Food on the Road: Dog Days of Summer

So I was in Long Beach/LA this past weekend. And somehow the food that I ate the most of was chili-cheese dogs. Not that this was a bad thing. I wanted to get some seafood, and I did. But I also ate a lot of chili-cheese dogs. I think that the lesson from this week was that good food comes in all forms, in all locations, in all styles.

I can't remember if I've written about National Coney Island in Detroit. This is now where I have to eat whenever I'm flying through Detroit. They make some pretty good chili-cheese dogs. The chili is mediocre, the cheese is cheese whiz, the mustard is French's, and the chopped onions are just onions. But where it all comes together is with the hot dog itself. Awesome. Meaty, salty, and fried up with with this great natural casing that just snaps perfectly when you bite into it. I've become a believer in the hot dog as gourmet, if you can get a good hot dog like this, and cook it up properly.

So, of course, since I was flying Northwest through Detroit, I got a couple coneys with cheese and bacon on the way out to LA. I was setting the stage for my adventure out to Pink's in LA. I figured that if the quality of hot dog (and by that I mean the sausage link itself) at Pink's was as good as it was at National Coney, then we'd be in business. I love it when you get a hot dog fried up so that the casing has a nice snap to it. I knew that National Coney would remind me of how it should be. And that really set the stage for my trip. Of course, I ate there again on the way back from LA. It's not that there isn't any other decent food in the Detroit airport. But very little else just screamed "Detroit" to me. Certainly not the Chili's or Panda Express in the airport.

So, I hit the ground in LA, and drove out to my hotel in Long Beach, stopping off at a 7-11 on the way. Had to get a soda, and I was getting a little hungry, so I actually got (you guessed it) a chili-cheese dog. The hot dog was a large, spicy dog, and tasted okay, but it just didn't have the snap in the bite that I'd come to expect. But since they let you put on all the free (and appropriately priced) fake cheese and chili you want on to this huge hot dog for only $1.89, I figured that I couldn't lose. And, as usual, I am an idiot. It wasn't that it tore up my insides (heck, I've had Mexican slushies that didn't bother me one bit). It was that it just filled me up. I lost motivation to actually find dinner in Long Beach. I just got some stuff together and hit up the Mai Tai Bar in Long Beach. I had a couple very nice Mai Tais, and some less than stellar (and undersized) Chicken Satay. The spicy, peanutty, ginergy, sauce saved the dried out chicken breast. But by the time I was ready to head back to the hotel, I was hungry. So this meant late night drive-thru. I was hoping for El Pollo Loco, but those seemed to close up by midnight. So, I went with a safe choice in Jack in the Box. And you know? Those ciabatta sandwiches they're advertising aren't all that bad.

So, I had spent the first day in California eating national chain fast food. This had to end. Friday was much more interesting. After sleeping way too late, I caught up with my cousin and her fiancee, who took me out to FuRaiBo, this little Japanese place that specialized in fried chicken that was marinated in a sweet soy type sauce, and then deep fried. I had a fried chicken leg/thigh which was okay, but a little pricey at $3.50 for an a la carte piece. Where this place did me well was with the grilled pike eel, which was excellent. The pike eel was just two whole eel, cut in half, and rubbed with some salt and pepper, and grilled just right. Simple food, tasting really good. It came with some nice miso soup (standard, though they gave you a lot of seaweed), a bowl of rice, and a cabbage salad that had some canned tuna, which was surprisingly good in the salad. Excellent deal for $6.50, though the service was pretty poor - with them forgetting our soup and rice.

I had my cousin show me around LA, making sure to tell her that we had to stop by Pink's so I could do my chili-dog tasting. So, we drove around, seeing some sights, including UCLA, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood. So, we took a turn on LaBrea and found Pink's. And sure enough, even at 3:30 in the afternoon, there was a line. No celebs, though. I was sort of hoping to run into Ari Gold or Vinnie Chase out there. But all we had were some regular joe's getting their grub on. And really, that's what you want in a hot dog stand. It doesn't really matter if some actor or actress eats there. I want to know if people who really eat like the place. And sure enough, they did. I had the 10" Stretch Chili-Cheese dog, as well as the Pastrami Burrito. The chili-cheese dog was awesome. Topped by chili, a slice of American cheese, and topped with more chili. Can't argue with that. I took a bite into it, and I knew that everyone else was right. The hot dog had the snap. And at $3.10, it was actually a pretty good deal, compared to what I was paying at the Detroit airport (though, I imagine what I pay there is jacked up a bit). Where Pink's really intrigued me was with the Pastrami Burrito. Big burrito. Two hot dogs. Chili. Pastrami. Swiss cheese. Onions. And all good. And at $4.95, it was actually a pretty darned good deal. So, for once, one of these fancy places actually lived up to the hype. This was going to serve as a wonderful portent for Saturday.

