Results matching “recession obsession”

A Recession Obsession is, 1) a meal so great that it sticks in your mind long after digestion's end, and, 2) plays nice with your sensitive wallet. Is there a better place than Los Angeles to eat a wide variety of amazing food that so happens to be inexpensive? Probably not. We're as lucky as we are well fed. We last obsessed over Mobile Japanese Burgers and an Indian Spot. Today we obsess...

I’ve been following Marked5 (one of the children of the post-Kogi mobile foodscape boom) on Twitter for a few months. Doing so kept reminding me, in 140 character bursts, that their Japanese burgers were roaming the city, awaiting taste buds.

Los Angeles gets a lot of crap for the cuisines in which we don’t specialize. (I label such shittalkers: enemies.) Do we have an amazing pizzeria on every corner? Ha. Good one. Can you find amazing Chinese food in Hollywood? Again, nope. You’ll have to venture east. Does our selection of Indian food rival that of Mumbai (don’t say Bombay?) Again, not exactly. (Stop all the whiny questions please!)

On a stretch of Pico where you’re likely to find spicy Caribbean food, or the caloric effort that is Oki-Dog, one might not expect tacos. That's why Sky’s Gourmet Tacos is a great fit. They serve up what they call: "Mexican food with a splash of soul".

When I moved to Los Angeles from Back East, I immediately heard of two magical destinations for which East Coasters darned not speak: Costa Rica and Hawaii. Apparently they’re too far from Back East, but not Out Here.

Last Thursday night, an improbable collection of DJs, Douchebags and Dorks gathered in a posh Downtown penthouse for a sneak preview of DJ Hero, the latest entry in Activision's increasingly ginormous Guitar Hero video game series. The appetizers were exquisite, the ambiance (provided by actual, non video game playing DJs) was redonkulous, and DJ Hero, a game which finally does for knob twiddlers and air-scratch nerds what the main Guitar Hero series did for vicarious cock-rockers, was, well, pretty damn good in the same way that the Dead Sea is kind of brackish and Sir Paul McCartney has a couple of extra dollars lying around.

Downtown LA’s Grand Central Market is a Recession Obsession institution. If you’ve never been, grab a crisp five dollar bill, and you’ll purchase a great meal. Grab a crisp ten dollar bill and you’ll find that nirvana known as Food Coma.

It’s been raining cats and dogs in Los Angeles. Don’t believe me? Consult your nearest social network where you'll see such pathetic updates as:

“It’s raining. Who’s got a bunker?” “Rain rain go away, else I’ll slit my writs today.”

Continue reading "Recession Obsession: Rainy Day Ramen"

According to our friends at the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, that exists,) Los Angeles was the second highest consumer of hot dogs in 2008. We dropped $91,364,830. Wow. I’m sure a chunk of that is spent at Pink’s, but c’mon. Their line is so long one might catch black lung from the Melrose traffic. Why not have a Dodger Dog, where, should you wait in line, at least there's a Dodger game going on right behind you.

      

A Recession Obsession is, 1) a meal so great that it sticks in your mind long after digestion's end, and, 2) plays nice with your sensitive wallet. Is there a better place than Los Angeles to eat a wide variety of amazing food that so happens to be inexpensive? Probably not. We're as lucky as we are well fed. We last obsessed over Delicious Pig Butt and Frozen Yogurt 3.0. Today, we obsess...

Carnitas, Spanish for "little meats," are my favorite edible incarnation of pork. For me, they’re a dietary staple, best devoured when surrounded by the perfect tortilla. Oh yeah, these tiny meats are typically pig butt.

       

21 Choices is like hybrid of Cold Stones' mix-in concept and the delectable tastes of the current frozen yogurt craze. However, it's not a rip-off--the first of its four storefronts opened in 1989.

TCBY, or The Country's Best Yogurt, was once huge. All of a sudden "frozen yogurt" and "phenomenon" were used in the same sentence. It was nationwide Pinkberry-like insanity which predated Pinkberry. Then, of course, Pinkberry found hip neighborhoods. Today, we're right in the middle of Frozen Yogurt 3.0, and this model's an upgrade.

Looking for Mason jars at Target a few weeks ago in preparation for batches of preserved lemons, homemade yogurt, jam and pickled beets, a number of employees responded with blank looks when I asked where to find canning jars. This temporarily led me to believe that canning was a foreign concept in farmers’ market and Whole Foods-laden Los Angeles, work best done by Midwestern grandmothers still influenced by Depression-era frugality. But Angelino Kevin West’s blog Saving the Season makes it very clear that canning is still a relevant and if not strictly necessary than undoubtedly delicious means of preparing food.

Today’s Recession Obsession is a gluttonous walk down memory lane, a walk to Campos Tacos in Venice, where a plate of hard-shelled chicken tacos, chips, and a drink is $7 after tax. While this Campos location might look like a dime-a-dozen Mexican hole-in-the-wall with a scary bathroom, to this author, it represents the birth of a love affair, and LAist’s latest Recession Obsession.

Mobile food trucks, revealing their location on Twitter, who serve taco-fusion, is in. This is no longer news. It's getting competitive on the streets, and the novelty is decreasingly novel.

A Recession Obsession is, 1) a meal so great that it stays in your mind long after digestion's end, and, 2) plays nice with your sensitive wallet. Is there a better place than Los Angeles to eat a wide variety of amazing food that so happens to be inexpensive? Probably not. We're as lucky as we are well fed. Today, we obsess over this nine month-old column's locations. Just in case you missed something. What's your favorite Recession Obsession? Comment Below!

I hail from a land where the Breakfast Sandwich is King (and not the one that comes from the Burger's King.) In the Northeast there's a serious Breakfast Sandwich culture and its hub is a chain for which LA's East Coast transplants bemoan longing: Dunkin Donuts. Their morning formula is simple. Egg, cheese, and breakfast meat gets wedged in a croissant, bagel or an English muffin. It's a great way to start your day.

The taco is as friendly a Recession Obsession dish as can be consumed. At best they're warm, flavor-dense, transcendent, and $0.50 to $3 each. At worst -- I don't need to tell you. We've all been sold a few ghastly tacos. FYI, you can throw them out before they taint your lips.

       

In Recession Obsession -- a weekly guide on how one can inexpensively achieve a beer gut during The Recession without beer -- we’ve obsessed over Guatemalan, and we’ve obsessed over chicken. But not yet Guatemalan chicken. (No, not GFC.)

Organic is not-so-secret code for expensive. (Even though LA organic is cheaper than other cities.) Expensive is code for not for Recession Obsession readers. That was until this author/adventurer stumbled upon Green Zone in San Gabriel.

       

Among Angelenos, LA is famous for culinary hotspots in non-descript areas. Travel south of Downtown, and near USC (but not too close,) and you'll find one of them: La Mercado Paloma. This colorful food court features a variety of Latin American tastes and one obligatory Thai joint. You can eat well here for under $10 bucks a person. It’s definitely LAist’s latest Recession Obsession.

Cowboys and Turbans is a fusion restaurant that doesn't wear too many hats. Just two. Fusing Mexican and Indian, this fast-enough food establishment has an impressive menu -- the likes of which I've not seen around our fare city. Tandoori quesadilla, masala fries, chicken or tofu naanwiches -- all of which sound delicious. Though I wouldn't know. Thanks to the wretched economy, I've only indulged in their happy hour tacos -- $1 each, mid-day to 6 p.m.

Korean Fried Chicken results in tastebud confusion. Through delicious overload and a rarely-paralleled flavor density, KFC is a unique treat. (LAist has been a fan.) I’d say “move over Colonel, there’s a new feaux-military chicken-slinging hero in town,” but that’s just not the case. It’d be like alerting Italy to the mounting non-threat that is California Pizza Kitchen ("CPK," if you dine there on the regular.)

NYC transplants decry LA's apparent lack of hardcore Italian delis. That is, until a clued-up Angeleno points that Negative Nancy to Bay Cities Deli and Bakery. If New York were a sovereign nation (it's not,) its local embassy would be this Santa Monica hotspot.

Thai Town is priced perfectly for our sorry pocketbooks. We know this. One such standout is Ruen Pair, a restaurant LAist visited for our "Thai One On" series. It was both inexpensive and fantastic in '07, and that hasn't changed for '09. The only difference is a sharp coat of paint. Of course it's LAist's latest Recession Obsession.

Some know my friend Jimmy as Jimmy The Greek. He’s a spanakopita snob, knows the name of that building on Yanni’s album cover, and could write a guidebook on the nightclubs of Mykonos. He’s pretty damn Greek. This, Brooklyn-bred, first-generation said that the best Greek food in Los Angeles can be found at Papa Cristo’s.

Growing up on the East Coast I recognized early in life that doughnut culture orbited around the sugary planet called “Dunkin Donuts.” Some of my earliest memories were commercials featuring a gentlemen (who resembled both Super Mario and Hitler) who would exclaim softly through a grin, “it’s time to make the donuts.” Los Angeles didn't seem to have an equivalent character, nor a universally agreed upon doughnut hub. I observed the undiscerning masses finding satisfaction in the city's numerous, tiny independent doughnut shops (whose wares looked to all have rolled off the same assembly line in Palmdale.) But it didn’t take long to figure out that the most prominent doughnut in LA was three stories tall and stale as hell (see picture above.)

A Recession Obsession is, 1) a meal so great that it sticks in your mind long after digestion's end, and, 2) plays nice with your sensitive wallet. Is there a better place than Los Angeles to eat a wide variety of amazing food that happens to be inexpensive? Probably not. We're as lucky as we are well fed. We last obsessed over this series' Greatest Food Hits and Thai Town 2.0's Krua Thai. Today, we obsess...

Roadfood pioneers Jane and Michael Stern's new book, 500 Things to Eat Before it's too Late: and the Very Best Places to Eat Them has just hit the bookstores. Don't worry, the title is not a reflection upon the state of your health or a dire prediction of the apocolypse. It's more of a statement on the homogenization of the country's restaurants. Hit the diner and get 'em while they're hot, before they are forced out by the Chili's on the corner.