Here are the 15 standout meals I ate in Los Angeles in 2008, regardless of cuisine or price level. Every meal at Elena’s Greek Armenian Cuisine, El Mar Azul and La Casita Mexicana could have qualified, but I resisted including them for diversity’s sake. Unfortunately, four of the meals will be impossible to repeat in 2009. Ingredients is closed, Three Forks recently suffered extensive fire damage and two of the meals were one-off events. Still, that leaves plenty to work with this year. Time for the entries, which appear by date of consumption.

1. Jitlada – Hollywood – March 6, 2008

When Chef Tui Sungkamee introduces new southern Thai dishes at the Hollywood restaurant he owns with sister Jazz Singsanong, it’s an event. Based on two January visits, I didn’t think Jitlada had very much room for improvement. Thanks to an infusion of new dishes, they now have even less.

A cauldron full of massive green lip mussels were sweet and supple, submerged in a lemongrass broth with whole chilies and Thai basil and served with a dish of fiery green chile-garlic sauce. Coco Mango Salad combined sweet mango strips, crunchy cashews, firm shrimp, thinly sliced purple onions, and spicy diced garlic.
Menu item #20 is a turmeric-flavored dry curry that normally coats either pork or beef. Thanks to Richard Foss’ article about exotic eating in LA CityBeat, we knew to ask for crocodile. Chef Sungkamee’s curry-slathered nuggets of amphibious predator were tender and completely funk free, sprinkled with strands of dill.
A deep-fried sea bass was buried in a spicy avalanche of julienned mango and onion, keeping the whole fish flaky and crisp-skinned.
Laam Talum Pook was the spiciest dish, “wild curry” stir-fried with cross sections of succulent catfish, Thai eggplant and green beans. Papaya Mae Chan was a multi-faceted dish involving fatty but flavorful grilled pork showered with peppercorns and a bowl of tangy papaya salad tossed with cashews, tomato and purple cabbage. Kai Kamin featured nuggets of fried chicken tossed with turmeric and addictive fried garlic, served with honey chile sauce. For dessert, Jazz brought us a bowl of clear tapioca beads mixed with cuts of jackfruit and young coconut shavings, blanketed with coconut milk.

Until January, Lotus of Siam was the best Thai restaurant I’d experienced in the U.S. Now, without a doubt, Jitlada has passed it by, and may have even lapped the Lotus.

2. Underground Gordita Kitchen – South Los Angeles – March 2008

In a covered courtyard, hidden behind a high fence, a group of women from the Mexican state of Querétaro prepared gorditas. Inconspicuous to outsiders, a winding line of customers indicated locals are well aware of the nameless “restaurant.” Friday to Sunday, an assembly line of women produces golden cornmeal pockets known as gorditas. By the time the balls of masa reach the fifth woman, they’ve been formed into patties, grilled, split open with a knife and filled with either chile-soaked chicharrones, nopales, shredded beef or carnitas. A Socio Aguilar sign honors the owners’ favorite soccer team, and a plasma screen shows the week’s game, a sign of the women’s success. A grey haired woman, perhaps the mother of one of the cooks, collected cash in a lock box at a table full of Mexican candies. The only gringo there, I was instructed not to answer my cell phone if it rang, since the women would suspect I was alerting police, who pose a threat to their unsanctioned business.

3. An Afternoon with Estancia – Santa Monica – April 28, 2008

Josie Le Balch and Daniel Snukal (3 on Fourth) invited local writers and chefs to Josie Restaurant to showcase Uruguay’s finest export: grass-fed beef. Not only did the event turn out to be a terrific learning opportunity, but it also featured some of the best food of 2008.

In 2006, Estancia co-founder Bill Reed launched Estancia in San Francisco with Argentina native J.P. Thieriot. A co-op of 40 different Uruguayan ranchers follow the company’s strict protocols, which dictates zero hormones or antibiotics. Why Uruguay? The nation is one of the only places in the world where conditions are ideal for growing grass, thanks to year-round rainfall.

