Ethnic Food

[ocnblu]

I had lunch today at a local Vietnamese place, it was my second visit ever, and my only exposure to Vietnamese food. They have, imo, very odd tastes in flavor mixing. They use mint in a lot of stuff, and peanut. Today I had crab and shrimp in a soup that really tasted weird, and *gag*, I tried a beverage called "pickled lime drink"... it was nasty. Tasted a bit like rotten limes that have lost their flavor. The only lime taste was as an aftertaste, and it was weak. I guess it's my problem, however, because the place had a healthy crowd of Vietnamese customers... a good sign for an ethnic restaurant, imo. Last week my meal there was better, so if I go back, I will have to be careful what I order.

I tend to go on "kicks", where I will obsess on something for a while, then grow tired and move on. Anyone else have an ethnic food "kick" going on?

[Satty]

Are turkey sandwiches and orange juice ethnic foods? Cause thats what I have been eating lately.

[pow]

What isn't ethnic food? Looking back at the meals I ate this past week, all I've had was "ethnic" food.

[pow]

I had lunch today at a local Vietnamese place, it was my second visit ever, and my only exposure to Vietnamese food. They have, imo, very odd tastes in flavor mixing. They use mint in a lot of stuff, and peanut. Today I had crab and shrimp in a soup that really tasted weird, and *gag*, I tried a beverage called "pickled lime drink"... it was nasty. Tasted a bit like rotten limes that have lost their flavor. The only lime taste was as an aftertaste, and it was weak. I guess it's my problem, however, because the place had a healthy crowd of Vietnamese customers... a good sign for an ethnic restaurant, imo. Last week my meal there was better, so if I go back, I will have to be careful what I order.

I tend to go on "kicks", where I will obsess on something for a while, then grow tired and move on. Anyone else have an ethnic food "kick" going on?

What you want to try is "pho" (pronounced fuh). It's rice noodles in a beefy broth, and the flavors should be "familiar", as long as you don't add the mint leaves. Usually you get to pick what meat you want - if you don't like or haven't tried braised tendon, oxtails, or tripe, stick with flank steak or brisket. Personally I don't like pho without lots of Sriracha (chili sauce in a rooster-logoed squirt bottle).

Also with pho, I usually get eggrolls (fried) on the side. It should be served with romaine lettuce; wrap the eggrolls with that, and you'll get a nice combination of cool and hot. The watery, slightly sweet dipping sauce should taste pretty familiar. Spring rolls (the cold ones, non-fried) may taste weirder.

Edited February 16, 2008 by empowah

[Robert Hall]

Hmmm...in the past week, I've eaten at a Tibetian place (today for lunch), an Indian buffet, a Chinese place, a Mexican place, a Thai place, and an Italian restaurant. Plus Einstein's Bagels a couple times and Starbucks.

Thai is probably my favorite 'ethnic' food, followed by Indian and then Vietnamese (I love the noodle bowls and pho soup). I also like Greek and Middle Eastern cuisine occasionally. I go for French and German occasionally also ...

I also like 'mercun' ethnic food, like BBQ and Cajun/Louisiana cuisine.

Edited February 16, 2008 by moltar

[ocnblu]

Yeah the kid recommended the pho last time I was there. So, you think if I have it once I'll want mo pho? They describe some of the soups as containing tendons, some without. Some with well-done beef, some with a mix of rare and well-done. Although today was less of a success than last week, maybe I will go back next week and try something else.

[ZL-1]

Are turkey sandwiches and orange juice ethnic foods? Cause thats what I have been eating lately.

Turkey is a country, so I think turkey sandwiches qualify as ethnic food

Edited February 16, 2008 by ZL-1

[pow]

Yeah the kid recommended the pho last time I was there. So, you think if I have it once I'll want mo pho? They describe some of the soups as containing tendons, some without. Some with well-done beef, some with a mix of rare and well-done. Although today was less of a success than last week, maybe I will go back next week and try something else.

I'd call pho the "staple" of Viet food, akin to burgers in McDonalds or, I don't know, pizza at Domino's. Sure you can get the breadsticks and apple pies, but I think the majority of people, including me, always order pho each time they go. Perhaps it's because most of the restaurants I go to are quickish pho places that specialize primarily in pho... I'm not sure.

Do most of the people eating around you have large bowls of steamy broth with noodles and beef?

