Silver Lake's Secret Pork Bun

The first bite is just the beginning of delicious. Pork Bun from United Bread and Pastry.

If you're living in Silver Lake, chances are you're a hipster stretched very thin financially. Whisky and weed take precedent over paying rent and most certainly expensive meals. So if you're looking for some cheap eats in Silver Lake check out United Bread & Pastry's Pork Bun.

Pork buns wait inside steaming for your love.

This little Filipino bakery sits quietly amongst one of Silver Lake's busiest areas - Sunset Plaza Triangle. Yet, many people don't know the deliciousness that hides in the drab, unassuming building between Pine & Crane and Yummy. At United Bread & Pastry, you can find bread, fresh roasted nuts and traditional Filipino desserts and groceries. But what I go for when I want a hearty snack is the pork bun.

Behind the counter filled with pastries is where the secret treasure is kept. A steamer box with several shelves sits near the wall. It's windows are steamy with beads of condensation, but you can see the buns inside just waiting to get into your belly. When you order the bun, it will come wrapped in a plastic baggie and ready to eat on the go. Make sure to pull the paper off the bottom. Unless you're into that sort of thing.

Hot out of the steamer. Pork bun from United Bread & Pastry.

The pork bun is a soft, pillowy dough that surrounds tender pieces of shredded pork spiced to perfection. It only costs $1.25 and one, most definitely two, will fill you up. They also have chicken available. Pop next door to Mornings Nights Cafe and grab an iced-tea and you're set!

UNITED BREAD & PASTRY
1515 Griffith Park Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Silver Lake Neighborhood

Cecina, Delicious Marinated Beef and Pork in Mexico

(Xhico in Mexico)

Taco of Cecina (Pork, Enchilada Style)

I haven't seen it on the menus much in Mexico City, but cecina is definitely food of choice a little over an hour outside of the city in a pueblo called "Chalco". I went on an adventure with my friend, Antonio. His family lives in Chalco and I was invited over for lunch. An invitation that I could not resist. Though it was a bit of a trek it was worth every bite.

Inside the church courtyard across from the mercado.

We started out the morning for "desayuno" (breakfast) at the Mercado Municipal in Chalco. Like many of the markets in Mexico City, there are puestos (stalls) selling fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meat and poultry. Of course there are also many places to eat inside and around. The main difference was that there were many puestos dedicated to preparing "cecina" for the drones of people packed inside the market. Beef and pork, pounded flat and piled high into a wall of meat separating the patrons from the cooks. As the people line up and are seated into long-narrow tables, the meat is put over a hot fire and cooked to perfection.

Stacks of beef cecina waiting to be grilled

Cecina being cooked up at the mercado in Chalco, Mexico

The cecina is lean cuts of beef and pork that has been cut and pounded into thin slices, marinated and served hot off the fire. We ordered the pork "enchilada-style" which means that it has also been marinated in chilis which gives it a reddish hue.

Cecina meat - Beef (left), Pork Enchilada Style (right)

Fresh made blue corn tortillas are the foundation of taco construction

Tacos of Cecina (beef)

We decided on the puesto called "Becerro de Oro", got a seat and ordered. Antonio ran to go get some cheese at a nearby stand. He insisted that the double-cream cheese was delicious when making tacos with cecina. I was so hungry I could hardly wait as I got wafts of grilled meat arousing my olfactory receptors. Then it came. The beef and pork steaming hot and simply served on a banana leaf. Blue corn tortillas were served along the side with cream and salsas. Everything was complete to let the taco making process begin. I put a slice of meat, salsa, cream and the double-cream cheese atop a tortilla and began to eat my first cecina taco. It was slightly salty, spicy and creamy - everything delicious should be. Even though after two tacos, I was full. I couldn't stop snacking on the meat.

Craving Carnitas, Tacos in Mexico City

Carnitas Taco in Mexico City

Pork is one of my main food groups. I can't get enough of it. After bacon, carnitas is my favorite form of pig meat. The tender, deep-fried pork pieces are juicy and perfect for a taco. Fortunately for me, there's a puesto a few blocks away from me that has delicious carnitas. So when I get my carnitas cravings, pork heaven is just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away.

Chopping the meat for my tacos

Carnitas (Maciza) Tacos in Mexico City

On the corner of Aguascalientes and Insurgentes Sur, where Condesa meets Roma, there is "Ricos Tacos de Carnitas, Estilo Puebla". A giant vat of oil sits under a rack various pork parts - carnitas. Aside from the roast cuts of meat, there is also liver, tongue, pig snout and other offals. I think I'm actually going to give the pig nose a try next time. I've never had it. Speaking of things I've never had, I also tried a green called "papalo". It had a bright but soapy taste.

Various pig parts sit over a vat of hot lard

"trompa" or pig snout is also served

Papalo is a green with a bright, soapy taste that is served with carnitas tacos

Be sure when you our out in Mexico city to try all the street food you can. Order carnitas tacos. If you want pure, clean-cuts of roast meat without the fat, be sure to ask for "maciza". But I actually like mine with a little fat. And skin too if they have it.

