Blossom Restaurant

For the last couple of weeks and the next four months I have been finding myself in Downtown LA on Tuesdays. I have dreamed of working in this unexplored area of Los Angeles and finding all kinds of new restaurants. Unfortunately, these first couple of weeks I haven't done that much exploring! Today, however I was excited to meet my Freshman year college roommate for lunch.  Forgoing our old favorite The Spaghetti Factory, we headed down the street to Blossom Restaurant for some quality Vietnamese food.

As usual, when I am eating out not with my husband I tend to lean toward places with foods he might not enjoy such as Asian or Indian foods. Sometimes I even go crazy and just get a weird sandwich!  In any event, when Melissa suggested Vietnamese I was totally game.

Blossom is right on the corner of Main just a few blocks from the courthouse where I have been spending my Tuesdays. It is definitely do-able if you are at Jury Duty in the general downtown area--particularly because Jury Duty lunch hours are absurdly lengthy. The restaurant has two storefronts with lots of indoor seating and a small outdoor patio that they pack tables into in order to get the best square footage from a small area.

While I've had Vietnamese food before, I was unsure about how to navigate the menu and what to choose. At first I was sort of thinking of ordering a crepe appetizer until I learned it would be more like an omelet. In the end, I ordered the shrimp curry. I was totally unfamiliar with Vietnamese curry and only hoped that it was closer to Thai than Japanese in variety.  My friend ordered a cold noodle dish with vegetables and eggrolls across the top.  I was a little jealous of hers when it came, but not after I tasted mine!

The food came to our table almost seconds after we ordered it--even before our drinks!  The curry had a great flavor with a little bit of a kick but nothing too spicy. It came with a generous ball of rice and was filled with shrimp, green beans, mushrooms and carrots in a green sauce.  I also had the Jasmine iced tea which was clearly freshly brewed possibly even from loose tea.  I never got a refill on my tea though and at $2.75 it's a little steep (no pun intended!).

The cold rice dish looked delicious as well and since she orders it almost every time, I imagine she thinks so too!  The ginger limeade she got to accompany her meal looked like a very dark iced tea and was obviously a powerful ginger flavor based on the color alone. Refreshing possibly, but definitely gingery!

The restauranteers were nice and helpful and the place was very reasonably priced. I will definitely be heading back to this place sometime soon!





Blossom Restaurant
426 S Main St
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Izakaya & Bar Fu-ga

On Friday, I was invited to Downtown LA for Jury Duty. I took advantage of LA's finest public transportation to get there and then after a thrilling 5 hours of duty joined my brother in law for lunch.  Gavin took me to the kind of restaurant you wouldn't even notice if you were touring around Los Angeles. On the fringe of Little Tokyo, Fu-ga is hidden down a small stairway in the basement of a large skyscraper.

Upon entering there is a stark difference between the shabby stairs and the beautiful restaurant below. The restaurant is modern and sleek and quite a surprise from the street above. It has a full bar along one edge with a glowing bar top and a collection of tables and booths along the side.

I found the lunch menu a bit confusing to navigate, confused about how the lunch special worked and interested that it isn't possible to get your typical sushi special. I am glad it isn't because too many people claim to love sushi and then stick to the Chef's sampler of yellowtail, salmon and ahi without stepping away to try some new flavors. The menu offers a lunch special that comes with soup, an entree and a sushi roll of choice. They also have a few entrees by themselves and some other sushi combinations.

I ordered the green iced tea which was clearly freshly brewed with a bit of tea texture to it. I also ordered the Chirashi Donburi Sushi which came with a small salad, miso soup and a rainbow of sashimi over a bowl of rice. The dish was beautiful in itself and there was more than just your typical fish adorning the plate. I only wish I knew what I was eating! One tasty bite had the tang of herring and I wondered how I could order it again.

My companion ordered the confusing lunch special with a spicy tuna roll, shrimp & vegetable tempura and the miso soup.  Other things like the Fu-ga Bento box caught my eye as a sampler plate where I could try lots of things and the Dragon & Rainbow roll's which I've had before at other places.

The food was good and the service was fine as well. I liked the hidden atmosphere as though I'd stepped into 1920's speakeasy instead of an underground restaurant.  Nice enough to go with clients, this restaurant is a keeper on my list for next time I'm downtown.

Izakaya & Bar Fu-ga
111 S San Pedro St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

The Daily Dose

I never find myself in Downtown LA, but this weekend I went there to attend a cooking class in the lofts district (is that a place? We can call it the Industrial district maybe?) where the 10 freeway meets the 5. We arrived at the class an hour and a half early due to a scheduling mistake and had a lot of time to kill.

