Welcome to eating out with Mark. I hope you will become a regular participant with me in discussing food and drink in and around Long Beach.
To start off, let me tell you a little about this column: what it will try to do and, equally important, what it will not.
Eating out with Mark is a celebration of the foods that and places where I like to eat. Simple enough, right? As the tag line says, if I like to eat or drink it, you’ll read about it here. But this is only a start – because I hope you’ll share your favorites with me and all the other LBPOST readers!
Let me tell you my ground-rules now. That way, there are no surprises – or at least I can say you were warned.
There are 3 basic rules.
Rule #1: NO BIG CORPORATE FOODMIILS! If you want to read about Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse, or Spires, you will have to do that elsewhere because you will not be able to do that here. (In fact, if you like those places, you may not like this column much. I apologize in advance.)
Rule #2: I like authentic places. Real people cooking real food. Food that comes from somewhere or means something to the person making it. A little pupuseria making tamales wrapped in banana leaves; a taco stand serving good cabeza or a top-of-the-line place reinterpreting the traditional Cobb salad with duck confit? BRING IT ON! That is what I like.
Sounds simple, right? But it is not. Which brings us to the dreaded:
Rule #3: CONSISTENCY. I put a huge premium on consistency – because that is the hardest thing to do in the restaurant business. There is nothing worse than looking forward to a great meal like the one you had last time, only to be disappointed because the service, food, etc. that made you want to go back was a fluke.
Consistently producing excellent food, with good service, time and time again – that is what I seek out. Anyone can get lucky once in a while. But the ability to recreate excellent food and service – time and time again – now that’s a place worth writing about!
And that is what I intend to do.
My tastes are wide ranging – and any kind of establishment (taco stands, ethnic restaurants, white tablecloth places and everything in between) can meet my key criteria which is consistently preparing and serving good food. And I will write about any of them, but only after I have been impressed several times and feel comfortable sharing them with you.
But that is only a start – I want this to be an exchange of ideas. I want YOU to tell us about the places that you have found that consistently cook and serve good food. The kind of places that you would recommend to your best friends for their last meal – when you don’t want to make a mistake. We’ll all be better for it.
Finally, a word about what this column is not.
Eating out with Mark is not the New York Times Food Review, Zagat’s or the Michelin Guide. I mean no disrespect to those venerable publications – in fact I read and rely on each. But I will not award stars. I will not trash establishments. It is not my job to criticize people who are trying to make a living in one of the oldest, hardest, and least forgiving businesses in the world. They are braver than I am because I would rather work in the relatively safe and sane world of politics than make a living in the hell fire of a kitchen. Frankly, I admire the gumption of anyone who seeks to serve and feed others. It is a noble profession – one I deeply respect.
I prefer to spend my time celebrating those who succeed.
So enough of idle chat. Let’s eat!!
I look forward to sharing this culinary adventure with you and ask – no implore – you to share your opinions with me and with our fellow gastronomic adventurers!!!