thursday night market at yamashiro's.

i brought the wrong camera lens for the market, so there aren't any food shots for you (besides the gorgeous stone fruit. so good.) . but here's what you need to know: a few flower and produce vendors occupy a short row, but the rest is food, baked goods, bulgarini gelato, and liquor. yeeeeeah. a farmer's market on the grounds of a restaurant with a full liquor license means you can bring the family, do some shopping, eat some tasty grub, and wander around the gardens all whilst sipping a beer or quaffing down one a bottle of wine. full on hipster scene poolside (! yes! a pool! with a dj!) which means some bikini-clad women in search of duck confit tacos mix in with children dancing to a live jazz band.

parking: you can get valet parking from the restaurant; if you tell them it's for the market, it's $4. don't forget to tell them it's for the market or you'll be charged $7! there's free(?) valet parking and free shuttle down the hill at the christian science church parking lot at la brea and franklin, too.

the main reason to go, though, is this:




from griffith park observatory to century city, you have a true panoramic view of los angeles. priceless, with parking.

yamashiro's garden market,
thursdays from 5pm to 9pm.
1999 north sycamore avenue,
hollywood.
323.466.5125‎.

the refresher.

i'm ashamed to say i don't frequent the refresher in the farmers market all that much. it is one of the few stalls i clearly remember from my childhood that is still in the market, and one of the least changed. it only sells drinks--and soft drinks at that--and a few of the frozen confections that are house-made at the owners' other stall, bennett's ice cream. despite its quaint exterior, though, it does have a rather remarkable selection of sodas from hard-to-find brands (cactus cooler, anyone?) to bottled microbrews--in fact, at some point the bennetts had their own branded soda--a tasty root beer, an interesting lemon cola, and i think there was even a habañero cola. don't know if that still exists. i might just have to stop by to find out.

the refresher
stall # 622 at the farmers market
6333 w. 3rd street (x-street fairfax)
los angeles 90036.
323.939.6786.

gilmore guy

taking the heat at singapore's banana leaf, farmers market.

(let's just get this confusing punctuation thing out of the way now, in case you'll be doin' some googling later: it's singapore's banana leaf, at the farmers market. possessive singapore, a large group of non-possessive farmers)

i have to say, i like hot summers in the city; there's something intrinsically sexy about it, in a dirty, sweaty, heaving, sort of way. i heart new york's lower east side, during those crazy, sudden thunderstorms that come in the middle of the afternoon, with steam rising from the asphalt, and everything going from yellowy gray to blue gray all at once; london's hampstead heath, with pasty gentlemen sunning themselves on striped lawn chaises on a vast green sea, little children running rings around them, and naughty boys trying to peek into brush surrounding the women's bathing pond; or dc, where the atmosphere is so heavy with humidity that you need to take a shower immediately after stepping out the shower, and the air is as thick as water and you can't breathe....okay, maybe i don't like that so much, but i do enjoy the seasonal heat and oven-like temperatures occasionally. (perhaps it's because i normally live in the equatorial tropics, which is like a perpetual steam bath.)

anyway, on one of the balmier nights, a friend and i headed to the farmers market for dinner, not really knowing what we wanted to eat. we walked by the all the stalls, and somehow, the crowd at singapore's banana leaf beckoned. eating la's pat saperstein is correct in saying that the food at the farmers market is rarely a stellar example of their respective cuisines, but they tend to fare well all the same; sbl is no exception to this. however, the weather, the cramped tables, and the bustling environs really capture the spirit of an asian market stall/street food vendor which only adds to its appeal. we placed our order, and beadily eyed the people who managed to get a table in front of the stall, until a couple finally left and we slid into their seats (yes, they were finished with their meal, and they ignored us, so there was no "go go mojo" going on).



the roti paratha--grilled indian bread served with a vegetarian curry sauce--was first, and it was okay. it was hot off the grill, and generous in portions, but slightly thicker than and not as flaky as i would prefer. the curry sauce lacked heat, but had a nice, mild flavour.



