Casa Bianca’s Sausage-and-Eggplant Pizza

First off, this is a California interpretation of thin-crust Southside Chicago bar pizza, so if you didn’t grow up rooting for the White Sox, back off: It doesn’t resemble the pizza from Taconelli’s or any place named Ray’s because it’s not supposed to, and it’s cut into diamonds instead of slices because that’s the way it’s done. Secondly, you don’t like canned mushrooms? Don’t order it with mushrooms. You’re offended by the idea of pineapple? Don’t order the Hawaiian. The pasta isn’t al dente? Go to one of those fancy places where the valet charge alone is more than the cost of feeding a family here. But if you’re in the mood for dense, crunchy, chewy, half-burnt, family-cooked pizza with fried eggplant and homemade sausage, nothing even comes close. Casa Bianca, 1650 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock. (323) 256-9617.

Huarache de Cabeza

A huarache, the definitive unit of Mexico City street food, is a flattish, concave trough of masa shaped like a size-12 sandal, pan-fried or deep-fried, then smeared with beans, sprinkled with meat and layered with lettuce, grated cheese and cream. Part of the fun is eating the thing — a huarache is too brawny to attack with a flimsy plastic fork, and you will either burn your fingers or wait for your lunch to cool into corn-flavored cement. Emily Post provides no guidelines for eating a huarache. You can have a huarache topped with almost anything, from the black corn fungus called huitlacoche to standard-issue steak, but I like it best with cabeza — rich, gelatinous meat pulled from a cow’s head and cooked down into an ultraconcentrated essence of beef. El Huarache Azteca #1, 5225 York Blvd., Highland Park. (323) 478-9572.

El Atacor #11’s Potato Tacos

You will encounter many schools of thought when it comes to these tacos, some of which call for coarsely mashed spuds, others for herbs, and still others for a wallop of chorizo. But all pale before El Atacor #11’s tacos de papa: thin corn tortillas folded around gooey spoonfuls of puree and fried to an indelicate, shattering crunch. The barely seasoned potatoes ooze out of the tacos with the deliberate grace of molten lava. The glorious stink of hot grease and toasted corn subsumes any subtle, earthy hint of potato, and guacamole-drenched tacos de papasevaporate so quickly from the table that you understand why they come 10 to an order. El Atacor #11, 2622 N. Figueroa St., L.A. (323) 441-8477.

Good Girl Dinette’s Chicken Pot Pie

I have occasionally posited the existence of universal comfort food, dishes that would convey warmth and love and abundance as well to an Inuit as it would to a Jain, in Canada as well as in Kyrgyzstan. Then I start daydreaming about fermented mare’s milk, and the afternoon goes downhill from there. But if you were going to compile such a roster, you could do worse than to include Good Girl Dinette’s chicken potpie, a classically transcultural dish of yellow Vietnamese curry, peas and carrots and everything, baked under a dense, buttery biscuit crust. Good Girl Dinette, 110 N. Avenue 56, Highland Park. (323) 257-8980.

Eibis Restaurant’s Arabes:  I wrote a pretty sophomoric post a few months ago about hunting down an Arabes truck in East LA, comparing it to Ahab’s White Whale from Moby Dick.  The irony of course is that I drive within two blocks of Eibis Restaurant , which specializes in Poblano food, every day.  As a prerequisite for writing a food post I have to sprinkle a little knowledge on the dish at hand:  Allegedly, Arabes  trace their origins to Lebanese immigrants to central Mexico who brought spices from their homelands and applied them to pork, instead of the beef and lamb that was more common in Lebanon.  (For two other examples of successful Lebanese-Mexican fusion, see Salma Hayek, and Carlos Slim.)  At Eibis, the pork is roasted on a veritcal spit on the street (so as to maximize the exposure to exhaust emissions), filled with some salsa, and rolled into pan arabe, essentially a slightly thick flour tortilla, that has been warmed in corn oil.  One word of warning: I don’t think anyone at this restaurant speaks English beyond “hello”.  If you don’t speak Spanish, bring a friend, or prepare a script in advance.

