Food: Gourmet LA Roach Coaches

My sister, Jenn, took me to the Tim Burton exhibit at LA Co. Museum of Art for my birthday.  Great show. Go!  Ends on Halloween, of course; that's gonna be a fun day at the museum, I'll wager...

But this post is not about Tim Burton and his art.

No, it's about lunch.

And coming out of the museum, our mission was to go to Kalbi Burger or Umami Burger, famed Asian fusion burger places both, both of which Jenn and I have not tried.

But there, before us, across Wilshire Blvd. and going into the distance as far as the eye could see in a late Southern California summer sunlight sueño (I changed languages to continue the alliteration) was a line of gourmet food trucks. 

What?  What was that?  Were they calling us?  Of course.  Of course, they were.

(UPDATE: a recent article on LA Food Trucks in Smithsonian Magazine.)

Kalbi Burger could wait while we investigated the siren's call of the portable grill, the deep fryer on wheels. Walking Roach Coach Row was daunting, but worth the effort...  And, besides, I had one of my sisters with me for support.

So, without further ado, a picture tour, all shot in glorious Southern California Mediterranean light and with random, no-apparent-reason photo-shopping (for you, Kara):

Jenn contemplates the Rebel Bite's Grilled Cheese.  Like MacArthur to the Philippines, we would return.

Streets of Thailand.

Steamed buns, Chinese style.

All so similar, yet all so different, but all...

The Pokey Truck, Japanese Hawaiian wrap, LACMA in the background.

Sushi Dan's Rockin' Roll Truck.

Big Rocc's Chicken Wings

 ...a great argument for why we need more and not less immigration in America.  We should not stop until we have all the foods in the world represented in a food truck on Wilshire Blvd.!  And then we should keep going anyway, because history shows us how good this is.

"Great Burgers Stacked Your Way!"  Even obscenely so...

Korean tacos!

Despite the Antique tint, this is not 1970s Saigon, but 2011 LA and the Vietnamese food truck.
(Is that Vietnamese food-truck; or, Vietnamese-food truck?)

I wonder, why do I even travel?  I mean, the food is coming to me...

Something my Cascadian brothers & sisters understand: teriyaki!

Indian, non-Indigenous, that is.

Pranzo's Gourmet 'wiches.

OK, when does this parade end?  Soon, I promise.

The Pita Pusher on the corner.

Can't have too much teriyaki.

Glowfish, Japanese Festival Cuisine, whatever that means.

Time to pack it in, as the Glowfish closes up shop and heads into the still very bright Mediterranean light, off to another non-LA-approved street (more on that anon). 

By the way, what are those strange columns over the hood of the Glowfish and across the street?

Chris Burden's "Urban Light."

But before we go, a short conversation with Clyde, proprietor of the super grilled cheese truck.

Former architect, Clyde, and his Grilled Cheese truck.

We met Clyde while he was outside his kitchen lair, the Rebel Bite, feeding the meter. 

"You have to feed the meter," I asked?  "No special permit?"

And then we got into it, a fine conversation.  According to Clyde, the LA Health Dept., and LA in general, hates these trucks.  No special parking permits allowed (a good clue), constant harassment, etc.  Why?  Clyde believes that it's because of the local brick-and-mortar restaurants, who don't appreciate these trucks in the area and lobby accordingly.  No bathrooms, little overhead.  "Not fair!" they cry.

(Here's LA Councilman Tom LaBonge's take on the subject.)  

Clyde also told me that the recent proliferation of such trucks is due to--what else?--the economy.  Take him, for instance.  He couldn't find work as an architect, but the downturn in the economy lead to fewer construction projects which, in turn, lead to the idleness of lots of roach coach trucks, so--voilà!--Clyde leases a truck and is in business as a Grilled Cheese chef on wheels.

All interesting and certainly sounds like at least one version of the truth.

In conclusion, we still intended to go to Kalbi Burger (though that's for another blog post on Southern California fast food burgers).  But we could make room for an appetizer, a delicious short rib grilled cheese sandwich.

Not sure how these short ribs were cooked, but Korean-style, for instance, usually has some combination of soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegars, plus spices.  So, this sandwich, though rich with Umami, the 5th taste, also had hints of sugar because of the ribs.  The meat was tender, easy to bite through, yet seared a little bit crispy on the outside.  Also some red hot sauce, rooster sauce?  Cheese: cheddar, rich and stringy.  Bread: classic white, grilled crispy and golden brown, though you can see that for yourself...

10-finger delicious!

Food: Making Mike J.'s Famous Ribs

I love baby back ribs.

But I didn't think I could ever make them myself, or not anywhere as good as a rib joint anyway.   I just figured it was one of those food things not worth the effort--like phở or crème brûlée or pulpo Gallego--because you could find great ribs for not that much money (although they can get pricey, which is another reason to make them yourself!) in all sorts of places. 

