thebuntruck.com ~ Slauson Ave. ~ Los Angeles

Hot Chick
When I went to Vicious Dogs this week, I asked the owner Willie what I should try. He said they they had a brand new dog they just put on the menu that day. Meet the Hot Chick. It’s a bacon-wrapped dog topped with cheese, chopped chicken fritters, spicy BBQ sauce, and what I’m pretty sure is ranch dressing. The first few bites were sublime. A nice mix of crunch and explosive flavor. By the end, I was a bit overwhelmed by the sweet dressing. So, while it’s (another) really good hot dog from Vicious, it might need some refinement. About $6. Check out some of the other excellent dogs…

Vicious Dogs ~ 5231 Lankershim Blvd ~ North Hollywood

Chicago Dog
Now this is a hot dog. Simply outstanding. Exactly what I’d expect if I went to the Windy City and ordered one there, complete with neon green relish and Vienna dog. With this, along with the Sweet and Spicy Kielbasa I had a couple weeks ago, Vicious Dogs has quickly risen to the top of my list when it comes to hot dogs. About $4.

(Continued)

The Top 10 best places to get drunk in the SGV, where “Sideways” could never have been shot… by Tony Chen of SinoSoul.com

1) Liang’s Taiwanese Kitchen
227 W Valley Blvd # 128C, San Gabriel

Featured attraction: BOGO $10 Bud/$12 Kirin pitchers all day. Despite the slow slide towards mediocrity caused by rapid expansion, Liang’s red yeast fried pork chop is still one of LA’s most affordable pork plates at $6. To sober up, try the pork-stuffed soy Jalapeno. Unlike a chili relleno, Liang’s uses a Jalapeño pepper to hold soy sauce braised ground pork and it’s better than any chili relleno to come out of the westside (or a Mexican kitchen). The drinking crowd is an odd mix of expats and FOBs, mostly middle age and menopausal obasan and omasans. They’re 1 pitcher away from cirrhosis, so a drunken hot-mess on an SGV bender won’t bother them a bit.

2) Al’s Bar
413 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel

Opens at 7am with darts, juke, poker machines AND lotto. If you’re so broke you can’t afford the drive to Las Vegas just to leave it, come to San Gabriel instead and try your luck. Then again, “Leaving San Gabriel” just doesn’t seem as powerful. If you’re the sort of guy who likes to chase the morning trip to the dry cleaner with a shot of Jack, Al’s is the place for you. It’s so good that a patron will still come back to Al’s to keep the party going even after getting popped for DUI just after leaving the first time. (Linda L., you’re the true American drunken hero.) Image Credit: Googiesque

3) Jurassic Restaurant
15301 Gale Ave, City of Industry

This is one of the 2 themed Taiwanese drinking houses in the SGV. The beer list/pricing is rather lousy; the grub’s only decent if you’re into eating spicy and funky Chinese food. That said, any joint with the proverbial 2-story plastic dinosaur in the middle of the dining room and bilingual hand scripted signs asking you to “please throw up in sink [sic]” is winner’s podium material. Added bonus: it’s right next to oft raided, now deceased Hawaiian Show Girls and only four minutes away from the closest all-nude strip club. Photo credit: seanli626

(Continued)

hard shell shrimp taco from Mariscos  Jalisco

The second LA Street Food Fest was held on August 16th in Pasadena, and writer, artist, and blogger The Minty was there to document her gustatory adventures. While these are not all of the delicious tacos that were served that day, it’s a nice selection that will make your mouth water. Enjoy!

pork taco from Tacos Cuernavaca
(Continued)

We’ve long been fans of SinoSoul.com, and are happy to bring you a new irregular “how to” column from its author, Tony Chen. First up is a how not to: 9 helpful hints on how not to be an asshole diner…

1. Do not crowd the salsa bar.
Let’s say you’re at La Isla Bonita, or Tamix. You’re rockin’ your skinniest J Brand, and you just got some new titanium skewers on your fixie. The night is already lovely because the trompo man is looking rather generous with the pina shavings. It’s time to stock up on the salsa verde (because sala roja just reminds you too much of the Democratic machine in Los Angeles). You head to the salsa bar, elbows out, just like the peewee league b-ball coach taught you.You’re an asshole. The taco truck commissary owns the salsa bar, no matter how snug your balls are feeling this evening.

