With some training in Art & Design, I've always had an eye for street art and business signage. And there are unique and timely signs galore during this Coronavirus pandemic.
The warning signs are everywhere...literally.
Click on any photo to see larger.
As with any social upheaval, there is money to be made. My street corner entrepreneur set up shop a few weeks ago and is still going strong even now.
The grocery stores are still busy and people queue up to the entrances, staying about 6 feet apart waiting for their turn to shop. At Ralphs head-counting is done and limits are enforced to avoid overcrowding. And wearing a mask is required (I've seen customers walking up to the entrance sans mask, but sliding it on as they cross the threshold.)
And with more checkers most of the checkout-lines are open. And marks on the floor are spaced 6 feet apart to keep the customers at a safe distance. Plastic shields are newly mounted at the cash registers to protect the employees.
But it's still an obstacle course in the shopping aisles, trying to stay a safe distance from each other - I find myself holding my breath passing anyone. Sometimes I'll just back up and wait until the fellow shopper exits the section I'm heading for.
If you're a frequent visitor, then my High School DietSeriesis familiar to you. In a nutshell, Los Angeles Unified School District has taken on the herculean task of feeding students and parents since the Covid-19 shutdown. I hear this will go on thru the summer.
The free food program is called Grab & Go. You just follow the signs into the High School and drive or walk up to tables set up in a couple outdoor areas for a bag of breakfast and lunch meals. Now it's High School fare so my expectations aren't too high. I've had Pop-Tarts to Bean & Cheese Burritos (their Mexican fare is, on the whole, pretty darn tasty.)
I don't go every day and this summer Series is a fun way to see what teenagers are fed these days - boy I've never had so much chocolate milk in my life. But I have created a hack for that - I call it a Black Appalachian!
Around here in my food world, restaurants and fast-food joints are hit hard. I hope they can hold on and make a comeback. After offering to-go only they are starting to open up for regular sitdown service with state-mandated health guidelines (click here to see them.)
Well, until there is a vaccine for Covid-19, I don't think things will truly come back to business as usual. But it is important to support your local businesses safely - right now when they need it the most.
My latest Deal of the Day should not be so good. I think you can understand my suspicion of any meat that's on a stick from a frozen deli case.
But I am a fan of McDonald's McGriddle, a hybrid breakfast sandwich with a pancake bun that's injected with maple sryup. I like my McGriddle with egg and a sausage patty.
So when I saw Pancake & Sausage on a Stick by Snapps in my local Dollar Tree deli case, I just had to get it. The concept of a breakfast corn dog rang my bell.
And you can check out my Deal of the Day cheap$kate video review at the end of this blog post.
And you get 2 pancake/sausage corn dogs for a buck, Wow!
This is an easy breakfast, just zap it in the microwave for a minute. You want it to be hot to the touch, so you know the inside sausage link is defrosted. Mine was ready in a minute, I might have added a couple of 10 second microwave bursts to finish.
I was quite impressed with the pancake envelope. It was spongy and light like a typical pancake you would make from the box, or even get at a local breakfast joint. I mean nothing out of the ordinary, and that's a good thing.
The pancake was a little over-sweet, but that's because no packet of maple syrup was included. Now, who ever has pancakes without syrup?
I guess I could take off a couple of points for a lack of syrup, but I think everyone has leftover maple syrup in the refrigerator anyway. I had mine with it and boy did it take it over the top.
Maple syrup not included in box.
For my typical pancake stack with bacon or sausage, the best part is sloshing the meat into the syrup. Well with this all-in-one meal on a stick you do the same without utensils.
The sausage link is standard Farmer John's or Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage. Course ground and a little fatty, but that's okay by me. Seasonings are light and the flavor mildly pleasing.
All in all I was quite taken with this guilty pleasure of a start to my day. The pancake shell was not soggy, just springy in texture and slightly moist. Even the sausage reheated well, not dried out or tough.
Well, by now you can tell I'm giving my latest Deal of the Day, Pancake & Sausage on a Stick by Snapps, a high Cheap$kate Dining score, of 1 to 9, 9 being best. Just watch the video below to get all the goods.
