Rock My Palate

Happy 2012 and a Recipe!

2012-01-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone! As always, I have neglected my blog for far longer than necessary. I suppose I should make a New Year Resolution to be less lazy, but let's face it, I'd screw that up in a week. Though, to make up for my lapse, I am offering you my recipe for Cioppino. I don't have fancy step by step photos, but frankly, if you can't follow the simple instructions for this super easy stew, then you should probably exit your kitchen and pick up the phone to order a pizza.

Despite it's very Italian name, Cioppino actually originated in San Francisco, albeit by Portuguese and Italian immigrant fishermen. It's a derivative from various seafood soups such as brodetto from Italy or bouillabaisse from France. Essentially, Cioppino is a catch of the day combination. While it is very easy to make and not at all time consuming, it can be rather expensive which is why I saved this recipe for the New Year's Eve gathering at The Catty Critic's abode.

Rock My Palate's Cioppino

Ingredients

Various seafood
In this instance I used: 1lb Littleneck Clams, 1.5lbs U4 scallops, 1 large filet Halibut, 1.5lbs large prawn, 12oz handpicked crab claw meat (you can also get a can of crab meat)
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 large diced onion
3 stacks celery chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
14oz organic diced tomatoes (canned)
4 tablespoons organic tomato paste
4 cups dry white wine (I used a really crappy one that I would never drink, worked fine)
32oz (4 cups) fish stock (I couldn't find any, so I used vegetable stock)
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
crushed red pepper to taste

Directions
Obviously the first thing is the prep work on the seafood. Steam the clams making sure they all open. Toss any that don't. DO NOT discard the water. If you are unable to find fish stock like I was, this can be used along with vegetable stock. Make sure to peel and devein the shrimp. I also like taking off the tails so it's easier for people to eat. Cut the Halibut into medium sized cubes. If your scallops are large, go ahead and cut those in half. Again, this is for ease of consuming, not for any other reason.

Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot and add in the garlic, onions and celery. Stir until the onion starts to get translucent. This will start to dry out, so you can start drizzling in some of the white wine. When it begins to get fragrant, add the remainder of the white wine and let it come to a slow boil, then add in the tomato paste followed by the canned tomatoes. Stir thoroughly and then add in the vegetable stock and the clam water. Bring to a full boil and add in the salt and pepper and the bay leaf.

Add the seafood to the pot. If you were able to get picked crab claws, you may have to pull apart some of the meat prior to putting in. Bring the temperature down to a simmer for 30 minutes then add in the crushed red pepper. You are free to leave the pepper out, but it adds a nice heat, so use as little or as much as you want. I don't recommend too much as you don't want to overpower the seafood.

*Side note: this recipe makes a LOT of soup. I'm not sure how many servings. I would guess 10-12 depending.

The only step remaining is to serve it up! The soup will last for two days in the fridge or you can freeze it and serve it later. Definitely serve it warm and preferably with some toasted pieces of good French bread. I got a lot of compliments on this soup which I threw together sans recipe having never made it before. I hope you have a chance to try making it and I would love feedback if you do! Bon apetit!

Pair with 2010 Deerfield Ranch Winery Checkerbloom Rose

Culinary Students Allege Discrimination at Bottega Louie, the Restaurant is Baffled

2011-12-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles - A group of culinary students is calling for a boycott of Bottega Louie Restaurant on the basis of racial discrimination. The group of mixed races (Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Caucasians) arrived at 10am to celebrate the end of classes, but were not able to be seated until 10:30am when the main dining room opens due to the size of their party. They say that while they waited they decided to sit at the bar to order a few drinks. Around them they saw other patrons sipping on a variety of alcoholic beverages such as Bloody Marys and Mimosas. They waited at the bar for 10 minutes with no one acknowledging their presence before flagging down a server who pointed to a 'manager type'. The manager told them that alcohol was not served until 11am despite the presence of other people with alcohol in front of them. When the group pointed that fact out, they say the manager had no response. One person asked him, 'It's like that?' The response from the manager was a simple 'yes'. The group had no idea why they wouldn't be served if other patrons were and have assumed that it was racial discrimination.

This morning I spoke to Mark who manages in the mornings and he was completely unaware that this incident took place. He acknowledged that the bar back was serving drinks when he should not have been as he's not a bartender, and he's been reprimanded. The restaurant's policy is to not serve alcohol until 10:30am when the main dining room opens. Currently the restaurant has no idea who the students spoke to but was horrified to find that they feel discriminated against. Mark assured me that they would find out who this mystery manager was and will be reaching out to the students as well.

