The Other Critics

Gold Hungers for Huazontle at Bizarra Capital; Virbila Sweats Black Hogg

Duck panucho at Bizarra
Duck panucho at Bizarra Photo: Bizarra Capital via Facebook

If Jiro dreams of sushi, Jonathan Gold dreams of mole fries. And the critic finds just that at Whittier’s Bizarra Capital, though he’d originally come to satisfy a craving for huazontle, which you’d know if you’d already read his story on the subject last month. Bizarra comes from Cook’s Tortas, Dorados, and Guisado’s chef-owner, Ricardo Diaz, and tangles the citywide gastro-pub/craft beer craze with Mexican recipes, leading to aguachile, pork ribs, cecina, asada, cochinita pibil, camarones a la diabla, and spicy tacos bearing five chiles on handmade tortillas. Though the mole fries might not live up to the promise of Gold’s slumber, he calls the guacamole “among the best I’ve ever had in a restaurant.” [LAT]

Like Besha Rodell before her, S. Irene Virbila really senses that Silver Lake’s Black Hogg is going to go nuts once the liquor license clears. She calls the pork belly tacos “things of beauty” and the lamb burger “heaven on a soft glazed bun.” Claiming that “you won’t find a wimpy dish here,” Virbila notes the influence of April Bloomfield on chef-owner Eric Park, a Spotted Pig alum turning out steamed mussels with lardon, uni toast, egg-topped longaniza sausage hash, and “crisp” brick chicken. Though we’ve held it as a bit of a ringer for the West Side’s Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing in days past, Virbila notes Park’s individual artistry and says, “There’s really nothing quite like Black Hogg in L.A.” [LAT]

Gold Hungers for Huazontle at Bizarra Capital; Virbila Sweats Black Hogg