BOULE

420 N. La Cienega Blvd.

Los Angeles, Ca 90048

www.boulela.com

Well after every trip to the farmer's market in LA, I go straight up Beverly Blvd, make a right at La Cienega and pull up right in front of Boule for some sweets. The interior looks like a Tiffany's & Co box. It is simple and beautiful, so when you walk in there the colors of the pastries and desserts explodes. I had a pleasant surprise today as I walked towards Boule, it was Sprinkles. They are building a Sprinkles Cupcakes right next door. I'm not too happy about that because I don't care for their cupcakes (too sweet) nor do I care for the extra foot traffic in Boule that comes along with it.

The first time I tried their macarons it was a treat! The shell was crunchy and the inners was soft and chewy. Everything that I have tasted there is Simply delicious! The first time I bit into an enclair I was like WOW this thing was amazing. So today I ordered a rose petal enclair. Yes it tasted rosey and refreshing. It smelled great and tasted even better! Beautiful pink rose frosting on top of a crunchy pastry that was filled with custard had my tongue doing cartwheels. When I bit into it, it was so refreshing, it totally cooled my tongue. This is an amazing treat.

Next up are the macarons. The yellow one is lemon, my favorite one. The green one is pistachio, my second favorite. The other two, almond and something else, was also good but did not stand out like the other two. All of them were crunchy with a soft, chewy flavorful center.

Ever since I was little I could not stand coconut shavings. Growing up in a Chinese household all of our birthday cakes had coconut shavings on the side and sometimes in the middle. It was so disgusting to me that I would just scrape off all the cream frosting and filling and just ate the sponge. So you may ask why in the world did I order three coconut macaroons .... because they are fucking delicious. I bought some for my pops during a previous visit but you know I'm a fatass so I had to try it. My pops loved it and I loved it too. It had a roasted coconut flavor with a soft crunch to it. The inside was a soft and sweet cooked coconut center. This place is definitely a must try whenever you are by the Beverly Center. ~ Bootsi

LOTERIA GRILL

6333 W. 3rd St.
Los Angeles, Ca 90036
www.farmersmarketla.com

At least once a month I make it to the farmer's market, on 3rd and Fairfax, for breakfast. This is not just any breakfast but the huevos rancheros from Loteria Grill. This place is easily one of my top 3 Mexican food places. The prices are steep compared to those around town but the food is amazing. If I lived closer I would be there every other day.

The huevos rancheros at Loteria Grill puts all other huevos rancheros to shame. The flavor of the sauce and potatoes are great. They don't smother their food with cheese like other places. You can taste the freshness of the sauce and the potatoes are mixed with so much butter, it's like heaven in your mouth. They also give you a choice of flour or corn tortillas, I always go for the corn because they make it there fresh every morning. I have been getting this for about 7 months straight and they have yet to fail me.

Even though I am usually stuffed by the time I finish the huevos rancheros I usually order something else so I can try out Loteria's menu. This time I ordered a side of chicken enchilada in green sauce. This was also very good. The sauce was tangy and once again they did not smother it with cheese and the chicken was flavorful. This would be delicious as a meal with rice and beans but I just cannot, and I repeat CANNOT, stop ordering the huevos rancheros because it is that damn GOOD! ~ Bootsi

JANG SOO

So I have been in the mood for Korean BBQ for about a two weeks now and I finally decided to satisfy my craving. I ended up at Jang Soo restaurant in Gardena because I knew they had excellent "lunch specials." This place is located at the corner of Redondo Beach Blvd and Normandie. I have been here many times before but have been going less because the prices have gone up. They give you the usual little side dishes so you can snack on it before the main course comes to the table. The little plates consisted of (from L to R) cucumber kimchi (refreshing and crisp, always a treat), bean sprouts (nice nutty flavor), pickled daikon and carrots (the exact same stuff in banh mi sandwiches), steamed broccoli w/slices of mushroom and imitation crab (decent), potato salad (almost like Hawaiian potato mac salad, but with out the mac but with chunks of apples instead, OK maybe not like Hawaiian potato mac then), your usual kimchi (good, not too spicy), soup that came with our meal (it was a spicy broth that had cabbage in it and other things) and fishcake, the star of the bunch (chewy with a nice sweet glaze, it didn't taste like fish at all, shit it might not even be fishcake).

