Food Travel

 On my recent trip to LA, we purposely found a Russian restaurant to try. I really like food and enjoy trying things I haven't had before. I have been thinking about it a lot lately. And in today's paper, in the food section, there was a whole article on different restuarants around town that specialize in different national cuisines.
I have been to the ones in the article, or ones like it, that serve food from Bosnia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, India,  Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Phillipines, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Venezuela, Veitnam.
Some I still have to try that have resturants here in the valley: Afghanistan, Australia, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sweden, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
The Russian food was good, but it didn't wow me. It was a little too heavy on the carbs, I think. The one thing I really didn' t like, was when dumplings or something were supposed to be stuffed with meat, the meat was pureed to the consistancy of baby food. Really a turn off for me I discovered. Not a lot of spice going on either.

 We stopped for dinner at another place that was called Paradise Bakery and Deli. We didn't realize until we were inside that it was an Armenian place. I was excited to try Armenian food. Above was a combo plate I got. Buckwheat, a big chicken/herb meatball, "green salad" with sour cream dressing and they cut big hungs of bread. I'm pretty sure that is Armenian diet coke too. Again, it was fine, but didn't wow me. The bakery, however, was amazing. I will do a separate entry on the bakery.

 Above is a mexican hot dog we got in a hole in the wall place on the street in the fabric district in LA. I have to say, that for my personal tastes, this was the best food I ate while I was in lA. The most flavors and fresh tastes. LOVED IT!

 This was the strawberry tart I ate for breakfast from the Armenian bakery. We went back there for breakfast after having dinner there the night before. It's in Glendale, CA if you you want to go. We also, by chance, wandered into Phillipino Bakery, Red Ribbon, in Glendale. It was good, but not anywhere in the same class.

 To go along with the theme, this was my recent try at Korean food. Again very tasty. I think I like asian, french, italian and hispanic flavors the best.

 This was my lunch at Sekong by night, just down the street in Phoenix, Cambodian food. Fresh and tasty.

 Thai food at Thai Lana. I really like the flavors of Thai food, but can only eat it moderately spicy.

These were one of the two appetizers we ordered at the Russian place. These were Zlatsky's I think. Mashed potatoes, with pureed meat or cabbage inside, then crusted in fine bread crumbs and fried. Served with a mushroom cream sauce. The other appetizer was really pretty and I lost my head and forgot to take a photo. Mini cheese balloons. Kind of like, bread crumb cheese balls, rolled in spices with a prune at the center.
So have you eaten anything interesting lately?