Middle East Food--and Nachos

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And that is exactly what Herminie's Grill has done.

This Armenian-owned fast food restaurant opened last year at the corner of 6th Street and Witmer, on the same block as Good Samaritan Hospital.

The menu was and still is (mostly) Middle Eastern--kebabs, hummus, stuffed grape leaves, eggplant and Greek salads, gyro sandwiches and baklava.

Good food, but not what this strongly Latino neighbohood is accustomed to. So Herminie's made some changes, hired a Latino cook and put a new sign in the window.

"Tacos," it screams in huge letters. And enchiladas, burritos, taquitos, carne asada and nachos. And caldo de res (beef soup). The splashy display almost dwarfs the kebab sign in the next window.

Curious, I went in and asked for nachos.  And, surprise, they were quite good. The toppings were fresh--fresh chopped salsa with bits of jalapeno, freshly made guacamole, beans and yellow jalapeno cheese that was much better than the sickly gluey cheese that comes out of nacho machines.

I would have liked real tortilla chips as the base rather than round yellow commercial  chips, the kind you get at parties where salsa comes out of a bottle. But it was a good effort.

Oddly enough, the carne asada plate with grilled marinated  beef, beans and rice  is the same price as cheese nachos, $4.99. Sounds like a bargain, and I'll have that next time.

Nachos with cheese are $4.99, with beef or chicken $5.99 at Herminie's Grill, 1260 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90017. Tel: (213) 966-1237. Open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Comments

[Barbara]

Thanks for the tip, Jonathan.

I have to have that dish, fateh. It sounds beyond marvelous.

[j gold]

Have you had fateh? It's a little like Lebanese nachos, fried pita chips drowned in lebneh and tahini and topped with fried pine nuts, chick peas, maybe some lamb or roast chicken - an amazing breakfast dish that is also pretty traditional at iftar. I think you'd love it - Wahib's in Alhambra and Shan in Santa Monica (as well as half the restaurants in Dearborn) serve it in the mornings.