Scoops: Any Flavor of the Best Ice Cream Your Heart Desires

On a hot summer day like this, there's only one answer: SCOOPS!

I naturally found myself in front of that tiny shop on Heliotrope off of Melrose, wondering what wonderful flavors awaited me.

I was pleasantly surprised the line wasn't too bad and I quickly browsed the flavors at hand, including brown bread, Chai, Guiness chocolate and chocolate baileys.

As enticing as those sounded, however, I first tasted the hazelnut banana, raspberry lychee and non-dairy Thai iced tea. And I ended up with two scoops: a deliciously creamy hazelnut mix with subtle banana flavor and a super refreshing raspberry lychee, delivering an almost-sorbet-like coolness in my mouth.

Just what I needed in this scorching weather. I heart Scoops, big time. Apologies for not having an image. I pretty much swallowed the two scoops in exactly five bites. What can I say? The ice-cream was melting and I couldn't wait.

Square One: Great French Toast, Plum Topping and Ham

I ventured into the thick of hispterland for brunch at Square One, a solid breakfast and lunch joint smack across from a bright blue art deco building with an imposing sign that reads "SCIENTOLOGY." The wait is bad (20-30 minutes) unless you go before 10 but the line moves somewhat quickly because it has quite a bit of tables in its patio, which are the best tables in the house anyway.


I was torn on whether to get the French toast or baked eggs but I settled for French toast with a plum and almond topping and smoked ham on the side (gotta have my protein).

The brioche bread was delicious and the plums were super sweet and interesting since I'd never had it with French toast before. The French toast was browned just right with some crunchy edges.



The only thing I would have liked better was that the egg batter covering the toast be less sweet. I liked the crunchiness from the almonds but a tad sweet.

The prices are definitely on the higher side but it's obvious the cooks use fresh quality ingredients so it's worth it. The ham was  juicy and very salty, just like any ham should be. It was thick enough to satiate my craving for something meaty and savory to balance out the sweet carb I was having.

The outdoor patio is the perfect place for a Sunday brunch on a nice sunny LA day, which is pretty much any day.

The breakfast quesadilla with squash blossoms, feta cheese, jalapenos and scrambled eggs was ok but nothing fantastic. I liked the tomatillo salsa that came with it. The quesadilla came with a green salad (or choice of potatoes).

The restaurant also has breakfast tacos and I would definitely like to try the baked egg dishes.

The freshly squeezed orange juice was good, as was the service.

Besides the wait, most everything was positive.

Juicy Burger: Decent Value But Not Good Enough to Return

Juicy Burger in Silver Lake seems like a place to go for a quick, cheap and above average burger. It's good value but don't think I'll be returning for various reasons.

I know that's what you get for your money, but those stools were utterly uncomfortable and made for a less than a satisfying experience. If you're on the go and just want to pop in for a bite, it may not be a big deal. But it's definitely not a place to sit down and talk over a burger and shake.



But I digress. Let's talk about the burger itself. I got the signature Juicy Burger and added Cheddar cheese and my one free dipping sauce choice for the fries (cheap) was barbecue sauce. I had to send the burger back once because it came overcooked the first time when I had asked for medium rare.

The second time around, it was cooked right, although the patty itself was so anemic that it barely made a difference. The quality of the meat was decent. I'll give them that. I could see the dude in the back forming the patties by hand so they are definitely freshly made daily. No frozen patties shenanigans a-la fast food. I also liked the red onions it came with, but wasn't crazy about the shredded iceberg lettuce drowning in Thousand Island dressing that made it not only messy to eat, but also drowned everything else with it in terms of flavor.

As for the bun, it was a fresh brioche that was in and of itself ok, but as a burger bun, way too dense, especially on top. Like it was a meal by itself. The ratio of bun to meat was like 9:1, which should be more balanced.

The California burger with guacamole and bacon looked good but was just ok, according to my Burger Club companion who, like me, ranks Houston's as her favorite burger in LA.

The fries were ok but after having a few, I could taste the oil they were fried in, and they tasted a bit stale. In fact, I couldn't finish the fries or the burger because they suddenly tasted too heavy. The barbecue sauce, however, was very good and the owner was nice enough to give me a little container to go.

But I won't be returning unless I happen to pass by this place at 2am, there's nothing else that's open nearby (although there's always Ktown), I'm starving and don't care to linger -- which, in my book, is pretty much never. I'd rather go to BCD Tofu House or Hodori in Ktown that are open 24-hours any day over this greasy spoon that may just be too greasy.

Inti: Peruvian at Its Best

I'm so glad I finally found a decent, no-frills Peruvian joint that's both good and easy on the wallet. I had never been too impressed with Mario's or Los Balcones del Peru, to name a few, so there was some trepidation entering this restaurant in a non-descript minimall. But the friendly staff and delicious food quickly won me over.

The bread and salsa brought before the meal were good starters. The bread itself was nothing special but it was warm and fresh, which is more than I can say for some of the fancier venues that charge an arm and leg.

The green salsa it came with was very spicy and flavorful. Besides milk, which gave the salsa a creamy consistency and likely tempered the heat, the salsa also contained habanero, which made it so spicy and condiment-worthy.

The ceviche mixto included raw shrimp, squid, halibut and octopus slightly cooked in citrus. They were topped with red onions, spices and cilantro, among other things. I loved that it came with toasted corn kernels that added a great smoky and crunchy texture to the mix. It also came with boiled potatoes whose mild flavor counterbalanced the sourness of the juice well.

Most importantly, the seafood was fresh. They also don't mess around when it comes to heat. When they asked how spicy I wanted it, I asked for spicy. And spicy it was. I daresay it almost kicked my butt. Delish.

