Walking a Delicious Road to Pa Pa Walk

Has it ever happened to you that while you're reading through a restaurant review that sometimes one dish will stand out to the point that the only reason you want to visit that restaurant is just to try that one dish? That's exactly what happened to me while reading Kevin Cheung's blog, 50 Meals, about his visit to Pa Pa Walk, a restaurant that specializes in Taiwanese street food. Click here to read that review.

According to Kevin, the words "Pa Pa" means "all over town" in Taiwanese. Taking that further, "Pa Pa Walk" means to "get out around town." Given the definition of the restaurant's name, it seems fitting that they serve food that you might normally order from a stall or cart on the streets of Taiwan, which means that food portions are more similar to tapas.

So what dish caught my interest? On the menu, it's referred to simply as "Cream Soup in Fried Toast", but when placed in front of you, it's reminiscent of clam chowder bread bowls. Kevin further translated that the name in Chinese sounds just like “coffin cover". Fellow blogger, Wandering Chopsticks, also was so entranced by Kevin's post that she paid a visit herself to try this dish and with further research learned that this soup/bread dish is referred to as coffin bread in Taiwan. In her words, "[it] hails from Tainan, the oldest city in Taiwan and the capital from 1663 to 1885. It was so named because of its coffin-like appearance." In my own research, I came upon the Primitive Culture blog, where the blogger wrote briefly about his experience with "coffin bread" in Taiwan with a brief mention from his dining companion about a possible American naval connection to this dish.

Basically, "coffin bread" is what first got me in the door of Pa Pa Walk, but what brought me back for a second visit was how good the food was in general. For my first visit, a friend and I shared 6 savory dishes, including the "coffin bread" and 1 dessert. The first three items that hit our table included the smoked duck, the bbq pork fried rice and the grilled Taiwanese sausage. The fried rice was good, if nothing special. I enjoyed both the duck with its crispy skin and the slight sweetness of the sausages, which when eaten with a piece of raw garlic, had a great savory component to them.

Following the sausages, came the broiled leafy greens and the leek pie, which was shaped more like an empanada. I liked how the greens still had a crunch to them and of course, being cooked with pork made this dish even more of a hit to my taste buds. The leek pie, which also had glass noodles as part of the filling, was my least favorite of the bunch. It was too greasy and the leek/noodle filling had an aftertaste that wasn't working for me at all.

At last, the "coffin bread" arrived and what a sight! The bread, which was golden brown, was hollowed out and filled with the creamy vegetable chowder. The top part of the bread that was cut off, served as the lid and you can see the soup dripping down the sides of the bread box itself. Of course, we devoured that bread lid first, which was crispy and toasted to perfection and it's where you can first get a hint of what the soup will taste like.

Finally, I took a spoonful of the soup and while there weren't any bold flavors, it was rich, thick, creamy and filling. As we ate into it more, we started breaking off pieces of the bread walls to eat as well. Amazingly enough, even as we ate towards the bottom of this bread box, the bread still retained is crispy, toasty qualities. Personally, I don't really like the "coffin bread" reference because to me, it's more of a comfort food, especially during those colder months of the year when you want and need some warmth going into all your nooks and crannies. Come on, how can you go wrong with toasted bread and soup?

I don't even know how we had room for dessert, but we did and ordered the strawberry slush, which basically is just condensed milk poured over shaved ice topped with sliced strawberries - simple ingredients that definitely took care of my sweet tooth. I only wish that they had smaller more individual orders because our order was huge and was really more for 4, maybe, even 6 people as opposed to just 2.

For my second visit, I brought my dining group and this time, we shared 10 savory dishes. Three of them were repeats from my first visit, the Taiwanese sausages, the cream soup in fried toast and the leek pie and my feelings about those dishes didn't change from my first visit. This time around, we ordered the following items: pork and leek dumplings, sole and cilantro dumplings, stir-fry rice noodles, stir-fry napa with dry fish, deep fried oysters, deep fried chicken roll, steamed mini pork buns and the Taiwanese meatballs.

Of the two dumplings, I favored the light and delicate flavors of the sole and cilantro dumplings. The leek in the leek and pork dumplings was a little overpowering, to the point that I couldn't even taste the pork. The rice noodles were good albeit not mind-boggling while the steamed mini pork buns were disappointing. The pork buns are supposed to be XLBs, but the soup inside these dumplings was quite minimal. You're better off going to J&J, Din Tai Fung or Mei Long Village.

I liked how the dry fish added just the right amount of saltiness to the stir-fry napa and both the deep fried oysters and chicken roll were wonderful. The batter for the oysters wasn't heavy or oily and I liked how the tofu wrapper for the chicken roll still had a little bit of a chew to it. The only dish I had difficulty with was the Taiwanese meat ball.