Le Balch and Snukal circulated Mini Burgers skewered with mayo-brushed sesame seed buns, caramelized onions, tomato slices and crunchy pickles. Crostini hosted seared flatiron steak, cuts of sweet roasted bell pepper and garlic. The texture of the beef was visibly different from corn fed beef, with thread-like musculature.

Le Balch “wanted people to try the beef as beef is.” Her Grilled Rib Eye Steak was simply seared and plated with garlic bulbs. Sliced New York Steak was grilled and plated with roasted garlic and a rosemary sprig. Snukal was inspired to cook Korean BBQ Rib-Eye Steak based on visits to Koreatown, pairing the beef with grilled Portobello mushroom caps. His marinade involved soy, garlic and peaches for sweetness. Snukal’s Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio was blanketed with shavings of sweet California peaches, thin-shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano and a judicious sprinkling of truffle vinaigrette. The meaty feast came with plates of absolutely of-the-moment vegetables: Roasted Potatoes (white and purple), Baby Carrots (orange and yellow), caramelized Fennel bathed in olive oil and snap-fresh Endive Salad tossed with roasted pear shavings, pecans and blue-veined crumbles of Stilton.

4. Ingredients – Glendale – May 3, 2008 [CLOSED]

Michael Ruiz, former chef-owner of Bistro Verdu, resurfaced in the north Glendale neighborhood of Sparr Heights in December 2007 with this boutique gourmet shop. Sadly, Chef Ruiz was forced to close in May, but while Ingredients lasted, his market-driven Mediterranean small bites were special.

Deviled eggs were incredible, mixed with bacon bits, dusted with sea salt and smoked paprika, topped with a tuft of razor-thin radish shavings and ringed with house-made basil oil. Ruiz even figured out a clever way to hold the eggs in place: deviled egg yolk. He paired our goat cheese terrine with the Verdu beet stix, a dish that dates to Bistro Verdu. The terrine featured alternating layers of goat cheese and sweet red pepper. Twin slabs were bracketed with pesto and cradled a pile of bursting heirloom tomatoes. Verdu beet stix also featured alternating layers of vegetable and goat cheese, in this case roasted golden beets and peppered goat’s cheese. The vertical towers were drizzled with crumbled pistachios and balsamic-honey.

Ruiz slow braised pork shoulder with sweet Cara Cara oranges and covered the pig meat with a glass dome before introducing swirling applewood smoke.
Ruiz lifted the lid to reveal the luscious shredded pork, garnished with roasted green peppers and ringed with parsley oil.
Duck confit – shredded duck meat poached in duck fat – was tossed with shavings of sweet pear, shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, Marcona almonds and quince vinaigrette.
Reserva Serrano ham came on spicy tomato-slathered bread with shaved Leyenda, which Ruiz described as a “Spanish sheep’s milk cheese similar to Manchego, soaked in brandy, cured in pork fat and herbs for 14 days.”
A crumbly slab of Baked Ricotta was studded with pistachios and dried figs, topped with thin-shaved speck, green beans and accented with drizzles of 50-year sherry vinegar.
For dessert, strawberry gingerbread shortcake hosted layers of moist, slightly spicy bread, fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

5. Cook’s Tortas – Monterey Park – May 9, 2008

L.A. native Ricardo Diaz opened Cook’s Tortas at the end of February with in-laws Elvira and Antonio Zamora, naming their Mexican sandwich shop in honor of Captain Cook, who founded the Sandwich Isles and was funded by the Earl of Sandwich, known for creating the first sandwich.

Diaz has built a book of 500 torta recipes, each assigned a different number. A rotating selection is listed in chalk on a huge blackboard. His favorite is #96 - Beef Tongue. #151 - Mojito – combines roasted pork, garlic mojo and slow cooked onions. #10 – Ahogada – utilizes slow cooked pork, spicy double dip, escabeche and extra napkins. There was even a sweet option, #71 – Fruity – mango, apples, orange, cream cheese and honey – but I went savory all the way.

