Abode - SaMo across from the pier

The Woman and I were looking for a nice night out. The sitter was lined up, and the stars were lined up too. Using opentable.com were reserved for a 6:30 slot. Funny, two kids will do that to you. You see lots of seniors in restaurants at that hour. For good or ill, places are quiet that time of night. In the case of Abode, it was a good thing. The SaMo pier area has lots of foot-traffic already, so there were plenty of folks there before us. Quiet folks, if you get my drift. Alarmingly, the place is right by yet another frickin' Il Fornaio. One starts to worry when one sees such a thing in a place where one goes for dinner. (And yes, I love Il Fornaio plenty, but in small, business-lunch sized portions, please.)
It's down a little alley-way -- sorry, WALK-way -- and you pass the bored Tengu ("The extensive cold sake list is a must!") workers on the way (bored at that hour, anyway). Abode is a welcoming site indeed. The hostesses were cheerful, our table lovely. You can also eat outside on the nice patio -- sorry, WALKWAY.
Starters: me, mussels in a "light saffron sauce". Judging by her accent, she's English, and by light sauce, she meant "cream sauce". Effing Brits. Not on a diet, I was happy anyway. Delish! Little Mama got the cold corn and chile soup. Mmmmmm.
Mains: me, the halibut. Delish. Cooked a bit over the "medium" I was assured of, but I had no complaints. Terrific. The corn came in a nice curry sauce, and it came with fried nectarines with balsamic sauce. She, the scallops. They were perfectly nice and fine.
Dessert was the chocolate plate: chocolate five ways. Hot chocolate (which was lukewarm), bon-bons (mmmmmmmm), a chip with diced strawberries (MMMMMmmmm), mousse between wafers (mmmmm), and ice cream. All great. The only suggestions would be that they should vary the flavors of the chocolate -- add orange, or chiles, or cumin, or cinammon et cet.

So go and enjoy!

Porgee's Tacos -- "Historic Filipino Town" (Rampart x Temple(?))

We went to see "Porgy and Bess" at the La Opera. They had an El Cheapo $20/tic special, so we bit. Long story short, we left at intermission, and yes we wish we had instead seen the other El Cheapo option of "The Merry Widow".

So the evening wouldn't be a total loss, we went to the real original Tommy's on Rampart x Beverly. Double cheese b w extra chili for me. Back in the day, we'd stop here after a late night track meet. It was a terrific bonding event. One time I had THREE double cheese b's and STILL was hungry. Sweet Mama got a regular b, but her diet precluded her from anything further. But I digress.

Turning right onto Rampart to find the 101S again, we passed a taco truck in the near corner of a gas station, across from a yellow-signed nightclub. The name? Porgee's!



Obviously this was a sign from whatever deity you do or do not believe in. One big fat U-ey later, we pulled in for "gas" at the pump, while Sweet Mama ordered me up some pastor.




They come naked, so the sauce decision in yours. I go for the green sauce w pork and "sinatr-o" and onions are a must.

All in all, merely ok. More than a bit too crunchy for me. Luckily, Sweet Mama saved 1/2 a carne asada which I liked more. She liked the pastor! Well folks, that's why they give you choices. ; Still, it was the perfect topper to the evening.

The 110S was clear, the 105W was too. And the LAX pylons were lit up like the welcoming beacons that they are.

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Tacos y Mariscos El Numero 1 (Westchester Pkwy, E of Supulveda)

Hurray! Another taco truck on Westchester Pkwy -- this one is across the street from our office building (parked right behind B of A). I like that. A lot. The other trucks along this stretch are too far away to walk and too close to drive, if you know what I mean.

They just started parking here a month or so ago and I've managed to get over there 4 or 5 times already. Everytime, they seem to be trying to figure out how to do this taco truck thing. Short on cash, not sure which window to use for handing out the food, etc. It's cute.

I heartily recommend the carnitas; the carne asada, not so much. The carnitas isn't too dry as it can be elsewhere. It's juicy and tasty here. The asada is, well, a bit too chewy for me. Not a lot of choice in sauces, but I go with however the thing comes in the foil, as I take it to my office so the Little Woman can enjoy the aroma.

Berri's Cafe - Westchester (Manchester x Pershing)

I've been meaning to go here for some time. They pass out flyers on our doorsteps from time to time, and it looked interesting enough for a lunch trip.

