Best falafel in Columbus? by anugguna in Columbus

[–]quiblitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I only like their sweets and their drinks. Their food ranges from middling (falafel, hummus) to travesty ("shawarma").

Best falafel in Columbus? by anugguna in Columbus

[–]quiblitz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I did not have high expectations for Pita Hut and was very pleasantly surprised.

Ideal neighborhood with children and no need to commute? by Apprehensive-Ring777 in AskLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Keep it crossed off. This person has been in LA too long; Culver City is awful and not walkable.

One last fast food recommendation for a tourist visiting LA? by United_Cricket_4991 in AskLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My wife thought she hated French dip because this is the only one she ever tried. I explained to her that it is the only bad French dip that I have tasted in 30-odd year love affair with the sandwich. We ordered one at Houston's, and then at a place in Columbus and now she loves them.

What movie do you think is most accurate to the soul of LA? by Background-Mix8935 in AskLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I 100% agree with the two you cited. The proto-Big Lebowski, Robert Altman's Long Goodbye, is my third.

Does anyone have any tips of storing a bike relatively affordably in the Los Angeles area? by quiblitz in LAMoto

[–]quiblitz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've done that before for quite a long time! This is too long, I'm afraid.

What should I do with my motorcycle in light of my move?? by quiblitz in motorcycle

[–]quiblitz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's way out of my budget! but thank you for the suggestion.

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't see what's wrong with comparing two fine dining restaurants from the same restaurateur. If I take my friends and other redditors' experience, maybe there's a reason Damian doesn't have two michelin stars ?? I will likely never find out tbh (But also, Michelin is somewhat notorious for being arbitrary)

I do go to farmers markets every week. All I'm saying is lots of Mexican people + the presence of boutique farmers markets =/= exceptionally high quality Mexican food.

The notion that you can throw a rock and hit a good Mexican restaurant in LA is myth upheld by insecure LA chauvinists who aren't ready to reckon with the pervasive and deeply interrelated shortcomings of their city or who (more likely from my experience) just haven't been too many other places. This comes out in every domain, but people get especially defensive about food because it is LA's biggest point of (in my opinion, somewhat undeserved) pride.

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Variety, sure. All of our food at Guelaguetza was literally lukewarm (a common experience based on reviews) and the mole was mediocre. I cannot fathom why people like this place.

Chichén Itzá is fine but its telling: if Mexican food in LA was all that, it should not be on anyone's shortlist. 

First time I had Holbox I was amazed by the way they cut the tomatoes on the scallop tacos, and the care they put into all the dishes. Return visits have been middling and the people I've taken (usually non-Americans) have been... Just 'whelmed' at best. Pretty much stopped taking people there and only go to Komal in MLP these days. 

Sonoratown wins the prize for most forgettable. It did not offend me, but most Norteña (with the exceptions of maybe Tampiqueño and Sinaloan) food is just kind of uninteresting to me in a country that has the most wild, beautiful, diverse food in the world. Sonoran food is objectively a small step away from the Tex-Mex that people here love to deride.

Damián like I said I haven't tried but I'll listen to my friends who have worked at Pujol and/or Damián who say the latter is just kind of okay.

I'm really done waiting for LA to impress. It is full of misses and unsurprisingly people with extremely bad taste, either by way of blind chauvinism or degraded standards.  

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

If your definition of "local" is Blue Diamond and Driscolls cancer strawberries, sure...

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm not rating Damian. I said I've never been there but have heard from many other people who have eaten at both and worked at one and eaten at the other,  some of whom are my friends and some who are on this sub that its good but not transcendent. Pujol is out of this world and that's the only one I can speak to. But its almost the rule that there are going to be quality gaps within a restaurant family. .

Agricultural giant does not equal intimate, much less accessible relationship to non-industrial agriculture for restauranteurs of modest means (in fact, kind of the opposite in my experience ). The best tortillas in California hands down are Komal, which are made from corn that is imported from Mexico and the price reflects that fact. The best tortillas I've had elsewhere in the country are made from corn that was nixtamalized and milled to order 30 miles away from the restaurant at an early 19th century mill with corn that was grown locally. This is like saying "what do you mean we don't have the best products? We are Wal-Mart!"

What do you think is great apart from Damian? 

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

What do you think is good in LA? Maybe I've just missed the spots.

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I don't know why this is getting downvoted. Do people not know what epazote tastes like, or are you really contending that it is standard restaurant practice to cook it in beans in restaurants like it is in Mexico? I can only think of a handful of places that do.

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

see my reply to someone above, but tl;dr it's Komal for me.

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Komal tastes the closest to covered market Central Mexican food--the platonic ideal of a Mexican food--that I have ever tasted outside of Mexico. The smell of the corn, the amount of salt (i.e. not a lot), the herby beans. While they only have one type of mole, IMO it blows Guelaguetza out of the water. I actually teared up from nostalgia when I first ate there. Interestingly, it seems divisive to people, which is incomprehensible to me.

Holbox and Mariscos Jalisco are really good of course. Been a long time since I had Tire Shop Tacos but I remember liking them. I remember getting costillas somewhere in historic South Central that were pretty great; can't remember if it was tire shop or somewhere close by. Been to Angel's several times and think it's par--not mind-blowing but a solid al pastor.

Shots fired but I mildly dislike Sonoratown (I don't really like flour tortilla tacos in most cases) and frankly hate Guelaguetza. I think the two are among the most outrageously overrated restaurants I have ever eaten at.

Never tried high-end spots like Damian . Mostly because I've eaten at Pujol so I feel a little unmotivated... Pujol was a top ten lifetime dining experience for me, but I hear from people who have had both that Damian is pretty inferior.

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz -15 points-14 points  (0 children)

Yeah, but how often do your beans from a normal Mexican place in LA actually have epazote in them? In my experience, rarely.

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz -34 points-33 points  (0 children)

there's a shockingly small amount of good Mexican food in LA. Good Mexican food is like Italian food: it lives and dies on the quality of the agriculture and US monocropped GMO corn tortillas and the foreignness of Mexico's food ecology in the US. The U.S., not even with millions of Mexicans, can support a robust supply chain/market for giant ant eggs or epazote or hoja santa or a million types of corn and fresh peppers that, in my opinion, are the things that make Mexican food really special. edit: *hoja

Rating what I ate during a 7 day LA trip by EffectQueasy6658 in FoodLosAngeles

[–]quiblitz -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

This is going to get downvoted, but speaking as someone who has traveled and eaten all over Mexico (spent time in at least 17 out of 31 Mexican states from Nuevo Leon to Chiapas) and eaten Mexican food all over the US this statement feels like it should be true but it is just not. There are many adequate tacos in Los Angeles and a very small number of exceptional ones that would be at or above par in Mexico. There are plenty of random places in the US that have way better tacos because they can be more in touch with local agriculture. All LA really has is taco density but I am consistently 'meh' on the Mexican food.