At the fringe of Little Tokyo, across the street from the gift shops and restaurants selling run of the mill tourist-trap Japanese buys and eats sits a very unconventional restaurant. The Lazy Ox Canteen can easily be missed as a neighborhood bar serving Coronas and cheap nachos with its non-descript exterior. Yet, the slightly industrial and rustic interior reveals a place ready to put out edgy cooking with quality ingredients and a drink list to match.
The restaurants in Little Tokyo have full size plastic mock-ups of the entire menu on display neatly arranged in the window. A world away across the street, Lazy Ox has its nightly special menu of locovore farm fresh cuisine on chalk board overlooking the bar.
I started with a refreshing There was a 5 for 5 happy hour special with 5 small plates for $5.00 each but we were attracted to the unique specials on the chalk board and some of the interesting items on the regular dinner menu.
Squash is a vegetable. Squash blossom is the flower from the plant that produces the squash. I can’t imagine what drug made the first person decide to make this flower a food and how high the rest of the people were when first served this.
These blossoms were stuffed with ricotta and prosciutto, fried, then drizzled with honey. The crunch of the batter followed by the softness of the warm cheese and accented by the saltiness of the meat and the sweetness from the honey made this a very nice textural and taste experience.
One word: “Awesome”. My taste buds were dancing in joy with these crispy goodness full of gelatin softness inside. They were nicely seasoned with a light sprinkle of salt on top. Not so much a chicharons in the traditional sense but they were definitely in the spirit with the preparation. This dish met all the qualifications to be a great snack for drinking.
Beef Tartar with Tarragon AioliLight and refreshing are not the two words that are used regularly to describe a beef tartar but somehow there were the words that I was thinking when we were enjoying this dish. The freshness in the raw beef, the spice, and the slight vinegar note from the mustard just made everything feel so right. The mustard note was carried along to the toast with a light spreading of the substance which also carried a little spice kick.
Dashi Marinated Yellowtail with Avocado, Hash Browns & Tonburi
Freshness, along with a delicious marinade. It is similar to a cheviche but more or less as a “lite” version. The hash browns were an interesting companion for the fish but they stood out on their own with their lightness and crispiness. They were very appetizing and we liked this dish very much.
Plancha is a Spanish method of grilling food on a metal plate. Tourist Tree made a face when I wanted to order the ox heart. However, the inviting aroma got her curiosity when it arrived in front of us. The ox heart was tender, cooked perfectly, and tasted just like a slight gamely version of beef. It worked very well with the green tomato and red onion on the plate with its vinger’ish, lime’ish seasoning. This dish won the Tourist Tree’s approval.
It sounded good. It looked good. But we were not impressed. It was just peppers done in a deep fryer. We were expecting some spicy peppers with crunchy on the skins but it didn’t happen.
Grilled Octopus and Squid with ZhougThey were grilled perfectly, tender and full of sweetness. I expected some heat from the zhoug which was famous for its fiery spice in its native Yemen
Salmorejo is a soup/sauce originated from Southern Spain. It is made with pureed tomato, bread, herb, garlic and vinegar. The rabbit liver was crispy crisply fried and served with a cucumber salad with the salmorego used as a sauce on this dish. The liver was very mild tasting and would be a great introduction for those who would usually say “Ew” with organ food. The frying did not make this dish feel heavy since the vinegar in the cucumber salad balanced out the flavor quite well. The salmorego was also less heavy then expected. I guess not too much bread was used in this particular rendition which worked very well as a tasty companion to the fried rabbit liver.
Lamb Neck Hash with Fried Jidori Egg & Pickled Mint Onions
Anything tastes good with a runny egg on top. The lamb neck hash certainly did not need the runny egg to taste good. It’s tender. It’s savory It’s delicious. It sat on top of a bed of tiny zucchini, spring onion, pea, and pickled mint. The pickled mint was interesting. It had the consistency of chard but tasted minty. Jidori is the rave in LA. It is a free roaming, all organic Japanese chicken known for its freshness since it is delivered to the chef commonly within 12 hours of leaving the farm.
The “Egg”
This item did not spike our interest on the menu but it got our attention when the chef delivered one to his friend sitting next to us. It is a breakfast in a shell consisting of the egg, very finely diced panchatta, crème fraiche, maple syrup, cream of wheat, and garnish. It was an unbelievable delicious comfort food intermingling with each other in harmony. A bite size meal in an egg!
.
We walked into the Lazy Ox Canteen for drinks and a few bites for happy hour figuring we would have plenty of time to catch the plane home. Somewhere along the timeline, we decided to leisurely order more food, one course at a time. Our lazy meal at the Lazy Ox turned into a 2 ½ hour of very enjoyable culinary eye-opening adventure. We did make our plane on time and slept very well all the way home.
.
http://www.lazyoxcanteen.com
.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment