Mammoth Lakes: June 2021

Mammoth Lakes

LA County Safer At Home: Days 556-568

Tri-tip and pork ribs at Copper Top BBQ.

The quality of the sign should have been a warning.

But outside of the sign, it didn't seem that bad...

There's some tuna buried in here somewhere among the cucumber, sauce, pickled onions, carrots, and pickled jalapenos.

Overcooked, dry, nearly inedible pork in the banh mi. Sauce and veggies are all EXACTLY the same as in the poke.

Gojira Ramen. Smallish ramen countered by massive portion of kara age. Sushi was indifferent.

To their credit they were constantly packed.

Yuhubi Nobi gas station in Bishop. Super nice.

Berlins next to Beverly Center.

Doner kebap is pretty good.

Just don't look at the price tag.

Also despite name, there's no milk tea. What the heck?? Milky Way from Minaret Vista.

And from Minaret Vista.

Milky Way over Horseshoe Lake.

Couldn't resist one more stop at Copper Top BBQ this season. Tri-tip and pork ribs are generally winners-- today their tri-tip knocked it out of the park. Wasn't quite as impressed with the baked beans (with green chile, yum!) today, but that was also pretty good.

This was in direct contrast to the next day's meals. Bell's Kitchen/First Chair food cart in Mammoth was absolutely disgusting. They use the exact same vegetables and sauce in both their "poke" and "banh mi," from the shredded carrots, pickled onions, and pickled jalapenos. Feels like almost the same quantities of both in each, too. Was a rather small amount of tuna buried in all the other crap but at least tuna, if you kept it away from the pickle juice, was edible. Which is more than the overcooked, dry, nearly inedible pork belly was. Fkn' gross.

GOJIRA Ramen and Sushi was typical of most Asian food in Mammoth Lakes. Best described as indifferent, the kara age was at least a massive portion, in direct contrast to the ramen, which was pretty darned small. The spicy tuna roll was pretty utility. They were at least packed, which is a good sign? Both of these meals in Mammoth really made the to-go breakfast at The Westin look pretty good, if that gives any useful comparison.

Two days later, back in Los Angeles, a stop at BERLINS for doner kebap on the way home. It's actually quite good, although as you'd expect for a Beverly Hills place, it's too clean to have the proper atmosphere of a real one in Europe... and about twice the price Also disappointing was the fact that they straight up advertise having milk tea, but when I walked in, the clerk said they had stopped serving it entirely. Wut. o_0

And lastly, yes, two nights of astrophotography, to make up for the bad weather on the previous week's trip. The landscapes in Mammoth aren't as majestic or as distinguished as the ones in Utah, but for something so close to Los Angeles, it's nice enough to be able to have any astrophotography opportunities.