Fritzi DTLA: A Game Changer in the Arts District

One of the newer restaurants I was excited to try was Neal Fraser's new Fritzi in DTLA's arts district. I've been seeing a lot of instagrams of their rotisserie chicken, and most importantly, waffle tots, aka potato waffles.

Yes, waffled tater tots. Get it with cheese, always.

The potato waffles can be ordered as a side, or you can get them with an order of the rotisserie chicken

You can order the rotisserie chicken as 1/4 chicken for $15 or 1/2 chicken for $19, and it comes with your choice of fries, tots, or potato waffles, and a choice of vegetables of the day. You can also order one of their dipping sauces starting from $0.50 and includes options like green harissa, black garlic aioli, Louisiana aioli, or Vermont beer-cheddar (I love the harissa).

I typically don't order chicken, especially chicken breast, but that's because many times restaurants make them too dry. That won't happen with Fritzi's rotisserie chicken, though, with its perfectly tender and juicy meat.

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Cochon Butcher: New Orleans' Best Sandwiches, Elvis King Cake

Happy Mardi Gras! Where are you all celebrating this day of revelry?
In honor of this day, I thought I would post my favorite place I visited last time in New Orleans. NOLA is home to many great sandwiches that were invented here, but this places takes them to the next level. Yes, Cochon Butcher is a hip, "craft" sandwich place. And the sandwiches are amazing.

The Muffuletta was invented at Central Grocery in New Orleans, but I believe the best muffuletta in the city is here at Cochon Butcher. The giant sandwich costs $12.

Sure, there is something satisfying in the messy, old school sandwiches (and you shouldn't miss a pilgrimage to Central Grocery - still a great spot!), but the muffuletta here is perfect. Great sesame bread, the right ratio of olives, various deli meats and mozzarella. Of course, the key is the fact that the meats they use at Cochon Butcher are housemade or house cured, so it's a flavor you won't get elsewhere.

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Amsterdam Falafelshop, a Cheap and Quick Lunch in Fenway-Kenmore (Boston, MA)

Boston University students are lucky to have Amsterdam Falafelshop close to them in the Fenway Kenmore area. This place is perfect for a quick, cheap, and satisfying lunch (or dinner).
The menu is simple: you get falafels either in a pita or in a bowl, either small or large. There's also fries. But after you order you can go crazy with the toppings.

Amsterdam Falafelshop has an impressive topping bar with hummus, garlic sauce, fried eggplant, various salads, sauces, and all kinds of other goodies to bury your falafel under! If you order a pita, you can fill it with as much topping as you desire/ can fit in. If you order a bowl, then you pay by weight.

A small pita with 3 falafels is $6, and if you're good with fitting in your toppings you'll already get a filling sandwich. That's why this place is great for students (and postdocs like me)!

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New Lunch Deal at Del Frisco's Grille

Del Frisco's Grille recently launched a lunch deal dubbed "Grab a Pair". For $12 you get your choice of : any personal size flat bread, half of a chicken avocado wrap, 2 fish tacos, or half of a banh mi. This will be served with your choice of mixed green salad, caesar salad, or cup of soup.

If you want a flat bread with a kick to it, try the Spicy pork meatball with banana peppers, fresh mozzarella and housemade ricotta.

The pork banh mi also comes with chips.

I think the $12 lunch combo is a good deal given the ambiance and service at Del Frisco's Grille, and the many options make it a good spot for a group work lunch. Even if you don't want to do the $12 deal, there are many choices here from appetizers to salads and entrees.

For the banh mi they use the same BBQ pork that they use in the Asian street tacos (BBQ pork with Korean marinade, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, cilantro, chiles, $10.50)

Lollipop chicken wings Buffalo style, avocado ranch dressing ($12)

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Trek-worthy Sandwiches from The Bacon Truck (Boston, MA)

I'm glad I got to take advantage of the summer weather this year by checking out various food trucks around Boston! One of my favorite finds was The Bacon Truck. I've seen this truck around and love their design: so many cute bacon strips doing random things like fishing or reading! The perfect truck for Gourmet Pigs, no?

Anyway, I finally tracked them down at Rose Kennedy Greenway. The Bacon Truck serves various sandwiches - with bacon, of course. They use exclusively thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon from Blackstone St. Smokehouse.
Other than their regular menu, they often rotate specials. Keep an eye out on The Cuban (braised pork shoulder, bacon, garlic pickles, muenster cheese, whole grain mustard, $9.50)

You wouldn't want to miss this sandwich if it's on the menu. It's a non-traditional Cubano, of course, but mighty delicious with tender pork, that thick bacon and the crispy griddled bread.