Every nation has the government it deserves - Joseph de Maistre

Maybe we Angelenos deserve to be lorded over by bar exam flunkees who couldn’t govern their way out of a wet paper bag.  We vote them into office time and again either because they stamp the right party affiliation next to their name or because their skin is the right color.  These fools can’t find budget fat to trim in a city where rookie firefighters average $80,000-$100,000 a year, but they have managed to symbolically ban bad words,  build a rail network that ignores the worst traffic congestion in the nation, and criminalize taco trucks. (Actually, I suppose they failed at even that.)  The latest example of bureaucratic stupidity is in our neighborhood’s public parking.  No, not the quadrupling of parking rates, but instead the closure of lots at midnight.  Specifically, the lot on Lincoln between avenues 50 and 51.  A new sign now threatens to tow those parked after midnight.  This wouldn’t seem to be a problem until you consider the nascent night-life at Johnny’s and The York, where some people like to drink even after their coachman has transformed back into a mouse.  I guess we’ll all have to pay for the valet at Marty’s if we want to stay out past our bedtime now…

More proof that you're smarter than your elected representative...

]]> http://yorkblvd.com/2010/02/22/parking-politics/feed/ http://yorkblvd.com/2010/02/17/tonight-710-tunnel-technical-study-community-meeting/ http://yorkblvd.com/2010/02/17/tonight-710-tunnel-technical-study-community-meeting/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:08:51 +0000 YORK BLVD. http://yorkblvd.com/?p=1159

There will be a community meeting TONIGHT to give information on the recent geotechnical study on tunneling through Highland Park. From David Baird at the HHPNC Land Use Committee:

The SR-710 Tunnel Technical Study Team has recently completed the DRAFT Geotechnical Summary Report. The report has found that tunneling is feasible in Zone 2 (Highland Park) from a geotechnical standpoint. This Community meeting is scheduled to share the outcome of field exploration work conducted as part of the Study. A presentation on information contained in the DRAFT REPORT will summarize the geology, faulting, seismicity, material properties, hazardous materials and groundwater conditions within Zone 2.

Highland Park Residents, We demand you presence at this meeting in protest of tunneling under our community.

When:
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 6:00-8:00 PM

Where:
Ramona Hall
4580 N. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA

A long dispute means both parties are wrong. - Voltaire

In case you don’t keep up on the comments section of the blog, we’ve entered into a spirited debate with Eagle Rock resident Mo Oxford over our Sunday article on the ongoing tensions between Occidental College students and their neighbors.  Too often, internet arguments digress into name calling, self-righteousness, and personal attacks.  It has been refreshing over the last twenty four hours to engage in a debate that actually became more civilized instead of less.  We edited some of Ms. Oxford’s comments, for reasons we explain below, but what we would most like to know is what do you think?

The “sinister innuendo” you talk about in reference to the tragic death of a student was neither sinister or innuendo.  It was fact.  The student needlessly died in a hazing incident.  Yes, it was a single car accident and no, at the time of the accident there was no alcohol involved.  Here’s what was involved:  [Removed by YORKBLVD - See Below] The activities were illegal, the fraternity was already on probation for a number of violations, and was forbidden from conducting pledge activities…and they did it anyway, and a young man died.  I do find that to be more than just a tragic accident.  And the true tragedy was that the members of the fraternity learned nothing from it, because they continued to conduct unapproved pledging and hazing activities, which is what ultimately caused them to be banned from the school and kicked out of the national.

While I think most of us living near the college expect, and are tolerant of, more noise than one would expect in a non-college area, asking us to put up with out of control parties and noise is unreasonable.  I don’t like cleaning up vomit in my yard, or repairing damages to my home, car or landscaping, or cleaning up the broken glass in the street or the sidewalk — or being kept up until three in the morning when I have to be at work in a few hours.  And I’ve done all of those things more times than I can count.

