Wicked Clam Pop Up 2

Amazing sea food was served today in front of the Colorado Wine Company. 2 hours into the event all the Lobsta rolls were gone. The fish & chips and chowder both had a great flavor with out being too fishy. What a culinary success for Dave Evan's and his crew! Hopefully Dave will make this pop up a regular event. If you see him say, "hey I want the Wicked Clam every Sunday, well at least until it starts raining on a regular basis".

LA Weekly Pancake Breakfast

The best bang for your buck LA food fest has to be the pancake breakfast the LA Weekly is putting on for it's third year. The first year was curated by former LA Weekly stalwart Jonathan Gold. The food was great but there was one problem; too many pancakes. Well last years breakfast with out Mr. Gold was a vast improvement. With baked french toast from Auntie Em's, pastries from Village & Nickle Diner and single origin coffee provided by Handsome & Cafecito Organico last years event became a great eclectic breakfast event. The best part is it's only 30 dollars, and they have an open bar! Hope too see you there.


Click the link below to purchase tickets
http://microapp.laweekly.com/pancakebreakfast/


The first year they gave away these great mugs from Harry & David; definitely worth the 30 dollar price of admission! I still use it everyday at work.

Terri and her mom from Auntie Em's serving up some amazing french toast at last years event.

Bar Ama, Tex-Mex in the City of Angels

Last night was my 2nd trip to Bar Ama, Joseph Centeno's Tex-Mex cantina in the heart of DTLA. Chef Centeno is already famous for his flat bread sandwiches around the corner at Baco Mercat and with this new addition he might be running downtown soon. The first thing I noticed about my return to Bar Ama was the changes to the menu. Gone were the deep fried in peanut oil puffy tacos. This was disappointing since I had brought my friend Anthony along and had been bragging about the pork barbacoa and pineapple taco. Even with out that, there was the queso filled with chorizo and avocado this golden yellow treat will have you cleaning the bowl with every scrap of chips you have. Chef Centeno has had his own soda made; with fun colorful flavors such as Chocolate Root Beer and Hibiscus Sweet & Sour skip the beer and try one of these. When our waitress arrived she informed me that the puffy tacos were still around but were no longer on the menu. Unfortunately they didn't have the pineapple and pork that night. I ended up ordering the queso, 3 tacos, a roasted with sugar sweet potato, shrimp ceviche & multiple sodas so the three of us could all sample some. Something to know going into Bar Ama, the food comes out when it is ready, and it's fast. Five minutes after we ordered, the queso and the ceviche had both arrived at the table and my third guest Krystal was not even there yet. When she arrived the rest of the food showed up and we ate family style even going so far as too cut the tacos in half. The potato taco reminded me of great Ensenada fish tacos that I love so much and the puffy shell really elevates the whole experience. The shrimp taco and shrimp ceviche both tasted fine but didn't impress me enough to order it again. The queso was amazing as before and definitely got the most compliments from the table. The sweet potato also garnered some accolades for it's sweet yet savory flavor. I look forward to the next time I can dine at Bar Ama, let's hope next time they have the pineapple and pork back!

I do not own the rights to these amazing pictures, gosh they look yummy!

Allston Yacht Club

An ex girlfriend of mine always spoke very highly of the food at Allston so when I saw they were on Living Social I pounced on the deal.  Owned by two bean town ex-pats, Allston is named after a Boston neighborhood near Harvard.  The east coast vibe ends at the name.  The motif inside is defiantly LA casual with one wall decorated with large crashing waves.  The small plates and great wine selection are defiantly the draw here.  Sundays and Wednesdays Allston has a smaller 5 & 10 dollar menu, these are defiantly great days to go and check out what their serving.  I treated a few friends to dinner and we were not disappointed.  We started the meal with a handful of appetizers, chicken wings, fried calamari, grilled cheese and jalapeno corn fritters.  The chicken wings are Korean style(whatever that means) covered in a hot & sweet sauce with a few sesame seeds sprinkled on top for good measure.  The double frying gives the wings a good crunch, while the sauce burned my taste buds leaving a sweet after taste.  My African American friend Mark loved the wings and pointed out that due to his heritage he knows good wings when he has them.  I've never thought calamari tasted like much of anything so for me it's all about the dipping sauce that comes along with it.  In this case it's an amazing Nuoc Cham(fish sauce, chili, lime) that elevated the little fried rings. The petite brioche grilled cheese is stuffed with Cabot Vermont Cheddar and then dusted with powdered sugar.  The interesting flavor combo made this fluffy sandwich disappear very quickly.  The final appetizer to arrive was by far the best, 3 corn & jalapeno fritters plated on top of a tomatillo salsa.  The crunchy exterior gave way to a spongy corn meal with just a hint of burn.  The tomatillo reminded me more of a green chutney then a salsa.  For the first time since I was a kid I felt the urge to lick the plate, I didn't though(I might have to order some to go so I can be a pig at home). For the main course we ordered the lobster roll and Elysian burger.  The lobster roll was my only complaint of the evening.  The fresh baked roll reminded me more of a generic hot dog bun and the only flavor that came thru were the bits of celery.  The burger on the other hand was a great way to end the meal.  Niman Ranch Chuck & Wild Boar make this small and basic (topped with cheddar and special sauce only)burger a competitor for best in the city.  My friend Hero who had recently tried  the dry aged burger Nancy Silverton is turning out at Short Order, said Allston's was by far the best he has had in recent memory.  The service at Allston is good considering they only have one waitress.  I will defiantly be heading back to Echo Park soon for another helping.


http://allstonyachtclub.com/site/




I do not own any of these pictures, thanks to who ever took them