Marissa Eats Coleslaw

LudoTruck (website)
Locations across Southern California

On Friday, we stopped by the artspace iam8bit to catch the opening of their newest collection ‘It’s the ShizNICK!’ (now through May 5th). It features an array of artwork inspired by Nickelodeon shows from the 80s & 90s, and was pretty awesome from top to bottom.

Parked outside on the back patio was LudoTruck, a much-lauded LA food truck that dishes out southern staples such as fried chicken, biscuits and coleslaw. While the chicken was good, you’re here for my brutal slaw honesty - so let’s get down to brass tacks!

As you can see, it’s a tiny tub of slaw (I guess for $.75, what can you expect?), but it had BIG flavor. More on the savory side, this slaw features red onion and roughly chopped cabbage. I kind of made a mess of eating it because plastic forks are not very good at stabbing into anything, but managed to scarf it all down quite quickly nevertheless. It’s definitely more sophisticated than your average deli slaw, and had the right balance of fresh and savory.

4.5 out of 5 cabbage heads.

nystromology:

Hey Marissa!
Cole Slaw with pineapple chunks at Saltwater Grill in downtown Safety Harbor.

Canyon Bistro (Website)
120 N Topanga Canyon Blvd
Topanga, CA 90290

We stopped into the Canyon Bistro for lunch while on our way out to Malibu recently. The drive through Topanga Canyon is pretty fun in and of itself since it’s so windy and mountainy. It’s kind of hard to believe this is part of the greater LA area!

Anyhow, Justin ordered a pulled pork sandwich (hold the bun) that came with a side of coleslaw. I don’t recall it being that spectacular. All the basic parts were there, but it tasted bland and boring. I think a lot of times when a place gives you coleslaw with pulled pork they expect that you’ll only eat them together and not taste it separately. DON’T DO THIS TO ME, RESTAURANTS. Don’t cop out on your slaw in this manner!

Making matter worse, the service was ridiculously slow and inept, especially considering we were only one of about 4 tables with customers in them.

2 out of 5 cabbage heads.

Home Los Feliz (website)
1760 Hillhurst Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 

A couple days ago, we weren’t feeling up to making dinner so we ordered delivery from Home (Eating Home at home, there has to be a joke in there somewhere). We have eaten there a couple times before, but this is the first time I’d ordered their slaw. Here it is, plated in all it’s glory with a club sandwich.

The slaw is very standard looking, but it hit all the right notes for me. The cabbage was crunchy with a slight bitterness that was balanced by the creamy and sweet dressing. I could eat this all day! Where they lose points for creativity, they earn them back for being the epitome of what all deli slaw should aspire to be.

4 out of 5 cabbage heads. 

Hyperion Public (website)
2538 Hyperion Ave.
Los Angeles, CA

We had a lovely Sunday night friend dinner at Hyperion Public recently. It’s a relatively new spot that’s one half American gastropub, and one half neighborhood bar. I ordered their grilled cheese and a side of their ‘bacon coleslaw’. What? Bacon? Yes, you have my attention!

I appreciate that they did a rough cut on the slaw, making it a little more rustic and special. The slaw had a possible buttermilk base, and was packed with red onion. For being called a ‘bacon coleslaw’, I really did expect a little more bacon. Initially, I really enjoyed the flavor, but over time, the big chunks of red onion got to me. It’s just my personal preference that I don’t like biting into onion constantly. If they had chopped it a little finer and added only half as much, I think this would be a winner. 

So, while everything else we had was quite good, and I still recommend you try Hyperion Public out, I can only give their slaw…2.5 out of 5 cabbage heads.

Community (Website)
2044 Hillhurst Ave.
Los Angeles, CA

We stopped by Community for a late lunch last week. It’s one of those places in the neighborhood that we’ve gone past countless times and always said, “That looks cute, we should eat there sometime.” It’s predominantly a lunch spot, with a menu full of local organic (yadayadayada) sandwiches, salads and burgers - even better, the menu specifies that they can turn any sandwich into a salad. This is essential in LA where everyone is watching their carbs (I wish I were kidding, but even I have cut down on my bread intake since moving here).

I ordered the Turkey Club as a salad, and a side of coleslaw. Everything was quite delicious, but I’ll just stick with a review of the slaw. It’s well-dressed, and decidedly on the savory side. They use celery seed in the dressing, which I haven’t seen before in other slaws. There was also a flavor in there that I couldn’t quite put my finger on at first - and then I found some very thin slices of red onion in the mix. I could taste it, but I could hardly see it - the unseen star of the whole shebang!

As an aside, I want to share how lovely the service was. The server (and perhaps owner?) took time to ask our names as we ordered and then called us by name as we left, plus she gave us a complimentary sliver of cake after our meal! This kind of service is something we’ve seen time and again from LA restaurants/bars/local shops. I appreciate that people here give you their attention, genuinely want to serve you and earn your repeat business (although I don’t doubt that this phenomenon is more a reflection on our part of town than the city at large). Still, it surprises me everytime it happens.

OK, back to the slaw! 4.5 out of 5 cabbage heads!

Guy Fieri’s Creamy Carolina Cole Slaw Dressing
Sold at fine grocery stores - I got mine at Gelson’s

I am pretty much a noob when it comes to making slaw at home. I know it’s pretty basic, but I’ve never attempted it before. While I work up the nerve to make my own dressing, I thought I’d start incorporating packaged slaw dressings I find at the grocery store into the mix. That way, more of you playing along at home will have the chance to taste what I’m putting down.

Pre-packaged shredded cabbage (aka undressed slaw) is readily available at most grocery stores and really makes it a snap to prep your own at-home slaw in seconds. I chose the most basic iteration - cabbage and carrots - but there are some fancier options out there too. Don’t forget that you can always add your own shredded veggies and other mix-ins to make it all your own.

Not gonna lie: I chose the Guy Fieri slaw dressing because I thought it would be funny. Even if it wasn’t tasty, I could have a laugh reading the label (‘It’s off da hook!’). I could tell from looking that the bottle that it was a vinegar-based dressing (usually a no-no to me), but it did say CREAMY in the name, so I thought I’d give it a try. 

The low-down is this: It’s a cider vinegar and oil base dressing, with some mustard thrown into the mix. To me, it’s more like vinaigrette you’d use on a regular salad, not something made for coleslaw. I know this seems like I’m splitting hairs, but to me, coleslaw dressing is it’s own separate category with it’s own set of flavor rules. That said, it’s not bad. It’s definitely not creamy, and it’s not really what I’d personally call ‘Southern Style’, despite the Carolina moniker. But, I’m not from the Carolinas, so maybe one of y’all can correct me if a vinegar-based slaw is indeed how you roll.

On the brightside, it’s pretty low-calorie, so it’s a great option for slaw-lovers on a diet. That cup of slaw right there probably tops out at around 50 calories. And I like that I didn’t need to use a lot of the dressing, too. I used about 1/5 of the bottle for that one bag of shredded cabbage, so there’s going to be plenty more homemade slaw in my future. 

3 out of 5 cabbage heads

Coming soon to a slawblog near you (this one)