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

Blue Corn around the Corner in Silver Lake

Blue corn quesadilla with potatoes and chorizo

Today I had quite a pleasant surprise when I was walking home from Dinosaur Coffee and ran into the blue corn quesadilla lady of Echo Park. She happened to be working an event at Mack Sennett Studios. I couldn't resist a quesadilla.

Street food is my favorite. Just like in Mexico City, potato and chorizo quesadillas are my number one choice.

One of my favorite ladies in Los Angeles. Making some homemade tortillas from blue corn for quesadillas.

Bangin' Beef Birria in Mexico City

(Xhico in Mexico)

Beef Birria Tacos in Mexico City

Rafael prepping Beef Birria for Tacos

I can't complain about my apartment in Mexico City. It's everything an artist could want - spacious, beautiful and full of natural light. Though, I think the best thing is waking up to the smell of quesadillas by Doña Chelo in the morning and coming home in the evening to the air filled with the delicious smell of beef birria. Birria is a traditional Mexican cuisine that hails from Jalisco, Mexico. It's usually prepared with goat or sheep that is marinated with dried chiles and spices.

Right outside my door, I have a wonderful street food stand where Rafael prepares his own version of "Birria de Res" or Beef Birria. It is braised in a seasoned broth for several hours until it is tender and juicy. The texture reminds me of my grandma's pot roast, but the flavor is definitely more robust and slightly spicy.

Beef Birria braising in a giant kettle, the scent wafts thru my apartment

Beef Birria Consomé

Beef Birria Tacos with Salsa

For twelve years, on this very corner, Rafael has stewed his birria. When it's ready he takes it out of the broth and chops it into fine pieces for tacos. The small corn tortillas are dipped in the broth, heated on the comal and served with cilantro and onion. He then served a small bowl of consomé, which is absolutely fantastic. A few squeezes of fresh lime juice over the taco and into the broth adds a brightness which compliments the flavors wonderfully.

Beef consomé, perfect for a rainy day

If you want, ask for salsa at the bottom of your consomé bowl and add some marinated onions and habanero for extra heat. Now get to dipping! Dip your taco into the broth for a taco experience that you won't forget. You can also order a stew with meat in broth.

Visit Rafael at his Beef Birria Puesto on the corner of Chilpancingo and Aguascalientes just a few blocks from Parque Mexico in the Condesa neighborhood. I hope you don't have the same problem I have of not being able to stop eating these delicious Birria Tacos.

Chocolate Churros in Coyoacán

Churro filled with chocolate

You'll see churros all over in Mexico City. It's like Mexico's doughnut. But some of my favorites are the Churros Rellenos (Stuffed Churros) in Coyoacán. Definitely my favorite street food desert (aside from ice cream). If you're going to visit the Frida Kahlo Museum, it's a short walk to Jardin Plaza Hidalgo which joins with Jardin Centenario to make up the main square in the neighborhood of Coyoacán.

Churros sign in Coyoacán

Fresh churros

You'll find plenty of restaurants, shops and street vendors. But what you want to find is the Churros. Delicious tubes of deep fried dough is filled with your choice of fillings. They have everything from chocolate or cheese to strawberry of mango. I love the chocolate or cajeta, which is like a rich burnt goats milk. It's sweet and gooey like caramel.

The list of delicious filling choices for Churros

Deep-fried churros

Whistle of the Camote Man in Mexico City

(Xhico in Mexico)

Some people find the sound of the Camote Man irritating. But the loud shriek  has me run out the door like Pavlov's dogs. 

Camote (sweet potato) covered in lechera

It seems to be one of life's cruelest tricks it likes to play on me. I hear the loud whistle and run outside into the cold, rainy Mexico City nights. Only to realize that he may still be blocks away. Then I wait patiently to hear the sound again. When the steam engine blows I can then tell which direction to start walking. Eventually, the smell of the wood burning fire gets stronger and I see a plume of smoke. Where there's smoke there's camotes.

Plantain, steamed and covered in lechera and cinnamon

Camotes are sweet potatoes. The sweet round belly bombs are smoked along the side of plantains in a steam engine that is pushed through the streets if Mexico City. The hot, mushy snacks have a smokey flavor imparted by the wood burned in the fire. They are then covered in "lechera" (sweetened condensed milk) and sprinkled with cinnamon. The plantains have quickly become one of my favorite street foods in Mexico.

Steam engine of the Camote Man

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

Sticky and Sweet: Honey in Mexico City

I love honey! It's my preferred sweetener, along with agave nectar. I always think of my childhood friend Amy when I buy honey because her dad is a beekeeper. To this day he still keeps bees in my hometown of Oakdale. He even has bee boxes on my dad's property, so he shares some of the honey with my family.

Honey Cart in Mexico City

Rather than buying honey from a store in Mexico City, I buy it from the honey man. He wheels his cart around the neighborhood selling honey and many bee related products, like honey comb and even royal jelly. This last time I got avacado flower honey. I've been using it over avacados, vanilla ice cream and in my tea.

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

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El Papón: High or Hungover, This Is What You Need

(Xhico in Mexico)

The Tradicional Papa Rellena at El Papón in Mexico City.

 I may have been slightly hungover after too much mezcal from the night before as I stumbled out of Superama with some aspirin. Along the exit of the parking lot were the usual food carts selling tacos, tlacoyos and quesadillas. This one cart stood out to me, with a heap of foil wrapped objects. As I began to examine the menu and these odd shaped foil entities, I realized that they were two baked potatoes wrapped in one. Of course they were... I was at El Papón.

