The Best of the Farmers Market

For my big Third and Fairfax roundup, I'm dividing the food stands into three tiers. The top tier are the very best, places worth a special trip to the Market. The second tier are very good; maybe not worth a special trip, but good choices if you happen to be there. Third are the rest..the unexceptional and unexciting.

This week is the top tier. These are my very favorites, the old standbys I rely on most and a new try that impressed me. I'm still tasting, so this list isn't complete and more may qualify for the top tier (and sweet shops will be handled in a separate post). They are listed in no particular order.


Monsieur Marcel's

This French Bistro started as a small cheese kiosk and has expanded into a full-on restaurant with its own seating and a gourmet market. This French bistro makes the best fondue in LA. They have a traditional Gruyere based fondue, which is good, but the highlight is their signature Fondue Savoyarde which includes other more flavorful cheeses such as Morbier and Roquefort. I also enjoy their moules frite and their croque monsieur. Take pains, though, to avoid their adjacent gourmet market of the same name which is vastly overpriced.


Moishe's Village



This stand, specializing in Boerek, was a new try for me but one that will definitely enter my pantheon of staples. No, Boerek was not that movie about that guy from Kazakhstan. It is a Turkish pastry served at a stand adjacent to the original Moishe's Middle Eastern stand. It's similar to a rectangular pizza, topped with cheese and your choice of toppings...I can't get enough of the egg. Two eggs, sunny-size up are fried onto the dough. The soft whites and fluid yolks mesh with the cheese and dough to create a delicious doughy, cheesy, eggy delight. I also enjoyed the spinach and cheese as well as the interesting sides like Swiss chard tzatziki and white beans in tomato sauce. As far as I know, Moishe's Village is the only place in LA where you can get this particular, pizza-like version of Boerek (as opposed to the Armenian meat pies of the same name available in Hollywood).


¡Loteria!



I was a late convert to the Mexican stalwart at the center of the market, and I still think this Mexico City style snack shop tends to be a bit overrated by reviewers, but that may be due to the dearth of good Mexican in this part of mid-city. They make a whopping eleven different type of tacos, but I find their pre-made fillings to be generally underseasoned. Their mole is popular, but it pales in comparison to the excellent Oaxacan moles you can get at numerous locations a mere ten minutes away. However, their chilaquiles (a breakfast dish consisting of fried tortilla chips with sauce) are some of the best in town; I like them with the tangy salsa verde. They also make an excellent version of queso fundido (Mexican fondue) topped with chorizo, which is a dish that's not easy to find in LA. And they do a great nacho plate, of all things, though sometimes the plate could use a few more minutes under the broiler.


Patsy D’Amore’s Pizza



In a city in which good pizza is a scarcity, Patsy's tends to fly under the radar, but this FM stalwart (with mandatory photo of the owner mugging with Frank Sinatra) consistently pumps out good, thin crust New York style pies. The toppings ain't much, so stick with plain cheese.


Pampas Grill

A relatively recent entrant into the FM, Pampas Grill puts a fast food spin on the Brazilian churrascaria. All of the traditional elements are part of the Pampas buffet: the massive salad bar, the scrumptious cheese breads, fried yuca, feijoda (black bean stew), and of course, the meat. Pampas has all the traditional churrascaria cuts: picanha (garlic beef), alcatra (sirloin), lamb leg, bacon wrapped chicken and sausage (pet peeve: why can't I find chicken hearts at any LA currascaria?) The food is good and it's a lot cheaper than you will pay at any sit-down currascaria.

The French Crepe Company

This creperie dishes out sizable crepes, both sweet and savory. The white flour creates a result that is more akin to a thin, dense pancake than a traditional French buckwheat crepe, but the results are still delicious. For savory, I love the Raclette, prosciutto and cornichon crepe...it's especially good when drizzled with some of their dijon mustard salad dressing. For sweet, I like the Grand Marnier, or just the plain crepe filled with butter and sugar and topped with whipped cream.


