A Place Like Home

Greetings, Readers!

Lately, I've been in the process of working on the changes coming to the blog here, and os have had less time to actually pursue new and exciting sandwiches.

But that doesn't stop me completely.

Nearly three years ago, I wrote about a place called HyMart in North Hollywood. It's a great Mediterranean sandwich shop tucked into a strip mall at the south end of the North Hollywood Arts District.

It's a fantastic place, and while I've visited it numerous times since my review, I've never had the urge to write about them again since because I usually get the same sandwich.

While different from the initially reviewed sandwich, The Chicken-iliki is a real stunner. It contains hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, pickles, cucumbers, Greek olives, avocado, feta cheese, lemon, olive oil, mint, basil, pepper, tzatziki yogurt, and tahini sauce all on display with the delicious and tender pulled chicken.

The sandwich is an explosion of flavor in your mouth. Each flavor complements the other without being overpowering, and the chicken is flavorful, tender and
juicy. Despite the amount of ingredients, this sandwich is light and refreshing, perfect for a summer afternoon in valley heat.

I could go on about the sandwiches here at this excellent small business, but really the amazing added touch, and the other reason why I will always share the secret about this amazing sandwich shop, is the service.

The people who run and work in this shop always offer up a happy greeting when you walk in. From the second you step inside their door, everyone is happy to see you, as if you're a member of their family and they haven't seen you for weeks. Every time I walk in their, one of the owners always greets me by name (though most of the time it's not the right name, I thoroughly appreciate the extra welcoming).

If you get a chance to check out HyMart (also known as Georgi's Place), definitely stop in. Not only are the sandwiches delicious, but you'll immediately feel at home.

Until next week....



Chicken-iliki
**** 1/2 Stars
HyMart Sandwiches
4795 Vineland Avenue
North Hollywood, CA 91602

Federal-ly Mandated Burgers

Greetings, Readers!

I hope that in the last week you've put my burger recipe to use, or at least pondered what your own special concoction would be.

This week, I continued my summer burger run by visiting a bar/restaurant in my own neighborhood: The Federal.

Now I've visited The Federal a few times before, but only for drinks. This swank throwback-style bar on Lankershim in the NoHo arts district has become quite the hotspot since it opened.

From looking at the burger menu (and beer menu as well) it's obvious the Federal has a great selection for you to choose from. I settled on the Greco burger as I have yet to have a lamb burger for the blog.

This thick lamb patty came topped with a heathy dose of feta cheese, a handful of parsley, sliced tomato, olives and covered with tzatziki sauce.

The lamp patty was delicious. Cooked through nicely, but still thick, juicy and flavorful. The pungent feta cheese and tzatziki sauce added their contrasting flavors or pungent cheese and cucumber yogurt to the mix. In such a heavy sandwich, the refreshing cucumber tzatziki was an excellent, yet expected, addition.

Despite this burger being absolutely delicious, there were two problems that held this burger back from greatness.

The first problem was the parsley. Now the idea of adding parsley to the sandwich, I totally agree with. But in this sandwich, the stalks of the parsley were just too thick. So thick in fact that it usually took more than one bite, or gnawing, to get through them, not allowing for quick and clean bites of the burger.

The second problem was the bun: it did not hold together. I made it about two-thirds of the way through the sandwich before the bun was just in tatters. Part of it came from the fact that the sandwich is fairly large, but also that the tzatziki sauce had caused it to break down after a few bites.

Both of these problems should not deter you from trying the Greco burger, but they both had their part in holding back this burger from getting closer to five stars.

Until next week, Readers...


The Greco Burger
*** 1/2 Stars
The Federal Bar
5303 Lankershim Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 91601

Off To The Greek Isles...Or South of Koreatown.

Good Morning DANGER-ites!

Once again, taking up my now sacred duty to taste test all of LA's 17 most delicious sandwiches, I arrive in the Byzantine-Latino Quarter of Los Angeles (yes, it does exist, much to my surprise as well).

Alongside taco stands and spanish billboards lies Cyrillic signs and Papa Cristo's, a delicious Greek deli and market.

Having to drive this far away, I breathed a sigh of relief when I arrived there at 730: 30 minutes before closing.

I quickly ordered the sandwich and awaited a delicious journey into my digestive system. The service was very quick too as my sandwich, along with pickled vegetables, was on the table in less than 10 minutes.

To start, the Roasted Lamb and Feta Cheese sandwich comes on a tough Italian Roll, with large chunks of slow roasted lamb, and copious amount of feta cheese.

The sandwich roll was a very good contrast for the sandwich: a little tough and perfectly golden.

The lamb must have been roasting for quite some time, as the meat easily feel apart in my mouth. Taking a chunk of it from my sandwich, I pulled it apart to see that most of the fat had been melted away ages ago, leaving a very tender, juicy, and lightly seasoned meat in it's wake.

While the lamb is more subtle in its flavor, the Feta cheese is a different story altogether. Feta cheese is another one of my favorite cheeses for any situation. I really do love dry and pungent cheeses (listen to me rave about goat cheese sometime), and this feta delivers. It is a serious taste bud explosion when you get a mouth full of feta along with the lamb. It really adds a nice punch to the entire sandwich.

Overall, the sandwich ranks very highly with me. The lamb was very well roasted, the cheese adds a nice touch, and the bread surrounding this delicious pair ties it altogether in a distinctly DANGEROUS way.

If you're in LA, and can make the trip to this remote part of the city, Papa Cristo's is definitely worth the journey to this DANGER-filled neighborhood.

**** Stars

Papa Cristo's

2771 West Pico Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90006

http://www.papacristos.com