Exploratory Dégustation

Recipe: Salted chocolate caramels

2011-04-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I discovered the much-hyped salted caramels at Huckleberry in Santa Monica. Buttery. Salty. Silky smooth. I couldn't stop thinking about it after having just one bite, so naturally I decided to make my own at home using this recipe from Epicurious. Dare I claim that my home-made version turned out tastier than Huckleberry's? Well, let's just say that they were addictive to the point where they became a part of my morning breakfast ritual.

And how does one top a salted caramel? Why, with a salted chocolate caramel, of course. This recipe also comes from Epicurious and can be found here. Here we go:

First, prepare an 8"x8" pan with parchment paper; it doesn't have to be perfect but make sure the sides are covered at least 1" high:

Cut the butter into small pieces, and measure 10.5 ounces of good bittersweet chocolate. I used Ghiradelli 60% cacao baking chips which are perfectly fine for this recipe. A better quality chocolate like Valrhona would make this more special, but of course Valrhona is a far pricier product.

Heat 2 cups of heavy cream until tiny bubbles appear along the edge, then add the chocolate. Lower the heat and let the chocolate sit for a minute, then stir until completely smooth. Resit the urge to take shots of this velvety chocolate mixture.

Heat the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a separate pot, swirling every few minutes, until the caramel achieves a deep golden copper-like hue.

This takes about 10-15 minutes to get to the right color as seen on the right. Actually a little darker would be nice to really get that deep, intense caramel flavor. When you're happy with the color, carefully pour in the melted chocolate and heat the mixture until a thermometer reads 255°F.
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Speaking of thermometers, I highly recommend using a deep-fry thermometer for this recipe. Its large display makes for easy reading from a safe distance and the pot clip provides hands-free operation.

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When the mixture reaches 255°F, add the butter and stir until completely melted, then pour into the prepared pan. Wait ten minutes, then sprinkle the salt over the finished caramel. Make sure you use a good flaky salt to give the caramels a nice crunch and subtle salty taste.

Allow to cool for 2 hours, then pull from the pan using the parchment paper and place onto a cutting board. Flip the slab so the salted surface is facing up.

Cut the caramel into 64 pieces; I measured 1" segments on all sides, then lightly scored the caramel with a knife tip to create guidelines. Cutting this slab is optional. Feel free to grab with both hands and just go old-school on this.

Wrap each caramel in 4" square pieces of wax paper, then twist the ends to seal. Repeat 63 times and you'll end up with a pile of goodies like this:

These make great edible gifts for your friends, family, co-workers, and people willing to take care of your dog while you leave the country for weeks at a time, etc. And how is the taste? A rich, intense chocolate presence hits you followed by a salty finish while the buttery sweet undertones remind you all along that these are caramels. And although firmer than regular caramels (perhaps due to the chocolate addition), the chewiness just slows you down, forcing you to appreciate the salty, buttery taste. Think of these as grown-up Tootsie Rolls.

Son of a Gun

2011-04-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

It was back in 2009 when I made a visit to Animal and fell in love with the place at first bite. Pork belly sliders. Biscuits with foie gras and sausage gravy. The best damn tres leches cake. Animal could do no wrong. Since then I've returned several times, marking the Fairfax-area eatery as my favorite restaurant in all of LA. So when news surfaced that the Animal owners--Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo--were planning to open a new restaurant nearby, I of course made it my mission to pay a visit.

Son of a Gun is the second restaurant from the two Animal owners and its focus is heavily geared toward seafood preparations, versus the meat-tastic dishes served at Animal. But like Animal, the new place is small, cramped, and loud (more on that later). Menus change daily and are simply printed on single sheets of paper. I had a tough time securing a table for 5 people several weeks in advance; the buzz from this place is not going anywhere soon . Nonetheless, my friends all arrived in time for our reservation and we proceeded to begin with with a few drinks.

Manhattan. It was a bit too sweet for me, though that's probably because I'm just so accustomed to drinking straight bourbon or Scotch at home (or Glenlivet 18-year with a dash of bitters and some lemon peel -- oh yes).

Maui CoCoNut porter. I didn't try this but my friend enjoyed his can of beer. Love the Pittsburgh Steelers color scheme.

Smoked mahi fish dip, celery, radish, crackers. We start our dinner with this simple preparation of a fish dip served with crackers. Spread the creamy dip over a cracker, top with a few sprigs of celery and then squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over for a very indulgent "snack". I didn't get much smoky undertones from the fish, but it was delicious nonetheless. A great start.

Shrimp toast sandwich, herbs, siracha mayo. Crispy and heavily buttered toast envelopes a choppy mixture of shrimp, herbs and spicy siracha mayo. Herbs were a nice touch, contributing an earthy presence to the briny shrimp. I immensely enjoyed biting into the golden fried toast with its crackly exterior and soft, pliable interior.

Lobster roll, celery, lemon aioli. With a size not much bigger than, say a lemon wedge, we each ordered our own serving of this creamy, buttery lobster roll. I appreciated the acidic effect from the lemon aioli which helped to tame the overall creaminess. There was a generous amount of lobster meat; just a few bites is all it took for me to enjoy this tapas-sized lobster roll.

Fried chicken sandwich, spicy pickle slaw, rooster aioli. Take the juiciest fried chicken you've ever eaten and serve it on a hearty, pillowy soft bun and you have this upscale take on your classic fried chicken sandwich. A heaping mound of slaw was so vibrant, crisp, and tangy; it was perfect in taming the heaviness of the fried chicken. Messy to cut and eat and share, but so worth the extra TLC to make sure each well-positioned bite encompasses bun, slaw and chicken.

Soft shell crab, pickled green tomato, bacon, aioli. I almost didn't notice the miniature bacon quietly resting the crab's extremities. By itself the soft shell crab was quite tasty though the coating was too thick for my liking, and thus masked some of the crab's flavor. Creamy aioli added richness to an already heavy dish, while the pickled green tomato cut in that richness. My friends didn't bother to clean up the tomatoes, leaving the pickled goodies all to me. Back to the miniature bacon, they reminded me of the tiny bacon served at Jack in the Box for breakfast.

Alligator schnitzel, heart of palm, orange. A few of us were really looking forward to this, but it was a letdown for me. Whatever alligator meat existed on this plate was completed drowning in overly thick breading, and so I couldn't quite discern the nuances of alligator meat. Jalapenos added a good amount of heat and I can only imagine how much better the schnitzel would be with a thinner breading. I did enjoy the hearts of palm served in a creamy dressing, and the zesty orange pieces.

King crab leg, tabasco butter. So often in my dining adventures have I come across king crab lags that were given complete injustice, whether they were overcooked, poorly seasoned, or lacking that fresh ocean-y flavor. These crab legs however were absolute perfection and a must-order. Fresh flavors, pre-cracked, and cooked just right. The boys at Deadliest Catch would be proud. Not cheap at $26 per plate, but each leg packed a wallop of the juiciest crab meat you'll ever have, and it's all spiced up with a vinegary tobasco butter sauce.

Hiramasa, mojo de ajo, red onion, sunchoke. I wouldn't think to pair sashimi-style fish with mojo de ajo (garlic oil), but this worked and in fact was one of my favorite dishes. Meaty hiramasa--or yellowtail amberjack--was delicious and as good as any yellowtail sashimi I've had in sushi restaurants. It was nice to see seasonal sunchokes (similar taste to a potato) being utilized, though the effect was mostly textural.

Flour-less chocolate cake, banana, peanut, coconut ice cream.brulee" bananas, topped with peanuts and I'd be quite happy.

Frozen lime yogurt, graham crumble, toasted meringue. Our second dessert and final dish of the night was this bowl of super tangy frozen lime yogurt. This had a key lime pie-like presence and taste with the graham crumble and toasted meringue. I like how the meringue was "brushed" along the inside of the bowl. A nice, light dessert to end the night.

Overall I must say I was extremely pleased with our meal. All of the dishes were seasoned nicely and plated beautifully. Courses were timed about right, and when multiples of a single dish were ordered such as with the lobster roll, all arrived at the same time. I would pass on the alligator schnitzel for next time--and there will be a next time--but everything else impressed me. I might also pass on the desserts, instead opting to save room for the Magnolia Bakery just across the street.

So about that noise factor. The dining room is small and lacked substantial fabric to soak up the rambunctious scene, making it a challenge to hear each other. Shouting wasn't necessary, though loud talking was the norm. Noise aside, I enjoyed the night and look forward to coming back very soon.

Son of a Gun
8370 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles CA, 90048

Lukshon

2011-04-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

Sang Yoon, the restaurateur who brought us the wildly successful gastropub known as Father's Office has thrown us all a curve ball with his latest venture, Lukshon. A sit-down, somewhat upscale restaurant just a few doors down from the Culver City Father's Office, Lukshon is Mr. Yoon's elevated take on Southeast Asian cuisine, served in a glamorous dining space with probably the most open open-kitchens I've ever seen.

Last week my wife brought us to Lukshon to celebrate my birthday, and she booked us right at the chef's bar area with a commanding view of the gleaming new kitchen. You are quite literally just a few feet from the chefs preparing your dishes. I'm telling you, the entertainment value alone of these seats is worth the effort to book early.

Best seats in the house. Any closer and I'd be getting a W-2 from Mr. Yoon.

Lukshon has a very good beer and wine list augmenting a small but smart list of house cocktails. I start with this:

Fujian Cure. Isle of skye 8yr scotch, lemon, galangal, lapsang souchong black tea. Herby, not too strong, and with a nice sharp flavor from the lemon. I'm so used to just drinking straight Scotch and Bourbon that these specialty cocktails rarely ever do it for me, but this was quite nice. We also requested a bottle of flat water, which was clearly labeled as such:

Beef tartare - Pickled cucumber, chiles, onion, herbs, aromatic rice powder. Our dinner kicks off with these small "open face cucumber beef tacos." It starts out velvety smooth with the creamy and generously seasoned beef, then the chile heat hits you followed by a refreshing presence from the cucumber. Herbs added a contrasting texture. So do you eat these in one bite or two? I suggest one, unless you are more articulate with your chewing skills that I am (not saying much).

Spanish mackerel. Coconut vinegar, jalapeño, lemongrass, green papaya. Sashimi-style Spanish mackerel was exquisite in taste. The vinegar added a slight acidic taste to compliment the fresh fish. I couldn't get much from the green papaya; its effect was more texture than taste.

Baby monterey squid. Chiang mai pork sausage, candlenut, mint, rau ram. Our favorite dish of the night. Squid bodies cooked and stuffed with pork sausage, topped with the fried squid legs. The rau ram herbs gave the dish a delicious earthy flavor while the fried squid legs added a nice crunch. Slice off a piece of squid with pork sausage intact, swirl that in the pool of mint and oil and consume with a fried leg. Perfection.

My second drink was this sochu barrel aged ale Hitachino XH. This drank easily and paired nicely with the remaining dishes.

Another view of the counter action.

Chicken pops. Shelton farms drumettes, garlic, kecap manis, spicy Sichuan salt. Spicy, salty, crunchy. Like bar food taken to new level. The saltiness was almost overbearing, prompting me to chug more of that NOT SPARKLING water. I'm thinking that a creamy dipping sauce would pair well with these to help tame the saltiness. I found the meat to be slightly on the gristly side with a few of the pops being mostly fried skin with trace amounts of meat. But don't get me wrong--I finished these in no time and would order these again post-haste.

Prince Edward Island steamed mussels. Green chile rempah, coconut, tapioca, Thai basil, lime. As good as the mussels were, the best part of this dish was the savory brith with its deep coconut-y flavor with strong hints of lime. I also ordered a side of Jasmine rice, as suggested by our waiter, to soak up every last drop of that tasty broth. That was probably the best food-ordering decision I've made in recent history. I couldn't stop stuffing my face with the soaked rice!

Jasmine rice with the curry sauce. Who wants some?! And see the lone mussel in the bowl? He never opened up to us.

DanDan noodles. Kurobota pork, sesame, preserved mustard greens, Sichuan peppercorns, peanuts. Greasy but good is how I'd describe this. The noodles paired with the ground pork and peanuts made this a heavy, comfort-food like dish that hits your stomach like a brick. Sichuan peppercorns added a blast of quick heat and left a slight tingling sensation on the lips (but not to worry, it fades quickly).

Dessert is complimentary and changes regularly. Here we have a mini-chocolate cake, a meringue, and a shot of mango sorbet over raspberry jam and yogurt (I think). It was commendable but tough to share.

Dinner was a success and I'm anxious to return to try many other dishes. Our server was friendly and very knowledgeable of the dishes; food came out and nearly the perfect times just after we had finished the previous dish. As we watched the kitchen staff hustle about in their respective stations, it was very evident to me that this place has already found its rhythm. When we left at around 8:30, the restaurant was completely filled. I have no doubt that Lukshon will be a hot restaurant for some time. Now for the tough question: When I'm in this area again, do I go to Father's Office or Lukshon?

Lukshon
3239 Helms Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90034

Brunch at Huckleberry Cafe

2011-03-07T19:55:00.001-08:00

Huckleberry Cafe has been open for nearly two years and it's hard for me to believe that I haven't tried anything from their full menu. Sure I've dropped in a few times for cinnamon sugar donuts and berry crostadas, but never for a sit-down breakfast or lunch. That all changed this past weekend when my wife and I and a friend made an afternoon visit to this extremely busy Santa Monica cafe. When we arrived, the order-line was quite long and snaked all the way to the back door, but somehow we managed to grab a prime indoor table after we had placed our order. On to the eats:

Fried egg sandwich with sunny side up eggs, Niman Ranch bacon, Gruyere, arugula, aioli on country bread. I know what you're thinking: sunny side up eggs within a sandwich, isn't that going to be an epic mess? Yes, and that first bite had better be carefully navigated to encompass at least some of the yolk to blanket it from exploding out and over your hands. But not to worry because whatever yolk spills onto the plate--and trust me there will be yolk--is just an excuse to tear off some of the country bread and scoop up a serving of silky deliciousness. I tried my best to make this a clean, gentlemen-like experience. FAIL. Thick cut bacon is salty and slightly crispy, while a copious amount of arugula adds a tangy, zesty snap to each bite and also rightly justifies this eating episode.

And what better way to compliment the fried egg sandwich than with a trio of house-made delights?

Starting at the top left we have coffee cake, maple bacon biscuit, and a salted caramel bar. Yes, a biscuit that's made with two of my favorite food groups: maple and bacon. It was undeniably tasty with a great crumb texture but needed a little more maple as I found the pork fat to be almost overpowering. Wait. I should not and shall not complain about pork fat, especially when it's baked within a biscuit--another one of my favorite food groups. The salted caramel bar was super sweet and a bit chewy with a dash of crunchy salt to really bring out the caramel's depth. My favorite though was the coffee cake. Moist, delicious, buttery, and appropriately messy like a good coffee cake should be. Next time I'll get one to go.

My better half dove into this Marinated peppers and burrata sandwich with La Quercia prosciutto:

She kindly donated some of the hearty, seedy bread so I could be absolutely sure to scoop every last drop of egg yolk from my plate. Oh and she quite enjoyed the sandwich, making note of the generous amount of creamy burrata. Slathered on the bread was a spicy pesto spread that added some good heat to the sandwich. Delicious. We're coming back and hopefully soon.

Huckleberry Cafe
1014 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica CA 90404

Two amazing sites on the way to and from Palm Springs

2011-02-21T20:58:00.000-08:00

As my three-day Presidents Day weekend comes to a close, I'd like to share with you two amazing sites that I passed by on the way to and from an overnight stay in Palm Springs. One of course is the vast farm of windmills that line the stretch of highway 10 as you approach the general Palm Springs area.

There are hundreds if not thousands of these Terminator-looking structures, and I suppose you need this many to re-charge all the golf carts in this area. On the way to our hotel, all the turbines except for a few outcasts were spinning with a clear purpose of powering said golf carts, but on the way back, not a single turbine showed any sign of life. It's as if they all took the day off to honor President's Day. Maybe one of my astute readers can explain this?

Another site no less amazing that the windmill farm is--if you haven't figured it out already--The Donut Man in Glendora.

While not exactly within our direct path to or from Palm Springs, The Donut Man--perhaps the most famous donut shop in southern California--is just a quick detour and thus a stop here was imperative, if not mandatory.