[ocnblu]

A lot of big soup bowls, yes, but also a lot of stir-fry with noodle (singular "noodle", a quaint misuse of English on so many Asian menus). I also enjoy the spring rolls, with their delicate, opaque wrapping, different from spring rolls at Chinese places.

They had Hoisin (sp?) sauce, that red-with-green cap HOT sauce, soy sauce, and a small cup of red pepper sauce with a spoon on every table. The spring rolls come with a peanut sauce with slivers of carrots and some white vegetable stirred in.

[usonia]

I've never been able to acquire much of a taste any type of Asian food and Asian restaurants have a nasty smell to me. I don't know what it is but it smells kind of rancid or something. I've also had several bad experiences with finding things in the food that shouldn't be there so that was enough for me. Italian, Mexican or Indian food is about as exotic as I get anymore.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Not much for Asian food for the reason usonia stated. I like a little Mexican and Italian. Italian is my favorite. Though I am a over of the good old fasioned cheeseburger. I am also a fan of German sausages. Got to remember I am from northeast Wisconsin. So a little German has to be a part of it.

[Croc]

I LOVE Asian food. Viet is my least favorite at this point, but it's also the cuisine I've had the least experience with. I love authentic Chinese and Korean...and Japanese is pretty good. I don't like Indian though.

[Intrepidation]

Take a shot of Wasabi

[Croc]

Take a shot of Wasabi

Done that. Quite an experience!

Anyone in the LA area, I highly recommend this little place tucked in a back alley near Mission. It's called R23 and it has the best sushi I've ever had. It's crazy expensive though...I spent over $100 that night just on myself and I only ordered 2 hand rolls and 1 sliced up maki, some saki, and red bean ice cream.

[ocnblu]

Uh, for $100, when you say "some" saki, do you mean like a half barrel? That's outrageous! I do like sushi. I eat it with my fingers while continually wetting my fingers on a lemon wedge to keep the rice from sticking to them. I don't put my wasabi in my soy sauce, I just smear off a spot with my fork and take it straight, yum. Oh, and I love the ginger slices, too. One time I got some wasabi that was kind of a darker green than usual and seemingly dry, it was gross. Like a baby's turd.

[Robert Hall]

Uh, for $100, when you say "some" saki, do you mean like a half barrel? That's outrageous! I do like sushi. I eat it with my fingers while continually wetting my fingers on a lemon wedge to keep the rice from sticking to them. I don't put my wasabi in my soy sauce, I just smear off a spot with my fork and take it straight, yum. Oh, and I love the ginger slices, too. One time I got some wasabi that was kind of a darker green than usual and seemingly dry, it was gross. Like a baby's turd.

Going out for sushi & drinks can get pricey fast...every time I've gone out for sushi it's usually $25-40 a head minimum. Sometimes I take wasabi straight, other times I've mixed it with soy sauce or sriaracha (the big red bottle).

Sushi always reminds me of California, since that is where I first discovered it a decade ago...I was in San Francisco for the Java One conference... one night, I was hanging out w/ some Sun consultant buddies, and we stuffed 5 guys into a Mustang Cobra and drove over to Yoshi's Jazz Club and Sushi restaurant in Jack London Square, Oakland..I still remember that night quite well, great music, great sake, great sushi..

[Croc]

No, I don't think that was even a large saki. It was just for me as my friend drove. Really cool restaurant, though. It's a converted warehouse with art on the walls, exposed brick and track lights. The tables and chairs are made out of corrugated cardboard though...really fascinating.

[ocnblu]

Bleh, with a menu like that it's a wonder all Germans aren't like 400 pounds. :AH-HA_wink:

[Robert Hall]

I can't eat much Asian food since most of it commits unspeakable horrors to my bowels

I used to have a lot of issues with spicy Asian food, esp. Indian and Thai. But Imodium is my friend...take 2-3 before eating, 2-3 after, and my bowels are happy and stable..

[Croc]

I know the best Thai place in LA...it's in Thai Town, but I don't know the name of it. I just know how to drive there haha. Take the Hollywood Freeway and get off at the Thai Town exit (Hollywood Blvd) and proceed east for a few blocks. East of Serrano and west of Harvard is a strip mall on the north side at the T intersection with Hobart. This place is at the back right corner of the strip, and it's phenomenal. Ask for the spicy fish salad (not on the menu).

Edited February 17, 2008 by Croc

[NOS2006]

I tried sushi for the first time last weekend.. it was definitely different and a good experience, but I'm not sure I'll try it again. I generally like my food warm.