Carnitas Tacos with Salsa

Carnitas Tacos with Salsa

Chef on the streets of Mexico cooking up carnitas

Ricos Tacos de Carnitas, Estilo Puebla
Corner of Aguascalientes & Insurgentes Sur
Condesa, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, Mexico

Bringing the Perfect BLT to Mexico City

( Xhico in Mexico City )

I'm going to be making deliveries in Mexico City soon! So I've been working on some classic American recipes to bring to the mouths of the people in Mexico via ComeCasero. I decided to start with one of my favorites, the BLT, sometimes the BLTA.

The perfect BLT on Ciabatta from Panadería Rosetta

That's right, the simple Bacon Lettuce Tomato and add Avocado if you want it California style. Who thought getting this sandwich right would be such a challenge. First, of course, there was the bacon. I had to figure out where to get good bacon and an efficient way of cooking large amounts in a tiny kitchen. First of all, finding good bacon in the grocery store isn't going to happen. The butcher there will not have it, so I needed to head to a carnecería at my local market. That took me to one of my favorite places, the mercado, Mercado Medellín to be exact.

There amongst the fruits and vegetables toward the back corner you will find the meat men. An array of butcher stands that specialize in poultry, pork, fish, beef and sometimes other things. I began to collect samples of bacon as I visited a few stands and made sure to hit up the butcher where I bought that amazing chicharron prensado from the trip before. Mostly because I like it when the guy calls me "patron".

Butcher cutting my smoked bacon into slices

After testing all the bacon for flavor, thickness, fat content and how it held up after cooking, the butcher that calls me "patron" was the winner. Their bacon was smokey and perfectly marbled and the butcher could cut the bacon to my preferred thickness. Now I had to figure out how to cook large amounts of bacon in a tiny kitchen. After some skillet tests and oven tests, the oven was going to be the method. Now I thought I had it down.

Perfect smokey, marbleized bacon from Mercado Medellín

I just needed good bread now. Then I realized that I'm in the land of tortillas. There aren't many bakeries around and most of them specialize in pan dulce - sweet bread and other pasteries. Finding a good fresh loaf of bread was not easy. I started with the supermarket bakery. This made me appreciate my supermarket bakery in Los Angeles much more. There was no beautiful loaf of brioche. The bread here was dense and mealy, and the interior crumb, was just that – crumbs. The loaf was beyond disappointing. This challenge led me on a hunt for the best bread that I could find in Mexico City.

Making my bread at Panadería Rosetta

Going for coffee at Panadería Rosetta

I hit up some of the bigger chains like La Espiga and Globo, as well as some artisanal bakeries. They were all dissapointing (though those donuts in Globo smelled and looked delicious - I had to resist, because I'm was on my mission). I had a few more high-end artisanal bakeries to explore. My friend, Tanya, had reminded me of a bakery we went to once to have pan dulce and coffee, Panadería Rosetta – but it was too busy and we went down the street to La Puerta Abierta.

Ciabatta Test: Panadería Rosetta (left) vs. Pan Verde (right)

I finally made it to Panadería Rosetta for a coffee with Tanya. We sampled some pan dulce and it was delicious. The roll was airy and light and the scones were fluffy, moist and had a nice outer crunch. I had a good feeling about this place. I left with ciabatta and a loaf of pan blanco (which is the closest thing I could find to sourdough or good white bread). I arrived home with some bread from other bakeries as well.

3rd Place: Ciabatta from Pan Verde

Slicing, buttering and toasting was how it spent the next hour and a half. Making notes and taking pictures in between. Then I had to make sandwiches and see how they all held up. This brought me down to the top three breads to use for my BLT. They were Cibatta from Pan Verde and a Ciabatta and Pan Blanco from Rosetta. Ideally I would have used the pan blanco because it was more like a traditional BLT slice. But the bread was difficult to slice into even pieces because of the shape of the loaf. This left me with the two ciabattas and Panadería Rosetta was the clear winner. The ciabatta had a wonderful cloud-like inside with a slightly salty crust and they were easy for preparation.

2nd Place: Pan Blanco from Panadería Rosetta

1st Place: Ciabatta from Panadería Rosetta

After nailing down those two main ingredients, my BLT was well on it's way. It just need some lettuce, tomato and some of my secret sauce. It will remain a secret, but where to find amazing bread in Mexico City won't. Panadería Rosetta is the bakery where you want to be buying bread.

Panadería Rosetta
Colima 179
Colonia Roma, Mexico City

Filipino Street Food in Los Angeles...Only $1!!!

Authentic Pinoy Street Food in Los Angeles

Anytime I see a crowd of people standing around fire, I always hope for the best and that there is something delicious roasting over the coals. As I drove down Temple through Historic Filipino town, I passed a very unassuming yellow food truck. There were two BBQ's aflame, a huge line of people and the small mini mall was packed with cars whose hoods had become make shift dining tables where people were eating, congregating and having a great time. From the looks of things and wonderful aroma in the air, this was most certainly going to be something delicious.

