THE GLUTTON
It’s not easy being green, especially on St. Patrick’s Day. Food and drink get all gussied up in their emerald finest, then by the end of the night, most of it’s swirling around your toilet bowl. So skip the inappropriately green beer and cloying shamrock shakes and check out this authentic green grub.
El Pollo Inka (Lawndale) serves steaming bowls of aguadito, a cilantro and chicken soup that’s as gorgeous as it is fragrant. They also boast a terrific aji, a lettuce and jalapeno-based sauce that could turn ketchup green with envy.
Wash it down with an avocado smoothie -- a mildly sweet, ridiculously creamy concoction that’s popular at banh mi shops all over the San Gabriel Valley. (The Glutton is loyal to Mr. Baguette though some prefer Lee’s.)
For dessert, the city’s best pistachio gelato can be found at Pazzo Gelato (Silver Lake), where they somehow condense an entire grove of pistachio trees into every 2-inch scoop. It’s not quite green, but it is delicious.
Or head to Paris Baguette (Koreatown), a burgeoning Korean bakery chain where the piece de resistance is the green tea chiffon cake -- an airy, vibrantly green sponge cake dotted with red beans and coated in velvety frosting. This is green food so good, it makes those dyed green pretenders look like cheap, painted harridans.
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