Chef Marilyn's Soul Food Express

It’s easy to find Chef Marilyn’s Soul Food. Just head south off the 10 at Crenshaw and look for the line that stretches out the door from 10:30am to 9pm. It’s easy to be tempted away by the smoke from Phillips Bar-B-Que, but Chef Marilyn’s has a line for a reason. Advertising “99-cents and up”, the tiny cafeteria-style eatery sells food a la carte (or a la Chinese buffet). The prices range from 99 cents for dishes like lima beans, neck bones and links to $8 for oxtails. There is also a location on Pico.

The menu rotates, with check marks on the chalkboard next to items in that day's hot buffet. Know what you want and don’t dawdle. Service is friendly, but there are 15 people behind you. You pay the cashier at the end, just like at a cafeteria. The next thing you know, the line moves you right on out the door. This is a place to pick up your plate and go home, or enjoy it on the hood of your car. Remember, there is no shame in eating on your bumper.

Chef Marilyn was brought up in Louisiana on creole and Cajun food. It especially shows in her cornmeal-crusted catfish, perhaps their best dish. With main dishes, you can't go wrong with anything smothered or fried. Some people go crazy for the meatloaf, but I haven't tried it myself. I always order the catfish; it's so good I could eat myself to death like a goldfish and float up to the top of the fishbowl.

Seattle: Tuesday Night with Justin

Justin and I decided to try an Ethiopian place called Assimba, partly because I'd spent all day studying Lucy, partly because an Ethiopian cabbie reccomended it, but also because we had both had good experiences with Ehiopian food in San Francisco.

The menu told the story of cooking in Ethiopia

Both men and women have their own special roles when preparing the food...Food served to guests where the meat is not the right type and and size, where the bones are fragmented, brings disgrace which will destroy one's reputation. In some places, it is a major cause of mariage failure!

...Meseret points out that every food prepared is unique like the person is. Thus, the food that one has prepared has its own unique pesonality reflecting the personality of its cook. That is why lacking cooking skill is so dangerous to one's reputations. The person man or woman who cooks bad may be labeled and end up with bad nick name for the rest of his/her life.

So that's why people keep calling me Kiki "holes in pie dough" Maraschino!

I wish I could say it was a revelatory experience, opening us up to a whole new world of Culinary delights, but I guess I'll have to save that one for Maori cuisine.

The injera, is a large flatbread made out of teff flour. It is extremely sour. Otherwise it had the texture of thin pancakes. Incredibly sour pancakes. The teff are used as a utensil to pick up the various stews and vegetables.





We ate a variety of foods, but they were all similarly spiced and extremely hot. We tried a sort of tartar called kitfo, which was raw ground beef marinated in mitmita. Sauteed meats are called tibs. We tried Gored Gored, cubes of beef sauteed in Nitir Qibe with onion, rosemary, green pepper and tomatoes. That one was pretty good. Our favorite dish was actually the lentils cooked with diced gnger and turmeric.

We did dig their decor.

This is not Jesus



But this is Stevie Wonder



We were a bit peckish after we left, so Catfish Corner was serendipity. The fried catfish was Southern fried without a trace of grease. The chicken wings were huge, like bat wings. I'm not usually a fan of potato salad made with vinegar and mustard, ut theirs was pretty impressive. A servicable red beans and rice rounded out the meal nicely.



The service was super friendly. The next day the special was going to be gumbo. Our server told me to call ahead if I was coming and she would save some for me. Now that's the kind of place that makes you feel at home.

Leimert Park Eats: Mama's House

I think I have found it. I have found The One. True, I have not eaten at every soul food restaurant in LA (yet), but if I had to pick the one to settle down with, Mama's House would be it. Hidden away in an old-fashioned strip mall on Crenshaw Boulevard, Mama's House has been quietly gaining fans for the last seven years. The room is comfortable, filled with family photos and bric-a-brac. It almost takes a minute for you to recognize the Japanese windows and realize you are sitting right in the middle of a sushi restaurant, sans sushi. Instead of raw tuna, the glass display case is now brimming with sweet potato pies. Not a bad trade, really.

When "Mama" Juanita Penland reached the age of 68, her kids decided to buy her the restaurant as a present. In the relatively short time since they opened their doors in August of 2000, they have won two prestigious Hoodie Awards as well as the heart of the community.

Mama's house has a deft hand with meats, turning out succulent short ribs and smothered everything. The sides are also stellar, particularly the yams and the macaroni and cheese. The greens, grits, red beans and black-eyed peas do not disappoint. The banana pudding is the genuine article, made with evaporated milk the Southern way. It dominates the banana pudding playing field, which is not easy around here. To be able to compete with The Cobbler Lady a few doors down, you know their desserts have to be good.