While this place stocks all the archetypal varieties such as chocolate cake, maple bars, and twists, The Donut Man is ultimately famous for this, the fresh strawberry donut:

Pictured above is a glazed yeast donut filled with fresh strawberries and a strawberry glaze with just enough sweetness to tame any bitterness of the locally grown strawberries. This is a seasonal donut. Yes you read that correctly. A seasonal donut. You can only get these when the strawberries are readily available. Food enthusiasts like myself make the pilgrimage from all over SoCal to lay their teeth around one of these monstrosities. A fork is provided, but why bother? Impress your date by skillfully grabbing the yeasty-berry behemoth with both hands and proceeding to take successive bites that encompass both yeasty goodness and fruity deliciousness. If a stray berry happens to find its way in the cardboard trough (that's why it's provided), do what I do and pause during mid-chew, pick up the stray and re-insert into the sandwich, then proceed with the chewing motions, focusing on the area where the stray left its place.

You want proof that Donut Man uses fresh strawberries? Here's a behind-the-scenes picture, brought to you exclusively on danieleats.com:

The price for several minutes of sugary yeasty fruity contentment: About three bucks. Go there. Now!

The Donut Man
915 E Rt 66
Glendora, CA 91740

The Arsenal reloads and delivers

2011-01-09T20:17:00.001-08:00

Last Thursday my coworkers and I stopped by Arsenal to check out its happy hour. I had been to Arsenal a few years ago and wasn’t too impressed with the food or the place itself. But that was then. A few months ago Arsenal closed for a several weeks to re-invent itself with a classy new look and an updated menu. It was time to give this place a second look.

We arrived at Arsenal around 5:15pm to a mostly empty scene, in fact we basically had the venue to ourselves. The interior is definitely several steps above from the aged, outdated decor of yesteryear. A smartly decorated lounge area splits two dining rooms; it actually reminded me of the lounge bar at Tavern. If you’ve even been to Tavern then you know what a compliment that is. Parking is plentiful along Pico boulevard at this hour, though a valet service is available for those of you who insist on being dropped off in front of the restaurant. Once inside, we proceeded to the lounge area near the front and starting ordering our libations and sustenance.

Happy hour Scotch on the rocks. $3. I’m not sure of the particular brand of Scotch, but the taste was mellow and quite smooth with a subtle smokey finish, and there was no skimping on the portion. I enjoyed four of these over the course of our happy hour outing and I can say I was well satiated by night’s end. My coworkers went with the house red wine and I couldn’t help to notice that their glasses were about three-fourths full with each pour.

Poutine fries with horseradish cheddar and gravy. $5. I’m no expert in the Canadian specialty that is poutine, but that certainly didn’t hinder me from truly enjoying these crosscut fries smothered in cheese and gravy. What’s not to love here? And for $5? We ordered two of these. The fries were crispy on the outside with fluffy centers; the horseradish cheddar was a nice touch that added a bit of sinus heat after each bite.

BBQ chicken pizza. $5. There were two varieties of pizza on the happy hour menu--BBQ chicken and margarita. You would never mistaken this pizza for one of my homemade pies, but at just $5 this pizza is undeniably good and a must order. The crust was nicely seasoned and crispy the outside with a nice spongy center; it also appears to be hand tossed and not cut out from a rolled sheet of dough. I commend Arsenal’s chefs for balancing the BBQ sauce flavors with the perfectly spiced and cooked chicken; the sauce wasn’t overpowering like it has been on so many other BBQ chicken pizzas I’ve had.

Chicken tenders. $5 (or $6?). Giant pieces of white meat chicken were juicy and very flavorful. The crunchy breading was light albeit delicious. These were so good and juicy that the provided ranch and BBQ dipping sauces were barely touched.

Beef slider trio. $6. My favorite dish of the night. Each slider was prepared differently with one being a basic burger, another with grilled onions and pesto, and the third with more of that sinus-clearing horseradish cheddar. The downsized patties were juicy and cooked just above medium rare, and the soft buns were soft and perfectly sized to the amount of meat. These tasty mini burgers warrant a return visit to try Arsenal’s full-size version.

Cheese quesadilla. $3. Yes it’s a flour tortilla wrapped around cheese and then grilled. There’s nothing fancy about this $3 dish, but it was tasty and bursting with cheese. I would order this extra crispy for next time as I like my quesadillas firm :).

When we left at around 8pm, the place was completely full and bustling with activity. As soon as we dislodged ourselves from our comfortable chairs, several people dropped in as if they had been clinging to the ceiling watching us from above. Happy hour was already over but that didn't seem to matter to those waiting. With the tasty food, good service, and outstanding prices, this turned out to be one of the better happy hours I’ve been to and there’s no doubt that I’ll be returning to Arsenal to try more of their food.

Arsenal
12012 West Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA
90064

Eating New York, Part 1

2010-11-21T22:59:00.001-08:00

To me, New York represents the eventual destination for those of us seeking out America's culinary treasure trove. With so many restaurants, so much food history, and so many options for avant-garde cuisine, it was only a matter of time before I found myself eating away at the Big Apple. It’s where I wanted to go--where I needed to go--to fulfill my desire of sampling iconic New York style pizza, Shake Shack burgers, crusty bagels, and perhaps a Michelin 3-star sit-down. After spending some quality time on Yelp, Chow, and a few blogs, I crafted a restaurant plan tailored to cover some of New York’s finest and most unique culinary offerings during a five-day visit. Five days isn’t exactly a long time to tackle any city, especially one as diverse and dense as New York, but I was very happy with the amount grub we were able to taste.

With my ambitious restaurant plan in hand, we depart LAX on our red-eye flight, leaving at midnight from LAX and landing at 8am in JFK. (A red eye flight maximizes the eating time. Smart, huh? Actually we did that to save on vacation time.)

Our first order of business is of course to feed ourselves after the long cross country flight. We jaunt over to Shake Shack in the theater district and met up with a friend who happened to also be visiting Manhattan.

I’ve read so many write-ups about Shake Shack and its deliciously juicy cheeseburgers and “concrete” shakes thickened with mix-ins that might otherwise be meals at other eateries. Some say this place even rivals our beloved In and Out, while others preach not to waste any time standing in the potentially hour-long lines. Well I’m happy to report there was no wait whatsoever when we arrived at exactly 11am--opening time; in fact I think we were the first ones to order.

Shackburger, double cheeseburger, fries, pumpkin pie Concrete. My double cheeseburger was everything I could have hoped for: a soft and flavorful bun and crisp lettuce and tomatoes which were portioned perfectly to match the savory Angus patties. The Concrete--a frozen custard with chunks of real pumpkin pie swirled in--was equally satisfying though I wish there was more pumpkin pie involved. I enjoyed the crinkle-cut style fries and Shake Shack claims these have 25% less fat than average fries, so of course I just needed to eat 25% more than normal :)

With lunch aside, we walk around the theater district area and take in some of the sights. As you can see from the pictures, we brought some of LA’s sunny weather with us. Now I could only find a way to bring back some of these NY chefs.

After a quick nap, we strap on our Sunday’s finest and walk over to Le Bernardin to kick off our evening with an early pre-theater dinner. Executive chef Eric Ripert heads up Le Bernardin and you’ve surely come across the white-haired gentleman on Top Chef as a frequent guest judge. His theater-district establishment is one of only nine restaurants in the US to have the coveted Michelin 3-star rating, the highest possible, and it’s also a NY Times 4-star recipient. With those credentials you just know my expectations for Le Bernardin were set to stun, and our 2.5 dinner was indeed an unforgettable experience.

We both ordered the 4-course prixe fixe with each of us choosing different options for all courses. Every dish was a gastronomic experience, save for one dish, my crispy black bass-- a signature of Ripert--as it was sorely lacking that crispiness I saw when Ted Allen ordered the same dish on The Best Thing I Ever Ate. I found myself tearing away at the skin and noticed another diner enduring the same struggle. Despite this misstep and some overbearing service at times (they removed my wife’s 2nd course before she was done--hey I’m the only one allowed to do that!), our dinner was otherwise superb. (No pictures here--I just wanted to fully immerse myself in the dining experience for tonight, sans camera)

We wave goodbye to Le Bernardin and trek along Times Square and over to the Shubert theater to see Memphis (a must see!)

Theater makes me hungry so of course after the show we seek out dinner #2: the famed Halal cart on 53rd and 6th. Yelp warned me about the block-long lines for this place so I was surprised to see only about 20 late-night grubbers waiting to get their Halal fix.

Combination halal with chicken, beef, lamb, served over rice. What you see is the before "pre-sauce" picture; I drenched the whole pie with a creamy white sauce and then mashed it all together. This was damn good, and damn spicy when I added a vial of mouth-tingling hot sauce. The rice was a bit dry and overcooked, but the meats were tender, flavorful and not at all greasy. Eating scoopfuls of rice, meats, white sauce, and hot sauce was quite satisfying, even as I was perched on a stone bench overlooking 53rd street, doing my best not to spill sauce on my suit. I could have used more flat bread to make little flat bread wraps, but for $6 I won't complain. Heart burn later ensued.

The next morning greets us with breakfast at Sarabeth’s West, located to the west of Central Park. There’s also a Sarabeth’s East; you can guess where that’s located. Thanks to some ignorant transportation planning on my part, we arrived about 20-minutes past our OpenTable reservation slot, but the hostess was able to wedge us in--and I mean that in the literal sense--at a small table within minutes of arriving. My wife dives into the Goldie Lox--a dish of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, and cream cheese. It was respectable. I opt for this:

Crisp potato waffle with chicken apple breakfast sausage, chunky Apple sauce and sour cream. There was only one truly bad dish during our 5-day journey, and you’re looking at it. The waffle wasn’t crisp and in fact was undercooked and gummy in the center, and the sausage had such little flavor and sawdust-like texture that I actually didn’t bother to finish it. My family and friends know that I NEVER leave food behind unless I deem it practically inedible. Disaster! Let’s move on.

The crowd outside Sarabeth's West on our way out of the restaurant. I hope they're not here for the sausage.

We walk through Central Park and over to the Metropolitan Museum for some cultural fulfillment.

My wife: “hey look this is YOU when you’re crouching!”

For lunch, we walk south to the Plaza hotel and attempt to dine at Todd English’s new Food Hall restaurant, but the 90-minute wait prompted a quick u-turn out the hotel’s beefy doors. Our backup plan--Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien as recommended by fellow foodie friend Daniel K.--served us no better with its entrance line pushing into the hotel’s lobby. Thus, we retreat across from Burger Joint and find hope at Norma’s, a bustling cafe serving upscale brunch fare. We’re seated immediately and promptly requested to order immediately as the kitchen was closing shop for the day. Two breakfasts in one day? Sure, why not? The first one really didn’t even count.

Yes that's a $1000 caviar frittata! I wonder how many of these are served each day? Oh wait, this is Le Parker Merdien in Manhattan--they had probably sold out for the day.

Eggs Florentine with sautéed Spinach, fingerling potato home fries and apple-wood smoked bacon. The fresh and lightly cooked spinach was the main star of this plate. I never knew spinach could taste THIS good. Thick, chewy bacon added a wonderful salty-savoriness between bites of the creamy egg and Hollandaise sauce mixture. Fingerling potatoes were hiding behind the pile of bacon, and I made sure to seek and eat every single one.

Super moist French toast with an orange infused honey drizzle. I’ll keep this short: it was the best French toast I’ve ever had and I've had me many a good French toast in LA. The honey drizzle was so aromatic and flavorful, and the French toast was just as the menu boasted. It's doughy and moist on the inside with crispy edges holding it together. Side note: it’s 4pm and we’re scheduled to meet up with friends for dinner at 5:30pm.

Those two hours seemed like ten minutes, and at 6pm we find ourselves at Spotted Pig in the West Village area. Our friends had arrived a little earlier and secure a wait list spot. There are no reservations at this Michelin-starred gastro-pub, and no reservations means you either need to get here early or attempt to shoe-horn yourself into the bar area. After an hour wait, we escape from the bar area and trot upstairs to the main dining room. It’s loud, packed, dimly lit, and chock-full of swine memorabilia.

Here's looking at me.

Deviled eggs. Spicy, tangy, and rich. These were so good we ordered two more servings. I like how the yolk mixture is piped to resemble a pig, or at least that's I wanted to think.

Chicken liver toast. Delicious and not too salty. The texture was creamy but held up well when eaten with the toasted bread.

Char-grilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese and shoestrings. A first-timer’s trip here wouldn’t be complete without an order of the burger. Mine was cooked to a textbook medium rare. The bun was supple, buttery, and moist. I read some reviews claiming the cheese was overpowering, and it was indeed full of pungent aroma and taste, but it worked well to counteract the savoriness of the thick patty. The fries, however, were messy to eat and had little substance or flavor to them. I kept mashing mounds of stringy fries together to get more of a bite with each chew.

I forget the name of this dish, but it was basically described as “deep-fried face cheese.” This was very good, albeit very heavy. Note to self: Tomorrow would not be a good day for a physical.

Walnut, chocolate and amaretto cake. A nutty cake with a chocolate frosting. My wife didn’t care for this, so guess who cleaned house?

We left Spotted Pig very full, very happy, and perhaps a few pounds heavier. I picked up a Spotted Pig t-shirt on the way out, perfect for the 75-degree weather back in LA. Our friends had to get back home, but my wife and I decided that being 110% full is unacceptable, so we walk a block over to Magnolia Bakery for a night cap.

We picked up a chocolate cupcake, a vanilla cupcake, and a Magic Cookie bar--a slab of packed walnuts, chocolate chips, shredded coconut and sweetened condensed milk. This was so amazingly good that I practically finished it before leaving the bakery, crumbing over myself, the wrapper, and probably the people waiting in line. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the cupcakes as we both thought there were dry and lifeless in flavor.

That concludes our second night of gluttony in New York City. At this point I was already planning my next visit as I was so impressed with what we had eaten. Coming soon: part 2 where I partake in more stars, pizza, "crack", and shiny bagels.

Shake Shack
691 8th Ave
New York, NY 10036

Le Bernardin
155 W 51st St
New York, NY 10019

Halal cart on 53rd and 6th
53rd St & 6th Ave
New York, NY 10079

Sarabeth's West
423 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10024

Norma's
119 W 56th St
New York, NY 10019

Spotted Pig
314 W 11th St
New York, NY 10014

Magnolia Bakery
401 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10014

The California Roll burger at 26 Beach

2010-10-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the pleasure of devouring the colossal California Roll burger from 26 Beach in Venice. This ninth wonder of the foodverse came loaded with avocado, real crab meat, ginger, wasabi mayo, lettuce, tomato, an Angus 1/2lb patty, and is served with thick-cut fries which were like chunkier versions of In and Out's fries.

When this behemoth landed in front of me, I wanted to pick it up and just go all out Man vs. Food on this thing, eating it with no regard to burger spillage or, um, personal appearance. So as to not embarrass myself in front of my coworkers (or least keep it to a minimum), I cut it in half, then cut one half in two and repositioned the skewer to keep the other half in tact while leaning the other cut quarter against the skewered half to keep this leaning tower of burger from becoming a Hindenburg. I then grabbed a quarter of the California Roll burger and compressed it just enough so I could get my jaws around it, and guess what? It worked and I was able to get all of the flavors and textures with a well placed chomp.

The mingling of flavors of beef and crab and mayo and bun was something I had never experienced before with any meal. The deep beefiness of the Angus patty--cooked to a perfect medium rare--was counteracted by the creaminess from the crab and wasabi mayo mixture. Heat from the wasabi lingered for a bit but the avocado made for a cool finish to each bite. Expansive sheets of ginger added an interesting, snappy texture, while the house-made, pillowy soft bun did its best to bookend the ingredients. See that layer of lettuce and tomato on the first level? The 26 Beach chefs placed those there so as to provide a level foundation for the massive quantities of protein resting on the higher levels. And sure a few bundles of crab sneaked out during mid-chomp, but I was quick to shovel them back in to the burger with the provided eating utensils. Within ten minutes or so, this burger was out of sight and in my belly. A messy albeit delicious lunch experience.

So how much for this pylon of fusion goodness? 26 Beach charges a very fair $19 with fries, which for me was well worth the experience of consuming a burger topped with basically a California roll. My coworker ordered the Texas Burger with chili and said it was good but that the chili needed more spice, and another coworker ordered the Kobe burger and gave it high praise.

Do yourself a favor and head over to 26 Beach to try a truly unique burger. Just don’t try this on a first date; I mean at least wait until the third date.

