Les Sisters Southern. Kitchen and BBQ

I have had a great urge for fried chicken.  I went to a restaurant some days ago and had what could be called mediocre, if I was to be generous, fried chicken.  However, today we went out to Chatsworth because for years I have wanted to go to Les Sisters.  I had heard that I could get some great fried chicken as well as real soul food.  I had become acquainted with soul food when I worked at the Welfare Department in Milwaukee.  Often the other workers would bring in great homemade food for all of us to eat.  Sometimes they ordered delivery from Speed Queen which I also loved.  When BA and I traveled for a year in 1986, we spent the first months of our travels in the south since we left in January.  I became well acquainted with southern food, soul food and BA with Cajun food.  So I was very excited about going to Les Sisters.

BA, BN and MT joined me in my quest for excellent fried chicken.  Les Sisters is a very small restaurant, some would call a hole in the wall, but the inside is very cute.  There are paintings on the wall that represent New Orleans and more. But we didn’t go there to observe the décor.  We went there to eat and eat we did.

BN, MT and I ordered the regular fried chicken while BA ordered chicken jambalaya.  We did have to wait a while for our meals but it was worth it.  BN and I got all white meat and MT ordered all dark.  Our chicken was moist and the coating was crisp and flavored perfectly.  This is the best fried chicken that I have had since I ate my mother’s chicken which was always perfect.  Since we were there at lunch, the meals came with one side.  MT ordered potato salad.  She felt it tasted mostly of mayonnaise, probably because the potatoes were almost all mashed which she didn’t care for.  BN ordered blacked-eyed peas and rich which were delicious.  I couldn’t decide on just one side so I ordered two – candied yams which were just perfectly sweet and mac and cheese which I felt was a bit bland but the more I ate, the more I liked it.  We also got a corn muffin which we all declared was much too dry but had a good flavor.  BA said that her jambalaya was good but not great.  It had chicken, sausage, mushrooms, too many tomatoes and rice.  It was medium spicy and a bit greasy.

After finishing all my meal, I still wanted dessert since I saw they had peach cobbler.  BA and I shared the small but extremely tasty cobbler.  It looked different than the usual cobbler probably because it was scooped up from a very large pan.  The cobbler was about the only thing that I felt was priced a bit high for the size of the dessert.  I would like to go back because there were so many things I would also have liked to eat.  Smothered pork chops are a real favorite that I would love to try along with the collard greens.  I had iced tea and it was very good.  Soda is served in a can with a small mason jar while the iced tea is served with lemon in a very large mason jar.

Les Sisters is open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner, Tuesday through Friday for lunch.  Les Sisters is located at 21818 Devonshire in Chatsworth. The phone number is (818) 998-0755 and the website is http://www.lessisters.com/Home_Page.php .  This is not a place that serves salads and healthy food but it is a great place to get comfort food.  Highly recommended.

The Mikado Japanese Restaurant

My daughter is coming to visit and wants to go to a sushi restaurant for her birthday.  We wanted to stay in the San Fernando Valley since we are going to a play in Burbank after dinner.  A friend had suggested The Mikado saying that it serves the best sushi she has ever tasted. It is attached to the Best Western on Riverside Drive in Studio City and my experience with restaurants attached to motels has never been very great because of that, even though it is in my neighborhood, I have never been there. After scratching my head for many days trying to where to go when W is here, BK suggested we go to The Mikado today for lunch.  I agreed.  So after seeing a wonderful movie, we drove to the Best Western’s restaurant.

My first surprise was the very nice interior.  The restaurant sparkled.  We were greeted in the usual Japanese way.  We were seated at a very nice white tableclothed booth that had a fresh flower and a very cute soy sauce container (all low sodium). Then we were given warm towels to wash our hands which we did.  They had some fragrance and was really nice.  And now to the most important part – the food. Right after we were given the towles we were given a little cucumber appetizer that was so good, we hoped this was just a taste of what was to cme  I was only going to order sushi, which I did.  They had a sushi combo but I decided to get the rainbow roll ($15) and a tuna roll ($5.25) and I wasn’t disappointed.  There were 6 pieces of tuna roll and a very large rainbow roll with salmon, albacore, shrimp and tuna over an excellent California roll.

BA ordered a special lunch box.  She picked teriyaki chicken and California roll.  With that meal came a side salad, which BK said was delicious, a small fried potato, an egg roll, a small carrot and tiny broccoli with something on it that BK liked, white rice and a strawberry and orange ($12).  She cleaned her plate, declaring everything delicious. after cleaning our table, we were both given some orange which was just perfect.

This was the lunch menu so I asked to see the dinner menu.  There are fewer combinations and some things are more expensive.  They also have other dishes.  I enjoyed this so much that I made a reservation for next Friday to celebrate W’s birthday.  I don’t think anyone will be disappointed.

The Mikado has been in business since 1963, the first sushi restaurant in the Valley.  There are many more now and maybe some are better but we were both very happy with this choice.  The Mikado is  at 12800 Riverside Dr. – (818)-763-1963.  They are open for lunch (11:30 – 2:00) and for dinner (5:30 - ?).

Sonoma Wine Garden and Santa Monica Place

Today the weather was beautiful so we decided to go this morning to Santa Monica for two reasons: I wanted to see where the library auditorium is because I am going to a seminar there on Wednesday night; and we wanted to get a Santa Monica library card so there would be more places to get library books for the Nook. Off we went, over the hill to enjoy a beautiful day. I found a parking spot right near the gorgeous library, went in and happily found out that anyone who lives in California can get a Santa Monica card. The same holds true for Burbank and I wonder how many other places on California. Maybe someone who reads this can tell me.