2. Put the camera away, girl.
Any photographic equipment, larger than a mobile phone, is Kardashian’s Ass. Anyone who brings an 1DS MkIII with mounted 85mm f1.2 to Picca is an automatic a*hole– it matters not that you’re actually the new Andrew Scrivani. Three fashion/life style bloggers shadowing that one plate of charchuterie at Wood+Vine? Just stop, we beg of you. It’s a train wreck hence everyone must rubberneck, but immediately we all want to bleach our cornea.

(Continued)

Today, I was in the mood for a burger and all the burger options in Duarte were basically all about fast food and that wasn’t going to do. In-n-Out was also a possibility since it was just a 10-15 minute drive, but my picky palate said no because it was craving a new burger experience.  In the back of  mind, I remembered hearing about a restaurant in Monrovia called The Market Grill that is supposed to be known for their burgers so off I went.
(Continued)

Kalbi Burger will be hosting a competitive eating contest, or challenge, on July 24th, 2011. You think you got what it takes? then read on….

(Continued)

Phil’s Diner Cheeseburger: An excellent burger and awesome onion rings, $8.50

Opened in the 1920′s, the original Phil’s Diner was set up in a small train car located on Chandler Blvd, a few blocks from where it is located now. During the early ’80′s I’d eat there regularly, usually having the Idiot’s Mish-Mosh (eggs and potatoes and a whole bunch of other stuff). The place was always packed, and its small size meant you got up close and personal with your hungry neighbors. At the time the place was decidedly not some trendy eatery, with great gobs of goo coating the single exhaust fan behind the flattop. But it was a local landmark. During that era, “Phil” was an Asian man whose attitude provided half the reason I’d want eat there.

The place was closed down in the 90′s and the train car languished in disrepair. Thankfully its been rescued and moved a couple of blocks to its current location on Lankershim in the NoHo Arts District. Opened in April, the new owners have cleaned it up, added a proper hood over the cooking area and a few tables outside. Voila, a trendy neighborhood eatery! The inside it still tiny, with so little room behind the counter that two people can only pass each other with great difficultly. Of course that makes it fun to watch.
(Continued)

Apaseo El Alto ~ Guanajuato ~ Mexico

Long before Los Angeles’ food truck fetish with Asian-fusion tacos, Pueblans had already traveled down that road.There are many incorrect stories about the Lebanese influence in the taco arabe, or arab tacos, but actually the original creators of these Pueblan curiosities were of Iraqi descent.

It was in 1933, that the Tabe Mena family first served what is now known as the taco arabe, an adaption of the Greek gyros sandwich, which lept from lamb and a yogurt or tahini sauce to pork loin and chipotle. Other families of Iraqi heritage dispute the Tabe Mena family’s claim, but the Tabe Mena family maintains that their grandfather Jorge Mena, who had fled the Turkish invasion of Iraq in the late 1800′s, was the first to set up shop.

The Tabe family is still behind the spit of one of the largest tacos arabes chains in Puebla, Antigua Taqueria La Oriental. There are currently over 300 taquerias in the city of Puebla that produce this iconic taste of Pueblan cuisine.

Read the entire article and review of Antigua Taqueria La Oriental on Street Gourmet LA

The ceviche de camaron in particular is one of the best I’ve had

For geographical reasons that are beyond me, a 10-minute drive south of LAX will land you in a section of town that holds one of the best collection of Mexican seafood restaurants in Los Angeles. Draw a small circle on a map where the nebulous borders of Inglewood, Lennox and Hawthorne cross and you will find it includes such solid marisquerias as El Puerto Escondido, Mariscos Moni, and the highly-regarded Mariscos Chente, roughly forming a Bermuda Triangle of mariscos inside of which many others are hidden. One of my current favorites is the tiny La Sirena Azul, which lies in a quiet stretch of Century Boulevard located in South Inglewood. It’s not so much a restaurant as a kitchen with few tables out front, flanked on either side by a dusty jukebox and a beer cooler.
(Continued)