Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

In the L.A. area, Jongewaard's Bake and Broil, just off the 405 near Atlantic Blvd in Long Beach, CA is better than both the better known Pie N' Burger and Du-Par's, IMHO.

There's a "Something's Fishy" in Malibu. Don't know if it's part of the South African chain rudbeckia mentions, but that one has definitely caught my attention as particularly unappetizing.

Also suspect in sunny LA-LA land: "Wacky Wok" and "Killer Shrimp," both on Washington Blvd, in Venice. Wackiness and lethality are just not attributes I like to associate with my food.

Honorable mention: the now defunct Mo' Meaty Meat Burgers on Pico and Fairfax Blvds. (They didn't specify what kind of meat, or what state of meatiness had existed prior to the onset of "Mo'.")

On the upside, given that we all have to go at some point, what a great way to go: not only 94 years old and in apparently reasonably good health, but moreover just a couple of weeks after the deli's giant 60th anniversary celebration, at which everyone from top city officials to Joan Nathan feted Al's accomplishments, and the corner of 7th and Alvarado was renamed Langer's corner in his honor. May more such deserving folk be so recognized in their time.

I'm relieved to hear the deli will stay open, since I count it among the great geographic features of my office, just one stop away on the subway (that's not a typo, there really is a subway in Los Angeles), as well as conveniently located halfway between the office and a variety of venues that work as a public interest lawyer takes me during the day. It's only in registering the nostalgic siren song with which Langer's, a relic among Salvadorean and Mexican joints (some of which are first rate-- MacArthur Park is a great eating neighborhood), beckons as I pass that I've come to recognize good deli food as an endagered cultural species. The recognition was also brought home last summer, in the experience of acting as cultural tour guide for a clerk (originally from rural Michigan) and translator (originally from El Paso) whom I took there as thanks for helping me prepare a case. Both loved Langer's, but also clearly saw it as an exotic experience, and peppered me with questions about pastrami versus corned beef, half-sours versus full-sours, chopped liver, and egg creams. Fine, there aren't many Jews in the U-P or in El Paso, but there are many in L.A., especially in my neighborhood (near Fairfax) and points West and North. Why (and I mean that as a question of current markets, not historical neighborhoods) aren't there any delis worth pointing to, proudly, as demonstrations of the finer (perhaps even the only fine) culinary traditions of my Ashkenazi-American ancestors anywhere in L.A. outside the Rampart District? Canter's is wholly mediocre, except at 2am, sort of the L.A. Jewish Deli equivalent of Morningside Height's Tom's Diner; Nate and Al's and others are expensive substitutes, at best. Pastrami's a reasonably cheap and accessible cuisine-- what happened?

I can understand fast food for a person short on time and energy as well as money, but from a purely financial standpoint, none of Bauer's choices listed above make any sense. Anyone who's ever had to watch his or her budget knows that (in the Food4Less, not the Whole Foods, universe), processed foods, and particularly a name brand processed food like Campbell's Tomato Soup, are the worst. Because of dairy subsidies, for better or worse, the milk Bauer refrained from adding would be the cheapest, not to mention most nutritionally valuable, part. Seems like he's aiming more for bougie shock value than accuracy, to me. There's a reason why starving people the world over eat variations on rice and beans, and why potatoes had such a profound impact on industrializing Europe; such items remain far more healthy and economical options than McD's or hot dogs today. In the classic essay on the subject, M F K Fisher's "How To Cook A Wolf," her answer to abject hunger, as I recall, was a sludge-like meatloaf made of 1/3 cheap veggies (carrots, onions, turnips, etc.), 1/3 cheap starches (beans, oatmeal, etc.), and 1/3 cheap meat (fatty stew beef, etc.)-- a sort of super low-rent pate. Not exactly Mm-mm good, but probably not worse than a cheap slice of bologna.

Safari Tacos in Door County, Wisc. I mean seriously, that makes no sense. Safari Tacos?

Juan Toomany's Taco Hut in Missouri City, Texas (now closed).

Singapore Bistro on 19th and L in Washington DC has the name right but if you look closely the sign below reads "Asian Cousin". Awesome!

And in Hilton Head, South Carolina somewhere I remember seeing a restaurant called Mexician Grill. We still laugh at that one!

I make them with a cream cheese pastry crust and fill with apricot butter mixed with chopped almonds, chopped dates, figs and raisins, ground cinnamon or nutmet and a spoonful or two of honey, lemon juice to thin it out a bit.

NOOOO! Oh my god, it's not on there. The Park Cafe in Saint Mary, Montana, right outside the entrance to Glacier National Park. You have no idea what you're missing. It's almost good enough to make me move to Montana. It's one of those places where, for the rest of your life, you'll be saying "oh lord, remember that pie place? what was it called? it was soooooo good." There's a couple of OK pie places around here (Zingerman's, a branch of the Grand Traverse Pie Company, and some good stuff in Detroit) but nothing I've ever had hold a candle to this place. It's beyond comprehension.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g45345-d508904-Reviews-Park_Cafe-Saint_Mary_Montana.html