My favorite Los Angeles restaurants, Part I

Clementine is a tucked-away lunch/bakery which makes old-fashioned, traditional American food like egg salad sandwiches, roast beef sandwiches, tuna melts, Frito boats, poached eggs, butterscotch brownies, and so forth, with absolutely seasonal ingredients and a gourmet sensibility. The food isn't fancy on first glance. A second glance reveals that the roast beef sandwich includes a horseradish dressing, marinated onions, and watercress. But the first glance, or more likely first bite, reveals that this is simply the best roast beef sandwich you've ever had.

The egg salad sandwich is also the best I've ever had, the baked goods are overpriced but excellent, and the occasional fusion dishes, like cold shelled edamame beans with flaked salmon and dill, are generally excellent. The specials, like a different type of grilled cheese sandwich on every day of April, the traditional English cream tea on Thursday afternoons, and the summer barbecue menu, are spectacular.

Although this wasn't the food I grew up with, just the knowledge that it's American comfort food makes it even more comforting than it would be otherwise. The service is friendly, if disorganized (two waitresses showed up for one of my book signings), and the place is frequently packed to the gills. It's one of my favorite neighborhood hang-outs. Show up before noon or after two to avoid the rush.

Zankou Chicken is a cheap and spectacularly good Armenian chicken chain. It has other things, but I've never tried them because the roast chicken is the best I've ever had. The skin is crispy and crunchy, the meat is juicy, and the garlic sauce lifts the whole thing into a new dimension of deliciousness. It's a bright white paste served in a little plastic cup. You rip off a piece of pita, smear it with the sauce, put a piece of chicken on it, and you're in heaven. The sauce tastes like raw garlic, but with the sharpness dialed way, way down, so you can eat any amount of it. The recipe is a secret. Some claim that the secret ingredient is lard. The restaurant says it's potato. There used to be just two outlets, one in Hollywood and one in Glendale, but I am happy to say that there is now one in West LA, and it even has a parking lot.

Daikokuya Ramen is a little Japanese restaurant in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Like Zankou Chicken, the menu has lots of options but everyone is there for the same thing. In this case, the ramen. The ramen is made with a special, long-simmered broth of extra-flavorful kurobuta (black pork, ie, black-furred Berkshire pig) bones, and has a rich and complex flavor that completely altered my opinion of ramen. One immense bowl (they don't come smaller) is a full meal, packed with noodles, sliced pork, onions, and a whole soft-cooked egg-- and about a half-liter of that incredible broth. Remember, it's not rude to slurp.

My favorite Los Angeles restaurants, Part I

Clementine is a tucked-away lunch/bakery which makes old-fashioned, traditional American food like egg salad sandwiches, roast beef sandwiches, tuna melts, Frito boats, poached eggs, butterscotch brownies, and so forth, with absolutely seasonal ingredients and a gourmet sensibility. The food isn't fancy on first glance. A second glance reveals that the roast beef sandwich includes a horseradish dressing, marinated onions, and watercress. But the first glance, or more likely first bite, reveals that this is simply the best roast beef sandwich you've ever had.

The egg salad sandwich is also the best I've ever had, the baked goods are overpriced but excellent, and the occasional fusion dishes, like cold shelled edamame beans with flaked salmon and dill, are generally excellent. The specials, like a different type of grilled cheese sandwich on every day of April, the traditional English cream tea on Thursday afternoons, and the summer barbecue menu, are spectacular.

Although this wasn't the food I grew up with, just the knowledge that it's American comfort food makes it even more comforting than it would be otherwise. The service is friendly, if disorganized (two waitresses showed up for one of my book signings), and the place is frequently packed to the gills. It's one of my favorite neighborhood hang-outs. Show up before noon or after two to avoid the rush.

Zankou Chicken is a cheap and spectacularly good Armenian chicken chain. It has other things, but I've never tried them because the roast chicken is the best I've ever had. The skin is crispy and crunchy, the meat is juicy, and the garlic sauce lifts the whole thing into a new dimension of deliciousness. It's a bright white paste served in a little plastic cup. You rip off a piece of pita, smear it with the sauce, put a piece of chicken on it, and you're in heaven. The sauce tastes like raw garlic, but with the sharpness dialed way, way down, so you can eat any amount of it. The recipe is a secret. Some claim that the secret ingredient is lard. The restaurant says it's potato. There used to be just two outlets, one in Hollywood and one in Glendale, but I am happy to say that there is now one in West LA, and it even has a parking lot.

Daikokuya Ramen is a little Japanese restaurant in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Like Zankou Chicken, the menu has lots of options but everyone is there for the same thing. In this case, the ramen. The ramen is made with a special, long-simmered broth of extra-flavorful kurobuta (black pork, ie, black-furred Berkshire pig) bones, and has a rich and complex flavor that completely altered my opinion of ramen. One immense bowl (they don't come smaller) is a full meal, packed with noodles, sliced pork, onions, and a whole soft-cooked egg-- and about a half-liter of that incredible broth. Remember, it's not rude to slurp.