Eating Out: Arcadia's Taco Lita

There are foods that become bigger than themselves and turn into icons. Frank's Red Hot. Jiffy corn muffins. Nathan's hot dogs. Cafe du Monde coffee. Taco Lita taco sauce.

Didn't recognize that last item? Arcadia is a small city to the east of Pasadena that hosts two iconic foods-- Din Tai Fung's pork soup dumplings and Taco Lita taco sauce. If you live in the LA area, you need to try both. The chance you'll be addicted to Taco Lita taco sauce upon first bite is quite high.

Taco Lita opened in 1967, when anything in a tortilla counted as "authentic Mexican food". Step inside and you'll see not much has changed in the last 43 years. The interior is covered completely in bright orange, yellow and white tiles and the short menu still features retro Americanized Mexican food made of super-fresh, high-quality ingredients.

At one point, this was one of 15 Taco Litas, which is why this location's official name is "Taco Lita No. 15", a name that bewildered me as a kid. Now this is the lone surviving outpost but it's always hopping inside.

The tacos and burritos are tasty but what really calls people back is the taco sauce, given out in handfuls of packets with each order. This sauce isn't spicy but it's flavorful, thin, bright-red, vinegary sauce that's slightly smokey and makes your tongue dance. I noticed on this trip that the last ingredient in the sauce is listed as cocoa powder. Maybe that's the secret?

People love the tacos, the Lita Sandwich (basically a sloppy joe made with taco meat instead) but the bean and cheese burrito has always been my jam. They start with a soft, fresh tortilla roughly the size of your head. They warm it slightly, then spoon in creamy, salty refried beans, made with lard, I'm sure. Next, they sprinkle on handfuls of cold, finely-shredded, slightly-sharp cheddar cheese.

A bean and cheese burrito with tons of sauce and a cherry Pepsi (yes, a cherry Pepsi) are as comforting to me as Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Maybe more.

There's so much cheese in these burritos that only some of the cheese melts and there's a cool core of unmelted cheddar that pushes this concoction into the realm of lobster rolls, hot donuts and other unique delights. Authentic, it isn't, but it is so good.

Perfectly Boiled and Perfectly Adorable Eggs

The method for making perfectly boiled eggs is shared far and wide—put cold eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then shut the heat off and let the eggs sit for 10 minutes in the hot water. Drain and rise with cool water. Know what is really, really boring? Waiting for a pot of water to come to a boil. Maybe I’m just impatient but too many times I’ve wandered away from my eggs and ended up with gray, chalky egg yolks, so I can't rely on this method.

Enter the electric kettle!

I love my electric kettle. Space is tight in my kitchen but it lives on my countertop year round. We use it for tea, of course, but having a source of almost instant boiling water is incredibly helpful for household cleaning, deglazing roasting pans and making perfect hard boiled eggs.

Simply place your eggs in the kettle, cover them with cold water and turn the kettle on. The kettle will turn off automatically when it comes to a boil. I just listen for the “click” my kettle makes and glance at the clock.

When 10 minutes are up, rinse them in cool to stop them from cooking and peel. This is a super easy way to make a batch of boiled eggs when entertaining at breakfast time. These come out perfect every time with perfectly cooked yolks that are bright yellow and not chalky at all.

But what if you want your eggs to be easy and adorable? Then you need an egg shaper!

These egg shapers are available in Japanese shops (often with the bento supplies) or online. Simply peel an egg when it is still warm and place your eggs in the mold…

Close the mold slowly…

Dunk in an ice water bath for 10 minutes…

Holy cuteness!

If your eggs are on the large size, you may have to trim some of the white. These are great in a picnic lunch or a salad. I don’t know many children or adults who wouldn’t want to gobble these adorable little guys up!

(PS-- It's my 400th post! Wowee!)

Buttery Garlic Chive Naan

I love fresh bread with dinner but the prospect of turning the oven on for the sake of it makes me feel woozy. This easy, tasty flatbread, adapted from Michelle Chen at Allrecipes, cooks on the griddle or could even be thrown on the grill, so you can enjoy some soft, buttery naan without turning your kitchen into a horrible little hot box.

This is also a great recipe to try if you've been intimidated by yeast breads in the past because it's so easy and the pay off is huge.

Ingredients
2/3 cup warm water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, divided in half and softened
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons chives, chopped

How To
Proof the yeast by mixing the water, yeast and sugar together. Cover and let stand until the mixture is bubbly and creamy.

Mix the salt and flour together, then add the yeast mixture. Once the dough has come together, kneed in the yogurt and the first half of the butter. Knead well, shape into a ball, then place in a lightly oiled bowl.

Cover and let rise until the dough has doubled in size. This looks about right..

This is my favorite moment off making yeast breads. Foomp.

Divide the dough in half, then each half into quarters. Shape each piece into hand-sized, flat pieces. It's best to shape the dough roughly. That way, each portion has some thin crunchy bits and some fat, chewy bits. Place on parchment paper and cover. Let them rest about 15 minutes.

