February « 2009 « Foodie Secrets

February 25, 2009

Mexicali in Studio City hits highs and lows

Filed under: Mexican — Tags: braised beef, los angeles, mexicali, Mexican, restaurants, studio city, tortilla soup — foodie @ 11:58 PM

I’m not sure if Mexicali Cocina Cantina counts as a secret anymore, since it can get crowded on a weeknight and they now have a Mexicali Mondays special menu. But I’m fairly certain that I’ve found a menu item that is undiscovered by most people: the braised beef melt.

Tasty braised beef melt

Stuffed with more braised beef than any one person should consume in one sitting, plus grilled peppers and onions with pepper jack cheese melted over the whole mess, this sandwich is pretty far from the expected Mexican-inspired dishes that one usually orders here.

Savory and juicy, with sweet onions and succulent beef, this sandwich was “can’t put it down” good.

I chose the tortilla soup as my side, a nod to the ethnic roots of this restaurant. Yeah, that was a bad idea.

Much too thick, the “soup” was closer to some crazy Rachel Ray “stoup” concoction than it was to any tortilla soup I’ve had anywhere–there’s more authentic soup in Boston, for goodness sake. It lacked any kind of texture, save for the crisped tortilla strips that garnished the serving.

But what it lacked in chewability it more than made up for in spice. Halfway through the cup, I gave in. My mouth was on fire, and no amount of Diet Coke could help me. Even a tortilla chip topped with sour cream and cheese (McGinnis’ chicken fajita accoutrement) could do nothing to put out the fire. Alas.

Lesson learned: braised beef = good, tortilla soup = nasty.

McGinnis and I will probably be back in another few months. I hope I remember to order the salad next time.

Mexicali Cocina Cantina
12161 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 985-1744

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When Good goes bad…

Filed under: American — Tags: beer, burgers, chicken, fries, Good Microbrew, los angeles, lunch, onion rings, silverlake, sunset blvd — foodie @ 12:28 AM

I love a good blonde.

McGinnis and I have spent certain weekend lunches and game nights at Good Microbrew and Grill, feasting on chicken fingers, calamari fritti, sandwiches, and burgers. Together, we’ve worked our way through nearly one-quarter of their amazingly extensive beer list. We had plans to keep on going until…

Good went bad.

It started with the hostess, who kept a small cadre of hungry patrons waiting to be seated for more than a few minutes. When she finally appeared, she looked confused, the expression in her eyes screaming, Where am I? What am I supposed to be doing? Who are these people?

Seated, McGinnis and I briefly consulted the menus and waited for our order to be taken. Yeah, we had a while to go. Good thing he’s funny, or I’d have placed our order myself.

One waiter, then a second, then a food runner. All passed our table without a second glance. Finally, someone (not sure if he was a waiter or busboy) came by and took our drink order. While other patrons who were seated within moments of us received their drinks and had their food orders taken, our beers failed to materialize. Food came to those same tables before the guy who had taken our beer order came back with bad news: the beer McGinnis had ordered was not available. Another quick look at the menu, and McGinnis had a new request. Of course, a new order is useless without someone to take it.

When the guy came around again, McGinnis placed his revised order and then we waited again.

I’m sure you know by now where this is going.

Needless to say, service was shockingly bad. It ran hot and cold. Hot: the moment a beer bottle was emptied, but before I had a chance to photograph it, someone came and swooped it away. Cold: the waiting and waiting and waiting and…

I can excuse fairly poor service, however, for stellar food. And by stellar, I mean burgers cooked to the requested temperature. Take a look at this photo and tell me that burger is cooked to medium:

Not well-done, poorly done.

It’s not, is it? I’m not a well-done kind of girl. I like my burgers juicy, maybe a little bloody in a gross but delicious kind of way. This burger was the opposite of juicy, and pretty far from delicious. Thank goodness for perfectly crispy onion rings…

Mmmm...onion rings.

McGinnis and I probably won’t be back at Good for quite some time. Next time he wants chicken fingers, I’ll make them myself. And I’ll cook my burger to medium-rare.

Good Microbrew and Grill
3725 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 660-3645

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February 10, 2009

The good, the bad, and the tasty.

Filed under: Admin, Uncategorized — Tags: animal, food, foodie, good, hollywood, LA, microbrewery, restaurants — admin @ 6:38 PM

Hello world! Here at FoodieSecrets.com, we’ll be talking trash and spilling secrets about food all over Los Angeles. From the great goodies at Animal to the lowdown dirty deeds at Good (how’s that for a misnomer?), no block will be left untasted.

If you have any tips, comments, or bad bad bad things to report regarding the LA food scene, please feel free to drop us a line at foodie@foodiesecrets.com!

With chocolate piping

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