I walked 7 miles for goat...
Thanks to all the hounds who gave me recommendations for my Sunday walk/ethnic food eat. Original post is here:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/34708...
We decided to take the 7-mile, round-trip walk from Legg Lake in South El Monte to Birrieria La Barca in El Monte. Thanks Eat_Nopal!
We knew that we had to get the house special - the birria. The plate came with a nice pile of braised goat meat in an incredibly flavorful sauce, homemade (REAL) refried beans, rice, plus a side of handmade corn tortillas, cilantro and onions, and a plate of limes. The meat was tender, juicy and delicious. I scooped up a bit of meat, beans, hot sauce, onion & cilantro and added a touch of guac with my tortilla and was a very happy camper.
The service was swift and polite, and we only had to wait 15 minutes for a table. Even though the walk all the way up Santa Anita Avenue was somewhat dreary and uninteresting, the goat at the end of the tunnel was worth every step. And by the time we got back to the lake, the post-eating coma/full feeling had worn off.
Might have to skip next Sunday due to a chili cookoff, but I'm always looking for more recs for future Sunday walks/eats.
Thanks,
CK
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re: Clare K
Das Ubergeek
Dec 5, 2006 03:16 PM
It's the Thai temple on Coldwater Canyon Avenue in North Hollywood... on weekends from about 11 to 3 there are food stalls set up. The vendors contribute their profit to the temple.
The food stalls range from better-than-your-average-Thai-restaurant to blow-me-away good... and they're cheap, cheap, cheap.
Good things to look for are Thai sour sausage on a stick ($1 each), kanom krok (coconut half-moon desserts from the stand right up against the side of the temple), country curry (it's thick, in a banana leaf), the best papaya salad in the area, and mango with sticky rice.
You'll need to buy tokens at the booth in the centre, as the vendors don't deal in cash, but don't worry, you can turn them back in for real money if you overbuy.
I suggest parking at LA Valley College on Burbank and Coldwater Canyon and walking up Coldwater. It's mostly pretty nice, with an old mural from when they got warring factions together to paint, though it gets a bit industrial between Sherman Way and Saticoy, and then back to bog-standard Valley residential. The Wat is one block south of Roscoe Boulevard, which would make your trip about 7 miles round-trip.
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re: Das Ubergeek
Eat_Nopal
Dec 5, 2006 03:52 PM
Good one Uber.... that reminds me of another day after you do Wat Thai...
Park at Griffith Park (near the Greek Theater) & walk down to Sunset & Edgemont (on one of the many small pleasant residential streets with Art Deco buildings)... go West on Sunset & do a culinary crawl that will expose you to...
Armenian Chicken & Bakeries
Salvadoran Sidewalk Vendors
Ukranian Eateries
Tidy, Casaul Thai Sit Downs
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Clare K
Dec 4, 2006 10:22 PM
Oh yeah. We purposely pick very casual places since we're rockin' the sweats and t-shirts :) It's great to get to know other neighborhoods, and the food is always worth the walk (since I research quite heavily on Chowhound before picking a place)...
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re: Clare K
Eat_Nopal
Dec 5, 2006 03:58 PM
BTW, I am glad you enjoyed La Barca... IMO, it executes better than anyother $ to $$ Regional Mexican place in L.A. Too boot, it is very clean & service is good. One drawback is that the food is not particularly exotic with too many blah items IMO... like Chicken Cordon Bleu & Taquitos etc., The guys that run this small chain are from my mom's town & I have been trying to talk them into doing a nice Mexican restaurant in a more cosmopolitan neighborhood... with good ideas I think they could surpass Babita & La Huasteca on execution.
Also, were you two the only Non-Mexicans there?
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David Kahn
Dec 4, 2006 09:47 PM
Great idea to combine walking with food. They're nicely complementary activities. (Although, it wouldn't work so well for anyplace where you'd want to dress up a bit.)
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