Today I tried a new-to-me restaurant, Lola’s Peruvian Restaurant. It’s a Peruvian place and I do love me some saltado. Since I’ve been eating a lot of red meat lately, I went with their pollo saltado, cause you know chicken and french fries are healthy.

If you’re scratching your head and wondering what the heck pollo saltado is, well, it’s marinated chicken stir fried with red onions, parsley, tomatoes and french fries and served with white rice. The pollo saltado I had today really put the salt in saltado. I love my salt, but I was downing water to keep hydrated. Otherwise, the chicken was tender and the spices they used to marinate it were excellent. I don’t know what the combination of spices were, but once I finished my chicken all I wanted was more. 

Lola’s has earned itself a new costumer and I hope to enjoy exploring their menu.

Yesterday, I went to the mini farmer’s market that is on Brand Blvd every Thursday. I got a small basket of strawberries and raspberries and a couple of peaches.

The strawberries were by far my favorite. They were super-sweet and the ripest of the fruits. The raspberries were hit and miss. Some were sweet and others I should have let sit for a day. The peaches, were far from ripe. I tried to find the ripest I could, but they were all pretty hard. I ate one, but I definitely should have waited. It wasn’t sweet and had that unripe hardness to it. I ate the other one today and it was sweet and soft like a peach should be.

For such a small farmer’s market, there is a pretty good selection of produce. I might not go every week, but I think I will start visiting it more often.

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Lola’s Peruvian Restaurant
230 North Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 956-5888 

Gaucho’s Village catered for the entire office building today. They wanted us to sample their food and sample we did. In fact, there was so much sampling they ran out and I went so late I missed out on some things people said were awesome/good/I should have tried. 

I had a small side salad, some mango salsa, a shrimp empanada, black beans, farofa, sausage and a chicken wing. The side salad had lettuce, onions, cucumbers and tomatoes and came with an Italian tasting dressing, which was all good for a cheap side salad. I was very unimpressed by the salsa. It was weak on flavor and had way too much liquid. They told us the empanadas were chicken, but they were shrimp and if someone had a shellfish allergy, well I am sure they are dead by now. I had never had shrimp in an empanada before and I hope to never again. The black beans were black beans, but with the farofa sprinkled on top, they were my second favorite part of the sampling. The sausage I was expecting to be a bit spicier and a bit more flavorful. They weren’t bad, but I wouldn’t go running to Gaucho’s for more. The chicken wing was the best piece of the entire sampling. Superbly seasoned, fall off the bone, juicy and made me want to sneak back down for more. Which I didn’t do, but later I regretted because I was still hungry.

I doubt I will ever eat Gaucho’s food again. It’s a buffet and that just isn’t all that compatible with lunch at work. Also, it is very pricey. 

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Gaucho’s Village
411 North Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91203 
(818) 550-1430

I went to Iguanas Ranas to try something new, found out it was dine-in only and in my panic decided on an al pastor burrito.

As almost always, it was excellent. A bit more packed than normal, which made it a bit messier, but more food is more good, right? Today, they added a sauce I had not seen them add before. I am pretty sure it was crema fresca. It was white, creamy and light. They added just a small squirt of it, unlike their guac which they wanted to drown the burrito in. Luckily, I was watching the guy make the burrito and I was able to tell him to slow down on the guacamole. I don’t need the al pastor drown in sauces. In fact, I don’t think I need their al pastor with any sauces. Next time I get an al pastor burrito I am going to order it with no sauces, only pico de gallo. 

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Iguanas Ranas
138 N Brand Blvd
Ste 100
Glendale, CA 91206
(818) 484-7820

Doesn’t that look like a delicious pile of sesame chicken? I sure thought it did, then I put it in my mouth and found myself unimpressed. Well, at first I found myself thinking, “Ahhh!!! This is too hot!!!” After that I made noises like, “Fa, fa, fa, fa, fa. Whoooooo. Whooooo. Fa, fa, fa, fa, fa. Aaaaallll.” Then, I found the flavor lacking, of course that may have been because I burnt tongue.

It’s from ABC Chinese & Japanese Food, I know the name of the place should have given it away, but it just opened so I thought I would give it a try. Plus, the two guys inside seemed pretty nice.

The chicken was tender and crispy and they gave me a pretty large portion, it’s just the sauce that threw me off. It smelled wonderful, but lacked the sweetness I am used to with other sesame chickens I’ve had. Again, that could be the result of the burnt tongue.

I will have to give it another try, but the next time I will give it some time to rest.

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ABC Chinese & Japanese Food
205 N Central Ave
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 551-1677 

Last weekend I went up to the market by my apartment and got some peppered salami, tavern ham, mozzarella cheese and some peperoncinis. I finished all the ham and I was in too much of a rush this morning to worry about chopping up some peperoncinis, so today’s sandwich was salami and mozzarella only.

