The Kitchen

The Kitchen
4348 Fountain Ave
Los Angeles
323-664-3663

I was in the Silver Lake area the other night. It was late. I was hungry. I didn't want pizza since I had pizza a couple nights before. So, it was eating at The Kitchen or driving around and searching for a restaurant that was still open. So I looked at their menu and decided to give them a try.

The Kitchen is a small restaurant located just south of Sunset, on Fountain Ave. It a very popular locals hang out. I heard it can get very crowded for brunch on the weekends.




I got the fried Chicken, $14, farm fresh 7 oz boneless breast with gravy and double garlic mashed, instead of succotash. I don't know what they use as a scale, but if that piece of chicken was 7 oz., then I want that scale when I weigh myself. The chicken breast was huge, I would guess much bigger than 7 oz. The skin was nice and crispy and well seasoned, but as I got the end part, it was very salty, maybe from soaking up the gravy? The chicken was moist, tender, and flavorful.

The gravy was a thick gravy, well seasoned, and just the right amount for the chicken and garlic mashed potatoes.

The garlic mashed potatoes were very good. A nice thick texture with a good, but not overwhelming, amount of garlic.

Service was friendly, but lacking. My drink wasn't refilled, even though both the server and busboy came to the table often. The server didn't come back to ask how the meal was. Matter of fact she only came when she had to; taking our order, serving our food, dropping off the check, and taking the money. They weren't busy at all, so I don't know why we didn't see her more often.

I did enjoy the food at The Kitchen, but the service needs to improve before I would go back.

Folliero's Pizza & Italian Food

Folliero Pizza & Italian Food
5566 N Figueroa St
Los Angeles
323-254-0505

Highland Park is an area of Los Angeles that I usually don't explore much. I don't have any friends who live in the area and it's a bit of a pain to get to. But, I did find out about Folliero's Pizza & Italian Food and decided to finally do a review of a restaurant in Highland Park.

Highland Park has undergone a huge gentrification in recent years. Some idiot racist people are put off because Highland Park is now mostly Latino and you see many Latino restaurants and markets opening in the area. But, I wanted pizza and Folliero's seemed like a good place to try.

Folliero's is on Figueroa, so parking is a bit tough, and it's tough to see their signage. But, it's a dimly lit, galley like restaurant, that was very busy the night I went.


I ordered 10 in. sausage pizza, $6.79. The pizza was huge for a 10 in, but the amount of sausage was limited. The sausage was good, with a strong pepper flavor. It was fresh, not frozen, premade sausage. But, the thing that concerned me was how the fresh raw sausage was stored. It was on a counter with no refrigeration. How did I know? From the front window you can see the cooks preparing the pizza. The table had the veggies and the sausage in separate containers on the top of the counter, but they weren't in any type of refrigerated space or on top of ice. It was just sitting on the counter. Luckily nothing happened, but I'm not willing to take chances of getting food poisoning.

The crust on the pizza was pretty good, a nice crisp on the outside, and chewy on the inside texture. The cheese was pretty good but a bit greasy. Overall the pizza was very good.

What wasn't good was the service. I wasn't greeted when I got to the cashier, he wasn't helpful, he wasn't welcoming. They really need to teach their workers customer service at Folliero's! Greet the customer, be friendly, be helpful.

One other thing, I'm starting to hate the fact that many restaurants are CASH ONLY. Look, I know it was only about $7 for my pizza and I had the cash. But, sometimes you just don't carry cash and have to use plastic. There is a bank across Figueroa and down a few doors from Folliero's, so at least you don't have to go far to get cash.

There are better pizza places in LA, and hell even the chain pizza restaurants provide better service. So, there is no reason for me to come back to Folliero's.

Pollos Kikiryki

Pollos Kikiryki
344 S Indian Hill Blvd
Claremont
909-624-1114

My exposure to Peruvian food is limited to a visit to Choza Mama in Pasadena. I really enjoyed the food, though not the slow service, and wanted to try more Peruvian restaurants. Well, I haven't been to another Peruvian restaurant until I went to Pollos Kikiryki today.

While Choza Mama was a sit down restaurant, Pollos Kikiryki is more a counter service, casual restaurant in an old shopping center in Claremont. It's hard to see from either of the two busy streets, Indian Hill and Arrow Highway, that border the shopping center. But during a late lunch, almost everyone of the eight booths was filled with hungry customers.