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Cheebo on Sunset (Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA)

Cheebo has been around on Sunset Blvd for a while, and their free wifi and all day menu seems to draw a few people either working on their laptops or having meetings there. The decor is colorful, fun, and a bit kitschy.

For appetizer, you must get the Polenta tots with pomodoro sauce ($9)

These fluffy fried polenta were addictive, they're way better than regular tater tots!

If you don't feel like getting a big entree, Cheebo has a big selection of salads and sandwiches, like this B.L.T.A (nitrate free bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado ($12))

I took half on the plane with me, and it was perfect!

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Spread PB Reinvents an American Staple

by guest blogger @iam_robot

If you’re like me, I think Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwich is the most perfect sandwich. It’s simple, convenient, and it pleases all the taste palate. Now comes the good news. What if I tell you there’s a place who’s willing to listen & personally make your fantasy-fueled bigger-than-life ambition PB sandwich? Yup, it’s time to put on the big boy pants! We’re moving on from your Mom’s stingy swipe of Skippy and Smuckers on white. Instead, we’re going to pile the condiments high enough that you’ll be eating a sloppy (ridiculously good) mess & smiling ear to ear (or seeing double rainbows) by the end of the meal…A little nutty?

While I serenely believe two pieces of bread topped with peanut butter and jelly is always good enough, I think some moderate tweaks could elevate its status to Super PB. Think of honey, banana, bacon, curry or chocolate sauce to complement the perfect duo, and I think I just had my “Whiplash” moment – yes, my mind is all over the f-king Happy Meal and not on pitch. Anyways, Spread PB, the humble concept by Katie Kerr & Dustin Alpert, is not some swanky PB Jelly place. There’s no artisan bread or jelly made up from seaweed, instead, you get all the flavors you’re accustomed to. Anyone from a 3 year old to a 93 year old would really appreciate this!

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Ames Street Deli (Cambridge, MA)

Backbar is one of my favorite bars in Boston, so when the same team opened Ames Street Deli near MIT, well, I was quite excited (and scared for my wallet).

Ames Street Deli is open from morning until evening with different offerings throughout the day (making the place even more dangerous for the wallet!). In the morning, come for a kouign amann. Ames Street makes a great one, the layers are so flaky and crispy with the baked sugar.

They also have breakfast sandwiches and scrambled egg donut and bacon and egg donut! I'm not quite sure yet what those are like because I haven't woken up early enough to go to campus for those, but I'm certainly intrigued. The kouign amann is also typically gone by late afternoon, so you should come earlier for that, too.

At lunch, you'll find sandwiches. The sandwiches are on the smaller side, but each order comes with a side dish! I really enjoyed the Rabbit Sandwich (mustard bread, rabbit mortadella, pork liver, beets, radish)

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Paninoteca is a Lunch Game Changer in Beverly Hills

Scarpetta at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills has often been named as having the best bread basket in the city. They make all the breads in house. Now, imagine if they opened a sandwich shop ... Oh, wait, they did. Paninoteca is now open right next door to Scarpetta (using the same kitchen space) for weekday lunches, and it is the game changer. Meet the best sandwiches and the best lunch deal in Beverly Hills.

There's no official seating at Paninoteca, but the courtyard at The Montage is the perfect setting for an al fresco lunch. Your order will come in a brown bag so you can head to the courtyard and enjoy LA's almost-always-perfect weather.

I tried three sandwiches and my surprise favorite was the Chicken "Parmigiano": Chicken cutlet, burrata, smoked tomatoes ($11)

Their bread, of course, is oustanding. On top of that they also use juicy dark meat, and paired with the perfectly creamy burrata and the flavors of a spread of smoked tomatoes, I couldn't believe how much I loved this chicken sandwich. Filling and flavorful with tender meat, it's possible the best sandwich I had last year.

Another best seller is the Porchetta (spiced pork belly, broccoli rabe pesto, fried hen egg, $11)

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Xi'An Hand Pulled Noodles at Gene's Chinese Flatbread Cafe (Boston, MA)

I've tried a few Chinese restaurants in the Boston area, and I wasn't really wowed by any of them. They're fine and would satisfy cravings, but there wasn't really many shops that specialize in any particular thing. But I kept reading about Gene's Chinese Flatbread Cafe, and I thought, this would be it. Gene's Chinese Flatbread Cafe, despite the name, really specializes in Xi'An style hand pulled noodles, also known as biang biang noodles.

