Mediterranean Delight

Mediterranean Delight
126 S Brand Blvd
Glendale
818-543-3272

Glendale is filled with Middle Eastern restaurants; Counter service restaurants like, Kebab Way, and full service restaurants like Shiraz, Raffi's Place, Carousel, and Elena's.  So, when I was in Glendale recently, I wanted to try a new middle eastern restaurant.  I went online and found Mediterranean Delight, which was much easier to find than the actual restaurant.

Mediterranean Delight is a small counter service restaurant.  There are a few tables inside, along with some outdoor seating.   Mediterranean Delight is located in a walk way, so you do no see their sign when you're on Brand Blvd.  The restaurant across from Mediterranean Delight is Vegas Seafood Buffet, that was packed, I may have to pay them a visit.

Chicken breast dinner plate, $8.70 with rice, salad, hummus, pita bread, and tomato.  The chicken was moist, juicy and flavorful!  The portion size was very generous, especially for the low price.  The rice was fluffy and cooked perfectly.  The salad was bagged salad with a tangy vinaigrette dressing.  The hummus was very smooth, but a bit bland I prefer hummus with more garlic.  But, overall a damn good chicken breast kebob.  Well worth the price. 

Four falafel al carte, $2.  This is among the best falafel that I have ever had!!  Crunchy on the outside, with a moist flavorful inside.  Just wonderful and you can tell they made this fresh!!

Service was very good.  We were greeted when we entered and the server was very nice and helpful.

Mediterranean Delight blows away the other counter service Middle Eastern restaurant, Kebab Way, that I've tried in Glendale.  And comes very close to Shirazz and Raffi's place in terms of quality, even though both of those places are full service restaurants.  I would go back to Mediterranean Delight anytime!!  What a wonderful discovery.  

Mohawk Bend

Mohawk Bend
2141 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

There was a Vegan Pizza Crawl in Echo Park and I decided to finally try Mohawk Bend.  Mohawk Bend is housed in a former theater and one of the owner is a vegan who wanted to have vegan options on the menu.  This is a hipster place.  Not really my style but I don't go to a restaurant to talk to strangers, I go to eat!

Truffle mac and cheese calzone-$5.  This was disappointing.  There wasn't much cheese sauce in this calzone.  It should have been called a truffle, mac and onions calzone.  The macaroni was well cooked and the onions perfectly caramelized.  The crust was very good, some pizza places could learn from Mohawk Bend on how to make a calzone crust.  But, it was just too dry without any cheese sauce.  They use a cashew cheese on their pizza. 

Buffalo cauliflower with vegan blue cheese dressing, $7.  A server brought this to our table by mistake, but it looked so good, I had to order it.  Don't worry, the server took the first order to the correct table.  This was amazing!!  The cauliflower was cooked al dente and had a firm texture and crunch.  The buffalo sauce was amazing, heavy on the vinegar but not spicy.  The vegan blue cheese was great.  I actually thought it was real blue cheese.  A nice cooling contrast to the tangy buffalo sauce.  I would order this again, any time!

Service was good and bad.  Our server was nice and friendly.  But, they had already ran out of one of the vegan pizzas on the menu by about 7pm.  How does that happen?  I know it's tough to predict how many people will be coming but come on, you can run out that soon into the dinner rush. 

Speaking of the dinner rush, they seemed overwhelmed by the Vegan Pizza Crawl.  The table next to us waited a full 30 minutes before getting their orders and their order was taken at the same time as ours!  The server kept saying they were backed up, over and over.  I mean this is the second year in a row that Mohawk Bend was part of the Vegan Pizza Crawl and they were overwhelmed??

The calzone was a major part of the reason I went to Mohawk Bend, but it was disappointing and I wouldn't order it again.  But, I did find the buffalo cauliflower to be an outstanding dish and I'm coming back just for that!!  Hopefully, they won't be overwhelmed!

The York

The York
5018 York Blvd
Los Angeles
323-255-9675

Just a few blocks west of Maximiliano, is The York a gastropub on, suprise, York Blvd.  There is no signage on the back of the sign in the picture above.  So, if you're heading east on York Blvd, you won't see the sign for The York. 