26 Beach
3100 Washington Blvd
Venice, CA 90291

DineLA at The Foundry on Melrose

2010-10-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

The DineLA event may have already passed but I was able to sneak in a few weeknight outings to take advantage of the special deals being offered by many of LA's finest restaurants. One such restaurant, The Foundry on Melrose, had been on my radar for some time, especially after seeing its chef and owner, Eric Greenspan, compete on Food Network's The Next Iron Chef. He may have lost--eliminated during the first round in fact--but that certainly didn't distract me from recognizing his many achievements in the culinary arena. From being executive chef at Patina to working alongside super-star chefs David Bouley and Ferran Adria, chef Greenspan has certainly established an esteemed reputation for himself.

For the DineLA event, his restaurant The Foundy on Melrose was offering a fantastic 3-course dinner for $44 and that included a complimentary mid-course, essentially making this a 4-course meal. I quickly made a reservation and summoned a few friends to partake in this deal with me.

We arrive to a packed scene on a brisk Thursday night and took our seats across from the quaint bar. All of us were prepared to order from the DineLA menu, which listed several options for each of its four courses. The full regular menu was available as well and I was tempted to supplement our meal with some of chef Greenspan's famous short-rib grilled cheese sandwiches. Maybe next time.

We placed our orders and then proceeded with satisfying our thirst with some BYOB wines.

My friend has been sourcing some excellent wines lately for our dinners, such as the 2007 Caymus at The Gorbals. Tonight she brought a wonderfully crisp 2004 Hewitt Cabernet Sauvignon, a well balanced wine that played nicely with our savory dishes. It was easy on the palate with light tannins but presented just enough enough complexity to hold your interest even after several pours. Not only was the corkage service very professional, it was free, making our DineLA dinner all the more sweeter.

Amuse bouche. I couldn't hear our server as he explained this dish, but it tasted like a puff pastry with a tomato sauce topping. These were quite small--even for an amuse bouche--but they were tasty nonetheless.

For my first course I opted for the Albacore Tartare with sunchokes, grapefruit, soy. The albacore has a slightly fishy taste to it but the consistency was nice and creamy and I liked the pairing of the albacore with the salty soy and fresh grapefruit. This fusion of saltiness and bitterness helped to mask said fishiness and in the end I actually enjoyed the overall experience of this course.

My friend went for the Lobster Salad with mushrooms, lime, cilantro, coconut as her first course. Along with a beautiful presentation, all the flavors and textures worked well together. I especially enjoyed the fresh lobster and the sauce which helped to heighten the flavors from the vegetables. The lobster was cooked perfectly and delicious on its own.

Bread service of rosemary focaccia was brought to us during the first course...

...as were these biscuits with soft butter.

I chose the Celery Root Risotto with orange, Gruyere cheese, celery as my mid-course. The risotto was delicious and its creaminess was balanced nicely by the orange sauce which had just a hint of acidity. I love Gruyere by itself but here it was slightly dominated by the heaviness of the risotto, though the cheese did add some interesting texture. This was was one of the better risottos I've had in any restaurant.

For her mid-course, my friend went with the Mustard Glazed Pork Belly with Brussels sprouts, candied quince, manchego. On paper this dish looks and sounds amazing, but the pork belly was, unfortunately, overcooked and tough and nowhere near that dreamy slab of pork belly I had at Park's or the maple-braised variety from Cube. Some relief came from the mustard glaze which was very creamy and seasoned nicely, though it wasn't enough to distract my attention from the dryness of the pork.

Diners have three options for the third course and I gave in to this Miso Honey Glazed Duck with pears, eggplant, red peppers. The duck was perfectly cooked and seasoned, and the eggplant and peppers added some great earthiness to the dish but, as you can see from the picture, there was very little meat compared to the amount of skin. And while I do relish in succulent fatty duck skin, I was hoping for a meatier presence from this dish.

Perhaps I should have went with my friend's dish, Beef Tenderloin with shallots, potatoes, bordelaise sauce. Of course I got to try a generous piece and this upscale meat-and-potatoes plate turned out to be my favorite dish of the night. The meat was expertly cooked and I loved that the sauce wasn't overpowering but rather complimentary to the juiciness of the tenderloin. Both the shallots and potatoes were nicely cooked and not mushy. A superb dish in every aspect.

For the dessert course we selected each of the three available desserts plus one that wasn't on the DineLA menu.

Apple Raisin Cobbler with marscarpone, honey ice cream. A great combination of textures with the crumb topping, tart apples, and soft ice cream. As the ice cream melted, the soupy mixture of melted ice cream and crunchy crumb toppings made for an explosion of comfort food goodness.

Lemon Meringue Pie lemon curd with lemon segments. Everyone's favorite dessert was this take on a traditional lemon meringue pie. The lemon curd was bright and full of flavor and the "crust" was very flavorful and crispy. Some caramelization on the meringue added a bit more interest and texture while the lemon pieces brought a slight acidity.

Peanut Butter Bread Pudding with peanut butter ice cream, grape sauce. As I'm a huge fan of bread puddings, I wanted so badly to fall in love with this dish but the bread pudding was a little dry and the taste was underwhelming in peanut flavor. The ice cream--house-made of course--was delicious by itself and made up for some of the pudding's dryness.

Roasted Strawberry Shortcake with vanilla whipped cream, lavender ice cream. This was our non-DineLA dessert and I really enjoyed the light, flaky cake and fresh strawberries. Carving out a chunk of shortcake with a spoonful of strawberries and vanilla ice cream was a bit of challenge, but the resulting taste was worth the careful process. I cleaned this plate in short order.

And with that tasty shortcake dessert our DineLA dinner is complete. Overall I felt that this was a good meal and about what I was expecting from this establishment. Sure, the pork belly could have been more flavorful and the duck less fatty, but the excellent risotto and tenderloin made up for those shortcomings. Throw in the free corkage (and the excellent Hewitt Cabernet Sauvignon) and a solid dessert showing, and you have yourself a satisfying dining experience.

As we wrapped up our dinner service, chef Eric Greenspan stopped by chat with us and even posed in a group picture.

Good times indeed. My other DineLA outing was a gastronomical feast at Craft which left everyone in awe. I don't have many pictures from that dinner as I was too busy relishing in the night's activities, but I do plan to return to Craft very soon for their tasting menu.

The Foundry on Melrose
7465 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Test Kitchen with Shelley Cooper

2010-09-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

Arguably the hottest restaurant right now in Los Angeles isn't even a restaurant by the traditional sense. With a name like "Test Kitchen", you can probably guess that this is a place for chefs to test their dishes with the general public, most of whom are obsessed with food like yours truly. On a regular, almost daily basis, a new chef and his or her crew is brought in to showcase new or experimental dishes that might not otherwise be available in the chef's regular restaurant. Recently, for example, John Rivera Sedlar--who is the executive chef and owner of Rivera in downtown LA--helmed Test Kitchen to preview the menu at his upcoming establishment, R26. Top Chef season six winner Michael Voltaggio was also present a few weeks ago to showcase dishes for his new restaurant opening soon somewhere in LA.

For tonight's meal, chef Shelley Cooper was leading the kitchen to cook her style of southern comfort food with a tasting menu of five dishes. Chef Cooper was the executive chef of the newly-opened First and Hope restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, but she abruptly left the restaurant for undisclosed reasons. Since then she has not landed at any other eatery, but with her guest appearance at Test Kitchen, one can assume she is probably very close to doing so.

We begin the night by going over the menu which lists the tasting menu along with optional side dishes. Regardless of the chef, there is only one meal option for the diner, and that is the full tasting option which can range from 5 to 10 or so courses depending on the chef and the price. There are no substitutions or vegetarian options, nor are there modifications allowed. This is part of the philosophy behind Test Kitchen as it allows the chef to focus on small set of dishes that he or she is testing with.

As you can see, this tasting menu has five courses for $55; also note the mandatory 18% gratuity. There is also a small wine list as a well as a specialty cocktails menu meant to compliment the chef's cuisine. We decided to bring our own wines, a pair a reds from Paso Robles, and pay the fair corkage fee of $20. Let's move along to the first course.

Buttermilk biscuits, pat o foie gras butter, Tennessee country ham, fig jam. First course for this evening was this biscuit sandwich with ham, foie gras butter, and fig jam. I wasn't sure if I should cut this half before eating or just go at it with my hands. Utensils be dammed; I attacked it post-haste. The biscuit was a little too crunchy for my liking and it was slightly burnt on the bottom, but the taste was buttery, delicious, and with a wonderfully flaky texture. I loved the pairing of the ham and fig jam, with the sweetness of the jam counteracting the savoriness of the ham. None of us could taste much foie gras in the butter, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Scott Street Lunchable with grilled bologna tea sandwich, pimento cheese & crackers, spicy pickles. This wasn't part of the tasting menu but was actually one of the optional side dishes. Chef Cooper's take on the Lunchable is this assortment of finger sandwiches, pimento cheese with crackers, and pickled vegetables. I can't remember the last time I had a Lunchable--probably when I was a chubby teenager in high school--but it certainly wasn't anything like this! The star of this plate was clearly the tea sandwiches with their thick-cut bologna slices, which were very meaty and tasty. I enjoyed sampling the pimento cheese with crackers as well as the pickled vegetables.

Soft shell crab with corn pudding, licorice, corn relish. This was my favorite dish of the night and I hope chef Cooper makes this a permanent addition to her menu if and when helms another kitchen in Los Angeles. The crab was utterly delicious and cooked to perfection. A few of us claimed it was on the salty side, but I thought it was perfectly seasoned. As for the corn pudding and corn relish, I simply could not get enough of them, making sure to scoop every last trace of said items from my plate.

Frog legs with creamy grits and red eye stew of craw fish tails. It should be obvious by now that this clearly a southern-inspired tasting menu. After all, First and Hope's cuisine represents an upscale take on classic southern dishes. Here we have battered and deep-fried frog legs served over a craw fish broth with pearl onions and green beans. The legs were juicy and flavorful and I made sure to gnaw every morsel of tender frog meat from the bones. Our server instructed us to eat these with our hands and did I ever. I loved the creamy grits, too. They made me want to ask, "can I get some grits with that cream?" A delicious course all around. This dinner is turning out to be one of the better meals I've had in recent times.

Kentuckyaki pork osso bucco with Carolina gold rice, southern style kim chee, benne seed cracklins. Our final savory course is this Asian-inspired dish of pork osso bucco. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the pork is bone-in and it's HUGE. The ladies at our table couldn't finish this, but you can bet the boys licked this plate clean. The pork was fall-off-the-bone tender and extremely juicy. Small bits of pork and the juices was fall into the stew and made for a deliciously porky and chunky soup. I'm not sure what the "cracklins" were, but they definitely added a loud crunch to the soup.

Sweet potato fried pie with toasted marshmallow, ice cream, bacon-butterscotch sauce. Our final course was of course a sweet one, and it doesn't get much better than what you see here. A flaky, deep-fried pocket filled with sweet potato and drenched with ice cream and bacon-butterscotch sauce was like nothing else I've had. A piece of candied bacon lies in back adding to the bacon theme of this dessert. The sweet potato was delicious--it's one of our favorite vegetables--and it was actually a great counterbalance to the heavy sauce. My wife didn't care for the toasted marshmallow--house made of course--but I was a fan and proceeded to stab at her piece.

And with that our dinner at Test Kitchen was complete, and I must say it was absolutely fantastic. The service, which from what I've read has had its rough patches--was nearly flawless and attentive. Multiple servers brought out each course so that we could all receive our plates at the same time. Our server corked and poured our wines. Our plates and utensils were cleared after each course, and our water glasses were topped off throughout the night. The only hiccup was that our osso bucco course was brought out while a few of us were still enjoying the frog legs.

Chef Cooper has overwhelmingly won our palates with her upscale southern cuisine. I am so looking forward to her return to the LA dining scene. Thumbs up all around.

Test Kitchen with Shelley Cooper, Sept 17-18
9575 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles CA
90035

Taste of Beverly Hills, The Art of Brunch

2010-09-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

The Taste of Beverly Hills took place over the past weekend at the Beverly Hilton and I was in attendance for the Sunday brunch session aptly named “The Art of Brunch”. I was so looking forward to this event after seeing the restaurant line up of Fig, Bazaar, Nickel Diner, Huckleberry, Craft, and about three dozen other fine restaurants. The Art of Brunch did not disappoint. In fact, it completely surpassed my expectations as the food samples were in ample supply, the crowds were minimal, and the overall event was incredibly organized. Joining me for this glutton fest was my wife and her mom. For the mom-in-law, this turned out to be quite an experience for her and she probably ate more food in the span of nearly four hours than she usually eats over two days :).

Yes, only a red carpet entrance will do for a food event in 90210.

Breakfast beignet with fruit sauce from Ammo. They were freshly prepared and fried, and oh so good. I ate two of these in short order.

The spread at Huckleberry's table was worth the admission price alone. I did as best as I could to try everything. We sampled maybe a dozen items, including a massive piece of coffee cake, miniature muffins, various tarts, and some cookies.

Fig restaurant was in attendance and they were serving soft scrambled eggs over Chantrelles on toast. These were absolutely delicious. The creaminess of the eggs with the earthy mushrooms and crusty bread was an incredible combination of flavors and textures.

Stuffed French toast from The Farm of Beverly Hills. A little dry but the caramel sauced helped.

Salmon slider, homemade potato chips from NineThirty at the W Hotel. The salmon was perfectly cooked and the bun was soft, warm, and very tasty. It was a perfect pairing with the salty potato chips.

Potato pancakes from Factor's Deli. These were really good but I had to stop at 1. There was so much food to be had.

The team at Stefan's at LA Farm was serving ice cream pops dipped in liquid nitrogen to go with house-made lollipops. This was a popular booth and a line quickly formed. Stefan Richter (Top Chef finalist) was there and he actually took a few minutes to chat with my wife and I.

Home-made pastas from Terroni.

Marble cake from Hansen Cakes. The cake was very moist with a nice balance of chocolate and vanilla, while the frosting had the perfect amount of sweetness. We were impressed and we eat a lot of cake.

Smoked trout rillete and house-made bacon-plum Pop-Tarts from Mercantile/District. Both were very good and I was surprised by how well the Pop-Tart tasted. There wasn’t an overpowering presence of bacon; rather, the bacon added a slightly salty taste that went well with the overall sweetness.

Soft scrambled eggs and bacon in egg shells, from Firefly. I admired the presentation with the eggs served within it shell. These were good though they could have used more bacon.

Homemade ricotta and granola, lemon honey, from Craft. One my favorite dishes was this simply prepared granola and ricotta. It was so unlike any granola or ricotta that I’ve had from a grocery store.

Quiche Lorraine and a potato from BreadBar. Creaminess and saltiness on one plate. Delicious.

BBQ pork over eggs and polenta, and a bacon donut hole from Nickel Diner. I tried the bacon donut a while ago and wasn’t a fan. I’m still not a fan, but I did enjoy a strawberry doughnut (not pictured). The BBQ pork was very satisfying.

Scott Conant was giving a cooking demonstration of spaghetti with tomato and basil. Chef Conant is the owner and executive chef of the Scarpetta chain of Italian restaurants. He also appears on Food Network's Chopped series as a judge, and is the host of Food Network's 24-hour Restaurant Battle series. He was quite entertaining to watch and the crowd was very much involved with asking questions. At one point chef Conant adds about a half-stick of butter into the sauce and the says "butter is expensive these days--that's why we charge $26 for this dish!" The crowd erupted into laughter.

House-made jams from Valerie Confections. We tried the strawberry over a biscuit, and the jam was indeed very good but the biscuit was too dry, distracting from the taste of the jam.

I believe this was from Auntie Em's Kitchen. It was just OK. Both items became a soupy mess when plated; I'm sure this would be much better in the restaurant.

This small unassuming sliver of cheese focaccia from Angeli Caffe was heavenly. Perfectly crispy on the outside with the cheese oozing out when I took a bite.

Walter Manzke (former executive chef of Church and State) was on hand at the Simple Human booth serving BBQ ribs with an Asian-style sauce. Messy to eat but very good and perfectly seasoned, I went in for seconds. I’m so looking forward to his new restaurant, whenever it opens.

Jason Travi (former execute chef of Fraiche) and Eric Greenspan (execute chef of Foundry on Melrose) exchange pleasantries. The pastrami and turkey monte cristo from Foundry was a bit lacking in meat as all I could taste was fried bread.

Richard Ruskell gave a very lively demo of molecular gastronomy. He showed us how to create coffee "caviar". Chef Ruskell is the pastry chef at the Montage Beverly Hills, and he regularly appears as a contestant on Food Network during pastry competitions.

