More than a few places to eat in LA

We ate a handful of places this past week.

grilledcabbageCharcoal is a relatively newcomer to the restaurant scene in Venice.  They recommend doing everything family style which is the common theme throughout the city these days.  I am so over it.  The place has a nice vibe with the concept of going to the backyard bbq.  Salads, platters of proteins and simple food.  One of the best things we had is the cabbage.  Cabbage baked in embers with a dollop of yogurt mixed with sumac and lemon zest on the side.   The cabbage has been cooked for so long that it becomes really soft inside and just a bit of a crisp on the outside.  I liked it.

uniHamasaku I have been to a few times.  I prefer the sushi at Echigo for pure sushi (the warm rice is superior here) but Hamasaku has interesting rolls and dishes.  This was delicious.  Uni sitting on top of a rich creamy pasta almost like a cacio e pepe with egg, shiso, and I believe parm.  Rich for sure.  A few bites was all you needed.

dosaAfter seeing City of Gold we had to go to one of his top restaurants in the area and we chose Mayura.  Mayura is an Indian restaurant inside a small strip mall in Culver City.  The cuisine comes from Karula which is Southern India.  Obviously a local spot as it was packed with people and families and most of them were Indian.  The highlight was the dosa.  A large crispy crepe made of lentils, fermented rice and plenty of butter.  The dosa gets soft where the filling is and remains crispy on the ends.  Melts in your mouth.  Ours was stuffed with mashed spiced onions, potatoes and peas.  Excellent.

tacosGuerilla Tacos was highlighted in City of Gold too.  The truck happened to be in our neighborhood on Sunday.  Fred stopped by and picked up a few for lunch.  Each of these tacos were excellent.  Sweet potato taco with almond, chile, feta fried corn and scallions.  The potatoes were soft yet still hard.  The flavors added on top of the corn tortilla were perfect.  You could use these flavors and just stuff a sweet potato as a side dish.  Yellow fin poke tuna with raw tomato chile, bulls blood (yep), furikake and lime served over a crisp taco almost like a chip.  Had a really spicy jolt to this poke.  The last is pieces of steak with a horseradish cream and a chile de arbol.  Honestly all three were top!

And the search for more good food continues….

Comments (Archived):

  1. Tracey Jackson

    Thanks – I needed this list. Headed to LA right now and was going to email you.Will try some.

  2. William Mougayar

    “yogurt mixed with sumac and lemon zest…” You had me at sumac.How is the LA compared to NYC now?

    1. Gotham Gal

      NYC is still the best yet the food in LA continues to get better and better.

  3. Rohan

    *Kerala :). That’s the state I’m originally from.

  4. jason wright