This final installment was the most fun to write. Food explorers eat many things with not everything panning out. It’s those moments which you eat something so different, so unique, it forever changes your palate knowing you can never go back. These rewards are the reason we are constantly seeking but never really finding.
Parts one and two
Live Uni - Sea Urchin is a tasty treat, live sea urchin is heaven. Sea Urchin are bottom feeding echinoderms found on the bottom of every ocean around the world. California Sea Urchins are found off the coast about 50ft deep in kelp beds. They are blackish purple to red and covered in long spines weighing about a pound. At the Quality Seafood, you pick one from the tank to be masterfully cracked opened to provide access to that deliciously sweet roe. It tastes like essence of ocean distilled into one bite. I should mention the uni still move during the entire process. Bless their little hearts - if they had any…
Goat Birria - In most parts of the world, this meat isn’t exotic. While 70% of the world eats goat, it isn’t common in North America. Perhaps the lean qualities requiring additional care or maybe the sometimes strong flavour limit its popularity. Regardless, goat meat has quite unique flavours and El Parian exquisitely captures them with their stew. Rich, deep and succulent goat stew is accentuated with appropriate peppers and spices. One bite and you can taste the care going into this Mexican dish.
Live lobster tail sashimi - This momentous event was during the live octopus night. While live octopus proved more experience than flavour, that night's most memorable dish was lobster tail sashimi. Perhaps ignorance of its existence prevented me from trying lobster sashimi before that enlightening night, but this is absolutely worth trying. The upside down severed tail shell holds the tail meat and presented alongside the head. The taste is clean and velvety similar to raw crab but sweeter, more plentiful and a flavour that lingers just so.
Immature Egg with Sac - This new discovery in Orange County is served with Chicken pho. As far as I know, Pho Dakao is the only place in SoCal serving this. Immature eggs have undeveloped shells with a bright yellow appearance. Harvested after the hen is slaughtered, these are sometimes still attached to the egg sac. The taste is like an exceptionally delicious egg yolk that is denser yet silky texture. If you like egg yolk, you will like this. Word of warning, if you cannot speak Vietnamese, expect an extremely difficult time to get these exquisite morsels of goodness and it isn't always available. The pho it comes with is also extremely tasty.
Foie Gras Cotton Candy - This was eaten before the unfortunate California ban on foie gras so there was a debate whether this entry should even be written. I justify this entry because the cotton candy was part of a much larger culinary experience involving some avant-garde molecular gastronomy techniques. Blending childhood memories with a very adult flavour made this dish the most memorable. Whether you choose the air bread philly cheesesteak or nitrogen margarita, it will be an experience like no other. The menu is split up by modern and traditional cooking techniques and I advise to order some heartier offerings from the traditional side. New age is cool, but it just didn't seem to provide that same level of satisfaction.
Rattlesnake and rabbit sausage - While rattlesnake and rabbit are generally uncommon in North America, they are also pretty tasty. Wurstkuche fuses them together into tube format. It’s served in a hot dog bun with all the usual condiments available.The sausage is tasty, but tasted mixed with pork presumably to lower costs since it’s only an $8 sausage or perhaps pork was added to counterbalance the lean rabbit and rattlesnake. Regardless, I would rather eat the meats individually to provide the full effect, but the rabbit and rattlesnake definitely add different dimension to the sausage. They have other exotic meats (for sausages anyways) such as Buffalo, Duck, Crocodile, Lamb and Pheasant.
Parts one and two
Live Uni - Sea Urchin is a tasty treat, live sea urchin is heaven. Sea Urchin are bottom feeding echinoderms found on the bottom of every ocean around the world. California Sea Urchins are found off the coast about 50ft deep in kelp beds. They are blackish purple to red and covered in long spines weighing about a pound. At the Quality Seafood, you pick one from the tank to be masterfully cracked opened to provide access to that deliciously sweet roe. It tastes like essence of ocean distilled into one bite. I should mention the uni still move during the entire process. Bless their little hearts - if they had any…
Quality Seafood, 130 S International Boardwalk, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Goat Birria - In most parts of the world, this meat isn’t exotic. While 70% of the world eats goat, it isn’t common in North America. Perhaps the lean qualities requiring additional care or maybe the sometimes strong flavour limit its popularity. Regardless, goat meat has quite unique flavours and El Parian exquisitely captures them with their stew. Rich, deep and succulent goat stew is accentuated with appropriate peppers and spices. One bite and you can taste the care going into this Mexican dish.
El Parian, 1528 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Live lobster tail sashimi - This momentous event was during the live octopus night. While live octopus proved more experience than flavour, that night's most memorable dish was lobster tail sashimi. Perhaps ignorance of its existence prevented me from trying lobster sashimi before that enlightening night, but this is absolutely worth trying. The upside down severed tail shell holds the tail meat and presented alongside the head. The taste is clean and velvety similar to raw crab but sweeter, more plentiful and a flavour that lingers just so.
Chung Hae Jin, 3470 W 6th St Ste 8A, Los Angeles, CA 90020
Immature Egg with Sac - This new discovery in Orange County is served with Chicken pho. As far as I know, Pho Dakao is the only place in SoCal serving this. Immature eggs have undeveloped shells with a bright yellow appearance. Harvested after the hen is slaughtered, these are sometimes still attached to the egg sac. The taste is like an exceptionally delicious egg yolk that is denser yet silky texture. If you like egg yolk, you will like this. Word of warning, if you cannot speak Vietnamese, expect an extremely difficult time to get these exquisite morsels of goodness and it isn't always available. The pho it comes with is also extremely tasty.
Pho Dakao, 15532 Ward St, Garden Grove, CA 92843
Foie Gras Cotton Candy - This was eaten before the unfortunate California ban on foie gras so there was a debate whether this entry should even be written. I justify this entry because the cotton candy was part of a much larger culinary experience involving some avant-garde molecular gastronomy techniques. Blending childhood memories with a very adult flavour made this dish the most memorable. Whether you choose the air bread philly cheesesteak or nitrogen margarita, it will be an experience like no other. The menu is split up by modern and traditional cooking techniques and I advise to order some heartier offerings from the traditional side. New age is cool, but it just didn't seem to provide that same level of satisfaction.
The Bazaar at SLS Hotel, 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Rattlesnake and rabbit sausage - While rattlesnake and rabbit are generally uncommon in North America, they are also pretty tasty. Wurstkuche fuses them together into tube format. It’s served in a hot dog bun with all the usual condiments available.The sausage is tasty, but tasted mixed with pork presumably to lower costs since it’s only an $8 sausage or perhaps pork was added to counterbalance the lean rabbit and rattlesnake. Regardless, I would rather eat the meats individually to provide the full effect, but the rabbit and rattlesnake definitely add different dimension to the sausage. They have other exotic meats (for sausages anyways) such as Buffalo, Duck, Crocodile, Lamb and Pheasant.
Wurstküche, 800 E 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA, 90013
1 comment:
ahrauaaan.
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