Take me back...

I've been writing essay like emails about Europe to a friend because she is going to Europe for four months. Ughhhhhhhhh! All I want to do is to get lost in Europe again. Just drop me off anywhere, I don't care where it is, I'll find my way to all the good spots and back to Italy and France.

To be young and unemployed...those were the days

Noodle Sanctuary

If you know me, and know me well, I love noodles. Ramen, Udon, Soba, Rice noodles...whatever it may be they hold a special place in my joyous, food obsessive heart. Even though I'm Armenian and grew up eating the best Armenian food outside of Armenia, noodles have that wholesome, home-cooked feeling whenever I dig in to some steaming hot, brothy, lipid soaked bowl of happiness. If there was ever a pill that made you happy the instant you took it, mine would be noodles.

Ever since I took a trip to Japan in 2009 - one of my favorite trips of my life - and lived in Seoul, Korea, noodles have become that missing link of my soul. How could I have not enjoyed your amazing essence before two years ago?!? In any case, we have found each other and you are now apart of my life.

Last night I ended up in Little Tokyo in downtown LA with my brother and two cousins and we decided to visit Daikokuya. There is always a line, which is a good sign, so we put our names down and visiting the nearby Far Bar for a drink while we wait. Contrary to the name, it's not that far. Just down the same block as Daikokuya. Sweet bar, lots of good Japanese beers on tap, cool patio. I found a dollar in the bathroom. Pretty stoked.

After 20 minutes of standing around, we went back to Daikokuya and our names were called. Once I walked in the little noodle bar, it brought me back to the narrow noodle shops in Japan. It's as if I walked through a portal and was right back in the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo at one of the narrow, greasy spoon shacks surrounded by freeways of fresh and frozen giant tuna being zipped around by miniature forklifts. It felt very authentic.

Before looking at the menu my brother told me what I should get. I knew what he was going to recommend me to get but I wanted to see it for myself on the menu. Ramen noodles with pork belly and a rice bowl of pork belly. This is what dreams are made of. After browsing through the menu and contemplating adding the extra flavor of pork back fat-saturated broth, I made the final decision of getting the pork belly ramen noodles, even though I and everyone at the table knew that is what we were all going to get.

After picking at a small salad, which was tantalizingly good, I had to let it go and save my appetite for the main course. When it arrived my taste buds started partying on my tongue. The massive bowl of noodles looked beautiful. Then came the smaller pork belly rice bowl. Together, they looked perfect. A match made in heaven. It made sense the same the way chips and salsa make sense. Or peanut butter and jelly, or milk and cereal. It looked so perfect I didn't even want to touch it. But, being a man of weak, moral fiber (when it comes to good food), I jumped in.

The first moment when you lift the ramen with your chopsticks out of the bowl is a thing of beauty. The steam just explodes out from the noodles. I knew I had to eat this fast or I would get too full, too quick and the broth would lose its heat. I dug in, switching from soup to rice bowl, soup to rice bowl. The sweetness of the pork belly mixes so well with the broth and noodles. All the amazing flavors coat your lips bite after bite. Even the egg is a nice touch. I don't even really like eggs but the whole egg gives it an extra boost of flavor. I cut it in thirds and the yolk is still runny. Mix it around in the broth before taking a bite. Mmm...that's good.

After laboring for a few minutes trying to consume as much goodness as possible, I was just not able to finish. I don't like leaving food on the table, I wish I could just give it to someone. But no one in LA wants discarded food. The busy waiters take our plates and we just sit there for a moment. Feeling the fatty, succulent juices run down the lining of our stomachs. Not wanting to move or talk, all I could do was take a little sip of water and let nature take over and digest what is one of the best bowls of noodles this side of the Mississippi.

Now, this was good. Really good. Really really good. One thing that I overdid was the scallions. I put a little too much extra scallions. I love green onions, but it is a little overpowering. The consistency of the ramen was very good. Firm and chewy at first, but softer after a couple minutes of wading in its pork broth bath. Although it was very tasty, you could taste the presence of the wheat flour when chewing. Which is fine but I'd rather not notice the floury essence of the noodles when I'm going to town on heaping, helping of some ramen.

