Taqueria Sanchez

I was killing time in West LA, so I went to my favorite taqueria, Taqueria Sanchez. I discovered the place a few years ago while searching through old Chowhound threads.

From outward appearances, Taqueria Sanchez might look like any other fast food Mexican restaurant. However they do a good job with their street-style tacos. In particular, they do very good al pastor (marinated pork), but I've found their cabeza (head) and buche (pork intestine) to be quite good as well.

Today I ordered a minor feast: dos tacos al pastor, dos tacos de cabeza, un taco de buche, y un taco de chicharron (pork rind). Each taco was $1.35, but they're quite generous. When my food was ready a few mintues later, one customer thought it looked so good he asked for the very same thing.

I started with the al pastor, which was one of the reasons I had gone here in the first place. Their al pastor is very moist, which I've found to be exceptional when compared to most other Mexican restaurants, and it is bursting with flavor. Though unusually this time, they served the pork with the pineapple pieces they used to marinate the meat. Surprisingly, the pineapple wasn't overpowering, and was just as good as the pork.

I next had the cabeza, my second favorite at Taqueria Sanchez. The cabeza is tender and sopping with stew. Unlike it's name, cabeza, or head, is more like a stewed headcheese, using the cheek meat and other bits. As such, there's plenty of tender meat and soft connective tissue. Whereas the al pastor is a little savory and a little sweet, the cabeza is savory and more straightforward. It can be a bit messy, but it's worth having the tasty juices from the stew.

Next, I moved onto the buche. Like you might expect, the buche was chewy, but not to the point of being unappetizing. Intestine is always a little funky, kind of like how lamb or goat is a little funky when compared to beef or pork, but it's never off-putting. Compared to the rest of the tacos, it provided a good contrast in texture. Like everything else, it was well-flavored, but different from the rest.

Lastly, I had the chicharron. This was my first time trying it here. I've been to some restaurants that used pre-packed pork rinds, and others that used meaty chunks with a little bit of rind. The chicharron at Taqueria Sanchez appears to be prepared on site, with less meat and more rind. They're quite soft as they're stewed in a smoky, spicy sauce. It's similar to a barbecue sauce, but without the overwhelming sweetness. It was actually pretty delicious.

It turned out to be a good mixture of different flavors and textures. Six tacos was perhaps a little more than I needed to eat, but I don't regret finishing a meal that was so good.

Some other notes on Taqueria Sanchez:
- 5 out of 7 on my mess-o-meter. You will need napkins.
- 5 out of 5 on my tacometer. This is seriously good stuff.

Taqueria Sanchez
4541 S. Centinela Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90066

Cage Watch

Cage Movie #40: Snake Eyes

Cool Dudes of History - Brian May

Brian May, born July 19, 1947, is the lead guitarist for the rock band Queen.

In 1968, Brian May, along with Tim Staffell and future Queen drummer Roger Taylor, formed a group called Smile. Staffel befriended fellow student Farrokh Bulsara, another cool dude of history, who would later be known as Freddie Mercury. Staffel eventually left the group in 1970, and Freddie suggested they change their name to Queen. Bassist John Deacon was then added to the mix, and thus was born the legendary rock group Queen. Queen would go on to record 18 number one albums, 18 number one singles, and 10 number one DVDs.

For his involvement in Queen alone, Brian May should be considered a cool dude. But he also built his own guitar. That's right, built his guitar. With help from his dad, May built the Red Special, his personal guitar, when he was a teen. He would use it throughout his career, on many of Queen's hits.

And if that wasn't enough to qualify him as a cool dude, he's also an astrophycist. Prior to making it big with Queen, May was studying for his PhD in physics at Imperial College London. In 2008, thirty years later, he completed his research and earned a PhD in astrophysics. He is currently serving as the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

Here's "We Will Rock You," one of the Queen songs that Brian May composed. Ironically, it doesn't feature any instruments except for his guitar solo at the very end.

Celebrity Sightings - Ashley Jensen

Probably almost all of you are wondering who Ashley Jensen is. For "Ugly Betty" fans, you probably know her as Christina McKinney. But for "Extras" fans, she's the incredibly dense Maggie Jacobs.

I was shopping at the Hollywood Target, when I heard a distinct Scottish accent. It just so happened that I had watched "Extras" a few days earlier, and it sound a lot like Ashley Jensen. I couldn't see who was talking because her back was to me, but her voice is so distinct, that I thought it could be her. So I peeked around the aisle, and it turned out it was her. She was there shopping with her husband. It's too bad, though, since I couldn't really remember her name, so I felt awkward about going up to her and telling her that I enjoyed her work.