Du-Par's Restaurant

I've written before about the great pies at this newly rehabbed diner which anchors the west side of the Market, but Du-Par's is more than just pies. The light fluffy pancakes are an LA institution and they make one of the last great Monte Cristo sandwiches.



So that's my best of the best so far. Next week, I will post my second tier. Meanwhile, I'm still trying stands; so far, I've tried 27 over the last two months. I have only two more to try that I've never been to before and three I need to revisit because it has been a while since I sampled their wares.

Onward and upward...

Whisk(e)y Wednesday: To e or Not to e (Continued)

There was a lot of discussion last week about the whisky vs. whiskey controversy on the various forums and discussion boards, including Whisky Magazine, Straightbourbon, Peatfreak and Bourbondrinker.

Commenters raised various arguments that we hadn't discussed in last week's blog. The following is a brief summary.


Not to E

The consensus on the various boards and the few emails I received seemed to support the "not to e" position. Many in this camp expressed a "'taint broke, don't fix it," logic. One poster noted that no less than Michael Jackson had endorsed the multiple spelling position.

Another reader opined that using the e generally but switching back to no e for proper nouns, as Chuck Cowdery suggests, can lead to inconsistent use in the same sentence, which looks odd and may prove confusing: "Whisky Magazine has numerous articles about whiskey."

To E

Among the e supporters, several gave examples of people assuming that, because of the spelling difference, whisky and whiskey were fundamentally different types of alcohol, leading to the exact type of confusion against which Chuck cautioned us.

Who Cares?

A number of readers seemed under the mistaken impression that this issue was somehow trivial or otherwise lacking in gravitas. It greatly saddens me that there are still people who do not take seriously issues which may not seem "sexy" but which can have lasting and life-changing impacts such as global warming, nuclear proliferation and how we spell the names of various spirits.

Can't We All Just Get Along

One poster suggested that we can live with divergent spelling practices as we do with variations of indefinite gender pronouns (e.g. "he or she" or "his or hers"). There are multiple acceptable ways to express the concept of "he or she" when discussing a group of individuals of mixed gender, including he or she, they, (s)he, and he/she. Similarly, the writer pointed out, we can live with some who use the e and some who don't. While I appreciate the sentiment, I must point out that my little blog is nothing compared to the amount of ink which has been spilled on the proper use of gendered pronouns.



So, at this point, I'd say this controversy has been fairly well explored. It will be interesting to see if our little discussion generates any response from the magazines and other publications that have to deal with spelling issues.

As for me, all of this discussion has made be hungry for my favorite pastry, but is it doughnuts or donuts?

Next Wednesday: Meet Whiskey's Mexican Cousin

Meet Me at Third and Fairfax: The Farmers' Market Challenge

I've loved the old Third and Fairfax Farmers' Market since I first visited it as a teenage tourist in LA. When I moved to LA, ten years ago, I lived in Park La Brea, so I was within walking distance of the FM and spent ample time there in the last years of its pre-Grove existence. In fact, my oldest daughter's first trip outside the house after coming home from the hospital was for a lunch at the FM.

In a world of carbon copy food courts (do people still say "carbon copy" or does that just date me?), Cheesecake Factories and fast food, the FM is a breath of fresh air, Starbucks and Pinkberry notwithstanding. It has a vast array of eateries encompassing a number of genres and ethnicities in a casual, old fashioned market setting.

Over the years, I've sampled many of the wares at the FM and have many favorites, but there are some, both old and new, that I just have never gotten around to. I pledge, here and now, to cure that shortcoming. By the end of the year, I will dine at every food stand at the Market and review them here.

I'll start with my old stand-bys, move to my stand-away-froms and close up with the brand new tries. I will ignore the few chains and the mediocre food at the adjacent Grove shopping mall, as well as the newly adjacent restaurants, such as Marmalade Cafe, which are really more Groveish. This will be the old-school FM food stalls.