When we ordered this dish, I was expecting little round meatballs and what arrived was something I didn't recognize at all. It looked like a little mountain cut in quarters with some kind of meat filling inside the base. At first, I thought we had the wrong order, but checking with our waiter, it was the right order. Our waiter further told us that the covering was a kind of starch. I think he said it was made up of a rice starch.

I had a taste, but I couldn't get into it. First, I didn't really like the sauce and I can't even tell you why. I just didn't like it. The texture of that starch was also too glutinous for my taste and for the life of me, I couldn't identify the meat that was inside this starchy mountain. If anyone has been to Pa Pa Walk and have tried this dish dish before, I'd love to know more about what the ingredients actually are.

With around 100 food items on their menu and I'm not even counting the beverages or desserts, Pa Pa Walk definitely offers a variety of Taiwanese foods. In writing this blog entry, it reminds me that I've only covered 10% of their menu. Considering that I really enjoyed both meals, even with a couple of exceptions, perhaps it's time for a re-visit and it's a place you my consider checking out for the first time yourself.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157610253741407/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157610330467497/

Pa Pa Walk
227 W Valley Blvd # 148B
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 281-3889

Tacos with a Korean Twist

Last month, I was online reading through my email when one came in with a subject header that immediately piqued my interest. Simply, I saw the words "Korean Taco Truck" and my world stopped. Korean Taco Truck? Even before I opened the email to read, I was ready to drive to wherever that truck happened to be parked just to check this food out. It almost didn't matter that I was snug in my pajamas at 11:00 pm in the suburbs.

Finally, I opened the email and it was an invitation from Alice Shin, PR person for Kogi BBQ, to attend a Korean taco tasting. A melding of Korean and Mexican flavors definitely intrigued me and I was already to RSVP Yes until I saw the date. :( Unfortunately, I already had plans that night, so I thought all was lost. Luckily, thanks to Kogi BBQ Founder, Mark Manguera, I was able to arrange a private tasting for me and a few friends this past Saturday.

As I was driving to our meeting place, I actually end up parking behind the Kogi BBQ taco truck, which wasn't hard to miss. It had a brightly orange and red sign with the Kogi name in black on the back of the truck. By the way, the word "Kogi" means meat in Korean. On hand for our tasting was Mark himself, his wife and co-founder, Caroline as well as Caroline's brother, Website Administrator/Photographer, Eric Shin and Chef Roy Choi, former Executive Chef of Rock Sugar.

From Mark came the story of what sparked the creation of Kogi BBQ. Apparently, it started with a few bottles of champagnes that led to a discussion of how in Korea, street food was the best way to sober up, which in turn led to the subject of taco trucks and voila, a Korean taco truck was born. As for the menu, the recipes themselves are a collaboration between Caroline and Eric's mother and Chef Choi.

For this tasting, we got to sample 4 different tacos and one surprise addition. One tidbit from Chef Choi is that there is a different marinade for each of the proteins as well as a different dressing for the salad and sesame seeds that tops each taco. I really like the fact that he really thought about what would pair well together.

My first bite was of the Korean chicken taco and I really appreciated how the meat was charred to a golden brown, giving it a light smoky taste. I also liked that the chicken had a just grilled taste to it and that the splash of chili sauce added a much appreciated kick. Then I sampled the Korean short rib taco. I loved how the grill gave the meat a wonderful caramelization that was both sweet and richly satisfying and with just a squeeze of lime, the flavor marriage of sweet and tart made this taco my favorite of the four we sampled.

Next came the sweet smoky heat of Korean spicy pork taco, which made my tastebuds quite happy; however, a squeeze of something quite unlime-like added a different dimension altogether. On all the plates that our tacos came on, orange wedges sat side by side with the lime wedges. At first, I thought the oranges were some kind of palate cleanser, but Mark actually encouraged us to use it as an alternative to the lime. He's definitely on to something. A squeeze of orange juice on my pork taco added a wonderfully refreshing citrus-y component that really hit the spot.

If you're a vegetarian, you were not forgotten. Kogi BBQ also offers tofu tacos. Compared to the other three tacos, the tofu tacos were my least favorite and not because I don't like tofu either. The tofu needed more flavor and I wasn't that enthralled with the silky texture of the tofu itself. Now if that tofu was deep fried and perhaps marinated more, it would be a different story. Also, regardless of which taco you chose, the nice thing about them is that all the meat are cut into smaller pieces. That means that you don't have to worry about a big piece of meat hanging from your mouth just because you couldn't bite it off. What a relief!