Blood orange mimosas with blood orange foam from Bazaar. These packed a punch!

I’ll leave you with more pictures of the foods we tried. I apologize as I can’t recall the descriptions of every dish. At one point--about 4 hours into the event--I was becoming uncomfortably full and had to ask my wife to please drag us the hell out of there. Otherwise I just would have kept eating and would have eventually exploded like Andrew did on Man vs. Food during the milkshake episode. Yes the food was THAT good, and NO I cannot stop myself! Enjoy.

Are you getting full yet?

I hope you've enjoyed looking at these pics as much as we did consuming the eats. I'm so looking forward to next year's event.

LudoBites 5.0 at Gram and Papas

2010-09-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

So last week I finally got to attend LudoBites 5.0 after securing my reservation over a month ago. These reservations were extremely hard to come by, but I somehow managed to snag not one but two reservations, which is astonishing because I know that so many people tried and failed. I'm guessing many of you are fully aware of this LudoBites madness, but for the 2 or 3 of you that don't, LudoBites is a pop-up restaurant helmed by chef Ludo Lefebvre who was once the execute chef at L 'Orangerie and Bastide. I've been to LudoBites 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 and they've all been great experiences, each with their own unique menu preparations and settings. So how does this fifth iteration turn out? Let's have a look.

The menu for tonight. It changes slightly every week, even daily. I was really looking forward to the cheese cupcake with chicken liver and ham mousse, but they stopped serving it a day or two before our dinner :(.

Poached egg, potato mousseline, chorizo condiment. I was looking forward to this dish ever since I saw it on KevinEats' review, and it did not let me down. The silky eggs had a texture almost like creamy grits. Chunks of chorizo lined the bottom of the bowl and added a powerful smokiness to the taste. I couldn't get enough of this and would have gladly eaten another serving.

Chef Ludo working the open kitchen. He came by later to chat with us, as he did with just about every other table throughout the night.

Santa Barbara prawn, biegnet, cinnamon beurre blanc, shrimp powder sugar. The prawns were meaty and flavorful, and the biegnets were perfectly cooked--pillow soft on the inside with a crisp outer shell. I ate them separately and scooped the shrimp powder over both for an added seafood flavor. The sweet cinnamon sauce was slightly distracting, so a little less of this would have been better.

Hot foie gras, dynamite, raw tuna, lychee, crackers. No trip to LudoBites is without an order of foie gras something. Here, soft foie gras is served with a spicy "dynamite" sauce and bite-size pieces of raw tuna. The combination of spicy, cool, and creamy textures was certainly a neat experience. I wasn't sure what to do with what I can only describe as a cracker slush" (upper left), so I ate it solo and quite liked it.

Heirloom tomato salad, mozzarella ice cream, basil crumble. I can't say I've ever had mozzarella ice cream, that is until now. The ice cream was quite good and reminiscent of a creamy burrata; it paired nicely with chunks of the heirloom tomatoes, with the basil crumble adding some nice crunch. Before we could finish scooping all the salad with the provided bread, our server took away this dish :(. Fortunately, though, another was brought out to us :).

Confit pork belly, raw choucroute Thai style, mustard ice cream. The pork belly is buried under the colorful choucroute and it was magnificent. It cut like a brioche that had been soaking in heavy cream for days--I've never pork belly this tender or flavorful. The tangy choucroute helped cut into the richness of the pork. And I can't say I've ever had mustard ice cream, so this was a first. It was actually milder than I expected with just a hint of spiciness.

Marinated steak, pickled vegetables, grilled baby corn, crispy bacon. Our favorite dish of the night--how can you go wrong with steak AND bacon in the same dish!? The steak was marinated in what tasted like a Korean-BBQ-inspired sauce and grilled to a nice medium rare done-ness. It's buried under pickled vegetables and charred baby corn.

Sundae pistachio ice cream, bing cherries, hot chocolate sauce, salted pistachio. There were three desserts on the menu (in addition to a cheese plate) so we naturally ordered all three, starting with this pistachio ice cream sundae. As much as I enjoyed the pistachio ice cream, I enjoyed the bing cherries even more. The tartness from the cherries was delicious against the creamy pistachio and sweet whipped cream.

My scoop of the pistachio ice cream. You can see the bing cherries hiding in the ice cream. Yum.

Chocolate cake, spicy olive oil. This looks like your typical chocolate cake, though without any sugary frosting to distract from the cake itself. Adding the jalapeno infused olive oil, however, really took this dessert to a sophisticated level. The spicy oil certainly added some heat to the cake while also adding moistness, thus creating a sweet and spicy mingling of flavors and textures. This was my favorite of the three desserts; I found myself dunking the cake into the oil

Caramel souffle, blanco grapefruit, fleur de sel ice cream. Everybody was ordering this and for good reason, I mean look at this thing! It's a leaning tower of souffle just begging to be poked. The caramel flavor was light but very delicious. I liked the pairing with the grapefruit as the grapefruit added some interesting bitterness.

As with previous visits to LudoBites pop-ups, the food was excellent and inventive with the overall experience being a very fun and satisfying one. Our dinner was quite long as the service ran a bit slower than during previous visits, but that didn't detract from our wonderful night. I'm not sure where the next LudoBites will take place, but you can be assured that I'll be there with my appetite and my camera.

LudoBites 5.0 at Gram and Papas
227 E 9th St
Los Angeles CA, 90015

Anniversary in Vegas

2010-07-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

What is about sweltering hot weather that appeals so much to my wife and I? Let’s see, we got married during the summer in the San Gabriel Valley on what ended up being the hottest day in recorded Los Angeles history. We then later honeymooned in Morocco for two weeks--where I don’t think the temperature ever dipped below 95°F night or day. And so what better way to celebrate our anniversary than with a mid-week trip to another hot climate destination--Las Vegas.

Being the early risers we are, we packed up and left our west side dwelling around 7am, and after a few stops in Baker and Primm, we arrived at our hotel, aptly named THEHotel, just after 2pm on a 112°F afternoon. First order of business: EAT!

Of course I had every eating arrangement well planned in advance, including having multiple reservations at different restaurants at the same time just in case our plans got sidetracked. I know my readers have done the same ;). Not to worry though, because I made sure to cancel my reservations for when plan A fell into place. OpenTable on the iPhone makes that too easy.

We’re both famished from the long drive and so we head over to RM Seafood. Located near the entrance of the Mandalay Place Shops, RM Seafood is the creation of chef Rick Moonen who was a finalist during last season’s Top Chef Masters. My wife goes for the daily special of pan-fried swordfish while I opted for this lobster roll:

The lobster is both plentiful and flavorful with the tangy dill sauce adding a wonderfully creamy contrast to each bite. And instead of your typical Hoagie roll, RM Seafood uses a thick piece of toasted and heavily buttered white bread which was split open like a book. The house-made chips were addicting and seasoned nicely. This easily held me over until our dinner at Fluer De Lys, a Michelin star restaurant helmed by another Top Chef Master’s finalist, Hubert Keller.

We each settle on the 4-course Elegance Tasting and we picked different dishes for each course, thus providing 8 different dishes to try and each dish was generously portioned. In summary, the food was amazing as was the service. Below is my 3rd course--braised short rib with root vegetable puree and a Guiness reduction.

Fleur De Lys serves an amazing bread selection of Challah, focaccia, honey wheat, and pretzel. I gave in to the carb temptation and downed 6 pieces of bread, as well as my 4 course degustation and about half of my wife’s. Needless to say I had to be fork-lifted out of the restaurant.

The next morning arrives and we’re off to check out the newly-opened City Center complex. City Center’s beautiful architecture with gleaming new walls of steel and glass do little to distract me from my breakfast destination, MOzen, nestled inside the Mandarin Oriental hotel. The early reviews of MOzen are off the charts, and after our incredible breakfast of pulled pork and crab cakes, I’m proclaiming MOzen to be a closet Michelin star restaurant.

My dish of pulled pork with poached eggs over home-made biscuit and a maple BBQ sauce was quite possibly one of the best breakfast dishes I’ve ever had. The service was as if we had our own butler peeking from the kitchen. Our "butler" kept refilling my $8 Illy coffee at just the moment where I finished my last sip, and my plate was cleared as soon as I placed my utensils on the plate.

With breakfast out of the way it’s time to satisfy our post-breakfast dessert fix. We walk across from Mandarin Oriental to Amore Patisserie, located near the entrance of City Center. After sampling generous portions of the different gelato flavors, I go all-in for a two scoops of pistachio and stracciatella shoved inside a cone with dark chocolate and coconut.

Meanwhile my wife goes with her usual of red velvet cupcake, though this one was a bit smaller than your Sprinkles variety. Both desserts were very good but this place wasn’t cheap; I think the damage was $15 for both items.

After a full day of lounging in and around the Mandalay Bay pools--which would easily make it to Travel Channel’s Top 10 places to see train wrecks--our appetite is back and so we’re off to an early dinner at Joe’s Stone Crab in the Forum Shops. Years ago we went to Joe's Stone Crab in Chicago and absolutely loved it, especially the desserts and the ambitious cuts of beef. This place isn’t exactly Twist or Joel Robuchon, but the food at Joe’s Stone Crab is of extremely high quality and the restaurant itself is just so comforting and uncomplicated.

Joe’s Stone Crab is famous for, well, stone crabs. We order a pile of select crab claws served chilled with a savory butter dipping sauce. I was worried that the recent BP disaster would hamper the quality and availability of these Gulf region delicacies, but fortunately for stone crab seekers that hasn’t been the case.

For my entree I selected the 16-oz bone-in prime dry-aged filet, medium rare of course. Joe’s Stone Crab signature teaks are on par with the likes of Fleming’s and Ruth’s Chris though with prices to match. It’s cooked ever so perfectly with a solid layer of deep red running throughout the steak’s thickness. I’m eating this, chewing away at the meltingly tender beef, while at the same time wondering just how the hell this massive cut of bovine was cooked with a solid charred crust on the outside and yet remain so uniformly red on the inside. This signature filet is $46 and it’s a bargain at that price.

For dessert we opt for this chunk of Boston cream pie. It’s good, though not as memorable as the one we had in Chicago. Another layer of custard filling would have done wonders to help the overall moistness. After our 2-hour dinner we walk over to the Mirage hotel to see the Beatles LOVE Cirque Du Soleil performance. The Thursday 9:30pm showing was completely filled; check out the madness after the show as we exited the theater:

After the show we head back to our hotel and of course my appetite is calling, again. All the foodie restaurants in our hotel were closed for the night, but that really didn’t matter because I was distracted by a walk-up bar in the casino named Evening Call. I don’t know what the Las Vegas city symbol looks like, but I’m guessing it contains one of those yard-long slush drinks because every time I visit this town, I see people bearing these iconic drinks in the streets and in the casinos. Evening Call was serving up slush drinks and so I do my honor to the city and order this watermelon slush with Citron vodka:

I paid the one dollar up-charge for an extra shot and I noticed that the server didn’t measure the shots, rather he simply filled the entire bottom quarter of that hourglass with vodka. Oh baby!

My wife takes a few sips but I made sure to pound this $15 drink before night’s end. So how did I sleep that night? Ugh don’t remind me.

The next morning arrives, eventually, and despite the wayward sluggishness in my step, I’m up early and yearning for some artery-clogging breakfast before our drive back to LA. We venture over to THECafe, conveniently located in the lobby of THEHotel. THECafe serves a gauntlet of breakfast treats but I narrow in on a 4-egg omelet with ham and Gruyere. My better half orders salmon with cream cheese and a bagel, which was served “constructed” because the salmon was wrapped around the cream cheese. It reminded me of a Philly sushi roll, not that I’d ever order one :). We also split a pecan sticky bun which helped ensure our stuffed status.

And with that our Vegas anniversary trip is complete. We’re already planning for our big 5-year deal for next year and of course our ideas include some hot desert destinations (huh? middle-east?) Well, you’ll find out in about a year from now.

RM Seafood
3950 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89119

Fleur De Lys
3950 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89119

MOzen
4882 Frank Sinatra Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89119

Joe's Stone Crab
3500 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Evening Call
3950 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89119

THECafe
3950 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas, NV 89119

Nook

2010-07-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

I discovered Nook when we moved to the West LA area about 5 years ago and since then it has been a go-to restaurant for whenever we want to dine out and don't feel like driving beyond Bundy drive or the 405 freeway. It's literally just a few blocks from our house and even when we've been careless with not making reservations, the wait times have usually been under 30 minutes. More importantly, the food and service here have been excellent and even on par with some of the 1-star Michelin restaurants I've visited over the past year. I would even say that some of my all-time favorite dishes have come from Nook; more on that later.

Last Friday my cousin-in-law and his girlfriend were visiting from Toronto and we decided to treat them to a fabulous dinner at Nook to show them what our favorite neighborhood bistro has to offer. We arrived a little past our 6pm reservation and headed straight to the large booth in back of the dining room. Nook is usually quite busy on any given night and it's not exactly a sprawling bistro as there are maybe 6-8 tables, a long communal table, and a bar with a few stools. Our server checks with us to take our drink and food orders and then we proceed with our dinner.

They were out of the Farmhouse Ale from Ommegang Hennepin--my favorite brewery--so I went with something similar, this La Fin Du Monde. 9% ABV. Yum. This was such a smooth and drinkable beer that I hardly noticed the higher alcohol content. The beer list is impressive for a small restaurant, and even more impressive is the small but smartly designed wine list with offerings from Italy, Spain, South America, and of course northern California. The markup on some bottles is the lowest I've ever seen in a restaurant. Case in point, a 2007 Fritz Pinot Noir on the wine list goes for $38, while the same bottle from the Fritz winery is $30. Good luck finding another restaurant in LA with such a small markup.

Instead of the usual bread and butter service you'd find at just about any other restaurant, Nook serves complimentary boiled peanuts before your meal. Served unseasoned, they're delicious despite being messy to crack and eat. Add salt if you must but I enjoyed the pure flavor of the peanuts with their earthy taste and slightly mushy texture. But just as with bread, one has to be careful not too fill up on these; good food awaits!

Crab cakes with macque choux and Tobasco vinaigrette. Nook's crab cakes are something that I've ordered during previous visits and I've always enjoyed them to the last bite. Delicious and perfectly seasoned and cooked with a meaty interior and crispy, fried exterior. They're fried just the right amount to hold them together while still allowing the fresh crab meat to softly fall out after a few cuts. A spicy Tabasco vinaigrette adds some heat while the macque choux--a southern dish of corn, bell peppers, and tomatoes--was so tasty that it could have easily stood on its own.

Kurobuta Pork Belly with tomatillo, black-eyed peas and shitake. It seems like pork belly is everywhere these days but I know that Nook has had this on the menu for quite a while. If you check the Yelp reviews then you'll see that this dish has become a favorite of the Nook faithful, and after taking just one bite, it was easy to see why. It's savory, smokey, fatty. It's everything a 2" thick cut of bacon should be. A pool of tomatillo sauce was brimming with intense flavors and nicely complemented the rich pork belly. I could have ordered a bowl of the sauce if it were offered.

Burger with Sterling Silver beef. Nook's burger is outfitted with Gruyere cheese, red wine-onion jam and baby arugula and sits between grilled rustic bread as opposed to a typical hamburger bun. I've had this burger several times and the meat has always been cooked perfectly to showcase its rich and beefy flavor, but tonight it was well below Nook's standards. The meat just wasn't that flavorful and the texture was rubbery--it's as if the chef worked the beef too much when forming the patty. It was also slightly overcooked, though I don't think less time on the grill or pan would have helped. Everything else about the burger was good, however, especially the hearty read, and both the fries and the home-made pickle were excellent as always.

Here's some obligatory burger porn for you. As I mentioned, this is normally an incredible burger but tonight it wasn't quite up to Nook's usual standard.

Spicy Gulf shrimp with Falls Mill Stone ground grits and linguisa sausage. Plump, giant shrimp were swimming in a delicious broth with long slivers of very spicy linguisa sausage. The heat really intensified with each bite and by the end of the dish my mouth was nearly on fire. The shrimp were cooked perfectly and tasted very fresh. Creamy grits added a nice texture as well as helped to cool down the dish.

For dessert we settled on this Key lime pie with blueberry compote and whip cream. We've ordered this before and here we are ordering it again. The lime filling is smooth, rich, and subtle in lime flavor--it paired perfectly with the sweet berry compote. A magnificent crust completes the package. I've had many Key lime pie desserts at other restaurants and this one is by far my favorite. This dessert is so simple and yet so good; there's no foam, no gelee, no deconstruction. It's just a damn good tasting dessert.

