i want to eat lunch at a French school

The column from Time says it all.

frankie and tiny's pies

Courtesy of a TastingTableLA email, I discovered Frankie and Tiny's pies in October, sold at the Silver Lake Farmers Market on Saturdays 8-1. Since then I've gone on a near-weekly basis for a pie or two. The BBQ pulled pork pie drew me in at first. The steak and ale (Newcastle) and steak and stout (Guiness) pies are my favorite. The pie crust is the same for all savory pies. It has the perfect texture and buttery taste the compliments the meat so perfectly. Carrie's whoopie pies are incredible (I've tried Belgian chocolate chip cookies with vanilla buttercream and chocolate cookies with mocha buttercream). And her blueberry pie? The best I've ever had. The chicken pot pie and beef pot roast pies are weekly staples. For non-meat eaters, there are quiche and vegan shephard's pie.

before i forget

I want to interrupt the previously scheduled post to promote some excellent food-related emails I receive that fuel my foodie adventures. I get a lot of food and film mailings, but here are two of the most useful.

Tasting Table. Sign up here through the end of March and they will donate $2 to the Whole Planet Foundation, which helps microcredit programs for the poor in the industrializing world.

Blackboard Eats. If you live in LA or NYC and you love to eat out, this is the email for you. They will send you multiple discounts per week for restaurants. I've tried some amazing places through this, including Mozza2Go (Pizzeria Mozza). Oh my god, that was the best pizza I've had in my life.

south philly experience

More like Total Grease Experience.

Let me back up a bit first. I'm obsessed with the ever-growing crop of gourmet food trucks. Before tonight I can't say that I've had a bad experience with any of these trucks, and by now I've tried more than ten. Some I've been to more than once (Buttermilk, Border Grill, and Dosa) and others I certainly would eat again as well (Gastrobus), among others.

When South Philly Experience announced its arrival some months back I was excited, because like so many other things, I can't find a good cheesesteak in Los Angeles. The creators are from Philly so you think it's going to be good.

Well... I ordered a cheesteak with onions and provolone and a side of sauteed broccoli rabe. The meat itself was incredibly dry yet the sandwich was leaking oil like an old car. Thank god I brought the food back to my car; had I attempted to eat this on the street I would have completely ruined everything I was wearing with grease. Instead, I covered my emergency break in grease before I managed to get it under control with the aluminum foil that covered my greens. That's also when I discovered that they were bathed in a thick pool of oil too. Once I finished the sandwich, which completely lacked the flavor and satisfaction that should come with so many calories, I took a couple bites of the broccoli rabe and declared them inedible. Only salt rivaled the oil for the distaste award.

Ugh. There's a reason they don't venture farther east than the western edges of Hollywood. People over here have taste.

after more than 13 months

I'm back. I'm a year older. I'm slightly less intent on procrastinating. I've also been locked up in my apartment for the last two days, sick with strep throat (which fully ballooned on my 27th birthday). But now I'm about to leave to check out a new restaurant a couple blocks from me (Forage). I am also now an insane foodie, chasing food trucks and everything else. So now I suspect I will be blogging about food more than anything else.* I haven't decided if I'm going to become that person that takes photos of everything she eats yet, however.


* Who knows, but Al's been telling me to blog about food (mostly so I don't have to talk about it so much with her) and figure let's just reactive Ridiculous Authenticity.