Food, she thought.

Birthday Omakase at R23

2009-12-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

923 E 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 687-7178

Wednesday was D's birthday, and in true food loving form we decided to have a mid-week night on the town. Neighborhoods and names were bandied around like gossip about B-list actresses in the offices of TMZ. What do we feel like eating? Do we want to have to drive? How much are we willing to spend on a taxi? Do we feel like eating red meat at place x? Can we even get a reservation at place y?

Ultimately, in a very busy week we decided to stay close to home, and not having eaten at R23 in forevers, we decided to ignore internet rumors that their food is no longer "what it used to be", and try omakase in the ex-railroad loading dock located somewhere beneath the nether regions of Little Tokyo. Truly an odd duck location, our taxi driver refused to drop us off until he could indeed verify there was an open business in their alley.

Informed over the telephone that the restaurant only offers omakase at a table, we played cowboy and asked for it at the sushi bar anyway. Our chef, while not loquacious, was extremely hospitable and attentive.

We tried two sakes from the cold menu. Wakatake first, a mild sake, not sweet and not dry. Very pleasant.

Second, we sipped at Otokoyama. Also characterized as mild, D liked the flavor of this less expensive Junmai sake better than the more refined Junmai Daiginjo. It seemed to have a little more flavor, a touch floral with that slight hint of melon I always swoon for.

The room was still beautiful but the much ballyhoo'd corrugated paper chairs (Frank Gehry or no, they are memorable) are starting to look a little the worse for wear. Still comfy though.

In her 2002 review, Empress S. Irene notes that what earns R23 their two stars are the hot kitchen constructed items on the menu rather than the sushi, which she calls, "good, but not remarkable". I have eaten some wonderful sushi here in the past, and am in the mood for raw fish so that's the direction we head. But not before being tempted by salmon dumplings, the quality and flavor of which have me wanting to head back to R23 stat for an entire meal of small non-sushi dishes.

Steamed salmon dumplings in soup, they are called on the menu. Succulent silky dumplings around meaty clumps of salmon sitting in a dark clear broth flavored with smoke. The broth bowled me over. The smokiness was a perfect counterpoint to that standard salmon flavor. Heavenly dish.

Before the omakase games begin, our chef asks us about preferences, allergies, dislikes, etc. We both have pretty open minds and palates, and I warn him only against raw shrimp. It bugs me. Our sashimi platter arrives first.

The most unusual item on the platter, and my favorite, is a squid roll. A long slice of raw squid wrapped around a tiny bit of cucumber (not enough to dominate the delicate flavor of the raw squid), shiso leaf and nori, topped with tobiko. The wonderful verdant flavor of the shiso pops forward, the nori and tobiko follow, the mouthfeel of the squid being the last to leave the palate.

Not unexpected but delicious nonetheless, snapper rolled into pretty little circles. We are advised against dipping this in soy. It melts in my mouth, I barely have to chew.

Tako. This has been prepped by brushing a little vinegar and oil across the slices, barely perceptable. I like how chewy it is on the very outside of the slices, being more stereotypically raw texture toward the middle of each slice. No shoyu.

D has come around to the yellowtail. He used to really dislike my favorite sushi item, hamachi. But last night he enjoyed it very much and now declares it one of his favorites. This we can dip, and I use the shoyu sparingly.

Spicy goodness. A few posts ago I was complaining that my tako poke at Ono Hawaiian foods on Oahu was not spicy enough despite the fact that I asked for it spicy. This chef could teach those Hawaiian folk a thing or two about spicy. At some point D was unable to eat anymore, I finished every last morsel. Since eating Ludo Lefebvre's raw scallop appetizer, I have been on a raw scallop tear. The spices here definitely overpowered the flavor of the scallop, although the texture was still beautifully glossy and just short of firm. Some people advise against eating spicy anything in a Japanese restaurant, reasoning that the spices can cover up poor or less than fresh quality fish. However, I saw the chef make this dish from the wonderfully fresh looking scallops right in front of my face in the cold box. Just saying.

First sushi. Albacore with onions and ponzu. No surprises here. Great tasting, and the portions of rice he uses to support the fish are quite small. I understand from somewhere (and I cannot seem to find the source this morning) that how much rice a chef uses under the fish is subject to trend, and the use of two fingers worth of rice is quite out of vogue. The construction here has about the same amount of rice as my pinkie finger, and my hands are small-medium sized for a woman.

The salmon presentation. On the upper right you see seared salmon sushi, not for dipping in shoyu. It was seared ever so slightly. The entire piece of fish retained the soft droop of raw salmon, rather than the stiffness you see with a cooked piece of salmon. The outside was just barely warmed, it seemed. The flavor was wonderful, salmon with something slightly savory that must have been used prior to searing. The salmon to the left was just classic salmon sushi, please dip in shoyu if you like.

Three tunas. To the front left is a piece of very fresh maguro, and immediately to its right is toro. I rarely order toro, it's usually so pricey and there are always a million other things I want to try when eating sushi. It was so delicious, I understand why it has such a following.

The third tuna he called a "cured" tuna. Cured using shoyu, sake and vinegar, the texture of this is quite meaty, firmer than even the maguro although sliced more thinly. An unusual preparation, I have never seen it. The chef told us very few sushi restaurants offer this on the menu. If you see it, I highly suggest giving it a shot. It's offered at Sushi Ran in Sausalito, Sushi Sushi in Beverly Hills, and supposedly at Kiriko on Olympic although it is not on their menu.

I cannot remember what this was and I did not write it down. It was not mackerel. It was something I haven't seen, or maybe didn't recognize. At the time, I thought perhaps it is replacing a more common sushi fish that is currently over-fished. Nevermind, it was very nice. On the meaty side texturally, served with a little ponzu.

At this point chef asks us if we are still hungry, if so he can make us an eel roll. An eel roll after all this wonderfulness seemed so anticlimactic. And we were full, so we declined.

The staff sent D out a beautiful birthday mochi plate. Vanilla and coffee mochi of very nice quality. Not the same quality of the mochi I ate in Tokyo, but wonderful nonetheless.

With very top notch service (I cannot remember having had better anywhere), delicious food (being introduced to something new always makes me happy), and the warm inviting environment I have to conclude that R23 is indeed still living up to my expectations.

Happy birthday, D. And here's to another year.

The Furious Seasons The Capshuns Meredith Meyer Chase Frank at Artwalk DTLA 12/09

2009-12-08T05:18:00.000-08:00

ISGOODMUSIC/EVFA/SWEET HEAT PR PRESENT
The Garden Party
Junglerush - 542 s. Alameda St., LA 90013

9:30 The Furious Seasons
10:20 The Capshuns
11:10 Meredith Meyer
12mid Chase Frank (solo acoustic)

Email me at foodshethought at gmail dot com to get in on the guest list. I have 5 open spots!

B is the Best.

2009-12-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Barbie is not only one of my best friends, she is also one of my favorite cooks. In any emergency, in doubt or simply in need of inspiration her ideas and approaches to cooking will never fail me as a somewhat undergifted home cook. During our nearly daily early morning chit chats she was mentioning the other day making chile verde for dinner (a meal in her regular winter rotation), and I decide I finally have to try this. Having guests in town the weekend of the Eat My Blog bake sale, I think it will be fantastic if I can prep it for my crock pot Thursday evening, turn pot to "Low" Friday morning and come home from a long day of working and driving to good friends and an already cooked meal. And fantastic it was.

We started with about 3.5 lbs pork loin, and D trimmed it within an inch of its life.

D rubbed it thoroughly with salt, pepper, oregano, ancho chile powder and cumin.

Make sure all sides of the meat are well rubbed.

Start the process by browning all sides in a non-stick pan.

Don't forget to answer text messages, Twitter and FB as needed.

Next, deglaze pan with chicken or veg stock, add pork to crockpot with the deglazing liquid, a roughly chopped jalapeno, lots of split garlic cloves, a chopped onion, and 4 of those small cans of green chile sauce. Cover the lot with broth, I used chicken. Jeff from Rosso Wine Shop asked for the recipe. See below. Changes I made are bolded.

Chile Verde

2 pounds of boneless pork 3.5 lbs

1 Large Can of Green Chile Sauce 4 small cans

8 cloves of garlic-chopped 12 cloves

Olive oil

1 Small Poblano Chile-chopped 1 large Jalapeno

1 large white or yellow onion chopped

Chile powder Ancho chile powder

Oregano

Salt pepper

Cut pork into 3-4 inch cubes. (rubbed loin whole, uncubed) Season liberally with salt, pepper, oregano and chile powder. Add olive oil to barely coat the bottom of a non-stick sauté pan and when the pan is hot add the pork and ½ the onions. Brown meat (I add even more chile powder if needed-until the pork is speckled with red) and onions for about 10 minutes. Add meat to crock pot and deglaze the pan with veg or chicken stock. Add deglazed bits to the crock pot. Add green sauce, garlic, poblano or jalapeno and more stock (if needed) to barely cover the meat.

Cook forever. (cooked for 1 hour in high, 10 hours on low)

I make bowls of black beans, cilantro, cotija cheese, and I serve with homemade style corn tortillas (green chile-Mi Abuelita brand) and flour tortillas.

Monica taught me to warm the tortillas wrapped in a damp kitchen towel microwaved for about 2 minutes. This keeps them really soft and amazingly fresh.

Love B

Spicy deliciousness, served just the way B suggested with black beans, avocado, cotija cheese, cilantro and green onions on large plates and in big bowls.

Cut to...6:30 AM Saturday morning. Scene: driving through Echo Park and DTLA in a state of abject depression over macaron failure of epic proportions. Looking for an open bakery of excellent to stellar stature in which to buy a couple dozen artful pastries for Eat My Blog bake sale to erroneously label with my blog name and url. B and I plot my options. Pan dulce? Donuts? Cheese danish? I think of The Red Lobster's cheese biscuits which are empirically the best item coming out of their kitchens. We discuss. As I drive maniacally toward Echo Park's own recently less ghettoized Von's on Alvarado, she searches recipe databases for possible biscuit recipes. We seize on this one from Gourmet magazine, and bastardize it with jalapenos and bacon.