All in all this was an excellent bowl of pork belly ramen noodle soup. I highly recommend everyone taking a dip into the Diakokuya noodle experience before it turns into a shadow of itself like the Kogi BBQ Taco truck. There's a location in Costa Mesa for you OC'ers. Check out their website. I'll have to check out the one in Costa Mesa and see if it holds up to its LA counterpart.

Next stop: Santouka. YES!

What a total babe

Dope

Shahen Style Moroccan Sardines

I love fish. And pretty much anything that comes out of the ocean. Have you ever seen or tasted what's inside of a see urchin?!?! It's heavenly.

Whole Foods has been bringing in fresh sardines and they're only 3 bucks a pound, or was it 4? Nevertheless, that's fairly inexpensive for fresh, never frozen whole sardines. I grabbed a couple pounds and made my way home.

Sardines are probably the healthiest fish for you. It has more Omega-3's per serving than salmon. And, the sardine population is decently plentiful right now.

I didn't exactly know how I wanted to make these sardines so I researched a bit. The Moroccan's have a way of frying them up and stuffing them with a traditional sauce called Charmoula. In fact, this sauce has been used all throughout northern Africa. I decided to make my own version of this sauce, which usually consists of different herbs, oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper, among other ingredients. This sauce is going to be my filler between two fried sardine fillets.

You will need the following:
Whole Sardines
Chick Pea Flour (or your flour of choice)
Grape Seed Oil
Charmoula Ingredients:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Lemon
Curly Parsley
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
Garlic
Cumin
Dried, Crushed Oregano and Mint
Paprika


To make the Charmoula, mix together the olive oil, parsley, cumin, dried herbs, paprika, red pepper flakes, and salt to taste. Finely chop the garlic and add to the mixture. Add the lemon juice as you mix to get the consistency of a paste like substance. You don't want it too watery.

First, wash your sardines. Just stick them under the sink and give them a good rinse. Once it's clean and shiny, cut the head off. Go ahead, just chop it off. Then, you must gut the fish. Sardines are very delicate, so you can't hold the fish too tightly, or else it will just pulverize in your hand. The best way to do this is to get the sharpest, non serrated knife you have. Start from the opening of the headless sardine and gently cut along the belly all the way to the tail. Gently pull out all the excrements and rinse the sardine.


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Here comes the tricky part. You're going to need to de-bone the sardine. I've found that the best way to do this is to stick your thumb between the backbone and the meat of the sardine. Gently push your thumb closer and closer to the tail until you've reached the end, and the backbone should just lift up as you inch your thumb to the tail. Just pull the rest of the backbone off and all the ribs will come with it.

You then should have a nice, flimsy sardine fillet. Give it one more rinse and put it on a paper towel, meat side down. Once you've finished filleting all of your sardines, it's time to drench them in the flour of your choice. I use chick pea flour because it gives a fantastic nutty flavor. Flour the skin side of the fillets and put half of them skin side down on a plate. Add the Charmoula on the meat side of the fillet, be generous. Pat it down just a bit to make it more stable on the fillet.










Take the other breaded fillets and cover the fillets that have the Charmoula on them, like a sandwich. Push them down just a bit so they stick well. Then, it's time to fry. If you have a deep fryer, go ahead and use it. If not, I use a tall, non-stick pot. This way, the fireworks of the hot, burning oil won't be able to jump out too much and bite you in the hands and arms and face. Cover the bottom layer with grape seed oil. Don't use olive oil, it has a very low burn threshold. Grape seed oil is excellent for high heat frying. Place the sandwiched fillets in the pot and fry on medium high on each side for about 3 minutes or so. This will depend on the amount of oil you use, and the degree of heat. You want each side to be golden brown.




















After you're done frying, set them on a plate with a paper towel so the paper towel can soak the excess oil. Wait for about a minute, but eat them hot. They are best enjoyed hot and eaten like a sandwich, with a nice, cold lager.

Buon Appetito!