Baracoa Cuban Cafe - Atwater Village

3175 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 665-9590

www.baracoacubancafe.com

Baracoa Cuban Cafe

Category: Cuban

5 star rating

06/27/2008

I decided I needed to find a replacement Cuban restaurant for Versailles as I really enjoy the food there, but hate the wait, the tough parking and in pursuit of a new Cuban place I found Baracoa.

My Arroz con Pollo was delicious. A super bargain at $7 which includes a small but great salad and a few slices of plantains! The plantains were oh so good! Fresh hot bread before the dinners hit the spot although no butter with the bread was a glaring omission and even the salad was noteworthy as well. No iceberg here. Everything I tasted here was great! Oh... do not miss the Tres leche (3 milk) cake... that was incredible. One of those cakes where everyone who tried it was moaning primal utterances in sheer rapture! Lisa's Cuban Sandwich was also tasty!

The chef is apparently an upscale chef so his more expensive dishes look very tempting for next time here and yes, there will definitely be a next time.

I now read the flan is a must try here as well. Ha! Another excuse to return! Oh yes, corkage is a very reasonable $5. The biggest booth/table is for 10 peeps. When I return, there's many dishes I want to try but for first timers, I say try to get the Arroz co Pollo as it is a super bargain and delicious. It's a little different that the Mexican version as it comes with plantains and it came with a whole leg quarter on the bone whereas the Mexican versions I've had were boneless chunks of breast meat with a lot of tomato salsa kind of sauce. Here, you get a LOT of rice and it really filled me up. This place could handle up to 10 people together, but when I come back I'll do a table of 4 plus a table of 8 and that should be cool.

Oh it was pointed out by a Yelper that to snag the single table in the back that can accomodate 8-10 you should call a couple hours ahead as they don't take reservations. Ha! That's exactly what I did, but I didn't know that's what I was supposed to do... Love when a non-plan comes together like it was a plan.

El Tepeyac Cafe - Burritos as Big as Your Head!

812 N Evergreen Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90033
(323) 267-8668

El Tepeyac Cafe

Categories: Coffee & Tea, Mexican

4 star rating

06/23/2008

A delicious and cheap place to dine on interesting Mexican food. Their claim to fame are their ginormous burritos... as big as your head! I've been here twice. First time I had the Hollenbeck burrito. Excellent. Second time 4 of us shared the monster Manuel Special and a 1/2 order of guacamole which was awesome as well. Some Yelpers wrote that they allow byob and we brought a bottle of tequila, but they wouldn't allow us to bring it in to drink. Thus, 4 stars.

You cannot eat these burritos by holding them... you'll need to use the plate and knife and fork.


A great place for those with huge appetites and the curious.

Joe's Pizza - Welcome to L.A.!

111 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90407
(310) 395-9222

Joe's Pizza

Category: Pizza
Neighborhood: Santa Monica

4 star rating

11/11/2007

4 of us met at Joe's to try out New York's finest and it did not disappoint. Our group shared a taste of each type so we got to sample many different slices. We ate here on the 1st official day open which was Sat. 11/10/07.

Pizza slices were delicious. We tried various slices. Fresh Mozzarella w/fresh basil & EVOO generously drizzled. Slice of Pepperoni, slice of Sicilian w/sausage, regular slice w/Anchovy, one with mushroom and a slice of Margherita. Joe was there tossing pies. They are very generous with the toppings. The crust is crispy compared to most LA pizza's. Not cheap at $17-20 per pizza plus $3/topping.

The service was excellent, but disorganized as this was the first day open. They don't have a system yet for which customer gets what slice or who paid for what slice and was on the honor system and they'd ask me what I ordered. When I saw I wasn't getting the 2nd slice I'd ordered, I reminded the cashier what I ordered and Joe jumped in and made up my slice for me and would signal me 1 minute to go and again signal me when it was ready and handed it to me personally. Joe gets 5 stars for customer service. When ordering toppings on slices, they basically take a cooked cheese slice add the toppings and then bake it again to heat the toppings.

