As you know, caves - especially The Cave - are or is ...?... a tender and revered eco-system, and a good troglodyte respects its environment.
So now that it's summer, I am adjusting to lots and lots of microorganism salads. Microorganisms are tasty, don't get me wrong, but after some time enhancements become necessary and so that is how we get to The Great Glendale Hummus summer.
Many salads of what's in season: cucumbers and dill and cilantro and red onion, a nice lemon/olive oil drizzle, a generous spoonful of hummus on top, and an egg on top of that - sometimes fish, I can't seem to not want this every day, and the hummus is a fitting dimension.
We started with Central Grand Market and then found Pacific Food Mart. The latter I preferred as being lighter and, as the customer commented to me it would be, "cleaner." But Central Grand Market had a nice bite to it lacking in the Pacific Mart.
Then the laundry room was crazy so I (wait for it) threw in the towel and opted the laundromat. Across from the laundromat is the strip mall where Eden Burger is, and I walked over there to get a bottle of water. Nestled into the corner of that strip mall is this place, Kozanians Ranch Market. (There is another one on S. Glendale Ave.) This is when I realized there are, in Glendale, a million of these little groceries and there would be much hummus in my future.
When I saw it was made by a company called Babylonia Foods in Glendale, this gave me hope there was a single producer supplying many small groceries apt to carry hummus. But no, a little research showed it's simply their in-house name. I don't know who Barron is, or why it's Babylonia Foods and not Kozonians Hummus, but I do know you might not want to buy your meat there, heh-heh.
The hummus was chunky, "artisan," had the best balance of flavors (not noticeably too salty) and an interesting recollection of deviled eggs. That might be paprika on top, it might have been from that. Also, cumin in there, it was a nice after taste. This was a nice hummus.
NEXT. Well, I had to try this and check it off the list, Nature's Pride Golden Farms. There is one on San Fernando, but this I got from their store on N. Glendale, north of the 134. This was a nice hummus but safe, which I guess is necessary to appeal to the widest audience. Turns out I like a little more opinion in my hummus.
NEXT. I was running a little early today and remembered this place on Central, Glendale Ranch Market. Which begs my question, What IS a Ranch Market? Is it one company with many ranches? I don't know, but there are a lot of them in Los Angeles.
The hummus here is also nice but unremarkable. It is vaguely unbalanced - like your resident troglodyte, you're thinking right about now.
Yesterday I was in Whole Foods and the gentleman standing in line ahead of me was wearing chef pants. I'm not sure how these got to be THE chef pants, but I engaged him in conversation anyway and he works for a company that caters to the studios. They specialize in middle eastern cuisine. I asked him where in Glendale one can get the best hummus. "Packaged?" Then he trailed off and it was clear I was on a fool's errand. However he does favor Raffi's for good local Mediterranean eats. Which I see has hummus on its to-go menu.
Right now we are leaning towards the offerings of Pacific Food Mart and Kozonians Ranch Market.
Entirely unrelated, last weekend I decided it was too hot to drink wine, at least anything red and big, which is precisely why I opened this, 2002 Chien Lunatique.
I think the chien was lunatique after drinking this wine.
I don't know why France's dogs are lunatiques while ours are merely something to beware, but there it is.
This wine was exactly what I wanted: decadent and delicious. Deep dark fruits, mysteries and allures, exactly right.
Cheers to the quiet days of summer and all the little bits that fill it.