Gourmet. September, 2004. RIP.

Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal (preferably stone-ground; not coarse)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
6 oz extra-sharp Cheddar, coarsely grated (2 cups)
3 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
3 scallions, finely chopped
1 1/3 cups well-shaken buttermilk

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F. Butter 1 large baking sheet.

Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in cheeses and scallions with a wooden spoon, then add buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Drop dough in 8 equal mounds about 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool to warm, about 10 minutes, then cut in half horizontally.

I doubled the recipe, and wow did this seem like a lot of cheese. B and I agreed that nothing is made worse by bacon, and yes that is Jimmy Dean pre-cooked bacon in a box on my kitchen counter. In the background is my archaic Braun food processor with a couple giant jalapenos diced into tiny pieces.

Cornmeal and flour. Next time I might try a smaller flour:cornmeal ratio, just to make the gluten intolerant people happy. That, and I love cornmeal.

The Braun handles the bacon easily.

Drop biscuits make life beautiful.

Each one filled the palm of my not-too-large hands nicely.

My house, for the second day in a row, smelled of savory goodness.

Enfin. Something worthy of selling at the Eat My Blog bake sale. Three dozen of them in less than an hour.

With a couple to spare for K & I to eat for lunch Saturday afternoon with leftover pork chile verde.

Thanks, B.

Dinner at Fabio's Firenze Osteria in NoHo

2009-12-06T12:09:00.000-08:00

Firenze Osteria

4212 Lankershim Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 91602

(818) 760-7081

Saturday night two of my favorite people, C & K, were in town having a girly weekend. One of the many things we bond over is our love of Top Chef. We analyze every minute of each episode, critique dishes, deconstruct character flaws, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum. They spent Friday night assisting me in my myriad of désastres macarons while watching every episode of this season's Top Chef on the kitchen TV. We are all anticipating the upcoming showdown between the three remaining culinary heavyweights Bryan, Kevin and Michael, in that order we think. C & K were on a Top Chef tour of the city this weekend, hitting Stefan's Friday afternoon for lunch, Fabio's Firenze Osteria with D and me Saturday night and planning to brunch at The Jar (TCM, but still) Sunday morning. We had a beautiful dinner (with a few small flaws) and wonderful service at Firenze.

mintcucumber

C & K both started the evening with a virgin Mintcucumber from the drinks menu at the bar. K is not a drinker (and loves to drive, so is always happily the designated driver). Let me qualify that by saying she is funnier sober than any other three slightly inebriated amateur comedians I may have ever come across. C has a smaller and more pointed reason for staying sober. It involves a lot of belly rubbing and jokes about gaining weight. :-) These alcohol free cucumber and pineapple concoctions were delightful, sweet and herbaceous with a touch of mint, seltzer instead of gin.

ketel one martini

D and I started with our usual Ketel martinis. I like the presentation here. It can take me awhile to drink a martini this behemoth in size. It's always nice when the martini coupe sits in an ice bath, keeping the drink fresh yet undiluted.

Firenze Osteria is elegantly and unmistakably Italian. Leather chairs at the tables and bar, dark wood convertible plantation shutters on the windows, and large format photographs of Italian landmarks.

In the bread basket we were served a focaccia and a crusty country bread. The focaccia was lovely, not overly oily as is sometimes the case. And for dipping, a picante olive, caper and sun dried tomato dipping sauce. Delicious.

prosciutto e melone

To start, K ordered melon and prosciutto. If it looks to you like the portions are large, your eyes are not deceiving you. Everyone's starter portions were very generous. The quality of fruit and meat here high, with a touch of luscious burrata on the plate drizzled lovingly with balsamic. What I do not understand on this plate are the coccoli, fried Italian fritters. They were incongruous with this light summery dish.

insalata di pere

C jumped in with a poached pear salad, made very flavorful by crumbled bleu cheese, caramelized walnuts and Pecorino cheese in a light red wine dressing.

insalata di burrata

D started with a gorgeous burrata salad on a bed of arugula with sun dried tomatoes, roasted mushrooms and pine nuts with aged balsamic sweetly dribbled everywhere. The flavor of the balsamic was immensely sweet, and a perfect foil against the richness of the burrata and verdant arugula. This might have been my favorite of the starters. I had course envy. I also was happy both salads were nothing alike. Sometimes one sees a couple salads with different ingredients and the same dressing or a similar flavor approach. Not here. Completely different flavor profiles, both delightful. One autumnal and earthy, the other with strongly contrasting flavors and textures.

carpaccio di manzo

Top Cheftestant Fabio won an Elimination Challenge on the basis of this classic Italian raw beef dish.

Filet, arugula, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, with an olive oil and lemon vinaigrette. Here, Lean Wong shows us how to make Fabio's Top Chef version of beef carpaccio with the infamous spherical kalamata olives. Again, generously portioned. Perfectly succulent meat, bright greens, the nuts and citrus round out the flavors. Loved.

C was excited to see Rosenblum on the wine list. Her father and Rosenblum are colleagues in their life-work, the starting of Rosenblum Cellars being a side project he started in his garage. This 2006 Rockpile Zin was perfect for everyone (C just had a wee taste), jammy at the start with a softer more mellow finish.

insalata di anatra

Cooking and eating, eating and cooking all weekend long, I didn't have enough of an appetite for pasta. I tried instead the crispy duck salad for a main. Sauteed duck with wild mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and roasted pine nuts over mixed greens. This was wonderful. I ate every single bite. Cleaned my plate 100%.

Brussels sprouts

ravioli di brasato

K ordered short rib ravioli with high hopes on both her and my side of the table. While the quality of the house made pasta was marvelous, the taste of the beef and texture of the pasta were overwhelmed by the richness of the Tallegio cheese sauce. It was just too much.

tortellacci di zucca

C tried the butternut squash tortellini in a light cream and butter sauce. While still creamy, the sauce here was lighter, but the butternut squash-ricotta filling was overwhelmingly sweet. Wow sweet. Prohibitively sweet. When a pregnant lady with a sweet tooth is unable to finish her butternut squash pasta dish, there might be an issue.

linguine frutti di mare

Predictably, D asked for the seafood linguine in red sauce. I thought this was great, and D thought it was solid with abundant seafood and good herbed tomatoey flavors, but the sauce was a little soupy.

valrhona chocolate gelato

Capping off our meal with this gelato was inspired. We were all stuffed and sleepy, but how can one pass up a rich Italian chocolate ice cream? One shouldn't and four clearly will not. So rich, it was almost like a frozen chocolate mousse.

Two good friends of mine traveled to Moorpark to eat at Cafe Firenze 6, maybe 9, months ago. Coming away underwhelmed, T described Cafe Firenze as an upscale Olive Garden. Now that's no faint criticism. This meal, despite a couple hiccups, can in no way be described as anything even in the same neighborhood as an Olive Garden. I'd like to see a couple of the sauces lightened up so the beautiful pasta is the star. And the filling in the tortellacci turned a little more in the direction of savory, use the current recipe for pie or cupcake filling. For the most part, this restaurant is earning its reviews here and here and here legitimately, with wonderful food and a polished atmosphere.

The service? It was flawlessly gracious from start to finish. (Except the weird thing with bringing water bottles to the table at the beginning of the meal. That's kinda weird in a used car salesman kinda way.) The host & hostess, our servers and bartender? Friendly and welcoming in the best way. While I don't see it replacing Mozza as the hub of Italian food in Los Angeles, Firenze Osteria is a much needed addition to SFV dining. If I lived closer I would be a regular at the welcoming bar, my go to food the crispy duck salad and the wine in my glass the Terlato-Chapoutier Shiraz Viognier blend.

Winter 2009: Season of the Hot Mulled Wine

2009-12-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

I keep mentioning that we've been drinking hot mulled wine in the evenings the last few weeks and people keep asking for the recipe. Not a great harvester of recipes, but with a deep love of research, I simply trolled the internet looking for different recipes. Found a brown sugar mulled wine, a lovely looking cardomon one, and a recipe for mulled wine with brandy. Now a fortified mulled wine? That I can get on board with. All courtesy of WineIntro.com.

My approach was to combine a few things I had skulking around the kitchen , taking up space. Keep in mind this is not an exact science. In a deep stock pot I throw in a couple cups of water, bring to a boil.

Added some brown sugar, more than a thimble full, less than a latte. (Quarter cup or so, maybe.) I also added a liberal sprinkling of some ground spices I keep in the cupboard; ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon.

After the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has come to a boil, I squeezed in the juice from an orange, but I think any citrus fruit will do fine. I have a very prolific lemon tree in my yard, and I might molest that for fruit next time, as the oranges are gone. (Yes, lemons on my tree in December, Southern California is a land with only two seasons.) Allow liquid to cool lower than the boiling point, but still nice and hot. For the wine, I used some half and quarter bottles that had been opened over the past couple weeks and not finished. Sometimes we have a lot of these lame duck bottles laying around, sometimes we have none. The night in photos, I had .75 of a chianti and .25 of a delicious Italian white.

To add backbone to the sauce, I poured in some cheap ass cooking port and some rather expensive brandy. Heat through without boiling, you don't want all the alcohol to evaporate.

Enfin. Pour into thick ceramic mugs and drink while cooking, talking, watching TV, or supervising German Shepherds. Enjoy!

GSD #1.

GSD #2.

Ludobites: Japan, Korea and Mexico All on One Le Menu

2009-12-03T07:11:00.000-08:00

Ludobites
Royal/T
8910 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232-2326
(310) 559-6300
Selected dates through December, 2009.

Pre-empt: don't let the quick sell out of all Ludobites reservations keep you from trying to visit this December. Krissy says a couple cancellations for each evening are slowly trickling in. Click the Ludobites link at the top and make a reservation through Ludovic's website. Call now, get in there.

