Reviews

Sep

25

Mi Tierra Restaurant: Machaca

Reviews  Posted by / 0 comments
Mi Tierra's Machaca Plate

SDC11616 1024x768 Mi Tierra Restaurant: Machaca

Mi Tierra's Machaca Plate

One of our favorite places here in NoHo is the Mi Tierra Restaurant on Victory.  It’s an unassuming little place till you walk in the door and the aroma of heavily cinnamon scented coffee wraps around you like a lover’s arms.  There’s a big screen TV and posters of all the FIFA soccer players with the Mexico team prominent.  There’s a jukebox that plays Vicente Fernandez with too much bass but it’s all kinds of awesome.

I love to go their for breakfast and sit watching soccer with very vocal fellow customers.  During Copa Mundial, it was the place to be for breakfast.  The waitresses are super sweet, know their futbol and are constantly filling your cup with the deliciously seductive cafe.  I can’t stop drinking that stuff, it’s THAT good.

I love their breakfasts.  The tortillas are freshly made to order, the beans taste like home and all their breakfast dishes are authentic as well as delicious.  The other day I had their machaca for the first time and absolutely loved it.  I love machaca (shredded beef with eggs) but some places just make it so dry.  I know, I know it’s a contradiction in terms.  Machaca was originally a dried, spiced beef which was somewhat like beef jerky but with a Mexican flavor.  The rancheros of Northern Mexico are said to have invented it.  Their way of making machaca was to soften the dried beef, then cook it with eggs and some people still make it that way in Mexico where the beef is more dry.  The problem I sometimes run into is that sometimes the eggs are dry too and that’s just icky.

SDC11614 300x225 Mi Tierra Restaurant: Machaca

Mmmmm Machaca

I was pleasantly surprised by Mi Tierra’s machaca.  The beef still had that almost dry, chewy texture that is so yummy but the eggs were fluffy, moist and perfect.  With the beans, rice, salsa and fresh tortillas it was beyond delicious and I was a happy girl.

SDC11613 300x225 Mi Tierra Restaurant: Machaca

Mi Tierra's Huevos Rancheros

Other menu items include amazing breakfast burritos, menudo, huge shrimp cocktails, camaron ala plancha, chilaquiles and much more.  Everything I’ve tried so far has been pretty wonderful but there’s tons yet to try.  Breakfast plates are in the $5.00 range so it’s budget friendly.  Make sure you have the coffee.   It’s the best.

Mi Tierra restaurant is located just off of Lankershim on Victory Boulevard at 11746 Victory Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91606.  Their phone number is (818) 755-9192.

Sep

22

Quesadillas Lupita

Reviews  Posted by / 4 comments
The carne asada auesadilla waiting for toppings
SDC11634 1024x768 Quesadillas Lupita

The carne asada quesadilla waiting for toppings

When we first moved here to the North Hollywood fixer upper house, we couldn’t cook. There wasn’t electricity for three weeks, we couldn’t move the stove in, obstacle after obstacle blocked us so we got to know the local eating places right away. On our first trip to the local Superior Market for some much needed coffee and pan dulce, we spotted a quesadilla truck parked on the curb. My roommate wasn’t excited but I sure was and as I dragged him to the truck grumbling, the smell hit him and he rapidly changed his mind.

Our first visit was hilarious. The truck owner, Alvaro is a character. As we hemmed and hawed trying to decide if we’d get a quesadilla or not, he made up a big one and proceeded to eat it right in front of us the whole time making orgasmic food noises, “mmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm”. When we finally decided and ordered, he wondered why were weren’t ordering more. He flirted, clowned around and all but capered and turned cartwheels around the truck. I was dying laughing. He didn’t need all that fanfare though it was highly entertaining and reminiscent of Tijuana vendor antics while waiting in line to cross the border.

SDC11631 300x225 Quesadillas Lupita

The Quesadillas Lupita truck

David ordered a carne asada quesadilla and I ordered nopales y hongos (cactus and mushrooms). The tortillas were big, homemade flour cooked on the grill. The quesadillas were stuffed to the max with cheese and filling. Beyond that there were all kinds of toppings to add along with chile verde or rojo. Once we’d made our $3.00 quesadillas and got them home, the smell torturing us in the truck we couldn’t wait to dig in. When we did, OH MY GOD! They were delectable, delicious, melt in your mouth happiness. We practically lived there for the next three weeks.

Once we got our kitchen working soundly, we rarely thought of the quesadilla truck because of the nature of this fixer-upper. Constant work and drama have kept us away but we’ve finally come to a place where we could go out and eat again, not out of necessity but for fun. The first place we thought of was Quesadillas Lupita.

SDC11632 300x225 Quesadillas Lupita

What shall I order?

