Baby Blues Bar-B-Q. There have been gun battles fought in the Carolinas
between partisans of mustard-based barbecue sauce and those who prefer their pork
doused with vinegar. Certain barbecue cooks in beef-loving Texas would just as
soon throw your mother-in-law on the grill as a pork rib. But Baby Blues serves
it all. Like the best uptown essays into the art form of barbecue, the cooking
here arises less out of fierce, quasi-religious devotion than out of genial connoisseurship.
As such, the restaurant may be lacking in the charming, cussed idiosyncrasies
that lead otherwise sane individuals to chatter in cumin-tinged tongues. It’s
just a nice, slightly pricey place to eat ribs, baby-back or otherwise. Baby Blues
has a strong sideline in Carolina pulled-pork barbecue, stringy mounds of smoky
meat that may not have quite the universal appeal of spareribs, but fit much more
neatly into a sandwich. 444 Lincoln Blvd., Venice, (310) 396-7675. Open Sun.–Thurs.
11:30 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 11:30 a.m.–mid. BYOB. Takeout. MC, V.Barbecue.
JG $$

Bistro K. This tiny bistro run by Laurent Quenioux, whose Seventh Street
Bistro was one of the best dining rooms of the Los Angeles ’80s, is one of the
better places in town now as it is, but as a BYOB restaurant where full dinners
for two rarely top $80, it may be one of the best restaurant bargains in the world.
The last time we ate at Bistro K, the first course, a kind of corn mousse–filled
cream puff in a crayfish-scented beurre blanc, was almost as good as the ’91 grand
cru Riesling from Zind-Humbrecht that we drank with it, and the ’96 Volnay from
Boillot went fairly splendidly with both the cassolet of sweetbreads and the roast
suckling pig. Next time around, we look forward to seeing how the Mexican ant
eggs might go with a rich, old Chalone Pinot Gris, or whether the black cod beignets
with blood sausage might be a better match. The roasted red-leg partridge in a
huckleberry jus might do very well with an old Rhone wine, and an ’85 Clape Cornas
would be perfect for the job. 1000 Fremont Ave., South Pasadena, (626) 799
5052. Wed.–Sat. 5–9 p.m. Lot parking. AE, MC, V.French. JG $$

Cafe Brasil. Mostly, you’ll find grilled animals at Cafe Brasil: pork chops,
lamb chops, steak, shrimp and fish, all profoundly salty and resonant with garlic,
charred at the edges, fragrant with citrus and a little overcooked. With all this
protein come truckloads of rice glistening with oil, sweet fried plantains and
spicy black beans. Cafe Brasil also serves wonderful feijoada on weekends, less
offal-intensive than some versions but meat-fragrant in the best possible way.
10831 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 837-8957. Open daily 11 a.m.–10 p.m.
Entrées $7–$16. BYOB. Lot parking. MC, V. Brazilian. JG ¢

Cha Cha Chicken. Although Cha Cha Chicken seems to operate mostly as a
takeout stand, the patio off to the side is a pleasant place on a hot night. The
cuisine is Caribbean poultry with attitude: a luscious, crisp-skinned bird, gritty
with spices and painted with dense, black sauce, slightly sweet and intricately
spiced. Mulato Cubano is everything you could want in a pressed sandwich: violently
spicy chicken, melted cheese, a pickle chip or two, and a French roll that has
been folded, spindled and mutilated in the jaws of a sandwich press. 1906 Ocean
Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 581-1684. Open Mon.–Fri. 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sat.–Sun.
10 a.m.–10 p.m. Dinner for two, food only, $15–$20. BYOB. Street parking. MC,
V. Caribbean. JG ¢

Chung King. If Chuck Jones had ever decided to draw something spicy for the
coyote to injure himself with, it probably would have looked a lot like Chung
King’s fried chicken with hot peppers, a knoll of crunchy dark-meat cubes subsumed
under a blizzard of dried chiles that are the red of silk pajamas, the red of
firecrackers, the red of the Chinese flag. Chung King is the gritty, grungy star
of the minicorridor of Szechuan restaurants in Monterey Park, for the pungent,
cured Chinese bacon fried with leeks, for the little eels stir-fried with fermented
peppers, for the cold, hacked chicken with chile, for the great, multiflavored
beef casseroles that are so spicy they attack the nervous system like a phaser
set to “stun.” 206 S. Garfield Ave., Monterey Park, (626) 280-7430. Lunch and
dinner seven days 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Dinner for two $13–$22. BYOB. Lot parking.
Cash only. Chinese/Szechuan. JG ¢

Cobras & Matadors. Steven Arroyo is the Bill Graham of tapas in Los Angeles,
the impresario who made the concept of Spanish drinks ’n’ snacks as popular as
sushi platters after dozens of others had tried and failed. And his dark, buzzy
tapas parlors are teeming dens of olive oil and garlic, octopus and cured pig,
grilled meats and pungent concoctions of seafood and paprika and beans rushed
to the table still crackling in unglazed crocks. The Los Feliz restaurant has
a nicely curated list of Spanish and South American wines; at the Hollywood restaurant,
you buy your wines from the wine store conveniently located next door. When you
bring your prize back to the table, don’t be surprised if the counter guy is standing
right there, corkscrew in hand. 7615 W. Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 932-6178.
4655 Hollywood Blvd., Los Feliz, (323) 669-3922. Dinner Sun.–Thurs. 6–11 p.m.,
Fri.–Sat. 6 p.m.–mid. Tapas $3–$15. BYOB. Valet parking. MC, V. Spanish. JG
$

Mama Voula’s. Mama Voula, who commands her namesake kitchen as if she were
commanding a nuclear submarine, is an overwhelming presence in this family-owned
Greek restaurant. Expect the sharp funk of garlic and charring meat, decent seafood,
and a killer gyro that combines the virtues of extreme lambiness with a delicate,
carbonized crunchiness. 11923 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 478-9464.
Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. BYOB. Lot parking. MC, V. Entrées
$7–$13. Mediterranean/Greek. JG $