Tuesday December 1st members of the Los Angeles food blogging community, co-hosted by Ludo Lefebvre, his gracious, charming wife Krissy and the visionary men of FoodDigger, attended a pre-opening night view of what's to come during the December pop-up engagment of Ludobites at Royal/T in Culver City. Also in attendance were: Kevin, H.C., Danny, Fiona, Caroline, Lindsay, Josh, Javier, Sonya, Elina, Rachel and Cathy.

Artwork from Jane Glassman's In Bed Together

Having covered Ludobites here, and here and here, regular readers of this blog know Ludobites to be a temporary restaurant throwing down taste sensations during periodic engagements around the city. At the end of summer 2009, @thejgold was so thrilled with Ludobites that he deemed it one of the 99 Most Essential Los Angeles Restaurants, stating, "You can’t find it in Directory Assistance, and you can’t have dinner there tomorrow night...But when Ludo Bites is there, it’s there, and your dinner is as real as the DJ set you may have heard last week from the guy they flew in from Brussels. Lefebvre was the protégé of three of the four greatest modernist chefs in France, and wonders flow from his borrowed stoves."

Tuesday's FoodDigger dinner was characterized by all the panache the FoodDigger gents are known for exhibiting. And while some of the elements of this month's Ludobites reminisced elements of the Ludobites prior, there were some things new and very, very exciting. In a nod at the Japanoiserie that is the cosplay inspiration behind Royal/T, Ludo spins his characteristically modern French/Continental food on its head with Japanese, Korean and Mexican touches using classic French techniques that tease the palate and thrill the imagination.

Everyone adores @frenchchefwife Krissy Lefebvre, for her wit and charm but also her generous nature. Two thirds of the times I visited Ludobites last summer, I rode the citybus arriving embarrassingly late for much sought after reservations. Neither time was it a problem. Krissy handled our tardiness with good humor, rapidly seating us, and we experienced first class service every visit.

In response to bloggers' complaints about ambient light, or lack thereof, in the last venue, Krissy purchased a light box for the restaurant so interested parties could shoot beautiful stills of their gorgeous food. She plans to keep it up during the entire engagement. I'm sorry, but how f'ing cool is she?

Just for us food-obsessed guests, Ludo played L'Invention de la Cuisine avec Michel Bras, famous French chef from Laguoile (from whence my favorite corkscrew hails).

Michel Bras coupe des haricots verts.

Le menu.

Les coupes des champagne.

Krissy and Ludo share a toast with present company celebrating the opening and we all drink to their prosperity.

I sat across from and next to two of my favorites, Javie from Teenage Glutster and Kevin of Kevin_Eats. Above is Javier's tiny vintage-looking Sony camera.

First courses.

Scallops, Brown Butter, Pineapple, Black Powder

This was one of two dishes Ludo shared with the crowds on opening night of the art exhibit. Silky browned butter, brightly sweet pineapple, cilantro oil with squid ink powder mixed together with a raw scallop. Hearing the description, one would think the pineapple would overpower the delicate brown butter and scallop. Not so. This dish is perfection. After eating this on opening night, I started craving raw scallop to the extent I sought it out two nights later at Kiyosaku, Palm Springs's best and most expensive sushi bar. My craving for this dish wasn't really satisfied until I ate it again with Ludo this week.

Bread Soup with Gruyere Marshmallow

Surprisingly, Ludo makes nothing of the wonder of a slow cooked egg on the menu. In my mouth, the slow cooked egg was the highlight of this dish. The 90 minute 143˚ poached egg is a celebration of chicken-goodness, and I loved it with this soup. This soup is the essence of the crust of a good brown bread, the gruyere marshmallow light in texture and flavor, the egg a perfect sphere of protein completing the dish. I have plans to make this egg at home. They include a double boiler and a candy thermometer. Please stay tuned.

Krissy holds up a loaf of pain campaigne (Lindsay an editor at Laist helps me brush up on my French, which lack of use seems to work in inverse proportion to physical exercise), a brown country bread from Breadbar, location of the last Ludobites.

Bordeaux, for le foie gras.

Foie Gras Beignet, Celery Roots Remoulade

All made much to do of this sexy liver dish. Is it sweet, how much foie is that? Did you see how much foie in in there? OMG, I don't know how he can put so much foie in here. Is this curry in the celery roots? What is the source of the light oil coming from inside the beignet? What is on the outside of the beignet? Molasses or is it honey? I heard Will across from me say, "Holy shit, that's good." I quote.

Richly delicious, with indeed an obscene amount of foie gras (2 oz), a touch of curry in the celery root salad, and some slightly sweet glaze on the outside of the beignet. Honestly, I could not finish mine. Apparently I was sitting in the desert, because a couple of vultures nearby were waiting happily for anything I cast off. No names mentioned, natch.

:-D

Caroline snaps pics of her foie gras beignet in Krissy's box. If you want to see beautiful snaps from the light box, check out Cathy's blog Gastronomy.com. Personally, I love ambient light and hate fighting crowds. No Black Friday for me.

Squid, Chorizo Oil, Kimchi Puree, & Red Onion with Eggplant Skin

This was the perfect course to follow the luxurious intensity of the foie gras. Savory (chorizo oil), spicy (kimchi), sour (kimchi) and sweet flavors (pickled onions) combine with light textures in a punchy way.

Moneterey squid is slow cooked, and what looks like mustard is actually pureed kimchi. IMO, this dish is some kind of genius.

Le menu progresses.

Veal, Udon, Kombu Dashi, Mushrooms, Sesame Seed Miso

My favorite dish of the night, hands down. Enoki & button mushrooms with green onions, shredded veal and udon in a dark kelp broth (kombu dashi) with sesame studded miso paste swooshed on the side of the plate.

Add just a little miso to the broth, to your taste. I don't even know how to wax poetic about this beautiful dish, I loved it.

Wild Striped Bass, Garden Vegetables, Aioli

At this point, the wine has been flowing freely for hours, talk is growing silly and merry making is being had. Out parades a beautiful bass in a sea water broth with tiny baby vegetables, radish, broccoli (purple and green) and Brussels sprouts with a gorgeous flavorful aoili ribboned throughout the dish. This is so gorgeous I wish it had been served earlier. I wish everything had been served first...

The Glutster and Kevin shoot their fish.

Hanger Steak, Crunchy Escargot, Baby Corn, Bok Choy, Black Olive Mole

Coolest dish of the evening. Sunday after the opening of In Bed Together, Javier and Momma Glutster took Ludo into their home in East LA, schooling the Frenchman in mole making. You may think Ludo is some kind of crazed wackadoo after the whole pig's ear quesadilla incident, but this guy has soul. Once, he and Krissy invited on twitter whoever could make it to their house for dinner. A local girl I follow stopped in without ever having met them in person and had a fabulous time. This willingness to interact with and support the LA food community who in turn support them impresses me to no end. As does this grass roots way of learning the fine art of mole. No, Ludo did not call in Rick Bayless, one of the world's finest Latin-American chefs, nor visit LA's own chefpert John Rivera Sedlar. Instead he traveled to the eastern regions of our fair city and learned from a solely Spanish speaking Zacatecana. Props, maing.

And the resulting dish is delicious. Excellent quality hanger steak, (is this really hanger steak?), baby corns in the cob, crispy little escargot to dip in the mole. My one complaint would be not enough mole on the plate. But there's never enough mole. There's never ever enough mole.

Now, if it seems like there are a couple dishes missing, that's because I turn into a pumpkin at 10:30 on nights prior to rising at 5. Luckily someone from the FoodDigger community always leaves a little early (I follow on his heels), and I can almost always take a pass on dessert. Despite missing two courses, this evening was an epic joy. Thank you FoodDigger, and thank you Ludo and Krissy. I am counting the days til my next visit, coming right up.

And please, wait to be seated.

The Furious Seasons, Chase Frank, The Capshuns, and Meredith Meyer at Junglerush 12/10

2009-11-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

The Furious Seasons (click the link for a preview of the goodness)
JungleRush
542 S. Alameda Street, 2nd Flr.
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 494.7608

Shilling for Mr. FoodSheThought's band, The Furious Seasons during December ArtWalk in DTLA. In by 10, $5, after 10 $7. It's going to be a full house with Meredith Meyer, The Capshuns and Chase Frank. Come on down.

Long Before...The Gorbals.

2009-11-27T17:08:00.000-08:00

The Gorbals
501 S Spring St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 488-3408
http://thegorbalsla.com/information.html

Mr. FST guest blogs on the culinary delights of The Gorbals.

I've enjoyed the pleasures of dining out long before I was married to my lovely food blogger wife. In my twenties, thirties and early forties, before the food channel, before I was aware of the names of the chefs, before ingredients were scrutinized, techniques were wowed over, dining out served as the main social event of the evening.

Restaurants fell into a few choice categories. Cheap, funky, and fancy. The meal itself fell into the categories good, bad, or so-so, and were rarely considered more closely than that. Eating out was an opportunity to meet friends, talk for hours, and drink and plan for our next venue for drinking. Most of the time for me eating out was a date. The romantic centerpiece to an evening, and ultimately, hopefully, a prelude to sex. A lot has changed in the way I dine out since food blogging became a passion of my wife's. But on those nights when Liz and I have a plain old-fashioned romantic dinner out, I feel like I had it right all along.

Ilan Hall was a Top Chef winner a couple years back. He was my favorite on the show because he is quirky and earthy and though slightly pretentious seemed genuine. As a matter of fact, he was forthright in a way that his pretense made him seem charming as opposed to annoying. The Gorbals is the prefect venue for his personality.

Downtown is the most exciting area of Los Angeles by far these days. New restaurants and bars are popping up like pimples on the face of a 14 year old. Some of them trendy, some of them budget friendly and funky, some of them upscale and urban in a way that reminds me of Manhattan and a few true dive bars in a city that sorely needs them. The Gorbals is on 5th and Spring. It's a block away from Pete's and Warung, not far from Yxta and The Must. But it's also close to an internet cafe that does blues shows for the homeless and quite a few bars where short skirts and high heels would not be a good idea. You could still get killed here. And if you hit enough bars in the area you will drink with locals. And when I say locals I don't mean folks that live in the newly renovated condos downtown, I mean people who live on the streets two blocks away. Don't let that fact scare or deter you from frequenting The Gorbals. There's enough activity and cop presence to feel pretty safe and its exactly that environment that helps showcase the earthiness of Gorbals and Hall's wonderful cooking.