Play it here, video runs 2 minutes 27 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Los Angeles Chef Roy Choi wears his heart on his spatula. This time he combines forces with, San Franciscan and Michelin Star awarded restaurateur, Chef Daniel Patterson to bring healthier fast food to the hood - that is, on 103rd Street in Watts, South Los Angeles. This eatery is their culinary love child. They call it LocoL, "Revolutionary Fast Food." The name of the joint is a play on loco and local - you gotta be a little crazy to try and change the fast food industrial complex.
I've been a food fan of Chef Roy Choi from day one. His cooking skillz jump-started the food truck craze in Los Angeles (and the country) when he combined Korean and Mexican flavors on the humble corn tortilla, and hit the street in a roach coach in need of a tune-up. The Kogi BBQ Lunch Truck is as popular as it ever was and will probably outlast all the food truck wannbes that have followed.
Just check out all the delicious details in my video below, that I made just a few months after the Kogi Truck debuted in 2008. And click here to see all my yummy photos and text.
Chef Roy knows LA by heart, after all he's been all over town in his fleet of Kogi Trucks. But have he and partner in taste Chef Daniel Patterson bitten off more than they can chew? By starting a fast food revolution in the underserved neighborhood of Watts, in South LA, they are rolling the dice -- but I would not bet against Chef Roy Choi.
Watts is a 2 mile square area near the intersection of the 110 and 105 freeways (about 8 miles South of Downtown LA.) Half a mile away from LocoL is Watts most well know landmark, the historical designated Watts Towers build by an Italian immigrant construction worker Sabato Rodia and completed in 1954. It's a wild series of metal rebar structures that stand over 100 feet tall, and are covered in pieces of colorful tile and broken bottles.
Watts Towers and 99 Cent Chef with Fried Chicken Burg
The area has been trying to live down the notorious 1965 Watts Riots, too. While not in the best shape economically and plagued with a gang problem, Watts has potential to do better, with a little help from entrepreneurs like Chefs Roy and Daniel, who really give a damn. And most importantly they are creating jobs for the locals.
Chef Daniel Patterson main focus is on the food at LocoL. The tricky part is keeping the prices in the $1-$6 range, and making each bite or sip flavorful and satisfying. As an example, ingredients like chicken and beef are cut with grains, without sacrificing flavor. LocaL even developed it's own fermented bun, partially made with lighter rice flour, by renowned San Francisco baker Chad Robertson of Tartine.
(Chef Daniel also has returned to the street offering free classes with his nonprofit The Cooking Project, which teaches young people how to cook. Click here to read all about it.)
Their bromance began in 2013 when Chef Roy riffed on the theme of "guts" during a speech in Copenhagen, Denmark for the food-themed MAD Symposium. He challenged the international audience of influential and high-end food purveyors, and chefs, to bring healthy affordable food to the hood. Chef Daniel Patterson saw the light and joined Chef Roy Choi on his mission. Now, these guys have real guts. You can check out Chef Roy's rap by clicking here and scrolling to the video at the end of that post.
For my latest video below, it's back to street photography. I've done my share of it, keeping my feet on the pavement moving and with an eye on the action. I recorded the scene at LocoL as a bystander - no backstage pass.
First off I wanted to show some of the neighborhood and the locals who showed up, along with the LA foodie fans of Chefs Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson. It's an impressionistic view that I think you will enjoy. So scroll on to see my GIFs, photos, slideshows and video.
Night & Day
LocoL opened in January (on Martin Luther King Day) and I had to be there on day one. It was a crazy fun scene. I parked down the street in front of the 700 unit Jordon Downs Housing Project and trekked there with my tripod and a couple of cameras. The line of customers went around the building and down the block. The street scene was a party, with music blaring from the LocoL back patio, providing a soundtrack for those in line.
Throwing a Watts sign.
A lot of the Watts neighborhood turned out: tykes on scooters, teens, old folks in motorized wheelchairs, and cruisers slowly driving by to take in the scene. The energy of that day was infectious and I tried to catch a little lightening in my cameras.
Photo Slideshow
They had the requisite speechifying by Mayor Gil Garcetti, and the roped off patio filled with movie glitterati, like Lena Dunham, Jim Brown (action star of the movie The Dirty Dozen,) director/actor Jon Favreau, plus a bunch of chefs and LA culinary bloggers. But the food got top billing that day. Just check out my video below to take in the scene of Grand Opening Day at LocoL.
