Unhipster's Hangout: Mel's Fish Shack in South LA.

Last weekend, my daughter at USC wanted to have a late lunch with us. Pleasantly surprised, I was intending to treat her to a nice sit down place near USC to sample a Restaurant Week menu in Los Angeles. The place I wanted to try was Govind Armstrong's Post and Beam Restaurant, but by the time we got there, the hoity toity upscale place was closed: It was the hiatus between lunch and dinner!* Too bad for Govind. I didn't quite like the food he had at his previous restaurant Table 8 on Melrose and wanted to give his food another chance. Oh well, next time.

      *(Aside) I tell you, you'll never find these breaks in a self respecting Chinese restaurant.
        They are always open at all hours all the time, including Christmas, Thanksgiving and New
        Year!

My daughter used Yelp and found Mel's Fish Shack. She said it's highly rated, so we decided to give it a try.  Mel's is located in a god forsaken area on Jefferson Blvd. where only rundown shacks and warehouses seem to abound. The street was deserted. I kept telling my daughter that she is not allowed to come out here by herself at night because it seemed too dangerous. Well, I digress.

Me's Fish Shack is in a little shack covered by a bold mural. Inside, you can only sit at a counter that seats maybe 10 customers all together. When we got there, there were five other people at the counter: three African American old timers, and a Latino couple. Everyone seemed to be waiting patiently for their food. We were told to go to this little window to place our order first and then head back two steps to sit at the counter. Most of the items involved fried seafood. We ordered the fish wrap, fried sole, and fried red snapper, a Yelp recommended potato salad and cole slaw. The cook, a big African American guy in dreadlocks and Jamaican knit hat was behind the counter cooking in plain view.  He burned the tortilla for the African American lady's fish wrap, so he had to put another one on the grill. She had to remind him before it almost got burned again. He thanked her for the reminder. It was hilarious. Everyone seemed to take the mishaps and wait in good humor.

When our food finally came, I found my grilled cajun seasoned fish wrap very tasty. Our battered red snapper and sole were fried to perfection. Oddly, the fried fish dishes came with a slice of supermarket bread instead of tortilla or rice. Everything hit a spot for us, but it's also possible that we were famished by 3:30 in the afteroon. Mel's tartar sauce was delicious and unique, but when we asked the chef what's in the tartar sauce, he said that if he told us, he'd have to kill us! He did give us a hint: dill. I think it's got Worcester sauce and garlic in mayo as well.

Our three lunches came out to be around $30. Not too bad for fresh fish and a fun experience exploring a new neighborhood in LA.

Mel's Fish Shack
4524 West Jefferson Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90016

(323) 732-6357

Unhipsters' Hangout: Tacos Por Favor

In a not quite developed area of Santa Monica near the Crossroads School and across street from Snyder Diamonds plumbing showroom is this non-descript place called Tacos Por Favor. I once took my sisters from the east coast to eat there and they belittled me for how "downscale" this place is: No wait staff, no fancy tables: you order at the counter, scoop up your salsa yourself, find a table, wait for you order number to be called, go fetch your own food and sit and eat. (Come to think of it, most good Mexican restaurants here in LA are like this. Those east coasters who only eat at chain Acapulco restaurants just don't realize it.)

Well, Tacos Por Favor has the best battered, deep fried fish tacos. I ordered a pork posoles and it was delicious. Posoles is a pre-Columbian Mexican soup made with a meat and hominy, a cacahuazintle maize. It looks like big corn kernels, but doesn't taste as corny. They add a great texture to the soup. Their tortilla soup was also hearty and satisfying. I wouldn't call this place the cheapest Mexican food establishment, but being in Santa Monica, what do you expect?

Upscale Yet Casual. Huckleberry Cafe and Bakery in Santa Monica

Lunch at Huckleberry Bakery and Cafe on Wilshire and 10th in Santa Monica is a nice experience. A bit pricey, but the baked goods and prepared salads are tasty. Everything looks freshly made. At lunch time, even after 1:00 pm, the place is packed. You go to the counter, order your food, take a table number, and the staff will bring your order to you. The process is quite efficient and after a very short wait, we found a seat.

While the food at Huckleberdy's is generally good, their interpretation of the huevos rancheros is ingenious.: two deep fried taco shells smothered with black beans, queso, a fried egg and salsa. Beautiful and delectable: a perfect combination. Highly recommended.

Unhipsters' Hangout: Potato Tacos at El Atacor in Cypress Park

On the outskirts of the uber hip Highland Park is Taqueria El Atacor, a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant just north of downtown Los Angeles, close to the thrift stores St. Vincent De Paul and Good Will. Taqueria El Atacor is what I would call a dive, with tacky decor: A taxidermy antelope head on the wall, a juke box, a mural, all past the counter where one orders the food and the kitchen where the food is cooked. Every time we go there, there is hardly anyone dining in the restaurant, let alone any hipsters. I suppose most people order take out because the place simply has no ambience worth speaking of.

But we go there repeatedly for one particular item: The deep fried potato tacos smothered in sour cream, guacamole sauce and cheese. While I've had good steamed potato tacos, the potato tacos here are stuffed in the taco shells and fried together. The pico de gallo here is the best and we top the tacos with it.