The Hotel Alexandria was built in 1906 with a lobby that hasn't seen a renovation since the 1960's. Picture a cross between the starkness of the offices in Mad Men with the dangerous cool of the ministry sets in Terry Gilliam's Brazil. The Gorbals has an upscale diner feel. It's stark and understated wth dim lighting. We sat at the bar, which we usually do.

Though I don't remember Ilan hall mentioning being Jewish on Top Chef, the food he cooks is decidedly so. Not to say that he doesn't mix it up with some wonderfully non-kosher ingredients. He also brings a lot of different elements in his preparations. That said, the general feel of the food reminded me of my Jewish mother and grandmother's cooking. Hearty, rustic and homey. All the proteins were cooked through, which I believe must be a characteristic of Jewish cooking, because I grew up in a house where all meat resembled some form of jerky prior to ending up on our plates. We started with Ketel One martinis, a fine start to any meal.

Bacon Wrapped Matzo Balls

Great idea, Smallish matzo ball with well cooked bacon, wonderful texture and perfectly non-kosher. (Did I mention bacon? Yum!)

Butternut Squash Latkes with Sunchoke Cream

Very nice latke. Crispy on the outside, moist on the inside. Sunchoke cream, though nice, just wasn't my thing. Can you really beat applesauce with a latke? I think not.

Oxtail, Creamy Oats, Crispy Tripe

This was one of my favorite dishes. As strange as the flavor combinations sound, this was like a beautiful Shepherd's Pie. The oxtail melted in your mouth and the oats gave a delightful mushiness with the tripe an intestine flavored tortilla chip.

Crimini Soup with Haggis Meatballs

This was my favorite. Jason, the chef de cuisine, informed us that this was just voted one of the ten best soups in LA. I can see why, it was straight up awesome. The haggis meatballs felt overcooked to L, but were the prefect crunchy contrast to a flavorful light broth. Bravo!

Octopus, Gizzards, Lemon

Liz loved this one. Kinda looked like a scene from Alien to me. This was a gentle reminder that I am still at heart the pizza and sloppy joe eating boy from the SF Valley.

Pumpkin, Coffee Nitro Ice Cream

Jason was kind enough to barrage us with a rapid fire succession of the desserts offered on the menu. (hello, FTC!). I dug this one, Liz called it so good that it was fucking insane.

Israeli Cous Cous Risotto, Nitro Ice Cream, Bacon Candy

A little too much like baby food to me. Go Gerbers.

Toffee Pudding, Vanilla Nitro Ice Cream

We were told the above is a staff favorite, I can see why. If you are going to order dessert definitely give the toffee pudding a shot. The pudding was beautiful.

Bread Pudding

This was my favorite, though I am not really a bread pudding guy. This seemed like a classic preparation and was perfect in every way.

With so many things to do and places to go downtown, The Gorbals is a go-to kind of place. The food is outstanding, the location is central to a great night out. And the prices are very doable. This will be to us like Church & State, Izayoi, and Rivera; a new place to frequent.

In Bed Together: Art & Bites from Ludo Lefebvre at Royal/T

2009-11-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

Royal/T
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
310-559-6300
http://www.royal-t.org/http://www.royal-t.org/

Currently showing at Royal/T is a group exhibition curated by Jane Glassman entitled "In Bed Together". At the Novewmber 20th opening Ludo Lefebvre cooked, champagne, wine and sake flowed while food & art lovers co-mingled.

Ludo's ballyhoo'd pop-up restaurant Ludobites will have a much awaited and planned for short run at Royal/T in December. Friday night gave event goers a titillating preview of what's to come.

Royal/T knows how to host an engaging event. At every event I have attended, there has at least one interactive element to the festivities. The most intriguing this evening was Ludo and assistant cooking up inspired snacks in a plexiglass box while a line of party goers snaked through the box picking up snacks as they gawked and drooled.

Making thin buckwheat pancakes.

Adding goat cheese and some bacony goodness.

Folded over, these turned out to be a savory blintz.

Ludo dirties his hands mincing and dicing pineapple and I don't remember what else for a delicious raw scallop dish.

Tidbits for partygoers tummies were also coming out of the Royal/T kitchen,

French maid cosplay waitresses passed paper water cooler cones of French fried potatoes and sweet potatoes. Light, crunchy and classically delicious.

Also passed through the crowd from the Royal/T kitchen were beef wrapped asparagus and caramelized onion crepes. The crepe squares were delicious, but the beef wrapped asparagus left something to be desired in the flavor department. Perhaps the beef should have been marinated. I once copied Tuna Toast's recipe for beef wrapped asparagus and it was off the hook flavorful, it set a rather high benchmark.

One of my favorite pieces of the exhibit, an installation. All separate pieces of paper, each with a piece of a gorilla's body hanging from above when assembled together representing the entire ape.

A beautiful riff on Manet's Olympia.

D wondered if this was a parody of Jann Howorth and Peter Blake's work, creators of the Grammy winning Sgt. Pepper's LHCB album cover.

Echoing the joy and irreverence of Royal/T itself.

"What I miss most is your incredible smile."

The series below is from the screening room. I call this in my head "The Dildo Progression", but I don't really know the name.

I found this striking.

Poignant.

And this reminds me that all art, like all food, is not meant to be understood by all people. But that doesn't mean we cannot enjoy.

Dinner Party With Stella

2009-11-20T22:55:00.000-08:00

This week we decided to share our newest family member with some friends, and feeling in a warm and fuzzy mood I reached for a comfort food recipe. I followed Simply Gluten Free's recipe for Clams and Mashed Potatoes. This will be added to the regular rotation.

The end result was gorgeous.

I started with organic potatoes from my L.O.V.E. delivery box. Personally, I like to leave the skins in the mash, it makes a heartier mash with extra fibre, color and vitamins.

Prepped the pan for the clams with a shallot and garlic...

Sauteed in some olive oil with just a trace of butter.

Little miss Stella stretched herself out across my toes and settled in for a short winter's nap. Srsly. She fell asleep on my toes. This is right after.

Birthday boy Ray helped by mashing the skins-in spuds, with just a trace of hot milk and butter.

I steamed the clams in the garlic, shallot, olive oil, butter and about one entire bottle of shitty dry white wine that was malingering about the kitchen. Yes, malingering. No one calls in sick dishonestly on my watch. Not even wine.

With some more of my organic produce I tossed together a salad of arugula, cress, avocado, pom seeds, green onions and goat cheese.

And someone else fell full snooze chin to the floor.

No, Jackson. Dog beds are not one size fits all.

Rio Brazil Cafe on the Westside: Feijoada, and Risolis and Caipirinhas, o my!

2009-11-18T12:05:00.000-08:00

Rio Brazil Cafe

Suite 103

3300 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 558-3338

I recently had the pleasure of being exposed to Rio Brazil Cafe and their wonderful authentic Brazilian food and drink at the expense of my friend and fellow food blogger, Bill from StreetGourmetLA. Bill has written about Rio Brazil here, and here and here. Back in September, Miles Clement of the LATimes deliciously described Rio Brazil Cafe's feijoada. Monday night (and weeknights in general) food outings are challenging for me due to early morning hours and needy clients. However in this case I am glad I made an exception. Also joyously in attendance were Fiona from Gourmet Pigs, and Cathy author of Gastronomy and co-originator of Eat My Blog Charity Bake Sale on 12/05 at Zeke's in Culver City to benefit the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

Rio Brazil Cafe is a postage stamp size room brightly colored and lovingly decorated. Above see the sandwich board that stands outside on the sidewalk during the day advertising their lunch special. $7 for three courses, the Ipanema Plate.

Something to ~~like~~ love about Rio Brazil? A BYOB establishment, they take BYOB to a punchy level by offering to make authentic Brazilian beverages for you if you bring in your own bottle of Cachaça. Wiki tells me that while we think of rum as being made with sugarcane, usually rum is made with molasses. Cachaça is always made from the distillation of fermented sugarcane with some amount of sugar added in the process. Bill treated us to three kinds of Cachaça Monday, I tasted them all with uncharacteristic reserve, it being Monday and all. To the left, we sipped Isaura first, made in Minas Gerais the largest Cachaça producing state in Brazil, a clean and lightly sweet tasting liquor. And to the right, Weber Haus made in Rio Grande do Sul and available at Beverage Warehouse. Weber Haus is very smokey, characterized by undertones of wood and licorice. Weber Haus is definitely a sipping Cachaça that would please the palate of anyone loving aged bourbon, and the deepest dark tequilas. It wowed my tastbuds. Bill also brought a bottle of Cachaça 51, the most popular Cachaça in Brazil, making up 30% of the market share for Cachaça in the Brazil. Cachaça was used to make all the mixed drinks we enjoyed Monday.

Batidas.

We drank two batidas that night, both made with the Cachaça 51 Bill brought with us. To the left, the first one, coconut scrumptiousness. Cachaça 51, coconut cream, coconut milk and condensed milk, frozen and blended. Despite the fact some people think coconut blended beverages are best served at a Jimmy Buffet concert, there is never a wrong time for coconut anything. To the right is a passionfruit batida. Cachaça 1, passionfruit and condensed milk. This is worthy of recreating at home, it was that wonderful. Sweet but with an authentic fruity brightness. At Rio Brazil, if you bring in your own Cachaça, they will make you batidas for $3 a glass using your booze and their supplies. A great cocktail deal, IMO. They are even starting a Cachaça club where you can bring your own bottle, and leave the remains there for your next visit.

Bill arranged to have our first course delivered by a local woman who caters out of her home, her company is called Sabor de Bahia. Her specialty are street foods from Bahia, in particular, acaraje a black eyed pea fritter fried in dende oil (African Palm oil drawn from the palm fronds). Wiki tells us than dende oil is red due to the high amount of beta carotene it contains, however it is higher in saturated fats than other vegetable oils. Also served on the plate, to the upper left a shrimp paste, on the upper right a simple salsa with tomatoes and onions, and the little cup in the middle contains a malagueta pepper sauce. Malagueta is spicy, maing. It made me lips burn. It was exactly the right amount of spicy for me, any hotter would have been too hot and any milder would have been not really impressive. D wouldn't be able to even look at malagueta.