LocoL Restaurant Opening Day - Video
Play it here. Video runs 5 minutes.
I returned in the evening just before closing time, when the line was shorter. Once inside, while I waited for my order (which wa ready quicker than you think it would normally be, for such a jam-packed scene,) I watched Chef Roy work the room.
He goes from the front counter calling out ready order-numbers on the loudspeaker, to grabbing someones receipt to follow through. Wearing his ever-present baseball cap and t-shirt, Chef Roy greeted customers and posed for selfies, then tweets on his Iphone while bobbing to a soundtrack of old-school hip hop and classic Prince.
Chef Roy went behind the counter to finesse the cooking - showing the cooks how to grill and press the dressed Cheeseburg until it resembles a Panini or Cuban Sandwich. And when the ordering line slows down he reminds the crew to replenish ingredients and prep their work stations. This is a well organized and smooth operation, under skilled guidance.
The lay of the place is practical and playful. When you enter, go to a counter just to the left to order and pay for food. Or, you can place and pay for your order at a touchscreen computer workstation on either side of the entrance.
Grab a spot on any of the oversized building blocks that serve as chairs and tables and listen for your order number while jamming out to piped-in thumping tunes. You can also hang out in the patio out back.
Let's get down to the food. I could write a lot more words, but will save more detailed descriptions for future blog posts and videos, so do check back. Put simply, this joint is loaded with flavor, from $1 fresh juice Agua Frescas and Messy Greens, to $4 Beef (with grains) Cheeseburg and Fried Chicken Burg, to Brekkie (breakfast) $4 Egg in the Hole and $6 Noddleman Bowls.
Food Slideshow
As you can see by some of the entree names Chefs Roy and Daniel are punsters at play. Burgers are "burgs," chicken and veggie nuggets are "nugs," and a quesadilla is a "foldie." If you are on the social media treadmill then follow Chef Roy Choi on Twitter, to see his pun-play in action.
Click on any image to see larger.
There is a cool comic book design sensibility here, just check out the cartoon cuisine characters on the menu and restaurant walls.
So do check back soon, when I take a bite out of the menu and give you all the juicy details, including a couple of Cheap$kate DiningReview videos of the Fried Chicken Burg with coleslaw, and the Cheeseburg with Jack cheese and scallion relish.
And 99 thanks to Chefs Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson, LocoL cooks and work staff, visiting patrons, and the neighborhood of Watts. And click here to see my video on youtube.
LocoL
1950 E. 103rd Street
Watts, Ca. 90002
http://www.welocol.com/
"Spam, spam, spam, spam...."and repeat, so goes the Monty Python song. I was a big fan of Monty Python as a teen, not so of canned meat Spam. But I'm willing to change my mind. So read on to see what I rate a Spam Musubi from a 7-Eleven market on the island of Oahu, for my latest Cheap$kate Dining Review, Hawaiian-style.
Spam Musubi is a Hawaiian mashup of Japanese cuisine and American canned meat, shaped into fast food origami. There is nothing like it. Typical Japanese Musubi is any meat or veggie on a Twinkie-shaped mound of steamed sticky white rice, and wrapped in a black band of dried seaweed (called Nori.)
Click on any photo to see larger.
Hawaiians of Japanese descent quickly took to Spam. It was a WWII necessity when meat and other rations were scarce. But with the import of American GIs to Pearl Harbor, Spam was the most available meat product on the island. Back in the day it was a necessary novelty and was quickly adapted by the locals.
They say our military travels on its stomach, well just go around the world and you will find Spam integrated into many foreign cuisines, like British, German, Japanese, and Korean.
Spam is made with very few ingredients really, mainly ground pork shoulder, ham, salt, water, potato starch (to keep the meat moist), sugar, and sodium nitrite (a preservative). And now you can buy it in many flavors, and even Lite (which has chicken,) that's low fat and sodium. However, now they doctor it up with marinades and extra flavors, so the ingredient list can be quite long.
The name's origin remains a mystery, but it's thought to be an abbreviation of 'spiced ham,' or maybe an acronym for 'shoulders of pork and ham.'"
If you have been here before then you know I'm in the middle of a Hawaiian Travelogue series, that started last month. So I had to eventually get to a cheap fast food Deal of the Day.
