Giveaway: Tickets to Pasadena Wine Festival

The second Pasadena Wine Festival is coming to the Los Angeles Arboretum on Saturday, October 9 from 2pm-10pm.

There will be wines from many regions in California, Spain, and Australia (see the participants here).

To soak up all that wine and fuel you up for a walk around the arboretum there will be samples and food for purchase from World Fare Bustaurant, The Dosa Truck, The Grilled Cheese Truck, Crepe 'N Around, Border Grill Truck, and Sprinkles.

I really wanted to go, walk around the arboretum while drinking wine myself but alas, I'll be out of the country. YOU can go though!

They're giving away FIVE PAIRS of general admission tickets ($28 value per ticket) to the festival which gets you:
admission to the arboretum to enjoy a tram tour (usually arboretum admission and tram tour would cost you $12), live music, food samples from the vendors, and you can sample wines from all the participating wineries for $1 each.

To win a pair, just leave a comment below with your email.
Get extra entries by tweeting: "Win tickets to Pasadena Wine Festival @PasWineFest via @gourmetpigs http://bit.ly/9E5eCW"
Leave another comment letting me know you did so though, so I can keep track!

Contest ends on September 30. There are five pairs to give away so you have pretty good chances. Good luck!

Mariscos El Teto's: A Gem of a A Seafood Trailer

Mariscos El Teto's isn't a food truck. It's a food trailer.
Parked throughout the day in front of a floor demolition store on Lankershim Blvd in Sun Valley, a couple of foldable chairs and table sit at the edge of the curb.

Street Gourmet LA has shared his find months ago and brought plenty of bloggers here, including me, to enjoy the amazing Ensenada-style seafood (I just never got around to blogging until now).

The real reason I made the trek to Sun Valley was this: the sea snail (caracol). I haven't had sea snail since my first trip to Baja where we encountered La Guerrerense. El Tetos will cook your sea snails concha preparada (in the shell) many different ways and they were well worth the drive.

The manta ray tacos with black olives, octopus, cilantro, onions are another reason to visit El Tetos. A meaty, seafood experience in your hands.
A table on the curb holds all the salsa and condiments, onions, and lemons.

El Tetos have a "large" menu though for the most part they are different preparations of the same protein.

The fish taco here can truly stand up on its own, challenging Ricky's as the best Baja fish taco in town - perhaps the only one around who can.

If manta rays aren't your style, they also have a solid carne asada ...
... and crispy empanadas rather overwhelmingly topped with chopped tomatoes and cabbage.

Bill and I were just talking about this amazing marlin "ham" he had in Baja, and all of a sudden, what did they bring out? Marlin ham!
This "ham of the sea" was like nothing I had tasted before. Its meaty and flaky, like you would expect from this type of fish, with a whiff of the ocean naturally, but it was the smokiness that made it so very special. I think this was a rare treat for Bill and I was lucky enough to be there. I'm not sure how often they'd have something this special there again. Hopefully I'll get to have some more in the near future.

For most of us, Mariscos El Teto's is far, but it is undoubtedly worth a try. As always, props to Street Gourmet LA for driving all over the state finding gems like this.

Mariscos El Tetos
8854 Lankershim Bl.
Sun Valley, CA
(818)335-3157

Padang Food 101(Sari Nusantara, Surabaya, Indonesia)

Padang is the capital of West Sumatra (which is mostly known for the earthquakes and tsunamis that happened nearby).
When you go to a Padang restaurant, an array of dishes will be placed on your table. Rendang (beef curry), curried vegetables, egg balado, and many more.

It's not all you can eat, though. You pay for what you take and eat, so if you don't think you really want to eat a particular dish don't touch it.

Padang cuisine is known for their spicy dishes and a variety of curries can always be found. Rendang is so popular everywhere now, including in LA. Simpang Asia's rendang actually won the curry competition a couple years back. Padang food is usually cooked once a day and mostly served at room temperature. That's why when you go to a Padang restaurant, they will display everything and let you do the pick and choosing at the table.

When Mattatouille and Glutster visited my home town, we went to Sari Nusantara, a Padang restaurant in Surabaya, for their first Padang meal.
That day the three of us plus my friend and my dad pretty much ate all the dishes. The tour de force: fish head curry
The body of the fish was grilled but in my opinion the fish head curry is superior with its much more tender meat.

When I was little and couldn't eat spicy food (still can't today but I'm getting way better) I used to eat ayam pop, chicken cooked with garlic and butter. I loved ayam pop but I'm not sure if it was because now I can eat spicier food or because the version at Sari Nusantara wasn't that good, but the one we had that day was pretty bland. I would have to try ayam pop at Rumah Sederhana again to see which it really is.

daun singkong (cassava leaves)

To calm my palate down, I had a glass of kopyor. Kopyor is actually a coconut with a genetic defect. Instead of the smooth, meaty flesh in a regular coconut, the flesh of kopyor is tender, easily peels off from the inner layer of the skin, and is crumbly. There usually isn't much water inside kopyor, and the flesh is made into a drink using syrup. Es kopyor is a very popular drink in Indonesia and costs more than regular coconut.

There's a folklore that says that when there is a lunar eclipse, the moon comes down to earth and eats coconuts. The leftovers of those eaten coconuts become kopyor.

If you are in LA and want to try Padang food, I'd suggest Raso Minang in West Covina.

Sari Nusantara
Jl. Gubernur Suryo No. 24
Surabaya
Jawa Timur (East Java)
Phone: 031-5348638