My favorite topping was the sausage and I had that with a slice of Sicilian (square) and loved the sausage that had nice flavor of fennel. Not nearly as bold as Mozza's fennel sausage which bowled me over but Joe's sausage was sliced and if I recall, Mozza's sausage was crumbled, but I could be mistaken, I just remember that Mozza's sausage was fantastic. But I'm not comparing the two places, sorry for the tangent.

I've never been a fan of the anchovy and this slice proved no different. The slice came with 3-4 whole fillets of anchovy so again the toppings ($0.75 each topping) are quite generous and my friends that ordered them loved them.

The crust is what I noticed is much different than all other pizzas I've had and being a poker player, believe me... I've had a lot of pizza including Casa Bianca which I felt is so overrated. Casa Buono in Echo Park, is delish and much preferred over Casa Bianca. Back to the crust, sorry, the crust is very crispy and it is delicious. However, I think I'd rather have a slice from Johnnie's Pizza in MdR or S.M. but haven't had a slice at Johnnie's for a long time, so I better grab a slice there before I make that definite call. I think my L.A. Foodies Group (www.LAfoodies.org) will have to have a Pizza taste test between the two pizza joints.

My favorite style of pizza is Chicago deep dish pizza and my fav place used to be Chicago Pizza Works which is no longer in biz unfortunately. I just loved that sweet crust and the gigantic slices. 1 slice you were full, two slices and you are a glutton. One slice was a full meal.

The place is tiny, maybe 600s.f for the entire restaurant and there's 3 inside tiny tables that seat 2-3 people and one outside table without chairs, but I guess you can grab some empty chairs from inside. This is basically a pizza to go joint and if you want to go together as a large foodie group, I'd recommend you buy a few pizzas (they call them pies) and bring some blankets and your own wine and drinks and walk 1/2 block West towards the beach and dine picnic style on the lawn and it would make for an awesome group pizza outing.

I'll probably organize a bigger group outing like described above and will to do a taste off between Johnnie's and Joe's. Should be fun!

Joe's is sure to be a success because during the summer, there's a bizillion beachgoers that will walk by the place every day. I live in Hollywood and I ask myself, would I drive all the way from Hollywood fight the traffic and parking (park at Colorado Place Mall free 3 hr parking) to eat at Joe's. Probably not unless I was meeting a group of my foodie friends to share the experience. It's not a date place, it's a eat and go place or pizza to go. I will certainly go back again, but only if convenient or with a group.

I gave it a moderate $$ rating as 2 slices of pizza and a drink cost me about $9 which is a $ rating, but for pizza, that's on the high end as my slice of sausage pizza was $4.

So, if this NY pizza is as good as it gets in NY, then the LA pizza joints have nothing to fear and the New Yorkers who proclaim that NY is the pizza capital of the universe, get over it. LA has many excellent pizza joints. I've never been to NY so I cannot compare the other pizza joints to Joe's but from the written reviews of Joe's and the constant NY fans proclaiming NY pizza is best, I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. LA kicks out some fine pizza as well.

I give it 4 stars as it is excellent pizza, but it didn't give me the "OMG, this is the best ever" tingling feeling. I'm sure some of the the NY'ers will probably blast me, but so be it.

Welcome to L.A. Joe! I wish you much success.

Musha Restaurant - Izakaya

1725 W Carson St
Torrance, CA 90501
(310) 787-7344

Musha Restaurant

Categories: Japanese, Asian Fusion
Neighborhood: Torrance

3 star rating

11/11/2007

Ate here a few weeks ago with about a dozen of my L.A. Foodies (www.LAfoodies.org) and this was my first experience with a izakaya joint. A few of the dishes were delicious as Yelped such as the Ebi Mayo, cheese risotto, braised pork belly but surprisingly the Udon noodles were way overcooked and bloated. The fried rice was bland and quite small for the money. All the dishese were quite small portions but we were making a dinner out of the dishes, not here late after partying. The Kirin draft was excellent and cold a big plus. The mackerel sashimi was surprisingly good though they torched it before serving. If the Udon noodles were cooked properly, I would have given it 4 stars.