Despite the burger letdown which was a first for us, I enjoyed the other dishes, especially the shrimp with grits and the wonderful Key lime pie. The service was prompt and polite and our dishes came out rather quickly. I've lost count of how many times I've dined at Nook and I think I've now tried about 90% of the menu. The menu hasn't changed drastically since my first visit, although for some reason they stopped serving the dreamy braised short rib a few years ago. I'm not sure why, but they really need to resurrect that dish as it was one of my favorite meals from any restaurant.

Nook accepts walk-ins but I strongly suggest you make a reservation to avoid any long waits. With the reasonable prices, the fantastic wine and beer offerings, and the solid service, Nook earns a high recommendation from me.

Afterward we drove our visiting guests to the 3rd-Street Promenade and the Santa Monica Pier. I hadn't been there in a long time and I forgot just how unbelievable packed this place is on a warm Friday night.

Nook
11628 Santa Monica Blvd. #9
Los Angeles, CA 90025

The Gorbals

2010-07-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Top Chef season 2 champion Ilan Hall opened The Gorbals in downtown LA last year and it has been on my radar since then, especially after reading about the culturally diverse menu chef Hall has created. More on that later. Located within the lobby of Alexandria Hotel near Spring and 5th streets, The Gorbals is a cozy restaurant with an open kitchen and a small bar.

A large communal table dominates one side of the dining room, with a dozen or so smaller tables occupying the remaining area. The entire restaurant is sparsely decorated and the acoustics make for a loud room, so be prepared to raise your conversational voice a little if you come on a busy night.

My friends brought a few bottles of wine for the table, including a fantastic 2007 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon which was quite possibly one of the best red wines I've ever enjoyed. The Prisoner, a blended wine that's somewhat hard to find, is certainly no Two-buck Chuck and deserves high praise. Corkage here is only $15 although don't expect the sommelier service you'd find at Providence.

We glance over the one-page menu and I take notice to the wide variety of different cultures represented in the dishes, from pork ribs to matzoh balls to naan; there's even whole bone-on pork loin for $47 which would server 6-8 people. Our server stops by to take our order and we proceed to order a bevy of different plates, starting with this incredible fried broccoli.

Crispy broccoli, soy, chilies. This was our first plate of the night and it turned out to be the table favorite. I’m not sure how they cooked this, but it was if they blanched the stems and then quickly fried the heads. The texture was so wonderful, and with the spicy and savory flavors from the soy and chilies, the resulting taste made for one of the best broccoli preparations I’ve had. We quickly consumed this, and then quickly placed another order....it was that good.

Welsh rarebit, fried egg. I remember having Welsh rarebit when I was in London many years ago, and this rendition brought back pleasant memories of this savory dish. Quite simply, Welsh rarebit is toast with a Worcestershire-style sauce and melted cheese. Chef Hall raises the ante with a big fried egg on top; think of this as an English version of the Singaporean kaya toast. I’m not sure if my friends were as crazy about this as I was, but I loved it.

Carolina pulled pork sandwich, celery slaw. Delicious and tender shreds of pork were piled high in between a soft bun with a tangy celery slaw. It was, as you might expect, very messy to eat but was nonetheless a tasty experience, despite the thick layer of sauce coating my fingers. The slaw itself was delicious and bright with tangy-ness that helped cut into the richness of the pork.

Burger with bacon, cheddar, fried egg. I’ve read about The Gorbals’ burger in other reviews and about how good it is, and I can say for certain that it was indeed one of the best burgers I’ve had, and I can’t begin to tell you how many burgers I’ve tried. The bacon was crispy, the beef beefy, the bun pillowy, the cheddar sharp, and the egg fried to golden perfection. Everything in this plate worked in harmony to make for a one hell of a fantastic burger. Chef Hall has real winner here. This and the broccoli are worth the trip from the west side.

Marrow with mushrooms, malt vinegar. With this dish you might start to see some similarities to the menu at Animal, and that’s not a bad thing :). Marrow has a wonderful meaty and buttery taste to it, with a texture that’s somewhat similar to jelly--a very savory jelly. The vinegar was strong and nearly overpowered the fatty marrow, but the two flavors worked out just fine, especially when eaten with the hearty toasted bread. Not to be overlooked were the delicious, earthy mushrooms. I made sure to scoop them all from the plate.

Bacon wrapped matzoh balls, horseradish mayonnaise. Bacon and matzoh? I know what you’re thinking, that those two shouldn't belong together, but yet they are as chef Hall is clearly showing his take on an Israeli and American fusion dish. I enjoyed the bacon (who wouldn’t?) and the matzoh on their own, but the combination of the two didn’t work for me in terms of texure or taste. The bacon simply overpowered the mild matzoh, and the ball itself could not hold its shape when you took a bite and it fell to a mess after the first taste. I’ll admit I’m a horrifically messy eater, but I’ll blame the dish this time and not the eater :).

Grilled octopus, green peppers, crispy beans. The octopus was cooked nicely, not too firm and not too soft, but the taste was a bit underwhelming. I think the issue was with the seasoning because the other components--the peppers and the beans--were also mild in taste. This was probably our “lightest” dish, and seeing that all other dishes were quite heavy, this turned out be a nice break in our service.

Pork spare ribs, brown sugar, chipotle. Here we have another American-themed dish and it was an excellent one at that. The meat was juicy, fall-off-the-bone tender, and flavored nicely with the sugar and chipotle sauce. I did my best to fork-and-knife the meat away from the bone, but I eventually gave in to caveman tactics. Thankfully I had plenty of extra napkins on hand, especially since we had a few no-shows for our group dinner.

Twice fried chicken. This certainly looks good but it was probably my least favorite dish of the night. The breading was very thick and too sweet in my opinion. When I finally broke through the outer crust of fried breading, I was treated with just a few decent pieces of chicken meat. I enjoyed what little meat there was, but the breading was simply too thick and too overwhelming in taste. I think we all liked the mashed potatoes and I found myself pairing it with the sweet breading for a savory-sweet mouthful of flavor. Did I just make my own dish?

Sticky toffee pudding, nutella buttermilk ice cream, maldon salt. For dessert we ordered the only dessert offering, this sticky toffee pudding. The pudding itself was very sweet and very rich, but just a tad dry in the center--if this were cooked a little less longer then it would haven perfect and probably on par with the heavenly toffee cake at Westside Tavern. The ice cream was delicious and I’d love to see that offered on its own.

And with that toffee pudding we ended our dinner. I noticed only two servers were tending the entire dining room and so it took quite a while to resolve the check. Our service otherwise was good; the dishes came out in a nice progression at about two to three at a time, with ten to fifteen between each serving. The lively dining room was mostly full from when we sat down to when we left, and the smallish bar was packed the entire time. I’m guessing The Gorbals was busier than usual on this night due to the monthly Art Walk taking place in downtown, so it would probably less hectic on a regular night.

Overall I immensely enjoyed our night out at The Gorbals, and while there were some hits (especially the burger) and misses (the fried chicken), this place is worth the trip to downtown. I’m still thinking about that burger and that amazing fried broccoli and I’m definitely making a return visit soon.

The Gorbals

501 South Spring St.

Los Angeles CA, 90013

5-course market menu at Providence

2010-06-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

Back in May I got a tip that Providence was going to offer its 5-course prix fixe menu for a special price of $65 during the month of June to celebrate the restaurant's 5-year anniversary. The 5-course prix fixe is normally $85 and so the $20 savings was enough to entice me to finally give this place a try. This is an incredible deal for restaurant that was awarded not one but two Michelin stars last year. Top Chef Masters alum Michael Cimarusti leads the kitchen and is co-owner of the restaurant with Italian-born Donato Poto as the other co-owner. Chef Cimarusti's culinary focus is on serving wild seafood in its purest form, a fact which is definitely noted in the menu with nearly 70% of the items coming from the ocean. Chef Cimarusti worked in several New York kitchens before coming to LA and landing a job as chef de cuisine at Hollywood's Spago. He then jumped across town to Water Grill in downtown LA where was the executive chef.

I pulled up to the restaurant on a Monday night and met with 5 friends. I made our reservation for Monday night because I wanted to take advantage of free corkage on Mondays. With the special prix fixe price and the free corkage I felt like I was stacking discounts or coupons; there's nothing wrong with saving a little money!

Free corkage on Mondays saves you $30 per bottle of wine. Knowing that, we brought in a total of 5 wines and ended up finishing 4 of them by night's end. I brought in the Pacific Rim Riesling, a very dry dessert wine which we started our dinner with, and the Cirque Du Vin, a blended light-bodied red wine from Peachy Canyon vineyards, my favorite winery in Paso Robles. The free corkage does not apply to beers, a fact which I confirmed with the management, so it wouldn't be wise to show up with a 750ml bottle of Chimay Blue.

Our sommelier was incredibly helpful in deciphering our wines and decided for us how to pair them with the 5-course prix fixe. He even tasted our two Reislings to see if one was dry enough to pair with the amuse, and then proceeded to pour the Pacific Rim for each of us. Shortly after, bread is served and our amuse bouche arrives.

Bread service. Focaccia was supple, warm, very earthy in taste. The bacon roll was buttery, savory, and packed with crunchy bacon pieces. Our bread server came by several times throughout the night to replenish our stock; I think I consumed four or five of those bacon rolls.

Salt and butter. Very coarse salt and delicious, velvety butter did wonders to complement the fantastic bread selection. Buttering the bacon roll practically made for a complete meal on its own.

Amuse bouche - gin and tonic, mojito, yellowtail sashimi. The two "cocktails" on the left were very interesting in flavor and texture, like having a sip of a drink in gel form.

Mojito sphere (from amuse bouche). Refreshing and slightly bitter with a subtle lime presence. A fantastic way to cleanse the palate.

Yellowtail sashimi with crème fraîche, salmon roe (from amuse bouche). Gorgeous presentation with the gold leaf on top. Bright flavors from the sashimi held up to the salmon roe and creme fraiche.

Japanese kanpachi, crispy rice crackers, coriander, soy crème fraîche. First course. Kanpachi tasted fresher than most I've had at sushi restaurants. The rice cracker added texture. I loved the presentation with the dark stoneware to contrast the bright pieces of kanpachi. A few sprigs of coriander add visual interest. So simple and yet so elegant.

Santa Barbara spot prawns being prepared table-side. After hearing my friend Daniel rave about Providence's spot prawn dish, we couldn't help but to order these for the table. They're served as an order of 5, but Providence served us 6 so we could each have one. They're cooked under a layer of salt, then unearthed and prepared at your table. It's a somewhat entertaining process and I found myself to be quite immersed in the whole event. Many other tables were ordering the spot prawns.

Salt roasted Santa Barbara spot prawns, served with Spanish olive oil and lemon. The spot prawns presented for us, head and tail portions separated. I don't need to tell you this but the head is the best part :). A few of my friends didn't care for the heads so I was rewarded with eating an extra 2 heads. (OK insert jokes here)

Hokkaido scallop, Japanese eggplant, ramps, reduction of vadouvan and sauternes. Second course. A lone scallop sits on a reduction sauce. The scallop was very good, very fresh tasting, and cooked beautifully with a nice sear on the outside.

Wild Alaskan halibut, smoked paprika, weiser farms potatoes, grilled octopus. Third course. Presentation earns a 10 with the sauce, the halibut, and the little flower all stacked perfectly in the center of the plate, but the fish was overcooked and somewhat dry. The potatoes were creamy and delicious, but ultimately it was the dryness of the halibut that stood out the most :(. Another person at our table had the same impression of the fish, noting its dryness.

Marcho farms veal tenderloin, sweet peas, bacon, almond, and morel mushrooms. Fourth course. Delicious filet of veal tenderloin was cooked to a perfect medium rare and served with earthy, meaty morels. Everything worked well with this hearty dish--the juicy meat, the peas, the bacon, and of course the mushrooms. This had comfort food written all over it, and it turned out to be my favorite dish of the evening.

Yuzu curd, meringue, blackberry sorbet, jasmine. Fifth and final course was this dessert plate with curd, meringues, and sorbet. I was impressed with artful and precise plating, but unfortunately none of the components were particularly memorable. Don't get me wrong, this was a fine dessert, but I was expecting to be blown away by a dessert offering from a Michelin 2-star restaurant, even if was part of their lowest-priced prix fixe. The curd was nice and slightly firm, and the sorbet was fruity and, well, sorbet. I quite liked the meringues, however, and found myself scooping the berry sauce with meringue pieces.

Mignardises - macarons, salty sweet caramel, hazlenut ball. These were provided at the end of our meal. The macarons were good but not great as the shells were a bit soggy. The hazelnut balls had nice textures, but by far the best was the salty sweet caramels.

Overall I enjoyed the prix fixe menu, especially the veal tenderloin and the kanpachi sashimi, and I thought this was indeed an excellent value considering the quality and presentation. The service was outstanding at every level, with our server being very helpful and courteous. For each course, all six of our dishes were brought out at the same time by multiple servers while our main server gave us the dish's description. Our incredibly helpful sommelier completed the overall wonderful experience by pairing our wines and keeping our glass filled at all times.

Providence is offering this $65 special for the month of June, so if you're reading this and you can make it out sometime in the next few days, then by all means make a reservation to experience chef Cimarusti's cooking at a special price.

Providence
5955 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038

Hatchi series with Walter Manzke

2010-06-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

Since it opened about two and a half years ago in downtown Los Angeles, Church & State has been a wildly popular restaurant and a favorite among the food critics. The French bistro has been blogged by many and reviewed by many esteemed critics, including LA Times' S. Irene Virbila, who gave the restaurant three stars. Up until a few months ago the kitchen was lead by chef Walter Manzke, but he recently departed Church & State to launch a restaurant of his very own, which is expected to see the light of day in early 2011. I never got to try Church & State and I regret that fact, especially since many of my food-obsessed friends have all raved about his food. So when I heard chef Manzke was making a guest appearance at BreadBar's monthly Hatchi series, I made absolutely made sure to secure my reservation for this one-time event.

I arrive promptly for my 7:30 spot which I booked more than two months ago, and met up with three friends. This event turned out to be quite the blogger fest as I immediately spotted several people armed with cameras. Fellow blogger weezermonkey was right in front of me as I waited for the hostess to seat us. Moments later we're led to a corner table inside the main dining room. We had already previewed the 8-dish menu online and so it was an easy decision to simply order two of everything. Yes 16 total dishes for the four of us--but keep in mind these are smaller plates, so that justifies our gluttony, right? The theme for tonight was Around the World in Eight Dishes, with each of the eight dishes representing a different country's cuisine.

The menu also boasted three special cocktails for the evening, all of which looked very good. I decided to pass, though, as my friend brought a very special bottle of Hewitt Cabernet Sauvignon from her friend's private wine collection. Our server promptly corked it and poured each of us a glass. This particular wine started out on a sour note with strong and overpowering tannins, but as time passed, the wine aired out allowing the tannins to subside and the fruitiness to shine. (Linda, if you're reading this, I want a bottle!).

As I mentioned already, we asked for two of each plate, and we also requested a demi baguette with the foie gras butter. Unfortunately the demi and the amuse bouche came out after our first course; apparently we weren't the only ones receiving items out of place as several other bloggers reported inconsistency with pacing and ordering. Nonetheless, here are the eats.

Mexico: Yellowtail ceviche, jalapeno, tomatillo sorbet. This was a simple and elegant presentation to start off the night, and I must say it came out rather quickly from when we placed the order. I enjoyed the fresh, ocean-like taste from the yellowtail and it paired nicely with the sorbet. The lukewarm temperature of the fish was slightly distracting and I would have preferred it to be much colder.

BreadBar epi. Our bread service showed up after the first course, but I won't complain because it was extremely good. In my opinion, which I know all 3 of my readers value, BreadBar makes the best bread in Los Angeles and this epi was no exception. Crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, the epi was warm and full of aroma. I had asked for foie gras butter, but instead we received the French Echire butter (thank you KevinEats for spotting that) which was too cold to be easily spread but then quickly melted once shoved inside a hand-torn piece of warm epi.

Amuse bouche. Our server couldn't quite explain what this was and so I can't recite much more detail other than saying it was a shrimp skewer with a shot of some type of "ceviche" sauce. The shrimp was tasty and cooked nicely, but the shot was uninspiring. It was also served warm and I think the taste would have been much more effectual had the shot been served ice cold.