Next week, I'll begin with some of my favorites, the top tier of Farmers' Market dining.

LA gets PC

After over a year of waiting, PC5 has come to LA.

What is PC5?

It's not a new brand of personal computers.
It's not the latest theory of political correctness.
It's not a previously undiscovered album by jazz bassist Paul Chambers.

To Scotch fans, PC5 is Bruichladdich's much heralded 5 year old, cask strength Port Charlotte single malt (notice how I avoided the "w" word?)...and it has finally come to LA.

Like many distilleries, Bruichladdich faced economic trouble in the 1980s and '90s and actually closed its doors in 1995. But unlike other distilleries, the Laddie, as it's known, was reopened under new ownership in 2001. The fiercely independent Jim McEwan was named production director, and the distillery has been a huge success story ever since with a reputation for innovation.

Released in 2006, PC5 is the first bottling of a Scotch distilled under the new ownership. PC stands for Port Charlotte, a long-shuttered Islay distillery which the new bottling claims as its model.

When PC5 was released last year, it sold like hotcakes across the UK and Europe. The brash, highly peated five year old flew in the face of Bruichladdich's traditional flavor profile of low-smoke, non-peated malts.

Now, more than a year after its European release, a small number of bottles have made their way to the US. They were supposed to come in May, but none showed up, and I've been hunting for them high and low since then.

I finally found some PC5 at the always reliable Wine & Liquor Depot in Van Nuys. They told me they had about ten bottles and they are going for $120 a pop.

Is a five year old Scotch worth $120? I'll let you know as soon as I try it, but if you know someone who's a Scotch fanatic or a big fan of smoky malts, it would make a fine holiday gift.

Whisk(e)y Wednesday: To e or Not to e

As you may know, there are two alternative spellings of my favorite alcoholic beverage: whisky and whiskey. In Scotland, Canada and Japan, they drink whisky. In Ireland and (mostly) here in the US, we drink whiskey. Now, to the person whose only interest is in drinking the stuff, who the hell cares how you spell it? But to those of us who write about it, there is an issue. Should we spell the word according to the type of drink we are writing about or should we pick one spelling and stick to it? Recently, a suggestion to change the standard practice by Chuck Cowdery erupted into a controversy that may soon rock the whisk(e)y world.

Deep Background

The term whiskey is said to have evolved from the Gaelic uisge beatha, meaning "water of life." Of course, the term "water of life" has been used in many European cultures to refer to the local liquor: Aquvit in Sweden (derived from the Latin aqua vitae) and eau de vie in France refer to regional spirits in those nations.

Interestingly, the Oxford English Dictionary does not differentiate between whisky and whiskey, using a single entry for both terms. It does, however, list several alternative spellings which were used in the eighteenth century, including whiskie and whiskee. It appears that no consistent spelling was being used in the nineteenth century, with American and English writers using both spellings interchangeably. The standardization of the various spellings may not have occurred until the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.


The Current Practice

The current practice among malt writers in the US and UK is to change the spelling based on the type of drink being discussed. If it's Scotch, you call it whisky (e.g., Highland Park is a great whisky), if it's Irish, you call it whiskey (e.g., Bushmills is a fine whiskey)...etc. This is the usage in both of the major magazines covering the area: Whisky Magazine (British) and Malt Advocate (American).

When simultaneously referring to two whiskies with different spellings, Scotch and Irish for example, many writers use the term whisk(e)y.


To E: Chuck Cowdery

Chuck Cowdery argues for a change in this standard practice. Cowdery publishes the Chuck Cowdery Blog and is the author of Bourbon, Straight one of the best books around about Bourbon and rye.

