The Skinny Critic

Loteria Grill in Studio City needs to get their act together...

To new Loteria Grill in Studio City was a welcome opening in my book.  Located about 15 minutes from my home, I thought it'd be a great option for good Mexican food. I was wrong.

Several friends and I went this week for dinner and were all underwhelmed to say the least. My friend ordered a margarita and it came from the bar with a piece of tortilla chip in it. Ew.

We ordered the guacamole to start, which was decent enough but rather small for $7. For entrees, 3 of us ordered the probaditas sampler of 12 tacos. My personal plate came with 11 unique tacos and 2 of the same bad vegetable taco. I was missing the meatball that my friends plates had.

 

It looked as though they'd all been thrown on the plate in a rush and frankly did not look the least bit appetizing.

Other entrees were a little better but still nothing to write home about - bland beef tacos and a simple enchilada plate. This is Los Angeles. We are about 500 miles from Mexico and have more than 4 million Mexicans living in LA County. It should not be hard to find good Mexican food, especially at such high prices.

Loteria, shame on you!

Loteria 12050 Ventura Blvd. (818) 508-5300

Mantee

Reviews had been swarming around this place-Jonathan Gold and the LA Times both did very positive write-ups about it, and it is close enough that I figured I should try it.  A Lebanese-Armenian collaboration by a husband and wife team, Mantee feels like you are eating in someones home.  The plates and silverware are personal and the mixture of Lebanese and Armenian families eating in the restaurant proves that the kitchen is putting out authentic, fabulous food. 

We sat down to a full restaurant at 6pm on a Monday night.  I was hungry and they were busy.  The owner must have noticed that I seemed a little impatient and came over to take our order herself. 

The menu is small and has mixtures of both ethnicities.  We started with hummos with soujuk (armenian beef sausage), mohammara and dolma with yogurt. 

The hummos was creamy and the sausage added a nice spice and made it different from your typical hummos.  

The dolma with yogurt was probably my favorite dish of the evening.  Eggplant was filled with rice, vegetables and topped with lemon juice and yogurt.  The sweetness of the eggplant with the sourness of the yogurt was a great combination. 

Gold's review had recommended steering clear of the entrees and focusing on appetizers, so we ordered a few more small plates. Mantee, the dish the restaurant is named after, is something I've had before but never in this style.  The ravioli filled with ground meat is usually soft, like pasta, but here they were hard like a pita chip.  It was frankly a little off-putting and not my favorite dish. 

The owner recommended the hot feta with tomato, jalepeno and seasonings that tasted great mixed with the muhammara and the pita. 

  

 The restaurant doesn't have a liquor license so it's BYOB and no corkage, which I love. But I did see some entrees go out that looked amazing, so next time I'd like to try one.  It's a great inexpensive valley find...

Mantee  10962 Ventura Blvd.  (818) 761-6565

Aroma Cafe

It’s hard not to salivate when you walk into Aroma and are immediately in front of the huge pastry cakes full of every dessert imaginable.  Cakes rise nine inches high, pies are plentiful and there is an array of things that I can’t even name because I’ve never seen them before. 

 

It was the deserts the lured me in the first time and the desserts that have brought me back again, again and again.  But Aroma is not a purely dessert place.  They feature a rather extensive breakfast, lunch and dinner menu that includes omelette's, salads, sandwiches, wraps burgers etc.  There is the sautéed vegetable entrée for the waistline conscious, the kobe bleu burger for the famished and the aroma wrap with turkey and bacon for someone in between. 

 I had a lovely lunch there and thought it important to note the high quality of food as well as dessert at this casual little spot.  I ordered the soup of the day, a refreshing cucumber gazpacho, as well as the salad of the day, arugula with pine-nuts, avocado, marinated chicken and balsamic.  Both were stellar lunch options. The salad was cool and clean and the perfect thing for such a hot day. The salad was huge,  but had a great mix of ingredients with the crunchy pine-nuts, creamy avocado and marinated chicken.

 

For dessert I got a red velvet ding dong…that’s right RED VELVET DING DONG! Words cannot describe how amazing this little piece of heaven is.  Red velvet cake layered between a wonderfully sweet cream cheese frosting and then the whole thing covered in chocolate. YUM.  But, I must let you in on a little secret.  Aroma doesn’t make their desserts.  Not any of them.  Instead they go around to the best bakeries in LA,  picking up the desserts and bringing them back to sell at their café.  I don’t know if its technically allowed, but I love that they bring things like the Red velvet ding dong all the way from culver city.  Other recent favorites have included the frosting and marshmallow covered brownie, which is another fantastic choice, the peanut butter mousse pie (amazing) and red velvet cookie, also delicious.   Some of the cakes are beautiful but a little over the top—like the chocolate snicker cake.   