In addition to the meat fillings, I also liked the dressed lettuce and sesame seed mixture that topped all of the tacos. The salad was light and enhanced the flavors of the tacos without detracting from them. One thing I personally would like to see is the addition of more "crunchy vegetables" that I can add to my taco experience. Thankfully, there's already some thought into creating some kind of kimchee/radish slaw and/or using cabbage as a way to add additional texture to the tacos.

After four tacos, we thought we were done, but Chef Choi decided to surprise us on the fly, with short rib sliders on Hawaiian bread rolls. How cool is that? I think the concept is great, but I think that there needs to be some additional recipe development. For my particular palate, it was just too sweet. The addition of the mayo actually helped cut that sweetness a little bit, but just not enough for me. I should add though that some of the tasters in the group liked the sliders as is, so it could just be preference on my part.

One thing that I forgot to mention is that along with the tacos, you'll be able to order burritos using the proteins mentioned above as fillings. In fact, you can even order a breakfast burrito, which contains eggs, hash browns, cheese as well as the meat of your choice. I could see myself scarfing down a short rib breakfast burrito topped with a little chili sauce for my first meal of the day. How about you?

Overall, it was a great experience. Mark, Caroline and Eric were great hosts and Chef Choi's food was fantastic and definitely memorable. I am officially a fan and I'm definitely looking forward to not only tasting even more of Chef Choi's fusion creations, but also seeing how far this venture will go (hopefully, well enough so that a Kogi BBQ taco truck will one day be hanging around in my neighborhood).

Kogi BBQ
Website
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How an Edible Book is Similar to a Food Blogger aka Socal Food Bloggers Unite!

There's a certain similarity between an edible book (in this case one made of cookie and frosting) and a food blogger. It's a surreal duet of food and art.

In the case of the edible book, it's creating literal art out of food where someone had to put some thought into it beforehand with the end result being something one can physically touch, smell and taste.

In the case of food blogging, it's creating written art describing an initial sensory experience with food with the end result being something that someone can vicariously touch, smell, taste, hear and see (at least at first). There's certainly nothing stopping the reader from indulging in their own tasty reality once they step away from their computer.

In the end, both the edible book and the food blogger's words could eventually feed the body, but what makes the food blogger stand out between the two is that their prose first feeds the mind, and if after partaking of the heady descriptions of that boldly flavored duck and fig appetizer or the delicate sweet hotness of the ancho chile flan, one becomes inspired to seek that food, than it's easy to see that there really is an art to being a food blogger.

So why am I waxing so poetically about food bloggers? Well, why not? It's my blog after all and what better use for a photo of an edible book than somehow using it as a comparison to food bloggers.

However, my reasons may be slightly more selfish than that. For the past year, I've been privileged to meet quite a few food bloggers through a variety of means and how refreshing it is to not be the only one taking out my camera to take photos of my meal. In fact, at one recent Foodbuzz dinner, it was almost surreal to see 15 to 18 cameras come out to take photos of one course after another. For once, I actually left my camera inside my purse just so that I could watch the show. It's been a pleasure and a honor meeting these wordsmith artists in person and it just hit me that I don't want to wait for outside forces to necessarily get us together. Why not take destiny in our own hands?

On that note, having run my own dining club, Pleasure Palate, for the past 5 years, I definitely am comfortable organizing a group, so instead of tricks on Halloween, I decided to create, what I hope will be a treat, for my fellow Southern California Food Bloggers in the form of a Meetup Group simply called Socal Food Bloggers. My hope is that through Socal Food Bloggers, it'll give many of us a chance to meet face to face through dining out together as well as offer opportunities for us to network, exchange info and for more experienced bloggers to help mentor newer food bloggers.

So if you're a Food Blogger and my definition of a Food Blogger is someone who has a stand alone blog with at least of 70-75% of the content towards food and/or beverages, I'd love for you to join the group. To join the group, which is free and only requires a Meetup membership, which is also free, click here or for more information, please feel free to drop me a line at abby@pleasurepalate.com.

FOOD FIGHT - Revolution Never Tasted This Good!

A few days ago I had a chance to screen the documentary called Food Fight by Filmmaker/Producer, Chris Taylor. I have to say that I really learned a lot more than I ever though I would. At first, I wasn't sure what to expect when I popped the DVD into my laptop. When I think of what a "Food Fight" means to me, it brought up visions of mashed potato flying across a crowded high school cafeteria and spinach being tossed back in a revengeful response.