A few weeks ago, Chuck proposed, on his blog, that American writers always spell whiskey with an "e". Chuck compared the use of "whisky" by American writers to the use of other spellings that are nonstandard between American and British English:

Whiskey is one of those English words—like aging, center, color, maneuver, and many others—that Americans and Brits spell differently. American writers often struggle to use the British spelling when referring to scotch whiskey (i.e., 'whisky,' no 'e'). UK writers occasionally return the favor. An American would never think of spelling color with a 'u' just because the subject is colors used by an English painter, for example. Why should whiskey be any different?

Chuck makes an exception for proper nouns. When the word is part of a name, it would be spelled as such. This is also consistent with general American usage; for example, an American newspaper would write about the British labor movement but the British Labour Party.

Why is this issue important? Chuck is concerned that the different spelling "suggests that 'whiskey' and 'whisky' are two different words with different meanings when they are not." In Chuck's view, this creates confusion and leads people to imagine "nutty distinctions" between whisky and whiskey.

As a disclaimer, I should note that, when I started this blog, prior to Chuck's posting, I decided I would use the "e" in my blog for the same reason Chuck gives, namely, that is how we normally deal with US/UK spelling distinctions. However, I have been reexamining that position based on the debate presented here.


Not to E: Kevin Erskine

After seeing Chuck's post and being intrigued by it, I went directly to someone I knew would take the contrary position. Kevin Erskine publishes The Scotch Blog and is the author of The Instant Expert's Guide to Single Malt Scotch, the best introduction to Scotch around.

Kevin is a strong believer in using the version of the word which is consistent with the type of drink being discussed. Indeed, he has unabashedly taken no less than the Wall Street Journal to task for using the e in reference to Scotch.

Kevin takes issue with Chuck's modest proposal. From his perspective, whisky and whiskey refer to different drinks. To call Scotch a whiskey is to mislabel it. "Whisky" describes Scotch, "whiskey" does not.

And Kevin doesn't buy the analogy to words like color and colour. He thinks it's more akin to Fish & Chips. We call it by its British name rather than altering it to, say, Fried Fish Fillet & Fries, because Fish & Chips is the dish's proper name. It seems that the crux of Kevin's reasoning is not that there is a difference between whisky and whiskey, both are distilled and aged grain spirits just as Fried Fish and Fries is the same thing as Fish & Chips, it's that whisky designates a particular style and implies certain qualities. If I order Fish & Chips, I know I'm going to get a fillet of fried white fish served with malt vinegar and tartar sauce, whereas, if I see a menu item entitled Fried Fish Fillet with Fries, I wouldn't have the same expectation -- it could be salmon or snapper and I would have no hint as to the condiments.

Moreover, Kevin thinks this is a matter of respect and that imposing our spelling will be taken as typical American egotism by our friends in Scotland, Canada and Japan. Since journalism on this issue has a world-wide audience, this is not a trivial concern.

To E and Not to E: US Spellings

While we have been discussing this issue primarily as a US/UK issue, or more accurately, a US-Ireland/UK-Japan-Canada issue, there is a variance of usage even within the US. The standard spelling used for the US drink in writing is whiskey, but it's not clear cut.

The Code of Federal Regulations, which provides the official, legal definition of the term actually uses the British spelling: whisky. (27 C.F.R. §5.22). Most American whiskies, however, use the e, though not all. Makers Mark, for instance, leaves it out.

For Tennessee Whisk(e)y, which is not defined by law, the problem is particularly acute. There are only two producers of the drink and they spell it differently. Jack Daniels is Tennessee Whiskey while George Dickel is Tennessee Whisky. So, when writing about Tennessee, generically, would it be whisky, whiskey or whisk(e)y?

In a recent article about Tennessee, Whisky Magazine actually used both spellings in successive sentences, though it's possible that one was a typo. (See The Tennessee Question, Whisky Magazine, December 2007, p. 74).

The Verdict

Chuck and Kevin are both fonts of knowledge and are as passionate as they are knowledgeable. Based on their writings, I respect both of their opinions and know that they have a deep knowledge of the drink and the industry in which they specialize (Bourbon for Chuck and Scotch for Kevin). Clearly, reasonable bloggers can disagree on this issue.

