Phillipe The Original - Los Angeles

Just two blocks from Union Station, Philippe The Original is the home of the French Dip sandwich, which was created here in 1908. This cavernous sawdust floored joint is agreeably retro in feel, right down to the wooden clock advertising "Veterinary and Livestock Services."

Get your sandwich (Beef, Pork, Lamb or Turkey) double dipped - the roll is quickly dipped in au jus gravy, the meat so meltingly tender a baby could eat it. (My preferred sandwich is a double dipped pork with jack cheese.) All the side salads are great in that unassuming diner style, low key but surprisingly complex.

The Philippes' mustard is GREAT. It's oddly identical to my Grandmother's, a much beloved family condiment of great renown.

The pies are delicious too. My favorite being the coconut cream, with banana cream pie a close second. The coffee here is 9 cents (.55 cents for that newfangled decaf.)

If you ever want to feel like you're eating in an Edward Hopper painting - this is the place.

Address: 1001 North Alameda Street Los Angeles, CA 90012
Hours: 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Asian Noodles in Los Angeles

Asian Noodles

I recently discovered this place while eating across the street at the Spring Street Smokehouse.

I went back to Asian Noodles the next day, expecting pho, or pad thai, or chinese curry noodles. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was a filipino joint, on the edge of Los Angeles' historic Filipinotown district.

The seafood noodle soup I had was delicious, a clear broth with noodles and generous portions of shrimp, mussels, squid, and some sort of white rolled "leaves" of seafood which I couldn't identify. I thought it better not to ask, at least until I'd finished. I learned this when I was traveling in Asia - if I like it - eat it all and then ask what it was...
The bao bun had a braised pork inside as opposed to the roasted pork as you fund with Chinese dim sun, and was tenderer and juicier.

Asian Noodles -

643 N. Spring St., Los Angeles
213-617-1083

Hours: Mon.-Thu., 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sun., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Anchor Oyster Bar, San Francisco

Whenever I am in SF, I seize the chance to go to the Anchor Oyster Bar in the Castro. This cozy marble and tile oyster bar has been dishing up spectacularly fresh seafood for thirty years.

This time I had a mixed half dozen oysters, Kumamotos and Blue Points, and an amazing fresh artichoke ravioli in a lemon cream. It was topped with easily a half pound of fresh crabmeat. The ravioli's were artfully striped with squid ink, and the lemony richness of the cream sauce made a perfect foil for the crab and artichoke.

Go early if you want dinner, as there is usually a significant line of hungry diners waiting to get in after about 6 pm. Singles or deuces cans sit at the beautiful old marble bar and happily slurp down their oysters.. (I highly recommend the kumamotos - sweet and briny, a perfect taste of the ocean in each tiny shell.

Anchor Oyster Bar
579 Castro St
San Francisco, CA 94114-2511

Phone: (415) 431-3990

Chada Thai - in Chico CA

This is the shrimp with vegetables & red curry at Chada Thai, in Chico California. It came with a vegetable soup and some fried sweet potatoes. The vegetable soup tasted like the diner classic, with a delicate Thai overtone. The shrimp curry is really, really good, as bright and fresh as anything I had in Thailand.

This is a spectacularly good Thai restaurant, if you're ever in Chico near the CAL State Chico campus be sure to stop in.


Chada Thai
117 W. 2nd St., #B (downstairs, under the bagel shop.)
Chico, CA 95928.

(530) 342-7121

The Perfect Mango

My partner and I are going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for Christmas.

Though the glories of spending the holidays basking on the beach are compelling, envisioning the food experiences the journey will offer preoccupies me.

The most beguiling of these is the memory of "The Perfect Mango", which I had on the beach there several years ago.

The gringos around me shuddered when I invited the vendor lady over, horrified that I would eat something bought from a stranger on the sand.* They recoiled in horror when she asked if I wanted chili and I said "Claro que si!"

Her hands flickered over her basket, choosing a perfectly ripe one, and she staked the chosen mango on a skewer. With a few flicks of her knife she expertly carved it into a flower. She poured hot sauce over it, shook a bit of salt on it and then dusted it with chili powder. She gave it to me with a few pieces of lime in a paper cup.

It was one of the most incredible things I have ever eaten. Tangy and hot, the voluptuous softness of the mango's yielding flesh set off by the lime and chili. The sweet salty hotness ran over my chin, setting my lips tingling; simultaneously invoking and quenching thirst.

It was the first time I thought about the profound similarities between Mexican food and Thai cooking - lime, chili, tropical fruits. The interplay of Hot - Sweet - Sour - Salty are core elements of both cuisines.

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* I've eaten street food all over Mexico and Asia, and never gotten sick. A doctor friend told me - if it has to be peeled it's ok, likewise if it is boiling or fried. Also look at the general cleanliness of the booth or cart - does it look clean? He also suggested steering clear of lettuces and vegetables which have to be washed in water. This advice has served me well in my travels.