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.
This internet chef does not live by publishing recipes alone. Nighttime photography is also my thing. Give me a tripod, a digital still camera, four wheels and a quarter tank of gas, and I'm ready to hit the neon lit streets of Los Angeles. My Restaurant Nocturne Series is half art and half food blogging. As dust approaches, I usually have a handwritten list of about four or five restaurant destinations. On most outings I'm lucky to shoot two or three. That's the way it goes.
I go to a dining destination and it may have a bunch of cars blocking my view, or it's a slow night and nobody is eating out there. I gotta have some people entering or leaving the restaurant I am shooting, or there is no Restaurant Nocturne; I'll pack up and head to the next one on the list. Customers give scale and meaning to my nighttime photography; without them it's lifeless - that's the way I roll.
Rejected photo - will try again when there are less cars out front.
But it's all good. If I don't get it that night, I'll be back. Usually I can, at the very least, corral someone to recite the menu for my audio, either the maitre d' or, waiter or even a satisfied customer, and, sometimes if I'm lucky, the chef. And if nothing else, I know where to park next time, and I have the composition figured out, as with the photo of Night + Market Song above.
Sometimes it takes five minutes to shoot a Nocturne, sometimes I'm there for 45 minutes - all depends if and when people walk through the frame. I'm not a paparazzi (as I'm often mistaken to be) shooting celebrities out on the town.
Usually, I'm out front somewhere, on the sidewalk, or across the street with my tripod and camera. Sometimes the maitre d' will come out and shoo me away -- well, as long as I'm not on private property I can continue shooting the restaurant. Hey, I get it, I can see their point of view; customers are out to dine, not end up in someones photograph. That's the contradiction and controversy of street photography. I'm first and foremost an artist, so I have a bit of leeway - that's what I keep telling myself. (Although, when shooting in a mini-mall I am on private property, so I have to depend on the whims of security guards or parking attendants.) My final outcome is not to embarrass anyone or make the restaurant look bad. I'm just documenting Los Angeles's nocturnal dining scene, from street level.
Lately, I've been letting the appetizing audio have more time. I used to cram too many restaurant video clips into a typical Restaurant Nocturne, now I have fewer. But, I think it's important to let the menu audio breathe.
Fine dining in mini-malls, that's the way we roll in Los Angeles.For Restaurant Nocturnes XIV, most of the cafes I shot are located in grubby Los Angeles strip malls, from Hollywood to Koreatown, and Silverlake (except the last restaurant, Little Jewel.) I didn't plan it that way, it just happened. You'd be surprised at the quality of dining that's thriving in these nondescript tacky locales.
Why are ambitious and creative new restaurants popping up in mini-malls? Cheap rent, that's why.
Mini mall with Petit Trois & Trois Mec. Click on the photo to see full size.
A couple of the most hippest and written about eateries are next to a doughnut shop and dry cleaners, in the photo above. ABC's The Tastejudge/mentor, Frenchman Ludo Lefebvre, opened two restaurants in the last year (along with partners, chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal,) at a Hollywood mini-mall near the corner of Highland and Melrose Avenues.
As a contrast, across the street and down half a block is the eating emporium, and decked-out Mozza, helmed by Nancy Silverton (named 2014 Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation,) in partnership with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich.
When you go to Ludo's Trois Mec down the street, just drive into the mini-mall with the donut shop -- and try finding it. There's no Trois Mec sign. The sign you are looking for is a pizza sign called Raffallo's Pzza (sic) with a yellow "OPEN" arrow, that's your destination. Go figure. I think Ludo has a perverse sense of humor, and I like it! Controversially, he and his wife have instituted a prepaid, no-cancellation, reservation system, where you call 2 weeks ahead to get a seat. And you better call promptly when seats are released 8AM every other Friday morning, because they sell out in minutes.
That's Chef Ludo Lefebvre taking a cell phone break.
Ludo's menu there is cutting edge, changes constantly, and makes Top Ten lists in all the local food media. Just listen in to the entree ingredients in my video - Eggplant Mole with Charred Onion, anyone?
