It’s Food Bowl weekend! Plus, Josiah Citrin’s Mélisse at 25, a coffee shop turned restaurant, pizza pop-ups, Frenchy grilled cheese. And robots in the kitchen? Meet the Autocado. I’m Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.
A. Times Food, with this week’s Tasting Notes. Now, this is road food Last Sunday, I pulled off California’s 101 highway at Los Alamos, then clomped up the wood steps of the saloon-like building that is Full of Life Flatbread and had the kind of late-summer meal that shows the Golden State at its best.
A melon and cucumber salad is what first got my attention — the melon at peak ripeness was shaped into bite-sized orbs, its sweetness set off by the crisp cucumber, plus red chile slices for heat and a crumble of feta to tame the vinaigrette that was amped up with fish sauce. Fish sauce was also one of the welcome umami notes in Full of Life’s summer michelada with Tutti Fruitti heirloom tomatoes and serrano chile. Then there was a genius burger of Waygu beef served with a crunch-perfect layer of potato rosti — think of your ideal hash browns — that erased the need for French fries.
I can imagine a fast-food chain turning potato rosti on burgers into a nationwide phenomenon, but I’m glad I got to eat the real thing first. Of course, we ordered flatbread for our group — multiple pies, in fact. One with dates, bacon and walnuts; one with beef cheek, caramelized onion, tomatillo, stewed tomatoes and cotija cheese; one with Full of Life’s own.
