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@Farley Elliott Well, Cactus on Beverly is one place. It's not the best I've ever had, but it's not too bad either. That's my local go-to, or sometimes the other location on Vine. I got one at Chano's near USC that was okay. Cactus was better.

Then there's... uh.... you know what, I just realized that every other CA burrito I've had was in San Diego or the Imperial Valley. I've only ever gotten them from two places in LA.

If you search for "california burrito," Yelp says there are a few other places, but Yelp is such a crapshoot that I would take that with a grain of salt. Dang, sorry I can't do better here!

Wait, that came out weird. I mean, my group of friends got to be pals with the bartender, and this happened at the bar we frequented. Also, I meant that he *wouldn't* charge us for about every third drink. Sheesh.

Hey, that reminds me - you know what I'd love to see is a rundown of who's got the best "California" burrito in town. They're a guilty pleasure of mine.

So no more entire suckling pigs then?

I second Burger365. You absolutely must always ask for hash browns well done. And even then, prepare to be disappointed, no short order cook will ever take the time to cook up hash browns properly.

Yeah, I tried some of these the other day too, and your review is accurate - it's mostly just a lot of overly salty fried bits. The larger-sized pieces were okay, because they had some actual chicken in them (not that you can taste it, but at least the texture and a bit of juiciness is in there), but some of the smaller pieces I would have sworn had no chicken at all, just fried breading. I'd rather just get McNuggets, or the chicken select strips which are pretty good too. (Well, okay. Realistically, I'm probably not going to eat McDonald's at all any time soon. But if I do.)

I'm sure that if the diabetes kills her, her family won't take any of that money. "We sure wish mom hadn't been so crass and money-grubbing," they'll say. "Sure, it was nice of Mom to think of trying to make sure we're all still well taken care of, but it made food bloggers mad, so we must refuse."

As a food writer, you have a good reason to document this. But pretty much anybody else who told me they were going vegan is going to get the response "That's nice." Because I don't care. I don't need anybody else to care about what I eat, and I promise not to care what they eat. Of course this never happens in the real world, but I really do try my best to hold up my end of that bargain.

(Unless you're a food writer who I've enjoyed reading, I mean. Then I might very well be interested to find out what your experiences are like.)

I'm staying out of the discussion, but I'm just tickled to read the word "stoop" that many times. Where I come from all we have is porches. And if drinking on one is a citable offense in my city, then I am one hell of a scofflaw, and so are most of my friends and some of my neighbors, too.

I made this recipe tonight, and it *is* indeed delicious, and also super easy (even easier since my wife took it upon herself to do most of the prep, including cooking the bacon.) Next time I make it, though, I might try two different things:

1. Finely mince a shallot and sweat it for a few minutes in the bacon fat & butter before adding the orzo. The idea being to add just a bit of aromatic flavor and sweetness. I don't think it needs a lot, though, which is why a shallot instead of onion.

2. Substitute half-and-half for the cream. As I finished up cooking, the orzo wasn't dry, but as we ate it, it became just a bit sticky. Not dry, and not bad at all, but just... a tiny bit sticky and dry-ish, which isn't bad, but not quite as pleasant on the tongue as that nice creamy texture. Anyway, I'm wondering if half and half might still provide that creaminess but be loose enough to avoid that problem. I know, I know - I've got a recipe that's 98% good and I insist on figuring out ways to fix the 2%, heh. First-world problems indeed.

That said, even just as written, this recipe is still a keeper! And I will totally call it "Orzo Fauxbonara" from now on, heh.

Seriously, alosha.

And hey, scatteredsong - why don't you take a few days off from the internet or something? Or at least take a few deep breaths. I keep seeing undeservedly nasty comments from you about the writing and writers on this site. There's nothing wrong with the actual *recipe*, it's just people getting all freaked out over the name.

Nick, next time call it Dog Poop Pasta, just for fun.

Call it "Orzo Totally Not Carbonara (but kind of a little bit Carbonara)"

Popeye's definitely is better than KFC. I'm still a bit bummed the one a few blocks from my house closed, because it left a fried chicken gap in our options. There's a good local chain, Golden Bird, that had a location just barely close enough to be worth it, but they moved. Oh cruel fate!

Well... there's Roscoes, but the Hollywood location is always insanely crowded, and their chicken isn't actually all that great.