The first way we spent our time was walking around the neighborhood checking out the plethora of murals on the walls--some skunks, a dinosaur, a train with descriptive smoke. The neighborhood, although strange, was really a neat place for a visit.

On our walk through the neighborhood we spied the famous Church & State restaurant, a pub, a wine store, a hidden community garden and then down a small alley between two brick buildings a tiny cafe.  This cafe is one of those places that if you just had the address you may be driving around for hours trying to pinpoint, but it was the perfect find for our morning.

The first time we stopped by the cafe it was mainly for the use of the bathroom but I also bought a fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. The juice was a pretty bad deal but it was fresh (and therefore sour), but I should have gone for coffee because really that did sound delicious.

Later we returned to the cafe for lunch when our entire party was there.  At the Daily Dose it is rumored that the owner (who was there) makes everything himself.  We heard this news several times from the regulars while we were there. There is very little seating inside, the cafe is absolutely minuscule. Outside, however it has a full alley with tables and chairs, herbs and vines growing up the walls and even a fire pit.

I ordered The Scramble which is described as 3 FFO eggs butter, baguette, jam, heirloom potatoes, house sauce.  It was fantastic! The eggs were cooked just perfectly for my taste mixed with a bit of cheese and scallions scrambled right on top of a piece of baguette. There were a few purple potatoes with a drizzle of house sauce--some kind of spicy chipotle sauce. But the real stand out was the jam on the baguette with butter on it.  The jam is apparently made by the owner, and it was berry with cinnamon or cloves or something in it--an unexpected taste that jumped out at me.  One of my dining companions got the same meal as me but her bread came with apricot jam on it. I like how they mixed it up.

Our other companion had the sandwich which is probably a better deal for the size and amount of food.  Her sandwich was called the Taylor with roasted ham, cheddar, pickles, spicy mustard, sauce verte on a fresh baguette. I understand that it was delicious, particularly the pickles.

I also heard good things about the scones and all the food I saw looked great. The crowd was also the friendly sort--helping us get our plates to the table, chatting across tables and enjoying the scenery on a Saturday morning.  I would love to go back to the Daily Dose but I highly doubt I will because it is in such a strange neighborhood!  If I go to another cooking class though...I will be back there immediately for some of that jam on a buttered baguette.

The Daily Dose
1820 Industrial St Ste 104
Los Angeles, CA 90021
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The 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational - Should I go next year?

The Grilled Cheese Invitational sounds as fun as a barrel of monkeys. That's why my friends and I decided to go this year. We all bought judging tickets for $5 more on top of the $12 entry ticket. We dreamed of ooey gooey interesting grilled cheese sandwiches moving quickly from the contestants pans to our tummy's. We expected to eat more grilled cheese then we have ever had before, watch contestants make their concoctions and do a little judging on the side.

That is not how the GCI went down. We arrived at the parking lot just before 11am and were greeted by a huge line wrapping around the location. After waiting for 15 minutes we learned of another line around the corner where if you had your tickets already you could walk right in. We went over there and walked right in. We received a judging bracelet and 3 carnival style tickets. In the grassy section of the fenced in "park" were all the free sample booths. Then, around all the edges were different vendors selling a variety of grilled cheese-esque food. There were food trucks as well and a beer garden. The beer garden sold vouchers for beer and all money went to the West Hollywood Library project.

A center stage was set up near the back of the huge open lot. We headed that way but at the time there was nothing going on so we went to the beer garden to wait for the rest of our friends to arrive.

We ended up going to the second heat for the competition. All the "judges" stand at the edge of the roped area and elbow their way to their grilled cheese. Each judge only gets 3 GC samples and to get those samples you have to yell and scream and wave down the sample carriers. The actual competitors are relatively boring to watch as most of them have already made all their sandwiches and are just frying them up in miniature frying pans on hot plates. The samples are small--1/4 of a regular piece of bread or less if the sandwich is made on something different.

In order to try more than 3 sandwiches, my friends and I shared our small samples with each other. The whole process though was pretty awful. There are 4 rounds of competition and we used all our tickets in one because we hated how we had to call for our tastes. We thought that these samples would fill us for lunch but no such luck there. We tried some interesting sandwiches though and found out later that our favorite--the Monte Carlo was the winner.

After our terrible judging experience we headed to the restaurant tents and bought various grilled cheese sandwiches and snacks. My favorite purchased sandwich was called The Elvis. It was challah with a nutella marscapone filling, caramelized bananas and maple bacon. I could eat another sandwich like that right now.