While the cheese risotto was delicious, the cheese block that it's served in looks very scary as they've probably been using that block for months or years to serve their risotto. How sanitary can that be? Price was reasonable and the place was good, but it didn't hit a home run for me, unfortunately.

If I really wanted to correctly experience an Izakaya joint, I guess I'll have to be there late and close to home but this is in Torrance and I dined here before a poker game as I wanted to try a new style of Japanese food and play poker so I could multitask and save gas.

Maybe it's me or maybe I'm overly critical, but it's tough to find a perfect meal in L.A. without spending a fortune.

Giamela's Submarine Sandwiches

3178 Los Feliz Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 661-9444

Giamela's Submarine Sandwiches

Category: Sandwiches
Neighborhood: Atwater Village

5 star rating

11/11/2007

I can't believe that the first time I give a 5 star rating is to a sub sandwich joint. Back in the 70's I worked in Burbank a few blocks away from Giamela's and that's where I ate at least once per week. I don't recall ever trying the pizza, but I used to love my beef pepper steak, meatball and pastrami sandwiches, I'd load up on the jalapenos and would be in hog heaven. Fast forward to a week ago, I was semi hungry and was trying to decide whether to eat at Giamela's or at India Sweets and Spices both on Los Feliz Blvd and very close to each other.

My choice is obvious and I was pleased to see that their excellent sandwiches were basically unchanged from my memories of the 70's. I ordered a large beef pepper steak which is a hot sandwich loaded with coarse chopped dill pickles, onions, cooked green bell peppers and lots of jalapenos. It was just like I remembered it. A ton of food, I barely managed to finish the thing but regretted it as I was overstuffed. I should have eaten half and the other half the next day. The hot pastrami sandwiches are also excellent but I'd guess there's a better one out there somewhere. I've eaten at Langer's which is also a good pastrami as well as Canter's but I'm not ready to say who makes the best pastrami.

But for a beef steak and peppers sandwich, I don't know of a better place. So, I give them my first 5 star rating for a restaurant.

Pizzeria Mozza

641 N Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 297-0101

Pizzeria Mozza

Category: Pizza

4 star rating

11/11/2007

I ate here a few months ago and really enjoyed the pizza with the fennel sausage. That sausage has a very distinctive and delicious fennel flavor. I loved it! Probably for that sausage alone I give it 4 stars. I haven't been back since, but if the other dishes are just as good, I might be willing to bump my review up to a 5 star. The salad we shared was good as was the wine. My friend was not impressed with the pizza as she felt it was too greasy, but I didn't mind, it was good.

Casa Bianca Pizza Pie

1650 Colorado Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041
(323) 256-9617

Casa Bianca Pizza Pie

Category: Pizza
Neighborhood: Eagle Rock

2 star rating

11/11/2007

This is about the most over rated pizza I've ever eaten! We had a reservation for 12 and it still took over an hour of waiting. I booked this place based on J Gold's review and expected more, much more. It was about the only time I've ever NOT liked the way the crust tasted. Maybe I'm missing something, but the crust just didn't taste good to me and our group ordered 4 pizzas and I tried them all. I will say the smoked eggplant and sausage and onion pizza was decent because of the toppings and if I had liked the crust, I'd give the place about 3-4 stars as the wait is crazy. They need to get a better handle on their scheduling.

Fortunately, we brought several bottles to share and that took my mind off the pizza and the long wait and we all managed to have a good time as our group of foodies www.LAfoodies.org are a fun loving, jovial group of people.

To be honest, I'd rather get a Papa John pizza or even Dominoes, although I'm boycotting Dominoes for other reasons which I'm going to give them a very harsh review separately from this one.

The garlic bread was very good, but that's hard to mess up. I would not make this a destination restaurant but if someone asked me to go here, I'd first try to convince them that we should go elsewhere, hence only 2 stars.