But then my friend, Mike J., started experimenting.

And it turns out that making excellent ribs is pretty damn easy.  And a helluva lot cheaper then at the restaurant.

These are idiot-proof, you'll see.  Not that Mike J. is an idiot, mind you.  

Here's how to make Mike J.'s Famous Ribs:

* Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

*Spices.  Room for endless experimentation here, of course, but for his dry rub Mike mixes about 3 parts brown sugar to 1 part mixed spices.  Some of the possibilities include chili powder, garlic, salt, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dried mustard (a preference of Mike's brother, Steve J., but not Mike)

 

*Shake your dry rub all over your ribs, about 1/5 on the bottom (the part you don't eat) and the rest on top.  Just shake to cover evenly throughout and then rub in.  It's dry rub.  Get it?  It's dry (no oil) and you rub it.

*Line a cookie sheet with foil and then wrap the ribs (cut for convenience as above but you could keep the rack intact if you'd like; I probably will, for aesthetic purposes) in a "basket" leaving some room for steam to escape.  Throw the ribs in the oven for 2 hours 10 minutes.  Mike adds: "If the meat is beginning to shrink away from the tips of the bone, they're done.  If not, cook a little while longer..."

* Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.  Mike uses bottled sauce (though I suspect I'm going to want to learn to make my own, so if you have a recipe...).  He then makes one hot by adding ever-dependable Tabsasco.

Note enfoiled corn ready to be sacrificed to the fire gods.

*After the ribs are thoroughly cooked, throw them on the grill.  Not to cook them (because they are already cooked), but to cook the sauce.  10-15 minutes should do it, but depends on what you like.  Time to invest in a brush of some kind, b/c Mike has found that no other implement (e.g., a fork) works nearly as well.

*Watch them carefully here, flip them once, rebaste as necessary.  You don't want to burn them when you are so close to rib goodness...

*Sides are fine (here, Dana J.'s cole slaw and mashed taters), but hardly necessary.  Corn is good, too.

*And when you are done, survey the scene.  

And be pleased, pleased with the destruction you hath wrought, the goodness you hath eaten, the camaraderie you hath shared.  But, be a little sad also, for you have consumed another creature.  

And, worse, you have no more of this creature until you cook some more ribs. 

Jennifer McLagan knows what she's talking about in her cookbook, Bones: Recipes, History, and Lore, when she argues that eating meat from the bone makes eating meat taste better, makes it more enjoyable.  I think it has something to do with this trifecta: something primal (hunter and gatherer), something about flavor (marrow), something about eating with your hands (silverware is but an artificial barrier between human and meat)... 

True, sometimes you need that wonderful smoky goodness that can only come from longtime smoked meats in an old school smoker that sits out behind the back of the storefront in some hot and humid place, but in the meantime you can make these ribs at home.  You won't be disappointed.  Soon enough I'll make my own ribs from the above directions.  And they will be good. 

But I'm always looking for recipe suggestions or to hear about your ribs, so...

A Postcard Revolution! Part II

And so it begins continues...the postcards are mailing.

Today--September 6, 2011--I received two wonderful postcards.

2 postcards.

1 day!

Let's see, what's the perfect song, lyrics-wise?  Why, I think we could do worse than the Pogues' "Thousands Are Sailing", about immigrants coming to America:

Thousands are sailing

Again across the ocean

Where the hand of opportunity

Draws tickets in a lottery

Postcards we're mailing

Of sky-blue skies and oceans

From rooms the daylight never sees

Where lights don't glow on christmas trees

But we dance to the music

And we dance

Remember, this is (y)our assignment: mail 2 postcards to someone.  Anyone. 

As a refresher, here's Sharon's Call to Action:

I say let's start a revolution - a postcard revolution! Just think, if each of us sent two postcards with the message to send two postcards, well hell, we could not only revive the fine art of writing postcards, we could save the US Postal Service!

OK, here's the first postcard, from Liana:

This is a beaut'.  I have mailed and received thousands of postcards over the years, but this one is a new one for me.  It naturally brings to mind Magritte's '28-'29 painting "Les Trahison des Images," more commonly known as "This Is Not a Pipe."

The major difference, of course, is that while Magritte's painting was not a pipe, but an image of a pipe, this postcard most definitely is a postcard.

The second postcard is from Sharon, she of the original clarion call to our little revolution:

Oh boy, this is a classic.  Sharon's husband, Frank, found this postcard and, she says, she couldn't resist sending it to me even though it is meant for Air Mail and not domestic.

Note the date: 1985.  So, international postcard postage was 33 cents in '85.  Today:  98 cents.

Keep writing.  Keep mailing...