 Aroma is such a great place to go for a casual meal with friends or a late night dessert.  The line can be quite vicious, especially around lunch time, so go early or be prepared for quite a long wait. 

 Aroma Cafe 4360 Tujunga  Ave. (818) 508-6505

 

Asanebo

*Skinny Seal*
There is a hidden gem in Studio City that I am afraid to write about because I don’t want it to become too popular.  I stumbled upon by mistake one evening a few months ago, after trying to go to Katsu-ya and finding an hour long wait.  A few blocks down on the other side of the street in an unassuming strip mall lies Asanebo.  It’s tucked between a vegan restaurant and a dog groomer.

On the outside it looks like your average run of the mill valley sushi spot – but as you enter it immediately becomes clear this is a whole other deal.  Discretely hanging on the wall above the bar hangs the Michelin stars they have received the past two years.  This is serious Japanese gourmet. 

The menu has an eclectic mix of cold dishes, hot dishes, deep fried dishes and sushi.  Most of the things seem rather foreign – momotaro tomato & seared kanpachi with grape seed oil, buckwheat risotto with squid ink, white peach with grilled sea bass or simmered pork. 

A line of very concentrated Japanese chefs stand behind the sushi bar eager to please their guests with their daily creations.  And their menu does change daily depending on what is available.

I have yet to do the Omakase which comes in versions A, B and C and ranges from $80-$100 per person and comprises of 12 courses.

Of the several times I’ve been there, I’ve always had something different, and always walked away from the meal feeling very impressed (and full!)

Last night I started with one of my favorites: halibut sashimi with black truffle. Sprouts and the best little tomato I’ve ever had compliment this dish and the paper-thin halibut pairs so beautifully with the black truffle. Coming here and not ordering this dish would be a crime. 

Next I had the momotaro tomato with seared kanpaci and grape seed oil.  The presentation of this dish is so impressive and unexpected.  Gently seared kanpachi sits on one of the most popular Japanese tomato’s in a martini glass in a lemon and grape seed oil broth. The tomato is sweet and tangy and is such a nice contract against the kanpachi.

The albacore sushi, which is listed on the separate sushi menu is another beautiful dish with grilled garlic slices (which are great) and onions and ginger.

The salmon sushi is not my favorite-it’s fattier than I am used to and therefore leaves a fishy taste in my mouth that I am not a fan of.  The buckwheat risotto with uni and squid ink was also not something I would try again.  It was an interesting array of flavors but not in a good way. 

Scallop sashimi is served with Japanese black salt and melts in your mouth.  They are so rich raw though that I find it difficult to have more than one or two.  And be forewarned, one order of sashimi comes with at least six.

Another not-to-miss dish is the grilled eggplant with premium Japanese in a miso sauce.  Pipping hot eggplant comes out using the skin for a bowl with a ground beef in a sweet miso sauce.  It’s an incredibly rich and flavorful dish, perfect for sharing.

Service is simple and graceful, just as it should be.  The tiny space is usually busy so I would recommend making a reservation. And don’t tell too many people about it…don’t want to ruin a good thing!

Asanebo 11941 Ventura Blvd.  (818) 760-3348

The Counter

The counter is rendered home of the customized burger.  Choose your meat (turkey, beef, veggie, chicken), choose a cheese, choose up to 4 toppings, choose a sauce, choose a bun.  This very popular concept now has many locations especially in the Los Angeles area.  I foolishly choose the burger of the month: a Maryland STYLE crab cake burger, emphasis here being on the "style" and thus not real Maryland crab but an impostor and not a good one at that. 

The highlight of the meal was the sweet potato fries and the onion strings. They come with an array of sauces including bbq, chipotle mayo and ranch.  Get the 50-50, so half of each.  My co-worker got a turkey burger that looked much more appetizing than my fake crab. 

 

There are amazing milkshakes that I carefully avoided...again I am the Skinny Critic and hope to stay that way.  But the shake of the month is a birthday cake shake and boy was I tempted.  Vanilla ice cream mixed with white birthday cake, topped with rainbow sprinkles and whipped cream.  If you're looking for a food coma, this is the perfect spot for you. 

The Counter 12117 Ventura Blvd. (818) 980-0004