What’s Cookin’ Behind the Curtain – A “Mil” from the Heart

(Originally posted on LAist on November 9)



Here in LA, we are blessed with embarrassing riches when it comes to Latin American food. Just about every country is represented by at least a couple of places that truly embody the cuisine and spirit of the local culture. Venezuela is no different. While authentic Venezuelan restaurants are sparse in the Southland, they do exist. Coupa Café in Beverly Hills offers the upscale option, with fresh-brewed coffee, high-end food items, and some traditional dishes. But down in Santa Ana, Mil Jugos brings Venezuelan cuisine to the everyman.

Mil Jugos is a tiny shop in downtown Santa Ana, neighboring the Civic Center and Artists Village. Owned and operated by a Venezuelan mother-daughter tandem, the café contains only five tables but packs the soul of a nation within its walls. With brightly colored walls, scores of pictures of friends and family, and little wall ornaments depicting various incarnations of homes, Mil Jugos feels like one is taking a glimpse into the lives of its proprietors.

While Mil Jugos serves conventional sandwiches and salads, the real attraction are the two Venezuelan specialties on the menu: cachapas and arepas. Cachapas are sweet corn pancakes topped with various items typically served at breakfast or as appetizers. The café presents toppings like queso blanco, pork, seasoned beef, and ham. Because it was later in the day when I made my trip, I opted for the arepas. Arepas are more like a Venezuelan sandwich, with grilled corn bread surrounding hearty fillings. Mil Jugos provides numerous combinations of hot seasoned meats and cheeses to satisfy the palate. Slightly smaller than an In-N-Out hamburger, the arepas aren’t going to be tummystuffers individually. Which simply means you can make your own variety pack to sample different fillings. I went light and only got two: the pabellon and the pollo.

The first thing you’ll notice after you order at the counter is that it takes them a long time to make the arepas. Those of us used to our fast-food lives might be annoyed, but to me it just meant that I was getting something freshly prepared. Indeed, when my arepas were brought out to me, they were steaming. My first bite gave me the warmth and density of the masa-based bread, and the savoriness of the pollo. Yum! The pollo arepa was a combination of shredded chicken, cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and onions. All of the seasoning livened up the filling, though it was not spicy – I added some of the cool green chili sauce to give it extra bite. The pabellon was a mixture of carne desmechada (shredded beef cooked with similar ingredients as the pollo), black beans, and white cheese. This filling offered more of a flavor contrast between the slightly sour cheese and the meat and beans. Both were tasty, though I think my preference was for the pollo.

As anyone who who has studied elementary Spanish knows, mil jugos means a thousand juices. Accordingly, the restaurant also offers a lengthy list of nearly 25 fresh juices. Familiar fruits that are not necessarily typically consumed as juices include banana, pear, peach, and strawberry. Also available are numerous native selections such as guanabana, chicha, and tamarindo. To accompany my arepas, I had a large cup of tizana, a common Venezuelan drink, which was comprised of passion fruit juice mixed with several scoops of chopped green apples, cantaloupe, grapes, and pineapple.

Mil Jugos primarily serves the workday lunch set, closing on Sundays, and only opening from 10 to 5 during the week (opening at 10:30 on Saturdays). With arepas ranging from $3-$4 and cachapas priced at $5-$6, you’ll need to spend a little bit more to get a full meal than at a typical American café. But the meal you’re getting will be anything but typical.

Mil Jugos
318 W. 5th St.
Santa Ana, CA 92701

What’s Cookin’ Behind the Curtain – Darling I Love You But Give Me Park Ave.

(Originally posted on LAist on November 2)



Saying the name ‘Park Avenue’ evokes images of wealth, of tony living, of elegance and class (or of crappy Buicks if you’re into cars). Kinda like Rodeo Drive. It’s the antithesis of the working class, the regular everyday lifestyle that most of us experience. Which makes this week’s restaurant strangely appropriate, since Park Ave. in Stanton delivers a regal dining experience for a working class crowd.

My dad likes to joke about the perception that Laguna Beach or Newport Harbor is somehow representative of “the real Orange County,” and that someone looking to experience real “real Orange County” should go visit Stanton. Like most communities in north Orange County, Stanton is firmly middle class, with a diverse population and a significantly lower amount of plastic and silicon per capita than certain other “real” neighborhoods. Thus, it is surprising to find a place like Park Ave. within the Stanton city limits since the whole theme of the restaurant harkens back to upper-class 1950s living, a stark contrast to the nudie bar located a block away.

