Post #8 – Tapas y Paella

Here in LA, we live among the Mexicans. Mexican food is pretty easy to come by. However, the food from Mexico is not the same as the food from Spain. To little avail, I’ve been searching for outlets in LA that serve authentic Spanish food. By Spanish food, I don’t mean tacos and burritos, but stuff like jamon iberico, tapas, and paella.

Over the course of the last few years, I’ve seen a bunch of “tapas” joints open up in Los Angeles. The term tapas has a pretty loose interpretation around here. In LA, it can mean any place that serves a selection of tiny appetizers. Some sushi restaurants go so far as to label themselves as Japanese tapas bars. This isn’t the kind of tapas I’m looking for… I’m looking for the real stuff… a place where the tapas menus resembles those of say a tapas bar in Barcelona. The tapas of Spanish cuisine consists of either hot or cold dishes. The dishes can be as small as a plate of olives, or as elaborate as seasoned seafood.

A couple months back I had dinner at Cobras and Matadors which is a Spanish restaurant on the corner of Hollywood and Vermont. A large selection of tapas dishes are on the menu, including squid rings, fried potatoes, lentils, and Iberian pork. The food there was reasonably good, but was not as authentic as I had hoped. The setting is rather trendy, and doesn’t resemble the relaxed, food-oriented tapas bars of Barcelona or Madrid.

This weekend I found what I was looking for. La Espanola Meats Inc, is a dodgy looking place in La Habra off the 110 freeway, but serves some of the most authentic and tastiest Spanish food in Los Angeles. From the outside it looks like a deserted warehouse, in an industrial area south of Carson. I pulled up to the parking lot, not knowing what to expect. “where the hell are we?” I wondered… but I was reassured by the collection of Mercedes and BMWs parked in the lot with bumper stickers featuring a large letter (E) or (CAT). This place is a Saturday afternoon hangout of local Spaniards and Catalonians living in Los Angeles. La Espanola Meats is primarily a tiny market selling Spanish goods, but also features a little eating area for food prepared there. The highlight of the place is the special Saturday Afternoon paella which they prepare in-house, once a week. [Paella is a traditional rice dish served in a large pan with vegetables and seafood]

So, I parked, and walked in to be greeted in Spanish by those working inside. They figured I’m probably Spanish, but the remnants (or lack thereof) my three years of shitty Providence High School Spanish education convinced them otherwise. Continuing in English, I asked for a couple orders of paella. Apparently, you’re supposed to make reservations to be served paella here, because they make only a small amount every week. Luckily for me, and with a bit of chatting, I appealed to the sympathy of the restaurant crew, and I got my orders of paella. It would take a couple minutes to serve though, so I spent the next few minutes browsing the shop.

They have an area dedicated to imported Spanish potables, including Red Wine, White Wine and Rosé Red Wine (which the Spanish are known for). The store also sells bottled Sangria, of the brand name Sangria Reál. Good sangria is hard to come by, and the crap they sell at Trader Joes doesn’t quite taste like the stuff in Spain. I figured I’d may as well pick up a couple bottles of this, and a couple bottles of the rose wine to bring home. The shop features a large selection of Spanish foods, including boquerones—a favorite of mine, which are white silver-backed anchovies in vinegar and olive oil. (I consider boquerones of the top 5 tastiest things to eat in the world).

“Sir, your orders are ready” I heard from the end of the shop. I figured two orders of paella wouldn’t be enough for the four of us having lunch… what else should I get?

Hanging along a wall of the restaurant were full hams of Iberian pork, with the leg sticking out. The Spanish are known to be ham connoisseurs, and Jamon Iberico is their flagship product, but they had none of it in stock at the time of my visit.

So I asked for four orders of the Jamon Serrano sandwich, which are served on baguettes, plain, with a little bit of olive oil drizzled over it.
With a round of lemon Kas Soda, the woman at the register tallied up the total, and we anxiously relocated to the adjacent covered eating area, featuring a bunch of picnic tables, and many hungry people. Luckily there was an open table up front and that’s where we sat down….

First, we have the Serrano ham baguettes, which are great. The ham resembles prosciutto ham and has a very distinct taste. At this point, I haven’t even looked at the paella, but I can smell it, and the anticipation is almost too much to handle. I opened up the box, and there it was. Nearly indistinguishable from the paella I had in Spain a couple years back, this dish had everything good paella should have: Shrimp, Squid rings, Clams, and all kinds of shellfish. To say the least, it was very tasty.

So, we ate, cleaned up the table, and left the restaurant. Leaving the parking lot, I knew that I’d return someday very soon.

The only problem with this place, other than its appearance, is its location. It’s about 20 miles south of USC on the 110, and there is nothing else to do in the area….So when coming to eat here, the trip has to be planned with this as the only destination…. But if you’re into good food, it’s definitely worth it…

A couple side notes:
The new whole foods in pasadena now features a tapas/wine bar on the second floor with some Spanish dishes. I haven’t eaten there yet, but it looks pretty good. In the gourmet food section, you can ask for imported boquerones (Spanish white anchovies), which they sell by the pound. The ones from Whole Foods are just as good as the ones in Spain because, well, they ARE the ones from Spain. Good stuff. Unfortunately though, they don’t carry Serrano ham because the ham is preserved with Nitrates, which Whole Foods doesn’t support.

For Serrano ham closer to home, Nicole’s Gourmet Foods on Mission Street (cross street fair oaks), sells imported Iberian ham at about $20 a pound. (They even serve prosciutto ham from Parma, and Mortadella by the pound)

Buen Apetito