NJR
1. Khanom Krok
Khanom Krok is Thai Coconut pudding. It is cooked in a special cast iron pan with little golf ball size indentations that fits over a grill. Coconut pudding is poured into the indentation and cooked until the outside is hot and crispy. The inside stays soft and sweet and gets hot enough to burn your tongue. They are sweet and coconut-y and they provide your mouth with an incredible textural experience. You can find a delicious version at the Thai food stand at the Hollywood Farmer's Market. I hear they also have them on Sundays behind the Thai Market in Thai Town. Please, if you have any love for sweet delicious food in your heart, go try them.
2. Fish Tacos
Tacos could easily fill my entire top five. I figured that since everyone would have tacos on their list (and thank you, Z, for including Suadero tacos from Taco Zone) I would add something different. Also, The Great Taco Hunt knows more about and has better descriptions of just about every taco I've ever tried. Instead, let me salute the fish taco. Delicious, light but also greasy, usually packing a pretty spicy punch. I get fish and shrimp tacos most often from The Best Tacos in Ensenada on Hillhurst. It's close to home (I can walk there!) and usually great. Still, they can't match the fish tacos at Tacos Baja Ensenada. I've only been a few times, but I still dream about the big, airy pieces of fried fishes buried under a mound of cabbage, sour cream and spicy salsa.
3. Bahn Mi
I love Bahn Mi. I love them. Vietnamese Submarine Sandwiches—what could be better? Impossibly light baguettes smeared with something reminiscent of rich butter (is it?) then filled with shredded vegetables, spicy chilies and delicious fillings that taste like they should be in a dumpling on a Dim Sun cart somewhere. It's a great walking around food and I often find excuses to grab a couple to take—well—anywhere. Also—did I mention they usually sell for less that $3? Come on! My pick would be Barbeque Pork Bahn Mi from Bahn Mi Che Cali.
4. Thai Barbeque skewers.
Maybe it's because I had the actual experience of eating street food in Thailand, maybe it's because my palate is particularly suited to the sweetness and spices often found in Thai food, or maybe it's because it's just plain delicious, but I love me some Thai Food, especially Thai Street Food . Skewers of impossibly moist meat cooked over an open fire and served to you with sticky rice. And it's really sticky! Just writing about this makes me miss the Wat Thai weekend food market so much. Damn you, neighbors!
5. Popsicles
This one kind of snuck on here. It's probably because it's getting hotter and the thought of anything that cools you down trumps the thought of things that might warm you up (see Arroz Con Leche Haiku). Trader Joe's used to make these banana popsicles that I lived on as a kid. They're no longer available, so I stick to Lime Popsicles and the frozen bananas covered in chocolate. It's really a testament to how good the bananas taste that I dive right into something that looks that much like a piece of poop on a stick. And no, I'm not just being crass here. If you don't believe me, throw one in a public pool and see what happens… Trumping all of these is the homemade variety. I can't wait to see what R makes this summer.
SIRRAH
1. Jerusalem Bagels
after winding through an impossibly long underground tunnel where Jesus was supposedly held before his crucifixion, we finally emerged onto a crowded Jerusalem street. our guide reached into a brown paper bag and pulled out what looked like four sesame bagels that had been stretched into giant ovals. he then split each one open and sprinkled a mysterious green spice inside (my first encounter with zataar.) standing there amidst the crowd of merchants, eating this ancient pairing of flour and spice remains one of my most vivid culinary memories.
2. Hollywood farmer's market pupusas
the ethnic pancake department has many fine members-- scallion pancakes, dosas, korean seafood pancakes-- each one better than the next. But there's something about the four elements of a pupusa-- salsa, crema, curtido and masa-- that, when combined, make me feel like eating anything else is a waste of time. also, they're two dollars.
3. Choripan
the national sandwich of Argentina, it consists of a grilled chorizo on crusty bread and plenty of chimichurri. I would never want to know the total number of choripan that I consumed while living in buenos aires, but I assure you it's alarming. the best ones always came from the makeshift grills at the soccer fields.
4. Suadero tacos from taco zone
never have i ever eaten a taco from taco zone, a) before midnight, b) sober, c) sitting down. and never will i ever a, b or c.
5. Miner's sourdough with cottage cheese and olive oil
R already mentioned this one but she left out the olive oil. the olive oil is key. if I had to pick just one of the five things mentioned in this list, this would be it. I've been eating it since I was a child and will continue eating it until I die. it never makes it onto a plate, or I to the table-- a paper towel and a kitchen counter is all i need.
STARDAR
1. toast
i grew up on sourdough toast, and it's still the one thing i can always eat, be it late night or early morning, slathered with plugra, cottage cheese, or fancy jam. my intentions are usually to include the toast in part of a larger schematic of foodstuffs--tea, eggs, cereal--but i invariably end up at the kitchen sink, holding the crunchy mess in my hand and stuffing face as fast as humanly possible.
2. ice cream
ice cream is always better eaten standing up--whether it's those first bites as you wait to be rung up at your favorite purveyor, or happily licking your cone walking down the street on a hot summer day. or, as i do it, standing over your sink, trying to make the sweltering heat of your apartment subside by shoveling cold sweet spoonfuls into your pie hole. i always deceive myself thinking one bite will be enough; i'm always wrong.
3. tuna
when i'm having a leisurely day at home i tend to forget about lunch until it's too late and my famished stomach comes to get me in angry fashion. those moment where i'm forced to prepare something on the double usually resort in tuna-making, and that bowl of never makes it to the table, destined to remain counter-side, contents consumed via a handful of crackers straight from the box.
4. stone fruit
the season is just around the corner, and boy, i cannot wait to stand over my sink eating a freshly washed peach, juice running down my chin and a shit-eating grin on my face.
5. you've probably caught on to the theme of my standing-up post--it's foods i eat over my kitchen sink! T & Z got to my other options (pupusas, tacos, pizza) so i only have 4. also, i realize my posts so far have been heavily tuna-centric. i just want you to know, it's been noted.
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