Edited February 18, 2008 by NOS2006

[Croc]

I tried sushi for the first time last weekend.. it was definitely different and a good experience, but I'm not sure I'll try it again. I generally like my food warm.

THE VERY FIRST TIME?????? Good lord man, how did it take so long?

Sushi is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and a sushi meal pretty much consists of all the food groups in appropriate portions--as long as you avoid the tempura rolls and other fried things.

I highly recommend the "Dragon Rolls," "Rainbow Rolls" or "Caterpillar Rolls" as they are the healthiest. All of those are variations of the same basic roll and depending on the restaurant the names can be used somewhat interchangeably. They consist of a sliced maki roll with rice on the outside that then has slices of some/all of the following on top: avocado, tuna sashimi, salmon sashimi, whitefish sashimi, and/or BBQ'd eel.

[pow]

I know the best Thai place in LA...it's in Thai Town, but I don't know the name of it. I just know how to drive there haha. Take the Hollywood Freeway and get off at the Thai Town exit (Hollywood Blvd) and proceed east for a few blocks. East of Serrano and west of Harvard is a strip mall on the north side at the T intersection with Hobart. This place is at the back right corner of the strip, and it's phenomenal. Ask for the spicy fish salad (not on the menu).

You mean... JITLADA! I went there once with Jonathan Gold and some people in our class, and it was an incredible lunch. I loved the mussels (slurp up all the sweet juices and broth), I'm dying to go there again.

If you don't mind venturing into Highland Park, about 15 minutes away from Jitlada is My Taco, another unassuming restaurant in a strip mall. It looks like a generic, overly-colorful taqueria, but I'm in love with their borrego de barbacoa (lamb in a pastor-like stew consistency, cooked to a char). You can get a large plate full of borrego, served with consomme and some tortillas, but I prefer to get individual tacos with the borrego meat. Somehow it just seems juicier and more Malliardy in smaller quantities already wrapped up in a tortilla for you. While you're getting tacos, you might as well try their other selections of "meat" - buche, chile rojo, chorizo, lengua... mmm.

[pow]

Done that. Quite an experience!

Anyone in the LA area, I highly recommend this little place tucked in a back alley near Mission. It's called R23 and it has the best sushi I've ever had. It's crazy expensive though...I spent over $100 that night just on myself and I only ordered 2 hand rolls and 1 sliced up maki, some saki, and red bean ice cream.

I don't have much of a disposable income to spend $100 on a dinner, but I like good sushi whenever I get the chance. A few years ago there was this place called Sushi Factory in Gardena tucked behind some warehouses and homes. You walk inside, ring a bell from a window, make your transaction, and in exchange for a reasonable amount of money you get the freshest and creamiest toro tuna I've ever tasted. There's nowhere to sit - it's more warehouse than restaurant, though it did have a legit-looking "A" hanging on the window - but even eating in the car, it was incredible. I went back a few weeks later and it was closed. I suspect it was a fish butchery (?) that sold to restaurants, and "Sushi Factory" was a way to get it without a middleman (restaurant).

[pow]

A lot of big soup bowls, yes, but also a lot of stir-fry with noodle (singular "noodle", a quaint misuse of English on so many Asian menus). I also enjoy the spring rolls, with their delicate, opaque wrapping, different from spring rolls at Chinese places.

They had Hoisin (sp?) sauce, that red-with-green cap HOT sauce, soy sauce, and a small cup of red pepper sauce with a spoon on every table. The spring rolls come with a peanut sauce with slivers of carrots and some white vegetable stirred in.

That red-with-green cap hot sauce is Sriracha, which is teh r0x0rz!~ Screw Hoisin or soy sauce... you don't need that with pho.

[Croc]

You mean... JITLADA! I went there once with Jonathan Gold and some people in our class, and it was an incredible lunch. I loved the mussels (slurp up all the sweet juices and broth), I'm dying to go there again.

If you don't mind venturing into Highland Park, about 15 minutes away from Jitlada is My Taco, another unassuming restaurant in a strip mall. It looks like a generic, overly-colorful taqueria, but I'm in love with their borrego de barbacoa (lamb in a pastor-like stew consistency, cooked to a char). You can get a large plate full of borrego, served with consomme and some tortillas, but I prefer to get individual tacos with the borrego meat. Somehow it just seems juicier and more Malliardy in smaller quantities already wrapped up in a tortilla for you. While you're getting tacos, you might as well try their other selections of "meat" - buche, chile rojo, chorizo, lengua... mmm.