Salami and mozzarella are friends. They’ve been hanging out with each long before your parent’s parents were born. Some would call them a classic pairing. I don’t know who those people are and I hope I never meet them.

When I am deciding which salami to get at the market, I tend to go with the peppered salami. The pepper adds a nice kick of spice to the salami and with the smooth mozzarella, makes for a great sandwich. While today’s sandwich wasn’t great, it was still pretty good. The bread was a bit stale.

I learned a valuable lesson today, if you are calling in an order to Mediterranean Delight, specify that you want the lunch plate. Otherwise, they will give you the more expensive dinner plate.

When I got the chicken back to the office, I thought it looked great. It had a beautiful yellow color that I thought meant the chicken had been marinated and it had nice grill marks. Well, the chicken definitely wasn’t marinated, just colored to look that way and worst of all, it was barely seasoned. Bland isn’t even the correct term for how bland the chicken was. Luckily, it came with a garlic sauce. A weak garlic sauce, but one that saved the chicken. My problem with the garlic sauce was that it needed more garlic. I want garlic to kick me in the face, not creep up on my breath. 

So, two lessons learned, don’t get the chicken, though I am probably going to try one of their chicken sandwiches at some point, and make sure you tell them lunch plate. I thought I would never say this, but I miss Roro’s chicken shawarma. 

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Mediterranean Delight
126 South Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91204
(818) 543-3272

I order a medianoche, I get a cubano. It said on the receipt medianoche. But, at the office, as I unwrapped my sandwich with much anticipation, all I found was disappointment. 

Why is the bread so dry when it comes to their cubano? I know I’ve asked that before, but I want answers. I think next time I go in I will have to ask, or is that rude? 

I enjoyed the insides. Sweet and salty ham, succulent pork, a good layer of their mayo/mustard mix, delicious, crunchy pickles, and a tangy swiss cheese. Oh, if it were only on the sweet, buttery roll instead of that dried out husk of a Cuban bread. 

One other thing, why is a cubano more expensive than a medianoche? Everything on the inside is the same, the bread is the only difference. And by the taste, I would think more time and ingredients go into the bread for the medianoche.

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Porto’s Bakery & Cafe
315 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203-2303
(818) 956-5996

What can I say that I haven’t said already about LA’s best sandwich? That it’s a bright ray of love on a day of infinite sadness. It’s like a unicorn’s horn whittled into a flute that fronts the world’s greatest metal band. If there is a god and he is a sandwich, well then, eat this sandwich and ye shall know its name is the lord. And your hunger shall forever be healed, at least until tomorrow, and darkness and sorrow will flee from your heart, forever and ever, amen. 

I think you can fit one of those into something you can work with to understand the power of the 3. Go get one for lunch tomorrow.

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Larchmont Village Wine & Cheese
223 N Larchmont Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(323) 856-8699

Looks like Pho Hut has upgraded their bahn mi. The sandwich was bigger, meatier and all around deliciouser.

The bread was fresher, had a nice crunch with a soft inside and had a buttery goodness to it, oh, and it was about a quart length longer than their sandwich of old. They stuffed a lot more smoky, tender, well marinated beef inside. There were a lot more veggies, especially jalapenos, it was a spicy one today. Looks like the only thing they need to fix is the cilantro. Stop using the whole stems, at least chop them up. Every time I bite into the sandwich I end up pulling the whole piece out of the sandwich. 

I was very surprised and very happy with my banh mi today. Great job, Pho Hut. You made lunch awesome.

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Pho Hut
312 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 247-6955

The office tried out Mediterranean Delight for the first time today. I had their luleh kebab lunch plate. It came with two luleh kebabs, rice, hummus, salad and pita bread.

Mediterranean Delight’s luleh kebabs are a mixture of beef and chicken, mostly beef. The one’s I had were excellently spiced, they had a great texture and were one of the better tasting kebabs I’ve had in Glendale. Just straight-up, good sausage.

On the Yelps I read that people find Mediterranean Delight’s hummus to be bland. Well, either their taste buds are broken or MD has fixed the problem. The hummus was fully flavored, if not over-flavored. I enjoyed it.

Also, unlike most mediterranean places that offer salad with their plates, Mediterranean Delight’s was not an after thought. It had a slice of tomato and cucumber and a good dash of feta cheese. The dressing tasted kind of Italian-ish. For a cheap side salad, it worked.

My only complaint would be the rice. Really bland and it was on the verge of being dry. I didn’t eat all much of it.

If you go for lunch, eat-in or carry-out, you get a free soda. So, probably they have the best deal for lunch in the area. I look forward to trying their other meats.

Mediterranean Delight
126 South Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91204
(818) 543-3272

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