Thailand: White corn curry soup, mussels, coconut tapioca. The black mussels were good on their own but I found them to be competing heavily with the curry soup, which was slightly dominating in taste with a strong corn flavor. The soup was also a bit runny; overall I'm not sure this pairing worked well.

Spain: Santa Barbara spot prawn, garlic, sherry. Moving on to our next course and it's a good one. I recently experienced the amazing spot prawns at Providence a few weeks ago (that review coming soon) and these prawns were about as good, albeit at a much lower price. They were cooked beautifully and seasoned just enough to heighten the taste. I consumed these quickly, head to tail, even taking in some of the antennae. Delicious.

Italy: English pea ravioli, soft egg, Parmesan. Softly cooked ravioli were filled with a mild pea puree, then topped with Parmesan shavings and served with a soft-cooked egg. The ravioli on their own were slightly monotonous in taste, but breaking the egg and mixing the yolk with the ravioli made for a very creamy and savory mouthful, with the Parmesan adding a hint of saltiness and texture. Very nice.

With the egg broken.

Vietnam: “Banh Mi” pig’s feet sliders. These were a huge hit with the table and for good reasons. The deep-fried pigs feet were delicious and very comforting, and the bun was soft and warm with a toasted underside. The bun-to-meat ratio was absolutely text book; with so many sliders I've had these days, the bun simply dominates the meat and condiments. Not so with these.

France: Tarte flambe, caramelized onion, bacon, gruyere. Our last savory course. Firstly, why is only half of the tart covered with bacon? I'm wondering if we got another person's order who had asked for half of the tart to be bacon-less? In any case, the tart was thin, crispy, and loaded with caramelized onion and gruyere. Crispy pieces of bacon added smokiness and texture--and more fat--to the pieces that were lucky enough to be dressed with said pork fat. Yum.

Philippines: Leche flan, pandan, coconut sorbet. My favorite dish of the night was this leche flan with coconut sorbet. Unlike so many other flans that I've had that were dense with a jello-like consistency, this one was soft and creamy, with a texture similar to softened butter. I loved how the milkiness was so present in each bite, and with the sugary pandan I felt as if I was eating a tres leches-like dessert. The coconut sorbet was refreshing and helped tame the overall sweetness.

Japan: Chocolate fondant, Bing cherries, black sesame ice cream, green tea. The last dish of the night and it was very unremarkable. I'm not sure what the chocolate fondant was meant to look or taste like, but it showed up looking burnt with a taste that was chewy and overcooked. I could taste very little of black sesame in the ice cream, probably because of the dominating burnt taste from the fondant. The shot of green tea was interesting in texture but far too mild in taste.

That final dish concluded our dinner and while there were some definite hits and misses with the outing, I'm absolutely looking forward to Walter Manzke's new restaurant, wherever that may be. Our server was attentive and kept our water glasses topped off, but again the dishes were out of order and we almost didn't get our amuse bouche. In fact we weren't even aware of an amuse bouche until our server asked if we had received it. Other bloggers complained they never received it, and one person mentioned that some of the dishes were running out too quickly. Others will agree with me that the service issues are mostly due to the ill-prepared staff at BreadBar; they are probably not accustomed to handling a pop-up like the one last night. Service issues aside, I've now become a fan of chef Manzke's cooking and I'm certain his new restaurant will be just as successful as Church & State.

BreadBar
10250 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles CA 90067

Anisette

2010-06-23T20:43:00.001-07:00

Last week my cousin-in-law Holly came to stay with us for a week as she was trekking her way back from a semester abroad in Sydney to home-sweet-home in Toronto. During her stay, jet-setter Holly asked if we could venture out for some fine French fare. Well she certainly picked the right city in which to make that request! Let's see, we have Anisette, Comme Ca, Petrossian, Church and State, Bouchon, La Provence, La Cachette Bistro...we Angelinos are so fortunate to have such great options when it comes to French dining. I'll admit it took me a few moments to narrow my choices to a few selections, and in the end I went with Anisette for a variety of reasons. It's close to our house, and I've been there for brunch and totally fell in love with the food and the scene. Plus, I had a GroupOn offer in my back pocket :). So off to Anisette we go on our Friday night out on the town.

We arrive promptly for our 7:30pm reservation and as expected the place is packed, loud, and lively. We're quickly led to our table on the second floor, overlooking the main dining room. Nice.

The restaurant is housed in a former bank building with a decor that is distinctly brasserie: mosaic tiled floors, aged wooden fixtures, a zinc bar, and antique mirrors. Look up and you'll see the intricately detailed pressed-tin ceiling. Helming the kitchen is Parisian-born Alain Giraud, a four-star general in the culinary sense. Named Bon Appetit's chef of the year in 2003, chef Giraud is no stranger to the LA dining scene. In 2002 he opened Bastide on Melrose Avenue, a restaurant which earned a 4-star LA Times review, and prior to this he opened restaurant Lavande in the Santa Monica Beach Hotel. Lavande commanded high praise from from the critics, including Best New Restaurant by Esquire and Los Angeles magazines. Going back even further in his career, chef Giraud spent time at various Michelin-starred dining rooms in France, most notably l'Ermitage Meissonnier in Avignon and Grand Vefour in Paris

Anisette's menu boasts a variety of familiar French dishes, from onion soup to steak tartare to duck confit. The restaurant is currently offering a special Provence pre fixe menu. A reasonable $38 gets you a first course of ratatouille, a second course of either grilled lamb or bouillabaisse, and a dessert. This pre fixe seemed like a great deal since ordering the three dishes separately would amount to $46 to $48, so naturally I went with this.

Vegetable ratatouille terrine, basil emulsion. My first course of the pre fixe was this interesting take on a traditional French Provencal stewed vegetable dish. Shaped like a terrine but certainly void of any meat, this ratatouille was a bit underwhelming in terms of flavor and texture. I was expecting crispier and more pronounced components within the terrine, but instead the vegetables were slightly mushy and I had a challenging time discerning the different varieties. A creamy basil emulsion added an earthy and softly acidic flavor to the ratatouille. I also enjoyed the lightly dressed frisee and black olives, though in the end I would rather see more effort put in to the terrine itself.

Pan roasted sea bass, ratatouille, pistou. I loved the presentation with the wide slab of sea bass draped over the ratatouille, and an arc of pistou (a garlic and basil sauce) along the lower edge. The buttery sea bass was delicious with a slightly flaky texture and a crispy skin that was cooked to spotless perfection. Bright flavors from the pistou paired well with the mild fish and wasn't overpowering. This was my wife's dish and it was actually my first choice, but when she ordered it I decided to go for my backup (one of my rules when eating out!)

Steak au poivre with fingerling potatoes, seasonal vegetables, sauce au poivre. The outside of the steak was nicely seasoned and charred, and the inside was perfectly
cooked to medium rare. I tried a few pieces and found the steak to be quite delicious and juicy, but it was slightly chewy. Using prime aged beef would have certainly helped but of course that would have elevated the price to CUT or Mastro's levels. Nonetheless the steak was very good and Holly cleared her plate. End of story.

Bouillabaisse with safron broth, rockfish, rouille. My second course and it was outstanding on every level. Let's start with the rich, deeply flavored broth which tasted as if it had been simmering for days if not weeks. Generous servings of clams, rockfish and massive shell-on shrimp of the fork-and-knife variety kept me busy poking and peeling and chewing for quite some time. Slurping the intense broth with large bites of the fresh seafood virtually eradicated all unpleasant memories of the lackluster ratatouille. On its own the bouillabaisse is listed at $27 on the ala carte menu and believe me it's worth every penny.

We're finished with our mains and now it's on to desserts (as if we're going to pass up desserts in a French restaurant) The Provence pre fixe offered a dessert course of either fromage with dried fruit bread or a cherry almond tart. I had been in the mood for a savory cheese plate so the fromage was my first choice, but when Holly summoned the waiter for a cherry almond tart of her own, I decided to swap the cheese for the tart and then have her order Anisette's famed lavender ice cream. You've got to love eating out with other foodies =).

Lavender ice cream, strawberries, creme chantilly. Anisette regulars know of the restaurant's epic lavender ice cream but this was my first time experiencing this, and it certainly won't be my last. Intense, fragrant lavender really came through in the soft-serve style ice cream. Creme chantilly added a bit of over-indulgence while the fresh strawberries helped to tame the whole experience. Delicious to the last scoop.

Cherry and almond tart with balsamic ice cream. As much as I loved the lavender ice cream, I loved this tart even more. Bittersweet cherries paired so effortlessly with the sweet almond tart shell and the silky balsamic ice cream. I've been making tarts at home for the past few months, experimenting with different crusts and sweet fillings, but Anisette's pastry chef has taken me to school with this one.

Those two desserts put me at the tipping point in terms of fullness and I left extremely satisfied, especially after scooping the last few bites of the cherry tart (quite honestly one of the best restaurant desserts I've ever had). Our server was prompt, courteous, and not overbearing; I could see him quickly jaunting from table to table but he never appeared to be hurried whenever he tended to our table. Our dishes came out quickly with just the right about of time between my first course and the mains, and our water glasses were topped off frequently. The restaurant was probably at capacity when we arrived and when we left and so reservations are likely a must on Friday and Saturday nights. Also, the bustling scene combined with gratuitous amounts of metal and wood furnishings made us raise our conversational voices ever so slightly, but we didn't seem to mind. Overall, I can easily recommend Anisette as an excellent choice for authentic French in the Santa Monica area.

Anisette
225 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Waterloo & City

2010-05-25T08:33:00.001-07:00

Downtown Culver City has seen quite the surge of eateries pop up in the past few years, and even the non-downtown parts of Culver City seems to be going though some sort of restaurant resurgence. The recent openings of Earl's Gourmet Grub, Chego, Curious Palate, and now Waterloo & City have my coworkers and I very excited since we work in Culver City, albeit near the Westchester borderline.

Waterloo & City takes over the space once occupied by Crest House, a restaurant that I never tried so I can't comment on how it fared. I can just tell you can that I pass this location frequently and had been anticipating Waterloo & City's opening for some time. Executive chef and owner Brendan Collins heads up the kitchen and brings with him experience from piloting the kitchens at Melisse and Palihouse. By his side is Carlos Tomazos who has done time at Per Se and Le Bernardin. The resumes of these two are very impressive and so you can see why I was very excited for this outing.

I arrived just after 5pm and met up with my coworkers. Though the interior has been completely and tastefully redone, the exterior is largely in-tact including the nostalgic sign floating above the roof. One thing I want to point out here is the presence of a parking lot. Parking lot? In the west side? Sorry but you'll just have to see it for yourself.

I start my night this the Julep with Maker's Mark, agave nectar, fresh mint leaves (top). This bourbon and agave cocktail had my interest from when I first saw it on the menu, especially since Manhattans are my favorite drink. It was very refreshing and I loved the aroma and flavor from the mint leaves. A little less agave nectar would have made it perfect, but otherwise this was a hit for me. Below that is a Samuel Smith organic lager. About 40 beers--mostly from England, Belgium, and US--adorn the drink menu which also listed a few dozen wines. This organic lager was nice and it paired well with the pizzas to come.

Bread service. Waterloo & City bakes its own bread and it shows. Two varieties were served--baguette and an egg bread with poppy seeds. Both were very good and consumed quickly by all. A second basket quickly arrived and was emptied in short order.

Roasted beets, St. Maure cheese, avocado, sherry emulsion. When I read this on the menu I figured the roasted beets would take center stage, but instead they were hiding behind a surplus of mixed greens, including a few sprigs of my arch enemy frisée. That's not necessarily a fault, but I was hoping to see a heaping mound of roasted beets which I have recently become very fond of. Nonetheless, the thick red and orange beets were plentiful enough to make this enjoyable, and the ice-cream scoops of tangy St. Maure added a level of sophistication. A light sherry dressing evenly coated the greens making them very palatable, and a few hunks of avocado were a nice finishing touch.

Chicken liver and foie gras mousse. Served pate style with what tasted like fig jam atop, and with a few pieces of toasted baguette. At first glance I knew we would need another serving or two of baguette and so I quickly asked for more, which our waiter brought out free of charge (as expected). The richness of the liver and mouse was perfectly balanced by the sweet jam. Spread over the hot toasted bread made for a fantastic combination of sweet-savory-soft-crunchy flavors and textures. The consistency is similar to room-temperature butter, and about just as rich. Dare I say that this is better than the version at Pizzeria Mozza? It's light enough to share between two person, though probably too heavy to be eaten by one.

Moroccan pizza with lamb, arugula. Waterloo & City boasts a few interesting pizza selections, certainly some that I've never seen. A good crust is the most crucial part of a good pizza, and I'm happy to say this crust was quite commendable, especially for a place that claims no fame to great pizzas (not yet at least). It was chewy, yeasty, and had a good amount of charred pockets of air. That said, a slightly thicker crust would have better balanced the heaviness of the meatballs, as a few of the spicy balls found their way back on to my plate. Side note: My wife and I went to Morocco for our honeymoon, and I remember eating some very good pizza at a tiny shop in Essaouira (hey the shop was packed with locals!) The spices on this pizza and texture of the meat definitely brought back memories of dining in Morocco.

My coworkers ordered the Murgh makhani, Greek yogurt, cucumber pizza. A pizza with Greek yogurt and Indian-spiced chicken? Yes! And it was delicious! I enjoyed this more so than the Moroccan pizza, mainly of the bright and refreshing flavors brought by the cool yogurt. This was such a winning combination for me.

Triple-cooked fries with truffle butter. I only devoured a few pieces but honestly there were some of the better fries I've had in a while. Triple-cooked typically involves the fries being deep-fried three separate times in progressively hotter oil, with the end result being light and fluffy fry with a very crisp exterior. Exquisite. And far more sophisticated than the homogeneous fries you can get any any burger stand. The truffle butter added to the gluttony factor, though I would have preferred a nice, tangy house-made ketchup.

Manchester tart, lemon curd, coconut macaroon, sorbet. For dessert my coworker and I decided to split this lemon tart. Lemon curd on its own is delicious enough, and served in a flaky pastry shell with a serving of sorbet made for an extravagant dessert creation. I didn't care so much for the melted sugar art and I simply pushed this aside (out of my way!). The coconut presence was strong and added an interesting texture. A little more sorbet would have been welcomed to help balance the sweetness, though this is a dessert.

Overall I was very pleased with Waterloo & City. By 7pm the place was completely full and the bar was beginning to overflow into parts of the dining room, though I never felt it was too crowded. Our server was attentive and very courteous; he did his best to accommodate our large group. A few kinks need to be worked out such the long delay with some plates being served, as well as some plating issues like the erroneous sugar sculpture and the lone three pieces of baguette. Keep in mind this place just opened the week prior and so these soft-opening quirks are very much expected. I'm entirely confident that Waterloo & City will work these out quickly. We'll be back and I highly recommended you pay this place a visit.

Waterloo & City
12517 West Washington Blvd.
Culver City CA

Spring menu at Ortolan

2010-05-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Last month the Michelin 1-star restaurant Ortolan announced a special Spring set menu of three courses for only $40 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. Normally their set menus start at $85 with individual appetizers ranging from $20 - $30 and entrees hovering around $40, so I figured the $40 3-course offering was an excellent deal.

Ortolan is helmed by French chef Christophe Émé, who was done time at fine dining establishments in France, England, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany. He's worked alongside some of the most respected chefs in the world including Philippe Legendre (Le Cinq, French Michelin 3-star) and Philippe Braun (executive chef at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Paris) , and was the executive chef at L’Orangerie, an L.A.-area restaurant that received recognition as one of the best French restaurants in the US.

After some nudging from his wife who happens to be actress Jeri Ryan (she played Seven of Nine on Star Trek Voyager), chef Émé decided to finally open his very own restaurant, Ortolan, in the heart of Los Angeles' dining scene on 3rd street. This casually elegant restaurant has been running strong for five years, serving chef Emé’s classically inspired French cuisine.

Last Thursday my friends and I made the trek over to 3rd street for our 7pm reservation. Punching through LA's notoriously thick traffic on a weeknight is not an easy task, but we all made it in time before my hunger had me walking over to the adjacent Toast Cafe.

We're led to a semi-private dining table overlooking 3rd street. The room is tastefully decorated and somewhat isolated from the bustle of the main dining room.