I do agree that those behaviors are a criminal nuisance.  And yes, it would have been easier to move — and our community has lost some good neighbors who did exactly that.  I just didn’t feel like giving in to being bullied out of my home by a bunch of young people who behaved badly.  And, thankfully, those students are the minority of the Oxy student population.

And the college has stepped up.  They are now imposing the student code of conduct on off-campus behaviors as well as on-campus conduct.  They are trying to have more parties on campus.  The biggest problem is that the college can’t break the law, either, by allowing the underage students to drink.  And, unfortunately, most of the student population is underage.

My article was not “somewhat accurate” — it was accurate.  Thanks, at least, for supporting the idea that people have a right to live in their homes without having to tolerate criminal nuisances.

[...]

And I forgot to mention…while I used to work at Oxy (and loved working there — it still feels like a second home!), I no longer work for Occidental College and haven’t for a few years.  Also, contrary to what someone posted here in response to an earlier blog, I also don’t live in college owned housing and never have.

Mo

Hi Ms. Oxford, Thank you for posting.  We’ve removed the specifics of the accident because this is a subject that is very sensitive to us.  I think we both can agree that the young man’s death was terrible.  However, we think that human life, and the others who were seriously injured in the accident, trump both your understandable anger at your neighbors, and our desire to write a blog article.  This is why I’ve decided to remove the specifics of the incident.  Fraternity “hazing” conjures images of forced binge drinking, which was not the issue on that night. While I’m sure all involved would certainly make different choices if they could turn back the clock, we’re uncomfortable with a dead young man being used to make a point about neighbor relations.

Nevertheless, my central argument here is that the more the school cracks down on alcohol consumption (which is really what’s at the heart of this rowdy behavior), the more it will inevitably be pushed off campus.  Maybe the school can push it away from your front yard, but it will simply end up in someone else’s.  I am arguing that the school should focus on providing an environment on campus that will allow students, whose drinking is inevitable, to be rowdy where neighbors don’t have to deal with screaming, vomit, and drunk driving.  Thanks for reading!

You are missing the point.  Why in the world would you classify the rowdyiness and vomiting, never mind the drunk driving, as “inevitable”?  When did it become not only acceptable, desirable, and “inevitable” that some students would have to drink to the point of extreme inebriation?  The idea is not to push the problem to someone else’s yard, it is to solve it. I’m a mother, and a grandmother, and I can assure you, neighborhood relations are not the only things that concern me — or many of my neighbors.  And for the very reasons you mention — people’s lives and safety. The solution is definitely not to provide a place at the school or anywhere else where the “inevitable” excessive drinking can take place.  It is to work towards changing the attitude that it IS acceptable — that there is anything desirable and wonderful about being so drunk that you are vomiting.  And hazing is hazing; it is illegal and in this case, while that night (emphasis on that night) there was no forced binge drinking, it was still hazing — illegal, and prohibited by the school and the national, and everyone involved was well aware of the prohibition.  If you know anything at all about that fraternity, and you apparently do, you and I both know that this was not an isolated or even, necessarily, typical hazing for the fraternity.  There were others that were much worse.

Mo Oxford

Ms. Oxford,  it seems that ultimately we both want the same thing: A safer environment for students and a quieter neighborhood for the surrounding community.  Where we seem to differ is in our opinion of what a realistic solution is to the problem.  We don’t think that any amount of complaining by the neighbors, or any tightening of restrictions by the college, will eliminate alcohol abuse among young people.  Simply look at the school’s drug policy for proof.  Drugs are just as readily available at Oxy as at any other college (and Eagle Rock in general) yet the campus obviously doesn’t allow it.  Why would cracking down on alcohol be more effective given it’s more readily available, cheaper, more socially acceptable, and legal by the time most students are Juniors?