Constructing the acaraje. Somewhat reminiscent of falafel ( but really, only barely), you split open the acaraje and stuff it with shrimp paste, salsa, drizzle malagueta over, eat with your hands. On the street of Bahia these are sold as large as baseballs. The catering version Sabor de Bahia sells is made for easy eating by hand. Very crunchy on the outside, with soft yielding dried and ground black eyes peas (eyes removed) on the inside with the spice of malagueta and the tang of shrimp paste...this definitely goes into the file for something to attain for the next gathering of humans chez foodshethought.

Sabor de Bahia's business card.

Sabor da Bahia
Catering and Festivals
310-841-2729
orders are for pick up only
cash only

First course served via the Rio Brazil kitchen were tantalizing little puffy savories. On the sides of the plate are coxinha de galhina, or chicken puffed savories shaped like little drumsticks. In the middle, in the same batter, risolis. Again, savory little puffs. We had one shrimp, one beef, one chicken and one cheese. Hoping no one had swine flu, we all had a nibble at each of the four flavors, all were yummy. To the right there is a little bowl of the fiery malagueta.

The inside of a coxinha galhina, lovingly stuffed full of chicken and vegetables.

Ubiquitous rice. Bill explained Brazilian food to us Northern Hemispherians can seem either too salty or too spicy. However most dishes are made to be eaten with rice which will cut the potency of the salt and spice. Fiona mentioned the the world wide serving of dishes with lots of rice is how poorer people make their food stretch...Fiona has an impressively stamped passport, I wish have traveled to half the places she has visited.

Not a great shot, but a delicious dish. Bobo de camarao. Shrimp in yucca cream with manioc meal, coconut cream and dende oil. The consistency was interestingly thick but also maybe a hair gelatinous. The flavors were comforting, thick, subtle, savory. I was surprised the coconut flavor did not stand out clearly against the other flavors. The shrimp were cooked perfectly, not even slightly chewy, just the right amount of firmness.

In the background, abobora com carne seca. Butternut squash with homemade beef jerky. Autumnally satisfying, I did not find the beef to be too dry at all. Certainly to the tooth and a little chewy. It brought out my inner carnivore.

Feijao. Black beans cooked with pork, bay leaf, onions and garlic. Yum.

Mi plata. Just a taste of everything.

Out strolls a fluffy green salad with a light vinaigrette in a small pitcher. I am reaching maximum capacity here, but everyone else dives in to refreshen their palates.

Moqueca de peixe. Clean tasting fish stew from cod, peppers, onions, tomatoes, dende oil and coconut milk. Again in this dish, the coconut milk is very balanced by the strong stewed veggie flavors. Surprising, because coconut can be such a powerfully distinctive flavor, in the dishes at Rio Brazil it is so well balanced it does not take over the other flavors.

Limaos para peixes.

Last, the piéce de resistance. Feijoada completa. I could smell this the entire time it was on the stove. The deep scent of the feijoada wafted from the kitchen through the entire room, my watering mouth ignoring the fullness of my belly. This is the national dish of Brazil, traditionally served on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Labor intensive, this black bean stew had pe' de porco (pork trotters), rabo (tail), costela (ribs), carne de porco (pork meat), carne seca (beef jerky) also laden with onion, garlic, bay leaf, and rock salt. Immensely fragrant.

We ladeled it out onto our plates with a giant spoon. My spoon contained a trotter, which was thoroughly enjoyable in the delicious richness of the bean broth.

Also part of the course are garlicky collard greens, rice and a small dish of manioc meal to be sprinkled atop the feijoada completa. Bill called the manioc meal edible sand, but to me it was similar to corn meal in taste and texture.

Cathy's plate was prettier than mine, with a runner's appetite this girl stayed the course through every stage of the meal.

At this juncture, out strolls a huge pitcher of caipirinha. I shouldn't, but I had to. Just.one.small.glass. An ever so slight syrupy-ness from the added sugar cut beautifully by the lime, Cachaça and ice. Again, they will make this for you if you bring in your own Cachaça.

And dessert. Experiencing my Violet Beauregard moment, I refrained from all but one. Above is a coconut cream with fresh blueberries and raspberries.

Brazilian flan.

And a mousse de manga, mango mousse.

Could not resist. It was smooth,

cool, creamy and delicious.

Spending some time out of town in the near future, as soon as I return I am carting Mr. FST across town on first the #704, then the Santa Monica #12 on a Saturday with a bottle of Cachaça in our backpack to gorge on the feijoada completa, drink caipirinhas and listen to local Brazilian musicians drop in to jam Bossa Nova classics like Corcovado, Agua de Beber, and Desafinado. Can't wait.

Stella at Home

2009-11-14T16:41:00.000-08:00

Last morning with the littermates. Stella is the one all the way to the right.

Big yawn, in the gentle dog-loving hands of K.

Perfect head & snout. And legs, fur, tail, ears, teeth, toes...all 15 pounds of her.

Inca the mom says goodbye. I think she knew we were there to take Stella away, because Inca barked at me for the first time ever.

And Jackson says hello. He is the perfect balance of interested and engaged but not overbearing.

Stella has found a spot behind the cushions on the couch to hide just enough when things get scary.

Le sigh.

And D bought Jackson the most gigantic bone in existence for being such a gentleman to the new family member. There is no dog quite like a German Shepherd.

Happy Hour at Corkbar

2009-11-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

Corkbar
403 W 12th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 746-0050

After a quick trip to Sacramento for a business meeting, D swept me up from the airport and we met the wonderful SKT downtown at Corkbar for happy hour. I keep meaning to go in on for Test Kitchen Tuesdays when Chef Albert Aviles tests an appetizer-sized portion of a new, market-driven dish not available on the regular menu, for only $2 (one per person, while supplies last!). Haven't made it yet, but I did finally just make it in at all.

Corkbar is gorgeous. All pale wood, smokey glass, very sleek. Loving wine bars like City Sip and Enoteca, I was expecting something more rustic. However, Corkbar is quite posh with prices to match. Nothing outrageous, but I certainly didn't find the happy hour particularly economical.

There are lots of tempting things on the menu including a spicy mac & cheese with Fontina, cheddar, asiago and roasted pasilla chiles. I must have been craving carbs because I was also tempted by the handmade gnocchi in lemon butter and romaine sauce with cherry tomatoes and ricotta salata.

Celebrating the hour of happiness with a glass of viogner, I may be somewhat jaded by restaurants' and chefs' inexpensive offerings during this economic downturn because I do not think an $8 glass of wine is that penny-wise. It was delicious, certainly. Normally it sells for $11 so we are talking about a 27.3% discount. Maybe I am becoming miserly in my old age. That would certainly be an interesting development.

We shared the white bean puree, French bread ovals topped with micro greens and truffle oil. This pleasant appie was pureed within an inch of its life, overly smooth. I like some chunks and texture to a bean puree. I would order it again, though, on a happy hour second.

These might be the best of a trend in the whole city. Cheddar cheese gougeres. These are being served everywhere, it feels like. Or maybe just also at Church & State. The gougeres at Corkbar are on the large size, uber cheesey, hot and puffy, generously portioned. I think there were 8?

We are mid-duck hunting season here in California. Corkbar is offering a beautiful duck & Brussels sprouts salad with goat cheese and frisee. I love that this salad was not only not overdressed but maybe a little underdressed. Not a huge dressing person, the flavors of the duck and cheese stood out comfortingly against the sprouts and frisee without too much acid or sweet overtaking the mix. This is a destination salad. I want it again, tonight.

The soup of the week was a Manila clam chowder, and I think I remember a couple mussels in there as well. Did not like. Way too thick, not enough clams. This shouldn't even be called a soup. It was almost pasty in texture. No.

At the bartender's suggestion, we all enjoyed generous glasses of Bokisch Grenacha. This is gorgeous. 2006, from Lodi of all places. I just don't think of Lodi when I think of wine. This wine is case-worthy.

I plan to hit Corkbar again. It's local, friendly and there were more hits than misses.

Hot Beef Injection at Great Chefs of Los Angeles November 9, 2009

2009-11-10T06:25:00.000-08:00

Go Green, Go Organic!
Great Chefs of Los Angeles

CBS Studio Center

4024 Radford Dr.
Studio City, CA 91604
November 9, 2009
12-3:30PM

Last weekend, on a blindingly sunny early November Sunday, CBS studios hosted the 2009 Great Chefs of Los Angeles to benefit the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California. George and Ann Lopez were honorary chair people lending their humor to the event and their visages to the red carpet. Chefs included Govind Armstrong of 8 Oz. Burger Bar on Melrose and Table 8 in NYC and Miami, Neal Fraser of Grace, Josie Balch of Josie in Santa Monica, Celestino Drago of Drago Ristorante, Enoteca Drago, and Drago Centro, my personal favorite Adam Horton of Saddle Peak Lodge who recognized me from commentary on KevinEats blog review of SPL *yay*, and many many more. So many more, and so many many chefs serving autumnally appropriate red meat under the hot Indian summer sun.

Not a member of the invited media for this event, Mr. FST and I both received one of these generous goody bags stuffed with fun and useful items, including one seductive pomegranate.

The POM company had quite a presence at the event, from the cartload of fruit to their own table with juice samples and something even more irresistible. More about that later.

The very first table I hit was Saddle Peak Lodge manned by the aforementioned Adam Horton. I shook his hand but I kinda wanted to lick it.

A simple bite of grilled antelope with cabbage, bacon, apple and black garlic on a crouton round. Delicious, appropriately sized, easy to eat.

We were both charmed by the people and product at the Sushi Poppers table. A new product that will hopefully be working its way across our radars. I chose a hamachi (3 pieces sized for the event, I assume they will sell a 6-8 piece roll) which was simple made with no dairy or mayo (a shame to have to qualify this) and very fresh. They plan to sell these at convenient stores such as Famimas, 7-11s, and the airport. This kicks ass on the greasy Caesar salad served at the sports bar in the Southwest terminal at the Bob Hope airport.

