There’s the Beef

One of the neat things about eating in Los Angeles is tracking the unexpected ethnic twists that pop up now and again. The Inca-inflected fried rice at the Peruvian-Chinese restaurants south of Hollywood, for example, or the lasagna at that Thai-Italian place down by MacArthur Park. If you want to sample Korean grill cooking modified to the Japanese taste, or the kind of Cantonese noodles that say “home” to a Salvadoran, you can find them, too. And if you’re looking for a perfect triple-carom shot--Continental cuisine cooked by Ecuadorans in an Argentine restaurant--there’s La Choza, a newish parrillada joint where you can dine on shrimp in Champagne-cream sauce and still get change back from your $10. It’s the kind of friendly neighborhood restaurant you’d want in your neighborhood.

La Choza is a clean, modest place with upscale aspirations, located down the road from a dozen body shops, five minutes’ drive from the Pasadena Freeway. You’ve reached it when you see the only Melrose-looking sign in Highland Park . . . lemon-yellow neon that reads, oddly enough, “Gaucha Grill” . . . and pass through the crowd of men who loiter around the Mexican cantina next door.

Inside, the walls are lined with thatch--a “ choza “ is apparently a sort of hut--and are decorated with plants and Ecuadoran weavings. A small television in a corner displays soundless nature documentaries; and on a scratchy recording, an Andean panpipe band rings many, many changes on a Simon and Garfunkel tune. On weekends, there’s live music, and as many as 35 or 40 people crowd into the pint-size dining room to hear the thrumming guitar and eat hot, tasty empanadas .

“Have you tried the parrillada ?” the waitress asks, spreading her arms wide to indicate the immensity of the platter. “It is very, very good. Or the chicken. It is . . . how you say? . . . chest of chicken, with mushrooms and champagne.

She points at her own chest in emphasis, and pronounces champagne “sham- pahn -yuh,” in the French manner.

“It is very, very good,” she says. “Also, Americans like the roasted pork. It is very good.”

“You tell us,” my friend says. “Which one do you like the best?”

The waitress shivers a little.

“Oh no, none of them,” she says. “Most of the time I never like to eat meat.”

Most of the time what people like to eat at La Choza is meat, specifically the mesquite-grilled parrillada , a sort of garlicky best-of-cow sampler for two that includes slabs of short ribs, lobes of sweetbreads, tripe and an odd cylinder of steak, along with a couple of lengths of mild Argentine-Italian sausage and some chicken thrown in for good measure. (Not included in this version of the Argentine national dish is the traditional squiggle of carefully grilled spinal cord, which I don’t miss, and the fat, pungent blood sausage, which I do.)

The parrillada isn’t the best in town--that would still have to be at Don Felipe, in Hollywood--but it’s very good, cooked rare if that’s the way you ask for it, and at $15.25 for two, including a green salad, something of a bargain. It comes with ramekins of the Argentine parsley sauce chimichurri --the closest thing to a vegetable you’re going to get on that plate, unless you count French fries--and the terrific Ecuadoran chile sauce aji .

“Try to say it: a- hee ,” the waitress says. “If you do not say it, I will not bring you any more. A- hee .” We do try . . . the aji is worth a certain amount of embarrassment.

Sometimes, nothing but two full pounds of screaming meat will do. And sometimes it won’t do at all. The “Continental” dishes here alone may not be worth a commute from Santa Monica or Rosemead. But La Choza’s chef, who’s worked in several of L.A.’s fancier kitchens, has a knack for thick, old-fashioned cream sauces, scented with mushrooms or lightly touched with garlic (also kind of oversalted), blanketing shrimp or chicken or noodles. It may not be La Toque, but it’s a lot better than you’d expect from an eight-buck plate of shrimp.

The best food in the place, though, is found in the half-dozen Ecuadoran dishes on the last page of the menu: an Ecuadoran take on chicken-fried steak; the spicy, sweet goat stew called seco de chivo ; a mess of tripe and rice called arroz con guatita . Especially delicious is the most popular Ecuadoran dish, llapingachos --crisply fried mashed-potato-and-cheese patties on top of Ecuadoran-style roast pork with onions (something like a tastier, herbed version of carnitas) and topped in turn with fried eggs.

La Choza, 5930 York Blvd., Highland Park, (213) 255-1900. Open daily, noon-11 p.m. Cash only. Beer and wine. Dinner for two, food only, $15-20.