Burned Out and Hungry

Ahh Saturday, late August and a beautiful day. Just the right time for a run to the Venice Boardwalk for a Jodi Maroni quality sausage. Walk down Windward to the boardwalk - turn left when you get to the big flagpoles. Walk south past muscle beach and the paddle tennis courts. If you pass Venice Blvd you have gone to far.










Here is the spot - been here for years. I think this is the original. There is another over at the Howard Hughes center near the 405 near the Vivendi Universal Offices.


Fullup custom made - I got the Cubana - very spicy - rice and plantains.




Ok - I'll say it - best fries in town. I know Barney's has good fries but these are better.

Do'in the dog

Bandini is wagging the Taco Gator and Taco Gator don't mind a bit. After two years of no output the Taco Gator has a bit of catching up to do.

We went over to Culver City near Helm's bakery (Helms between Venice and Washington). to try the dog Friday night and the Frank was gone. Today we asked him where he was. He said he hangs out on Abbot Kinney Friday evenings he said. Take note.




We went tried again Sunday and got lucky. The dogs are fantastic - plus they carry a wide selection of specialty soft drinks.

The dog is almost $5 and the drinks are up there too but if you want something special it's a great place to go.

Possibly the best dog in town.

Taco Zorro

NA and I followed Bandini's recommend on a taco place on Sherman Way near Coldwater. Taco Zorro.

We had a hard time finding it, the street address was way off and we don't really remember where it is.

By the time we got there taco hunger had taken over and I was so overwhelmed that no exterior shot was taken.

Standard test is an asada and a al pastor or carnitas taco. The asada was the bite we were looking for up there with the better efforts. If "Tacos Por Favor" is the gold standard with a 5, I rate this asada around a 3.5 The al pastor was an off season variant that did not satisfy - sorry guys but the la Playita truck on Glencoe just blows the rest of you guys away. I'd crawl on my knees over broken glass for the la Playita al Pastor. Thes salsa was excellent but the chip count was a bit light.

Fully stocked drink box with all our favorite Mexican soft drinks including the mandatroy Jarritos and the hiecho in Mexico cokes.

All in all a "dos mas" place. We'll be back. We saw some burritios being put together that looked quite promising.

Fantastic Poblanas

Ok here we are again - this time a Poblanas place on Victory about two blocks east of Sepulvenda. The place is small - 4 small booths inside and some white pvc patio furniture out on the sidewalk in front.

Nice people here, family run and the family cares.











The menu has some "exotics" as we like to call them. I'll leave aspect that to your imagination.





This gives you a hint of the mint.





The product with the string cheese option. Have mercy.






Since the place is small and the AC is not so good we almost always take um back to the office. Here one of the crew rips into a fine example of Valley Mexican at its best.




Who knows what tomorrow may bring - after two days running on the Mexican side we'll probably move on to something else. There is a great Thai place between the strippers supply store and the Spearmint Rhino Gentleman's club a little further east on Victory, just across from the cement plant.

Yeah

Day One High Grade Mex on White Oak and Vanowen

Today we went to Salsa and Beer on the corner of White Oak and Vanowen in the San Fernando Valley.

Our friends from Argentina alerted us to this place, we went there a few weeks ago and it was a powerful moment. Everything is outstanding, the bean dip is fantastic and the seafood is as good as Cabo's. Enough talk here are the pix...


Very colorful and popular with the locals.






NA got the fish tacos, most excellent. Real fish too. It slows down the order, we think they cook these to order.




Next up comes the Asada - RD and HD did some serious work on these. Huge portions of the highest grade.




RC went out of band with the nachos plate. Amazing presentation, the guac here is first rate, but we keep scraping the bottom of those bean dip bowls and asking for more.



Finally their "wet burrito". I prefer dry but this is how they do it. No black beans offered, you either go pinto or none. Pintos are a serious challenge to my overloaded digestive system so I go sans.

No fooling around - if you want a wet burrito - this is the wet burrito you want.

So that's it for today - check back in tomorrow for more valley lunch adventures.