Right next door to Trois Mec is Chef Ludo's version of a Paris Bistro, Petit Trois, that serves the perfect omelette with Boursin cheese sauteed in lots of butter, and Steak Frittes with a well-curated glass of wine. And recently Petit Trois is serving fois gras, since a federal judge struck down California's ban on the duck liver delicacy. The menu changes and it's not listed online, so you have to drop in to see what French cuisine is being served this month. (It's funny, but while I was gathering the menu audio there, people kept entering Petit Trois asking for the location of Trois Mec. The waiter had a ready quip to send them on their way next door.) And Petit Trois has a legible and legitimate sign...under the previous owners Tasty Thai sign.
In Los Angeles's grooviest neighborhood of Silverlake is another mini-mall dining destination, Pho Cafe. Like Trois Mec there's no sign, just the deteriorating street address stenciled on it's window facade. But you know somethings going on here when the dining tables are full of fragrant steaming bowls, along with a chatty sidewalk queue out front.
Pho (pronounced like fuh, or duh with an f) is a watery, but, deeply flavored beef broth with silky noodles topped with fresh herbs. There is a selection of meat to add, like: chicken, thin sliced beef, tendon and meatballs. The Pho Cafe is a bustling neighborhood hangout specializing in this Vietnamese specialty.
Next up is Saint Martha, named after the Patron Saint of cooks and servants. The restaurant actually has a sign! It's located in Koreatown on Western Avenue, in a two story strip mall, along with all types of Korean businesses and Oriental eateries.
You want cheap, well I got it here at Al Wazir Chicken. I love Middle Eastern rotisserie chicken. And at this no-nonsense eatery with formica decor, you get a whole chicken with pungent garlic sauce and pita bread for about $10. Now, my go-to rotisserie chicken is from Zankou Chicken, an LA dining institution down the street on Sunset Boulevard, but as a backup, this is a fine substitution.
It's in my old neighborhood of Little Armenia on Hollywood Boulevard and Gower Street, and, of course, it's in a mini-mall (where I used to get my prescriptions filled in an upstairs Farmacy - since closed.) Loaded Shawerma Pita Sandwiches of marinated slow cooked chicken, beef and lamb, go for $4-$6. And there are Middle Eastern vegetarian sides of Hummas, Stuffed Grape Leaves, Baba Ghannouj and Tabouleh.
Anytime a Cajun eatery opens I'm there. And Little Jewel is my type of dining joint. The final Restaurant Nocturne is not located in a mini-mall, but is in Chinatown?!! Well, that's no big deal, located right down the street is the originator of the French Dip sandwich, Philippe the Original.
That's Chef Marcus coming to chat with the Nocturnal Internet Chef
I went to high school in Louisiana so I am well versed in small, neighborhood markets and gas stations with a sandwich deli in the back. This is the real thing and Chef Marcus Christiana-Beniger stocks the market with all manner of hot sauce and Creole seasoning, pickled veggies, Zapp's Potato Chips, Camellia Beans, Community and Cafe du Monde Coffees, and even packages of ramen for the locals. He know his stuff, as he was born, raised and worked in restaurants all around New Orleans.
But, it's really all about authentic Cajun food here. Marcus concentrates on over-stuffed Po' boy Sandwiches, but he's expanding the menu with daily specials that include: Gumbo, Jambalaya, and other Cajun delicacies. He also cures and smokes sausages over pecan wood, in the back, like: Boudin, Andouille, Chaurice, Hot Sausage and Tasso.
The Po' boy menu is expansive with fried Oysters, Shrimp, slow-cooked Pork and Beef with Debris Gravy. Chef Marcus is Italian, so, of course, he makes a mean Muffuletta Sandwich, which is a stacked Cajun/Italian coldcut deli sandwich smeared with a house-made olive salad. He uses Leidenheimer, a New Orleans French bread, for his sandwiches. To quote Marcus: "And quite honestly, I would not have done this place if I couldn't have got that bread."
