Take Lots With Alcohol
Oh! Ok! I forgot!
When we went to California in October, we did something crazy. Well I thought it was crazy until I did some research and I guess this kind of thing happens all the time. Here's the story.
In California (a state for which I have a general dislike) there is a place called Santa Barbara. It's a beautiful little city on the coast just north of Los Angeles. OK, not JUST north, about an hour and a half north. Anyway. In Santa Barbara there is a very small, no, very VERY small eatery called La Super Rica. Which translates into "Super The Rich One". OK look, I don't know what it means literally. What I do know is that they serve some of the most unreal and unbelievable food I have ever had. Period. As a cook and a culinary student, I eat so many different things on a daily basis. For something to stand out like this is huge.
Tell you more about this place? OK!
The tortillas you eat are made only seconds before they serve them to you from fresh, hand pressed masa. They make all their own salsas. Which I think there are like four or five of. I mean, you look back into the kitchen, which doubles as the order window, the serving window and pretty much the whole place, and you see a guy roasting whole pablano peppers! Other points of interest are the piles of marinated carnitas, beef and chicken sizzling on the flat top. Not to forget the sweet smell of peppers and caramelized onions filling your nose as you wait in line. A line, I might add, that can wrap around the block on some days.
So what did I order? What did Ryan Kingkade, self proclaimed king of cheap, simple but delicious food stuff down his gullet on that fine Californian day in October? Anything with pork. Carnitas, chrizzo, chorrizo with cheese, it doesn't matter. If you want to know how good a Mexican joint is, order the pork. Anyone can do chicken or beef. Pork is what's up. Can anyone tell I'm from Iowa?
Yes I am fanatical about La Super Rica. So fanatical that to get there for lunch we left L.A. right after breakfast and headed up north, two and a half hours, just to get there. Was it worth it? Of course. Would I do it again? In a heart beat.
Every kind of food has it's place. I prefer simple, unpretentious grub. The kind you find in backyard BBQ's across America. The places most people would rather not go, but can't understand why there's a line wrapped half way down the street everyday, with hungry people just like me. Waiting to get a taste of heaven.
Maybe I took this too far. Maybe I didn't. Here's the point.
I'd rather eat grilled rib eyes hot off my Weber, with a side of almost charred asparagus and garlic mashers, than make reservations and pay almost two hundred dollars for finger food any day. Done.
When we went to California in October, we did something crazy. Well I thought it was crazy until I did some research and I guess this kind of thing happens all the time. Here's the story.
In California (a state for which I have a general dislike) there is a place called Santa Barbara. It's a beautiful little city on the coast just north of Los Angeles. OK, not JUST north, about an hour and a half north. Anyway. In Santa Barbara there is a very small, no, very VERY small eatery called La Super Rica. Which translates into "Super The Rich One". OK look, I don't know what it means literally. What I do know is that they serve some of the most unreal and unbelievable food I have ever had. Period. As a cook and a culinary student, I eat so many different things on a daily basis. For something to stand out like this is huge.
Tell you more about this place? OK!
The tortillas you eat are made only seconds before they serve them to you from fresh, hand pressed masa. They make all their own salsas. Which I think there are like four or five of. I mean, you look back into the kitchen, which doubles as the order window, the serving window and pretty much the whole place, and you see a guy roasting whole pablano peppers! Other points of interest are the piles of marinated carnitas, beef and chicken sizzling on the flat top. Not to forget the sweet smell of peppers and caramelized onions filling your nose as you wait in line. A line, I might add, that can wrap around the block on some days.
So what did I order? What did Ryan Kingkade, self proclaimed king of cheap, simple but delicious food stuff down his gullet on that fine Californian day in October? Anything with pork. Carnitas, chrizzo, chorrizo with cheese, it doesn't matter. If you want to know how good a Mexican joint is, order the pork. Anyone can do chicken or beef. Pork is what's up. Can anyone tell I'm from Iowa?
Yes I am fanatical about La Super Rica. So fanatical that to get there for lunch we left L.A. right after breakfast and headed up north, two and a half hours, just to get there. Was it worth it? Of course. Would I do it again? In a heart beat.
Every kind of food has it's place. I prefer simple, unpretentious grub. The kind you find in backyard BBQ's across America. The places most people would rather not go, but can't understand why there's a line wrapped half way down the street everyday, with hungry people just like me. Waiting to get a taste of heaven.
Maybe I took this too far. Maybe I didn't. Here's the point.
I'd rather eat grilled rib eyes hot off my Weber, with a side of almost charred asparagus and garlic mashers, than make reservations and pay almost two hundred dollars for finger food any day. Done.
posted by Ryan J Kingkade at 1:17 PM
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