The highlight of the meal, however, was the Bisteck a lo Pobre. A hearty slab of steak topped with an over-easy egg, sitting on a bed of fries, with a side of white rice on a plate whose edges were adorned with fried plaintains. Need I say more?

The meats on these types of dishes in other restaurants are always sub-par quality, but this meat tasted like quality meat (while not grass-fed premium or anything). I usually like my meat bloody -- aka medium rare -- but because it was on the thin side, I let it slide that it was cooked well-done. But it wasn't overcooked like in most other joints either, which was good. The egg could have been a tad less cooked as the yolk wasn't as oozy as I'd like it to be, but I like anything with a fried egg on top so I'm biased. The fries were crispy enough, not too greasy as in many other joints. Ditto the fried plaintains, which are usually an overripe mush dripping in grease. These were on the firm side but still soft enough to savor and with a bit of a crunch from the deep-frying. I didn't love the rice too much, which was on the dry side but not a huge deal.

The Arroz Chaufa de Mariscos -- seafood fried rice with scrambled eggs and green onions -- was good, although not as good as the steak. The dish represents Chinese immigrants' influence on Peruvian cuisine, in the form of chau fan, which I believe is "fried rice" in Chinese. One can find restaurants serving "chifa," Peruvian-Chinese food, all throughout Peru as well as in Chile and Argentina, the latter of which aren't considered as authentic. Don't mean to belabor the point, but I did like that the fried rice wasn't as greasy as I usually find in Chifas and Chinese restaurants. The seafood tasted fresh and my only complaint was that it was on the bland side. Then again, everything else was pretty strongly flavored so it's no wonder that it must have tasted flat in comparison.

Service was great. I didn't like the typical Peruvian drinks but that may be a matter of taste. I didn't care for maracuya juice or the chicha morada, which is made from black maize and boiled with pineapple and spices.

I look forward to returning and trying other dishes, like the classic lomo saltado (more fries!).

Inti
5870 Melrose Ave. #105
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 962-2027

Pug Burger Fails to Impress

Here's a quickie report on our burger club outing to Hungry Cat.

You can order the famous pug burger two ways -- with or without a fried egg on top. It comes with bacon, avocado and blue cheese, all of which you can get on the side.

The verdict: above average but Houston's still reigns.

I had it without the egg and set aside the bacon that I consider a distraction from the purity of a good burger. I can have the bacon separately as a side but not as an integral part of the burger when I bite into it.

An overall very tall burger that's hard to eat. Translation: expect smears on your face and stains on your clothes.

The patty: texture was a bit pasty and not as flavorful and glossy as Houston's.

The bun: ciabatta bread was an interesting alternative but it was too thick and dense for me to finish. Super-soft, classic sesame-sprinkled buns are the way to go.

The fixins: I prefer arugula to red lettuce leaf (better for wrapping kalbi!) and the red onions and avocado were fine. I should disclose that I'm not a huge fan of blue cheese so had to scrape off some of it because it overpowered the patty, as did the bacon. I enjoyed stealing tiny bites of the bacon strips between massive burger bites, however.

The fries: underwhelming. They were lukewarm to cold and had obviously been fried one too many times and drenched in oil so tasted a bit stale and not very fresh. Also oversalted.



Soup: we had the smoked haddock chowder with yukon gold potatoes, leeks and bacon. Wrong choice if you're having a burger afterwards because it is so incredibly salty. The smoked haddock is already salty and with the bacon, it's sodium overload.

Dessert: Hungry Cat mildly redeemed itself with its chocolate bread and butter pudding, which was delightfully decadent and delicious. Not too sweet and sufficiently chocolate-y without being too rich. The chocolate beignets, on the other hand, were a dud.

We went to the original Hollywood location but it also has a Santa Barbara branch.

The place was packed and reservations on weekends are a must, which led me to wonder whether we had simply ordered the wrong things. Maybe we will try its seafood offerings next time, but I won't be having the pug burger anytime soon. For the same price of $16, I would take Houston's California burger any day. Trying it with the fried egg is tempting but truthfully, I could try that at home. Those who had the burger with the fried egg liked it.

Next stop: Weiland Brewery in Little Tokyo. We need a cheap eat to temper the Hungry Cat meal ticket.

Hungry Cat
1535 Vine Street
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 462-2155

Pasty Burgers in Hollywood

A very quick dud of the week regarding the much-hyped Lucky Devils in Hollywood.

I am a huge burger person. I crave it. I devour it. I look for more places that serve it. I recently formed a burger-eating club that meets at least once a month to sample the best burgers that LA has to offer. First stop: a disappointment.

I ordered a Black Angus Cheeseburger that comes with caramelized onions and garlic aioli on a toasted brioche bun with a choice of green salad or carrot slaw. I didn't go for the Kobe burger because it has bacon and blue cheese on it, which I don't like with my burger.

I like mine medium rare and it was medium rare. The problem was the flavor and texture of the meat patty. Flavor was non-existent (no amount of barbecue sauce helped) and texture was like the meat had been ground for too long to the point of being pasty. There was also not enough fat in the patty so the meat wasn't juicy enough. The brioche bun was ok but not enough to salvage the burger.

You know it's not a great burger joint when the best thing about it is the pineapple and balsamic vinegar dressing on the green salad. The dressing was light and only slightly sweet. It helped me feel less full after eating about 2/3 of the burger. The thin-cut french fries were not very crunchy and seemed like they had been refried one too many times.

It's also in an ugly, incredibly touristy part of town (a group of British teenagers asked me if there was an In-N-Out Burger anywhere nearby -- needless to say, they were pretty far off.) As another disincentive, affordable or street parking nearby is impossible.

Lucky Devils
6613 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA
(323) 465-8259