But as I started watching, the words "Food Fight" took on a completely different meaning. We've literally travelled a full circle where initially, our food production was more locally grown and the freshness and the flavor of our produce was paramount. Then it changed and became more about subsidizing big business where the goal became more about food at a cheaper price, which also resulted in food that was as far from its natural state as you can possibly get. This was a price that in the end wasn't so cheap because consumers paid for it in obesity, diabetes and other health issues. Cheap food? Yes. Rising health care costs? A bigger YES!

In the 70s, things started changing in the form of Chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, who in her search for produce that tasted the way it was intended, fresh and bursting with flavor, literally created her own food chain away from larger retail grocery chains. This food chain consisted of local farmers supplying her with fruits and vegetables grown in the areas around her Berkeley restaurant, literally picked a day or so before hitting her kitchen ready to be made into tasty dishes, using ingredients that her customers have never even heard of, even though many were grown literally in their own backyard.

This revolution spread down to Southern California where Chef Wolfgang Puck took the baton and also ran with the whole concept of focusing on local produce to create changing seasonal menus year round. With him slowly becoming a celebrity chef at the time, the notion of California Cuisine as was started by Chef Waters started getting more national recognition through his efforts. There's definitely a lot more to this story than I can describe here, but as you can see, we have come full circle.

These days, farmer's markets have popped up all over the United States. Home cooks are following the same sensibilities of today's chefs and seeing and tasting the value of buying produce directly from local farmers. It's a wave and hopefully, it's a wave that will gain the strength and the momentum to make big government see the importance the food we eat and how it can truly contribute to the health of its people.

To find out more info, check out the links below:

FOOD FIGHT Trailer

FOOD FIGHT Website

If you'd like to actually see the documentary for yourself, there's a free AFI screening in Hollywood on November 8th, 2008 3:15pm at the Mann Chinese 6 on Hollywood Blvd. If you are not in Los Angeles or can't attend the screening, then click here to join the Facebook group to get updates of future screenings.

"The Four Schools of Chinese Cooking" - Dinner at Yunchaun Garden

A few months back, I came up on this online article on the Cooking Light website simply entitled "The Four Schools of Chinese Cooking" and as the title suggests, it talked about 4 different types of Chinese cooking based on schools or more likely "regions": East, West, South and North. Given the fact that I'm lucky enough to live in the San Gabriel Valley where the breadth of Chinese cooking is unparalleled, I thought I'd start a new dining series for Pleasure Palate where we would dine at restaurants representing each school, starting with the Western School.

Taken directly from the article, "The Western School [is] acclaimed for its spicy dishes, includes Sichuan, Hunan, and Yunnan provinces." Look below for more info.

What the West is known for: Fiery Dishes That Will Perk Up Your Tastebuds in a Big Way.

Styles of Cooking: Seasonings and Condiments Combine for Mouthfuls of Hot, Sour, Sweet and Salty All in One Bite.

Common Seasonings: Chiles (Fresh, Dried and in Pastes), Peppercorns, Ginger, Garlic, Water Chestnuts, Bamboo Shoots, Mushrooms and Nuts.

Representative Dishes: Kung Pao Chicken, Twice Cooked Pork, Szechuan Beef and Mapo Tofu.

To represent the Western school, I chose Yunchaun Garden in Monterey Park to be the first dining experience in this series and I tried to choose dishes, with the help of the staff, to best showcase what the Western School was all about. For our meal there, we shared 11 dishes. The dishes ran the gamut from awesome to good to okay to "What were we thinking?"

The absolute highlight of the meal for me was the Chongqing Spicy Cold Chicken. Sitting on a flaming red pool of chili oil, it was both vibrant looking and vibrant tasting. This chicken definitely packed some heat while the slight nutty-grassiness of the peanuts and green onions added some great flavor to this dish. Also a favorite was the Chongqing Special Flavor Boiled Fish. The fish itself was delicate and tender and it definitely absorbed the hot kickiness of the chili peppers and the spicy red broth it was cooked in.

Another really tasty dish was the fried lamb with cumin. The bite of the cumin, the spiciness of the red chili pieces beautifully flecked all over the meat's surface and the distinct bold flavor of the lamb really combined into a dish that was definitely a palate pleaser. Some of the other dishes were good, if not outstanding.

Everyone enjoyed the Kung Pao Shrimp. The Won Tons in Chicken Soup and the Sauteed Snow Bean Leaf helped in cleansing the palate in between bites of the spicier foods. I thought the Ma Po Tofu was okay, but needed improvement. After taking a bite, you could feel a little bit of heat on the tip of your tongue and maybe, the back of your throat, but compared to the other three, it lacked depth and dimension. It felt like it was hot just for the sake of being hot.