The owner, Gene Wu, hand pulls the noodles every morning. There are a variety of noodle dishes you can try with the hand pulled noodles, but the crowd favorite seems to be the #9, served with cumin lamb. You'd also want to get a side of the cumin lamb skewer for $1.50 each.

The #9 dish consists of a base of chili oil, then hand pulled noodles, thin slices of cumin-seasoned lamb and topped with fresh bean sprouts, carrots, and cilantro.

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Panini Lunch at CiBOTECA (Santa Monica)

I'm always looking for places near Toyota Santa Monica to kill time whenever I take my car in (since that Toyota location has no wi-fi). During my last service, I walked over to Broadway to the new-ish CiBOTECA, a cafe and marketplace that serves paninis, cold deli items, and desserts.

I tried two different paninis, starting from the Cotoletta (Veal Milanese, dijon mustard, shaved parmesan, mizuna, $9)

Crispy veal cutlet between crunchy toasted seed bread!

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Tartine for Lunch at Esterel (Sofitel Los Angeles, Beverly Hills)

The restaurant inside the Sofitel Los Angeles hotel in Beverly Hills is now Esterel, a French-focused restaurant that kept the sleek interior of its predecessor.

The bread basket is generous and even included gougeres!

I came to try their lunch menu (although I tried them during dinner), which is mainly composed of a selection of tartine - open faced sandwiches - named after. Each tartine is served with a green salad and some fries.

There is a tartine for everyone here. There's the vegetarian friendly Beverly Garden (marinated heirloom tomato, cucumber, burratta cheese, artichoke, pesto, fleur de sel ). Executive Chef Marius Blin combines many ingredients to get

The creamy burrata is topped with crispy crumbles of potato chips.

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Firehouse Subs, Now Open in San Diego, CA

By: guest blogger Narin Johns

Gourmet Pigs was invited to attend Firehouse Subs in Point Loma, San Diego to meet with founder Robin Sorensen and taste some of their featured subs. Robin brings a lot of passion to Firehouse Subs when he describes everything from the humble beginnings of the business to the quality ingredients he personally tastes and sources. Named "Firehouse Subs" because both Robin and his brother - co-founder Chris, started their careers as firefighters and have integrated their experience into the decor, sub names, and even the condiments.

We were treated to some of the most popular items on the menu. The first was the Hook & Ladder Sub.

This was my personal fave -  topped with smoked turkey breast, Virginia honey ham, and melted Monterey Jack served "fully involved" (another firehouse term) meaning loaded with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion and a dill pickle on the side. In the first bite, I noticed the bread was fresh baked, slightly crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I was really impressed by the smokiness in the turkey and sweetness of the honey ham - sliced fresh in the store every day, and the melding of flavors with their delicious deli mustard and mayo. Firehouse prides itself in preparing subs using unique steaming method that really brings out the taste - unlike other "hot" subs I've tasted.

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Langer's #19 is Chowzter's Tastiest Fast Feast in North America!

I had been recruited by a new website and app called Chowzter to curate the best of Los Angeles "fast feasts" - the dishes that are not from a chain or fine dining restaurant. I've been contributing items to their list which can be found here (although some of those still remain from the old list!)

Anyway, Chowzter recently held an award for North America's Tastiest Fast Feast in San Francisco, and I had nominated some of LA's finest including Langer's #19 pastrami sandwich and Tsujita's tsukemen! At the end of the night the winners were announced .... and Langer's took home #1!! That's right, New York, LA's pastrami is numero uno. They even made a nifty video for it. You can see the full list of winners here.

Chowzter's trophy for Langer's

You can see my post of Langer's #19 here. So, anyway, I found out I wasn't supposed to keep that nifty trophy but give it to the restaurant instead :p
I went over to the deli last week to hand over the trophy to Norm Langer himself and his family. Such an honor to meet them!

The new trophy will replace the golf balls on top of the cash register. The daughter couldn't wait to get rid of those golf balls :)

Of course, since I was there I had to get some lunch. #19 may still be my favorite but I wanted to try something new and went with #6: pastrami and chopped liver on rye bread.

The chopped liver is creamy and doesn't taste too much like offal. It's a nice accompaniment for the pastrami. Psst, they also have a secret off-menu item right now ... pastrami chili cheese fries!

