Consume Part I: Food

 

 

 

BEST CHEAP, LATE-NIGHT KOREAN FOOD Hodori Restaurant.For those who care to cruise Koreatown past bedtime in search of some decent Korean food, there is hope. At Hodori, for about $6 per person, you can get a good home-style Korean meal. Appetizers range from pot-stickers man du and Korean calamari to the popular hot rice-cake dish tuk-bok-kee. Main plates include cold and hot noodles; meeyuk guk, a delicious seawood soup that’s been known to cure the common cold; "sticky rice"; and a plethora of side dishes that have to be squeezed in between all the other bowls on that wooden chunk of table. Best of all, it’s open 24 hours. 1001 S. Vermont Ave., Koreatown; (213) 383-3554 or 383-1701.(Jin Whang)

 

 

 

BEST LITTLE DUMPS Mandarin Deli is one of those freakish dining establishments where everything on the menu is excellent (okay, I haven’t actually tried the stewed pork stomach, but I’m sure that stewed-pork-stomach aficionados will find it very much to their liking) and ridiculously cheap. The cold tofu and pickled cucumber salads are really refreshing on hot days, and the spicy chile noodles will make you weep with joy. But the real attractions are the pan-fried meat dumplings — 3-inch bundles of greasy delight so sensually gratifying that I just want to scrooge around in a bathtub full of ’em. Use a combination of chile paste and rice vinegar for a delicious dipping sauce, or eat ’em straight from the plate — either way, you can’t go wrong. Nor will you err by ordering the steamed vegetable dumplings (available, unfortunately, only at the Second Street branch), which are filled with chopped mushrooms, bean sprouts and glass noodles. The boiled fish dumplings (Broadway branch only) may be too slippery for some, but make a nice complement to their fried meat counterparts. In any case, if dumplings are your downfall, Mandarin Deli is a great place to hit rock bottom. 356 E. Second St., downtown, (213) 617-0231. 727 N. Broadway, Chinatown, (213) 623-6054. 9305 Reseda Blvd., Northridge; (818) 993-0122. (Dan Epstein)

 

 

 

BEST PURPLE CAKE Ube Cake at Goldilock’s Bakery. This Play-Doh–looking cake, a Filipino dessert made from naturally bright- purple sweet yams, comes topped with a pile of lavender butter-cream frosting sweet enough to make your teeth tingle. In all its rich, spongy, flavorful glory, the ube cake looks like a monument to Grape Shasta. While you’re there, try some other Filipino favorites such as mamon, an eggy sweet-bread dessert, and ensaymada, sweet bread topped with shredded Cheddar, sugar sprinkles and butter. 209 S. Vermont Ave.; (213) 382-9303. (Nerissa Pacio)

 

 

 

BEST MOLE AND CRICKETS Guelaguetza.Legend has it that in the 17th century, nuns in Oaxaca concocted a blend of cocoa, chile and spices to create what we know today as mole. At Guelaguetza, you have five versions of mole to choose from, all created from a paste made in Oaxaca, from where they also get their dried crickets and quesillo cheese. If you can’t handle chocolate or insects for dinner, try the clayuda, a Oaxacan take on pizza made with a huge tortilla topped with beans, cheese, salsa, and either salted beef or marinated pork. 3337½ W. Eighth St.; (213) 427-0601.(Joe Sehee)

 

 

 

BEST (ONLY?) IRANIAN–ITALIAN RESTAURANT Hank’s Bistro. You’ve got your run-of-the-mill eclectic mélanges: Japanese-French, Cuban-Filipino, Chinese-Peruvian. Now for something completely different. My wife was dining on tortellini, my 5-year-old was gnawing on pepperoni pizza, and I was wading though a mountain of basmati rice with sour cherries. And for dessert, a delicious ice flavored with lemon and rosewater. Or spumoni. So next time you want something out of the ordinary, you know where to go. And if you have any questions on the finer points of Persian cuisine, ask Max, the waiter, who is the epitome of courtliness. I didn’t know you could still find waiters like this. 14406 S. Hawthorne Blvd., Lawndale; (310) 679-2222. (Jedd Birkner)

 

 

 

ATTACK OF THE KILLER MISO SOUP

Inaka Restaurant. When the wife and I left L.A. three years ago, the place was knee-deep in health eateries. Now we’re back, and it’s become a bleak place for the organic, or nearly organic. Bodhi Garden in Echo Park is gone. The Source on Sunset is gone. And Orean Health Burger on Vine is now somewhere in Pasadena. What can a poor couple do, ’cept nosh on homemade tofu? Fortunately, at least one venerable institution of salubrious cuisine still exists: Inaka, possibly L.A.’s only macrobiotic gourmet palace, is still alive and well, as it has been for the past 20 years. No sugar, eggs or animal fat in anything; killer miso soup; the country-style vegetable plate is likely the most filling thing you’ll ever eat that isn’t laden with carcinogens. Inaka makes such staples as brown rice and summer squashes and nori come alive with verve and imagination. Take a couple of carnivores there, and see if you can convert them. 131 S. La Brea Ave., Hollywood; (213)936-9353. (Johnny Angel)

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO . . . La Esquinita. What kind of Mexican food could lure Oscar de la Hoya out of East L.A.? The pretty pugilist, his trainer and the rest of his Eastside gym crew take the bridge over to Echo Park for the bean burritos and chorizo at his family-run eatery (the name means "little corner"). The chile relleno burrito is the kind stuffed with chunks of beef, not a personal favorite, but elevated here by the fresh ingredients and balance of flavors. Mexicanos say the smoky salsa tastes like it came from a street stand in Mexico City. La Esquinita packs plenty of it, plus vats of sour cream, in every takeout order, and that’s without having to ask for it. They’ll throw in the other condiments — onions, cilantro, oregano — on request. The restaurant’s head shots alone are worth a visit. One wonders how anybody with a SAG card ever found this place, or if they were tailing Oscar. There’s a quiet dining room in the back, usually half-empty, and just the place to take unruly young eaters. If the kids like Mexican food, they’ll love La Esquinita; in our house, it outpolls McDonald’s, and that’s with George of the Jungle toys. 1400 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park; (213) 482-1645.(Gale Holland)