Dishes I wouldn't order again include the Twice Cooked Pork and the Stir-Fried Duck with Ginger. In both cases, both the pork and duck were chewy while the dishes in general were just really bland. The Yunnan Yam Cake also wasn't to my liking. I'm not even sure how to describe the texture. It reminded me of a firm tasteless jell-o.

In general, I enjoyed my meal and would come back for a return visit. I do prefer my food, while not necessarily mind-numbing hot, to be bold in flavor and my dinner at Yunchaun Garden certainly did provide that and sometimes more. I'm sure that I've barely cracked the surface of what the Western Style of Chinese Cooking is all about, so if anyone has any recommendations for what I can order for a future visit, I'd love to know about them.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157605509723582/

Yunchaun Garden
301 N. Garfield Avenue
Suite D102
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 571-8387

Skewer Me Happy at Raffi's

I know, I know. The title of this blog entry is questionable, but hey, get your mind out of the gutter. We're talking about kabobs here, specifically at Raffi's Place in Glendale. Besides, I thought the title was apropos since I left Raffi's pretty darn happy after my meal. I've been hearing wonderful things about Raffi's for awhile now, so I thought it was finally time to make a visit.

Upon arrival at the restaurant, you can see two distinct dining areas. There's the outdoor patio with an ocean view mural along the side wall and also an smaller inside dining room. I think it would actually have been fun to sit in the patio because it had a lively atmosphere, but it was packed so my group of 8 ended up sitting inside.

Once you get past the small section of salads and appetizers, the rest of the menu is two pages of different types of kabobs. For that night, our meal consisted of hummus, an eggplant dish, a yogurt dish and three different types of kabobs: Shish Kabob (grilled and skewered filet mignon), Chicken Barg (grilled and skewered boneless chicken) and Lamb Kabob (grilled and skewered marinated lamb) as well as dessert.

As we were waiting for our appetizers to arrive, other plates of food came to our table first. Basically, they included a plate of basil, mint, and onion slices flecked with parsley, radishes and imported black olives as well as a basket of squares of unleavened lavash bread and pats of butter. There was also a plate of grilled tomatoes and extremely hot peppers. It's situations like this that it's sometimes a good idea to do some research beforehand. What I found out was that the lavash are actually to be used "Korean BBQ-style" to wrap your meat in with the addition of the various herbs and veggies. It was nice to have that knowledge beforehand so that I can give my dining companions the scoop.

While the apps were quite tasty, the kabobs were the real stars of the show. When it comes to chicken dishes, especially when chicken breast is used, I've found that restaurants don't know how to cook it right. At times, it's pretty dry; however, the chicken kabob was tender, juicy and full of flavor as were the beef and lamb kabobs.

When you add the hand's on eating experience of using the lavash to wrap the various ingredients in before taking a bite, it was really a fun time for everyone. The addition of that raw veggie/herb plate was definitely on the money. What I did that night was tear off pieces of my lavash and along with the kabob meat of my choice and an array of different ingredient combo depending on what I wanted at the time. I'd add the onion or radish for a juicy crunch, the basil for a little kick and/or the mint for a sweet coolness. Occasionally, I'd even spoon a little hummus or eggplant to add something different. I would even add pieces of the grilled tomatoes, but definitely stayed from those green peppers, after taking a stinging bite of it. They were hot!

So far, it was a very satisfying meal, but amazingly enough (or maybe not so amazing since our group had a sweet tooth), we ordered three different types of desserts to share. First, there was the stuffed baklava layered with filo dough drizzled with pistachio and rosewater sugar syrup. The pastry was nice and flaky, but I always find baklava to be too sweet for me and that was the case here. We also tried their Chocolate Raspberry dessert, which was a ball shaped chocolate gelato with heart of raspberry sorbet covered with cocoa powder. I think this would have been better if the whole thing wasn't so icy. Cutting into it took some effort, but the flavor was good.

One dessert that not many at the table have had before was the Faloodeh Shirazi which is Persian iced dessert with rice noodles, rose water and syrup. I've actually had the rice noodles, rose water and syrup with ice cream before. The ice cream really cuts into the sometimes overwhelming sweetness of the rose syrup. Without the ice cream, I wasn't really into this dessert, but then our waiter pointed that we need to squeeze the lemon so that the juice would mix into the ice and the rest of the dessert. I was wondering why it came with half a lemon. Now I know. Once the lemon juice came to play, the sweet was balanced with tart and the whole dessert just seemed more refreshing. After the savory dishes we just had, the Faloodeh Shirazi was actually a wonderful palate cleanser.