Breakfast may be the most uneven of all meals. Mama's chicken and waffles are impressive, with chicken wings that are so huge they look like deep-fried bats. The waffle is not quite Roscoe's but you really can't complain. The turkey links are also a standout, although on one visit they were cold.



The service is either shockingly fast, or noticeably relaxed; it is just kind of at random. Take-out orders are sometimes left sitting unless you remind them twice, and the friendliness factor can vary. Ride with it. The food is worth it. Especially the catfish.

The first time I ever ate their catfish, a feeling of tranquility and well-being settled upon me. As I realized there was no way I could finish the entire meal and leaned back in my chair, the waitress passed and asked, "How was everything?" I said. "I just found Jesus."



Mama's House (323) 290-0657
3864 Crenshaw Boulevard, LA

Leimert Park Eats: M&M Soul Food

When people think of Leimert Park, they usually focus on Leimert Plaza Park and the one block of Degnan to the north. But the neighborhood of Leimert Park encompasses the eastern side of Crenshaw Boulevard, including Crenshaw and King Blvd all the way north to Rodeo Road. M&M Soul Food sits right beneath one of the blue signs delineating the Leimert Park neighborhood.

When you see a soul food restaurant on television, nine times out of ten it is going to be M&M Soul Food. They are one of the most visible soul food restaurant in Los Angeles, along with Roscoe's and Stevie's. At one point they seemed to be opening up an M&M on every corner. As one person on the Chowhound board put it, "They are determined to become the Denny's of South Central."

M&M Soul Food really is like Denny's in more ways than one.



Like Denny's, the best meal you will find here is breakfast. Thick, fluffy, almost bread-like waffles and homemade biscuits are sure to please. Staples such as grits and eggs are cooked just right, which is not as common as it should be. M&M offers a wide variety of meats with breakfast, including hot links, liver, salmon croquettes and chicken wings. My favorite by far is the fried catfish. Only in New Orleans and South Los Angeles am I able to eat catfish for breakfast. Served as a whole fish, the bones can be perilous, but the filet lifts off easily. The exterior is crunchy and satisfying, while the meat is flaky and fresh. I must warn you that everything comes with a big pat of margarine unless you request otherwise. The ice tea is sweet tea and the lemonade might make your teeth hurt. This is Mississippi soul food, after all.



Also like Denny's, the cooking here can be uneven. Everything depends upon knowing which dishes to order. The fried fish and the moist barbecued chicken are outstanding. The chicken is one of the things that has kept me coming back to M&M. The BBQ ribs, however, just can't stand up to ribs that have been smoked for hours over real wood chips. And when Phillips is just a few blocks away, there is no reason to bother. The smothered dishes suffer from an uninspired and salty gravy.





Where M&M pulls it back together is with the side dishes. Their yams are the rock star of the vegetable world. I have tried to duplicate them, and I believe they are boiled in a simple syrup of sugar and water for hours. The greens, mac and cheese and red beans are also stellar. Some days it is worth stopping in just to order the "vegetable plate".



The baked goods are made at the M&M on Imperial and brought in daily. The banana pudding is unpredictable. The nilla wafers are crunchy on top and mushy in the middle, so it's the luck of the draw. The peach cobbler is supersweet soul food at its best.

Word has it that there are "some M&M you go to, and others you don't." Originally, the M&M empire was owned by a woman named Mary, who has since passed on. When she retired, she sold some of the restaurants to Patrick Brown. He runs this M&M and another one on Crenshaw and Imperial. Mary's son runs the M&M on Centinela and the one in Carson. Most or all of the others have closed down. There was also a popular, but unrelated, "rogue" M&Ms on Degnan that recently went out of business.



The food is good, in some cases excellent, The service is efficient, and perfunctorally friendly. Something just feels off about M&M. It can't shake the anonymous feeling of a Denny's. Perhaps a local shopkeeper put it best when she told me, "It just seems like nobody loves that place."


M&M Soul Food (323) 299-0982
3552 W MLK Blvd. LA CA 90008

Cajun 3-way Rajin Cajun

Hermosa Beach is one lucky town.

Not only do they have the beautiful beach and the ocean breezes, but they have lucked out in the restaurant department. They are home to not one, but three New Orleans-inspired eateries: Ragin Cajun, New Orleans, and Café Boogaloo are all within two blocks of each other. This week, to gear up for the big Bayou Festival in Long Beach, I am going to cover all three restaurants.

First, let’s start off with Ragin Cajun. It has long been one of our go-to lunch spots. If this place were in New Orleans, I would guess it would be located on Bourbon Street. The riotous décor makes it look like a Mardi Gras float threw up on the walls. But the wooden tables, Mason jar glasses and huge selection of hot sauce on every table make it comfy and homey in spite of the profusion of green, purple and gold everywhere. The cartoonish tourist trap environment actually makes this a perfect place to take kids, large groups and old people. It is a brightly-lit, happy kind of place.