i enjoyed the gado gado, a salad of shredded cabbage, cut (frozen?) green beans, boiled potato, fried tofu, hard-boiled egg and bean sprouts, topped with a warm sweet peanut sauce and krupuk (shrimp chips). the thing that makes or breaks this dish for me is the peanut sauce, and i have to say i do like sbl's version. i reckon the sauce is made with peanut butter, but there are ground peanuts in it as well, which adds to the flavour's richness, along with the sambal belacan (shrimp paste), soy sauce and spices. the vegetables that were supposed to be cooked were the right consistency and didn't taste like they were pre-cooked hours earlier, and the fresh vegetables were crisp and new.



the laksa, a coconut curry-based soup with thick(ish) rice noodles, tofu, bean sprouts and homemade fishcake or chicken (i chose the chicken), was a bit of a disappointment. although the portion was quite generous, i found that the soup itself lacked a depth of flavour, underspiced, and perhaps not made with a fish- or seafood-based stock, which i am used to tasting under all the coconut milk and curry (perhaps it was missing sambal belacan??). i also found the noodles to be a slightly more al dente than i prefer.



the mee goreng, or indian-style pan-fried yellow egg noodles, was packed with onions, chicken, and tofu, but the spicy tomato-based sauce lacked that certain boldness of flavour i've come to expect in really good mee goreng (i'm under some suspicion that the secret ingredient in a good sauce is ketchup, eyuw, but hey, if it works it works), but the abundance of ingredients and relative lack of oiliness make this mee goreng a decent dish.



we capped our meal with ice kachang, a shaved ice concoction with sweetened preserved jack fruit, sweet beans, evaporated milk, rose and pandan syrups. now this was the business, and certainly welcomed on this steamy night. in fact, it was so successful, i believe half the people standing in line waiting for their orders and beadily eyeing us also ordered ones for themselves. good move, but we were so full that we didn't actually move off in a timely fashion to allow the next sweltering and starving couple to swoop in. we were happy where we were, and despite the "eh"-ness of some of the dishes, we'd be happy to return.


singapore's banana leaf
at the farmers market,
6333 w. 3rd street (x-street fairfax)
los angeles 90036.
323.933.4627.

seagulls are the new pigeons.

parking lot of the whole foods across the street from the farmer's market. it's like a hitchcock film, i tell ya.

la cienega farmers' market.

currently my favourite farmers' market is the one at la cienega and 18th street, held on thursday afternoons from 3pm until 7pm. it's not very big, but it manages to have whatever i need, from organic produce to beautiful flowers, along with jars of local honey, freshly baked breads and pastries, handmade tamales, even locally made peruvian food. i am mostly curious over the kiosks with giant grills featuring louisiana-style cajun hot links, tacos al carbon, and my new guilty pleasure...



...the bacon-wrapped hot dog. it is as the name states, a hot dog wrapped in salty, fatty bacon, then grilled until well-browned and almost crispy, then served on a sesame bun with grilled onions and green peppers, along with tomato ketchup, yellow mustard, mayonnaise, and grilled fresh jalapeño peppers.



there's no point in trying to be a purist about this--wherever you may get it, some 'dogs may be better than others, but they are truly just hot dogs, wrapped in the fattiest, saltiest bacon possible, and the ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise actually improve the flavour of the whole debacle. cuts through the fat and grease. this one was particularly good because the onions were grilled to sweetness, and the jalapeño peppers still had a bit of crunch along with the spicy bite. the bun held together well, and there was at least half an onion and half a green bell pepper atop the porky log. mmmmmmm. i wonder how many of these i can eat without giving myself a coronary. i wonder if i can find one in tomorrow's marketing expedition....

white fuzzy flowers can be nice.

gypsophila from the la cienega farmers' market, on la cienega and 18th street, los angeles. thursdays from 3pm until 7pm.