Overall, the food here was excellent. The kabobs certainly lived up to their reputation and I was able to find a new and a better way of enjoying them. I look forward to a return visit and maybe, even check out their fish kabobs, which we weren't able to do this time around.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157605238703595/

Raffi's Place
211 E Broadway
Glendale, CA 91205
(818) 240-7411

Too Much is Sometimes Too Much at T Burgers

Awhile back, I decided to check out T Burgers in Monrovia. Although I heard good things about their burgers, for my first visit, I decided that a BLT with avocado, when paired with onion rings, was my idea of the perfect lunch. So I placed my order and when I heard my number called, I happily walked up to the counter to pick it up. However, when I first laid eyes on it, I thought that perhaps I forgot to bring a friend with me because it was certainly big enough to feed both of us.

But no, it was just me, so I took that substantial sandwich and sat down for my meal. Looking at it, I wasn't quite sure where to start, so I ate an onion ring or two while I planned my eating strategy. By the way, the onion rings were quite good. Crispy and crunchy, without being oily. But I still had that BLT in front me, waiting to be eaten. Finally, I just decided to go for it. I definitely knew that you can't really take one big bite out of that sandwich so I ended up taking smaller bites, which meant that I wouldn't always get a taste of all 4 ingredients at one time. That was a bit disappointing, but not a deal breaker.

In general, the ingredients tasted really fresh which I couldn't help but appreciate; however, less is sometimes more. I managed to eat my way through half of the sandwich and had 2-3 bites of the other half, but ended up just picking out the bacon and eating that, leaving everything else behind. There was just too much of everything, but even then, it was still a pretty good sandwich. I was still curious about their hamburgers, so I decided to make a return visit.

My second time around, I went for their Avocado Bacon Cheeseburger. Avocado again, I know, but I just love it. Sometimes, I'll even just cut one in half and eat with a spoon. Yum. Too bad, I don't have one right now. Anyway, I digress, let's get back to the Avocado Bacon Cheeseburger. Given how substantial my BLT was, I had a feeling that my burger was going to be the same and yes, it was. It was huge. I was amazed that they fit all the ingredients that they did. To eat it, you really had to keep the wrapper on and peel it away as you ate it into or else everything was going to pop out onto the table. Just like the BLT, it was all about small bites.

Again, the ingredients were pretty fresh, except for the avocado. It had some browning which wasn't too appealing, so I picked some of it away. I also ended up removing some of the lettuce, just to make for easier eating. As for the hamburger meat itself, I thought it was dry and a tad overcooked. The only moisture it really got was from the avocado.

Overall, I liked the BLT better than the Avocado Cheese, but in both instances, while I appreciated that T Burgers didn't skimp when it came to ingredients, which were the most part really fresh tasting, as I said earlier, less is more. For both sandwiches, I ended up taking out some of the ingredients just so I'd have an easier time eating them and that just seems a waste. However, if bigger is better in your book, than T Burgers will certainly do it for you.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157606509232081/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157606505820870/

T Burgers
226 W Foothill Blvd
Monrovia, CA 91016
(626) 357-4844
www.tburgers.com

Timeless Tradition and Artisan Food Making at E. Waldo Ward

So what's the deal with E. Waldo Ward, you may ask? Well, let me fill in you in with a little bit of history and it all started with marmalade. Edwin Waldo Ward was a luxury food salesman from New York who had a dream, specifically to make an English-style marmalade. Why English-style marmalade? Apparently, it was one of his best sellers and he felt that it could be made just as well in California. To that effect, he imported and planted Seville orange trees after he purchased 10 acres of land in the city of Sierra Madre.

Ward began experimenting with recipes in 1915 and two years later, built a factory and started making marmalade. His biggest customers were the railroads and Fred Harvey (famous for his restaurants and hotels along the railroad lines), for whom Ward made "ringlet" marmalade, which contained an artful array of round Seville slices. Eventually, Ward's business thrived and he purchased another 20 acres of land for a total of 30 acres where he grew the citrus for his marmalade. He also added other food items like jams and hand-stuff olives from Spain to his product line.

With the depression came some hard times and eventually, he had to sell the majority of his land. Present day, the Ward Ranch sits on between 2 to 3 acres of land. The original Seville trees Ward purchased are on private property elsewhere. What's unique about Ward Ranch is that the original house and barn are still on the property and are over 100 years old. Currently, Jeff Ward, fourth generation is now running the family business and amazingly enough, it hasn't been bought out by larger food companies as what tends to happen with small, family-run and owned businesses in general. Now you have some background, let's talk about their tour.