While the dough rests, melt the second portion of butter in a small sauce pan. Add the garlic, cooking until it is just soft and fragrant. Set aside and warm your griddle to medium-high for the naan.

Lightly oil your surface and carefully move the dough to the griddle.

Flip them once the bread has puffed up a bit and the bread is golden.

Once both sides are toasted, brush the top side with the garlic butter, sprinkle with chives and serve. We had ours with some curried tofu. Yum!

Name These Twice-Baked Potatoes!

I love bringing twice-baked potatoes to dinner parties because, first of all, they are delicious. Who can resist a potato stuffed with creamy mashed potatoes and all sort of goodies? They keep well, they travel well and they serve up beautifully. Usually, I take a fairly standard route of butter, bacon and cheese, but I was feelin' fancy and came up with twice-baked potatoes so good, they need their own name. Little help?

Ingredients
4 potatoes (or 5, if you want extra-full potatoes.)
4 ounces prosciutto, cubed
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup chopped chives
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
4 ounces truffle cheese, grated (obviously, you don't have to use truffle cheese but if you can get your hands on it, do it.)

How To
Start with your potatoes. I use this steakhouse baked potato recipe, though some people fear an exploding spud. I've never experienced one-- perhaps the salt on the outside helps somehow? If you're frightened, poke a few holes, though I find it dries the potato out a bit too much for my liking.

While your potatoes cook, prep the rest of your ingredients. Once the potatoes are cooked through, take them out of the oven and let them cool until can handle them. You may feel tempted to toss them in the fridge but the texture of a baked potato changes as cools. Hot potatoes = fluffy. Cold potatoes = gluey. While the potatoes cool, saute the prosciutto in the butter until the prosciutto is crisp and the butter has browned.

Take your warm potatoes and cut them lengthwise. Try and cut them on the narrow side. That way, you'll have wide boats to fill. Take a spoon and scrap the flesh from the center of the potato and place in a bowl. Don't feel the need to scrape them clean-- you'll want to have enough potato left behind to create a sturdy little potato boat.

If you want your potatoes to be nice and full, bake an extra potato, scrape out the flesh and chuck the skin. I had a somewhat ugly potato for this purpose. Thanks, ugly potato!

Add the remaining ingredients to the potato flesh, then mash and mix well. I used my mixer for this purpose, which works really well so long as you don't mix it too much.

Spoon the filling into the potato skins. Aren't they pretty? You could stop here and bake them without the cheese on top but that's a little like reading Playboy for the articles. Good, but it's not why you're there.

Top them with the truffle cheese and store them in the refrigerator until dinner time.

Bake at 375 degrees until the potatoes are hot and the cheese is melted and brown. They could have stood to brown a bit more but we were hungry and couldn't stand to wait another second.

We served these nameless potatoes with the best ribs on planet earth. With my father-in-laws permission and input, I might have another killer recipe to share.

Spaghetti Woven Through Sausages?

I don’t know if you’ve seen a funny little dish of hotdogs, spaghetti and Kraft cheese sauce, but it’s been making it’s way around the interwebs. The raw spaghetti is poked through the raw hotdogs. They’re boiled together and the way the noodles weave through the hot dogs seems like a magic trick.

There’s something about the dish that really makes me smile, though boiled hot dogs and Kraft cheese sauce are two things I haven’t really craved since college. But there’s no reason this clever little dish couldn’t be made with slightly more grown-up ingredients, so here’s my version.

I started with some spaghetti noodles I’d gotten from Mario’s, a fantastic Italian grocery and deli in Burbank and some garlic and herb chicken sausages I’d gotten from Trader Joe’s.

While my pot of water came to a boil, I poked the spaghetti through the chunks of sausage. I was worried the spaghetti wouldn't be hardy enough to get through but they slide in easily.

I figured a ratio of five spaghetti noodles to one-half inch of sausage was a good one.

Ready for the pot...

Stuffing the sausage noodles into the water was a little tricky… (edit: The pasta in the water softened and I was able to tuck everything into the pot without breaking anything in about a minute.)

While they boiled, I prepared a carbonara-style sauce of egg yolks, Parmesan cheese and lots of black pepper.

I drained the sausage noodles, then tossed quickly them in the sauce.

A few capers sprinkled over the top…

This was really satisfying and funny, a great weeknight meal. If you stab a chunk of sausage, you get the perfect ratio of pasta to meat. Efficient! I put this together as a kind of joke but think it may just show up in our regular rotation.

More Tasty Treats from the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest!

We couldn't resist going back to the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest for a showing of The Hangover at Exposition Park. More people watching! More fabulous food! Some of the highlights were self-serve sundaes from the Big Swirl Truck:

Great Balls on Tires worked out their production problems from last time and these little burger balls were tremendously good and very meaty:

This apple egg roll from Ahn-Joo reminded us of the deep-fried apple pies they used to serve at McDonald's. Mmm...

There are only a few Saturdays of films in the park left. This Saturday, The Breakfast Club is playing, then The Princess Bride follows on August 21st. I'll refrain from inserting a peanut joke here.

What are you having for lunch?