#25 – Bacalao – came on incredible sourdough ciabatta just pulled from the oven. The ten-inch loaf was sliced and loaded with a skillet full of potato chunks, red onions, garlic, peppers, green Spanish olives and parsley, all braised in olive oil. Diaz said it’s his mother-in-law’s recipe, a Christmas dish that requires de-salting Nova Scotia cod for two days and 6-8 hours of stovetop braising.

Cook’s Tortas offers several interesting sides, including red fries (sweet potato fries dusted with shichimi togarashi), watermelon pickles and grated carrot salad, sweet from raisins, green apples and cinnamon. Ms. Zamora’s buttered biscuit with apple-loquat marmalade was irresistible, nice and moist. Diaz also offers Great Great Grandmother’s Corn Cake, a dense cross between cornbread and corn pudding.

6. Three Forks Chop House – Claremont – July 13, 2008 [FIRE DAMAGE VICTIM]

Brothers Mark and Mick Bollinger, who own Candlelight Pavilion Fine Dining and Musical Theater in Claremont, were tired of driving all the way to Pasadena to get a good meal. On August 9, 2007, inspired by trips to their grandfather’s home in Three Forks, Montana, they did something about it, opening Three Forks Chop House in Claremont’s contemporary Packing House development. Every Sunday, Three Forks Executive Chef Eric Osley offers a three course, $45 Farmer’s Market Inspired Menu. It was worth the drive from L.A. to see how Chef Osley’s market-driven ethos was reflected on the plate.

First Course: duck prosciutto-wrapped Cavaillon melon, “super sweet” strawberries, grapefruit, thin-shaved Winchester Farms black pepper Gouda, watercress dressed with herbed vinaigrette, and two decorative ant trails of balsamic.

Three Forks’ steaks and chops are pairable with Specialty Salts, Inspired Rubs, and Pepper Blends. Chef Osley was nice enough to provide samples of each salt, including Jewel of the Ocean-Deep Ocean Salt from Japan, Murray River Salt Flakes from Australia and Fruit Wood Smoked Fleur de Sel from Hawaii. Of course a swift gust of wine blew all the salt off the napkin. It was totally predictable, and completely hilarious.

For our Second Course, Grilled King salmon was firm and moist, topped with charred tomato vinaigrette. The plate also featured pink-veined Swiss chard and large pearls of Israeli cous cous tossed with juicy heirloom cherry tomatoes and chilies.
The marinated flat iron steak was even better, a luscious cut of beef sporting a nice char and red onion marmalade, plated with truffled Parmesan potatoes (some of the best roasted potatoes ever), forest mushrooms and Madeira demi glace.

On the side, classic creamed baby spinach was rich but flavorful, the cream tinted green.
Chanterelles and oyster mushrooms were simply flavored with Sherry and garden herbs.
Wood fired corn with roasted chilies and avocado honey was a fluffy corn pudding with a nice browned crust, heat from the chilies and sweetness from the honey. Dessert was Fluffy White Stone Fruit Cake, layered, topped and plated with sweet market pluots, nectarines, peaches, rich vanilla butter cream and a decorative drizzle of powerfully sweet strawberry coulis.

Until recently, the small town in the Inland Empire was known primarily for the five Claremont Colleges. Thanks to the Bollingers and Chef Osley, Claremont now has another claim to fame.

7. Animal – Los Angeles – July 17, 2008

Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo are native Floridians who, until 2008, were best known for a short-lived Food Network series that chronicled their adventures as Hollywood caterers. Before that, they cooked in Beverly Hills at Chadwick, for high-profile chefs Ben Ford and Govind Armstrong. Now they’ve helped to re-ignite the Fairfax dining scene, an area clinging to its roots as an old-school Jewish community. The neighborhood is definitely changing. Given my initial experience at Animal, that may be a good thing.