Therefore we have to disagree with your assertion that we’re “missing the point” if the point is that enough punishment and regulation will eliminate a problem that has existed since Noah drank himself unconscious in Genesis 9.  Alcohol abuse and drinking are inevitable precisely because they’ve always been inevitable.  It’s not something to celebrate, but it seems at least to me, a foreseeable consequence of sharing the neighborhood with 1,800 young people hell-bent on blowing off steam every weekend.

We do seem to want the same things, and I appreciate your points and the thought and consideration you’ve obviously put into these issues. My last comments on this (here, anyway, :-): It’s a disservice to the majority of the Oxy students to claim inevitability of alcohol abuse (and/or drug use). The majority of the students are not drinking themselves into oblivion hell bent on blowing off steam every weekend. That truly is a minority of the students. The college, by law, has to agree to enforce the law if they want to get the federal aid that helps so many students attending college. The college can’t just turn a blind eye and allow underage drinking if they want the federal funds to keep flowing. Punishment and regulation alone aren’t enough, but combined with education, information and assistance where needed, the process can certainly make a dent in it. And, maybe, long term, impact enough young people to change the attitude that it is desirable and inevitable.

Mo Oxford

Ultimately, we’ll leave this with one last point as our significant others would find it out of character if we didn’t insist on having the last word.  Of course the majority of students at Occidental aren’t drinking themselves silly every weekend.  Still, even if its only 10%, that equates to 180 students concentrated in a small area who can cause serious problems for neighbors.  Education is a wonderful route to take in theory, but the current generation of students has been educated since grade school (who remembers D.A.R.E.?) on the health effects of drinking and substance abuse, and still they choose to experiment.  Until Occidental accepts the reality of alcohol consumption among its student body, no amount of disciplinary hearings or guest speakers will solve a problem that is prevalent not only at almost every university across the nation, but in every neighborhood where you have a high concentration of young people.  Youth may be wasted on the young, but sometimes experience is the only way to educate someone.

This post has been marinating for a while.   I want to strike a respectful tone and be mindful of those who have a different but legitimate perspective.  Still, I can’t help but feel a segment of our Northeast community is trying to have their cake and eat it too.  Here it is: Why would you move within blocks of a college, and then be upset that you have to deal with the antics of college students?

A recent Boulevard Sentinel article penned by Oxy neighbor and employee Mo Oxford got me thinking.  In the piece, Ms. Oxford recaps a somewhat accurate history of the last decade of living next to the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house on Alumni Ave.  Some of her claims are exaggerated or loaded with sinister innuendo (the hazing death she mentions occurred because of a car accident with no alcohol involved), but generally, Ms. Oxford accurately recounts all the reasons people don’t like living next to fraternities: noise in the late hours, alcohol abuse, and pretty much the living conditions you would expect from a house full of 19 year-old boys.  Ms. Oxford is far from alone in her frustration with Oxy students.  A few months ago, a commenter to our site who identified himself only as “E” complained of drunk screaming in the wee hours, bemoaning a sense of entitlement, and calling Oxy students “the worst”.

So, to circle back on my original rhetorical question: “Why live next to a college if you don’t like college students?”  After all, wouldn’t Isla Vista just be a nice quiet seaside community if it wasn’t for UCSB?  Now if only I could stop with my sense of Oxy alumnus self-righteousness.  The problem with the behavior these neighbors are complaining about is that it’s a criminal nuisance. I don’t like graffiti, but am I not making the neighborhood better by calling 311 and having it painted out?  Similarly, are Ms. Oxford and “E” whiners for having run out of patience with underage drinking and behavior that prevents them from sleeping?

The problem with living near a college is that while the individual students grow up, (I’d like to believe I’m an example of this) the student body never does.  Your neighbors are doomed to be a constant cycle of 18 to 23 year-olds who are independent for the first time in their lives.  Still, living next to a college isn’t all bad.  Oxy has a beautiful campus that is open to the public, provides 1,800 customers for the local businesses we love so much, and brings some of the brightest minds in the nation to Eagle Rock. (I speak of the faculty; Oxy’s students are smart, but not that smart.)  Oxy has existed in our neighborhood for over 100 years and for better or for worse, it’s part of the community that isn’t going anywhere.

