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

Food on the Road: Bad Puns and Good Clams

So I'm off to the Northeast for the week, hanging out in Worcester. So, I figure that since I'm out east, I need to eat seafood. Lots of it. It's just not the same in the Midwest. You can get some decent stuff away from the coasts. Particular if you're in a larger metro area. But it's not quite the same. And despite the cost of living being much higher in this area, the price for some good seafood isn't outrageous.

First stop - Legal Seafood. It's been suggested that this place is the best seafood restaurant in the country. Their clam chowder has been served at presidential inaugurations since 1981. And there's no doubt, that it's good. It's not transcendent. But it's good. Honestly, I think that there's a lack of expectation when it comes to soup, which is why solid attempts are considered to be transcendent. Honestly? The stuff that comes out of my kitchen is just as good, if not better. But the rest of what Legal served? I just didn't have access to that quality seafood to even compete. We opened up with some soup - clam chowder and lobster bisque. I'm always disappointed at bisque. Just not as much flavor as I would like. I know that it's supposed to be subtle, but the cream (and sherry, I think) get in the way of the lobster, crab, or shrimp. And really, same with most clam chowders that I taste. So, I always try, and I'm always disappointed.

After the soup, we went with an appetizer sampler. A few slices of sashimi-style seared tuna. Excellent. It's all in the tuna, really. And they got the good stuff. Not the flash frozen stuff that I'm used to seeing in the Midwest that's sort of pinkish. This was a deep, crimson, and just tasted wonderful. There were a couple shrimp wontons - mediocre. For someone who grew up with dim sum, this was a poor attempt. A better attempt was the shrimp cocktail - two decent sized, well cooked shrimp, though the cocktail sauce tasted like it could have come out of a jar. But the best part was the two mini-crabcakes that came - jumbo lump crab, a minimum of breading. Just what it should be. But all in all, this was just overpriced.

The entrees were better. We went with the seafood casserole and the fried seafood sampler. The casserole was generous amounts of scrod, scallops, shrimp, and lobster all baked together in a cream and cheese sauce, and topped with a cracker topping. The first attempt was off, as it came out undercooked. But after it got sent back, the second time, they got it right, and the dish was great. The fried seafood platter was also excellent, with clams (the good ones, not the cheap clam strips that you get from the store), calamari, scallops, shrimp, and haddock. The quality of the seafood just makes a huge difference. But they did a great job with the breading and the frying - the seafood came out just right, the breading tasted good, and none of it was too greasy. The sides were pretty standard, except for the cheddar-jalapeno polenta, which was served grilled slightly crispy on the edges. This was a very pleasant surprise, and a big plus for the meal.

All in all, I'm not sure that it's the best seafood restaurant in the country, but the quality of the seafood was solid, and the delivery was of high quality. What shook me was the spotty service. Waiters took forever to come around, and drink refills had to be acquired at gunpoint. This was probably enough to knock Legal down from 2 stars to only 1 star in my book.

Another dinner adventure took me to the Sole Proprietor in Worcester. This place was also supposed to be good for seafood, though not like Legal. But you know what? I thought that you got a better value for your money, and that the food was of equal quality. First was the bowl of chowder. You got a slightly bigger bowl for only $4 (rather than $6 over at Legal), and it was just as good, in my book. The flavor still could have been augmented with better stock, but it wasn't the thick, white gravy-ish chowder that Legal had. That was my opener, along with a sushi roll (crab, tuna, crunchy fried sweet potato, mango, papaya) that was solid, though not spectacular.

Where things took a turn for the better was with the generously portioned cold seafood platter. Five large cocktail shrimp, which were definitely tasty, and a half-dozen each of smoked mussels, raw cherrystone clams, and raw oysters. I'm not a huge fan of the smoked mussels, but these were done well, and were still slightly warm from the smoker, so it was actually pretty pleasant. The oysters were also very good - fresh, tasted like the ocean, really. Thought they were a little sandy. But what can you do? What really put it over the top for me was the raw clams. I had never had clams before. They're not nearly as rugged as oysters, so don't survive transportation as well, and don't seem to be as popular. Which is too bad. Because they were great. Similar idea to the oysters, but meatier, and lighter in flavor. I am definitely enamored with these guys. Unfortunately, I'll have look a little harder when I'm back in the heartland.

What separated Sole Proprietor and Legal Seafood was the service. I was sitting at the bar, and was called by name by two different bartenders. I always had my drink refilled once it hit halfway, and they were always there to check on me. The food was brought out quickly, and it was very good. And best of all? The price was probably about 2/3 of what Legal Seafood charged. This place is good at what it does. Further inspection of their menu may even get them into refined territory, but for the time being, they get 2 solid stars.

-foodgeek

No contact info - you'll have to Google it yourself. Besides, this isn't my town. But if I'm ever back, I'll keep in mind:

Legal Seafood (multiple locations) - 1 stars
Sole Proprietor (Worcester, MA) - 2 stars