Potatoes wait to be smothered in goodness.

Chiles roasting

I didn't take me long to realize that these siamese-twin astronaut potatoes were going to get extremely insane with mounds of delicious toppings. An overloaded potato - this is what I really needed instead of aspirin. My belly begged to to quickly scan the menu and make a decision on the level of overload I would be achieving. How much cheese? How much butter? What combination of meat and other tidbits?

The dudes from El Papón, Mexico City.

El Papón, Food cart in Mexico City.

Two extremely friendly guys were eager to get to work on my potato. I decided to go with the Tradicional. I thought it would be the lesser of the evils. It turns out that it was a whole lot of evils together. First the potato master (as I like to call him) took the potatoes nested together and foil and began to beat them. He beat them and turned them and beat them some more until they formed a thick potato disc. Then with the precision of a surgeon, he slit an "X" into the foil and gently pulled the foil away from the center. He then began to fork the potato! He worked that fork and mashed up the inside. This was the beginning of a magical transformation. Possible more magical than the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Making baked potato magic at El Papón.

This once ugly potato began to be mushed with butter, then manchego cheese and it got prettier by the second. Then some jamón serrano. This potato was getting seriously sexy as it oozed before my eyes. Wait, then more cheese? Yes, more cheese - this time some ooey-gooey cheddar. Then how about some bacon and cream to top it off? This is some xrated potato action. I went into a foodgasm. I had to wait to get home to share it with Tanya, as I thought she may be in need of the same medicine. I won't lie, I did finger some of the cheese.

A few days passed and I was going to show Tanya where this potato cart heaven was to be found. But it wasn't there. After a quick drive around the block, we discovered that they opened a restaurant on the corner in addition to the cart. So make sure if you have a hangover in Mexico City and there isn't any birria around, to go get your self a potato orgasm to soak up all that alcohol.

El Papón is sometimes out side the Superama on Fernando Montes De Oca, The restaurant space is right down the corner on Fernando Montes De Oca and Jose Vasconcelos Circuito Interior in Condesa, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, Distrito Federal.

True Blue Tortillas I Love You

Fresh blue corn tortillas puffing up on the comal.

As you may know, one of my favorite street food finds in LA, is the Blue Corn Quesadilla Lady. Well, when I was in Mexico City, I got to have another amazing blue corn experience. We went to a street market that happens every Friday in the Condesa neighborhood. It's much like the Farmers' Markets we have here in California - fresh produce, food vendors and artisans set up selling their wares.

Eme knew of this stall she had been to before - "Eve Tlacoyos y Quesadillas". Upon arrival my eyes grew with hunger seeing a giant ball of blue corn masa being needed and turned into tortillas and tlacoyos before my eyes. The thing was, I had no idea what a Tlacoyo was. However, I did know I would be having one because they looked delicious.

Menu at "EVE" Tlacoyos y Quesadillas

Upon arrival, we had to wait for a bit for a seat, as there were only four tiny stools in a very narrow space between "Eve" and the stall next door. The wait was fine with me as I got to watch the entire cooking process go down - from kneading the masa dough, to making tortillas and tlacoyos in the proper shapes and sizes, grilling them up on the giant comal and then completing them with toppings and salsas. While we waited were given a menu, which was also a checklist to mark your order. The list was divided into "Quesadillas" and "Tlacoyos" with a range of fillings from potatoes and chorizo to mushrooms and squash blossoms. 

Once we got our seats we eagerly awaited our food. My back kept getting a draft or something as it was feeling very cold in my seat. Suddenly my entire ass was wet! Remember when I said there was a very narrow space between our quesadilla stand and the stand next door? Well, the stand next door was selling yogurt and fruits. All of which were on ice. However, there was a leak on his ice table. We were seated so close to his table that it was leaking right down my back. The man was very kind and fixed it right away. The advantage of this was that I got to move two seats down and talk to the kind woman making tortillas.

Woman making tortillas from blue corn masa.

I was curious about the color of the tortillas. I knew they were called blue corn, but I was sure if they were actually from corn that is blue or if it may have been a mix of masa with huitlacoche (Huitlacoche is a dark corn fungus that is often eaten in Mexico. Despite it's description, it is quite delicious and worth a try). She explained to me that the masa is actually made from blue corn kernels and that is where the blue color comes from.

Quesadillas at "Eve" at the Friday Marker in Condesa, Mexico City, DF.

The quesadillas were ready first and they were incredible. The tortillas were fresh and doughy, with a bit of crispiness on the outside. The cheese was ooey-gooey and oozing out the sides.

A delicious Tlacoyo from "Eve" at Condesa's Friday Market, Mexico City, DF.

It was no surpirse to me that Tlacoyos are delicious. They are somewhere between a haurache and a pupusa. They are oval shaped masa cakes, thicker than a tortilla, but thinner than a sope. Similar to a pupusa they are stuffed inside with black beans and in this case covered with some tasty toppings including nopales (cactus), onions and cheese.

Sope al Gusto from "Eve" at Condesa's Friday Market, Mexico City, DF.

Fresh blue corn tortillas and tlacoyos pile up at this busy food stand

Tortillas grilling on the comal.

You can find "EVE" Quesadillas y Tlacoyos on Friday mornings at the market in the Condesa neighborhood on Avenue Nuevo Leon in Mexico City, DF. In the meantime, you can find Madonna singing about here love for Blue Corn Tortillas here:

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!