I got the tallarin saltado with chicken, $9.99, which is really chow mein with red onions and tomatoes. When I first had Peruvian food, I was very surprised at the Asian influence on the Peruvian cuisine. I understand the owners of Pollos Kikiryki are Asian.

The noodles in the tallarin saltado were undercooked and chewy, they needed about another 3-4 minutes in the boiling water. The small amount of chicken, was overcooked, tough pieces of white meat chicken, that was well seasoned. The onions and tomatoes were fresh. The dish could be good since it was well seasoned, but since the noodles were undercooked and chicken overcooked, it made for a bad dish.

Service was good. The lady who took my order was nice and friendly.

I would not go back to Pollos Kikiryki, again. The prices are a bit high and the food just wasn't good.

Soul Burgers-Closed

Soul Burgers
1035 S Prairie Ave
Inglewood, CA 90301
(310) 419-7685

Soul Burgers is known for their soul food in a bun concept!! They have been on TV from Food Network to local tv shows and have quite the following. The other thing to know about Soul Burgers is that ground turkey is used for their burgers. They also have a pork chop, fish, and chicken burger. While they do offer beef, get the turkey burgers.


James Brown Soul Burger, $8.50.-Filet Fried Chicken Breast, turkey bacon, topped with greens and yams, egg, cheese, special spicy sauce. My favorite soul food dish is fried chicken, with mac and cheese. While Soul Burgers didn't have mac and cheese on this James Brown Soul Burger, I ordered it anyways.

The fried chicken filet was white meat, tender, flavorful and juicy. I loved it. But, the first thing you notice about this burger, is the yams. Now, I'm not a yams fan at all; just too sweet for my tastes. Everything else worked. I was a bit hesitant about the egg on top, I hate runny egg yolk, but I was told the eggs are more like a crepe. The greens were nice and tender and flavorful. The turkey bacon was a thick piece of bacon, perfectly cooked and full of flavor. I didn't taste any of the spicy sauce because the yams just overwhelmed the burger. There is a good amount of yams on this burger. I will order this with no yams, the next time I go to Soul Burgers.

Since this was my first time at Soul Burgers, I figured I should try the three mini soul burgers, $8.50, to get a variety.

Down-Home Turkey and Dressing-Turkey patty layered with turkey bacon, homemade dressing, egg, thin layer of greens and cranberry sauce, cheese, special spicy sauce. This is like a Thanksgiving dinner in a bun. The turkey patty was well cooked and seasoned, flavorful and juicy. The toppings worked well, and this comes from somebody who doesn't like cranberry sauce. A good burger to order.

Southern SMO-Turkey patty with smothered gravy and grilled onions, special spicy sauce and cheese. This was my favorite burger. Again the turkey was well seasoned and cooked. But the toppings just made this burger awesome!! The gravy was fantastic with a hearty flavor. The onions were grilled perfectly and added a nice sweetness to the burger.

Tasty Turkey Combo-Seasoned juicy turkey patty layered with turkey bacon, egg, greens, yams, special spicy sauce, cheese. The problem with this burger is the overwhelming amount of yams, which makes the burger too sweet. If I order this, it will have no yams. This can be a good burger without the yams.

Service is good. The owner is very friendly and helpful. She takes pride in her business and makes the customer feel at home.

I was very impressed with Soul Burgers and can't wait to go back there again!!

Randolph's Smoke House-Closed

Randolph's Smoke House
8472 S. Central Ave.
Los Angeles
323-587-9698

I've been wanting good BBQ for awhile, and after the disaster ribs from Larkin's, I was craving good BBQ even more. So, I found Randolph's Smoke House online and decided to test my Bulletproof Glass Theory of BBQ. What is my Bulletproof Glass Theory of BBQ? It's simple, I've found that if there is bulletproof glass between me and the cashier, it's a very good chance the BBQ is going to be damn good. This is proven , Phillips BBQ and Woody's BBQ.

Of course, since I've never been to Randolph's, but when I walked in and saw the bulletproof glass, I had high hopes for some good BBQ.



I got the pork ribs dinner, $11.85, with double mac and cheese. I forgot to ask them to put the sauce on the side. Anyways, out came about 5 bones of spare ribs. They use hickory wood to smoke their meats. Either the rub or the sauce has a lot of chili powder because there was some spicy heat. The sauce was too sweet for my taste, too much molasses or honey or sugar.

As for the ribs themselves, there were too tender. They had no give to them. I know to some people they love "fall off the bone" meat, but that is actually downgraded during BBQ competitions. The ribs were ok, but a bit too much gristle and fat.