Be sure to listen to our colorfully profane, wacky chat, while I was shooting Little Jewel in Chinatown. Marcus drops a few f-bombs, but it's all in good humor.
Well, that's enough blathering, so check out my informative, fun, and coolly shot Restaurant Nocturne XIV. (I have a list of the restaurants with a link, after the video; just click on a name to see their website, with all the menu details and updates, their address, and contact info.)
The Chef just got off the horn with Marc "Mr. KFI and Mr. KABC" Germain for a 35 minute interview on his internet talk show TalkRadioOne.com. Thanks Marc, it was a lot of fun to be on your live internet talk show!
Airport drop-offs are a pain in the ass. The 99 Cent Chef would like to make this recurring inconvenience a more pleasant experience for all. Now don't get me wrong I have been a recipient to the kindness of friends shuttling the Chef to and from LAX - it is a favor we must all do from time to time. It always seems to be a rush to get there; but once you leave the terminal be sure to treat yourself to a tasty reward before you get back on the freeway.
The Chea$kate Connoisseur found a few dining and drinking establishments within the shadows of the arriving and departing giant silver birds. Some deals are under 99 cents and some are not; this penny pincher has opened his wallet wide for these dining deals.
Allow me to highlight a few favorites (I feature one risque establishment only because arriving airplanes glide over it in a perfectly framed composition - my artistic eye could not resist it - and I apologize if it offends any reader's sensibilities). All establishments are located on the north side streets of LAX.
Start with Randy's Donuts just off the 405 freeway. Crowned by a giant 22-foot sculpted glazed doughnut, this landmark drive-thru features coffee and classic all-American pastries for under a dollar.
Or quench your thirst with $5 Cokes at a strip club on Century Boulevard featuring performers sans pasties.
How about a fresh-made fruit cup for a few bucks at a fruit cart? And down the street is El Sabroso Mariscos taco truck, with an incredible red snapper fish ceviche tostada for a buck twenty-five (one of the best deals around) and carnitas tacos that are just as satisfying.
For a thirst-quencher, drop into the all day happy hour at Bar Melody, where pints of draught beer go for $3, paired with a killer appetizer of "Elvis (jumbo buffalo) Wings." Finally, grab a double-double right across the street at In-N-Out Burger, and see why the locals consider it a California classic.
Dining Around LAX- Video
Play it here. The videoruns 2 minutes 20 seconds.
Dining and drinking establishments featured in the video, in order of their appearance: Fresh fruit stand - various locations, north of the airport between Sepulveda Blvd & Airport Blvd. on Westchester Pkwy. Fresh fruit cup for $4, includes pineapple, watermelon, strawberries and mango. Daylight hours. Bar Melody Bar & Grill -Located at 9132 S. Sepulveda Blvd. All day $3 happy hour until 7 p.m. on well mixed drinks and pints of domestic draught beer. They have a full menu with appetizers including "Elvis (jumbo buffalo) Wings". Go here for more info. El Sabroso Mariscos Taco Truck - Parked at about 5745 Arbor Vitae St. (just east of Airport Blvd. were Westchester Pkwy. turns into Arbor Vitae St. - confusing I know but worth locating). A fantastic red snapper ceviche tostada with chopped onion and cilantro. Hours are 11 a.m. to about 6 p.m. every day. Fish Tostada recipe, click here.
Gentleman's Club - Located at 5601 Century Blvd. Overpriced non-alcoholic drinks. Cannot vouch for the floor show as The Chef was too cheap to pay the cover charge.
Randy's Donuts - Located just off the 405 freeway at 805 W. Manchester. Wide variety of donuts, most for less than a buck! Good coffee too. Go to their website to see a full donut selection and a funny video of a soccer ball being kicked through the rooftop donut from across the street. Click here.
In-N-Out Burger - Hey you out-of- towners, taste what the locals rave about! The Chef's favorite is a double-double with onions. Located all over town and near the airport at 9149 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Click here for full menu.