My solution then is that Oxy should liberalize their drinking policies.  Oxy parties are terrible.  In my time there, the school would typically buy one keg of beer for the entire student body, quarantine the drinkers in a roped-off pen, and generally, the alcohol was gone by 11.  It’s not responsible behavior, but students hell bent on drinking in a social environment would then move off campus.  The reality is that 18-23 year olds are going to drink, and the Oxyadministration has left students two options: 1. Engage in solitary drinking in a dorm room until Campus Safety arrives. 2. Go off campus and upset the neighbors.  Remember, the local bars are usually too expensive for college students and even worse, some require driving.

This isn’t news to the school’s administration.  Former interim college president Robert Skotheim acknowledged as much in publicly arguing for lowering the national drinking age. Don’t expect the school to assume the liability headache that would ensue from making drinking on campus more appealing to students however.  Oxy may present itself as being sympathetic to the neighbors’ complaints, but its alcohol policies are designed specifically to push students off campus to become the surrounding community’s problem.  Instead of vilifying students for behaving like students (albeit obnoxious ones), the community should look to the administration to assume its fair share of the responsibility to be a good neighbor.  For most us, this means an phone call to campus safety at (323) 259-2599; for Ms. Oxford, she can simply walk down the hall. ]]> http://yorkblvd.com/2010/02/07/occidentals-noble-experiment/feed/ http://yorkblvd.com/2010/02/04/eagle-rock-brewerys-revolution-xpa/ http://yorkblvd.com/2010/02/04/eagle-rock-brewerys-revolution-xpa/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:09:05 +0000 YORK BLVD. http://yorkblvd.com/?p=1130

Revolution XPA

In the third of Eagle Rock Brewery’s Marxist-themed brews, we finally got our chubby little fingers on a few pints of the Extra Pale Ale last weekend at the York.  We’ve been a little disappointed with ERB’s early products, but were excited to sit down and have our palettes hopped into next week.  Revolution wasn’t what we were expecting; It wasn’t bad, but it threw us a bit of a curve that we needed to adjust to.  Instead of dry and hoppy, the most accurate word I can use to describe its taste is “sweet”.  If I didn’t know better, I would swear they had mixed some cider into my beer as I just couldn’t get past the flavor of apples.  Revolution isn’t a bad beer, it just seems atypical for the style.

To get an idea of the father and son duo who are tackling the historic task of being Los Angeles’ only brewery, enjoy this spot in the Times’ Brand X (I assume because it’s xtreme) blog.

The LA Times interviews Steven and Jeremy Raub, owners of Eagle Rock Brewery, whose three brews are saturating the Northeast.  I’ll finally be sampling the Revolution XPA tonight.  I should have that review up by Easter.

Solidarity and Manifesto

After negotiating bureaucratic red tape for what seems like forever, Eagle Rock Brewery is finally open and selling beer.  We’ve been waiting for the city’s first brewery in nearly 60 years with bated breath, and considering Sothern California’s strong place in the craft-beer movement, our expectations were high, maybe unattainably high.  My initial reaction to Eagle Rock Brewery’s debut is that they haven’t fulfilled their promise…yet. As someone who’s done some pretty disastrous home brewing myself, I know that a beer’s potential is rarely fulfilled on the first try.  Still, two separate samplings of their Solidarity, a mild black ale, and the Manifesto, a wit bier, have left me longing for something more flavorful.  (Warning: Potentially self-absorbed description of flavors ahead.  Skip to the next paragraph if reading this annoys you as much as reading other people’s description of taste can annoy me. ) First, both beers had a slightly bitter metallic aftertaste that is usually a result of improperly stored malts.  This aftertaste was most noticeable in the Manifesto, which I was hoping would contain more fruitiness that the brew is known for.  I know that ERB intentionally uses less coriander and orange peel than your typical wit bier, (think Hoegarden), but instead of a light “dessert beer”, the result was much heavier and yeastier.  As for the Solidarity, I’m not a big fan of black ale’s, but ERB should be commended for attempting something a bit scarcer in this part of the world. Chocolate and coffee was slightly noticeable on the first sip, but that taste was lost for the rest of the pint.  They’ll be releasing an X IPA soon that I’m hoping will fill the gaps in their current two-beer menu.