4 things: the LA edition

i've been tagged by the lovely maria from franklin avenue for the 4 LA things meme, a variation on the '4 things' meme which i secretly wanted to be tagged but haven't; anyway, this is better!



Four Jobs I’ve Had In My Life in LA:

• clerk at texas records in santa monica
• deejay at KXLU (listen to the molotov cocktail hour, it's still on!)
• door person/bitch with the VIP guestlist at neely o'hara's (a '70s-inspired club in the mid-'80s--seriously waaaaaay before its time)
• intern at enigma records in (gaaah) el segundo

Four Movies About LA I Could Watch Over And Over:

• swingers
• clueless
• the big tease
• anywhere but here

Four Places I’ve Lived All Over L.A. (With Food Memories From Each):

• mckay residence hall at loyola marymount university in westchester (that's near the airport); i managed to get out of buying the mandatory meal card, but i still ended up eating a lot of burritos at the lair, in the student union. and burritos from campo's. mmmm, that chile relleno burrito was freaking awesome.
• random apartment building behind the travelodge/denny's on century blvd, LAX. basically an off-campus dorm, everyone was from LMU. my roommate, tricia, introduced me to the wonder that is trader joe's. our weekly shopping list was pretty much the same: applesauce, granola, cheap cheese, tortillas, juice, peanut butter filled pretzels. college life! at that time, tj still was a clearing house for test products and one-off production runs; the best thing that came out those odd products was definitely the dark chocolate covered strawberry ice cream dove bar. deeeeelish.
• condo on 8th street, behind the mutual benefit life building, mid-wilshire. i have no idea what that building is called now, but it was where the offices of dirt, boy version of sassy! magazine, were. food was fantastic then, that whole '80s emergence of great california chefs: mary sue and susan at border grill on melrose, then the late, great city restaurant (chicken mousse stuffed canneloni, fried sage), evan kleinman at angeli (the best panzanellain the world,tonno verde-like an italian niçoise ), michel richard, wolfgang puck, joachim splichal....can't think of the rest, but that's a pretty good list. loved mandarette on beverly (lion's head soup, tofu with century egg), but also ate at the beverly center a lot: mon kee west, kisho-an (sesame chicken karaage), irvine ranch market (forerunner to bristol farms, surely), viktor benes bakery....hey it was the '80s! conspicuous consumption!
• current flat, kabbalah heights, beverly hills adjacent. everything farmer's market: soft shell crab po'boy at the gumbo pot, early morning cappuccinos, pecan and butter slathered belgian waffles at that waffle place that used to be in the middle, kitty doughnuts at bob's. oh, great thai food at thai house on pico and of course, cuban food from versailles.

Four LA-Themed Shows I Love(d) To Watch:

• gidget
• robbery homicide division-the most realistic looking la show, imo.
• mv3-okay, it wasn't so much la-themed but la-based--it was one of the first video shows on, with crazy pogo'ing la teenagers. heavy emphasis on british new wave. i swear, it's one of the reasons i moved to la. sad.
• it's like, you know...-i loved everything about this, especially that they shared their fascination with high-speed chases with me.

i'm starting to get into the closer more and more....and i'm probably the only person who's looking forward to watching heist. which means it will get cancelled after four episodes.



Four Places I Would Vacation At In LA:

• winter weekend in downtown la: i'd stay at the biltmore, have the buckwheat pancakes and cheese omelette at the original pantry, take a stroll down olvera street, spend a few hours at MOCA or the library, then lunch at grand central market. back to the downtown standard rooftop bar for sunset drinks, dinner at ciudad, ice skating at that downtown on ice (no, it has nothing to do with meth!), and maybe back to the standard for a late night movie projected on one of the neighbouring buildings. end the night with a bowl of ramen at daikokuya. sunday i'd go the mass at the cathedral of angels, then dimsum brunch in chinatown, and spend the rest of the afternoon taking photographs of the old theatres, the fantastic mexican accordian shops, the bustle over at santee alley. i'd end the day by buying a couple of french dip sandwiches at philippe's, some tapioca pudding, and hopping on a train out of union station :)
• spring in hollywood: i'd stay at chateau marmont, in bungalow #1. i'd had breakfast at the 101 coffee shop, then go to the hollywood farmer's market and pick up stuff for a picnic later at griffith park, above the observatory, at dante's view, or if i'm totally out of shape, just at the berlin forest. or ferndell. i'd then go to a movie at the arclight, go to grauman's and look at all the footprints in the cement and hang with the tourists who are just discovering how grimy hollywood boulevard really is, maybe have a fast game at lucky strike. i'd then have the garlic clam pizza at miceli's, head to mashti malone's for some persian ice cream for dessert, buy a couple dozen cds from virgin or tower to play while i indulge in some moonlight swimming back at the chateau.
• summer in santa monica: i'd stay at the casa del mar, just because i've been curious about that building for forever. i used to walk by it almost everyday and just imagine what it must have been like when it was a beach club in the 1930s. i'd walk to figtree's café on the venice boardwalk, where my favourite waiter in the entire world works--he's casual but professional, he's helpful but doesn't hover, and best of all, he totally coordinates my coffee cup to my outfit. they have a great tofu reuben, too. i'd do some window shopping on abbott kinney, then walk down the boardwalk back to samo, to the pier, where i'd spend most of the day just taking photos and people watching. i'd have dinner at ocean avenue seafood, or maybe the lobster. the next day i'd go to the getty, and take a long drive up the coast to ventura.
• autumn in the south bay: oh what the heck. why not. i've never been to catalina, it's been a long time since i've been to belmont shores in long beach, disneyland, or the aquarium at san pedro. and when was the last time you shopped at south coast plaza?

Four LA-Based Websites I Visit Daily:

• defamer
• franklin avenue
• los anjealous
• curbed la

Four Of My Favorite Foods Found In LA:

• lamb french dip at philippe's
• apple sushi at hirozen gourmet
• tamales at gallego's
• the chocolate chip danish at J & T bread bin in the farmer's market. honestly, i don't know how they do it--everything tastes a little stale even though it's fresh out of the oven. call me crazy, but i love the stuff from here, from the raspberry hamentaschen to the lurid green pistachio bundt cake.

Four Places In LA I Would Rather Be Right Now:

• hanging out mid-city with cyrano
• hanging out in burbank with bekki and dave
• hanging out in the hills with my cousin, normal
• hanging out in my flat that i haven't been in in over a year!!!!

sniff. i miss la.

Tagged:

• tokyoastrogirl
• yoony
• bramble
• any and all la food bloggers!

thanks maria, that was fun!

farmers market secret no.1

i never thought this was a secret, but everyone seems surprised when i show it to them. so, just in case you didn't know....

if you've been the market, you know how difficult finding a table can be. or, if you find one, it's in a crowded, cramped area, with a zillion people looking at you and what you ate, or near the plate depository. not nice. anyway, there really are tons of tables but they're upstairs.

there are two separate eating areas upstairs in the market, both accessible by stairway. there's a small, odd space that used to house the Saddest Art Display In The World you can get to above the west patio, where the gumbo pot and tony's is, but i prefer the space above the east patio, which is bright and light, quiet, and perfect for people watching.



my favourite tables are the ones by the north-facing windows--settle yourself in one of these and you get a perfect view of the comings and goings in the parking lot, the clock tower, and the patio area around it. if it's a little chilly, you might find yourself lucky and the community room will be open and a fire roaring the fireplace. in the afternoon it's almost deserted, so you can bring up a book and a cuppa, and relax to the sound of the hubbub below and the birds singing in the trees above. ah. a moment of peace before you have to head out into the craze of conspicuous consumption and traffic again.

