Cowboys & Turbans

Thanks to my friend Shaz, I have a new addiction: Cowboys & Turbans' chicken soft tacos and ice chai tea. I'll have to admit I was a bit nervous trying their food because Indian food does not sit well in my tummy and is at the bottom of the list. There are two locations, one next to the El Rey Theater and the other is at a stripmall in Silverlake; it replaced my favorite pizza joint in Silverlake - Andiamo.

The first time I dined at Cowboys & Turbans was at the Silverlake location about two months ago.

The wall color is the same as the Andiamo days but decorated with an Indian flair. Intead of bread, they gave us pita chips (which I found out later is more their naan bread - don't order any naan bread) with three different sauces. There are two spicy and one sweet; I stucked to the sweet sauce since I'm a wuss --actually it's just too painful to eat spicy food...ok, fine, I'm a wuss. Shaz turned me on to their ice chai drink, which is homemade and no dairy. We shared the Masala Cheese Fries, which were so rich that I probably I could have skipped out on the chicken tacos but managed to finish them...

Beware Cowboys & Turbans tacos look small but they're actually much bigger. Below are fish tacos from the El Rey location. I prefer the chicken tacos over the fish tacos.

Oh, the difference between the El Rey and the Silverlake C&T is that the El Rey is tiny with 3 or 4 small tables making it more of a to-go location --hence the paper plates. Food is great but the service at the Silverlake location is incredibly slow; you would think that you're at a French restaurant.

Address: 2815 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone#: (213) 483-7778

Address: 5515 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone#: (323) 936-7070
Share

Tommy's Original World Famous Hamburgers: Birthday Part 4

After a night of debauchery at the Association, the Golden Gopher Bar, and the Broadway Bar, it was time to soak in the alcohol with my very 1st Original Tommy's burger and chili cheese fries at the Original stand. At this point, I don't remembered much...but I must have loved it since I just found the messy food wrapper the next morning...I am amazed at myself that I managed to take photos of the evidence....super messy!





Address: 2575 W. Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Contact#: 213.389.9060
Share

CITY BEST CHICKEN

We can't get enough of City Best Chicken at work! We order there like once a week.

I'm addicted to their chicken kabob sandwich. The corn could be sweeter and the grape leaves are not bad.

There are no raisins in their grape leaves.


Address: 5303 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90189
Phone#: (323) 938-7409
Rating: 4 out of 5

CITY BEST CHICKEN

**Update review

Dear City Best Chicken,

Please, please learn how to make tahini because then the bosses will stop ordering from King David, and I could order your AWESOME chicken kabob sandwich



Your kabobs are a hundred times tastier and you're so much cheaper-- $6 for an 8" sandwich! Here's a link to a tahini recipe.

CBC lover,

The Hippo


Address: 5303 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90189
Phone#: (323) 938-7409
Rating: 4 out of 5

Chick-Fil-A

I heart Chick-Fil-A!

I like to kill 3 birds with one stone when I'm visiting my cos in Irvine--it's good to be environmental. Since I have been eyeing Chick-Fil-A ever since my visit to the Deep South, I might as well stop by at a Chick-Fil-A. OMG, it was a nightmare getting there!

Google's directions are SO WRONG. If you're heading south on the 605 freeway DO NOT take the Spring Street exit, unless you want to get lost and talk to strangers. Take the Carson exit (before the Spring exit) and look for the "In and Out" sign -Chick-Fil-A is right next to the burger joint. To make matters worse, their parking lot was a bloody nightmare around 6pm on a Saturday.

The first thing that I noticed was the cleanliness. I had to double check that I was in a fast food joint. Most fast food joints' condiments/napkins area only has ketchup, mustard and napkins. Umm...Chick-Fil-A has 2 flavors of jams, 4 different coffee creams, hot sauce, mayo, ketchup, mustard, and napkins (I'm sure I'm missing a few items). Wow! They sure are generous with the condiments.

