If I could visit Loteria Grill and eat this pepper (people, what kind of pepper is it?) stuffed with beans every day for lunch, life could never be blue. The little hash of almonds, raisins, beef, and cubed vegetables served alongside it would help, too.
Southern Californian drivers are kind, kind people. They make the drivers I learned from in Boston seem like downright barbarians. And don't even get me started on New Yorker cabbies. Wouldn't it be lovely to send all those jerks packing to LA where no one honks, people are patient, and there is nary a middle finger in sight?
(The first time I have seen David's new book on display! At The Cook's Library: a store I wish I could visit at least once a week.)
The reason I have never liked dates is clearly because I was never offered the gloriously soft and sticky specimen that is the honey date, and since discovering honey dates two days ago, I have decided life is simply not worth living without them.
If you come to Los Angeles and leave without a meal at Triumphal Palace in Alhambra, or specifically, without ordering the Steamed Baby Bok Choy in Fish Broth or the Mustard Greens in Supreme Soup at Triumphal Palace in Alhambra, I'm not sure you can be helped.
There is a lemon tree in the backyard and there are lemons picked from this tree in our kitchen and somehow this little fact has kept me tickled pink for at least 12 hours. I think if we end up actually using the lemons, I will be entirely overwhelmed.
Hey!
It's out already/...I thought I had the only rare, first-ever copy...
Cook's Library is great, although you NY'ers have Kitchen Arts & Letters. Hope LA is lots of fun, and eat lots of Zankou chicken (witih garlic sauce) for me.
Posted by: david L | March 20, 2007 at 02:28 AM
Recruit recruit recruit!
We Californians are a lucky bunch, tis true.... jyst try and fly North one hour-- we'll never let you go!
Posted by: shuna fish lydon | March 20, 2007 at 03:53 AM
Hi Luisa, I believe it's an ancho chile, which is a smoked poblano (the traditional pepper used for relleno). You can find them here at Kitchen Market.
Posted by: Lisa (Homesick Texan) | March 20, 2007 at 08:46 AM
I was going to say I think it's a Pasilla pepper, but I think they tend to be a little skinnier, so maybe Lisa is right, I mean, not because she's from Texas or anything ;-)
Please don't move to LA. Too many people I know have done it lately. It would depress me.
Posted by: ann | March 20, 2007 at 08:56 AM
OK, I was going to guess guajillo pepper, but I defer to Lisa as she is from Texas!
Posted by: Lydia | March 20, 2007 at 09:55 AM
Glad you had a good time, another convert to the world of dates hooray (p.s. there's also a product called 'date honey' which is like a syrup, though obviously different from the date variety called honey)
Posted by: Mercedes | March 20, 2007 at 04:25 PM
triumphal palace's baby bok choy is sooo good! i'm so glad you went there. did you try the oysters w/scallion and ginger by any chance? so good. actually everything i had there was amazing.
you know i should probably be ashamed, but i've never been to a cook's library! it's just that it's in a congested no parking area...
Posted by: susan | March 20, 2007 at 05:46 PM
You've GOT to be kidding about the good drivers, right? If you're serious, then you haven't spent enough time in LA. God knows where you were actually driving.
Posted by: stwsr | March 20, 2007 at 06:14 PM
David - oh, and the folks at A Cook's Library said to say hi. They love you (who doesn't?).
Shuna - awesome. SF is up next. I'm going to hold you to your word!
Lisa - thank you. Now the next question is, does Kitchen Market fill them with the same delectable bean filling? I'm not sure it's in my cooking capacity to recreate it ;)
Ann and Lydia - pasilla, guajillo, ancho, whatever - it was delicious. How IS it that New York has nothing like Loteria Grill? We've got everything else for crying out loud ;)
Mercedes - for so long, I couldn't figure out what everyone was going on about with those dates. Stringy, unpleasant little things. NOW I know. Thank goodness.
Susan - we found a parking spot right in front, but I think that's probably tourist's luck. Still, I bet you'd love the store.
Stwsr - I've spent a grand total of 2 days driving in L.A., so give me a break. Compared to the honking nightmare of the streets of New York, it's been heaven.
Posted by: Luisa | March 20, 2007 at 09:48 PM
Reasons I may have to move back to CA:
1. Lemon tree
2. Lime tree
3. Avocado tree
4. Chinese food in Alhambra/Monterey Park etc.
5. Ruen Pair on Hollywood Blvd. -- do you have time? You must go -- order pork fried jerky and som tam with salted crab and sticky rice. Then go across the square and get coconut taro patties for dessert.
Posted by: Ganda | March 20, 2007 at 10:22 PM
Luisa,
Glad you made it to Loteria Grill and loved it! Yes, all my New York-transplant Californian-bred friends always wonder on the lack of similar Mexican food in NYC. Triumphal Palace looks and sounds amazing, I will have to put it on my to-eat list! Enjoy the rest of your days here--too bad the weather's being a bit gray.
Posted by: Andrea | March 20, 2007 at 11:17 PM
I have to agree - that's a poblano pepper. They're also AMAZING stuffed with a mixture of feta and parsley and roasted. Mmmm...
Posted by: Kathryn | March 21, 2007 at 12:19 PM
Oh I forgot to include Triumphal Palace in my recs! Fabulous dim sum too if you get a chance.
Posted by: Clare Kleinedler | March 21, 2007 at 01:17 PM
What lovely pictures. But what really caught my attention is your worries about what to do with your surfeit of lemons while I am surreptiously plucking them from the neighborhood trees - one here, one there - because I just can't get enough. Pies and preserves and squirted onto asparagus and made into lemonade and ... oh, how I adore these lemons. The west coast is a lovely place, indeed. Cheers!
Posted by: almost vegetarian | March 21, 2007 at 02:03 PM
I love Loteria Grill, although I've never eaten at the stand. I went to a party that Loteria catered. And the Triumphal Palace is a great thing to know about. I get so encased in my little West Hollywood world that I rarely get the chance to venture out to distant, far-off lands like Alhambra. Thanks and hope you had/are having a fantastic time!
Posted by: Grant | March 21, 2007 at 06:02 PM
Ganda - oh, YUM. I'm adding it to the list. There should still be some time left here or there... ;)
Andrea - the weather finally broke today! I think I was the happiest person in LA County.
Kathryn - that does sound delicious. Since I need hand-holding with my new-found love for Mexican peppers, do you have a recipe?
Clare - someone else beat you to it ;) Seriously, what a delicious meal. We were wondering if it might have been our best Chinese meal Ever.
almost vegetarian - oh, SURE. Rub it in, why don't you? ;) Lucky Californians...
Grant - I'm so glad I've alerted you to the glories of Triumphal Palace! Enjoy it - I'll bet you will.
Posted by: Luisa | March 22, 2007 at 02:42 AM
Luisa, I have several recipes for those delightful poblanos - will send you some when you get home and are "recovering" - they may not be as exotic but I think Lisa aka HST would approve - glad you are having a good time.
Posted by: Larry | March 23, 2007 at 09:24 PM
Hello, I'm just a guest pass by your page through Google.
Since I'm looking for Pancake's picture, I found your "delicious" page. ^-^
I hope you don't mind if I take some of your photo, they're great.
I love food, though I am a tiny Vietnamese girl.
...Anyway, thanks for your food.
Posted by: NguyetMinh | April 19, 2007 at 10:58 PM