Will I go back next year? No. It is $12 entry fee for...nothing. You just get into a place where you can get some "free" samples which combined together is not worth $12. There is some entertainment but again, nothing that special that is worth the cost. $5 for three tiny samples as a Judge is an okay price, but elbowing and screaming for a sample is not my idea of a good time. There has to be a better way! I probably spent like $30 at the festival on top of my other money. I ate until my sides split and I had fun hanging out with my friends and trying new foods but I can do that elsewhere. Next year I will not go, will you?

Spring Street Smokehouse

Spring Street Smokehouse is located in a small storefront in Chinatown. It is just up the street from the famous Phillepe's French Dips. On the Sunday evening we visited, parking was not an issue with open meters just a few blocks away.

We were seated immediately although the restaurant was crowded--we just got lucky to get the last table available. Shortly after we were seated two large groups came in and hung out at the bar waiting for other diners to leave.

Each table has a loaf of bread on it to help you soak up the sauce--or to snack on while you wait. Look for the chalkboard for the specials--they seem to be a pretty good deal. This restaurant has your typical bbq fare along with some salads and specialties and a few surprise dishes. I ordered the Cajun Stuffed Chicken and the fresh squeezed limeade. I was unsure if the limeade had free refills so I drank it slow and they never offered. The chicken was huge and enough for two meals. It was smothered in their sweet bbq sauce. The chicken had a lot of flavor from the inside stuffing but I felt really guilty eating it knowing what was stuffed inside. It came with my choice of beans, fries or coleslaw. I got the beans and, although there were plenty, they were nothing special.

My dining mates ordered the beef ribs and the buffalo ribs. The buffalo ribs had a unique flavor that reminded me of beef jerky. They weren't as tender as regular ribs. The problem to our entire party was the sauce. They had mild and hot sauces which tasted practically identical except one had a slight kick. The sauce was really sweet with a hint of molasses or cinnamon that nobody seemed to like much. They also didn't have any sauce on the table which to bbq fanatics can be disappointing. Nobody asked for extra sauce but I'm sure they needed it (had they liked it in the first place).

For dessert we all tried the S'mores cup. It was really rich! I think we all could have shared one. It was a graham cracker crust topped with a thin layer of chocolate (it needed more here to cut the sweetness!) and then a layer of toasted marshmallows. I couldn't finish it because of the lack of chocolate and the extra sweetness--plus it was a lot of work to get the graham cracker crust out of the cup. It was a neat idea but needs some work.

If I wanted bbq and there was nowhere else and I was in the area I would consider this place again--but I might try something different. I noticed later on in the evening that they had all sorts of sides that you can order for an additional cost with your entree. I think I would have preferred mac & cheese or grilled vegetables to the beans even though it was more expensive. I wish I had noticed before!

640 North Spring Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

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Sarita's Pupuseria - Grand Central Market

I had jury duty in downtown L.A. last week so I decided to take the generous hour and a half lunch and head to The Grand Central Market which I had heard so much about since I moved here. Based on the website and my preconceived notions of other great public markets like the one in LA near West Hollywood and the one in Chelsea in New York, I was pretty excited.

After a short three block walk, I saw the outside of the building. The neighborhood around it was less than stellar. There were a lot of homeless people around, a lot of chain restaurants, and even a wedding chapel. It reminded me of the sketchy side of Vegas. The Grand Central Building, however, is a historic landmark and the outside lives up to its reputation.

The inside, on the other hand, not so much. When I first entered the market I saw a bustling group of people crowded around the few stalls that actually have businesses in them. The outside-bordering stalls, however, are mostly empty. This emptiness really hurts the atmosphere of the market, but it doesn't seem to stall the visitors from coming in anyway.

I walked around the entire market twice deciding what to eat. There are mainly two types of food that you can get at the market--Mexican and Chinese. Sure, there are a couple of other choices, but mainly just the two I mentioned. Most of the stalls were crowded with people making it difficult to navigate around. It seemed like a couple taco stands were the place to be, but I had just had Mexican food, I was looking for something a little different.

On the empty side of the market, right next to a Mexican grocery selling mounds and mounds of dried chili peppers, a little Salvadorian restaurant caught my eye. Sarita's Pupuseria had two women making all the food right in your sight. There was a little counter with stools but they were all full. I stood watching the food being made for awhile. Everything was done by hand.

Finally, I got up the nerve to ask a fellow customer what one of the thing they were making was. It turned out to be their signature dish the pupusa. Pupusa's are dough stuffed with beans, pork, or cheese and then fried or grilled (or at least that's what it seemed like to me). I had the Pupusa with pork. The menu is in Spanish and while I'm sure the cashier spoke English, he wasn't doing it at the time so I was a little nervous about ordering anything that I didn't know the words in Spanish.