The library is on 6th and Santa Monica. In my quest to get 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week, we decided to walk to the Promenade and to the new Santa Monica Place. The sun was shining and the walk did give me some much needed aerobic steps. By the time we got to the outdoor mall, we were hungry. We perused the area and decided to go to the Sonoma Wine Garden which is in Santa Monica Place. Since the weather was beautiful, we chose to sit outside. The restaurant and most of the other restaurants and the Food Court in Santa Monica Place are on the third floor. I saw some booths and noticed that you could sort of see the ocean from there. I was very surprised to see that our seat looked at the construction of some building. I asked the very nice waiter what one has to do to sit there where one could see the ocean. The answer is to go to the Food Court and eat outside. That part is not part of the restaurant.

Even though this restaurant specializes in wines, we chose not to have any. I ordered the passion fruit ice tea and B had decaf. The excellent waiter came back to tell me that the green tea was almost gone and he would suggest I have their passion fruit black tea which I took. My tea did not taste like passion fruit but was very good. On the recommendation of the waiter, I ordered Eggs Benedict and B ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. She also ordered a cinnamon roll, which is new on their menu. Our waiter didn’t let us down as our meals were superb.

The grilled cheese sandwich consisted of béchamel, gruyere, cheddar and garden herbs. There was a salad on the side made up of various greens and if it there was any dressing on it, it was extremely light. My Eggs Benedict was perfect. There were two poached eggs atop an English muffin with avocado, fantastic sauce, fresh crumbled bacon and fresh basil. The cinnamon roll was gigantic and nothing like the sickly sweet Cinnabon. Of course I had to taste it and then I had to have some and then I had to have some more. The cinnamon roll was full of cinnamon, small raisins which could have been currents and small bits of pecans. It was sweet but no overly so. That was quite a treat.

On the weekend they have a brunch which includes all the champagne you can drink for $25. They also have a weekday brunch, lunch and dinner. I chose to have my food ala carte so the price without the champagne was $12. B’s sandwich was $10 and the cinnamon roll was $6. We loved it and will certainly return again. The web page is http://www.sonomawinegarden.com/ .

The Favorite Place

Today we went to Glendale to the Vintage Paper and Postcard Show. That was very interesting. I was so surprised to see so many postcards, pictures, magazines and other unusual items such as swizzle sticks and a few fishing lures. I was especially interested in finding the old Life magazine that had the article and pictures from our feminist center. Ironically, the cover of this magazine has Richard Nixon in a football uniform. I have a copy but I always look for another if I can find one. As of now, I have yet to find that magazine. Looking at all those old postcards etc. made me hungry so we looked in our GPS to find a place to eat that was nearby and found The Favorite Place. How could I pass up a restaurant with that name?

As we walked into the restaurant, we noticed it was quite small and almost every table was taken. We were seated and received a menu immediately. Favorite Place looks like a tea room and then I saw that it has many awards on the wall, one of which said it was the best Russian restaurant in Glendale. It might also be the cutest with a lot of flowery items around, even on the lighting. The tables had white table clothes and a vase with a fresh flower in it. We were asked about drinks and I had iced tea while B ordered their famous rosewater lemonade. The iced tea had a flowery flavor, something like Chinese tea, and was delicious. The lemonade was excellent and beautiful and refreshing. Both drinks were refilled continuously, much to our happiness.

B ordered the Favorite luncheon which consists of the rosewater lemonade, house salad, five different finger sandwiches, a dessert tray and coffee ($28). I chose the smoked salmon (lox) sandwich which came with a tomato salad ($14) and iced tea ($3). Before we ordered, excellent bread, butter and black olives in flavored olive oil were delivered to the table. Then came the tomatoes cut nicely on the plate drizzled with the same olive oil that was on the black olives. They were cold and fresh. Both of us got the tomatoes although it wasn’t listed in B’s luncheon. Then came B’s salad and, lo and behold, the female owner came and gave me a salad also, which I really hadn’t ordered or wanted. Much to my surprise, it was delicious. There were various lettuces and an eatable flower in a wonderful dressing that had sesame seeds in it. The dressing had a little sweetness to it and, surprisingly, was not overdone. The male owner then came to ask me if I would mind having my sandwich on olive bread rather than sourdough and I happily agreed.

My sandwich had lox, yogurt, various greens and dill on the olive bread. It was fantastic. The lox melted in my mouth and I was shocked at how nice the yogurt was and probably healthier than cream cheese. Since I had overdosed on bread and had finished my entire salad, I could only eat ½ of my sandwich, taking the rest home for dinner tonight. We were quite surprised when we saw B’s “finger” sandwiches. There were five different types of sandwiches, tastefully displayed on a stemmed fluted tray. Seeing that other sandwiches were huge, I think I understand why these were called “finger” sandwiches. However, they looked more like sandwiches to me as to their size. There were two of each kind – smoked turkey roll, eggplant wrap, Russian ham, tuna salad and, the only one I didn’t care for (I tasted every one), spicy egg salad. They were excellent and B enjoyed half of them considerably. The rest came home for dinner. Then she was served dessert – with two forks so I could share – and full-bodied coffee. The dessert was again beautifully arranged and consisted of two cupcakes – one white with pink frosting and one with red frosting – strawberries, grapes and eatable flowers. B said that the cupcakes were delicious. The strawberries were a bit sour but the grapes were wonderful. B’s entire meal is certainly one to share which makes it very reasonable.

The Favorite Place is at 115 W. Wilson in Glendale, CA. The phone number is 818-507-7409 and they do take reservations. The wesbsite is www.favoriteplacerestaurant.com . They are open for lunch, Monday through Saturday. I highly recommend it as a lovely place with excellent rather unusual food.