Picture this: a dimly lit dining room, with a mahogany wood base design and retro fabric adorning the seats and curtains; an elegant bar with old Rat Pack standards playing in the background; an all-black clad wait staff offering up seasonal selections from the menu; a googie-style logo displayed in the neon roadsign all the way down to the embossing in the faux-gator leather billholder. From what I could see, every last detail was covered to convey the theme.

That is, except for the food. Although the restaurant motif is pure 1950s, the food has a decidedly 21st century feel to it. Park Ave. and executive chef David Slay offer a variety of steaks, chops, and seafood with a modern twist (think of the Elks Lodge challenge from Top Chef 3). My dining companions and I interrogated our server, trying to cover as much ground as possible, but she was a good sport, leading us to some of her favorites on the menu. Undoubtedly, in the back of her mind she thought we were a little eccentric, a la the Finer Things Club in last night’s The Office episode.



We started our meal by sampling both the spinach salad and the creamy tomato soup. The spinach salad, tossed tableside, mixed in bacon and cheese and a warm apple cider-based vinaigrette, which provided both the sweet and sour to the dish. Although the warmth of the dressing wasn’t universally approved of, I liked how it gave my belly a little heat prior to the main course while still maintaining the lightness that a salad is intended to bring. The soup, served in a fun Park Ave. mug, was a slightly chunky mix of tomatoes, cream, cheese, and minced onions. The temperature was perfect, hot enough to taste all of the commingling flavors but cool enough that it didn’t burn the tongue. It was great on its own, but it could have easily made an excellent sauce for a lobster ravioli dish as well.

For my main dish, I ordered the antelope medallions. I will almost always order a game dish if I see it on a menu, as I love the sharper taste of the meat. The antelope was served with wild rice and spaghetti squash. I found my meat to be tasty but slightly overcooked (I asked for medium rare, but it came out closer to medium than rare) which, when coupled with the toughness of the meat, made it more firm than desired. However, the port wine sauce that accompanied the antelope was terrific, bringing a slight sweetness that accentuated the flavor of the meat. The rice and squash made nice accompaniments that helped complement the antelope from both a flavor profile and a textural contrast standpoint, not to mention adding color to the plate.

My food buddies ordered the filet mignon medallions and the stuffed chicken. The filet was a great cut of meat, super tender and flavorful. The meat was topped with a shiitake mushroom sauce that I thought overpowered the flavor of the meat slightly, and served with roasted potatoes. If I were to concoct the perfect dish, I would have mixed the port wine sauce with the filet mignon steak. That would have been spectacular. Meanwhile, the stuffed chicken was a boneless chicken filled with spinach and whipped potatoes. The dish was extremely hearty (my friend didn’t even finish half of it), but the flavors of each of the components remained intact. The chicken stayed moist despite the ingredients stuffed inside, allowing the natural juices to come out with each bite.



Park Ave. also has a healthy dessert menu, featuring homemade ice cream and sundaes. We opted to split a warm berry crumble and substituted out the usual vanilla ice cream for peanut butter ice cream. The combination of the berry sauce and peanut butter ice cream definitely made the dessert taste like peanut butter and jelly (and if you don’t like PB&J, you need to get yourself checked out). I particularly liked the inclusion of cranberries, in addition to the blueberries and raspberries that I’m accustomed to seeing in a mixed berry dessert, with their acidic taste providing some tartness against the rest of the sweet items. The crumble was a chewy, sugary topping that added much needed thickness. Other favorites from our server included the molten chocolate cake and the bread pudding.

Ordinarily, I’m accustomed to paying a hefty tab for a solid three-course meal such as this one, particularly given the solid service and general ambience. But we were able to get out for under $35/head, tax and tip included. The reasonable prices make Park Ave. a very accessible gourmet dining experience; in short, an upper-class meal at middle-class prices.

Park Ave.
11200 Beach Blvd.
Stanton, CA 90680

All photos by Amy Yang, as well as the reminder of the Green Acres theme song for the title of this post