I went for the original chicken sandwich and the 4-piece chicken nuggets
kid's meal. The total came out around $6. I was impressed with the meat quality. It sure doesn't look like Micky D's mysterious meat nuggets.



Chick-Fil-A's nuggets are small though...so we won't feel guilty eating them? The waffle fries are great.

I should have order the grill chicken sandwich as the nuggets and the sandwich taste the same.

Nonetheless, they are both quite good, and I had to force myself to stop half way on the sandwich to save room for desserts. I had asked a customer if she prefer the ice cream or the milkshake. She didn't know as she's always been too full from stuffing her face with chicken and waffle fries. Be sure to make room for their ice cream. Chick-Fil-A uses the ingredients for the ice cream and milkshakes.

Ok, now I know why everyone is crazy for Chick-Fil-A! I think I'll make Chick-Fil-A a regular stop when I'm heading to Irvine.

p.s. In case you're wondering what the third bird is, it's laundry.

Address: 7681 Carson Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90808
Phone#: (562) 425-4232
Share

SAIGON SANDWICH & BAKERY

Shauna D's Banh Mi Crawl: Part 3 of 4

Saigon's Sandwich & Bakery was our 3rd stop and my favorite! At this point, we were definitely "crawling" to here. Originally Shauna had 10 Banh Mi places!!! Yeah...that's very ambitious and luckily Shauna cut her list to 4. It was completely empty when we arrived but packed by the time we left. As the other Yelpers mentioned, this is place to order to go and not dine in; it's tiny! Sandwiches are cheap - $2-3 range.

I had the Vietnamese Beef Sausage -excellent!


Shauna had the BBQ Pork - another good sandwich!


Marcus had the Saigon -so good!!


Saigon's is the place to get your Bahn Mi!

Address: 718 E Valley Blvd San Gabriel, CA 91776
Phone#: (626) 288-6475
Rating: 5 out of 5

CAFE BRAVO

I guess I'll forgive Cafe Bravo for not allowing us to dine in at 8:30pm (they close at 9pm) because I love my FOOT long chicken kabob (with tomatoes, cilantro and garlic sauce) sandwich for $4.50 last night! Yes, $4.50! Not only is it cheap, but it's also delicious! B was happy with lamb kabob plate (comes with 2 sides) -$8.00. I can't wait 'til they move to Silverlake! The Glendale store sign is hard to read --it's right next to the KFC.

Address: 1135 W Glenoaks Blvd Glendale, CA 91202
Phone#: (818) 500-4005
Rating: 5 out of 5

LEO'S TACO TRUCK

I'm still thinking about Leo's carne asada soft tacos from last night. Pretty damn tasty and not dry at all. The pollo soft tacos were not bad --grilled and chop into little pieces (I prefer King Tacos pollo soft tacos). Love the guacamole sauce!

Yes, the wait is a PAIN (ladies be sure to dress for the weather), but come on, $1.25 on the tastiest meat taco you will ever have? Spending $7.50 on 4 pollo soft tacos and 2 carne asada soft tacos? I have give Leo's a 5 star!

p.s. They don't have horchata. :( Well...I guess they stick to what they know and that's tacos!

**CASH ONLY

Address: 4300 Eagle Rock Blvd (In between York Blvd and El Paso Dr) Los Angeles, CA 90041
Rating: 5 out of 5

YOU & ME

You & Me is my go to place when I want delicious, cheap dumplings. The restaurant is not fancy...

But who needs a fancy restaurant when steamed dumplings cost 8 for $5.99 and boiled dumpings cost $6.99? Their steamed dumplings are shaped like Chinese steamed buns full of meat but the skin is thin. Yum!

The boiled dumplings are equally as good as the steamed. Some days the steamed dumplings will have more leek and when it's not, they're really good!

You can also buy a box of frozen steamed dumplings (20 pieces) for $10.99! That's not bad considering it costs $7 -8 at the local Korean grocery stores. The waiter was very helpful on instructing how to cook the steamed dumplings in the microwave--best to place a wet paper towel over the steamed dumpling and a glass of water.

