This Little Restaurant From A Market

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This Little Restaurant From A Market

"Our produce, meat and seafood comes from farms, ranches and fisheries guided by principles of sustainability"  

This credo lines the menu at Cortez, the new, pint-sized restaurant on the edge of Echo Park. Phrases of this sort, peppered with utopian, food lingo--seasonal, local, organic--have become standard practice all over town.  Yet, how does a diner know if they are true?

Considering that Cortez is run by the pair who own Cookbook, the neighborhood's green grocer, the the proof is in the product. Cookbook's shelves are stocked--by owners Marta Teegan and Robert Stelzner--with artisan cheese & charcuterie, fresh-picked produce, and grass-fed beef. Each visit makes me feel like a kid in a candy store, yet instead of sweets, I swoon for caperberries, purple cauliflower, and olive bread.  

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No Meat. No Problem.

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No Meat. No Problem.

Vegetarian.  One word so plump with connotations. Practicing produce-eaters proudly wear it like a badge, while carnivores utter the v-word disdainfully, as if it's a disease they hope to never catch.  I tend to veer towards the latter, for as an ardent omnivore, I crave meals that feature all the food groups.  I want my sautéed kale with a rib-eye, my Blue Lake beans with pancetta.  Consequently, I seldom frequent vegetarian restaurants, until I discovered Elf Cafe.

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My Zone Diet

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My Zone Diet

In my suburban CT childhood, there were two types of tacos.  1. Salty, spice-packet-seasoned beef in a hard shell from Old El Paso. 2. Gringo-style, cheesy bombs from Tacos Or What, a local joint frequented by  high-schoolers and hungry stoners.  Neither were remotely authentic, but they were good, cheap fuel for my enormous, adolescent appetite.  When I moved to Los Angeles -- aka Little Mexico -- I finally tasted tacos in their natural habitat.  

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Get Your Thrill At Red Hill

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Get Your Thrill At Red Hill

3 days.  That's how much time passed between my first and second visit to Red Hill. Normally, if I enjoy my inaugural dining experience, I vow to come back soon, but then get distracted by new openings, random cravings, and my ever-growing list of Places I Want To Try. It can take months to return. Not so at Red Hill, the 4-month young Echo Park restaurant, where my first time was such a charm, I was lured back immediately.

 

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