The POM Wonderful table.

Mr. FST went gaga for these POM/chocolate cupcakes. Chocolate cake with POM infused chocolate ganache icing.

I have not yet had the opportunity to hit up Akasha, so it was not high on my list of spots to visit. However, D was starving, so started off at a frantic pace. He came running back to me demanding that I try Akasha's Niman Ranch Short Rib on a pretzel roll.

Akasha FTW at the event, I think. Short ribs, check. Pretzel bread, check. horseradish slaw, omg, check. Pickles, check. D and I will be visiting Akasha sometime this season for sure.

Frank Family represents with three kinds of red. I was taking it easy on the boozing after a crazy Saturday night. But Frank Family makes some beautiful wines.

Loteria! Grill showed up with two quesedillas. Corn truffle.

And zucchini flower, which was nice but the zucchini flavor was subtle in the one I tasted.

I definitely have a white girl's schema when it comes to a quesedilla, because these look like empanadas. I am certainly no expert, really in any kind of cuisine. They were beautiful and tasted good.

Neil Fraser of Grace jumped into the red meat fray with these bites of veal and polenta.

I don't ever remember having had veal shortribs, they were certainly satisfyingly fatty and the polenta had the right amount of earthy grit. The food at Grace always makes me happy.

Thank you, SmartWater, for soothing my hangover and keeping me hydrated during the relatively warm day.

SmartWater stations abounded throughout the food marathon. Speaking of marathons, Neil of FoodMarathon.com tweeted that he was on his way but I saw neither hide nor hair of him.

Brian Moyers cooking for BLT Steak offered the following:

Red meat with a squash puree, I thought it was pumpkin but I could be diremembering.

This is one of the smarter tasting events I have been to. There was a proper amount of seating for weary eaters, tables scattered throughout our pathways to pause and savor a bite. And several bars, wine stations and alcohol-free beverage offerings. Classy, thoughtful.

Ice cold fruity beverages were being concocted above at this bar in the shade, they were really tempting in the heat.

Govind Armstrong was the guest chef of the afternoon. Pace Webb of GreenGirls.com interviews Govind about the event and the challenges of cooking sustainably and organically here.

Govind offered us beef.

A beautiful panini-esue short bib grilled Bel Paese cheese with truffled heirloom potato chips.

Starting to get full, I could not resist the generosity of Andrea Cavaliere from Cecconi's in West Hollywood..

A simple truffled risotto, with plentiful truffle shavings on top.

I considered nicking the truffle jar, but it wouldn't fit in my purse.

Dakota Chop House and Jason Johnston.

Offered a short rib slider with kale and caramelized onion.

This was a really large bite. More than I could chew, at this point in the day. It looked lovely, I hope what they are offering these days in their restaurant is of equal or superior quality.

Josie Balch of Josie in Santa Monica shared with us a quiche.

If I was puzzled by the uniformly red meat approach of the day, I was even moreso by the quiche. When I think of Josie, I think game & local produce. I like quiche, Quiche reminds me of mom and baby showers.

Fuego in Long Beach offered the only lamb I spied.

I got the opportunity to chat with Jesse Perez, but apparently his lamb en mole (28 ingredients) was so delicious, I didn't take the opportunity to shoot it. It was really wonderful.

Although I found the idea of beer kind of off putting, Fireman's Brew was there along brewery row to share three concoctions.

Sterling Vineyards squeezed in among the beer to share their organic wines with us, I sipped at a Sauvignon Blanc and it was lovely. I would defnitely buy this for keeping at home and drinking while cooking.

A little glass of cold white wine started to set my head on straight.

Stella Artois and Hoegaarden.

Melissa's, one organic option you see as a strong presence at Gelson's and Mayfair. I buy their products sometimes, but marvel at the amount of packaging used. Paradoxical somewhat, I suppose. But who am I to complain about paradoxes when grocery shopping at Gelson's nearly defeats the purpose of buying items to prepare food at home. The purpose of saving money at any rate.

Trefethen Family Vineyards.

The above strawberry cupcakes come from the cutest table in the entire event, Leyna's Kitchen. These cupcakes were strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream frosting and strawberry puree filling. I know, D took the bullet and ate one for me. They won Public Choice for Most Original at the Los Angeles 2008 Cupcake Challenge.

I should have snapped some shots of the beautiful girls in their matching hair ribbons...

Minx is located in Glendale, and despite the fact that their table was all the way at the back of the event, they threw down three different options for hungry people.

Pork Belly Sliders with Bacon.

Vegetarian Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Tarts with Kabocha Squash,

Spicy Ahi Tuna Tacos in Wanton shells.

Izze was pushing fruit drink shots and lip balm. My lips thanked you.

Paco & Lola were also on hand with their Albarino, one of my favorite varietals. It was refreshingly delicious, and I love the packaging.

I dared to ask the chef at Moonshadows if they were serving a Virgin Octopus Bloody Mary. He was not amused.

D said this was wonderful. Octopus, tomato, pickled onion and I thought there was olive on the skewer as well.

Jorge Gomez was front and center at La Grande Orange. We chatted about my love of his green chili burger.

Jorge fed us the simple, the classic, the devilled egg.

And a wonderful Brussel sprout sald with manchego, almonds and a vinaigrette. LOVED.

Kevin Alan Lee (Lutece, Vegas) from the new East on Hollywood Blvd was around, somewhere. I kinda wanted to chat, but the guy working the station was torn between being helpful and something else.

We stopped into East for a late night cocktail the first weekend they were open, and the interior is indeed beautiful in that restaurant-come-nightclub kind of way. The cocktail list was tempting, the manager was very friendly and helpful, but the food served by East at Great Chefs definitely made me hanker for a visit.

Hawaaian Waia with a Miso Mustard Cream. Fantastic, and kept pleasingly chilled.

This might have been the best bite of the entire day. Raw scallops on the half shell with Sambal and Wasabi Creme Fraiche. The accompaniments to the scallop were kept minimal allowing the freshness of the shellfish to burst forward in your mouth, this was divine. I hope it's replicated at the restaurant.

Michael Mina's XIV. The qualifier that now pops up under XIV during a Google is, "a lively lounge with casual dining". What a difference a year makes. When I dined there for my anniversary, a few months after they first opened in 2008, it was dressy opulent luxe with fur throws and couches cozied up to fireplaces.

Clearly, someone planned for a warm afternoon.

The Vichysoisse was nice, but nothing to write home about.

Jose Andres' The Bazaar.

Mixing the delicious and potent nitro-caipirinha.

Instead of the caviar cones served in the restaurant from the carts menu, they were handing out guacamole cones. Perfect for the beautiful afternoon. All the elements of guacamole, with Andres' special way of using only the heart of the tomato, a little avocado and other minced veg in the bottom of the cone. Charming.

Sweets from the Patisserie.

We didn't indulge, but gosh it was a pretty display. It remained unmolested, so I am assuming that people were either full or didn't want to spoil the visual.

A bounty of beautiful 'shrooms...

and a zuppa di funghi.

From Giacomino Drago at Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills.

Celestino Drago offered a nice little duck sandwich that was lovely, with a fall squash soup.

It looks bigger than it was, it was perfectly bite sized and yummy.

I skipped the madness at the Border Grill truck on the way in, and on the way out it was my last thin mint.

Mary's baby tacos were too interesting looking to pass up.

Mustard seed encrusted avocado tacos on corn tortillas. Still rich, but a luscious break from all the meat. Reminding me why we as a city love Milliken and Feniger's food.

On the way out I felt like taking attendance based on whose jacket was left on the rack. It's the teacher in me.

Omakase at Toshi in Little Tokyo

2009-11-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

Toshi Sushi

357 E 1st St

Los Angeles, CA 90012-3901
(213) 680-4166

When we first moved to Echo Park, years ago, and started exploring Little Tokyo in earnest from the tips of its izakayas to the toes of its grottier village sushi bars, we fell in love with the sushi chef at Sharin, located at 357 E 1st Street which now houses Toshi. D swears the chef from Sharin is his late Grandpa Nat's Japanese doppelganger. We used to go eat his inexpensive simple well prepared sushi, chat about Grandpa Nat and his love for Skipper, and drink cold sake under the watchful smile of the older gentleman chef. Long gone, but the neon fish remains, the restaurant looks much the same and there is still good food to be had here now under the moniker Toshi Sushi.

The second to the last time I ate at Toshi was just a few weeks ago on a break from a day in court with our attorney. The three of us sat at the bar and all ordered the sushi/sashimi lunch special plate. I was a little astounded our ex-football star tall blonde and hunky all-American (read blonde hair, blue eyes) attorney would be so adventuresome. The plate was generous and delicious. We gobbled down the chunks of tuna, albacore sushi, squid sashimi and other interesting bits and pieces until we were full as ticks before heading back to work. Thrilled with my lunch, I was excited when Tony C, that deliciously entertaining and outspoken rat over at Sinosoul, suggested a group omakase at Toshi. Also in attendance were Mr. FST, Hahn from Hungry Hungry Hahn, and Nancy of The Wander Kind. Some of the table started with beer. I started with cold sake, above.

The first dish, an amuse bouche I think the server said, was fermented mountain yam with wakame. Mountain yam from Japan is served raw, and takes on a mucilaginous texture when grated. Here, it is served slightly fermented in a sweet tasting vinegar with wakame, the slightly thick soft type of seaweed typically found in miso soup.

Next out, a beautiful trio to titillate our taste buds. Barely a bite of marinated tuna. Yummy, this makes an appearance again a little later.

Baby squid in a dark sauce, slightly sweet. Ponzu, maybe, with grated ginger.

And the ubiquitous but wonderful oyster with ponzu, ginger, chives and tobiko.

