This week we're taking a culinary tour through Southern California. Along the way, we'll sample some of the best ethnic cuisine the Left Coast has to offer, beginning with Danish meatballs in Solvang and ending with taste-bud-popping genuine Italian gelato in San Diego.
Southern California is perhaps the world's greatest culinary melting pot. Whether your passion is burrowing into burritos or scarfing Pad Thai to Elvis music, So-Cal's all that and a bag of chips – here's just a sampler platter. Loosen that seat belt. SoCal is known for foods from Latin America and Asia, but we begin our journey with old-world comfort food in Solvang, which bills itself as the Danish capital of America. No trip to this quaint red-painted timber-built town is complete without æbelskiver (apple fritters) at Solvang Restaurant; they're so popular that there's a special takeout window. Bit o' Denmark serves a classic smorgasbord (Danish buffet) of over two dozen items in Solvang's oldest building (1911); don't miss the frikadeller (Danish meatballs).
Highway 101 takes you into Santa Barbara. It's one of the West Coast's ritziest cities, but La Super-Rica looks downright humble, tucked away in the closest thing Santa Barbara gets to a barrio.
Windmill imitation and shops along Alisol Road in Danish Village. Solvang, California
© Witold Skrypczak Lonely Planet Images.
From here continue south on Highway 101. It's about 1.5 hours into L.A. and America's first Thai Town. Browse the market at Thailand Plaza shopping center, or go upstairs, where the food court is a California take on Bangkok street stalls: look for "silver and gold bags" (ground pork and shrimp in wonton wrappers) and "crying tiger" (grilled, marinated beef). Down the street, Palms Thai offers classics on both plate and stage. Pad Thai, curries, beef jerky, and barbecue are second to none (there's also a special menu of venison, frog, and more). Then, Palms throws in a Thai Elvis impersonator at night. "Can't help falling in love" indeed.
Head south on Western Avenue to Koreatown, 900-some restaurants spreading for miles. Chosun Galbee offers a busy but chic setting for galbi (marinated beef ribs), dak bulgogi (chicken), and more cooked on a grill set into your table. Manna Korean BBQ, a block away, is its open-air equivalent, with cheaper all-you-can-eat deals.
A few miles west, the Fairfax District is the historic hub of L.A.'s Jewish community. Canter's Deli is an institution, having sold more than 2 million pounds of lox and 24 million bowls of chicken soup since 1931.
A couple of miles south on Fairfax Avenue is Little Ethiopia. While the main pedestrian strip through the neighborhood is like Main Street, Anywhere, U.S.A., the cooking is brazen and fiery. Use your hands to tear apart large spongy millet crepes called injera, the better to scoop up the savory curry stews served at Rosalind's.
Interstate 10 and California Highway 110 take you to Little Tokyo in Downtown L.A. In the shadow of City Hall, it looks more Californian than Japanese, but the cooking's authentic and the browsing fun. Daikokuya specializes in steaming bowls of ramen noodles or domburi (rice topped with chicken, pork or egg). A short drive away, R-23 is a forward-thinking sushi bar/art gallery known to attract the occasional celebrity customer.
Lots of places have a Chinatown, but L.A. County has about a half-dozen. Empress Pavilion rules Downtown L.A.'s historic Chinatown for brunch of dim sum, a cacophony of servers wheeling carts of steamed, fried, and baked dumplings. Barbecue at Sam Woo is sweet and tangy — duck, chicken, pork, and more. Other Chinatowns line the cities of the San Gabriel Valley east of L.A.: Monterey Park, San Gabriel, Rosemead, Alhambra, and Arcadia.
Amid L.A.'s hoards of taco and burrito stands, the gourmet La Serenata de Garibaldi is a beacon in East L.A.'s Mexican neighborhood, fancy and fine, with a large menu of fish and seafood. If you like your evenings as eclectic as your cuisine, the 1925 Figueroa Hotel in Downtown L.A. makes a good break.
It'd be easy to spend another week browsing L.A.'s ethnic restaurants and shops, but this morning the great south beckons. Head out of town on Interstate 5 to Little India, on Pioneer Boulevard in the Orange County city of Artesia. Tirupathi Bhimas serves famous vegetarian cuisine; look for koota, a lentil stew with chili and coconut.
Eat quickly, though, because it's not a long drive to Little Saigon, the world's largest community of overseas Vietnamese, straddling the O.C. communities of Garden Grove and Westminster. Try Vietnam's national dish, pho (noodle soup), at Pho 79; there's a great version using chicken. It's inside Asian Garden Mall, a hulking Vietnamese shopping center that makes for excellent browsing and local color before or after your meal. Brodard serves famous Nem Nuong Cuon — rice paper wrapped tightly around pork paste — way more addictive than it sounds!
Interstate 5 continues south, where Old Town San Diego is one of the state's oldest settlements. Mexican restaurants here range from margarita-pouring dives to white-tableclothed boîtes. Old Town Mexican Café makes tortillas right there in the window — enjoy yours with machacas (shredded pork with onions and peppers). Meanwhile, the refined El Agave pours from some 1,500 tequilas to accompany its renowned dishes of mole (spicy sauce of chili and chocolate).
A short ride away, just north of downtown San Diego, is California's biggest Little Italy south of San Francisco. The brass-railed confines of Zucchero offer up a homey setting to enjoy a short phonebook's worth of pizzas, seafood dishes and gelati. From here, who knows where your taste buds will travel — perhaps across the border to Tijuana, where another world of flavors, aromas, and textures awaits.
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