First, the tours are only during the weekends, but are completely Free. How often does that happen? So a few months ago, I set up one up. They start off inside the factory where Jeff gives a brief talk on the history of E. Waldo Ward. From there, he takes us through the process of how their food is manufactured. He starts with the olives, which are exported from Spain. Their various olives are hand-stuffed with a variety of ingredients, from pimiento to cheese and than hand-placed in the jars. No automation there.

He also mentions some of their other food products, which have expanded over and beyond the orange marmalade E. Waldo Ward started with. The types of products they manufacture and sell now include everything from bbq sauces to pickled or brandied fruits to condiments to unique jams and jellies like the Wisteria Jelly we were able to sample later. In recent years, Jeff has come up with the majority of the new product recipes, so he's definitely the Pied Piper of E. Waldo Ward. While most of their products are under their own label, some are also private label for other food companies.

After the talk, we took a tour of his manufacturing plant, which is isn't very big, but what's so interesting about it is their equipment. Employees work with burners that date to 1915 as well as a 1930 stainless steel citrus-peel slicer with a wall full of accessories. Some of the products are made in massive kettles, but many of the more delicate items -- say pickled peaches -- are cooked on the antique burners in pots hardly larger than a home-preserver might use. Two of the six kettles date from World War II. They're shiny clean, constantly in use. Pictures were also available so that we could see some of the equipment at work, from one depicting an employee stirring a large vat raspberry preserves to seeing a machine fill jars with the preserves to an employee screwing the lid by hand.

Then we actually got to sample some of their products and they included: wisteria jelly, four berry preserve, seville orange marmalade, sweet orange marmalade and an orange fruit spread. There's actually a difference between jellies, marmalade and fruit spreads, which Jeff explained, but I am drawing a complete blank. To find out more, click here. Jeff also included pickled kumquats, which were deliciously tart. After the tasting, we went into another room where we saw a conveyor belt. Once the lids are screwed on the jars, the jars are placed in containers and go down the conveyor belt where other employees can pick them up and take them to the building where labels are printed and placed on all the jars.

After we checked out the packaging building, Jeff took us the kumquat trees that lined the walkway to his property and showed us a trick when it comes to eating them since they can sometimes be sour. Simply, roll the kumquat between the palms of your hands to help release the oils of the kumquat skin, then pop the whole thing in your mouth, skin and all. It actually worked and there just something so cool about eating a warmed by the sun piece of fruit right off the tree.

Now that we were educated on kumquats, we were able to check out their farming museum, which is right inside their 100+ year old barn. On the way there, Jeff mentioned that the large barn tower was actually a water tower at one time and apparently haunted. At night, sometimes, there's lights flickering up there. Once inside the farming museum, I had no idea what was what, but it all looked well-used. So ended the tour. Afterwards, the retail store was open in case anyone wanted to purchase anything. By the way, they also have an online business, so if you can't make it to Sierra Madre, check out their website below.

Overall, this was as a short 45 minute tour, but what a joy it is to be able to visit a place where time-worn traditions are still in place and where just because you can change something, it doesn't mean you have to if what you have still does the job. Apparently, they even adhere still to the original marmalade recipe as created by E. Waldo Ward. Why fix something that isn't broke?

When you get a chance, try and take a tour of this piece of Americana. Come on, how often do you get to visit a small citrus farm and gourmet food manucturing plant right in the middle of the suburbs? If nothing else, you can drop by their retail store to pick up some product and even replicate the kumquat eating trick, but be sure to ask for permission first.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157606641325441/

E. Waldo Ward & Son, Inc.
273 E. Highland Avenue
Sierra Madre, CA 91024
626-355-1218
www.waldoward.com

Finally! A Food Tour Company in LA is Born! Welcome to Melting Pot Tours!

Having lived in Los Angeles since I was 5, you'd probably think it strange that I'd be happy to see a LA-based food tour company finally make its way here. After all, with me running my dining club, also called Pleasure Palate, for the past few years, I think I have a really good grasp on where to find good eats. Ethnic cuisine, fine dining and everything else in between is no problem. So why the excitement? It's simple really.

To me, the fact that a food tour company is now in LA will hopefully help people (primarily out of the Los Angeles area) finally recognize that LA is definitely a foodie town in its own right. In writing this blog entry, I've googled info about food tours in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, of which I found several in each city. Now if you google food tours in Los Angeles, one tour company will come up and they go by the name of Melting Pot Tours, run by sisters and co-owners, Lisa & Diane Scalia.