Is that the name of it? Cool. All I know is it's the only Thai place I've been in LA, and it's the only one I need to bother myself with finding. Sometimes a restaurant is just that good where you know anything else will be a letdown.

Highland Park? Dude, I'm in West Adams...short drive up the 110. BTW have you ever been to Lucy's? It's this greasy nasty taqueria on the corner of Hoover and Washington and it's fantastic. The nachos carnitas con guacamole is awesome.

Another LA-eatery I enjoy is Roscoe's Chicken 'n Waffles. That counts as ethnic, right?

BTW--where are you going to school? I remember a while back you mentioned shadowing at USC.

[pow]

Is that the name of it? Cool. All I know is it's the only Thai place I've been in LA, and it's the only one I need to bother myself with finding. Sometimes a restaurant is just that good where you know anything else will be a letdown.

Highland Park? Dude, I'm in West Adams...short drive up the 110. BTW have you ever been to Lucy's? It's this greasy nasty taqueria on the corner of Hoover and Washington and it's fantastic. The nachos carnitas con guacamole is awesome.

Another LA-eatery I enjoy is Roscoe's Chicken 'n Waffles. That counts as ethnic, right?

BTW--where are you going to school? I remember a while back you mentioned shadowing at USC.

After checking Google Maps, it turns out the place you're describing isn't Jitlada, which is actually on the corner of Harvard and Sunset (one block south of Hollywood). I'm hopeless at remembering street names or finding north/south/east/west.

No, I haven't tried Lucy's, for the same reason you only go to your Thai place. :-p

I definitely need to try Roscoe's because, one, everybody talks about it, and two, my school cafeteria's rendition of it sucks. I go to Oxy, which is in Eagle Rock.

[NOS2006]

THE VERY FIRST TIME?????? Good lord man, how did it take so long?

Sushi is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and a sushi meal pretty much consists of all the food groups in appropriate portions--as long as you avoid the tempura rolls and other fried things.

I highly recommend the "Dragon Rolls," "Rainbow Rolls" or "Caterpillar Rolls" as they are the healthiest. All of those are variations of the same basic roll and depending on the restaurant the names can be used somewhat interchangeably. They consist of a sliced maki roll with rice on the outside that then has slices of some/all of the following on top: avocado, tuna sashimi, salmon sashimi, whitefish sashimi, and/or BBQ'd eel.

I had a slice of tuna, salmon, shrimp, and something else (I don't remember).. Didn't even try a California roll.

I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.. Probably something I'll try again in the future, but it definitely won't be on a weakly basis. I like oblu's idea of eating it with lemon, that sounds good.

Speaking of, what are some really healthy foods? I've been trying to make my parents make more food with rice in it because, not only is that stuff damn good and goes with everything, but it's healthy too. How healthy is Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc.?

Oh, and my parents make spaghetti / mostacciolli pretty often, which I know is bad for me because I usually eat it later at night...

Edited February 18, 2008 by NOS2006

[Croc]

Hate to burst your bubble NOS, but rice in and of itself isn't really that healthy. In fact, I can think of a lot of really unhealthy rice (Chipotle's comes to mind). It all depends on the way it's prepared and what's in the dish. Brown rice is way healthier than white rice (it also has a taste--yum). In fact, anything that's "white" (or "refined") has usually been processed to death, draining it of any nutritional value. (Refined/bleached/enriched) White flour, (refined) white sugar, white rice, etc.

Rice, unless you're talking brown, is all carb and very little fiber. Brown has more fiber, but it's still carb-y.

As far as ethnic foods go, Japanese is usually the healthiest (again, avoid the fried stuff like tempura) because of its reliance on protein and seafood (miso soup, seaweed, fish, edamame, etc)

Authentic Chinese can be healthy, but none of that actually exists anywhere in America outside the most cosmopolitan cities. Avoid Chinese--it's deep fried and greasy.

Mexican is another cuisine that CAN be healthy...but in the US it generally isn't.

Thai isn't too bad, but it depends on what you get and how it's prepared. I'd say it's a little healthier than Chinese, but nowhere near as healthy as Japanese.

Basically, though, you can make whatever cuisine you want yourself and make it healthy. Buy a wok and make chinese stir fry with minimal oil, use a lot of fish and low-fat beef on the grill, use shrimp, crab, lobster and scallops and whole grain pasta for italian (stay away from creamy sauces), use whole grain tortillas and grill some fish tacos, etc.

