Previously on Adam Riff™:
This is the last of my formidable backlog of food notes that I desperately needed to clear. Some dishes I tried are no longer available. So it goes.
August 2016 – March 2017
b sweet dessert bar / belcampo / birch / the carving board / cassell's hamburgers / the chairman / chichen itza / destroyer / erven / here's looking at you / hoke poke / kato / the korean mkt. / lemonade / little tart / mad pambazos / the mar vista / octopus / park's bbq / popdup / the pie hole / plan check / pot cafe / public school 213 / revolutionario / salt and straw / seasalt / terracotta / tomgeorge / ugly drum / villa moreliana / westbound / zankou chicken
Rockin' Roe Bowl (The Korean Mkt.)
assorted fish roe, uni, and pickled veggies over seasoned rice
^ For your eyes only.
Chicken Confit (Destroyer)
yukon gold potato, aged cheese, yuzu, hazelnut
^ Jordan Kahn is a pretentious chef, but this was yummy. The chicken is not visible.
Khinkali (Tumanyan Khinkali Factory)
large, filled georgian dumpling
—Its pinched top was nigh inedible.
Spaghetti and Meatballwich (The Carving Board)
sliced all-beef meatballs topped with a homemade marinara and melted mozzarella, served between parmesan spaghetti bread with extra marinara on the side
^ Also nigh inedible: This spaghetti bread.
(Mad Pambazos) is a Mad Max-themed food truck.
Toecutter (Mad Pambazos)
guajillo-braised goat shoulder, oaxaca cheese, cabbage salad, pickled jalapeño, cotija, and crema
^ The bun is dipped in a salsa roja before crisping up on the grill. This creates a crust of slightly dried salsa that surrounds the bread, giving it a distinct red sheen.
ORTS
"Samoa" Cookie Bread Pudding (B Sweet Dessert Bar)
BLT Panzanella (Lemonade)
turkey, bacon, avocado, tomatoes, arugula vinaigrette
—One of the few items worth ordering at (Lemonade).
Butter Chicken Crispy Rice Balls (Birch)
cucumber yogurt, mint, cilantro
Overheard at Smorgasburg LA:
"Is there actually llama in there?"
"It's Peruvian!"
(Revolutionario) is "the first and only North African Taco restaurant in the world."
Duck Hash Taco (Revolutionario)
(Tomgeorge) is "Budapest's #1 Italian restaurant."
Nutella Pizza (Tomgeorge)
strawberries, banana, almonds, whipped cream
(Kato) serves an ever-changing contemporary Taiwanese tasting menu.
Smoked Hamachi (Kato)
charred scallion sauce, lightly pickled cucumbers
Crispy Rice (Kato)
kale, mushrooms, soft scrambled egg
Buttermilk Pudding (Kato)
rose ice
The Makgeolli (Terracotta)
passion fruit cream, banana ice cream, makgeolli foam
^ Used in the foam, Makgeolli is Korea's oldest alcoholic beverage.
Sweet Potato Crack Fries (Little Tart)
sweet potato fries served with housemade bacon honey, topped with green onions and peanuts
^ I am not a fan of sweet potato, but these were addictive.
[Complimentary] Popcorn (Westbound)
distilled vinegar powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt
—As was this, which is supposed to taste like Cool Ranch Doritos.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Compartes' Spring Awakening Ice Cream (Salt and Straw)
freeze-dried strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries coated in milk chocolate and stirred into milk chocolate ice cream with a kick of strawberry vanilla jam
^ I am not a fan of milk chocolate, but this was scrumptious.
Twenty-Four Blackbirds' Matcha Mint Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream (Salt and Straw)
mint ganache truffles stirred into matcha ice cream with a touch of citrus
—The texture of the truffles was not one that I had encountered before in ice cream.
K-Pop (Terracotta)
chocolate cream, banana-caramel, chocolate crunch
—Heh. Koreatown, popsicle, get it?
112 "Peaches and Cream" (Westbound)
grilled peaches, ginger beer gelée, peach cream, apple celery sorbet
Duck Nuggets (Birch)
pickled veggies
^ Well, one nugget…
—
(Erven) was the best vegan restaurant that I have ever dined at.
This past June, (Erven) overhauled its menu, adding meat and dairy. Most everything vegan that Hugo and I feasted on [Sauerkraut Fry Bread with smoky apple sauce, Seaweed "Doritos," Pretzel Bread Pudding, Green Onion Spaghetti, et cetera] is memorialized here.
Beer-Battered Tofu Sandwich (Erven)
with slaw, thick pickle, and manchamantel
Fennel Cake (Erven)
with rhubarb-balsalmic jam, iced pecan milk, and dried strawberries
Black Sesame Cake (Erven)
with passion fruit custard, cilantro sorbet, and coconut meringue
MISSED CONNECTIONS
Smoked Trout Dip (Erven)
with "everything bagel-spiced" beet churros
"Thai Style" Burrito (Erven)
with fried rice, tempura sweet potato, lime cream, peanuts, and tom yum gravy
Dragon's Breath (Chocolate Chair)
^ A cup of fruity cereal is blasted with flavourless liquid nitrogen. The result? You get to look like a dragon, while dipping the icy cold cereal in sauces like chocolate, mint, and rose.