But, I still had Friday night. I made an appearance at my conference for the reception and working paper session. And I almost instantly found some dinner companions from the conference, an interesting little group from Minnesota. After a little wandering, we went out to Parker's Lighthouse on the pier in Long Beach. Decent food. For $23, I got a platter with seared Ahi Tuna (tasty, fresh, but slightly overcooked - a sautee cook that just forgot to flip, probably) and a kabob with 3 decent sized shrimp and scallops, and some red bell peppers and mushrooms, all over your standard zucchini/carrot medley and rice pilaf. The sides should have been a little more inspired, though they weren't bad. The kabob was very nice. And the Ahi Tuna was generally pretty good (though it would have been nicer had the sautee cook been on the ball). The server was very cute, but very flighty. And really, I'm all for having hot waitresses, but I'll take an ugly, old hag, who always makes sure that I have drink refills, the correct condiments, and swings by at just the right times to make sure that we're okay 10 out of 10 times over the hot waitress who is already thinking about what she's going to be wearing when she goes out after work. And of course, that's how it seems to work out. Oh well. I think that if I ever manage to get a really hot waitress who's actually a really good waitress, I may just propose on the spot. And you know that I'm not kidding about this.

So, Saturday rolls around. I actually had to do some work at the conference -
two presentations at 8:30 in the morning. I got that taken care of, and decided that I needed to eat at some of the places that I had seen in the movies, had heard about in rap songs, or just otherwise needed to eat at. So, first, I grabbed a couple of my dinner companions from the night before and headed off to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Long Beach. I ate a ridiculous amount of food there. For $14.50 you get two waffles (which are excellent, by the way - hint of cinnamon in the batter makes them awesome) and half of a fried chicken, smothered in gravy and onions. The fried chicken was pretty darned good - juicy and crispy (though the breast piece was a little dry). The gravy was tasty (though it could have used some heat) and helped the breast piece out. Now I can see how Trent and Sue were able to smooth things out with House of Pain and the rest of the crew after Sue pulled the gun on them. We need to have a chicken and waffles place out here in Champaign. If nothing else, so I can smooth things out with people after I pull a gun on them.

After a little nap, I got inspired. I actually dug around online to see what the story was in Malibu. I decided that I wanted to head out there to see what the big deal was. And of course, I found out that there was a Nobu there. Naturally, I had to go. But, that deserves it's own post, which will happen later. But the story was, reservations were not to be had. But, they had a sushi bar where it was first come, first serve. I knew that I could talk my way into a seat there. And really, I prefer sitting at the bar, so I can chat with the guy who's making my food. So, I had time to take the senic route out to Malibu (normally a 45 minute drive, but I had to stretch it out a couple hours, so I could get there by 9:30 or so and avoid the rush). This was definitely a good idea. I had a chance to drive around, so I just took the Pacific Coast Highway up to coast to Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, taking a few random turns to see some of the area. Why's this on Foodgeek? Because I also ran into a Fatburger in Redondo Beach. They claim that it's the last great American burger stand. And I'm not one to argue. Had a very good, huge burger (of course, topped with chili and cheese), some mediocre onion rings, and one of the best milkshakes of my life. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't expensive, either, you know? I think that it worked out to something like $15 for everything. But really? It would have cost the same at Chili's, and this was better. Ice Cube never sang about how it was a good day because he went to Chili's. And the Cube knows. The milkshake alone was worth the stop.

So, this was my fallback plan, in case Nobu didn't work out.

But of course, things did work out, and I just ended up eating too much. But it was well worth it. Next post - Nobu. After that - finally catching up on some reviews that I haven't had time to get up.

-foodgeek