Address: 701 S Western Ave Los Angeles, CA 90005

Phone: (213) 388-1717

Rating: 4 out of 5

KING TACO

I can't believe I've never heard of this chain- King John! Well actually I can because growing up in MN, Mexican food = Taco Bell. This location is in ghettoville but at least there's a parking lot and a security guard, so it's worth coming here for good, cheap Mexican food.

4 chicken tacos (awesome!)
2 carna asadas tacos (meh, it was a bit dry for me)
2 medium horchatas (not bad)
+___________________

Total: $12 bucks! Woo-hoo!

Address: 2020 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90006
Phone# (213) 384-8115
Rating: 4 out of 5

WAKO DONKASU

Wako Donkasu is the perfect place to eat if you are broke. Their portions are very generous!

I ordered the chicken cutlet for $10, and the server came back with a big tray of chicken cutlet, bowl of rice, salad, and miso soup. I split my meal with B since he didn't like their chicken curry (he was expecting it to be Japanese style, but what do you expect when you're at a Korean restaurant?). I ended up sharing my B's chicken curry with a colleague the next day for lunch. I like their Korean ice tea as well.

This place closes at 10pm but if you come with a big party, they'll open it later for you. And if you somehow managed to finish the entire meal, you can go next door to the arcade and work off your meal playing that dance-a-thon.

Address: 3377 Wilshire Blvd Ste 112 Los Angeles, CA 90010
Phone#: (213) 381-9256
Rating: 4 out of 5

Sushi Noshi

Sushi Noshi is my favorite cheap sushi restaurant in LA. This is probably the only sushi restaurant in Koreatown where the sushi chefs ARE Japanese. The décor is simple so don’t get dressed up. There is a parking space but often time it’s full during prime time eating hours –no valet and be careful where you park. Often times you will find yourself waiting for a seat because when I say the sushi is cheap, it’s cheap –cheaper than a supermarket’s sushi.

Noshi Sushi is the type of restaurant where you order your usual, and my usual is their spicy tuna roll, eel avocado roll, and their albacore salad. They don’t offer fancy rolls, just the basics but their spicy tuna rolls are like crack. There is something about their orgasmic sauce that makes it very addicting. I’ve been to a lot of sushi restaurants and their sauce is one of a kind.

They offer the albacore salad in two sizes – half or full. The half is plenty enough for one person. It’s perfect if you’re on the Adkin diet. A handful of albacore sashimi sitting on a bed of thinly sliced cucumbers topped with julienned vegetables.

Their spicy tuna roll and albacore salad are usually enough to fill me up, totaling to $11 not including tip. They don't have a wide range of fish but they are fresh except their yellow tails, which are a hit or miss. They offer free miso and green tea. The only problem is that they close at 9PM and closed on Mondays.

If you’re penny pinching and craving sushi, Noshi Sushi is your answer!

Address: 4430 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90004
Phone: (323) 469-3458
Share

FRIED DUMPLING

Man, I miss you! 5 dumplings for $1. My cheapest addiction. I love your pot stickers and your fresh soy milk. Yum....Address: 99 Allen St New York, NY 10002

Phone#: (212) 941-9975
Rating: 5 out of 5

Photo credits: Michael C. (1st photo), Arlene C. (2nd photo) and Princess M. (last photo)

CITY BEST CHICKEN

What did the City Best Chicken say when it cross the road?

"Kabob, kabob, kabob!"

I know, terrible joke but they have excellent kabobs.

Address: 5303 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90189
Phone#: (323) 938-7409
Rating: 4 out of 5

CAFE TROPICAL

I'm addicted to their turkey, cheese croissantwich (filling and under $4). It's SOOOOOO GOOD!

I love their fresh squeeze O.J. too. Their coffee is STRONG.


Address: 2900 W Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90026
Phone#: (323) 661-8391
Rating: 4 out of 5