The menu changes daily, based on market-driven ingredients. Happily, no matter what Shook and Dotolo source, almost every dish incorporates bacon, or at least pork. Grilled Romano beans were blistered and smoky, with some heat from red chilies, plated with lemon, pecorino shavings and house-made pancetta.
Shaved asparagus and poached egg were showered with Grana Padano and bacon vinaigrette, forming a compelling salad, made more interesting when the runny egg yolk was punctured.
Cubes of sushi-grade Raw Amberjack were tossed with sweet white peach and orange, mint and dime-sized cuts of spicy Serrano chile.
Crusty pork ribs were fairly tender, served with an interesting bread salad that combined croutons, rocket and heirloom yellow and red tomatoes.

Niman flat iron was the buttery char-grilled centerpiece of a magnificent entrée that combined Madeira, chanterelles, roasted potatoes, kernels of sweet corn and perfectly fried sweetbreads, crispy on the outside, delicate inside. The thick-cut pork chop was also expertly fried, paired with rich Anson Mills grits, but came with fatty slab bacon that ended up victimizing the long cooked greens.

For dessert, the Bacon chocolate crunch bar lived up to the hype, combining firm peanut-studded dark chocolate, outer layers of creamy milk chocolate and crisp, salty bacon bits and salta-and-pepper anglaise. White peach & blueberry crisp was excellent, topped with a dollop of whipped crème fraiche, with a crisp crown and hot, spreadable summer fruit.

Shook and Dotolo almost immediately began delivering some of the most assertive flavors in town. The duo played it safe with a couple dishes, but for the most part, they’re relentless. As a result, the L.A. dining scene is more interesting.

8. East LA Meets Napa – Los Angeles – July 18, 2008

The third annual East LA Meets Napa event convened at Union Station to benefit AltaMed Health Services Corporation, which has been providing health care to minorities and economically disadvantaged Southern Californians since 1969. The organization started with a small free clinic. They now have 33 Southland facilities. Union Station is one of downtown’s great spaces, but even for that location, this was a special evening.

The Union Station courtyard was ringed with over 40 booths, including wines from more than 20 Latino-owned or –managed wineries. There was also food from lauded Latino chefs like Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu of La Casita Mexicana, John Rivera Sedlar from Rivera and Octavio Becerra from palate food + wine in Glendale. Here are some of the highlights:

La Casita Mexicana
chefs Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu clearly run the most compelling Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles. Two of their dishes incorporated puff pastry, which del Campo says is traditional in Mexico City. The first puff pastry sported minced jicama, which had some nice crunch, cinnamon and yerba buena (Mexican mint). I finally got a chance to experience La Casita Mexicana’s blackberry mole, a dish that has proved elusive on recent visits to the Bell restaurant. In this case, the subtly sweet mole blanketed white meat chicken and was sprinkled with sesame seeds. Martin del Campo’s third dish: tamales with masa mixed with huitlacoche (black corn fungus) and fresh corn kernels.

At Rivera Modern Latin Cuisine,
John Rivera Sedlar plans to combining ancient Mexican cuisine and molecular gastronomy. He offered cups of Donaji, an ancient Meso-American cocktail made with Mezcal and tequila, the rim of the fruit-filled glass lined with a mixture of salt, chile and finely chopped crickets. The taste of cricket was undetectable. Fresh blueberry, blackberry, lime, plum and herb were more pronounced.

Carneros Della Notte is a Carneros vineyard that harvests at night since the grapes are neutral at that time, it’s cooler, and the bugs are quiet. Their bottles have glow-in-the-dark labels. I received a pour of 2003 Pinot Noir. The owner said his Pinot Noir recently won a Pinot showdown, selected from a group of 250 different versions. After a sip, that was entirely believable. He also poured a taste of the Reserve, served surprisingly cool.

The “D” in D’s Delights stands for Daryl Galindo, who has worked with chocolate for about 30 years. He offered samples of six different chocolates, including habanero almond dark chocolate, which had some kick. This fundraiser had a wine focus, so Daryl encased Bordeaux in milk chocolate and Champagne cream in dark chocolate.

9. Spicy BBQ by Nong & Family – Hollywood – July 27, 2008

Chiang Mai native Kanlaya “Nong” Sriyana opened her tiny Thai restaurant four years ago in an East Hollywood strip mall. Nong’s sister Noi runs a similar restaurant in Northridge called Top Thai, but the food isn’t quite as exciting as what you’ll find at Spicy BBQ. No offense, Noi.