If you order the "lunch specials" here, everything comes out already cooked. They are served on a hot sizzling plate with the type of meat that you ordered with slices of raw onions underneath the meat, so while you eat your meal, the slices of onions gets cooked and becomes soft and flavorful. We ordered (from L to r) marinated BBQ chicken, spicy marinated pork and marinated sliced beef. Everything was marinated to perfection, the chicken was sweet and perfectly cooked. It was charred at the edges, just like all of the meat, so damn good! The pork was spicy, not so spicy where you couldn't taste anything else, but spicy enough to make your nose run just a bit. It was sliced thin and it had such great flavor when you put it in your mouth that you had to close your eyes for a second and just shake your head.
The beef, which is usually my least favorite of the bunch, was da SHIT! Aw-man, this was...I don't know what to say...fucking good! Sorry for the profanity, but I don't know how else to explain this dish to all of you. It was almost like sukiyaki, so soft and juicy. As you can see we totally destroyed the food. They also gave us a tea cup of sweet soup for dessert, which I really never cared for. ~Bootsi

Jang Soo Restaurant

1404 Redondo Beach Blvd

Gardena, CA 90247

EL POLLO INKA

1425 W Artesia Blvd
Gardena, Ca 90247
www.elpolloinka.com

After a failed attempt to find some grub at the Torrance farmers market (long story), a group of close friends and I met up for a late lunch at El Pollo Inka in Gardena. It is located in the same plaza and right next to the California Fish Grill. This place definitely pleases the taste buds and for any reason your meal is not that good just put a nice drenching of green sauce over the food and it would make your meal hella good. Every meal here during lunch time includes a bowl of chicken rice soup. Some day old chicken and rice, throw in some veggies and WALLA....a nice hearty delicious soup, but add some green sauce on that mug and it tasted even better!

One of my friends ordered the Saltado de Camarones. This plate had lots of shrimps that were stir fried with the usual red onions, french fries, tomatoes and special seasonings. I did not try any of the shrimp because I didn't want to look like a fat ass, but believe me i was eyeing them. She said they were really good, especially with some of that green sauce!

This was a whole rotisserie chicken and rice, my friend's usual. I couldn't resist the offer to receive a piece. The skin of the chicken were burnt at the edges and crisp at the bite. The breast was soft and moist, so good that i wanted to put that whole breast my mouth with some green sauce of course.

This was my order of Saltado de Pollo. It's basically the same thing as the Saltado de Camarones but with chicken. As you can see the first thing I did was drench it in green sauce. I would of put a lot more but we did have a table of six, so I wanted everybody to have a chance before I go postal on my food with it. Chicken was moist and tender, but it could of been a little more burnt on the edges ( a little char is all I'm asking). It was really good none the less.

This is the magical green sauce after I demolished it. I cant explain the taste but it is refreshing with a real little kick to it. My friend Peter said it is so good that he would put it on everything he ate if El Pollo Inka had this stuff for sell and I, 100% agree with his absurd statement. ~Bootsi

CALIFORNIA FISH GRILL

California Fish Grill is one of my pops favorite lunch spots. This place is located at the west end of the 91 fwy which turns into Artesia Blvd. We have been here many times and this place get so packed during lunch hours that I feel like I'm at Costco on a Saturday or like clothes in a women's luggage. This place gets busy and for good reason!

My pops ordered the white roughy. It was the special of the day but I believe it's the special every damn day, well at least the last five times I went there. You have a choice of flavor for the fish; Cajun or buttered, fries or rice, coleslaw and bread. The fish was cooked perfectly, it flaked with the piercing of the plastic fork, and it didn't have that strong fishy smell that us guys hate. The fries were really good too, crisp and not that greasy.

I ordered my usual fish tacos and grilled zucchini, gotta get the zucchinis. The tacos are made of fried fish, sign of a good fish taco. It did not have a lot of cabbage on top either, which is another good sign. These tacos were pretty big, in fact, I had to pullout (that's what she said) some fish just so I could fit the taco in my mouth! ~ BOOTSI


CALIFORNIA FISH GRILL
1425 W. Artesia Boulevard
Gardena, California 90247
http://www.cafishgrill.com/