Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Gumbo Spot

Gumbo: a delicious mixture of spice and in my case seafood. I went to The Gumbo Pot in the farmers market and tried and I quote, "Best Gumbo In Town". The gumbo was served with corn bread and some interesting spicy potato salad. The sad part though was that I found it underwhelming. When I ordered the southern staple I was expecting this amazing mixture of crab and shrimp that would leave me in tears from the amazingness of it all. But that failed to happen.

The corn bread was dry and the best part of the whole meal was the potato salad. The worse part of the whole experience was that I found a hair in my gumbo. You may say "hey are you sure it was not your own hair?" Which I reply, yes I know mine is falling out, but the hair in question was long and curly so that rules out my half PI locks. 

Final Bite: Best Gumbo In Town? Hardly, keep in mind that I have not eaten any other gumbo in this town, but it's fair to say that there are probably better gumbos.

The Gumbo Spot
The Farmers Market
6333 W 3rd St # 312
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-933-0358

Bay Cities - The Godmother

Just like my food idol Joey Tribbiani my favorite food is also sandwiches. The Earl of Sandwich really had a great idea here and I am so happy that he was a degenerate gambler and refused to leave his hand at the poker table. If it weren't for this visionary we might not have this delicious treat, actually we probably would eventually, seriously how hard would it have been to invent the sandwich anyway?

In Santa Monica exists a great pseudo restaurant known as Bay Cities Deli that I am sure if Joey was a real person or the Earl came back to life as a zombie would definitely be a stop on their lists. I have been to this fine establishment a few times but I finally was able to show enough self control and take a picture of my food before I started eating (my new rule for this blog is that the food I blog about must be ordered by me or a majority of it must be consumed by myself AND I must have a picture, because seriously we all know too many words are boring).

I first heard about this place in an interview with Keanu Reeves in Details magazine, and I knew from the description that it would be right up my alley. Your best bet is to A: not go on Monday's because they are closed and 2: place your order online and then pick it up. The place is a mess of people. You will be there forever and you will hate yourself, that is until you eat the sandwich then it's all worth it, but you'll be bitching every second until that first bite. 

I ordered per usual the Godmother with the works and hot peppers. The Godmother is pretty much a classic Italian Hoagie, yes Hoagie get it right people, with Genoa Salami, Mortadella Coppacola, Ham, Prosciutto and Provolone cheese. The "Works" condiments on this amazingness come as follows, Mayo, Mustard (Yellow, Honey or Dijon), Onions, Pickles, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Italian Dressing and Mild or Hot Pepper Salad. One of the best parts and also faults in my opinion of this monster is the bread. The bread is soft and moist on the inside crispy on the out BUT it is almost too hard on the outside. If I was in an old folks home I would probably have to blend this thing to eat it. The trick that I found that works for me is you just let the sandwich sit. It will be really, really hard once you've experienced this bad boy but trust me if you let it sit for 15-30 minutes after you order it the juices soak in and you will be very happy.

Final Bite: Bay Cities Godmother is one of the best Hoagies I've had not only in LA but ever. Yes that's a statement as bold as their hot peppers. Do yourself a favor if you live far from Santa Monica, order online and show up late to pick up your sandwich.

Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery 
1517 Lincoln Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-8279