Me Gusta...Tamales!!

Me Gusta is located on Van Nuys Blvd. in the small city of Pacoima and has been bringing their culinary talents to the Ventura Farmers Market in Downtown Ventura for the past several years. Owner Roberto Ortega Sr. wanting a better life for his family has brought his award winning recipes right from Jalisco, Mexico. Me Gusta's specialty is Tamales and man do they make a killer tamale! Tamales are typically thought of as a lunch or dinner food however when the Farmer's Market opens 8:00am, the line to try these sought after treats is a mile long. Their tent with two windows services the nearly 500 people that visit the stand in the 4 hours it is open on Saturday mornings. They have a wide variety of tamales available from pork, chicken, shredded beef, veggie, cheese, and even a sweet pineapple accompanied by a spicy red sauce or a milder green sauce.

After waiting in line for some time, I decided to try the shredded beef in red sauce as my first choice. I watched as the server went to get my still in husk tamale out of the massive steamer.  The tamale feel out of the husk and then was covered by a healthy serving of the red sauce made up of Anaheim chilis, soranos, and jalapeños, and a few other spices.  My first bite into the tamale was wonderful.  The fork cut right through the thick corn shell right down to the tender shredded beef.  The tamale offered such a vibrant array of flavors from the sweet corn shell, to the tender juicy beef filling, all brought together with the chilis and encompassing spirited red sauce.  Every bite of the tamale was exactly as the first...tender, sweet, and a little kick at the end.  Me Gusta tamales left me wanting more...so I ordered a dozen!!  At $3 a piece, you can't beat it.  I recommend you do the same.

www.megustagourmettamales.com

Pappy's Smokehouse-St. Louis, MO

When the average food lover thinks about BBQ food, they think of Texas. Texas is known for their big steaks covered in butter and loaded with flavorful fat and their beef ribs. Large, meaty and smoked out back for hours. After my experience sampling BBQ in St. Louis, MO, it is safe to safe that Texas is taking a backseat in the BBQ kingdom. Pappy's Smokehouse sits near St. Louis University just outside downtown St. Louis. It has been Visited by the Travel Channel food fanatic Adam Richman and absolutely lives up to it's expectation. Pappy's Smokehouse takes pride in their meat. They spend 5 hours smoking their ribs to get the scintillating pink smoke ring that captures the surface of their ribs. And these aren't ordinary BBQ ribs, these are NO SAUCE PORK ribs with a phenomenal dry rub. They are the meatiest ribs on the planet and the meat just falls off the bone. A half rack at Pappy's can feed a family consisting of 7 delicious ribs!
Then there's the pulled pork. When meat spends 20 hours in the smoker...holy shit, it is an absolute tender masterpiece flavored by the hickory smoke and succulent juices from the meat. It is truely the most outstanding BBQ and puts Texas to shame. Both of these entrees are served with two sides...sweet potato fries and applesauce. I don't know about you but I haven't had homemade applesauce since I was a kid and it immediately brought me back to playing on the swing set after school coming home and opening up a jar. It was sweet and accompanied by little chunks of apples. The sweet potato fries had a little twist as well. They were deep fried and then soaked in their original juices to give them a sweet, sticky deep fried deliciousness!
In short, Pappy's Smokehouse has reinvented and is dominating the ever important man meal BBQ!

Saticoy Donut

Typically when you think of donuts, you think of two names...Yum Yum and Dunkin Donuts. These donuts are some of the best in the business. Well let me tell you, there is a new sheriff in town and his name is Saticoy Donuts. Saticoy Donuts is located on the far east end of Ventura,CA in the city of Saticoy. When you drive through Saticoy, you don't really see much. It is a poor town with old town shacks and new track homes that no one lives in. You also find a pass through industrialized part of Ventura. Then in the middle of no where next to a gas station and the freeway, you find a gem called Saticoy Donuts. Once inside the room is filled with the fresh aroma of cake and cinnamon gently surrounding the only two small cases of donuts. My personal preference is a cake donut but today however I decided to try a new type based on their recommendation. This taste of excellence was Saticoy Donut's version of a crumb donut. The average crumb donut is a cake donut dusted with a light glaze and a cinnamon sugar sprinkle. This donut was a little bit different. This donut was light and fluffy, with not only a cinnamon sprinkle but a brown sugar sprinkle that was absolutely palette pleasing. It melted as is grazed my lips and absolutely was the talk of breakfast for the remainder of the day. This is a place that must be tried and will give you a new appreciation for an old breakfast treat!