Bypass the 42 seemingly standard dishes and flip to the back of the photo-filled menu, where the northern Thai dishes reside. Might as well play to a restaurant’s strengths.
Nong’s curry-soaked glass noodles are always staggeringly good, loaded with crunchy sheets of bamboo, purple eggplant, green Thai eggplant, green beans and cauliflower florets. Of course it was loaded with crispy nubs of fried garlic and whole chilies. The dish is available with chicken, pork or shrimp, but it pairs particularly well with plump shrimp. Nong combines cilantro, garlic, onion, mint and red chilies to form Fried Ground Pork Cakes. Nong bakes and deep-fries the patties, then tops them with crispy mint leaves and a shower of fried minced garlic. All her effort results in explosive, complex flavor. Her Northern Thai sausages are similarly outstanding, seasoned with plenty of lemongrass. The skins are blistered on the grill, with luscious, herbaceous interiors.

The restaurant has “spicy” in its name, so I expected some heat, but unlike the mouth-numbing Szechuan restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, this food was loaded with flavor that made the spice worthwhile. Spicy BBQ certainly deserves mention as one of L.A.’s top Thai restaurants.

10. Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen – Santa Monica – September 4, 2008

Wine expert Josh Loeb named his restaurant for a nearby canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. Rustic Canyon had a solid reputation under Chef Samir Mohajer, but when Evan Funke became executive chef in May, it rose to must-try meal status. Funke spent the previous 6 ½ years working for Wolfgang Puck, rising to the rank of sous chef at Spago before leaving earlier this year. Funke debuts a new menu on the first Thursday of each month, relying on sustainable ingredients cultivated within 1,000 miles of Santa Monica. My cousin and I were in luck, since it was Day One of the September menu.

Funke makes his pasta by hand daily using a pasta board he purchased on a spring foray to Italy. His terrific tortelli (stuffed egg pasta) were strewn with crispy bits of caramelized cauliflower and toasted shaved almonds. Cutting open each rectangle precipitated oozing cauliflower puree. A complimentary portion of sweet corn agnolotti, which just went off the menu, might have been even better.

Carlsbad mussels were supple, piled in a white wine, garlic and wild herb broth. Slabs of grilled dipping bread were like oversized croutons that soaked up the sauce to good effect. Seared diver scallops were caramelized on the outside and plated with explosively flavored, multi-colored cherry tomatoes, slivers of black and green olives and tangy capers.

Zoe Nathan is a rising pastry star. She and Loeb plan to partner on Huckleberry bakery and café in Santa Monica in the spring. In the meantime, her selection of House Made Cookies was varied and impressive, especially the silky lemon squares, melt-in-your-mouth shortbreads and airy apple galette with the caramelized base.

11. Il Grano (Sagra del Pomodoro) – Los Angeles – September 10, 2008

Sal Marino grew up in Naples, where he developed a profound respect for Italian cuisine. Since 1997, he’s worked to make Il Grano one of the top Italian spots in Los Angeles. The West LA restaurant deserves attention on a regular basis, but it’s never more compelling than during the summertime Sagra Del Pomodoro festival, when Marino prepares dishes using 42 varieties of homegrown tomatoes.

Marino was one of the first chefs to introduce crudo to Los Angeles, and he’s developed a deft touch with raw fish over the years. Matt’s Wild Cherry Pea Sprout Salad accompanied slices of warm Japanese yellowtail carpaccio. A single Grilled Santa Barbara Prawn was cut in half and lightly grilled. The oversized shrimp came with a momotaro Peach tomato salad, which provided a pleasantly acidic foil to the naturally sweet meat. Risotto Cuore di Bue was expertly cooked, a tomato-infused mound of risotto with a smoked mozzarella center, a basil flower crown and dots of pesto. Roasted eggplant cannelloni featured an ethereal crepe-like wrapper and an intensely sweet San Marzano sauce flecked with organic Sicilian oregano. The fluffy eggplant filling was folded with a crumbled white cheese. San Marzano rabbit fettuccine Bolognese & loin stuffed with olives achieved mixed success. The simple al dente pasta was tossed with a flavorful orange sauce. The slice of loin was tender and tangy from the olive “stuffing,” but contained a couple “nasty bits,” to use an Anthony Bourdain expression. The best parts were the accents: crispy basil leaves and a tiny yellow “sungold” tomato containing Kalamata olive slices.

