In Glendale, tastes from the Balkans & Buenos Aries

Elena's

One hidden away gem is a little place on Glendale Avenue called Elena’s. Run by a couple of Armenian ladies, this little place serves what my Bulgarian friend Boiko says is real Balkan soul food. The style is a mix of Greek, Turkish & Armenia staples that is not dumbed down for American taste. A great favorite with the LAPD from the near by Northeast Station and the local Glendale cops too, Elena's offers wonderful simple healthy food in a combination of Greek, Armenian, Turkish and Lebanese styles. All the dinner plates come with either a bowl of soul filling lentil soup or a very nice salad of lettuce tomatoes, onion, herbs and a vinegar lemon juice dressing that is just sharp and zesty enough to set off the vegetables. The following dinner plates are a large serving of rice pilaf with a grilled Anaheim pepper and a grilled tomato with onions and a side dish of pickled cabbage and other vegetables that is sort of mild Balkan take on kimchi. On this generous plate you can get various kabobs: chicken, lula, beef, lamb or a combination of them plus felafel, stuffed egg plant, stuffed grape leaves and a few other meatless dishes. The meats are well seasoned in the tangy Balkan Levantine way and full of zest without hiding or distorting their natural flavor. For myself, I almost always get a combo plate with one stick of lamb kabobs and the other of herb dusted chicken. While there is no beer or wine, a wide variety of soft drinks are available including the house made yogurt drink which is the prefect drink to go with the food. Finally some more good news about Elena’s is that almost all the dinners are less than ten dollars. They also have take out and also make pita sandwiches.

El Morfi

Another little place that I enjoy for its honest ethnic focus and direct simplicity is El Morfi, a block south of Porto’s Bakery on Brand across the street from the Alex Theater. An Argentine place, El Morfi (BA slang for a snack or quick bite) serves food in the unique Italo-Latino style of Buenos Aries. For example on the menu you will see “ñque” which really puzzled me until the young waiter explained it was how you spelled “Gnocchi” in Spanish. "¡ñque, ñque, ñque!" It is that kind of place.

What I particularly like there is their salad, an Argentine version of a chopped salad in a clean vinaigrette, papas Provenzale -- great french fries salted then tossed with garlic and parsley and their milanesas. The Neopalitana is a wide thin breaded beef cutlet topped with a herby marinara sauce and melted provolone and a few strips of roasted red pepper. (You can get chicken milanesas if you prefer.) There are many other dishes including pasta, pizza, empanadas and other Argentine specialties. They carry a good selection of wine and beer from “BA” and make a very flavorful house made Sangria that is not too sweet but very full of red wine character. Prices are quite fair, cheap by those used to the West Side and Santa Monica. It is a simple little place popular with both English and Spanish speakers.

And then there is the real reason to enjoy El Morfi, their home made Chimichurri. This condiment is addictive, it sings with herbs, teases with the smoothness of olive oil, it enchants with herbal complexity, and pinches your tongue with a tang and a zing. I dip bread in it, and spoon the green and golden elixir over the papas provenzale. I think I could eat cardboard dipped in. It is made in house and can be bought in mason jars and taken home. Don't miss it.

There is a story the the name Chimichurri comes from the name of Irish soldier who fought with Argentine rebel army in their war of Independence from Spain, Jimmy McCurry. Who knows? I suppose you could even say El Morfi is Irish too, a phonetic spelling of Murphy. I had an old nun when I was a child who said whenever you have a good story, there usually was an Irishman as the bottom of it.

Other places you should know about in Glendale are Damon’s, which has been there since the 1930’s. It looks like a local take on the Trader Vic’s, Don the Beachcomber school of Tiki restaurant. While it serves a wide variety of Tiki Room rum and fruit juice drinks in the grand Dorothy Lamour, Hope & Crosby “Road” pictures style, the menu is very much old time LA steakhouse. Near by is Jax’s, a bit more up scale but also long time LA steak house.

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A Basque meal at the Noriega Hotel in Bakersfield

Saturday night five of us drove up to Bakersfield for dinner at Noriega’s Hotel. It has been there, near the Union Pacific (formerly Southern Pacific) Railroad Station, since 1893. A time warp, it is pretty much like it was then and has an authentic feel like few other places. There is a large bar with the dining room behind it. Unlike the three or four other Basque places in Bakersfield, Noriega’s is very much a traditional place serving one set meal like country places in Europe. There are three very long tables with stout “jury room” chairs for about 200 people. Diner is served in one sitting at seven. Parties are seated up and down the tables more or less in the order they checked in. On this saturday night there were half a dozen birthday groups and many family celebrations and a group of jovial middle aged middle class motorcycle warriors who had rolled up from Ventura County.

The food is basque style home cooking, cooking as it was in my grandmother’s day. It is good, but not serious four star basque cooking. For that I recommend the showcase Orosko Dinning Room at the Nugget Hotel Casino in Sparks Nevada.

At Noriega’s dinner is a homey and authentic meal provided by the Elizalde family as they have since 1931. When you enter the dinning room the smell is welcoming like a country farm house kitchen fifty years ago or more, like my grandmother’s kitchen on a Sunday afternoon with a mix of American and Portuguese dishes cooking. The Basques are generally recognized as the best cooks in Iberia and while not the same, their cooking shares many things with Portuguese and regional Spanish styles.

Waiting on the table when you are seated are a large salad bowl dressed with a blue cheese based variation on Caesar dressing and a large steaming tureen of cabbage and vegetable soup seasoned to the point and very much homemade. Placed around it are a large platter of thin slices of marinated tongue, a bowl of stewed pinto beans, a large basket of sliced french bread, butter, a bowl of herbed seasoned cottage cheese, a plate of homemade potato salad and a bowl of red tomato and pepper basque salsa picante, just this side of very hot. The salsa is added to the pinto beans to bring them to whatever level you prefer. Cuidado, it is muy picante. There is also a bottle of full bodied red house wine.

After first course were cleared away, the meal went on with a platter of spaghetti marinara eavily dusted with parmesan cheese that was as good as any I’ve ever had. After this a plate with a large slab of blue cheese was served with bowl of steamed Broccoli florets in a white hollandaise and then the oxtail stew. It was very much like my grandmother made in winter time, the meat and vegetables in unthickened cooking juices and not a heavy gravy. Finally, we were served platters of very crispy fried chicken heavily sprinkled with sautéed garlic cloves and platter of crisp hot french fries. “We don’t have to worry about vampires,” was my daughter’s comment. The pungent sweetness of the sautéed garlic on the chicken cut through any greasiness and made it a savory rustic dish. After this was cleared ice cream was served.

At dinner coffee is not put on the table, you have to ask for it. The bar has some interesting basque liqueurs if you want to try one. Les Fleurs des Pyrenees is very good as are others. The meal was large and simple in a traditional way. It took a convivial two hours and was well worth the drive to Bakersfield. What is telling is that a traditional country meal originally served to the men staying at a Basque boarding house a century ago seems to us today to be very special and festive dinner.

The meal is served for $20 per person, childern up to 12 are charge a dollar for each year of their age. A simpler meal is served at lunch for $14. A country breakfast is served daily from 7:00 to 9:00 for $10 with basque sausages, eggs and a slab of Monterey Jack cheese like my grandparents ate every morning. The Noriega Hotel is open everyday except Mondays. The dinner is served in one sitting at 7:00 pm. Reservations are suggested.

Noriega Hotel

525 Sumner Street

Bakersfield, California

(661) 322-8419