My lunch with the added bottle of water only cost me a total of $3.50. As I waited for my meal I watched them make it from raw dough. I took my pupusa to a table looking out onto the upper LA where all the tall buildings are. The pupusa came with a bag of spicy cabbage and a little tub of hot sauce. It was delicious and filling. It was piping hot and the pork filling was ground with spices. I thought it needed something at first--but once I added the cabbage I needed nothing more. I was a little disappointed by the lack of desserts save for one bakery and one ice cream stand. There might have been stuff at the Mexican grocery, but again, my Spanish needs some work.

I recommend a stop at Grand Central Market next time you are on jury duty or in the area, but don't make it a destination for an entire day. If you do go, why not try out Sarita's Pupusas?






Sarita's Pupuseria
Grand Central Market
317 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013
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Engine Co. No. 28

Based on the website alone, Engine Co. No. 28 looked like my kind of restaurant. The restaurant is located in an original Los Angeles Fire Station built around 1913. While the building was renovated, it kept a lot of the original architecture and interior--the floor is paved with the original bricks and the fire station doors still stand. One is hard pressed to find a restaurant in an architectural gem like this in such a new city.

The restaurant is located in Downtown LA, not a place I frequent often, so I was happy to see that although it is near a lot of the sites and in the city, a large portion of it's menu was reasonably priced. I went with a date on a Saturday night before going to the theater. Like a multitude of other restaurants in the area, Engine Co. offers a free shuttle door to door from the restaurant to the Music Center and Staples. This is a really nice perk in the city where parking twice could end up being more than the cost of your dinner.

I made reservations a couple of days in advance and they sounded like they had plenty of room. When we arrived, we felt a little under-dressed at first in jeans and nice tops--but as we walked through the restaurant to our table, I noticed a mix of dress and lots of people were indeed wearing jeans, albeit nice jeans. This is a white tablecloth restaurant, so be sure to dress somewhat appropriately.

The restaurant has a large main room, a small bar area with several two-person tables separated from the main dining room by a six inch frosted glass window on top of the two-person booths, and an upstairs area. It turned out, the restaurant was completely booked that Saturday night and waiters were bustling around as was the valet when we arrived. While I thought this would be a romantic dinner, I was disappointed to be seated in one of the 2-seater booths near the bar. The table itself was fine (although a little low), but at the bar they had two large flat screen TVs playing that night's hot sports events - the baseball playoffs and the USC/Stanford game. Instead of the dinner being romantic and full of conversation, we found ourselves watching the TVs between topics. If you go to the Engine Co. with two and want something more romantic, request a table away from the bar.

Our waiter was very nice when he was at the table. He probably realized right off the bat that we would be his lowest paying customers of the night, and while that might have been true, I would have appreciated a little more receptiveness to our needs. Bread comes free with the meal. It was a little hard on the bottom, but the sourdough was tasty and there was plenty of butter to go around. The soda comes by the bottle without refills, but the iced tea has refills--I think they are free.

The food at Engine Co. is supposed to be made up of recipes from firehouses across the country. For this reason, I was looking forward to trying their chili. We had dinner a little earlier than we our used to, so I didn't need more than just the bowl of chili. For the price, the bowl of chili was a lot smaller than I expected. In the end though, it was plenty. I excepted a hot and firey chili with plenty of beans and peppers. Instead, I got well stewed meat that was incredibly tender in a thick sauce that mildly resembled chili. The flavor was like canned green chilies and there wasn't a hint of spice. I couldn't even eat the whole thing because there was so much meat and the flavor was a little too citrusy for my taste. The chili came with equally flavorless fried bread triangles. I tried stuffing the triangles with the chili and that helped a little but still didn't do the trick.

My date had a cheeseburger which came on sourdough toast. While I didn't taste the burger, it looked like it too could use a little something more. The burger came with a choice of fries, salad, or firehouse chips. Intrigued by the sound of firehouse chips, my date received what looked and tasted like slightly stale Lays potato chips with chili powder and no salt sprinkled on top.

We didn't order dessert because I was so full from all the meat, however, the menu looked delicious. I wish now that I would have been hungry enough to find some goodness food wise from the restaurant via dessert.

I imagine some of the other dishes at Engine Co. are delicious. The fried chicken looked nice, the onion rings looked delicious, and the restaurant had a nice warm feeling like a real firehouse kitchen might. It generally smelled delicious in there and I was disappointed that mine was not.
If someone else was paying and I could order anything I wanted, including dessert, I would go back to Engine Co. No. 28. Until then, I think I'll shy away from the white table-cloth clad restaurants and stick with something a little more my own pace.





Engine Co. No. 28
644 S. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017
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