Founder, owner, and chef, Stephen Domingue, is a true Cajun from Lafayette, right in the heart of Cajun country*. He has a number of fans in the on-line foodie forums, and Ragin Cajun is held in high regard.



The menu, printed on the side of a brown paper grocery store bag, is pretty simple: fried seafood, red beans, jambalaya, gumbo, all the usual suspects. Their one twist is “Gumbolaya” which is basically gumbo served over jambalaya. The straightforward menu is another reason that kids and older people are always happy when I take them there. There are plenty of unchallenging options, like the ham po’boy, for the faint of heart. The main reason I return again and again to the Ragin Cajun is their deftness at real, southern deep-frying. The catfish "fingers" have a traditional cornmeal coating with a nice, tight seal, and not a hit of greasiness. They are the best catfish "fingers" I have had outside of New Orleans. The fried alligator is similar, but naturally tougher. I’ve noticed for some reason kids are afraid of the catfish – even my friend’s son who happily devours the alligator. But once they try it, they are converts. When I finally convinced my 80-year-old uncle who was visiting from Canada to try the strange and exotic catfish, he ended up eating most of my dinner. The remoulade dipping sauce is first-rate as well. Nothing else on the menu matters to me. Really, give me properly-fried catfish and an Abita Amber and I am good to go.





Other than the fried seafood, I don’t get very excited about their menu. I’ve never been a big fan of jambalaya or etouffee. I compare everything else on the menu to my own cooking, and the gumbo and red beans just don’t compare. My husband calls their gumbo “sausage soup”, and I find that other than a nice, complex roux, the dominant flavor is hot sauce. Or as Ralph on the Simpsons says, “It tastes like burning.” The red beans are creamy and rich enough, but I find them kind of bland. One of my friends swears by them though, so I guess it is a matter of taste.

The servers are mostly cute, perky college girls. They are very friendly and helpful. The owner, Stephen Domingue is a big, personable guy who can be kind of intense. Once he stopped by my table to coo over my niece, but when I tried talking to him he acted like I was bothering him. On another occasion, he hollered across the restaurant at a waitress, nagging her not to forget some chore. She was taking an order at the time, so she looked over and nodded. He hollered, “Did you HEAR me?” She replied, “Yes, the whole restaurant heard you.” Oh, so HE’S the ragin Cajun.





Ragin Cajun 422 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 (310) 376-7878
(Closed Mondays. Beer and Wine.)


* New Orleans is not really considered part of Cajun country, and most of the citified food developed there is considered “creole”. But there has been much overlap between these two cuisines, especially since Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagassi started “haute-ifying” Cajun food. I understand Cajuns defending their culture and tradition, but any foodie who wants to get into Cajun vs. Creole with you on a particular dish is just spoiling for a fight. The other thing people like to fight over is “blackening”, which was basically invented by Paul Prudhomme. Many people insist it is not “real Cajun”. But most Cajun restaurants are happy to serve it. Food is like language, constantly changing and growing. (How big of a dork am I that I footnoted a blog?)

(Photos by Elise Thompson)

Let's fry some catfish!

CATFISH “FINGERS”

2 pounds fresh catfish filets
2 cups milk
2 eggs
10 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
1 cup “fish fry” mix

½ cup cornmeal
½ cup flour
¾ cup cornstarch
2 Tablespoons Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Peanut oil

Slice catfish crosswise into 1-inch strips. The size and thickness of the strips will vary. That's OK. In a large Pyrex pan, whisk together milk, eggs, Tabasco and yellow mustard. Add the catfish pieces, turning to coat thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

In a medium-sized baking dish or pie pan, mix together fish fry, cornmeal, flour, cornstarch and seasonings. Gently dredge catfish pieces in dry mix and set aside.

In a large cast-iron pan, heat 2 inches of peanut oil to 350 degrees. The temperature of the oil is where most people have problems with frying. I flick a little bit of water into the pan and I can tell by the sizzle when it is right. Every time you add a piece of catfish, the oil should bubble furiously around it. If not, you are adding too many pieces too quickly and the oil is cooling. You will need to constantly adjust the fire during the frying process. For the right temperature, I need to keep the dial between 4 and 6 on my stove, but that may vary. It is best to use a thermometer until you get the hang of it. I find the Chinese wire deep frying tool used for woks invaluable for deep-frying.

Fry catfish in batches, being careful not to crowd the pan or the oil will cool. Fry the less thick pieces for about 2 minutes, and the thicker pieces for about 4 minutes, turning the pieces frequently.

Drain on paper towels, and dab with additional paper towels to soak up any grease.

Dip in Tartar sauce, Remoulade, or even mayonnaise spiked with Tabasco. Or make yourself a Po'Boy! (I had a lot of help with this recipe from someone known as "Big Daddy" on a Louisiana cooking site).