I don't like it when people just go up to someone they think is a celebrity and ask for an autograph, so I didn't want to be the douche that didn't know an actress' name. Oh well, missed opportunities.

Cage Watch

Cage Movie #39: Knowing

Beef Bourguignon and Peach Cobbler

Since we couldn't celebrate Fathers' Day last week, we did it this week instead. Sister C, inspired by "Julie and Julia," decided to cook beef bourguignon using Julia Child's recipe.

She labored for over five hours, but unlike Julie she didn't fall asleep, and made sure she got it right on her first try. She might not feel that it was worth it, but it was excellent, with strong, well-rounded flavors, and tender meat.

I, on the other hand, was responsible for dessert, in a change of roles with my sister. Sister C suggested a Raspberry Bavarian Cream, also featured in "Julie and Julia," but I commented I'd rather make a Raspberry Bibinka, as featured in the classic, "Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo." I'm not particularly big on dessert, but have made custards from scratch, so I wanted to try baking something instead. I didn't want to try something as elaborate as a pie, so I decided upon a peach cobbler.

I used Paula Dean's recipe, since I trust her to make tasty, fattening foods. It was an amazingly simple recipe, that was also pleasing scientifically. The peaches and syrup went on after I poured the batter in, but once baked, the crust rose to the top. It turned out pretty good, so I'll probably make it again.

In the end, everybody was satisfied with our efforts, but especially with Sister C's wonderful beef bourguignon.

Even More of My Top Ten Movie Quotes

More movie quotes!

1. You can trouble me for a warm glass of shut-the-hell-up! Now you will go to sleep! Or I will put you to sleep. Check out my name tag. You're in my world now, grandma!

2. Unleash the awesome!

3. Oswald was a fag.

4. YEAH! Oh yes, yeah. I'm insensitive! I'm a very insensitive man! Stop you're job, look at the insensitive man!

5. It's Enrico Palazzo!

6. Oh my God! Oh my God! My twin brother has been shot! I think it was an Asian gang or something... There was this guy, he looked Asian... and he was speaking another language, I'm pretty sure it was... Asian.

7. Stop eating my sesame cakes!

8. I have a tiny penis, it's pathetic.

9. Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.

10. Me so horny, me so stupid!

11. I now pronounce you man and man. You may now kiss the man.

12. Lieutenant Dan, ice cream!

13. They're already here! You're next!

14. One girl, I drove through three states wearing her head as a hat.

15. First we crack the shell, then we crack the nuts inside!

16. Would you like to buy a monkey?

17. Kick his ass, Sea Bass!

18. I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum.

19. I have a mole?!

20. No one makes me bleed my own blood!

Cage Watch

There's something I have to admit. For years, I was a closet Nicolas Cage fan. I used to make fun of him, particularly his role in "The Rock," which is one of my favorite movies. It's not so much that he's a bad actor, because he's not, but it's largely because of his acting decisions. And the commentary he provided on "The Rock." For years I ridiculed him, but I must openly admit that I, MidnightHunnyRun, am a Cage-a-phile.

My life's goal is to watch every movie he's ever made—and there's a lot. To date, he's performed in 59 movies, with another four currently finishing up production. Out of those 59, I've watched 38. So, in what is my continuing year-long Cage-a-thon, I'll be keeping count on my blog of what new Nicolas Cage movie is in my DVD player. Here's today's Cage Watch movie, followed by a list of all the other Cage movies I've seen. And lest anybody tell me about Cage-flix, I already know about it, but have already manually added every remaining Cage movie to my queue. God bless that man.

Cage Movie #38: National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Kick-Ass (2010)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call of New Orleans (2009)
G-Force (2009)
Bangkok Dangerous (2008)
Next (2007)
Grindhouse (2007)
Ghost Rider (2007)
The Wicker Man (2006)
The Ant Bully (2006)
The Weather Man (2005)
Lord of War (2005)
National Treasure (2004)
Matchstick Men (2003)
Adaptation (2002)
Sonny (2002)
Windtalkers (2002)
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
The Family Man (2000)
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
8MM (1999)
City of Angels (1998)
Face/Off (1997)
Con Air (1997)
The Rock (1996)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Kiss of Death (1995)
It Could Happen to You (1994)
Guarding Tess (1994)
Red Rock West (1993)
Wild at Heart (1990)
Moonstruck (1987)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Birdy (1984)
Rumble Fish (1983)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Hoagies & Wings

When I started working at company B many years ago, I would take Venice to work and would pass "Hoagies & Wings, Grand Opening," everyday. Well, about a couple months into their "Grand Opening," I finally got around to trying them. At this point, I liked wings a lot, but hadn't really hunted for good ones. I considered chicken wings a great delicacy, owing to their high skin to meat ratio.

