scott laughed, “It tastes like it has the same spices as the Burger King spicy chicken sandwich!”  Strangely enough, he was right… and it was a good thing.

Next course, one of my favorite Sichuan dishes:

Dan Dan Noodles
So. Freaking. Delicious.  We destroyed this dish and were tempted to drink the remaining fire broth.  But, we decided against it as we had four more dishes ahead of us.  I would go back just to eat this again. 

Lamb with Hot and Spicy Sauce (with Cumin)
This dish should’ve been called Cumin with Tender Lamb.  It was a bit overpowering but fragrant and so good.

Sizzling Rice with Fish
We were trying to be healthy! Actually, we were trying to alleviate some of the heat on our tastebuds.  The fish was perfectly cooked and the toasted rice in the neutralizing sauce and the vegetables were great!

Mapo Doufu
(Bean curd with spicy minced pork) I’ve made and/or consumed a considerable amount of mapo doufu in my lifetime.  It was a staple in my house growing up as my mother is not exactly a stellar cook… wait, I never said that. DELETE. DELETE. DELETE.

The tofu was so silky and smooth.  The sauce was complex and spot on.  I wanted to eat this and only this for the rest of the weekend but I started getting full…

Shredded Tea-Smoked Duck with Ginger

If we weren’t so completely full of beer (BYOB) and FIVE prior dishes, we would have eaten this whole plate.  Tea-smoked anything can go horribly wrong but this was really spectacular.  THE SMOKEY GOODNESS!

Overall, we had a great meal at Little Pepper.  I highly recommend it as the drive out to Queens is irrelevant when it comes to Sichuan cuisine of this caliber.  Service isn’t quite there but if you’re looking for Michelin-star quality, go see someone else.  The food is all there is here… and it’s worth it.

4.5 out of 5 stars

So, what took me so long to get to Traif?  The universe was simply conspiring to keep me from exploding.

Holy pig.

TRAIF
229 South 4th Street (between Havemeyer and Roebling)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
website

My darling friends, Jess and Scott accompanied me to a relatively early dinner on a warm summer Friday evening.  The three of us have indulged in many a good meal together but we had no idea what we were in store for at Traif.

The waitress instructed us to choose about three plates per person.  We did not listen.  We only ordered eight dishes.  They were plenty.

We ordered a few drinks.  The first round wasn’t particularly memorable although we were all intrigued by the cocktail list.

But, my BACON-RIMMED tequila beverage was BANGIN’.

Watermelon gazpacho – Our amuse bouche.  Delicious but could’ve been colder.

Butterfish carpaccio with pickled blackberries, mangos, black sesame – Jess requested this solely based on the fact that the name of the protein contained the word “butter”.  This is also probably why we’re such good friends.  The pickled blackberries were fantastic and refrigeration may have been a slight issue as this dish also should have been colder.

Seared foie gras with fingerling potatoes, ham chips, fried egg, maple syrup and hot sauce - Really?  Need I say anything further?  It was absolutely sublime.  The earth shook beneath us as we devoured the dish.  Amazeballs.

Pork belly with feta and sweet cantaloupe – Succulent, seared cubes of pork belly were nicely complemented by the sweet cantaloupe and salty feta.  A restaurant that flaunts itself as a celebration of pig should be able to nail a pork belly dish.  That it did.

Spicy-sweet chili chicken wings – Scott feels the way about chicken wings as I do about pork belly.  We really enjoyed this dish and I intend to try and replicate it come football season…

Gorgonzola stuffed dates wrapped in bacon – Simple and well-executed.  Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, delicious…

BBQ Short Rib Sliders with sweet potato fries - A bit on the sweet side but the chipotle aioli was solid and rounded out everything else.  Smokey goodness.

Tagliatelle – Handmade pasta with sausage and stuff.  Honestly, it was good but the sheer gluttony and guilt of the previous six dishes was overwhelming and we deferred to Scott to polish off this one.  (What else are boys for…?)  :)

Bacon doughnuts, dulce de leche with coffee ice cream – This may be a perfect dessert; it was wickedly decadent.  Guilt and gluttony were suddenly nowhere to be found…

Overall, we had a really nice meal and the chef clearly loves the pig.  The food speaks for itself and Brooklyn continues to impress me.  It’s worth the trip in from Manhattan.  Hello, BACON DOUGHNUTS!?

And just like that, I’m back.

4 out of 5 stars