The York is a large and wide bar.  It was pretty full the night we went and it was only about 7pm.  The only menus are written on chalk board and hanging on the east and west walls of the building.  Interesting!  The other interesting thing is that all orders are taken at the bar!!  There are no servers, just a young woman you brings your food to your table.  If you didn't know about this policy, you would be sitting at a table for a long time.  When you place your order you are given a number and when I saw the numbers, I kinda of figured out we needed to order at the bar.

Beer battered fish and chips; $15.  I was told this fish used is cod, but tasted more like tilapia.  The batter was light and crispy as every beer batter should be.  The fish was fresh and flavor, but I don't think it was cod.  But, the fish was luke warm at best and very greasy.  It had clearly been sitting under heat lamps for too long.  I knew something was up when about five minutes after placing my order, the fish and chips arrived.

The chips or fries were pretty good but again lukewarm and not cooked to order. Not worth the $15 price at all.

Sriracha and honey wings, $10.  I would be the ratio fo sriracha to honey is 40% to 60% because this was just too sweet.  There was no heat from the srircha.  The wings themselves were huge and had a lot of meat.  But, like the fish and chips, the wings were lukewarm.  Doesn't The York believe in cooking items to order?

Service is good.  But, you need to know their system.  The bartender was nice and helpful. 

The York maybe a nice place to hang out with your friends, but the execution of the food is lacking.  Come on cook the items to order, so they are hot.  I won't be coming back to The York for the food, anytime soon.

Gus's Lunch Box Truck

Gus's Lunch Box
Glendale Blvd. and Silver Lake Blvd.

One of my favorite food blogs is The Great Taco Hunt.  I was disappointed to learn that The Great Taco Hunt has thrown in the tortilla.  While not exactly the taco truck I wanted to review, Gus's Lunch Box was in front of Silver Lake Wine, where I was meeting a friend to share a bottle of wine.  I believe Gus's is always in front of Silver Lake Wine, but you'll have to google to make sure.

Chicken taco and carnitas taco, $1.50 each, onions cilantro, and chile verde.

The child verde was great!!  Very fresh, full of flavor and balanced-not one overpowering flavor.  But, the chicken was bland and lacked flavor.

The carnitas were much better.  A good, not great example of carnitas-tender, could have used a little more seasoning but good flavor.

Service was good.  The tacos came out quickly and the guy taking my order was nice.

I'm not really a food truck person, I've only reviewed four other trucks.  But, I really wanted to review a taco truck because I'm sadden to hear that The Great Taco Hunt blog will no longer be reviewing taco trucks!

Maximiliano-Closed

Maximiliano
5930 York Blvd
Los Angeles
323-739-6125

Maximiliano has been on my list of places to try for about a year now.  Maximiliano is owned by the same owner of The Oinkster, which I went to back in 2009.  Located in Highland Park, on the very busy York Blvd, Maximiliano is in a triangular building.  The dining room has a good size bar, along the walls are tables, that are for reservations, and in the middle of the room is a community table.  We didn't make reservations so we sat at the community table.  Luckily the community table wasn't too crowded.

Caesar salad, $7, grated reggiano.  Ok, really?  I know Maximiliano is catering to the hipsters and all, but $7 for a caesar salad that was average quality?  The lettuce was very fresh, the small amount of croutons were good, and caesar dressing was home made, but so what?  A complete rip off at $7.

Deluxe pizza, $15, tomato sauce, fennel sausage, pepperoni, peppers, crimini mushrooms, red onions and mozzarella.  The quality of the toppings is very good.  The fennel sausage and pepperoni were really good., not your run of the mill meats.  The sauce, which there was plenty of, was sweet and balanced.  But the crust was terrible.  I mean a soda cracker like crust?  This isn't what I expected for a 9 in pizza that cost $15.  The crust ruin this pizza for me.

Service was good.  Our server was nice, friendly, and helpful.  But, the noise level is unbearable here.  It was hard to talk to the person across the table from me!

I'm glad I waited so long to try Maximiliano, and now that I've tried it, I wonder why it even got on my list.  I've been underwhelmed with the pizza choices in Highland Park, after eating at Maximiliano and Folliero's Pizza & Italian Food.  Hell, at least at Folliero's the price for the pizza is reasonable.  I would not go back to either restaurant.