Weenie on a Bun

Finals were stressing me out.  Needed a quick study break and ANYTHING to get me out of the apartment.  After a hard day of studying I started craving a sausage.  I ventured to Little Tokyo with Kevin and Chad, two of my friends from the team.  We were in search of a sausage fix and ended up at Wurskütche, the German Sausage joint.  To me, the most impressive part of the restaurant was the design.  I love the outside decor that makes it look very industrial.  The red and yellow diagonal stripes almost look like you're entering the tunnel of a subway.  The front of the restaurant, where you order, looks like a small to-go restaurant.  The grill is visible and all the different sausages are on display.  Reminded me of a street vendor.  The back of the restaurant follows the hip LA scene with dim lighting and lots of long wooden community tables.  Overall it looked more like a bar than a restaurant.  In fact, there was a bar, and I would totally consider going there just for drinks.  We sat ourselves at a table in the back and waited for our sausages with our order numbers.  I grabbed some of the large mustard tubes while we patiently awaited our sausages.

Chicken, Apple, and Spices- chunks of apple
and specs of cinnamon

I ordered the Chicken Apple and Spices sausage with caramelized onions and sweet peppers.  The sausages were moist and juicy, but they were not specifically bursting with flavor.  I couldn't really pick out the apple or the cinnamon flavor.  The bun was sweet and soft, reminded me of an umami bun.  Personally, with hot dogs I like my bun toasted, but I see what they were going for.  The caramelized onions and sweet peppers were great on top.  I also used the whole grain mustard, definitely a good combo.   Chad and Kevin both ordered the Belgian fries.  Those were probably the highlight of my meal, when they weren't guarding them with their long swimmer arms.  I liked dipping them in Chad's Chipotle Aioli. Not a big fan of Ranch-what Kevin ordered.
After dinner my sweet tooth was acting up and I really wanted to go to The Pie Hole across the street.  Unfortunately it was closed! Before 10? I thought it was a late night joint? Anyways, I'm sure I'll blog about their mexican chocolate pie sometime soon.

Tropicalia

Bife Tropicalia
Marinated Beef Steak served with unique salsa Tropicalia,
farofa and salsa campanha.

Last week I promised my friend Chad from my swim team that I would take him to get breakfast burritos on Sunday.  The only problem is that I cannot sleep in past 7am, and he wakes up around noon.  By the time he is up I am already ready for lunch.  Unfortunately our breakfast burrito date didn’t end up working out, so I promised him I would take him out to dinner one night before thanksgiving.  When I asked him what type of food he wanted, he said anything not American.  Last time we went to Umami.  Even though he loved it, he needed a break from traditional food, eating in the dinning hall everyday.  I took him to Tropicalia, the Brazilian restaurant in Los Feliz.  I’d been here once before with my Grandpa, and thought he would really like it.  We both needed some protein, and some traditional bistec sounded like it would just hit the spot.  

I ordered the Bife Tropicalia, a marinated steak that came with rice, beans, fried plantains, and some side sauces.  It was the same dish I ordered last time with my Grandpa, and under the restaurant specialty menu, I knew it was going to be good.  Chad ordered the same thing.  There were a lot of options, but he was just worried about having enough food.  Being a swimmer, and a big boy, he needs a lot of calories.  He told me that he is actually the shortest guy in his extended family, but the most athletic of course.  The dish is a pretty large portion and I knew that he would have enough.  Both of our plates came out relatively fast.  We talked about our class on the team, and how he would like to go to Rio in 2016 to swim for Canada.  I told him that I would go, mainly for the food, but to watch him swim too.  This time my meat was a little colder than last time, almost room temperature.  But everything else on the plate was perfect. The rice and beans were very flavorful, and the green sauce (salsa Tropicalia) and light salsa (salsa campanula) both compliment the whole dish very well.  They go great on everything.  My favorite part of the plate is definitely the fried plantains.  Sweet like bananas, they’d go great with ice cream for dessert!  The only part of the plate I didn’t really like was the farofa (toasted manioc flour)  Even though it is little salty, its super dry, and I really don’t think that the crumbs add anything to the plate.  Chad loved his dish.  He finished the whole thing and then what was left of mine.  

Madagascar Vanilla and
Espresso Banana with
Brownies

We were thinking about ordering dessert, but I recommended that we go to a great gelato place really close in Silverlake.  We drove just down the street to Pazzo Gelato, supposedly the best gelato place in all of Los Angeles.  I’ve been here with my sister before, and they have some really interesting flavors.  

I sampled the Banana Nut Fudge and Mascarpone Orange with Fudge Swirl.  But I ended up with Madagascar Vanilla and Espresso Banana with Brownies.  The Banana Nut tasted too much like overripe bananas for me, and I didn’t really like the creamy mixture with the citrus in the mascarpone.  I knew I couldn’t go wrong with the Vanilla, and coffee sounded good to me after our South American dinner.  Chad went with the Egg Nog and Hazelnut Chip.  The small comes with two huge scoops of gelato, but for the price of $4.25, it was a pretty good deal for the best gelato in LA.  We sat outside by the heat lamps and tried each others flavors.  His Egg Nog was great, it was just very overwhelming, and I can only take so much Egg Nog in one winter season, going to have to wait after thanksgiving to have my yearly glass.  Our drive back to campus consisted of his persistent DJ-ing from my auxiliary iPod chord, and only getting lost for about 15 minutes.  He always argues that I never invite him to go anywhere with me, can’t say that anymore Chad.  I’d go on another adventure with him anytime, especially if he pays for the dessert again.