So, what of the "e"? Is its use a symbol of American arrogance and a fundamental mislabeling or is it simply a sign of consistency and standardization (standardisation?) of spellings?

The matter is op(e)n for debate...Let me know what you think.

Fall Cheese Plate

As always, clockwise from 12:00...

Haystack Mountain, Red Cloud
Washed Rind Goat
Colorado

After loving the Haystack Peak from this Colorado goat farm, I vowed to try more. The Red Cloud is a semisoft goat cheese with a wonderfully mild flavor, which really doesn't have much goat to it. It tastes a bit more like a semisoft cow, almost like a milder version of the famous Pleasant Ridge Reserve from Upland Farms Dairy in Wisconsin. The piece I had appeared to be fairly well aged.

I must note, however, the fact that the name is quite familiar to the Cowgirl Creamery's Red Hawk, an award winning washed rind cow cheese that looks very similar to the Red Cloud...something going on here or mere coincidence?

Brinata
Washed Rind Cow
Italian

Brinata is often described as Italian brie, but I really don't think that's accurate. First of all, it has a washed as opposed to bloomy rind. Second, the scent was more like an Epoisse than a brie, though the taste is a bit more mild and earthy. All in all, an enjoyable cheese but one I'd like to try fresh. This piece had clearly been sitting around for a while.

Mahon
Firm Cow
Menorcan (Spanish)

From the Mediterranean island of Menorca comes this firm, crumbly cheese with a bright orange rind. Mahon is delightfully salty but also fruity. It cries out for a sweet wine to accompany it. This would be good crumbled over salad as well.

Served with Jamon Serrano, shredded duck leg confit, cornichon and pears.

All cheese was purchased at Surfas in Culver City. I love Surfas for their gourmet items and cooking supplies, but I honestly don't recommend their cheese, at least from the in-store refrigerated section (as opposed to the cafe). This is a case of pre-cutting and pre-wrapping cheeses until they sit around for God knows how long and can be victims of moisture and other bad things, and I've had my share of bad experiences with Surfas' cheese. Cheese, like wine, is a living, evolving thing and should be treated with more care.

One Two Three, Look at Mr. Lee: Lee's Sandwiches

Lately, my (very) significant other has been on a banh mi fix, a yearning for the Vietnamese sandwiches which combine meat and pickled vegetables on a baguette. A great banh mi is the perfect gestalt of crunchy and chewy, tangy and savory, sour and salty.

Unfortunately, there is not much choice of banh mi in the mid-city area. We enjoyed the grilled pork banh mi at Gingergrass and the sardine sandwich at Vietnam Soy Cafe, both in Silverlake, but we yearned for more.

So, on a recent trip to Orange County, we had to stop at an outlet of the famous banh mi chain, Lee's Sandwiches (We stopped at the Beach Blvd. location in Westminster, right off the 405).

This place had it all. Large, fresh baguettes, crunchy marinated veggies and a host of excellent fillings. We most enjoyed the chicken with it's big chunks of marinated bird and the creamy, livery pate but also enjoyed the BBQ pork with its thin slices of Chinese style char siu pork. Priced at an amazing $2.20 per sandwich, this may the best deal in Southern California.

Frustratingly, there are 12 Lee's in Southern California and not a single one within the LA city limits. The closest to my area of mid-City is probably the Alhambra branch. This is a commercial oversight bordering on the criminal. A Lee's would mop up in Koreatown...it's a guaranteed success. I mean, I would go three days a week and I'm pretty sure my SO would go five. Come on, if we can have 20 million shops dedicated to boba and tart frozen yogurt, the least we can get is a decent banh mi.

Most offensive is that the menu reveals a Lee's in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City gets banh mi but not LA??!! This is a massive offense and flies in the face of all that is right in the world.

For now, I will drive to get my banh mi, but please, Mr. Lee, go North and fill our empty Los Angeles baguettes with your love.