Do you know what else is great about having a company like Melting Pot Tours around? With LA being as big as it is, it's intimidating getting to know the dining scene. What Melting Pot Tours could offer is a way to help local residents get a chance to step out of their comfort zone and/or even their own neighborhood to start exploring the culinary bonanza that abounds in LA County. The same could be said for visitors or tourists, who may share the same intimidation factor of trying to weed through the LA's extensive foodie landscape. With a food tour, they can get a taste of LA to start and like local residents, this opportunity could also springboard them into wanting to learn more about what Los Angeles has to offer to the discerning diner.

After reading about Melting Pot Tours on both Eating LA's blog and Teenage Gluster's blog, I was more than ready to check it out, so this morning I embarked on their Farmer's Market and 3rd Street Food Tour. First off, when I met both sisters, Lisa and Diane, I absolutely loved their energy and passion for what they were doing. The tour started at the original Farmer's Market where we first heard a little history of how the Farmer's Market started and how it came to be in its present state.

After that, the tasting bounty started at Bob's Doughnuts where we had doughnuts, of course. What was great is that it just wasn't about the food, it was also about a little bit of history and/or information about that particular food stall or restaurant. For example, I learned that Bob's Doughnuts employees start making doughnuts at 4:30 am and that they are made from yeast. At Monsieur Marcel, we sampled cheese, olives and bread, but were also told the strange tale of the Caviar Cheese. Nope, I'm not going to give the story away. You'll just have to find out yourself when you go on the tour. Sampling stops were also made at Thee Bakery where we had Monkey Bread and Littlejohn Toffee for housemade toffee.

We also made some stops where we didn't have a tasting, but we learned a little more information about a particular vendor. For example, at Huntington Meats, they actually bring their lamb in whole from Colorado and break it down there and that way, they get all the best portions for their customers. Huntington Meats is also where Nancy Silverton has a special hamburger blend made just for her, but is also sold to other customers. At Light My Fire, some of their hot sauces are so hot, you actually have to sign a waiver before purchasing them. Blanche Magee of Magee Nut House, noticed the gathering of the farmers to sell their wares in 1934 and was the first to sell them sandwiches. Stop by there to watch employees make fresh peanut butter onsite.

One little tidbit that I learned about Brazilian BBQ that I also want to share before I start talking about our experiences on Third Street. When we got to Pampas Grill, we were able taste their deep fried yuca fries, a couple of their BBQ meats and their cheese bread. However, Diane shared with us from the owner of Pampas Grill that we should split the cheese bread, add a little hot sauce and then put the meat in the bread -- just like a Brazilian BBQ slider. Yum! I'm definitely going to remember that the next time I dine at a Brazilian Churascarria.

Pampas Grill was the last of our tasting journey at the Original Farmer's Market. Afterwards, we took a stroll down 3rd Street where our guides gave us some info on some of the storefronts and the restaurants that lined the street for future reference. Our first tasting stop on the 3rd Street was at the Little Next Door where we had freshly baked that morning French macaroons. I enjoyed my lavendar macaroon to the last bite. Following the macaroons was a delicious Chinese chicken salad from Joan's on Third and then we visited Le Labo, French Perfumerie.

You're probably thinking what does a French Perfumerie have to do with a culinary tour? Well, as explained by our guides, the appreciation we have for our meal is in large portion due to its aroma. If food smells appetizing, that's half the battle. Instead of a food tasting, we did more of a sensory tasting where we got to sniff oils that are foodie-based and included individual samples of cucumber, cloves, grapefruit and a few others. Le Labo is interesting in that after talking with you, they will recommend a fragrance and than mix it for you right there onsite to take home. By the way, for each city, Le Labo has a shop, they'll develop a fragrance specific to that city that can only be purchased at that particular shop. Their Los Angeles fragrance will be coming into their shop in a couple of weeks, if anyone is interested.

The rest of our tasting tour included visiting the fabulous Cook's Library where you can browse over 7,000 cookbook titles, a tea sampling at Chado Tea Room and finally, soba noodles and sushi at Mishima, a Japanese food manufacturing company-owned Japanese restaurant. The entire tour was approximately 3-1/2 hours as was mentioned in their tour description. Dress comfortably and wear comfortable shoes. What was nice is that for those of us who didn't want to walk back from Third Street, Lisa and Diane took care of everyone's bus fares.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience. Of course, the tasting part was wonderful, but even more than that, the great information that the sisters gave throughout our tour was really helpful. Also having some of the owners of the various shops come out and talk briefly to us about their business and their food was definitely a bonus. In the end, I am really looking forward to finding out what else Melting Pot Tours has in store for all of us and hopefully through them, locals and visitors alike will start getting a better appreciation of the wonderful LA foodie culture.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157606770357816/

Melting Pot Tours
P. O. Box 844
Manhattan Beach, CA 90267
424-247-9666
www.meltingpottours.com