#chopt travels

The Secrets Gardens of Los Angeles’ Chinatown Location: Los Angeles

Los Angeles’s Chinatown is a sleepy pocket of walkable streets nestled in the shadows of the ever-evolving downtown L.A. There is a mix of old and new, art galleries share walls with Chinese trinket shops, and family portrait studios using trompe l'oeil backdrops are neighbors to minimalist design agencies. On the secluded walk-street called Chung King Road, there sits a slender, gray-haired lady who keeps a strict 9-to-5 schedule, stationed at a low red plastic stool in the center of the road underneath the floating paper lanterns. She silently monitors the minimal traffic flow as artsy types visit galleries and stark cafés and the older Chinese residents take smoke breaks in the restaurant alleys.

One arrives here via the Hill Street exit off the 110 freeway, where an incongruous patch of vibrant greenery runs along the chain-link fence. This is a plot of forgotten land, a pedestrian moment in an otherwise vehicle-bound city. I noticed this secret wild stretch years ago, when I stumbled upon a couple of older Chinese women with straw hats and gloves tending to a guerilla garden. With 5-gallon soy sauce containers as water buckets, the ladies were mounding earth around their greens and propping up their spiky leeks. They were growing vibrant rainbow chard, and training sweet peas to climb the only barrier between the sidewalk and the highway itself. Yes, one could raise concerns about the health of the soil in this particular spot, but their ingenuity and resourcefulness stole my heart. And suddenly, a walk around this urban neighborhood became an edible plant tour, with parking lots raising mustard greens in cinder blocks, and apartment building lawns giving way to rogue salad.

Paradise at the Southern Tip of Vietnam

Location: Phu Quoc, Vietnam

It’s no secret, we travel to eat. But sometimes, we also take advantage of incredible beaches and the heavenly climate too. We began our trip to Vietnam in the congested and chaotic city of Saigon, but we soon diverted to the southern most tip of the country, to a magical island called Phu Quoc. Here, the palm trees curve off the white sand beaches towards the turquoise water. The roofs are thatched, the fruit and vegetables exotic, and the vibe is laid back. 

 The coast of the island is a destination for resort life, but in the interior of the island, there is an incredible concentration of bustling produce and fish markets. The inner and outer rings of this tiny island could not be held in greater contrast. So when we tired of sunsets and sipping coconuts, we ventured into the open air market, which was anything buttranquil. 

We grapevined through the scooters and dense corners of women wearing mismatched, psychedelically printed pajamas, squatting on neon plastic stools. Some were selling shimmering fresh fish, others peeling mystery vegetables into impossibly thin ribbons, using only the most crude kitchen tools to great effect. We purchased raw anchovies, filleted and laid flat (a local delicacy), and clustered vines of fresh green peppercorns, another specialty from this island. They were floral, intense and the kind of thing you just want to add to every and any dish, forevermore. We shopped till we dropped, and brought our bounty back to the kitchen to make fresh coconut rice cakes, herb chicken salad, and topped those fresh anchovy fillets with tons of herbs, dried coconut and toasty peanuts. 

El Guero: Chocolate Clams and a Flat Bed Full of Hot Sauce

Location: Ensenada, Mexico

Just down the street from La Guerrerense, is another fresh seafood cart that specializes in fresh ceviche and raw shellfish called El Guero. With fewer bells and whistles, and an emphasis on simple, straight forward seafood, you won’t find a bevy of homemade sauces here. Instead, there’s a pick up truck parked in front of the stand with a flatbed that doubles as a hot sauce trolley (I know, why didn’t we think of that?). 

You might be wondering whether or not it is wise to eat raw seafood from a street cart, and your hesitation is just. But, this is an exception. Just steps away from the All Saints Bay, the shellfish could not be any fresher. Look closely, and you’ll notice that pile of clams is squirming and very much alive. The little red feet of the chocolate clams peak out of their shells. These are served with nothing more than a generous dose of fresh lime juice. Feeling adventurous? Order a couple of blood clams. They are less briny than a littleneck clam, super rich and incredible to behold. 

Say It Three Times Real Fast, and Lick Your Lips: La Guerrerense

Location: Ensenada, Mexico

In our opinion, making delicious food is as simple as finding the right combination of fresh ingredients to pair with tasty, spicy, innovative sauces. La Guerrerense tostada stand in the heart of Ensenada gets that equation right every time. We should know, we only ate there five times in three days. 

The cart is the brainchild of Sabina Bandera, a petite woman with close cropped grey hair and a smile from ear to ear. She reigns over her empire of street food and packaged salsas, maintaining military order so that raw shellfish can be shucked à la minute, tostadas drizzled with oil-based cacoa nib salsa, and coctelesof pismo clams doled out to devoted fans. If you’re not into raw seafood like sliced scallops and sea snails, you’re crazy, but, there are cooked options as well. We fell for the smoked fish paté tostada, with a flavor profile that was completely different from what you expect in Mexico - meaty smoked fish is stewed in a tomato base with green olives, onions, marjoram and oregano, to make a deep, complex spread. After all, we are just south of California, so olive trees grow here, and olive oil is the staple cooking oil. 

The seafood selection changes daily, but you can always count on those thrilling salsas. Our favorite was a bright orange pineapple sauce, and an oil-based salsa macha, made with whole peanuts and crushed dried chiles. This is not your mother’s salsa, but instead, a whole new texture and eating experience. We were so inspired, we created a Mexican Chile Oil. Lucky for you, it’s available now on our Destination Salad menu. 

Take Me To The Desert

Location: Joshua Tree, CA

Alright, so in general, we get to know a place through its food, but every now and then, there’s a place we like to travel where the food is most definitely not the draw. The desert outside of Los Angeles, Joshua Tree and Desert Hot Springs, are so striking in their natural beauty, we didn’t even care what we ate! We packed our own snacks for this trip, and focused on the other worldly landscape, alien cacti, and the big, blue sky. It was fun, but then we got hungry, and headed back to L.A. for some salad… 

Night Market+ Song

Location: West Hollywood, California

It feels funny to venture beyond the densely packed neighborhood of Thai Town in search of the best Tom Yum Los Angeles has to offer, but one trip to Night Market + Song and you will be so far transported, you won’t care what your coordinates may be. Tom Yum, the classic brothy soup, is quite literally a soup and salad mash-up. The Thai word “Tom” means to boil, while “yam” refers to a Thai spicy and sour salad. This the Thai take on hot and sour soup, characterized by its generous use of fresh lime juice, lemongrass, makrut lime leaves and galangal, a Southeast Asian root most reminiscent of ginger.

Too often, Tom Yum made in America is prepared with more sugar than it needs, making it syrupy over tart, but not at West Hollywood’s Night Market + Song. Their take on the classic is delicate, fragrant and well-positioned to outshine your mother’s chicken soup on any winter day. The setting does well to round-out the experience too. The kitschy interior plays off the aesthetic of Thailand’s hawker markets, while the food mostly hails from the North of the country where the food is a little less four-alarm fire spicy, and features tons of veggies, pork and the beloved larb (a minced meat salad).