Amuse bouche - Chilled green and white asparagus soup. Served in test tubes with little straws for slurping along with an additional tube holding a sprig of lavender. This looks straight out of a high school chemistry lab. I wasn't too impressed with this presentation and I would have preferred the soups to be served in shorter, wider glasses for drinking. And while the asparagus flavor came through as very refreshing, the soup itself was closer to room temperature than chilled.

Amuse bouche - Warm eggplant caviar in an herb puree. Now I realize this doesn't look too appetizing, but trust me it was quite impressive in taste and texture, despite what you might be thinking :). On its own the eggplant was a bit salty for my taste, but spread over some soft bread allowed the earthiness to pull through. The herb puree added a subtle aroma and a nice minty flavor.

First course - Marinated salmon, lemongrass sorbet, ginger, ponzu. Chopsticks were provided so you could reach in for chunks of raw salmon through the thick sorbet foam. A unique experience no doubt, and a very tasteful one too as the salmon was extremely fresh and gushing with flavor. A little more ginger kick would have been welcomed, but otherwise this was a fantastic first course. Check out the plating: the "fish bowl"sits atop a series of three stacked plates of progressively larger sizes. Neat. Now I do have a gripe and it's the fact our first course appeared nearly 30-minutes after the amuse bouche. In fact the entire meal moved rather slowly with our dishes appearing at a pace way too slowly, especially since the restaurant was not busy by any means.

Second course - Lobster spaghetti with beef jus, white asparagus cream. I rarely have a hard time deciding what to order, but I just couldn't decide on this dish or the potato ravioli with morels, but a little consultation from our waiter had me set on the lobster spaghetti. I absolutely loved the presentation with the spaghetti noodles tightly coiled around lobster meat, giving the illusion of a sushi roll. To eat, I simply sliced portions with my fork and then scoop some of the beef jus. Morels added earthiness and a contrasting texture, while the peas gave the whole dish a little more color.

Third course - Apple tart with vanilla ice cream. It's quite large at about 7" in diameter and the elegant design was very pleasing to the eye. I loved the freshness of the apples and the sweetness of the crust. Apple tart is one of my favorite desserts and Ortolan's version did not disappoint. I should say that our third and final course came out so late that I was worried this dinner would carry into breakfast the next day :-O. Ortolan needs to work on their dinner pace.

This vanilla ice cream was provided with the dessert but came out partially melted. Was that the pastry chef's intent? After a few minutes this ice cream was nearly all liquid, at which point I just drizzled over the tart. Delicious nonetheless.

My friend ordered the Lemon tart with tangerine sorbet, citrus supreme. A pungent lemon flavor was so pronounced that it nearly dominated the overall experience, but the effect was actually refreshing and bright, especially with the sweetness from the citrus pieces. The custard, however, was a bit runny for my tastes as I prefer a thicker consistency.

Overall this was a great effort from Ortolan and you are certainly going to be hard pressed to find a better deal at any other Michelin 1-star restaurant. At $40 for three courses, that works out to $13.33 per course and this includes the two amuse bouche servings, a wonderfully warm bread service, and a gorgeous setting along 3rd street. Several of us also opted for the $20 wine pairings, which completely heightened the overall dining experience. I'm no wine connoisseur and I can't tell if the pairings were "beautifully mated" with the accompanying dishes, but I was pleased with the selections and since I have zero complaints, I suppose then that pairings were just fine.

I'm still stymied over why the courses came out so slowly; nearly 2.5 hours for a 3-course dinner on a slow weeknight? Now I do take the time to savor my food (honestly!) but this was beyond my savoring threshold. Nonetheless, the food was excellent, the presentation was sophisticated, and the service was attentive and not overbearing. Ortolan has other tasting menus including an $85 Spring seduction tasting menu which includes seared scallops, short ribs, and herb-crusted cod. I'm definitely making a return visit soon.

Ortolan
8338 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles CA 90048

LudoBites 4.0 at Gram and Papa's

2010-05-11T20:00:00.001-07:00

When I read the announcement of chef Ludo Lefebvre's fourth installment of his LudoBites series, I quickly jumped online to secure my seat. Just to show you how popular his events have become, I wasn't even able to grab a prime-time (8-ish) weekend spot as they had all been consumed by the LudoBites faithful within an hour of the announcement, but I was able to reserve a Saturday 6pm 4-top. Not bad considering I reserved just an hour after the annoucement! Just a rehash, LudoBites 2.0 at BreadBar was excellent, and 3.0 at Royal/T was even better, so on to 4.0 at Gram and Papa's in downtown LA to just what chef Ludo has concocted since his last pop-up.

Today's menu. Chef Ludo's wife, Krissy, pointed out to me that the menu's format was different from those of past LudoBites events in that there was a clear separation of appetizers, entrees, and desserts. With past events the menus contained dishes grouped simply into savory or sweet categories. I'm actually indifferent on this and I'd be happy either way.

Warm baguette with honey lavender butter and smoked lard. We started our meal with a few orders of crusty baguettes and we made quick work of them. The lavender butter was ultra creamy and slightly sweet with a discernible lavender scent. Liquid bacon is how I'd describe the smoked lard as there was a strong presence of bacon-like taste. Both spreads were delicious.

Brie chantilly with honeycomb, balsamic, frisee. Biting into the silky and soft brie with the underlying sliver of toasted bread made for a dreamy combination of flavor and texture. Pairing the cheese with the honeycomb and balsamic helped balance the richness of the brie, and the crisp frisee brought added texture.

Foie gras black croque monsieur, lemon turnip chutney. Who would have thought to put foie gras in a sandwich? Well chef Ludo no less! I overheard someone mention the bread is colored using squid ink, and it certainly exhibited a dark, nearly black hue. The foie gras was soft and rich as you'd expect, while the bread kept the overall taste in balance. To my surprise the sandwich held its shape nicely even after we split each piece. I wasn't sure what to do with the lemon chutney, but it brought very little taste to the other components and so I left most of it sitting on the plate.

Soft shell crab cornet, mango, red spicy mayo, Corona granite. Let's start with the oddest part of this plate--the Corona granite. Yes that's frozen Corona slush, and yes it's paired with soft shell crab. It's pairings like these that immerse you into an Iron Chef-like setting. As for the soft shell crab, it was very fresh in taste and expertly cooked and prepared. The mango was nice and almost dessert-like in sweetness, although the spicy mayo could have been much spicier.

Rack of lamb, goat cheese, bonita, artichokes, potato mousse, mint. Fatty, tender, and cooked to a nice medium-rare, this nicely-sized lamb chop was a hit with our dinner group. I used the mint puree to brighten the taste of alternating bites; one bite without the mint and one with the mint added some interest to the overall taste. Note the tube of goat cheese. And those artichoke pieces? Tender and delicious they were.

Above is the potato mousse that came with the lamb. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the potato mousse had a texture similar to that of marshmallow cream, thought the taste was brimming with starchy potato-ness. I can only imagine the amount of butter and cream sacrificed for these potatoes.

Bavette, escargo red butter, shallot jam, roasted eggplant, carrot slaw. The bavette steak aka flap meat was a little overcooked for my liking, though the intense shallot jam helped to cover some of the dryness. I would have preferred either thinner slices of beef or simply a larger single portion cooked to medium-rare. Nonetheless, I found the beef to be a little chewy and lacking in beefy flavor. My favorite part of this dish? The carrot slaw. It was crispy, tangy, fresh, and in short supply as I made quick work of it.

Dark chocolate souffle, vanilla whipped cream, hot chocolate ganache. There were only two desserts on the menu, and when dark chocolate souffle is one of them then it really doesn't matter what the other on is (oh come on, really?!). First take note of the size--it's HUGE! Here's a picture with my portion and a heaping spoonful of the cream and ganache:

WOW! This was easily the best restaurant souffle I've ever had. Warm and slightly crispy on the outside, and gushing with deep chocolate filling on the inside that emitted an intoxicating chocolate aroma upon spilling out of the center.

That concluded our LudoBites dinner and we left very satisfied. The service was good and friendly, though some dishes came out a little slower than expected. As I've mentioned before with previous LudoBites events, the emphasis is squarely on the food and not so much Michelin-star service. Note: LudoBites ends on May 28 and you can still likely get a table with the wait list.

Afterward a few of us decided to hike up to 6th street to Cole's to try their famous French dip sandwich. Yes I realize we had just completed a full dinner and dessert outing, but with Cole's just around the corner, we couldn't resist. About a month ago I devoured a French dip at Phillipe's, and it was very good so I was curious to see how Cole's compares as I know people are adamant about which one reigns supreme.

Cole's French dip with au jus. We sat in the dimly lit Varnish Room which is an attached speak-easy bar behind the main restaurant. Rumor is that this place was in its former life a subway stop. Here's the dip up close and personal, or at least as personal as it gets with a mediocre iPhone capture:

The verdict: It's much better than Phillipe's, mainly because of the bread as it's softer and tasted fresher (even at 10pm at night). A generous serving of beef was both tender and full of beefy flavor, more so than Philippe's. Making this whole experience even better was the fact that we ordered this to go, then sat in the Varnish Room where we enjoyed a round of artisinal cocktails.

Upon exiting Cole's, we passed by Babycakes and decided to snatch the last few cupcakes from the display case. Babycakes is a NY-based vegan bakery which recently opened a second shop in downtown LA adjacent to Cole's.

Vanilla cupcake with mocha frosting. Now before I comment on the taste, let me remind you that vegan means no eggs or dairy products are used, so just rely on your culinary imagination to guess what ingredients go into this. That said, it was no wonder this cupcake was completely underwhelming and almost unpleasant in taste. Making things worse was the texture: it was like cornbread, really course cornbread. In fact the cupcake tasted like dry cornbread with canned frosting. We gave the second cupcake to a homeless person on the way out; I hope she enjoyed it. Oh well, at least we tried.

LudoBites at Gram and Papa's
227 E 9th St Los Angeles
CA 90015

Cole's (Varnish Room located in back)
118 E 6th St Los Angeles
CA 90014

Babycakes
130 E 6th St Los Angeles
CA 90014

Double lunching at Philippe's and Langer's

2010-04-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I took take the day off from work to take of some personal matters in and around the downtown LA area. Knowing that I'd be in the vicinity of some truly fine eats, I made sure to plan my day's agenda around--what else--eating. Of course I had to plan carefully and strategically as there are a handful of downtown eateries I still haven't tried, and despite what you might think, I can only consume so much grub in a limited time.

Lazy Ox Canteen would have been tops but I just paid them a visit for lunch during my birthday week. Drago Centro and Bottega Louie are also up there, but I'll hit them up for when I can drag a few friends (at least) so as to try a number of different dishes. There are, however, a few classics that have been around much longer than this foodie has, and that foodie is way overdue to give them a shot.

I start my day with an early lunch at one of Los Angeles' oldest restaurants--Philippe's--to try their famous French dip sandwich. Opened in 1908 by French immigrant Philippe Mathieu, Philippe's is both a deli and a sit down restaurant that serves deli staples such as cured meats, mayonnaise laden salads, baked pies, and of course a gamut of sandwiches.

I keep things simple with a roast beef "double dipped", a glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade and a baked apple which came highly recommended by the Yelp reviewers:

The sandwich is very simple and very good. Tender slices of beef showed no signs of gristle or excessive fattiness and has a deep savory flavor. Even better was the fresh roll which was soft, aromatic, and partially soaked with the au jus. The meat to bread ratio was perfect in my opinion, especially when you consider the sandwich only set me back $5.75. Lightly sweetened lemonade was ice cold and refreshing--and not too sweet. And that tomato-looking dish in the upper right is the baked apple. The first few bites were good, but because the apple is bathing in sugary water, the taste becomes progressively sweeter to the point where I was trying "dry" out the apple with a napkin.

So one lunch down, and another lunch to go. The location of my next appointment for the day was near Langer's Delicatessen, and of course that's where I enjoyed lunch number two. Sure I was probably content and full with lunch number one just 20-minutes ago at Philippe's, but I'm rarely in this area so why not take FULL advantage of the good eats?

I arrived at Langer's--located about 10 minutes west of downtown in the Koreatown area--just before the lunch rush and take a spot along the counter. Langer's is famous for its pastrami sandwich on rye--special #19 in fact is the sandwich I'm after and it was recently listed in Jonathon Gold's (LA Weekly food critic) "99 Things to Eat in LA Before You Die." In fact Philippe's is also in that list and I think I'm now at 18 out of 99 on that list. Yeah I've got some work to do.

Here's my sandwich:

It's not cheap at $14.45, but folks this is in fact the best pastrami sandwich I've ever had. Everything about this monstrosity works in harmony to create a mouth full of flavor and texture with each bite. The soft, thickly slicked rye bread. The Russian style cole slaw dressing. The Swiss cheese. And the lean, beautifully seasoned pastrami meat. At about three-fourths into the sandwich I was beginning to experience that feeling of being uncomfortably full, but I took a few breaths and went Man vs. Food style on the last few bites. I took the last mouthful, wiped my hands and mouth with the napkin and threw it down on the plate while doing a little victory dance in my bar stool. Missions accomplished. Yes I said missions.

Needless to say I was quite full for the rest of the day but I managed to regain enough of an appetite for a dinner outing at Upper West--my new favorite local restaurant. That review is coming soon.

So would I go back to either place? Langer's a is definite do-over and I'd gladly wait in a 30-minute line for that #19 special. Philippe's, however, was good but it's not as if their French dip has made its way into my dreams as Langer's #19 has. I still have yet to try the French dip from Cole's and it'll be interesting to see how the two compare.

Philippe's
1001 N Alameda Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Langer's
704 S Alvarado St
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Birthday pig fest

2010-04-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Last week was my birthday week and what does a food nut like yours truly do for his birthday celebrations? PIG OUT of course! Diets be damned because this day only comes once a year and so you know I'm not holding back on the noms. Let's start with Wednesday night where I met up with some coworkers at Rush Street in downtown Culver City for happy hour. It just so happens that myself and three of my coworkers have birthdays all within the last week of March, so this was a special "March Aries birthdays" edition of our usual happy hour outing.

Old Speckled Hen, sweet potato fries, beef sliders. Rush Street has one of the best happy hours in downtown Culver City with $6 trio of sliders, $6 pizzas, $3 well drinks, and $4 wines. All of this is available in the upstairs patio until 7pm. One could easily feed him or herself to the point of gastronomic discomfort with little hurt on the wallet, while at the same boozing up cheaply. And that's pretty much exactly what I did.

Thursday night arrives and I'm off to Bar Bouchon in Beverly Hills to meet with some fellow foodie friends for our bi-weekly or monthly or whenever-we-feel-like-it eating adventure. Bar Bouchon is the casual no-reservations-allowed outpost of the formal Bouchon restaurant located directly above. Both are owned and managed by the man Thomas Keller himself.

Whereas Bouchon screams "hey look where I'm eating!" along with pricier, fanciful large dishes, Bar Bouchon is a more subdued scene with small plate offerings and laid-back service. I don't think Angelinos have fully caught on to this place because it wasn't too crowded; in fact it was nearly empty when we departed at 10pm.

Fresh, top shelf ingredients and spot-on execution led to a symphony of wonderful flavors and textures in each of our 10 dishes. And with the dim lighting, brass accents, and scribbled blackboard menus, the immersion into a Parisian brasserie is effectual. Here's a recap of some of my favorite dishes.

Terrine de Foie Gras de Canard with toasted baguette. Think of this as spreadable foie gras. It's extremely rich and it absolutely needs the toasted baguette to counteract the heaviness. We almost couldn't finish this amongst our foursome, but Roberto managed to polish off the last few scoops. The only issue I had was that it was served very cold and somewhat firm; it needed a good 10 minutes to soften to a more spreadable consistency.

Macaroni with black truffles. So good was this upscale mac-and-cheese that we ordered a second serving and devoured it just as quickly as the first. I loved the creaminess of the cheese and the the slight firmness of the pasta--it was a perfect rendition and quite possibly the best restaurant version I've had of this comfort dish.

Blue Apron Ale. This special brew is only available at Bar Bouchon and at a few other Thomas Keller restaurants. We all couldn't get over just how smooth and delicate the taste was; there was no hint of bitterness or aftertaste. I could drink this all night and never become bored with the taste.

I'm coming back here because there are approximately 42,000 other dishes that I want to try, so stay tuned for a full posting when that happens.