Dude, just get a cookbook and start playing around. You'll soon get a sense of what works with what and what tastes better/is healthier/unhealthier. Joy of Cooking is a good one.

I also recommend doing some reading on the internet about appropriate portion sizes and how many calories per meal you should have.

[Lamar]

Hmm... my favorite "ethnic" foods...

In order, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Indian. Which somehow reminds me, I need to go back to this Trinidadian restaurant near me. Only been there once since I moved here.

[AAS]

You mean... JITLADA! I went there once with Jonathan Gold and some people in our class, and it was an incredible lunch. I loved the mussels (slurp up all the sweet juices and broth), I'm dying to go there again.

If you don't mind venturing into Highland Park, about 15 minutes away from Jitlada is My Taco, another unassuming restaurant in a strip mall. It looks like a generic, overly-colorful taqueria, but I'm in love with their borrego de barbacoa (lamb in a pastor-like stew consistency, cooked to a char). You can get a large plate full of borrego, served with consomme and some tortillas, but I prefer to get individual tacos with the borrego meat. Somehow it just seems juicier and more Malliardy in smaller quantities already wrapped up in a tortilla for you. While you're getting tacos, you might as well try their other selections of "meat" - buche, chile rojo, chorizo, lengua... mmm.

Mmmmm.... "tacos al pastor!" It's too bad taquerias in the states can't make them like they do in Mexico City...

[pow]

Mmmmm.... "tacos al pastor!" It's too bad taquerias in the states can't make them like they do in Mexico City...

Ooops, I mean carnitas-like consistency, not pastor.

Speaking of tacos al pastor, it's too bad there aren't doner kebab places here like there are in Germany. I seriously miss them... gyros are nowhere as good.

[Croc]

Does corned beef exist in LA? I'm not having any of this pastrami bull$h!.

[jcgable]

Being from Tucson I eat an exorbanite amount of Mexican food. I can honestly say that my family uses about 2x as many tortillas than we do bread. I basically grew up on it. Oh, and I'm not Mexican or Latino, so it is not a cultural thing.

A little bit of fun Mexican food history.

1) Salsa did not originate from the mexico that we know and love. It actually came from the Tucson region because there is a much better ability to grow the plants necessary to do so. Most of Mexico does not use salsa, and instead use Hot Sauce (Kind of like Tobasco minus the tart flavor).

2) Salsa literally just means sauce and applies to pretty much anything. If you want the chunky salsa Americans know and love, it is known as "Pico De Gallo" or "Salsa de Tomate".

3) There is a Tucson specialty (at least it originated here-I'm not sure if you can find it elsewhere) you should try called Carne Seca. It involves drying meat in the sun for three days, then cooking it in spices and lard for to add moisture to it. It is topped on a quesadilla or used in a chimi/burrito. If you are in Southern Arizona, make sure you try it.

Edited February 19, 2008 by jcgable

[AAS]

Ooops, I mean carnitas-like consistency, not pastor.

Speaking of tacos al pastor, it's too bad there aren't doner kebab places here like there are in Germany. I seriously miss them... gyros are nowhere as good.

Mmmm to carnitas too! My father's friend (Armenian from Turkey) has a doner "machine" and is in the restaurant/catering business, so he would probably know of a restaurant that serves it but I've never seen it.

Does corned beef exist in LA? I'm not having any of this pastrami bull$h!.

It does. Any deli (I can only think of Canter's right now) should serve it.

...

1) Salsa did not originate from the mexico that we know and love. It actually came from the Tucson region because there is a much better ability to grow the plants necessary to do so. Most of Mexico does not use salsa, and instead use Hot Sauce (Kind of like Tobasco minus the tart flavor).

Are you sure? While you will find lots of "hot sauce," practically everywhere I've been in Mexico uses salsa.

[Croc]

It does. Any deli (I can only think of Canter's right now) should serve it.

Supermarket delis, though? I've yet to see it, and driving to Canter's just for some sliced corned beef is a little ridiculous.

[AAS]

Supermarket delis, though? I've yet to see it, and driving to Canter's just for some sliced corned beef is a little ridiculous.

No... restaurant delis.

The other place I was thinking about is Langer's deli, across from Mac Arthur park around 7th and Alvarado.

[AAS]

Are you sure? While you will find lots of "hot sauce," practically everywhere I've been in Mexico uses salsa.

google search of "history of salsa sauce"