I didn't get too many wings that first time, perhaps about sixteen, and I probably split them between hot and suicide. I was really into spicy foods, still am, but those wings were perhaps the second hottest things I had ever eaten (next to a sole dragon chili I had eaten years before). It was a good, clean hot, owing to copious amounts of chili oil added to the hot sauce. I've since had suicide wings at many other wings joints, including the famous Anchor Bar, but Hoagies & Wings suicide wings are still a notch above on the Scoville scale.

I started going there fairly often, perhaps once or twice a month, to the point that the three founders, a Harvard law grad and two Le Cordon Bleu Culinary grads, knew me by my brother's name, the name I usually gave to restaurants for seating and pick-up orders. Lucky for me, they eventually opened up a second location, two blocks away from my office. They would go on to open another by my friends' place (which is now gone, unfortunately), and another near my house (which is even more unfortunately gone). All in all, they at one time had six different locations, but are now down to two. But that shouldn't be a slight on their cooking prowess.

Before...

Having been to Anchor Bar, I can't say that Hoagies & Wings offers the most authentic Buffalo wing experience, but they're pretty good, and much closer in proximity than Anchor Bar. Their wings are meaty, moist, and flavorful. Like any good chicken wings, they take a good fifteen minutes to cook. They're pretty liberal with their hot sauce, which has a decent spiciness even at just the hot level, which is my preferred as suicide tends to blow all taste out of the water after the eight wing or so.

...After.

My usual meal is about twenty wings split between hot and garlic parmesan (they offer over a dozen flavor combinations), a large fries, and a large Coke. The most wings I've ever had there is thirty. It's not a cheap meal (at least for me), as it runs about $25 for all that, but it's worth it. It sure beats booking a flight out to Buffalo, although if I want to get a beef on weck, I guess I don't have much choice.

Some other notes about Hoagies & Wings:
- 7 out of 7 on my mess-o-meter. I defy someone to make it through the meal without getting messy.
- 0-10 out of 10 on my spice-o-meter. Garlic parmesan is a 0, hot is only about a 6, and suicide is definitely a 10 or more.
- 11 out of 11 on my wing scale. It goes up to 11.

Hoagies & Wings
1544 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 360-4800

14552 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
(818) 789-4600

Cool Dudes of History - Emperor Joshua Norton I

In lieu of the fact that "Time Train" is on hiatus, I'm starting a new feature called "Cool Dudes of History," highlighting great figures in the annals of history. I should note that this blog is mostly true, in that 50.1% of everything I write in this blog is true. "Cool Dudes of History" falls into that 0.1%. Not all of these figures show up in history books, but they should be remembered nonetheless.
___

Emperor Joshua Norton I was born Joshua Abraham Norton in England c. 1819. he eventually moved to San Francisco where he made his living as a businessman. After losing his money investing in rice, he left San Francisco only to return years later quite mentally unbalanced. Dissatisfied with the government, he proclaimed himself "Emperor of these United States" and later "Protector of Mexico." He took to wearing an old military uniform and issued his own currency which was accepted around the city. At one point, he prevented the outbreak of a riot that could have resulted in injury to the Chinese immigrants he was protecting.

Despite his eccentricity, he was much revered and beloved by San Francisco locals. Though penniless, many fine restaurants opened their doors to him, and he received preferential treatment from many establishments. When he was incarcerated by an unknowing police officer, outraged citizens lobbied successfully for his release. Police Chief Patrick Crowley, in apology, was quoted as saying "that he had shed no blood; robbed no one; and despoiled no country; which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line." Subsequently, police officers would stand and salute Emperor Norton when he passed by.

He was a popular subject of news articles of the day, and was associated with two street dogs, Bummer and Lazarus, who were celebrities in their own right. When his clothes became worn, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors procured him with a suitable replacement.

Despite his mental issues, he was fairly forward thinking. He called for the formation of a League of Nations decades before Woodrow Wilson would push for one following World War I. He also proposed the creation of a bridge and underwater tunnel spanning the bay, which would later be realized with the creation of the Bay Bridge and the Transbay Tube.

On January 8, 1880, Emperor Joshua Norton I collapsed on the sidewalk and passed away before help could arrive. San Francisco newspapers the following day featured his death on the front page, under headlines like, "Norton the First, by the grace of God Emperor of these United States and Protector of Mexico, departed this life." A lavish funeral was paid for by the Pacific Club, a local businessman's association, and tens of thousands of San Franciscans came out to pay their respects to the fallen emperor.