Go to any grocery or liquor store with a deli station and you'll find a row of plastic-wrapped Spam Musubi under a heating lamp. And they are cheap, just the way I like it. They cost anywhere from just under $2 and more, mine was $1.55 at the 7-Eleven Store.
The locals go for Spam Musubi like Mainlanders getting a hot dog at the local gas station/market. It's a perfect few bites when you want a quick snack for the road. You can even find Spam integrated into McDonald's menu.
They sell many types of Spam Musubi, some flavored with teriyaki sauce. I got a regular one.
What is unpredictable is how long they have been sitting under the heating lamp, which can affect the texture of cooked Spam and the moisture of sticky rice. So my rating may be off a couple of points either way -- so take it with a grain of salt.
I unwrapped the Spam Musubi and could tell it had been under the heating lamp for quite a while. But Spam was made to stand up to any cooking abuse.
It was warm to the bite and the Spam was very salty (as it should be.) The meat texture was a little rubbery but still flavorful. It's like eating a thick piece of heated luncheon meat. Not something I would eat very often, but okay.
The rice held together fine. It's just plain steamed white rice, mainly for extra carbs. The band of dried seaweed had a slight ocean seafood flavor.
Overall it is a good mix of blandness and meaty flavor. I finished the Spam Musubi in just a few bites.
So on my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give 7-Eleven's plain Spam Musubi a....6! This Deal of the Day may not be for everyone, but if you've been boogie boarding in the ocean all morning this will satisfy you until a real meal.
If you live in LA, then you've heard about the Tommy Burger. Next to In-n-Out Burgers, Tommy's is at the top of the fast-food burger heap. And, so much so that there are many imitators trying to pull off a homonym scam by calling their burger joint similar-sounding (and spelled) names like Tomy's, Thoma's, Tommie's, Toms, etc. But don't be fooled -- there is only one Original Tommy's Hamburgers and I have the heartburn and a Cheap$kate Dining Video review to prove it!
A Tommy Burger is an eccentric burger, and I like it that way. First off, there is no lettuce, but you won't miss it, since all the burgers come with plenty of chili. Lettuce and chili don't go together anyway.
And it's one sour burger with the addition of 4 pickle slices and mustard. It's too much of a puckering good thing, so I always ask for some creamy mayo.
But the most unusual ingredient is a huge, juicy, tomato slice, that's about as thick as the hamburger bun. While the tomato is no big shakes (it tastes like any regular store-bought variety) -- but, that's just what this chili burger needs to balance out the disparate flavors.
Chili's all it's about at Tommy's. The chili is of the fine-ground variety and no beans. (It's very similar to Pink's Hot Dogs chili, another fantastic fast food joint in Los Angeles - my blog post video of the hot dog landmark is here.) Like a meaty thick gravy, the flavor is just what I want, beefy and spiced perfectly. It's best eaten right away while the chili is hot.
And the Chili Fries aren't too bad either. The fries are fat and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside -- a very good French fry and a great combination when chili is heaped on.
They pile it on the hamburger, so make sure to get a plastic spoon and a couple extra napkins. And, if you get it at the drive-thru window, just pull over in a parking slot. Please resist eating it on the drive home - much too messy and dangerous to maneuver!
And as a special visual treat, I shot my on-camera review in the middle of the public art assemblage "Urban Light", by one of my fav LA artistChris Burden. To read about the city lamp assemblage click here, and make sure to add it to your
Los Angeles art bucket list (it's best viewed at night - plus it's free
to see.) Leave it to The 99 Cent Chef to combine a chili burger with
art!
A Tommy Burger is not for the faint of palate. Flavors are intense, the
chili is like heavyweight oil, and it's a hot mess -- just the way I
like it. And it's a less expensive, at $2.15 (plus tax,) than a Big Mac. Now,
that's a great cheap$kate deal.
So check out my video below to see how
The Tightwad Restaurant Critic rates a Tommy Burger on a scale of 1 to
9, 9 being best. And if you are new to LA, or plan on visiting soon,
make sure to chow down on one of our top 9 burgers, a Tommy Burger.
Original Tommy's Hamburgers - VIDEO
Play it here, video runs 2 minutes, 46 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Original Tommy's Hamburgers
2575 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, Ca. 90057