Bulgogi Banh Mi and Juices at Fruit Farm in Little Tokyo

An unassuming cafe called Fruit Farm had popped up inside of Little Tokyo's Galleria mall, serving fresh juices, smoothies, sandwiches, and salads. What to know is that one of the owners is Korean so you can get fun sandwich mash ups like this bulgogi banh mi ($6.75 gets you the two pieces shown below and you can get half filled with something else!)

What I actually like even better was the spicy pork banh mi that I got in my other half of the sandwich.

The bulgogi tends on the sweeter side and I think the light spiciness of the pork works better with the banh mi accompaniments, but both were good and interesting.

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Casual and Healthy Lunch at Twist Eatery

Twist Eatery recently opened in La Brea, serving breakfast, lunch and baked goods along with coffee.

The lunch menu is mostly healthy (although they do have a burger if you're so inclined).

I got the Salmon Bowl, with lentil, quinoa salad tossed in a pomegranate, vinaigrette served with moroccan spiced salmon and a citrus salsa ($14)

The salmon was nicely cooked, still moist, and the sauce and dressing were flavorful yet still light. I really liked this for a healthy yet still filling lunch.

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Pork Belly's (Venice, CA)

A couple doors down from a juice bar on Abbot Kinney is Pork Belly's, specializing in sandwiches made with meats smoked in-house by their competition BBQ pitmaster, Eric Solton.

There's no seating inside this small store, but you can eat on the wooden counter on the wall of graffiti and they're working on some outdoor seating.

Their signature sandwich is The Belly Up: Smoked BBQ Pork Belly topped with homemade coleslaw on a brioche roll ($8.95)

Generous amount of thick pork belly slices encased between brioche buns. It's decadent, for sure, but the slaw does a surprisingly nice job balancing the fattiness so that it's not too heavy on your palate.


If you're still afraid the pork belly will be too fatty for you, try The Chop: Brisket smoked for over 12 hours in their in-house smoker then chopped. Topped with homemade BBQ sauce and Cole Slaw on a brioche roll ($8.95)

This is easier to eat than the pork belly. With the shredded brisket you don't need to tear off a chunk of meat with each bite. The sauce is nice, slightly tangy. Again, the slaw balanced out the sweet BBQ sauce nicely so you can keep eating.

Oh, every sandwich also comes with a mini chocolate chip cookie, so watch out for it when you open the wrapper! The cookies are freshly baked and chewy.

Smoky Balls: Pork & Beef meatballs smoked then thinly sliced. Served with homemade tomato sauce, peppers and onions on a grinder roll, topped with melted cheese ($8.95).

The meatball had a very interesting texture, closer to meatloaf than the usual meatball. It's not as flavorful as the first two sandwiches but it had a subtle smokiness.

They also serve something which they claim are "like chili cheese fries but better". They're tater tots topped with either brisket (called Chop Tots) or chorizo (called Slop Tots) and melted cheese ($4.99)

Better than fries indeed! I only tried the slap tots but will need to try the one with brisket next.

You can still take your vegetarian friends here, where they can try the veggie sloppy joe or a grilled cheese sandwich.

Another side to get is the Fried pickles served with sriracha aioli ($3.95)

I think this is my first time having fried pickles but I really liked them, especially with that sriracha aioli.

There's no beer or wine here, but I have to admit I did enjoy the freestyle Coke machine with over 100 choices of soft drinks or lemonade. So. many. choices.

Pork Belly's offers something different in the Venice area and a quick, satisfying to-go lunch stop. To make it extra quick, you can also place your order online for pick up.
On Mondays and Thursdays they have ribs after 1:30 pm but unfortunately I was there too early to try it.

It's not just a lunch stop but they're also open late at night on the weekends (until 2 am on Fridays and Saturdays) and the food would be so good on those drunken nights and prevent hangovers!

Pork Belly's Sandwich Shop
1146 Abbot Kinney Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90291
(424) 777-8875
http://www.porkbellysla.com/

Disclosure: this meal was hosted 

Mini Food Cart Crawl: Nong's Khao Man Gai and The People's Pig (Portland, OR)

On my second trip to Portland, a food cart visit was a must, and why not try what is perhaps the most famous of them all: Hainanese chicken and rice at Nong's Khao Man Gai ($6.75)

The order I shared with e*starLA was breast meat. It was tender, but not incredibly special. Instead, the garlicky sauce is really what it's all about! Douse the meat and rice with plenty of it (extra sauce goes for $1).

I don't normally like chicken breast that much, though, and I should've been wiser and ordered like Eat Recklessly did. She asked for dark meat and said yes to the crispy skin! Her plate was 10x better than mine was. I am definitely asking for dark meat and getting the skin next time around.

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