We thought about limiting dessert to Marino’s spectacular market-plucked huckleberry panna cotta, but the idea of tomato sorbet was too compelling to ignore. Unfortunately, the sorbet was watery and bland. Still, the meal was a resounding success.

12. Bar Pintxo (Castilla & Leon Tasting) – Santa Monica – October 9, 2008

Writers and honored guests (including the Consul General of Spain) were invited to Bar Pintxo (Joe Miller’s tapas bar) to celebrate the cuisine and wines of Castilla y Leon, a region of Spain. Miller’s crew loaded high-top tables with delicacies like, chorizo Leon, made with four kinds of paprika, silky Nevat goat cheese and a dish of hearty lentils with crumbly slices of morcilla and small Galician chorizos the size of baby carrots. Almost every bite I took was impressive, but this night will undoubtedly be remembered for my first taste of jamon iberico de bellota. Nico Jimenez, the five-time world champion ham carver, was flown in from Extremadura to carve the remarkable ham made from acorn-fed, black-hoofed hogs. I enjoyed about 20 slices of the nutty meat, with melt-in-your-mouth ribbons of fat, chewy red musculature and crunchy white spots of caramelized amino acids. Apparently the meat contains nothing but “good cholesterol.” Considering the leg cost $1500, at about $90 per pound, that has to make jamon Iberico de bellota one of the most expensive health foods in the world. Antonio Martinez from Antalva Imports even paired the food with some of his imported Spanish wines, including an outstanding 2005 Bierzo (Pago de Valdoneje) made by Raul Perez using mencia grapes.

13. Silverlake Wine – Silver Lake – October 12, 2008

Three days a week, George Cossette, Randy Clement and April Langford host tastings at their sleek wine shop, which specializes in “small production, high quality, artisanal wines.” On Sundays, they host the most ambitious of the events, with food from talented local chefs. On October 12, Silverlake Wine hosted a special 90-person blowout with food from up-and-coming chefs Matthew Poley (savory) and Tara Maxey (sweet). The couple prepared a sumptuous five-course feast (thoughtfully paired with Silverlake vino) for only $20 per person. This act of charity from Silverlake Wine led to an unforgettable event.

Passed appetizers included Carne Cruda (raw filet mignon) on grilled bread with pancetta aioli, which was rich in all the right ways. The expert pairing: Allimant-Laugner Cremant, a sparkling Alsatian wine.

Next up: a family-style bowl of Panzanella - Heirloom tomato and Charred Bread Salad with Cucumber, Basil, Bell Peppers, rocket, balsamic vinaigrette and gobs of burrata. Chefs commented that 2008 was an epic year for tomatoes, as evidenced by the juicy, late-harvest specimens in this salad.

Their pumpkin lasagna was especially fabulous, Kabocha and butternut squash puree layered with pasta sheets, Parmigiano, brown butter sage glaze and gobs of hand-pulled buffalo mozzarella, topped with cubes of al dente squash and greens. The wine pairing: a hearty 2006 Borie La Vitarelle from the south of France.

When we arrived, the Whole Roasted Niman Ranch Suckling Pig was on the counter, a real showstopper, bound with twine and crisp-skinned. Poley cooks a free-range piglet every week at Michael’s on Naples, stuffing the beast with fennel, dill and garlic. Here, the piglet came with cranberry, flageolet and lima beans, plus blistered carrots roasted with red wine vinegar and herbs. The wine: a 2004 Bridesmaid Red produced by Pam Starr and Drew Neiman at their custom crush facility in Napa Valley.

