Organ Meats Enliven LA Menus

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Indian's clay pot with intestine

By Joshua Lurie
For dineLA.com

Chefs are no longer limiting themselves to center cuts of meats. As a result, diners are embracing snouts, hooves and everything in between. Delicious offal dishes now span LA County, offering remarkable variety and affordability.

Alcazar’s sprawling Lebanese menu is dotted with daunting dishes like Sawdat Djej, rich chunks of chicken liver sautéed with pomegranate juice and garlic. Beyd Ghanam features surprisingly mild slices of lamb fries (testicles) sautéed with lemon sauce and pine nuts and dusted with sumac. If you’re feeling especially brave, order N’Khaat - fried beef brain.

Tuesdays are the only time you’ll find veal kidney at Angelini Osteria. Gino Angelini seasons the organ with salt and pepper, sautés it with garlic and rosemary, and finishes it in an oven that burns oak and olive wood. The firm kidney with the rosy core is carved tableside, spooned with white wine-infused veal stock and served with mashed potatoes. The native Italian also cooks sweetbreads, veal brains, and beef tripe, depending on availability.

Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo change Animal’s menu daily, but always include adventurous cuts. They toss crisp strips of pig ear with scallions and tangy chile-lime vinaigrette, then top the tangle with a fried egg. The duo also prepares foie gras and pairs supple sweetbreads (veal thymus glands) with creamed spinach, capers and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. For Dotolo, cooking nose-to-tail is “the only way to pay homage to the animal.”

Mario Danessi has built a Peruvian organ meat Mecca in LA’s Southeast corner with Anticucheria Danessi. His skewered anticuchos (beef hearts) are bathed in a tangy marinade of pimiento, garlic, rocoto and vinegar, then thin-sliced and char-grilled to medium-rare. Danessi also grills cow liver steak and three varieties of offal: Pansita (sliced stomach), Rachi (firm honeycomb tripe strips) and Choncholi, tiny intestines soaked in milk for maximum tenderness and charred until smoky and caramelized.

At Bistro LQ, maverick French chef Laurent Quenioux prepares Foie Gras 3 Ways using three different duck livers: French torchon rolled in Earl Grey tea and sandwiched with violet-scented bittersweet chocolate; fluffy quince marshmallow sandwiches filled with Canadian foie gras; and sautéed Hudson Valley foie gras with squares of unagi (freshwater eel) and caramelized apple. Moroccan-flavored roasted squab comes with duck hearts, duck gizzards and a mix of pistachios, rhubarb and the ras el hanout spice blend. Quenioux says, “It is important for me to not neglect any part of the animal.”

BottleRock LA executive chef Jared Levy was a vegetarian for 17 years. He came to his senses five years ago and now offers eight types of house-made charcuterie, plus roasted bone marrow with red onion marmalade, bacon vinaigrette and crispy fried capers.

Chung King is known for its mouth-numbing Sichuan food. Their flavor arsenal includes scored sheets of iron-rich pig kidney showered with multi-colored pickled peppers.

CUT Chef de Cuisine Ari Rosenson considers it a “responsibility to use the whole animal.” As a result, CUT features two staple organ meat dishes. He simmers thin-sliced veal tongue until tender and plates it with cannelloni beans, marinated artichokes, cherry tomatoes and salsa verde. Rosenson also makes bone marrow flan – pure “decadence” - topped with a mushroom duxelle. “Spread it on a brioche and call it a day,” he says.

Michael Voltaggio recently became executive chef of The Dining Room at The Langham in Pasadena, and he likes to “take parts that aren’t used in other restaurants.” For example, he recently paired pickled lamb tongue with lamb chop confit, a streak of eggplant-raisin puree and a square of fried hummus.

El Sinaloense specializes in food from the coastal Mexican state of Sinaloa. On weekends that means “menudo blanco,” a regional take on the legendary hangover cure loaded with hominy and several cuts of cow: white slices of honeycomb tripe, firm callos (heel), quivering pink nervio (tendon) and double-layered pansa (stomach). Spoon on purple onions, fire-orange chile de arbol powder and cilantro or oregano, then squeeze on lime.

At FIG, a market-driven restaurant tucked inside the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, Chef Ray Garcia uses his grandmother’s recipe to prepare luscious, thin-sliced beef tongue garnished with diced tomatillos and crisp breakfast radish.

Asian twentysomethings flood Indian, a surreal Taipei-style pub with a Native-American theme, for pitchers of beer and exotic bar bites. Clay pots hold caramelized cross-sections of pig intestine and basil, all bathed in a syrupy soy reduction. Burgundy-hued duck tongues are stir-fried with basil or fried and showered with salt. Nibble the tender meat off of the tiny bones.

Al Langer may no longer be with us, but MacArthur Park-adjacent Langer’s Deli is still going strong thanks to his hot pastrami, which is spice-rich and meltingly tender. The #6 sandwich features pastrami, Russian dressing and luscious chopped chicken liver studded with finely chopped egg. This combination comes on soft, crisp-crusted rye bread.

Scoops gelato maestro Tai Kim has been known to make foie gras gelato on Saturdays. He starts with a whole lobe of duck liver, simmers it until molten and folds it into vanilla gelato. His goal: “try to educate what foie gras tastes like.”

In a Torrance strip mall, Torihei has attained near-mastery of Japanese yakitori and kushi-yaki – skewered chicken and meat. Their tender liver is lacquered in sauce and seared beef-tongue comes dabbed with wasabi. For adventurous eaters, they also skewer chicken gizzards, hearts and tails.

Alcazar, 17239 Ventura Blvd, Encino, 818.789.0991, al-cazar.com
Angelini Osteria, 7313 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, 323.297.0070, angeliniosteria.com
Animal, 435 N. Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, 323.782.9225, animalrestaurant.com
Anticucheria Danessi, 14351 Pioneer Blvd, Norwalk, 562.929.3398
Bistro LQ, 8009 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, 323.951.1088, bistrolq.com
BottleRock, 1050 S. Flower St, Los Angeles, 213.747.1100, bottlerock.net
Chung King, 1000 S. San Gabriel Blvd, San Gabriel, 626.286.0298
CUT, 9500 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, 310.276.8500, wolfgangpuck.com
The Dining Room at The Langham, 1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave, Pasadena, 626.585.6218, thediningroom.langham.com
El Sinaloense, 7601 State St, Huntington Park, 323.581.1532
FIG, 101 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, 310.576.7777, figsantamonica.com
Indian, 633 S. San Gabriel Blvd, San Gabriel, 626.287.0688
Langer’s Deli, 704 S. Alvarado St, Los Angeles, 213.483.8050
Scoops, 712 N. Heliotrope Dr, Los Angeles, 323.906.2649
Torihei, 1757 W. Carson St, Torrance, 310.781.9407

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