I'm guessing we won't be back for dinner anytime soon. That being said, it's not a chain, and that should count for SOMETHING, right?

I got the lunch deal, which stupidly isn't on the menu, but our knowledgeable waiter told us about. You get a large indiviual pizza with a choice of soup or salad (if memery serves me correctly). The pizza was delicious. A bit cheesy for me, but nonetheless, a worthwhile effort. The salad was godawful. LOTS of flavorless parmesan cheese with large from-the-box croutons.

All for $10.

The little lady got some dish that had fries come with it. The waiter recommended the fries highly, so she opted for the deal that included them. The fries were indeed good, but just good, not great.

Overall, not as good as I had hoped, but it's an interesting space and perhaps worth a dinner trip. Sometime.

California Sushi Academy (Centinela, N of Culver)

When you drive up or down Centinela there's a great little pocket where there's Mexican food, Japanese food, and Hawaiian and who knows what else. The California Sushi Academy is here too. Behind a VERY unassuming storefront, at lunchtime you can great great sushi inexpertly prepared by their students.

And it's dirt cheap.

We finally made time to get there for lunch. We got the last two seats at the bar, and then we sat and sat and sat waiting for our order to get done. Our chef was a little flustered (it was busy) and had the deer-in-headlights look. Another chef comped us a tuna roll.

When it came it was great. Very fresh, not over sauced like Katsuya's offerings often are. But these are students after all and let's say that the rolls aren't as tight as they should be. And occasionally, you get a little too much wasabi hiding under your pice of fish.

But it's dirt cheap.

And if you consider the flusterings as entertainment, it's an even better deal.

Well worth a visit. We'll be back for sure

Campanile -- (S La Brea)

Went with the Missus to Campanile (website SUCKS). We've been trying to go for, oh, 15 years now. So we up and hired a babysitter and went.

For starters, She got the squab and I got the ceviche. Both delicious. The squab was a larger serving than expected, and She was getting a bit worried about the points adding up. The ceviche was certainly not over-marinated and was sublime.

I got the porkchop -- delicious -- and the Little Lady got the lamb -- delicious.

All in all, worth the wait. The bread was of course (La Brea Bakery is right next door, in case you don't know) great. As for wine, we let the waiter steer us around. The white for Her was too too sweet, but my reds were yumyum.

Desert was the best strawberry shortcake ever.

Carniceria Sanchez - Inglewood Blvd (so of Culver)

This is a westside carniceria y tacqueria on perhaps the most deliciously aromatic corner for miles. Two tacquerias, a bakery, and a catering concern all inhabit this corner. Bandini has reviewed this one and the other one on his site. The attached store has LOTS of meat and a few veggies. Worth a look if you are in the area

I had the Little Man in tow. The ladies were out of town for the weekend so I decided we men needed a taco trip. I threw him in the car and hit the gas. I got carna asada, al pastor and, for the boy, a plain chicken taco. Since there's really no place to eat, I got it para llevar.

I was a bit disappointed in the pastor. More of a rub than a bbq or marinade or what had you. Mind you, it was very good, just a little different than I was expecting. The salsa complemented the meat perfectly. The asada was fine. Not awesome. All in all, it's worth a stop if you are in the area, but it's not a destination.

Oh, the boy LOVED the pollo.

El Sobroso truck - Westchester - Arbor Vitae (E of Airport)

This truck is normally on the south side of the street, but is sometimes on the north side in the shade. I pulled into a spot that left me all of 12" into the red zone. I hurried up and placed my order: 2 carne asada, 2 carnitas tacos. Then I bumped my head on the awning.

Lots of hot sauce choices to be had. No al pastor meat though.

When I got back to my car I had a $65 parking ticket. These tacos better be good, I thought.

They come with some onion-heavy guacamole that is either delicious or too onion-heavy. I haven't decided yet. The asada tacos had lots of little super crunchy bits -- a bit too pan-fried for me -- and they were too spicy. Now, I LIKE spicy, but on my own terms. The spice here tended to overpower the meat. My officemate agreed. The carnitas was too dry. No juice! I like-a the juice!

UPDATE: Went back a couple weeks later and got tacos that looked COMPLETELY different. I'll say that they tasted better too. I'm a bit worried at the wide variance in quality, but it's my local truck, so what am I to do? I'll be back for a third trip.

$1.25/taco.