Friday night rolls around and all I can think about is what food I should wrap my jaws around, so I gaze over the OpenTable ressies looking to see what grabs me. Nothing draws my interest, but I know Umami Burger just opened its Santa Monica outpost on the previous night--it was actually on my mind as I was licking Bar Bouchon's truffled mac and cheese from my fingers. My wife is on a salad kick at the moment but I'm able to convince her we should pay Umami a visit. We do, and despite the soft-open service (read: it was off kilter) and loud venue, we enjoyed our meal of triple-cooked fries, Allagash White, Umami burger, and Cake Monkey dessert. Or at least I enjoyed said items. She dove head first into hefty bowl of greens and grilled shrimp, which she said was just OK.

Umami burger. It's damn good. An FO killer? Tough to say but they are both just plain tasty. Umami's version is cooked just a notch above rare and the meat is about as tender--and safely red--as it gets. A thin Parmesan crisp and soft-baked pillowy brioche bun complete the burger's foundation. Triple-cooked fries are triple-fried, I suppose? Crispy on the outside and slightly crisp on the inside, they reminded of of the fat fries at Fat Burger but crispier throughout the potato. The Cake Monkey red-velvet "ding dong" made for a satisfying and cheap thrill of a dessert. Mission accomplished.

Saturday night is upon us and believe me folks, the degustation has only just begun. About 15 of our friends and family came to our place for a pig-fest dinner party with food catered from NBC Seafood in Monterey Park and dessert from Porto's in Burbank. The savories include trays of braised eggplant, scallops with asparagus, "birthday" noodles, sizzling beef and bell peppers, and--drum roll please--a suckling pig. Because it wouldn't be a pig-fest without a pig's head and pig's arse looking at you while you scoop pig belly onto your plate.

A tres leches cake from Portos greets us for dessert and it's basically the crack cocaine of desserts for those of who haven't had it. I think I made myself a little sick trying to eat seconds and thirds and fourths, but I'd gladly do it again. As a birthday present, my friend Lynn brings me an Oreo cupcake from Famous Cupcakes in Beverly Hills, and I simply could not hold myself back after taking a few bites.

Stay classy danieleats. I finished the boxed monstrosity in no time. I honestly felt a moment of sugar overload that night, but only for a moment and only during that night.

Sunday morning hits me and hits me hard as I'm a bit sluggish from the previous night. Shocking, I know. Tres leches cake, pork belly, beer, cupcakes, and Johnnie Walker. In any combination those are going to put a hurt on the mid-30-year-old-something stomach. Nonetheless I've got to eat and so we're off to brunch at Literati with my mom-in-law in tow. A "light" breakfast of thick-cut bacon, fried eggs, and buttermilk pancakes was a perfect way to start my morning. The five or six cups of black coffee also helped. I don't have a picture of my simpleton breakfast, but check out mom-in-law's GIANT stack of chocolate chip pancakes!

Do you think she finished them? Could anyone finish that?! I took one bite and was quickly reminded of my sugar overload about 10-hours prior to this brunch outing. Ugh. The rest of the day was a blur because like I said, I was sluggish :(.

Monday is back-to-work day for many of us, but I took the day off to spend some quality time with my better half and enjoyed a rare non-holiday three-day weekend. We headed into downtown LA and walked around Little Tokyo on a gorgeous sunny Monday. People watching and traffic dodging are just some of the star attractions in downtown, with fine eateries being another and they're popping up like wild fire it seems. Newly-opened Lazy Ox Canteen has been getting mountains of praise lately including this 3-star review from LA Times food critic S. Irene Virbila. We happened to be parked just a few blocks from this restaurant so we made it our lunch destination. Grub time:

Yellow beet and wild arugula salad with orange, radicchio and yogurt dressing. I'm not a big salad person but I LOVE beets and arugula, so bring it on! This was seasoned, tossed and dressed perfectly; every bite seemed to have an equal portion of beets, oranges, greens, and dressing. No premixing or hunting for ingredients; just slide your fork in it and shovel the mixture to your face. I felt like the "lazy ox" here :).

Pork belly sandwich with kennebec fries. Unbelievable good with great textures from the crisp-outside-soft-inside pork belly, vibrant Romaine, and a grilled bun which tasted house-made. I'm not sure what the dip was, but it tasted like an avocado and roasted pepper aioli. We scooped all of it with the crispy fries, which were a little too crispy and salty for my taste.

After lunch we enjoyed this swirl soft-serve from one of the bakeries in the Little Tokyo village:

My eating marathon ended that night with dinner at Pizzeria Mozza. Even on a Monday night, this Mario Batali co-owned restaurant was packed wall-to-wall, literally because we sat practically on Highland avenue. Pizzeria Mozza is claimed by many to have the best pizza; some would rank this as numero uno in the country. Well, it's good, very good in fact. But it's also very expensive.

Squash blossom pizza. This ran us $22, though you're getting heaping mounds of silky burrata for that price.

That concludes my birthday week of eating like there's no tomorrow. I obviously don't eat like this all the time; in fact I had to "detox" for a few days after to um, heal thyself. I'm planning to make return visits to Umami, Bar Bouchon, and Lazy Ox Canteen so I hope to have full write-ups of those places soon. Now to get back to eating :)

Rush Street
9546 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

Bar Bouchon
235 N Canon Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Umami
500 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90401

NBC Seafood
404 S Atlantic Boulevard
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Porto's
3614 W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, CA 91504

Literati
12081 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Lazy Ox Canteen
241 S San Pedro
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Pizzeria Ortica

2010-03-21T17:20:00.001-07:00

Recently I was tasked with selecting the restaurant for my wife's birthday dinner outing with her family, with the intent on keeping the place in or near Anaheim since that's where her mom resides. The limited dining options in Anaheim are, well, very underwhelming; let's just say that Anaheim is not a foodie destination. Knowing this, I decided to venture out from our usual comfort zone and have us take a small road trip to South Coast Plaza--a place beaming with upscale eateries such as Marche Moderne, Pizzeria Ortica, and Mastro's. One of those places, Pizzeria Ortica, happened to be on my very short list of must-try Orange County restaurants and so of course that is the place I selected for our dinner.

We arrive for our 6:30pm reservation and found the restaurant to be very busy with well-dressed diners grabbing an early dinner before attending a show at the adjacent Orange County Performing Arts Center. Owner and chef David Myers opened Pizzeria Ortica in January of 2009 and since then it has been attracting a lion's share of attention from food bloggers and reviewers. Chef Myers also owns the highly acclaimed Sona restaurant as well as the upscale brasserie Comme Ca, both of which are in West Hollywood. With that kind of build up, you can bet I was looking forward to experiencing first-hand what chef Myers has to offer.

We take our seats and begin reviewing the menu, which was categorized into antipasti, salads, pastas, pizzas, and side dishes.

My wife looks over the short but well thought-out wine list, samples two different wines, and ultimately zeroed on this Cavaliere Sangiovese for the group. It was a fine choice as I enjoyed the aroma and the subdued tannins, which all made for a very drinkable wine to with our gamut of dishes to come.

Carciofi alla Romana - Roman style braised artichokes, shaved ricotta salata. We start with this antipasti of braised artichokes and slivers of fresh ricotta. The artichokes were cooked to a point just slightly past firm, allowing the artichoke's layered texture to come through nicely. I enjoyed the pairing with the chilled ricotta and the earthiness of the light olive oil.

Tricolore - Radicchio, arugula, endive, apples, Gorgonzola, candied walnuts. I almost never order a salad when dining out, nor do I even take a few bites when I'm ordering family style, but I did enjoy this simple combination of fresh greens, Gorgonzola, and walnuts (which the birthday girl ordered). I wished the Gorgonzola had been crumbled over the salad, but instead it was served in large chunks off to the side. They weren't exactly easy to slice cleanly so that made for difficult combining of the cheese, the salad, and the walnuts.

Polipo e patate - Charred Mediterranean octopus, Yukon Gold potatoes, celery hearts, Sicilian capers. The octopus might look burnt, but it was actually cooked just right with a nice char on the outside; there was not hint of any burnt taste. Cooked octopus loses its ocean-like flavor that one would experience with, say octopus sashimi, but this was tasty nonetheless. In fact this was better than the version I had at Cube last month. To me the potatoes and the other items were simply afterthoughts for the plate as their flavors weren't spectacular by any means. I'd rather pay more for this to get more of the octopus.

alla Norma - Cherry tomatoes, basil, eggplant, smoked mozzarella, ricotta salata. My regular readers know that I make home-made pizza quite often and that I've already declared my creations to be better than anything you can get in LA. Coming to this David Myers' restaurant--with the name "Pizzeria" in the restaurant's name--you can bet was expecting some damn good pizza, but unfortunately Mr. Myers' version fell far short of what I was hoping for. It's intent on being Neopolitan style with a thin, fold-able crust and sparse placement of toppings, but unfortunately the crust was incredibly soggy. So soggy was the crust that it made for very difficult and messy eating with the hands. Also, the eggplant brought almost no flavor to the pizza because they were simply overcooked and under-seasoned. I enjoyed the cherry tomatoes and the outer, chewy portions of the crust, but other than that, this was a disappointment.

Moving on, we continue to order dishes from the Primi and Contorni menus.

Patatine montanare - French-fried Kennebec potatoes, sage, aged balsamic. You wouldn't think to see fries at a Italian restaurant, let alone order them! But I must say that these were quite good. You'd never mistake them for the triple-cooked fat fries at Umami, but they had a unique, slightly acidic taste with the balsamic vinegar. A little more vinegar would have been welcomed, though that might have lead to soggy fries.

Ravioli di burrata e ricotta al pomodoro - Burrata ravioli, fresh tomato, basil. Small in size, and small in flavor is how I'd describe these ravioli. Pastas here are house-made and you can tell the difference in the texture--it's got a certain bite to it that boxed pasta simply lacks. The dish however suffered from not having any distinct flavors; the ricotta was mild, as was the sauce and so the overall taste was simply underwhelming.

Cavolini di Bruxelles - Roasted Brussels sprouts, bread crumbs, hazelnuts, lemon zest. Again here's a dish that has the appearance of being burnt, but it's simply a wonderful char on the outermost layer of these Brussels sprouts. I couldn't taste much from the hazelnuts and lemon, but the crunchy bread crumbs brought a nice texture to the dish.

Pappardelle al sugo d’agnello - Pappardelle pasta, braised lamb ragù, sheep’s milk ricotta. The last savory dish of the night was also my favorite from Pizzeria Ortica. Biting into the house-made pappardelle and tender braised lamb was so pleasurable that it easily made up for the soggy pizza letdown. A thick, heavy cream sauce stuck to the pasta like motor oil on the side of its container. This is definitely a stick-to-your-ribs kind of dish. A must order if you're ever dining at Pizzeria Ortica.

After our dinner, the server brought out a piece of tira misu cake for my wife, complete with a single birthday candle logged to the plate with a little candle wax. The cake was actually quite good with strong notes of coffee and a wonderful butterscotch sauce.

Overall the food at Pizzeria Ortica was solid and I'd definitely come back if I'm in the area and have a craving for Italian fare. The service was good, especially with how they allowed us to sample a few wines before committing to a bottle. About the only service gripe I have is that it took quite a while for the bread basket to appear and we had to ask several times.

But the night of eating wasn't complete just yet as we had this raspberry chocolate cake--which I painstakingly made at home--waiting patiently for us at my mom-in-law's house.

I'm probably patting myself on the back by saying this, but it was easily one of the best desserts I've had in a long while. Luckily for my readers (all 4 of you, worldwide), I am going to post the recipe very soon =).

Pizzeria Ortica
650 Anton Blvd.
Costa Mesa, CA.
92626

Manna BBQ

2010-03-18T20:39:00.001-07:00

Korean BBQ is easily one of my favorite types of cuisine. After all who doesn't crave huge plates of intensely-marinated meats cooked over table-top grills, a bountiful display of colorful side dishes, and an ice cold bottle or two (or three) of soju? And so I was quite excited when I learned that an authentic Korean BBQ restaurant was opening within walking distance of my job. Located in the recently remodeled Fox Hills Mall--now labeled Westfield Century City--Manna BBQ is not exactly on par with the best BBQ joints in Koreatown, but considering we had absolutely no Korean restaurant within walking distance prior to Manna, it suits us just fine.

A quick 10-minute walk is all that separates us from the entrance of Manna, and once or twice a month we make the short trek to get our Korean BBQ fix. About a month ago we actually attended a conference call while in the restaurant, while we were literally grilling short ribs over the flames! Yes we love to eat!

A sleek, modern interior greets you as you walk in the restaurant. Every table has a grill, and one of these call buttons to summon your waiter:

Manna's menu has a decent gauntlet of Korean fare such as bibimbap, soon tofu, chapchae, kimbap, and of course BBQ. I typically go for bibimbap as it's a quick and somewhat light meal, but I've certainly had my share of BBQ gorging during past lunch outings. This review covers three different outings where I tried BBQ, soon tofu, and bibimbap.

Like any other Korean BBQ establishment, all meals start with small side dishes known as banchan. Although the variety and quality may not be up to K-Town standards, the provided dishes are all solid and nicely prepared. Manna will restock any banchan upon request, or at least I've never had someone say "no" when I've asked for a fourth plate of kimchi.

Steamed egg banchan. Easily one of my favorite foods from any restaurant, period. It's light, fluffy and served bubbling hot in a thick, heavy bowl. The seasonings are kept to a minimum with just a sprinkling of scallions and a dash of salt. None of my coworkers particularly care for this, so all the more for this blogger. During our last visit I downed nearly two bowls of steamed egg--and the staff will bring out another if you so happen to be on a ravenous steamed egg diet.

Potato salad banchan. Delicious! How I can resist eating plate after plate of this is beyond me. Manna does an excellent version of this dish with sizable chunks of potatoes that are cooked a little on the crunchy side and lightly dressed with mayonnaise.

Kimchi. It's nowhere near as pungent or spicy as what you might get in K-Town, but it's still good, and of course the nice Manna staff will refill this to your heart's content, or until your coworkers start to think you're not being fed at home.

Coworker proudly displaying a chunk of fat used to grease the grill. Side-venting gas grills are employed here and they do a fantastic job of keeping the smoke from penetrating your business-casual outfits.

Another pic of that gloriously wonderful steamed-egg banchan, just because.

You'll need to ask for eggs when you order bibimbap or soon tofu otherwise you'll get no such yolk goodness in your bowl. I suppose a west sider or two was shocked at the sight of a raw egg in their bowls. Fear not, though, because the staff will bring out a bowl of raw eggs upon request. Crack away!

Soon tofu with seafood. I've cracked an egg into the bowl to complete the meal. Soon tofu is a very spicy soup with tofu and usually meat or seafood mixed in the broth. Manna's version is lacking in heat and the tofu's texture was quite runny. I enjoyed what little seafood was in there and I could probably count on one hand the number of clams or squid I scooped. Needless to say it needed more seafood and more heat. I've had far better bowls of soon tofu elsewhere, so you might want to skip on this.

Dolsot bibimbap with seafood. This is perhaps one of my favorite meals of all time and I could probably eat this everyday and not become tired or bored with it. What's great about Manna's version is that it's gargantuan in size, it's relatively cheap at $10, and it's not too oily. When you crack an egg over the ingredients (which are sizzling upon arrival), it scrambles slightly and what you end up with is a dreamy combination of silky and firm egg textures to compliment your rice, veggies, and protein. But wait it gets better. When you get to the bottom of this, you're left with what I almost consider a dessert course: the golden, sticky rice that has been charred from the intensely hot stone. A metal spoon is all you need to scrape the crispy rice.

BBQ lunch special. A plate of meat for the grill--I believe this is short rib, pork, and brisket. Don't come here expecting prime cuts of beef like at Park's or Chosun Galbee. Instead, just be happy that authentic Korean BBQ exists nearly west of the 405 freeway. The beef here is a little gristly, a little fatty, and marinated for far less time than it ought to be. For $13 you can select three cuts of meat, or for $17 you can feast on unlimited servings of meat--followed by absolutely zero productivity when you return to your work desk.

The service is, well, probably slightly worse than most restaurants in Koreatown as the servers rarely check on you and you'll need to ask for just about everything--including the bill which seems to appear ever so slowly when you're in a rush to make your 1pm meeting. However, the cooked dishes do come out quickly and the servers are always happy to bring new plates of banchan to your table.

Although Manna is not what I'd consider a destination Korean BBQ place, it is on the west side and the surrounding options are very limited, so consider this more of a convenience for when you're in the area and are craving Korean BBQ.

Manna BBQ
6600 Sepulveda Blvd., #2200
Culver City, CA 90230