The Tasting Room

Now that I’m done sounding like an asshole, their tasting room has been designed very nicely.  Marble countertops, bench seating with throw pillows, and an unobstructed view of the brewery make this a welcoming spot to talk to the father and son who run the brewery about their craft.  The only catch?  You need to email ahead if you want to sample the wares (for about $4 per pint) or take a free brewery tour.  If that’s too much forethought to put into your drinking, you can currently find the Solidarity on tap at Verdugo and Pure Luck, while you can grab a pint of the Manifesto at Blue Palms.

No one wants to see this brewery succeed more than we do (besides probably the father and son who’ve dedicated years and untold sums of cash in this endeavor).  We’ll definitely be back rooting for ERB to improve their subsequent batches.

Unfortunately she confuses us with Eagle Rock and moves us about 16 miles southeast.  On her lifestyle blog, GOOP.com, the actress reports on the best places to dine in Los Angeles.  Among the usual list of popular restaurants is the Tacos La Estrella on Colorado and Highland View with this added note:

A little off the map in Highland Park (it’s east of East LA) La Estrella offers some of the best al pastor tacos.  Worth a little drive after the trip to the Griffith Park or a Dodger’s Game.

There’s so much wrong here that my sense of indignation is about to cause me to have a conniption.  Is it possible that the editorial staff at GOOP, by which I of course mean Gwyneth, simply copied this erroneous entry in the LA Times’ Guide?  In any event, maybe Mrs. Martin can afford a map with her proceeds from Iron Man 2.  Therefore, on behalf of every neighborhood east of La Brea, I would like to formally invite Gwyneth and Apple to have a taco al pastor in Highland Park.  I’ll even stop at Cinnamon to pick up some vegan tamales for Chris.

Fortunately, I have a suggestion for those who want to help those in need without exploiting or stigmatizing the poor as something “other”.  This Wednesday, a bevy of charity groups are hosting a Glassell Park Neighborhood Posada from 4-6 PM at Juntos Park, 3145 Drew Street.  Traditionally, a Posada involves viewing nativity scenes but since the flyer wishes us “Happy Holidays”, and various city departments are sponsoring the event, I’m not sure how much religious imagery to expect in a public park.  Still, kids can get free piñatas, adults can drink free champurrado, and if you’re so inclined, you can find a way to get involved in gang-prevention and social work without stigmatizing the poor.  You’re even allowed to get a little thrill from being in the barrio.

How quaint... (Courtesty franklinhills.org)

I’ve long been a fan of Dave’s Chillin-n-grillin’ and am always surprised when someone from the neighborhood hasn’t heard about it. Most likely that changed today when Dave was front and center on L.A. Times. I won’t paraphrase too much here, but the main point of the article was Dave’s “Pilgrim” sandwich, made fresh from Thanksgiving leftovers (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy) every Thursday in September through April.

Truthfully, such a sandwich sounds terrible right now. I’ve been on an all-turkey diet for the last 48 hours and feel like I’ve been sweating gravy for the last 12.