Our afternoon trip wasn’t quite the same as our first. Alvaro seemed subdued but he let me take pictures. I full on expected him to clown for the camera but he refused shyly. Upon prodding, he whispered, “la chaparita es mi esposa” (the short girl there is my wife). LOL. I guess he’s been taken to task for his flirting and clowning so no photos of him in this post. You’ll just have to take my word that he’s an entertainer. The food on the other hand was the same, excellent melty goodness. I had the nopales y hongos again, David had carne asada y hongos and Phillip had plain carne asada. We filled our quesadillas with toppings till they couldn’t close, dripped on salsa and crema and dusted them with a little cotija and were on our way home. Happy munching ensued.

SDC11637 300x225 Quesadillas Lupita

Toppings!

The quesadillas from Quesadillas Lupita are luscious. The tortillas are made to order, they don’t skimp on ingredients and for $3.00 the portions are huge. They’re located on the market side of Etiwanda just off of Lankershim from 9:00 a.m. till about 3:00 p.m.

May

30

Review: Lovin’ Scoopful Ice Cream

desserts / Reviews  Posted by / 2 comments

2010RazCheeseCrisp Review: Lovin Scoopful Ice Cream

I recently had the pleasure of being asked to review Lovin’ Scoopful ice cream, a product I was extremely interested in not only because of my love of ice cream but because the company donates 25% ($50,000 minimum annually) of its post-tax profits to the Special Olympics. Full disclosure: I received two coupons for free ice cream, a t-shirt and some $1.00 coupons.

As most of my readers know, I live in Los Angeles and you would think it would be easy enough to find this ice cream. Once I had my free coupons in hand, I roamed every Albertson’s and Ralph’s searching for it to no avail. I was starting to get a little desperate for ice cream when I finally found it at the Albertson’s on Central and Chevy Chase in Glendale. I was really drooling and looking forward to the Raspberry Cheesecake flavor but the market I found it at only carried chocolate and vanilla so that’s what I got.

I was expecting a not so creamy, kinda diet flavor in the ice cream given it has half the calories but was absolutely blown away by the rich, creaminess to it as well as a luscious taste. There were some incredibly happy people in my household. We want more!! We’re dying to try the other flavors and are begging our local markets to carry the brand and more than just chocolate and vanilla. Raspberry Cheesecake please!

I highly recommend the ice cream if you can find it. It not only tastes great and is less calories for your hips, but it’s ice cream for a cause and a good one. Think of it as socially responsible ice cream. You’re not cheating on your diet, you’re helping your community.

***************************************************

For a map and a full list of stores carrying Lovin’ Scoopful ice cream, visit the brand’s official website. For areas not yet served, consumers are encouraged to request that Lovin’ Scoopful be added to ice cream shelves of your favorite store by simply asking the manager in charge.

Lovin’ Scoopful is very excited to announce its newest social media tool to the world, a brand new Facebook application called: What Flavor Ice Cream Are You? Lovin’ Scoopful has created a new Facebook application designed to be fun and engaging for new and existing fans of the brand. Facebook fans will be able to interact directly with Lovin’ Scoopful through a series of playful and light-hearted questions. This quiz app will allow fans to tag themselves and their friends as specific Lovin’ Scoopful ice cream flavors, based on their answers. This app provides fans with an entertaining way to match their personalities with ice cream flavors that best represents them. Fans will be able to invite their friends to participate and challenge them to take the quiz to see how well they match-up.

Join the conversation!
Find us on Facebook and become a fan: http://www.facebook.com/lovinscoopful
Find out what flavor of ice cream you are by trying our new Facebook application:
What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LovinScoopful

ABOUT LOVIN’ SCOOPFUL
Lovin’ Scoopful is a premium ice cream company operating with the objective of making not only its customers happy, but making many others happy as well through significant contributions to causes that help empower the human spirit. Tim and Maria Shriver, Angelo Moratti and Dan Samson, launched Lovin’ Scoopful in 2008 with the intent of offering a high quality, fun and health conscious product that would also serve as an ongoing source of revenue for worthy causes. Currently, the company is proud to donate 25% ($50,000 minimum annually) of its post-tax profits to Special Olympics. As the company’s creative director, Maria has been involved in every step of the product development process. “I’ve loved having a hand in all aspects of the company, from creating the sumptuous flavors and coming up with the product names and logo, to ensuring that the quality of our ice cream is the best our customers have ever experienced.”

Lovin’ Scoopful – “Loves you as much as you love it!”
For the full scoop on all Lovin’ Scoopful fabulous flavors, visit www.lovinscoopful.com

ABOUT SPECIAL OLYMPICS
The Special Olympics is an international organization that changes lives by promoting understanding, acceptance and inclusion among people with and without intellectual disabilities. Through year-round sports training and athletic competition and other related programming for 2.8 million children and adults with intellectual disabilities in more than 180 countries, Special Olympics has created a model community that celebrates peoples’ diverse gifts. Founded in 1968 by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics provides people with intellectual disabilities continuing opportunities to realize their potential, develop physical fitness, and demonstrate courage and experience joy and friendship. Visit Special Olympics at www.specialolympics.org.

.