Sometimes, we'll go to a restaurant and have a great meal...a great meal that I'd like to replicate at home. This week's recipe is one of those.
Rudy's is a Mexican restaurant near our home in Monrovia, California. On the menu, under "Carne Asada," is this one...what comes out is basically a rib eye steak served with rice and beans.
Here is my version...
INGREDIENTS
4 10- oz choice (or better), 1 inch thick rib eye steaks1 bunch Mexican green onions (can substitute regular green onions if needed)1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce2 tablespoons melted butter1-2 tablespoons cayenne pepperKosher salt and pepper to taste
Put the steaks in a plastic bowl, platter, large dish, etc.
Sprinkle Worcestershire sauce on both sides .
Brush melted butter onto both sides.
Sprink Kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper on both sides.
On a hot grill, with burning charcoal on one half only, place the onions over the hot coals for three minutes on each side. Then, put the onions on the other side of the grill (indirect heat). Put the steak over the coals for three minute per side.
Move steaks to indirect heat side of grill. Place one onion on top of each steak. Cook covered (with lid on) 6-7 minutes per side for medium rare.
Place on platter, cover with foil for a 10 minute rest when done.
We like to serve with rice and beans, plus a grille onion you can slice up and eat with the steak, and a little hot salsa sprinkled over the top.
Darryl MusickCopyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
Mexican inspired menu this weekend with a nice fusion of chorizo and chilaquiles for breakfast and dinner for adventurous eaters.
Recipes at the links below.
DINNER: Tacos de Cachete
BREAKFAST: Huevos para la Reina
DarrylCopyright 2016 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
Back before Christmas, my doctor ordered me to take a Diabetes management class. It was a four-week regimen (cut down to 3 because the nurse instructor wanted to skip Christmas week) at our health plan's Glendora office.
Letty and Tim wanted to come with me (the 2 hours on Tuesday nights cured them of that and the last two classes I attended solo) so we went a little early so we could grab a bite to eat first.
The office is located in a small shopping center where the main tenant, Fresh and Easy Market, went under and the rest of the shops, if not empty, struggle to hold on. Across the parking lot from the class were a couple of restaurants...Subway (not a favorite) and Osuna's.
We gave them a shot and were rewarded with delicious food that only raised my blood sugar by 40 points.
Fast forward to a couple of months later and my wife wants to pick up some items at Costco so I tell her we can do that on our Tuesday night out. On the way we're trying to decide where to eat first. Driving along the 210 freeway, mentally mapping out what restaurants are at which exits, I remember that night at Osuna's at the Grand Avenue exit and say "why not there?"
Why not indeed?
We have the place to ourselves, just the owner, the cook, and the owner's young son for company. When the boy comes up and asks us if we'd like to buy some cookies, I ask if he's selling them for school.
"I'm selling them for money!"
A young entreprenuer in the making.
It's an Ensenada themed place and since that Baja city is known for it's fish tacos, that's what Letty gets, along with a carne asada sope. I opt for the Taco Tuesday special of two al pastor tacos along with a sope of my own. They're all good and delicious, maybe an 8 out of 10 compared to the best we've had.
A solid place for a nice, casual dinner.
Osuna's is at 1311 S. Grand Avenue in Glendora, about two blocks south of the 210 freeway.
DarrylCopyright 2016 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
We've counted almost 40 different kinds of ethnic foods in our home of the San Gabriel Valley, just east of Los Angeles, and we're going to highlight a few here each week.
The grandaddy of them all has to be Mexican food. They say there's a Starbucks on every corner. Here, there seems to be a Mexican restaurant on every corner, plus a couple more in the middle of the block.
While you can find Mexican restaurants in every city in the county, here in the valley you can find them in the biggest numbers in the neighborhoods that have a high concentration of Mexican families like El Monte, Baldwin Park, La Puente, Bassett, and Azusa.
There are sit down restaurants that cater to more gringo tastes like El Torito and there are those who go for a more authentic palate like the goat stew called Birria at La Barca in El Monte.
You can get tacos made from almost any part of the animal...guts (a particular favorite of mine), brains, cheeks, tongues...and from nice places with waiters & margaritas, to hole-in-the-walls, to taco trucks on a late night corner. Most of it very reasonable in price, too.
Beware that there are many mediocre and lousy places but some of our favorites include Max's (in Azusa and Monrovia) and Rudy's in Monrovia for nice sit-down dinners (Rudy likes to break out the more exotic authentic fare on Friday nights) and drinks; La Barca and Guacamoles in El Monte and Mariscos Uruapan in Irwindale for a more boisterous, diner-like experience; Rincon Taurino in La Puente, El Picoso in Azusa, and Tacos del Chino in South El Monte for great taco stands. The King Taco chain also makes some pretty good tacos. For hard tacos, it's hard to beat Pepe's, with locations in Azusa, San Gabriel, and Alhambra.
One of our favorite restaurants was Cajun Way (AKA Frank and Joe's) in Monrovia. It was an extremely good example of Cajun cuisine. There is still some cajun left in the valley, mostly of the Chinese Cajun variety such as Boiling Crab, but nothing compares to Frank and Joe's. For really good Southern food with a smattering of Cajun, you need to leave the valley a bit and go to Spoonful in Studio City. Try to get there when they're having Cajun boil, pictured above.
One of the more obscure cuisines we have is Himalayan food or the cuisine of Nepal and Tibet. On a quiet street in Old Pasadena sits Tibet Nepal House, serving the very hearty food of the high-altitude Himalayas.
It's quite delicious and very filling with lots of protein like eggs, beef, and...of course...yak. Above you can see a bowl of thupka (a hearty stew), Tibetan bread, and fried rice.
Next time you're in Southern California, slip on over to the SGV and give some of these cuisines a try. You'll love it.
More to come next week!
Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.
