I’ve been in El Segundo a lot over the past couple years. If people think of El Segundo at all, it’s usually as that area of LA just south of the airport. That’s good because it keeps the area crowd-free, but that’s bad because it’s one of the most comfortable neighborhoods in LA. It’s a beach town with a wide, clean beach and plenty of BBQ pits, but the town is mostly oriented inland. Unlike Manhattan Beach and Venice, El Segundo’s Main Street is completely apart from the beach.  It’s lined with cute, non-chain boutiques, service shops, coffee shops, and little restaurants. The rest of El Segundo is mostly residential, with a lot of families who actually spend time outside in their yards and walking around. Apparently, at about 5pm on weekdays, the sidewalks of Main St are packed with locals walking about, and its streets are relatively empty of cars… which is almost unheard of in LA. All the same, there’s plenty of free parking if you do need it.

El Segundo makes me feel like I’m in a home town (and not only because its stately high school is frequently used in films set in cute home towns). Only the big Chevron plant on the water tarnishes the small town charm, but even that lends a Simpsons-esque air. So, it’s not a place that you would necessarily make plans to visit, but if you know locals who want to hang out locally, be prepared for a good time.

Its restaurants and bakeries don’t have much of a presence in the LA food scene, but for the most part, they have a great value and …um, how do I say this?…. are full of real people (no bling, no attitude). The street behind Main Street — Richmond Street — is a smaller, funkier version of it that probably has the highest concentration of interesting places to go in LA in a two block area. It has the Old Town Music Hall, a reliable and healthy CA-style cafe called Good Stuff, the timeless Richmond Bar & Grill, an slightly upscale Second City Bistro, a surf shop, and a fun tiki bar called The Purple Orchid that’s one of my favorite bars in LA, which I’ll talk about more later.

One of the more interesting recent additions to Main Street has been Farm Stand, which stands out as rather chic against the backdrop of traditional sushi bars and casual eateries in the area. It calls itself an urban country restaurant.  Chad and I checked it out a few weeks ago. I think it’s still finding its footing, but it seems to be going for American-Middle Eastern-Italian cuisine. Not fusion, just dishes that represent. But not necessarily by name. Both dishes that we ordered were given descriptive names that skirted their culinary origins. That’s probably a good idea, because it probably makes the dishes more accessible for people unfamiliar — and uneasy — with mysterious dishes. After reading her new cookbook this weekend, Cindy Pawlcyn sometimes has the same strategy.

We’ll definitely go back, and I’m interested to see how it develops, especially as it adjusts to demand and its own style.  I really liked being there — its open design makes it very welcoming, and an open kitchen is always a treat.  The service was maybe a little too eager and friendly, but it’s hard to complain about that.

Mama’s Herbed Ground Beef — Our Signature Family Dish — with a Rice Pilaf of Lentils, Dates, Raisins, & Roasted Vegetables. I believe that this could be called kofta… A perfect kofta amid a playground of fascinating things to eat. That roasted tomato was so soft and deep with flavor, while the dried ground everything in sweetness and chewiness, the pico de gallo (or so it looked) mixed things up again with crisp onions and garlic amid the perky herb tomatoes that contrasted so nicely with the roasted tomato. It’s a fun dish to eat, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

While Chad explored this playground, I played tag… With this…

And this…

Walnut and Pomegranate Stew: Baked Chicken with Walnut & Pomegranate Puree with Basmati Saffron Rice. I would have called it fesenjan, and I’m always thrilled when I find it. But I think it’s like meatloaf — everyone does it a slightly different way; and my friend’s mother makes what I consider to be the seminal version for me. This version was heavy on the pomegranate molasses, so it was rather sour and yet syrupy sweet, and the saffron basmati rice did little to adjust the flavor or texture. I prefer the sauce to be heavier on the walnut so that it’s a bit lighter and creamier. It was okay (and actually, the chicken itself was juicy and tasty), but in comparison to the ground beef dish, it got a bit boring. Perhaps not as many things could be added to it as easily as to ground beef dish, but it needed something more to maintain attention to it.

We ordered the After School Warm Chocolate Chip Cookies with Milk for dessert. I think that the way they did it was to partially bake the cookies, and either keep them warm or heat them more to order. Chad liked them well enough, but they had unappealing oily spots in the center and the chocolate chips had that scorched flavor that pops up when they’re fresh from the oven. Oddly enough, I was smitten by the milk — when was the last time I had a glass of whole milk? Of course, it was like cream to me now, but hey, I like cream… so this was more like lowfat cream than high fat milk.

I also wanted to mention The Purple Orchid, which is a fantastic tiki bar in El Segundo. The drinks are consistently great (which is so rare at any bar), and unlike the occasional drama at Tiki-Ti in Silverlake (which is, also, very good nonetheless), it’s very laidback, full of locals who happen to like hanging out in a Hawaiian bar.

The Volcano Bowl is fun for a group.  We got it with their retro Mai Tai, and I think they usually light the middle part.  Other stand out drinks include the Rum Swizzle, which balances its sourness with spicy cinnamon, and the Purple Orchid Martini, with vodka,  honey, lime, and raspberry.  And of course, anything that comes in a glass like this is bound to be good…

And if you’re in the mood for something different, I recommend going there on St. Patrick’s Day…

This entry was posted on Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Los Angeles, Restaurants, Sampling, Towns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.