Tara Maxey handled dessert duties. Even without her ice cream maker (stolen the night before), she made three impressive desserts, highlighted by the Caramelized Yellow and White Peaches Baked into Sweet Polenta cake with Tricolore Raspberries. Yet another highlight: Maxey’s signature chocolate cookies incorporating four kinds of chocolate, simultaneously bitter and sweet, with crunchy bits.

14. La Grande Orange Café – Pasadena – November 5, 2008

Two kinds of Los Angeles restaurants seem to serve as critic-bait. A new restaurant from an established chef usually falls into that camp. For example: Suzanne Goin’s A.O.C., Nancy Silverton’s Osteria Mozza or Michael Mina’s XIV. Other restaurants attract notice for their innovation. Consider The Bazaar, a new Beverly Hills restaurant from José Andrés, who conquered D.C. with molecular gastronomy. Then there are restaurants that don’t fit either paradigm that just serve reliably good food made from high-quality ingredients. They attract a steady stream of loyal followers, but don’t offer glitz. A leading example is Pasadena’s La Grande Orange Café.

The former Santa Fe railway depot has evolved since the March opening. Scott Malin was the original Executive Chef. Now it’s Vincent Valenzona, who’d apprenticed with Joachim Splichal and Wolfgang Puck before signing on with LGO. As always, everything is made to order and no ingredients are frozen or come from a can. First up: chilled slices of silky yellowtail sashimi in ponzu sauce with diced red and green chilies. Every day, LGO usually offers a couple seasonal specials. This day, it was a bowl of earthy tomato soup containing oversized baguette croutons and a single fried basil leaf. On the side: a premium grilled cheese sandwich with Tillamook cheddar and smoky slices of Nueske, showered with fresh-shaved Parmigiano. A new addition to the menu: New York strip steak flavored rosemary and garlic butter, char-grilled over oak. The steak came with spicy broccolini sautéed with caramelized onions and red chile flakes, plus high-caliber French fries dusted with barbecue seasoning. Short rib tacos combined grilled corn tortillas, diced tomato and chunky guacamole. On the side: rice with black beans drizzled with crema and a dish of smoky chile sauce. For dessert, we split another seasonal special: a generous slice of silky pumpkin pie spooned with fresh whipped cream. To drink, the deluxe Arnold Palmer utilized simple syrup, lemon juice and a single mint leaf.

At this point, I’ve eaten almost everything on the La Grande Orange Café menu and there’s never been a down dish. In less than a year, LGO has established itself as one of L.A.’s most reliable restaurants.

15. The Nickel Diner – Los Angeles – November 22, 2008

Kristen Trattner and Chef Monica May opened The Nickel Diner over the summer, helping to transform another block of downtown’s diminishing Skid Row while contributing one of L.A.’s better breakfasts. Pastry Chef Sharlena Fong has established a modern take on classic pastries, including the Bacon Donut, a textbook glazed donut showered with crispy bacon bits. 5th and Main involved spicy BBQ pork hash topped with two poached eggs. The hash was awesome, with chunks of potato that were nearly caramelized in porky runoff. The first scramble combined bacon, spinach, roasted garlic and gobs of goat cheese. No surprise, the accompanying roasted potatoes were crusty and excellent, with lush interiors. The salmon scramble included leeks, roasted tomatoes, chives and a squiggle of sour cream. This scramble came with a dish of cheesy polenta, which was like a sweeter, cheesier version of grits. Breakfast also came with a choice of toast, including white, wheat or sourdough. Tables at The Nickel host containers of seasonal jam. Today, that meant strawberry-pear. The Nickel team plans to open for dinner and late-night. There’s no reason to think their food will decline as the skies grow dark.

Related Food GPS Lists:
2008 Top 15 Dishes in Los Angeles
2007 Top 10 Dishes in Los Angeles
2007 Top 10 Dishes Outside Los Angeles
2007 Top 10 Restaurants in Los Angeles
2007 Top 12 Restaurants Outside Los Angeles

January 7, 2009

This entry is filed under Special Features.