Lola's Kitchen in Barstow CA

 Yesterday, I finally went to check out the Desert Research Center by Center for Land Use Interpretation in Barstow CA. My friend and artist Ana Chaidez came with me and we had a wonderful road trip day together.

When I hear Barstow, I think of Harry Partch's composition or Frank Zappa. There's a Mad Max vibe there that I'm attracted to but also scared of.

CLUI has several spaces around the Nation and their gallery/offices are in LA on Venice Blvd next door to The Museum of Jurraisic Technology.

Ana and got to the Center from Highland Park in about 2.5 hour or so. Luckily, the traffic was no where near as difficult as it often is. However, it was hot out there, although not as hot as we had feared.

Driving through Barstow, we found a couple of interesting one offs but decided to go to Lola's Kitchen.

The funny thing, when we got there, the mirror glass doesn't let you know what's happening inside from the parking lot. We read the little sign that listed the hours and read that it opened at 4PM. Disappointed, we turned around to walk back to the truck. We looked one more time and realized it said 4AM not 4PM.

Inside, it's a small place with maybe 6 tables. I ordered the 3 taquitos plate. I didn't want to get rice and beans, thinking it would make me sleepy for the drive back.

You can't go wrong with chicken taquitos. It was perfect, with a little bit of greens and tomatoes on the plate.