I got quail egg, shrimp balls, lumpia and chicken feet.

The nice ladies of Dollar Hits!

I made my way through the smoke, closer to the slow jams blasting out of a large boom box neat the truck. There was a huge table in front of the truck filled with trays piled high with all sorts of finger foods -many things that had been skewered and many things that had been fried, and some had met both fates. I wasn't sure where to begin, so I started at the sign that says "Line Starts Here". A very sweet lady greeted me and I explained that I was new to all this. She explained that I was at "Dollar Hits" and everything was a dollar each. You pick either a small tray if you want a few things or a large foil tray if you're taking the party home. Then you proceed down the line picking all the amazing street foods that you want. Then you start adding up the dollars. There's worse ways to use your dollar bills: buying useless things at the dollar tree, making it rain at Jumbo's Clown Room or making origami cranes. I would much rather make countless trips through the line of this food truck.

BBQ's fired up with lots of goodies

I ended up getting the shrimp balls, deep fried quails eggs, lumpia, BBQ pork and BBQ chicken feet. I had never had chicken feet before. They were skewered and doused with sauce. Once you start sucking that sauce off, you really get into it and begin suckin' them bones clean! Lumpia is very much like a egg roll. It was fried to perfect with a flaky crust filled with spiced vegetables. Everything was delicious and I still have more to try when I go back. Also, if you get the melon (cantaloupe) drink, it's only $1 and free refills!

Free refills on Cantaloupe punch!

Only a five minute drive out of Silver Lake, you can find Dollar Hits Food Truck at the corner of Temple St. and Carondelet St. (just a few blocks from Rampart). They are there Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 6pm-11pm.

Follow Dollar Hits on Instagram

Follow Chow with Xhico on Instagram

Recipe: Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Chicharron Prensado

While in Mexico City, I'm enjoying some of my old favorites (which always includes tacos) and always discovering new flavors. While at Mercado Medellín I as waking by the butcher and discovered a pork product that's new to me. It's called chicharron prensado. It's different pieces of pork meat and fat that is mixed with guajllo chiles and some other spices. The meat is then pressed into a giant cylinder. It basically looks like a giant piece of salami that is a foot and a half in diameter. Then when it's cut, it shaves off into pretty little chunks of a deep red color.

Since I'm staying with the gringas we decided to make the American classic of baked mac'n'cheese. But we needed a vegetable side. Even though we would have been fine with an overload of four cheeses.

I decided to make an adaptation of a roasted brussel sprouts recipe that I make often. Instead of bacon though, I used the delicious chicharron prensado.

Ingredients:

12 brussel sprouts (medium size, cut in half from pole to pole)

1/2 cup Chicharron Prensado (or more if you like pork as much as I do)

4-5 cloves of garlic chopped fine

1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a small baking dish and pour half the oil in the dish so that the bottom if well coated and there is a nice layer of olive oil. Toss the brussel sprouts with the rest of the oil so that they are well coated (I do this all in the same dish). Make sure the flat side of the brussel sprouts are face down in the pan. Squeeze over the juice of one lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add garlic and chicharron prensado over the top. I add this last so that the sprouts can be well salted themselves.

Place in preheated oven on middle rack and bake 25-30 minutes until sprouts are fork tender through the middle. When ready, give a quick blast under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. When they start to brown they are done. Watch closely during this step so that the small bits of garlic don't burn.

Serve as a side. In this case, with Mac'n'cheese.

 

Provecho!

Note: you can substitute bacon instead of the chicharron. If you do you won't need as much salt because it's salty already. The chicharron isn't too salty, just full if flavor!

I went back for a Torta de Pierna con Mole

As I said, it was pretty hard for me to pass up the Torta de Pierna con Mole on the way in to Churrería El Moro. While we were eating churros, Tanya was ordering from the small kiosk outside the churrería. They only had three menu items, but only one of which I remember: Torta de Pierna con Mole. I;m pretty sure they had tacos, but that's irrelevant when it comes to this sandwich. The idea of that tender pork leg, drenched in mole sauce on a bolillo roll was sounding more tempting as I saw Tanya devouring hers. So I made the decision to have a midnight snack after my midnight snack. This is a decision I did not regret.

This is a damn good torta!

Sandwich: Lomo & Gouda

I love sandwiches!

Lomo & Garlic-Basil Gouda Sandwich

I made this delicious Lomo & Garlic-Basil Gouda on French Baguette with Olive Oil, Dijon and a little Mayo. The cheese is from my hometown of Oakdale, California at the aptly named Oakdale Cheese Factory. 

Get Piggy With It

Oink!

Ground pork never looked so good. Spotted by my cousin at Savemart butcher's counter in Oakdale, California.

Food n Fashion: Mmm... Bacon

Local growler, Jeff, rocks a MMMM...Bacon T-shirt. From pig to plate.