Welcome to Friday’s Weekend Eats Newsletter from L.A. TACO’s Hadley Tomicki, a look at some of the most exciting culinary throw-downs in L.A., made just for members of L.A. TACO.
It’s a packed weekend. In addition to the recs below, there’s a Good Food-curated night market at the Wende Museum tonight; a fried chicken party at Ayara Thai and a big Italian food festa in Culver City from one of the Pasta Sisters called Ferragosto on Saturday; and a fundraiser for CHIRLA at Jeni’s Ice Cream on August 18.
In addition, it’s Restaurant Week in L.A., with dedicated menus at Jacaranda, A Ti, Hatch, The Maybourne, Harold & Belle’s, Sampa, Fia, and hundreds of other places that have us licking our chops.
DONER HAUS ~ FLORENCE
L.A.’s streets are swarming with shawarma these days, while Turkish döner spots are also starting to mushroom around town. New York-founded Döner Haus has now entered the chat, with its first California location, now open at Juanita Tate Marketplace in South L.A.’s Florence neighborhood.
True to its last name, Döner Haus is focused on replicating the style of döner you’ll find in Germany and Europe’s streets, including sandwiches in a pide pocket, wraps, and meat-loaded boxes with fries, rice, and veggies, made with all Zabiha Halal, filler-free meats, and, in a first for the company, a seated experience.
A lamb-less experience, beef and chicken come carved straight from the revolving rotisserie, which you can combine in your orders. Either way, there’s Turkish baklava for dessert.
5857 S. Central Ave. Ste. 105, Los Angeles, CA 90001
BERENJAK ~ DOWNTOWN
Berenjak, which started as a tiny, humble London restaurant and now has locations in N.Y., Qatar, the UAE, and beyond, is offering a luxurious, seductive Persian dining experience in Downtown, from Iranian-born, England-raised chef Kian Samyani.
Inspired by Tehran’s kebab shops, the menu puts upscale spins on traditional dishes, including kebabs cooked over coals and shareable mazeh, which can be enjoyed in the open garden of Soho Warehouse or in a candle-lit dining room hung with portraits of bejeweled Persian royals.
You’ll need to order the very photogenic black chickpea hummus with sunflower seed tahini; then choose among dishes like prawn kebabs with fiery Kashmiri chiles; lamb koobideh; a riff on salad Olivieh featuring black truffles; mast o musir with strained yogurt and goat curds; lamb-laced ghormeh sabzi; and kashk e bademjoon with coal-roasted eggplant.
To drink, there are cocktails like “Grown-Up Doogh,” which adds clarified yogurt, gin, and dried mint to the classic formula; saffron carajillos; and salted plum-and-marigold margaritas, as well as wines from California, Georgia, and Lebanon, and non-alcoholic drinks like a black lime sharbat.
1000 S. Santa Fe Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90021
TACOX ~ RESEDA
Some people want to spend $20 billion to go to space. Some people want to endow the Valley with tacos al vapor. Those are our kind of people.
People like TacoX in Reseda, a red-and-orange truck focused on tacos, mulitas, tortas, and burritos with arrachera (skirt steak) and asada, steamed lengua and cabeza, chicken, pastor, and beef birria.
Tacos de lengua and arrachera are priced at $5, while the rest come in at $3.50, to which the business promises on its socials, it’s “not the cheapest. Just worth it.”
Mon.-Sun., 11 a.m. - midnight, 7601 Reseda Blvd. Reseda, CA 91335
SOBUNEH x TACOS 1986 ~ WEST HOLLYWOOD
Sobuneh, the biggest name right now in L.A. breakfast burritos, is collaborating with Tacos 1986 starting next Tuesday. The duo will offer two Sobuneh-inspired tacos only at Tacos 1986’s Melrose restaurant.
There will be a breakfast taco with scrambled eggs, carne asada, salsa matcha, and a cilantro-lime aioli, finished with a tater tot crumble and pickled onions; as well as a taco de hongos with 86’s ‘shrooms, honey-chipotle aioli, and salsa macha. In addition, there are horchata lattes with your choice of espresso or matcha.
“We’re excited for this one,” a spokesperson for Tacos 1986 tells us over DM. “The Sobuneh guys are awesome and have been a delight to collab with. The horchata matcha is special!”
Aug. 18-23, 8447-B Melrose Ave. West Hollywood, CA 90069
BARRANCO’S FRUIT ~ CITYWIDE
Barranco’s Fruit has built an impressive business around its fruit-filled, prepared yogurts, beginning in a van back when owner Aaron Barranco was a teenager, and now popping up at farmers’ markets all over Southern California with help from Aaron’s son, Ivan.
As Janette Villafana recently wrote in La Opinión: “Each yogurt has chopped fruit, such as pineapple, coconut, mango, passion fruit . . . yogurts are not super sweet; the sweetness comes from the fruits and honey . . . a refreshing and healthy snack, with a base of yogurt and wheat, they prepare it with amaranth, honey, nuts, and granola [on top].”
These healthy breakfasts can be found at Smorgasburg and farmers markets in Palmdale, South Central, San Fernando, Boyle Heights, and Riverside, among others, Wednesday through Sunday.
SI ROMA ~ LA VERNE
La Verne now has its own All’Antico-style spot for meat-stacked, Italian street panini built on griddle-toasted stirato baguettes, called Si Roma.
The business started life as a food truck in Glendale, where it also has a brick-and-mortar, and counts the founder of Pokitomik as a partner.
Options include the eponymous “Si Roma Deluxe” with prosciutto di Parma, grilled peaches, mozzarella, ricotta, and housemade Genovese-style pesto; the “Hungry Terrone” with pistachio-studded mortadella and straciatella; and the vegetarian “Filippo” with herbed artichokes.
Dessert involves lemon bars, tiramisu, cannoli, and pistachio cake, and there are also pre-made sandwiches to grab-and-go.
1253 Foothill Blvd. La Verne, CA 91750