pineapple sage

i was at the santa monica farmer's market and found pineapple sage, or salvia elegans, which is known as a great hummingbird attractor. i've never seen it actually used as an herb, just in gardens, but it's so pretty and really fragrant (just like pineapples!), that i knew i had to incorporate it in our thanksgiving meal somehow. i ended up using the tiny red trumpet-like flowers in a mixed green salad with cayenne-spiced caramelized walnuts and a mango juice/balsamic dressing, and the basil-like leaves in the poultry marinade and in the chestnut stuffing. i can't say i noticed it much in the marinade or the stuffing, but the flowers were a wonderful foil to the spiciness of the walnuts and the watercress in the salad. mmm. i'll have to attempt growing this from seed back home.

giving thanks

click on photo to enlarge

i thank the following for all the obvious reasons, and all the not-so-obvious ones, too (in no particular order):

the staff at st. vincent's hospital, all the doctors and their staff here and in guam, everyone at good sam, radiology and itc. the clergy and congregation at st. victor's and the cathedral of our lady of the angels. friends i didn't get to see here, and those i did. friends on guam. nyc and uk friends. late night radio friends. the wacky neighbours. the staff and nice people i've met at arclight, the grove theaters, chinatown and farmers market, where i've spent A LOT of time. all the courteous drivers on the streets and freeways (more than i thought). everyone who lives in la and loves it and it shows.

everyone in my blogosphere for your kind words, comments, humour, and for thinking the things you think and then writing them down.

family. those related and not.

thank you.

bob's coffee and doughnuts

okay, i have to admit, my favourite la-area doughnuts are not in the farmers market, but at stan's in westwood. stan has a peanut butter cup filled doughnut that is one of the most disgustingly fantastic things i've ever tasted. the peanut butter and fresh banana one is good too. definitely a guilty pleasure. it's a good thing i'm never in westwood or i'd be in big trouble.



i do like bob's in the farmers market though. i've been going there since i was a kid first visiting los angeles, and later in college, i'd still pop on in, even though my school was much closer to the roadside attraction famous randy's (note: if you drive by randy's at 2 or 3 am, the doughnuts are just out of the fryer fat and really taste like krispy kremes). i like bob's because it hasn't changed much during the years, the doughnuts are mostly the raised fluffy types--airy but greaseless, not too sweet but tasty--and the ladies who work there are lovely. i usually get their version of a beignet (ben-yáy), which isn't particularly authentic, just a fluffy diamond shaped doughnut covered in powdered sugar, but i also love their kitty doughnuts for the kids. simple and charming.



bob's coffee and doughnuts
farmers market, stall 450
323.933.8929

hollywood farmers' market

you know you're in hollywood if there's a giant scientology sign somewhere

los angeles is blessed by a multitude of farmers' markets throughout the city, on almost every day of the week: monday in hollywood, tuesday in culver city, wednesday in santa monica and adams district, thursday in mid-city, west hollywood and chinatown, and saturdays and sundays in almost every part of the city.



my current favourite one is the sunday hollywood market on selma and ivar, just steps away from a popular stretch of hollywood boulevard. i like it because i'm up and about fairly early on sunday mornings, it's in between my church and the 101 coffee shop, there's tons of parking available, and it has everything i'm looking for, without being overwhelming. i can breeze through it with lots of gawping and admiring, but still be out of there by lunchtime.



the market is mostly produce, but there's also stalls selling meats and seafood, plants and pastries, beauty products (the lady who taught brad pitt how to make soap for "the fight club" is here) and incense, amongst other specialized items. there's also many food stalls--everything from a made-to-order omelette bar to salvadoreño pupuseria. everything looks and smells wonderful, it can tempt you despite how large your breakfast just was.





last week's booty included squash blossoms, gorgeous dahlias, fresh mint for tea, grapes, and other fruits.



we'll see what next week's market will yield....

farmers market in the news

the la times (free reg. required) has a couple of stories about the farmers market in this week's food section, including one on its history and one on some of the food offerings.



slightly annoyed by the food offerings one as it barely scratches the surface and focuses on the newer establishments, and not some of the great old-timers. oh well. i guess i will just have to rectify that situation myself :-).