The mac and cheese was pretty good, macaroni was cooked perfectly, well seasoned but they could have use more cheese sauce.

Service is good. The people are nice people and friendly. But, they had the radio turned up so loud, you had to practically yell at the guy taking your order. The radio was right by the door and in that small front area, it's like being at a concert.

I'm glad I tried Randolph's Smoke House, but I won't be coming back.

Larkin's-Closed

Larkin's
1496 Colorado Blvd
Los Angeles
323-254-0934

Larkin's has long been on my list of places to try. But they are closed Monday and Tuesday, which happen to be two days I'm near Eagle Rock. But, luckily I was near Eagle Rock on Sunday and dropped in.

Larkin's is known for their upscale soul food offerings. It's a small restaurant, so expect a wait when they are busy, but gives such a nice homey feeling. Parking is a bit tough, mostly street parking on Colrado Blvd or in the neighborhood behind Larkin's.

I didn't realize until I called, that Larkin's closes fairly early, 8pm on Sunday's with last orders going in at 7:30pm. So I got my order to go.


I really wanted the fried chicken, $15, but when I placed my order I was told it's dark meat only. So I passed and got the BBQ baby back ribs, $19 with two sides-red beans and rice and garlic mashed potatoes.

I got four baby back ribs that had no smoke flavor at all. I'm pretty sure the ribs were boiled before, then cooked in an oven. They were then drowned in BBQ sauce that had way too much vinegar. The ribs were meaty, but come on, don't pass off these ribs as BBQ, when they are nothing but oven cooked ribs with BBQ sauce.

But, $19 for 4 bones?? Give me a break. This didn't come close to being worth the price.


I picked red beans and rice as one of my two sides. The beans were undercooked, they needed to be cooked for another 10-15 minutes, they were hard and just bland and flavorless. The rice was ordinary.


Garlic mashed potatoes were my second side. I didn't get much garlic flavor and they were a bit too big and chunky for my liking. They needed to be cut up a bit more, to be mashed potatoes.


Mac and cheese, $5. The mac and cheese was the most bland mac and cheese I've ever had. They needed to add salt, because the entire dish was void of salt. The cheese and macaroni were blended well and the macaroni was cooked perfectly. But, it was just too bland to enjoy.

Service was both good and bad.

I was greeted by a lady at the cash register and she wasn't that friendly or welcoming. She was just a matter of fact, going through the motions. I told her I had a to go order and she said "I didn't take your order, but the other person will be right with you." Hmm is it so hard to figure out where my order maybe? Why couldn't she get my order and allow me to pay?

Anyways, the woman who took my order came back from waiting on tables and she was friendly and helpful, just as she was on the phone.

One other thing, if you noticed, there is no sign in front of Larkin's.

I was very disappointed in Larkin's. The food was below average, the prices way too high, and the portions small for the price. I really wanted to like Larkin's but I'm not going back.

Umami Burger- Costa Mesa-Closed

So the pretentious assholes of Orange County, most of who are too scared to go to LA, can now enjoy the famous Umami Burger without going to LA. The New Diner has already reviewed two other Umami locations, Umami Hollywood and Umami La Brea. Since I was going to be behind the Orange Curtain and surrounded by pretentious assholes, I figured why not see them at their best; trying to be hip and copying something from LA.

Umami Burger in Costa Mesa is located in a shopping center called The Camp. It's modeled after a camp site, with different sections for stores and restaurants. Parking just sucks at The Camp, because there are too many stores and not enough parking spaces. They have a valet, which charges a reasonable $3. If you can't find parking quickly, just pay the $3. A restaurant called Mesa has a very popular happy hour and a yoga studio both explain why the parking lots fills up.




Earth burger, $12, mushrooms and edamame patty, white soy aioli, truffle ricotta, cipollini onions, lettuce and slow roasted tomato. I know people may say you're at a burger place, you should get a burger made with beef or at least turkey. But, I wanted to see how their veggie burgers were. Big mistake. This burger was disgusting!! The patty was a soggy, flavorless mess. I couldn't taste any of the toppings. The only thing I could taste was the bun, which is always good-nice texture and flavor.

Service is good. But, I was surprised that the restaurant is so small. They really don't have room for a big group, so don't come here with ten of your friends expecting to get a table quickly.

I'll chalk this experience at Umami Burger to ordering the wrong burger. I would go back to Umami, but not the OC location, and I would not order the earth burger again. I'll stick to the beef or try the turkey or ahi tuna burger.