In ascending order: mackerel, tuna and hirame sushi. The hirame served with a strip of shiso for flavor. I used to detest shiso. Loving the flavor of raw fish in all its incarnations I thought shiso took over the flavors completely. However, after my culinary tour through Little Saigon with Chef Danhi, I developed an interest in shiso and its botanical relatives due to their importance in cooking throughout Asia. Here, I make Nobu's tempura uni wrapped in shiso and it was delicious. Uni and shiso work together beautifully.

Requisite miso glazed broiled fish. I don't know what kind of oily fish this is. It looks too dark to be sea bass or black cod. Tony?

Other things I do not know: the name for a large plate with a smorgasboard of different delicacies served in a Japanese restaurant, the molar mass of nitroglycerin, the name of my future puppy. The salmon was fresh, fatty and melted in my mouth.

Above, see thin slices of Wagyu beef on foil, and underneath is a layer of ice cubes. Not a fan of the beef over ice cubes. They made the beef super über très cold, and a little hard. The fat was too cold to melt in my mouth the way it should, and it made something that was most likely intended to be a highlight on the plate seem just meh.

A beautiful raw Spanish mackerel resided in the middle of the plate, cut into bite sized sashimi pieces running along the spine, with the tail curled decorously toward the head and entwined in radish curls. Tony asked the server to take back the carcass of said fish and fry it up, she initially said no, and apparently the chef redirected her to retrieve the remains and he did indeed fry it up for Sinosoul.

Not really interested in eating this myself, I do appreciate the whole animal approach to eating.

Basket of tempura'd octopus, lovely. Glad they sat this right by my hot little hands.

And as I started to get full of food, sake and great companionship out comes a large plate of sushi. One.for.each.of.us.

Wonderfully fresh uni, succulent mackerel, fatty salmon and tamago there at the back, cooked egg beribboned with shiso. Top right, hirame reappears with its thin strip of shiso.

The above doesn't look marbled enough to be toro, and I cannot remember what it tasted like. I might have been full and pawned it off on Mr. FST.

I missed snapping a pic of a winning clam miso that was our last savory course prior to tea and an intense green tea ice cream that would make angels sing. Sometimes at the end of a long meal I end up a little overserved alcohol-wise or overserved food-wise and my commitment to documentation wavers. Let me assure you that this was a wonderful meal that ended even more elegantly than it started. It was well worth the $44 per head price tag, even if there wasn't room at the sushi bar to chat with and interrogate Toshiko Seki-san.

LA Times reports that Toshiko Seki is a trained in Japan 30 year sushi chef veteran who previously cut, diced and rolled in New York at Azuma and still runs his own sushi catering business, Sushi Catering Toshi. Almost exactly a year ago, LA Times Daily Dish reported on Toshi's opening and Seki's simple classic approach to sushi. Other reports in the year since the grand opening have been overwhelmingly positive. Here, and here, and here (although is most of this gushing Sinosoul?).

I will definitely be back to Toshi with the same frequency I have been pursuing, about once every three months or so. I might not cave again on the omakase, but I am keen to try the chirashi (my ultimate favorite sushi offering) and look forward to another opportunity to drop in for a lunch special.

Ludobites at Royal/T in December

2009-11-03T23:00:00.000-08:00

Ludobites
Royal/T
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 559-6300

Coming this December 02-04, 09-10,13-17, 20-22 at Royal/T, Ludobites pops up again in Culver City for a very limited engagement. We all know Royal/T as Los Angeles's first Japanese cosplay cafe, recently host to the Three Apples Hello Kitty 35th Birthday event. Ludobites will be presented at Royal/T in conjunction with Jane Glassman's exhibit "In Bed Together".

While there is no news yet about Jane Glassman's exhibit on the Royal/T website, I have definite plans to dine with Ludo and Krissy during their 13 day pop-up appearance. Click the link to email Ludo to make your own reservation before all the spaces are filled.

Reviews of my previous visits here, here and here.

Some actual dining experiences coming up soon to read about...I promise. I am on the verge of a landscape of fun dining.

Eat My Blog Los Angeles Bloggers Charity Bake Sale to Benefit Los Angeles Regional Food Bank

2009-11-03T20:08:00.000-08:00

Zeke's Smokehouse
7100 Santa Monica Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90046
323.850.9353
December 5 10AM-4PM

Angelenos with a penchant for gourmet sweets are invited to attend the first ever Eat My Blog bake sale on Saturday December 5th from 10AM to 4PM. Zeke's will host the event on their sidewalk patio where Eat My Blog will donate 600+ baked goods including whoopie pies, pumpkin swirl brownies, handmade macarons, sesame cupcakes with matcha frosting and more. All proceeds will be donated to the Los Angles Regional Food Bank to help raise a greater awareness for those looking to give back to the Los Angeles community.

Cathy Danh, author of Gastonomy and founder of Eat My Blog, says, "Eat My Blog is an opportunity for the blogging community to give back to those in need. If this goes well, we plan to make it a biannual occurrence."

"It's a great way to connect with people in an intimate and real way," said Diana Hossfield of Diana Takes a Bite and organizing member of Eat My Blog. "It's Tastespotting come to life - for a cause that's near and dear to our hearts."

Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is a non-profit charitable organization that has been mobilizing resources to help fight hunger in the community since 1973.

I personally am planning to make three flavors of macarons, furthering the Macaron Diaries and to enjoy being assisted by my internet bffs.

Come, buy, eat, give.

Heritage Square Museum Fund Raiser Luncheon

2009-11-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

Heritage Square Museum 40th Anniversary Fundraiser
Saturday, November 7, 2009 from 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
San Antonio Winery
737 Lamar Street
Los Angeles, CA 90031
Tickets are $125.00

photo courtesy of LATimes

From the Heritage Square Museum website:

A living history museum reflecting the settlement and development of Southern California from the Civil War to the early 20th Century, Heritage Square Museum offers visitors a look into the everyday lives of Southern Californians at the close of the 19th Century.

About the luncheon:

Honorary Event Chair, Councilman Ed Reyes, District One, will be in attendance and making a special presentation, along with many celebrity guests, including our Master of Ceremonies, Al Downing, former pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers, actor Troy Evans, from NBC's ER, and Academy Award Show co-host Jane Monreal. The Museum will recognize Justin Gershuny, one of the museum's founders, and volunteers Natalie Meyer and Nancy Rhinehart for their amazing contributions and service to the museum.

Special behind-the-scenes tours of the winery, old cars, costumed docents and a lovely Italian luncheon will make this an afternoon one won’t soon forget. And the prize for attending our fancy soiree? A chance to win several limited edition bottles of wine with a one-of-a-kind Heritage Square wine label, available only at this event. There will also be several unique, silent auction and opportunity drawing items, including a special tour of a historic home off-limits to members of the general public! The only way to win this and many other exclusive auction prizes - buy a ticket to the fundraiser!

Tours of the San Antonio Winery and wine tasting reception are from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., with an Italian luncheon buffet beginning at 2:30 p.m. The 40th Anniversary Fundraiser is also sponsored by:
Pankow Builders, Ltd., Southern California Gas Company - A Sempra Utility,
Justin Gershuny, and Davis Blue Print Co.

Making Lumpia for a Non-Event

2009-11-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

Invited by Tony from Sinosoul and Eating Valley Blvd, one of my favorite food bloggers, to a potluck with the LA Food Bloggers Group, I decided to make lumpia for my pot. The LA Food Bloggers Group seeks to build bridges within the local food blogging community and the LA food community at large, today's potluck was to be their second gathering. I shopped and schemed to make lumpia and in the end decided I couldn't spare the time to actually go to said potluck due to my busy upcoming work week. Le sigh.

I walked down the hill to A Grocery Warehouse on Sunset, my favorite grocery store on planet Earth. Grabbed some Maggi sauce because some blogger was going on and on and on about Maggi sauce, and I remembered when I lived in London I used to sprinkle it on my salad instead of dressing like my then roommate. British people are weird and that's OK. I also picked up Sriracha, which in my poor college days I used to eat mixed with brown rice and consider that a meal. Grabbed a couple of cans of lychee for making martinis later in the week, lumpia wrappers and a bottle of dipping sauce for spring rolls because I am too lazy to make my own. My friend Mylene will laugh at this. I spent $20. Srsly.

My favorite lumpia wrappers. I always buy this brand. Next time, I may use Burnt Lumpia's recipe for homemade wrappers. As a child I learned to make an excellent crepe, and this cannot be that different.

I got my recipe for lumpia filling from Burnt Lumpia's guest blog on Rasa Malaysia. It's a very basic recipe, I substituted ground turkey for the ground pork. Also, I may have been a little more generous with the ginger and garlic. I ended up with a crazy delicious gingery ground turkey filling. So good. Last time I didn't even use a recipe, and added minced carrots, green onions and celery as well. That was good too. Marvin at Burnt Lumpia suggests using the filling raw, roll in wrapper and cook. I par-cooked my filling though, almost but not quite all the way cooked, then filled.

Lumpia wrappers are paper thin. You might think they would tear as you separate them one by one from the stack, but no. Surprisingly, they retain structural integrity as you lift them from one another.

Problems start to arise in the process of the rolling. Above, see an example of too much filling. Fill them too much and the relatively hard texture of the meat tears the wrapper. Roll them too tightly and the same occurs. The amount of filling needs to be just right, and you need to roll with a firm but gentle hand.

One row of perfectly (as perfect from my hand as we get at this point) rolled lumpia.

I chose soybean oil to fry in this morning. The Soya website informs us about soy bean oil,

"Soybean oil is widely used oil and is commonly called ‘vegetable oil’. Soybean oil is a very healthy food ingredient despite the bad publicity regarding fats and oils in general. Soybean oil is very popular because it is cheap, healthful and has a high smoke point. Soybean oil does not contain much saturated fat. Like all other oils from vegetable origin, soybean oil contains no cholesterol. Saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart diseases and mainly found in products from animal origin such as milk, cheese and meat products. Soybean oil contains natural antioxidants which remain in the oil even after extraction. These antioxidants help to prevent the oxidative rancidity."

Apparently lots of vegetable oils are made from soya or have soy bean oil in them. This one, the Asian Taste Vegetable Oil, is 100% soy.

