Haldi Root

When one hears the name: Haldi Root, one does not think of Italian food. Well, that's what they serve. To be honest, it's a secondary menu; they serve Italian food as well as Indian food. I did not try their Italian menu. It wasn't even offered. Upon inquiring as to why they even have an Italian menu, I learned that the head chef studied Italian cooking, though he himself is Indian. For a better profile on the chef, you can check out Eddie Lin's story here. Though, Eddie's story doesn't lend itself to the Italian background like my server explained to me.

Magnum 3.0 Part 2

I am not without bias. As stated in Part 1 (sorry for the delay in Part 2), I am friends with David Haskell and had the opportunity to spend the day with him prepping for night one of Magnum 3.0. Obviously then I should be waxing poetic of everything that comes out of the kitchen and bottle. If you believe that, then the following will surprise you: I have put off writing this up for weeks because I didn't know what to write. Haskell and Mahon both know how my meal went, as my table and I did say something while we were there and didn't wait to have them read it later. For the most part, my meal was wonderful, I attribute that to food, wine and company. Some parts were shaky, these things happen. Let's get down to it shall we?

Photo: Angela Serranzana

Magnum 3.0 Part 1

Writing about food in and about Los Angeles has opened up a world for me in that I'm getting out and trying new things, and making new friends along the way. Last year, I made a friend in the Wine Pimp extraordinaire David Haskell. Perhaps not the likeliest pairing, but he's someone that I've gotten to know and truly enjoy. When he first started doing the Magnum pop ups with Joseph Mahon, I was on board as a general cheerleader and avid enthusiast. Their first pop up at Biergarten was delightful and I was sad to have missed their turn at Pal Cabron. Thus, I was overjoyed to have been able to attend the 3.0 version at Royal T in Culver City.

What was most interesting about this last pop up, is that I got the opportunity to spend opening day with David playing assistant which allowed me to see what goes into taking over a space for a few nights. It has created a new found respect for the King of Pop Ups, Chef Ludo Lefebvre as it  is no easy feat.