Posted by ayersian
, January 07, 2009 12:22
The term “Farmers Market” is purely subjective in describing this Los Angeles original at 6333 West Third Street and Fairfax Avenue: there are no farmers here, and it’s now attached to the Grove, a ritzy outdoor mall. But it has been dazzling customers since 1934 on the same grounds, and its food court has at least one representative of every major food type: Texas BBQ, Cajun, Italian, Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, French, Greek, and the list goes on. On the prowl for something unique, we first alighted on the Village, the sister stall of Moishe’s Mediterranean Restaurant. The Village’s specialty is the Middle Eastern pedeh (similar to a boreka), a flat, pizza-like pastry that’s ultra-thin and baked to order. We immediately chose the lahmajune (pictured above), which is finely ground beef infused with onions, parsley, and spices that tops an ovoid length of dough. This was so scrumptious that it will haunt our dreams until we find another!
The cook (above) that prepared our lahmajune did so in about three minutes: he rolled out and stretched the dough, added toppings, crimped the crusty edges, and whisked it into the clay oven to bake for a few more minutes. Our next stop was Singapore’s Banana Leaf for their roti prata (below), which is thick, eggy flatbread served with a curry dipping sauce and placed—naturally—on a banana leaf. Delicious!
To wash it down, we picked up a bottle of Bennett’s Lemon Cola (below) at another stall. This made-in-L.A. soda reminded us of the short-lived Pepsi Twist but with a lower carbonation.
For dessert, we only had enough room left for a cake doughnut (below) from Bob’s Coffee & Doughnuts, an L.A. institution and perennial award-winner. Although it’s quite different from more traditional farmers markets around the country, the L.A. version is family-friendly and, as the locals say, “sooo L.A.”