The best thing about the potato tacos? A bargain $8.50 for ten of those heavenly things. (A couple of years ago they were $7.00 for 10, but I guess all prices go up).

Let's hope that hipsters don't discover this place and drive up the price any time soon!

Taqueria el Atacor:

2622 N Figueroa St

Los Angeles, CA 90065

http://www.taqueriaelatacorrestaurants.com

Unhipster's Hangout: Johnnie's French Dip Pastrami

Are you sometimes tired of all those hipster locale's such as Abbott Kinney Blvd., Highland and York Blvd.? Silverlake and Echo Park . . . .? Do you sometimes feel like you don't belong in those places because you are not dressed hip enough to be seen there? Do you get sick of the $5 lattes, and cappucinos, $15 glasses of wine, $18 small plates and $45 entrees in those oh so chic places? And do you sometimes notice that when you go to those places, the clientele are the white folks and Asian folks and wonder where does the rest of Los Angeles go? Well I do. Sometimes it's just nice to walk into an unpretentious place with good food, reasonable prices, a diverse clientele, and friendly staff, and walk out feeling like you've just been to some place real good.

For those of you who feel "unhip" occasionally, or all the time, I'm going to write about some down home places I like called Unhipster's Hangout. The first of these places I'm going to talk about is Johnnie's Patrami Restaurant in Culver City which has been around since 1952. Situated on the corner of Washington Blvd. and Sepulveda, Johnnie's is a throwback to the Americana of the olden days. (Not that I know exactly what the olden days look like since I didn't come to the US until 1978). It's a diner that serves fried chicken, hamburgers, pickles, coleslaw and the world's best pastrami sandwich. There are three kinds of seating: stools around the counter,  booth with high back bench seating, or outdoors on picnic style tables around a fire pit. On the counter and tables, there are little juke boxes where you can queue up songs from selections such as "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", "Monday Monday", "Gloria", and many more oldies and not so oldies but goodies.

The wait staffs seem to be from another era: Surly and no nonsense elderly ladies who look kind of unfriendly, although our waitress tonight was a young woman who is awfully nice and polite. (I just checked their website and what do you know? Some of the waitresses are originals! How cool is that!) When you look around, you don't see any hipsters, just downright unhip older folks like me who've probably been coming here forever for the famous pastrami sandwich and chili fries. There tonight were older African Americans couples,  older white folks, an old Asian/caucasian couple, and some African American young men. The pastrami sandwich isn't exactly cheap at $12.75, but it's huge and enough for two people. I like mine with melted Swiss cheese. The cup of joe is not espresso, but has unlimited refill. By the time I walked out of Johnnie's, I felt as if I've rediscovered a treasure, and hoped that hipsters don't swarm here any time soon.

A Sunday at the Los Angeles Central Library With free Street Parking

The Los Angeles Central Library is an architectural gem and the pride of Los Angeles. I hardly ever go there because I usually go to my neighborhood branch library which has ample parking while I can never find parking at the Central Library. You can park at its garage with validation, but it still costs money. I have a thing against having to pay for an experience that should be free, like going to the public library!

After years of budget cuts, Through some bond measure that we all had to pay for, Los Angeles finally restored the weekend hours at the library. I was downtown this weekend and decided to drop by the library to walk about. I circled the library a couple of times and found a parking spot right in front of the side entrance. Street parking was free on a Sunday in Los Angeles, so that suited me very well.

My destination was the map room in the history section and the Chinese books section, so I was in the newer part of the library and taking the escalator up and down. The atrium in this part of the library is so grand with hanging sculptures everywhere.The book collection here is also so much better than the local branches. I borrowed some books that I wouldn't have been able to find in my local branch, so that was good. 

WARNING: While walking through the 4th level history section of the library, I smelled stale urine. Someone must have peed on the carpet. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE in a public space that belongs to all of us. Library staff, please clean it up thoroughly. If it's the homeless peeing in the library, they should be directed to the restrooms! I guess homeless people using the library for not just book browsing happens everywhere. I remember when we went to visit what was a brand new Seattle Public Library a few years ago, we were told that the restrooms were painted a horrible puke green to discourage the homeless from loitering there. Libraries should be for book browsing and reading. However, I guess one cannot prevent the homeless from using this beautiful facility as well since it is public space. This is an urban problem that probably cannot be avoided. But still we must try. Otherwise who will visit the library?

A taste of Egg Slut... Finally

Heard about Egg Slut for quite some time. Been to the Grand Central Market several times but the line for Egg Slut was always so long that I've always opted for the other food stands there rather than wait in line. By the way, the soft tacos stand giving out free samples of its carnitas tacos is delicious, and its jamaica (hibiscus) drink for a dollar is the best I've had.

This past weekend, my daughter and I braved the long line and waited to finally get a taste of the Egg Slut. Wow! It is good. An egg on a bed of buttery mashed potatoes, slowly poached, or "coddled" to perfection in a small glass jar was absolutely heavenly. But at $9.00 a pop, it's a bit expensive considering the ingredients probably cost no more than 50 cents. Now I'm going to try making it at home and save a few bucks.