KD Donuts

National Donut Day is supposed to be a momentous occasion in the donut consuming world. With this expectation in mind, I decided to try a new donut shop in the middle of Ventura called KD Donuts. As I walked up to the beaten and graffiti struck building, my expectations were not significantly high. There were approximately two racks of donuts, none of which were cake, an absolute staple in the donut community. The two raves consisted of glaze and chocolate bars, two sprinkles (unacceptable), and two rows of sugar donuts. There were no other patrons in the shop and the electricity was completely off. I went for a mixed dozen beginning with a fluffy white donut with a light glaze and rainbow sprinkle. The donut was under glazed and lacked any sort of melt in my mouth. After sharing the mixed donuts with a couple of colleagues, they disappointment met mine. Both of them became slightly ill and National Donut Day was nothing short of a bust! KD Donuts...one star!

Romantic Weekend in Cambria, CA- Dinner At Madeline's

Madeline's Restaurant was a highly touted but relatively unknown California-French infused restaurant in the 6400 person town of Cambria, CA.  Madeline's rests on the corner of Main St. in the West end of town with a very welcoming appeal.  Reservations were recommended as this small restaurant only boasts about 20 tables between the two sides.  The atmosphere is wonderful centered around the candlelit table accompanied by fresh red and pink roses.  The service was outstanding but as we listened to the surrounding tables order, it was somewhat scripted with the servers not able to formulate their own opinions about the food, but rather what dishes need to be sold tonight.  

The menu offered a wide array of Central and Coastal California wines with reds being the primary choice.  

Their appetizers were very diverse including steamers ($12), mussels and clams sauteed in a white wine and saffron butter, which had been sold out and replaced by a calamari steak dish breaded in Kobashi crumbs over a bead of polenta. 

The entrees were very distinct and very diverse beginning with a Filet Mignon ($32) with port, balsamic sauce with garlic mashed potatoes and vegetable medley all the way to a Louisiana Seafood Gumbo enhanced with spicy sausage and spicy gumbo over rice.  

We however chose the 8 oz. Lamb Porterhouse ($30) which was pan seared, finished in the oven topped with pomegranate and zinfandel sauce, served with garlic mashed potatoes and vegetable medley.  The lamb was cooked to order and was tantalizing with its use of herbs and spices.  It had tremendous mouth-watering flavor and as tender as expected.  The potatoes were glossed over with a shaved parmesan cheese and were slightly al dente and drizzled with a small amount of glaze from the lamb.  The vegetables were unique to say the least...a few pieces of asparagus with  5 sauteed carrot slices.  Not exactly well planned in the kitchen.  They were then covered heavily in the sauce from the lamb and became a little overkill.  

For dessert, much of the restaurant including ourselves chose the bananas foster with a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with fired bananas table side and Captain Morgan's spiced rum.  The dessert was very well presented however it lacked the essence of the dessert...bananas!  There were few small pieces of banana to accompany the hearty scoop of ice cream.  Tastes were very well received by were inconsistent at best.

Our total review of the restaurant was very good.  Price was reasonable as the quality of the food warranted it and the diversity of the menu allowed us great selection...especially being starving when we arrived!  The service was outstanding other than its scripted nature and the ambiance was quaint.  We found it difficult to continue our own conversation without being sucked into the political discussion taking place at the table next to us.  This is a 4 out of 5 star restaurant and we recommend it for a date as long as you and your date don't have ADD and can be distracted from other's conversation and table side flaming bananas.  This romantic restaurant is still a great place and we will be visiting it again!