That said (hats off to LD for the turn of phrase), Dave makes some of the best sandwiches around, easily besting Auntie Em’s and maybe even our local Italian Deli (depending on what you order). I’ve gone up and down the menu and never been disappointed with anything. The French Dip is the one I keep coming back to, but it may not be for everyone. It’s not traditional in the sense the au jus is poured over it, making it “pre-dipped” if you will. But I love the horseradish mayo and the roast beef is always fresh. As Dave once told me, “I won’t eat crap, so I don’t sell crap.”

Also tops on the list is either the tuna melt or turkey melt. The white bread is delicious and perfectly crisp and the fresh tomato makes a great contrast to the hot sandwich and melted cheese. I only mention the Italian Deli because they still make the best Italian combo around (at least until Bay Cities opens an East-side location). Dave’s is a good effort and he even gave me a five minute lecture on the quality of the salami, but it still falls a little short.

Of course, that highlights the other great thing about Dave’s: It is by far the most aptly named establishment I’ve ever been to. Most times you walk in you’ll find Dave, just chillin’ and grillin’. He’ll chat you up about food, the Red Sox, or neighborhood, all while making a handful of sandwiches. The wait is usually a little longer than necessary, but the conversation is always entertaining and well worth it. Dave is a genuinely nice guy and will go the extra mile to make you happy, such as running to the grocery store to buy milk to make you a chocolate malt. Delicious.

(metro.net)

The Gold Line Eastside Extension opens today and is free from the Sierra Madre station to the new terminus at Atlantic.  Based on my brief trip today, Mariachi Plaza and East LA Civic Center look to be the hubs of today’s entertainment schedule.  Metro has published a dining guide, as has the LA Times, so in honor of being able to hire mariachis for our next party without having to get into our cars, we’ve linked below to some older reviews of locations near the new extension.  Some of the spots further south may require a long walk or a bicycle.  Enjoy.

Little Tokyo

Sushi Gen

Indiana

Cemitas Tepeaca

El Mercadito

Tacos Arabes

La Que si Llena

Tacos El Korita

East LA Civic Center

Moles la Tia

Atlantic

Tacos El Galuzo

Get home before 7pm between now and November 20th, or you may be getting to know the surface streets of Cypress Park or South Pasadena. CalTrans will be closing on ramps and offramps between the 5 and Bridewell St. for the next month as part of a 13 month renovation to the 11o North.  In case you were wondering, $17 million of your accelerated tax withholdings buys decorative concrete barriers and historic reproduction lighting.  No word if they’ll be making it any easier to merge onto the freeway.  Maybe they’ll install an aircraft carrier catapult to allow commuters to merge more easily.

To see the full list of closures, click here for the pdf.

WWJE? (What Would Jesus Eat?)

So they don’t actually serve molé at this truck parked outside of El Super, but they do promise the “Taco Naco” (which roughly translates as Tacky Taco).  The truck has decent food, but this isn’t a food review.  I’m just having some fun with photoshop and a camera.  Enjoy.

We also ran into another review for Metro Balderas.  This chilango eatery continues to impress pork lovers and the Jonathan Gold entourage.

In the past, we’ve lobbied that readers submit stories to us as a preventative against the occasional digital doldrums our blog runs into.  In this case, the Bike Oven was nice enough to send us a press release concerning a meeting tomorrow at Ramona Hall about the Los Angeles Bike Plan.  I write this with the hopes that it will encourage others to submit us stories of note.  Also, I don’t want to muddy the waters and pretend to have done work that we didn’t do.  (Not that any media outlets would simply go to press with unresearched press releases…)

Gas prices are up, we’re fat, and with the exception of a few neighborhoods (like ours) Los Angeles has expansive flat areas ideal for commuting on bicycles.  Of course the biking infrastructure in our city largely consists of a few painted lines that sometimes take you where you want to go.  Worse still are drivers who range from oblivious to homicidal.

