Cemitas Poblanas Don Adrian

Just when I was getting tired of Vietnamese Banh Mi, along comes Don Adrian to revitalize the concept of a sandwich. The flavors are Latin such as pata, barbacoa, milanese, adobado, etc. I rejoice. Cemitas is certainly a higher quality than your usual torta.


You take picture of me . I take a picture of you. Now we're even.
I'm having the pata. Milky, translucent and the texture is stiffer than jelly but not hard like cartilage. Pata has bland taste to it but there is luxuriousness about it.

Mad Greek

72112 Baker Blvd.
Baker, CA 92309

Greek food in the middle of nowhere.

I had the calamari on Greek salad with a Sam Adams. How nice of them not to discard the tentacles, that's where all the taste is.

Menchie's Frozen Yogurt

691 E St George Blvd
St George, UT 84770
Menchie's Frozen Yogurt was a revelation to me like being accosted by a Church of the Latter Day Saints missionary gal (originally from France) while sightseeing in the vistor center of St. George's Mormon Temple (that's another story I'm sure you heard before). FroYo with all the fixins'. I tasted the chocolate FroYo, but went for the coconut, and pistachio froyo, sprinkled with bits of kiwi, almonds and walnuts. So fun and so delicious.

I've drank the Kool-aid; died; went to heaven and joined the Menchie FroYo cult. Please accept my Menchie FroYo flyer as you board your plane at the airport.

Baristas

460 West State Street,
Hurricane, UT 84737


Its an upscale restaurant in a small rural town. The decor had anarchy and chaos all over it. Jagged rough iron works decor with names of ahi tuna, steak, etc. on it. Scrawling testimonials by patroons raving over the food. The Sons of Anarchy were on the 72 inch LCD screen. Ron Perlman looking scraggily and cro magnon like for his role. Track lights, other kind of lighting, confusing the ambiance. Earth tones, southwest colors, southwest decor, spook fun park fonts, with pin-up bomber waitress image, and Americana diners touches left me feeling fragmented with no clear understanding what concept they were trying to get across.

What's going to tie this place together? The food. I better concentrate on the food. I ordered the prime ribeye aged steak medium rare which came with signature salad with 5 artisan lettuces grilled red Caribbean papaya, Mangoes, walnuts, pecans, and mini, red, yellow sweet peppers,
Grilled in our secret homemade honey glaze until caramelized. The steak was done to my extreme liking, just 2 minutes on each side enough to give a charred smokey flavor to the steak while living the inside reddishly pink and juicy. The steak was tender and melted like butter in my mouth. Nice high fat content is what makes it buttery and tender. The steak was simply and elegantly seasoned, let the steak speak for itself: it said, "I'm damn good steak, relish me."

I had 2 glasses of St. Pauli Girl beer. The pairing was not to my liking, I would have preferred a dark beer with bitters instead of a light pilsner. But the lightness of the pilsner complimented the beer better since nothing should overpower the taste of the steak. I can taste the corn fields.

It wasn't cheap, but I'm worth it and I'm on vacation and I won't stay at this place again.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit

I had the ribs plate. So juicy and tender. I've got to find a place like this to replace Gadberry's.

Lupe's Burritos

4642 E 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90022
Lupe's Burritos touts itself as having 12 kinds of burritos. The core of ingredients is just beans, cheese and carne asada. Where are all the other meats? My Cro-magnon carnivore self railed against the lack of carnitas, buche, lengua, cabeza, seso, pastor, birria, etc.

My order was the chicharron burrito because it was off the map. Even though it was novel, it still disappointed despite the spicy heat because what draws one to chicharron is the crunchy, crackling texture. It was like eating soggy potato chips burrito. To wash down the schlockyness of the whole meal and medicate my revulsion I had a King Cobra. King Cobra saves the day with a beer buzz.


Why does it seem most eating places close to the Metro are so bland and unexciting?

There are better alternatives:

Super Cocina 5 Puntos

Taco El Gordo

Super Taco Michoacan

Pho 999

6411 Sepulveda Blvd,
Van Nuys, CA 91411

They raised their health inspection letter grade to an "A" from a "C". Good reason to go and have a meal there. I had the #1. Good pho with all the usual extras of fresh bean sprouts, basil and sliced jalapeno chilis. The ones that go the extra mile have dandelion leaves.