Newsletter: Counter: Hong Kong-style breakfasts, Oaxacan pizzas

Sometimes, especially given the vicissitudes of baseball and politics, there is nothing you need as much as a bowl of congee, one of the world’s greatest comfort foods. To this end, Jonathan Gold’s latest review is a comfort in and of itself, as he visits a Hong Kong-style restaurant in Monterey Park that specializes in breakfast dishes, especially those bowls of porridge.

If congee isn’t your idea of fun (really?), we check out eight places in town that have pretty terrific tlayudas, the great Oaxacan dish that is often compared to pizza. And in other news: a guy whose idea of fun is eating hot wings with celebrities, a talented chef’s idea of hotel food and more on the seemingly endless poke trend.

— Amy Scattergood

Hong Kong-style breakfast

A bowl of congee from Delicious Food Corner.

(Mariah Tauger / For The Times )

This week, Jonathan considers Delicious Food Corner, a Hong Kong-style restaurant in Monterey Park that specializes in breakfast food. Chinese doughnuts, toast, noodles and — best of all — lots of congee.

More fun with Oaxacan pizza

Chef Eddie Garcia holds up “Tlayuda de Chorizo y Chapulines,” with crispy chorizo and toasted crickets, at Cocina Condesa.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )

Food writer Barbara Hansen tours the city to find the best places for tlayudas, often described as Oaxacan pizzas. She finds eight restaurants, including a food truck, that make great iterations of the addictive dish, as well as three markets where you can get yours to go.

Mr. hot wings

Sean Evans, the host of the YouTube series “Hot Ones,” eats a hot wing on the show.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times )

What if you decided to get your own show on YouTube and make a lot of celebrities eat stupidly hot wings? Deputy Food Editor Jenn Harris talks to Sean Evans, a guy who does exactly this on his show, “Hot Ones.” Lots of gasping and swearing and milk-chugging. Lots of Scoville units.

What’s up with hotel food

If you spend a lot of time at the Tasting Kitchen, chef Casey Lane’s Venice restaurant, then you know he’s been downtown before: His gastropub, the Parrish, came and went a few years ago. Lane’s new project is a restaurant, or actually two of them, in the restored Hotel Figueroa in DTLA, set to open in December. We talk to him about what his version of hotel food will be.

Where to get Spam musubi

In her weekly restaurant column, Jenn brings news of Da Kikokiko, a new Hawaiian restaurant (poke bowls, Spam musubi) in Playa Vista from “Top Chef” alum Brooke Williamson and her husband, Nick Roberts. In other news, the Sunday downtown L.A. food event Smorgasburg will be having a Mexican-themed Oktoberfest called Octubrefest. And Plan Check Kitchen + Bar owner and founder Terry Heller has opened a location of the restaurant in Santa Monica.

Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers. And because you’re probably wondering, Gold’s 2016 Best Restaurants list will be out online Oct. 25, the same evening as our annual Bite Nite celebration. The print copy is out Oct. 30.

“City of Gold,” Laura Gabbert’s documentary of Jonathan Gold’s Los Angeles, is available on Amazon.

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