Fortunately, some Angelenos see the unsustainability in the endless widening of streets and building of freeways.  The Los Angeles Bike Plan is an exhaustive study of existing bike infrastructure, and identifies potential improvements that might serve to better connect a city that can seem so balkanized by our massive freeway system.  Northeast Los Angeles looks to gain little of note with on exception:  The current bike lane in the Arroyo Seco that stretches from York to Avenue 52 would be extended south to connect with the Los Angeles River and continue as far south as San Pedro (think of it as the 110 for bicycles).  Besides this intriguing possibility, our area is most likely to receive a modest increase in bike lanes denoted by simple signage and/or lane stripes.

One issue I would like to see solved is Metro’s current bike policy that really discourages commuting via bicycle and bus/rail.  Buses only accommodate two bikes at a time while the rail system’s rules prohibit bikes in the cars during commuting hours in the directions most people need to go. (Towards downtown in the morning, and away in the afternoon.)  I’ve been told that 6-7 miles is as far as most people are likely to commute via bicycle on a regular basis.  For those of us who work farther away, being able to get downtown or to Hollywood with our bikes would be a very tempting alternative to sitting in traffic. ]]> http://yorkblvd.com/2009/11/04/los-angeles-bike-plan-meeting/feed/ http://yorkblvd.com/2009/10/28/yorkblvd-gets-served/ http://yorkblvd.com/2009/10/28/yorkblvd-gets-served/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:14:54 +0000 YORK BLVD. http://yorkblvd.com/?p=1045
South Park - You Got Served

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What the hell did just happen?  This website has a contentious bit of history with the world’s most famous taco truck.  A couple of guys whose turn-ons include eating and customer service had some choice words for some food entrepreneurs after a missed connection in Eagle Rock.  Scathing postings were exchanged, acrimonious comments were made to the articles, and many an L was capitalized.  In short, much ado was made about nothing, and as it tends to do, life went on.

At least for some of us.

Despite culinary awards, countless positive reviews from traditional media and bloggers alike,  and wait times measured in hours, this family-owned business has the institutional memory of an elephant when it comes to slights.  Over the weekend, this truck’s few detractors were devastatingly “served” via the hyperlink-laden lyrics to Cypress Hill’s “Rock Superstar”.

I probably should just ignore this, and have been advised by those much wiser than me to do so, but alas, “just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in“.

Search Kogibbq.com and look for their article titled Exorcism: The Purge.  We haven’t linked to their post mainly because we’d like to encourage you to get an idea of the tenor of their entire site.

People who display this much hubris on the internet open themselves up to so many different criticisms, it can be hard to focus on just one.  In my estimation, the article’s most supercilious claim, almost lost in the jumble of hip-hopisms and disturbing juxtapositions of bodily fluids and cooking, is that the truck “takes risks going into neighborhoods that no other taco truck would touch”.  I’m not quite sure how to address such an incorrect (and latently classist) statement but here it goes: I don’t follow this truck closely enough to know for sure everywhere it has plied its trade, but based on their schedule for this week, the “riskiest” neighborhood I see on the map is on the corner of our own York Blvd. and Eagle Rock Blvd.  While the ARCO on that corner might be an adventure into the seamier side of Southern California for the Noveau Food Trucks, it’s not exactly a wasteland of mobile food.  Scary as it may be, they would do well to chat with Leo, who has been working out of a taco truck (this far from the Alibi Room?  Really?) for the better part of two decades.  Pulling your head out of your…Twitter account…can do wonders for your perspective.

Professional myopia aside, the article asks a good question: “What more can anybody want from us?”.  Our answer: Be nice and move on.

Believe me, we know how cool you all are.  Heck, your linking to us probably moved us up in Google searches by a few notches.  Still, even Jesus was nice to the little people lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him.  In fact, he was so cool he didn’t even sweat the critics who wanted him dead.  All we’re asking for is a baseline of maturity and professionalism.

Ultimately, although the Street Code requires us to battle for our honor, we’re just a couple of bewildered “wankstas” content with cheap tacos and a “risky” neighborhood.  That, and we’re out of commission since we may need physical therapy after such a severe serving.  Peace out.