Happily frying away. My lumpia look nothing like Marvin's, or Flo's. Flo is the mother of my bff. Their family lived in the Phillippines when B was a child and Flo can throw down some seriously delicious lumpia. I will be eating more than my fair share of her perfect, tightly rolled and evenly fried lumpia December 24th at around 5PM.

Mine look more like chimichangas. I burnt a few in homage to the Burnt Lumpia blog.

They were damned good, for lunch. And they will be damned good again for dinner tonight.

Domino's Pizza Blog Entry that Should Have Been a Tweet

2009-10-31T10:59:00.001-07:00

Aggressively mediocre, but yet so fast it can barely be called pizza. Should fall into the fast food category. The end.

Blue Bottle Coffee Cafe at Equator Books Grand Opening Par-tay

2009-10-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Equator Books
1103 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291-3313
(310) 399-5544

On Saturday November 7, 2009 come to Venice, experience Blue Bottle Coffee, and meet Blue Bottle's James Freeman.

7PM-11PM.

Seems like a great way to kick off the holidays.

While you're here, check out some art.

Chill out, read a book.

Eat some Cake Monkey.

Cake Monkey & Blue Bottle Coffee, good.

Dinner at Mom's October 2009

2009-10-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

First fall dinner party, at Mom's house in Sacramento with Mom's bff, D and myself enjoying the surprisingly balmy evening, lots of good food and just a hair too much wine.

We start with our favorite fizz, Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose, Mom says this is the last bottle until after the recession is over. It feels like a decadent treat these days and we relish every bubble and sip with lots of toasts to chronicle what's good in our lives.

When my bff was visiting from London, she brought over a couple special bottles of fizz as a gift to me, so I might surprise Mom with some bubbling decadence at Christmas despite all our resolutions to tighten the belt buckles and make do with California sparkling wine.

Proscuitto, basil and gruyere palmiers. Buttery, cheesy, flaky goodness and as usual Sue eats so many of the savory hors d'ouevres she barely has an appetite for dinner. Mom has no room to complain, because this is less a repeat than an outright habit. You two kill me. Mom, if you want Sue to eat a bigger dinner, make less hors d'ouevres. Or, just don't care. She's eating, for crying out loud.

Mom has always set a beautiful table, even when making us scrambled eggs and toast before sending us to catch the school bus.

One of her small collection of salt cellars.

A trusim. She loves her wine. Apples fall from trees and only roll so far.

Sunday Suppers at Lucques is Mom's favorite cookbook, she cooks from it often.

I love how she has it coded and dog-eared for herself using dozens of post-its. These are recipes she has already made or is planning on making in the foreseeable future. A deep and enduring love for the post-it note is an inherited trait, apparently. I love how Mom's passion for cooking has evolved over the years. Always a great cook, I remember her gourmet dinner parties in the 1970's, cress salad with Green Goddess dressing, making mac & cheese pre-trend from scratch with hand grated sharp cheddar and crispy thick bacon bits, Yorkshire pudding for Christmas dinner for as long as I can recall. Now that she works her behind off and does most of her major cooking for events and dinner parties, there is always something fancy afoot. A new recipe, a special ingredient, an ethnic perspective she hasn't played with yet. Reflecting Saturday night on her hobby, she said cooking is completely the opposite of practicing the law. And as a corporate bankruptcy attorney in this economic climate, I imagine anything that feels different from her 9-5 is a relief and a joy.

Last Saturday she cooked up Goins' Spicy Pork Stew with Polenta, Root Vegetables, Gremolata.

For some insane reason, she decided it was a little too spicy. In complete disagreement, I argued that if you get rid of the heat you simply are left with pork stew, not that this would be a bad thing. But it certainly wasn't overly spicy, and if anything when cooking this at home I might even bump the heat up a notch or so.

Green salad with frisee, cress, arugula, pear, bleu cheese crumbles and pomegranates picked from Sue's tree Saturday morning. Sue shelled those seeds with her own little hands a few hours after plucking the ripe fruit from her garden.

Mom also collects vintage and antique cookery and cutlery. The above silverware is mongrammed with an E, for Elizabeth supposedly. Elizabeth who? I have no clue.

Tossing the salad.

About this time we pulled out the Petite Syrah, 2004 Marilyn Remark from Monterey. Silky smooth and wonderful with against the spicy flavors of the pork and the richness of the polenta.

Midway through the meal, Mom took a break from eating to construct financiers, a little French almond cookie. Not like a macarons, because financiers also have flour and butter. A tiny bit like a madeleine, but denser and stickier.

She has had these little tin pans around for eons.

And also wanted to use the opportunity to try her hand at baking in silicon. Silicon is great for baking, easy in, easy out, easy cleaning.

Flour, almond meal and sugar.

This vintage measuring cup holds the egg whites. This belonged to Aunty Marge or Aunty Olive. And the Pyrex bowl in the back has been around since I was a child. I have used it myself for hundreds of concoctions.

Adding the egg whites to dry ingredients.

Folding.

Stirring in the melted butter.

And filling both the tin cookie shells...

and the silicon baking forms.

Naturally, I think the cookies from the tin turned out more charming. Also, more batter went in each tin shape, so the cookies didn't cook quite as thoroughly and were thus less dry, stickier.

But they all made a pretty plate.

And the late October sun set, mirrored in the little lake populated by ducks, geese and other water fowl here and there all busy heading south. I think they travel like most Californians and just follow the 5.

Gastrodeliciousness at Village Idiot

2009-10-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

Village Idiot
7383 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046-7526
(323) 655-3331

Ridiculously behind in my posts, this is what a great deal of travel does to the lowly food blogger. A few weeks back, D and I stopped into Village Idiot during errand running after trying to find Ricky the fish taco guy near the Silver Lake Farmer's Market. Fail, on that front anyway. Gonna hafta give that another whirl because not only does Eat, Drink & Be Merry report in on Ricky's deliciousness, so does Diana Takes a Bite, Eating LA, Will from Food Digger, and the Twitterati (on the weekend, his name pops up consistently from noon through 4, both Saturdays and Sundays). I am nothing if not a trend hound. At any rate, our errands took us farther west and we landed at Village Idiot, B & M's local haunt.

The large chalkboard on the east wall tells visitors about their specials, a Sunday Roast, guest beers on tap, luncheons and brunches, their Twitter feed, and so on.

Beers and wines. I have stopped in a couple times, most memorably after a special benefit event at The Foundry in which they fed us almost nothing. S & I came over to the Idiot for delicious mussels. Telling is the fact that I haven't visited more. When passing by and spontaneously hungry, Village Idiot is usually bursting at the seams with drinkers and diners. This is why. The why of the burstingness.

Heirloom tomato and ricotta salad with large flat leaf parsley. The variegated stripes in these tomatoes made us think they were peeled, they were not and they were delicious. I like the surprise of ricotta instead of burrata here, but the salad was missing its red onion.

Squid salad with frisee, cherry tomatoes, arugula, preserved lemons. The flavor in this was immense from the preserved lemons. The greens being slightly overdressed can be forgiven because the squid were grilled to delicate, soft and easily chewable perfection.

Brussels sprouts with smoked bacon. YUM! The bacon chunks were huge, and the sprouts had a very present acidic note. Maybe balsamic? So good.

Echoing some of the flavor sensations of the Brussels sprouts was a grilled pork belly on collard greens with cooked apple slices. The salty pork, the slightly sour collards, the sweet apple. I have never had better pork belly anywhere. An incredibly Southern dish, this screams Americana. Gosh, I want it for lunch today and am sorry to be spending my time far east of the Village Idiot.

D ate fish tacos in the end, despite having missed Ricky. Suggestion has powerful influence on a hungry man's appetite. Snapper, grilled with cherry tomatoes, herbs, and onions. A giant cabbage salad, which we ate with a fork, not a tortilla. And a nice mound of little corn tortillas, fresh and warm if not housemade.

I wish we ate here more often, I wish we lived down the block.

Cougar in Training Hello Kitty Celebrates Her 35th Anniversary at Royal/T

2009-10-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

Royal/T

8910 Washington Blvd

Culver City, CA 90232-2326
(310) 559-6300

Three Apples

An Exhibition Celebrating 35 Years of

Hello Kitty

Royal/T-Culver City’s visually stunning and playful, 10,000-square-foot Japanese-inspired art exhibition space, “cosplay” maid café, and retail store—will house ‘Three Apples,’ a multi-dimensional exhibition and celebration of all things Hello Kitty running from October 23, 2009 to November 15, 2009. The various events within the three-week exhibit will be open to the public, and free of charge—all celebrating this beloved pop icon.

Appealing to fans and food lovers of all ages, ‘Three Apples’ (the title refers to Hello Kitty’s precise weight) will feature a special Hello Kitty-themed menu that will be offered at Royal/T’s maid café during the course of the exhibition. Waitresses dressed in playful maid uniforms with a Lolita-esque touch, will serve guests:

Hello Kitty Pancakes

Hello Kitty Waffles

and Kawaii High Tea, among other delicacies and delights.

Always a Hello Kitty fan, and someone who loves a birthday celebration, I only wish my goddaughter Alice was here to go with me. Afterward, we could embark on a shopping extravaganza at Forever 21, and get matching pedicures.

Upcoming events include:

Hello Kitty Fan Appreciation Party – Saturday Oct. 24^th Time: 10am-10pm
Hello Kitty Halloween Party – Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 Time: 10am-6pm
Hello Kitty Birthday Party – Sunday, Nov. 1^st Time: 10am - 5pm

First 100 guests to each event will receive a goody bag created especially for the occasion.

Puppies at 3 Weeks, 1 Day

2009-10-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Inca mothering her pups.

D falls in love.

Oh, hello.

1-2, littermate's coming for you.

3-4, zut alors!

5-6, bites not licks!

They.smell.amazing.

One in particular behaves wise beyond its weeks.

Sadly, I cannot tell them apart even after an hour playing with them.

They're all just fuzzy wuzzy widdle smoogey wooodgeys.

LOL.

Beautiful Inca takes a much needed break.