Eat My Blog 2011

2011-12-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays from your local gluttonous bloggers! Eat My Blog, organized by Cathy Chaplin at Gastronomy Blog, is back for it's 4th event (3rd annual holiday event). This year gets us out of the Westside and over to family friendly Old Pasadena. Last year's treats were amazing! Both well presented and delicious. I should know as I volunteered and brought my 3 year old who proceeded to eat everything in her path and caused mommy to donate more money to the LA Regional Foodbank. This year we have 50+ bloggers baking, and a ton of local restaurant partners including a personal favorite SQIRL who makes the BEST locally sourced preserves. Please make the time to join us this Saturday and donate to a worthy cause.

Baleen - Redondo Beach

2011-12-05T14:33:00.001-08:00

Let's face it, the South Bay is kind of like the bastard red-headed step child of the Los Angeles food scene: everyone forgets it exists and even then it has no soul. Sure the South Bay gets some recognition for the Japanese cuisine found in Gardena and some parts of Torrance, but for the most part, until recently the South Bay has been 85% chain restaurants and the people who love them. Like everything else though, this is changing. New gastropubs like 1321 Taproom in Downtown Torrance and David Lefebvre's new place MB Post have people turning their taste buds in a new direction.

Recently another place was pointed out that had slipped under my radar; Baleen in the King's Harbor of Redondo Beach. 3 years it's been there without my notice and for that, I sit ashamed. In all fairness, its predecessor Breakwater did me wrong and created a blind spot in my field of vision. Luckily, this wrong has now been righted. Under the deft hand of Chef Jesse Souza, Baleen at the Portofino Hotel is definitely deserving of notice.

If I had to define Baleen, I'd go with 'perfect romantic date'. It's dark in there. Almost too dark as a flashlight was needed to read the bar menu. But making up for this fact are the back lit dinner menus. Yes, you read correctly: back lit menus. The first thought when you open the menu is 'FINALLY!!!' I don't understand why this is the first time I've seen this. How many dark restaurants have I sat in over the years further ruining my already poor eyesight trying to read the menu? The answer to that rhetorical question is; far too many. Congratulations, problem solved. Now the rest of Los Angeles needs to catch up.

I thought about waxing poetic about each dish for this post. They're definitely deserving of prose. But being as I'm inherently lazy I'm going to skip that. (if you really need the written word, check out Catty Critic's review) I will say this though, totally fucking worth it. I've needed a new favorite place and this is kind of it. I don't know how it happened. It's like finally noticing the chubby kid that sat next to you in the second grade is all grown up and hot. Thankfully I noticed in time.


	Dungeness Crab Cake \| 15	shrimp mousse, lobster/lemongrass sauce, tomato jam. Wine:


	Duck Carnitas \| 14	cornmeal crepes, chipotle blackberry, apple slaw


	“Hole in One” \| 13	Brioche, over-easy egg, asparagus, mushrooms,	reggiano, truffle vinaigrette


	Ahi Tuna Tartare \| 14	soy, toasted sesame, avocado, scallion,	crisp wontons, wakame

Appetizers were paired with Paul Mathew PinotNoir "TNT Vineyard" Russian River Valley 2008


	“BLT” Salad \| 12	Iceberg wedge, sugar-herb roasted bacon,	jalapeño ranch, sherry/bacon vinaigrette

Salad was paired with John AnthonySauvignon Blanc Napa Valley 2010


	Grilled Hanger Steak \| half 16 / full 28	“bacon & egg” hash, garlic spinach, housemade steak sauce


	Cane Sugar-Seared Ahi Tuna \| half 19 / full 33	coconut rice, spicy papaya salad, avocado/wasabi mousse

Entrees paired with Robert MondaviCabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2007, Krupp Bother's Black Bart Syrah 2005

Lobster Mac & Cheese | 14

Chocolate Macadamia Nut Torte

Lemon Meringue

Desserts paired with Michele Chiarlo"Nivole" Moscato d'Asti 2009

Holy mother of jeebus the Meringue was out of this world. Chef Souza swore he'd share the recipe. I'm still waiting. I have faith. I would suggest definitely getting the meringue. I would even suggest starting your meal with it. Hell, start and end your meal with it. I may have just inspired myself, look at that...

DISCLAIMER: yeah, this meal was hosted. But I'd still pay money for it and as soon as these wretched holidays are over, I plan on doing just that. I've heard there's a solid happy hour and the brunch is awesome. I'll let you know.

Oh, and props to Rosa aka The Catty Critic for hooking up the photos. If it wasn't for good friends, I wouldn't be the blogger I am today.

Baleen at The Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club

Reservations: 877-BaleenLA (877-225-3365)

260 PORTOFINO WAY REDONDO BEACH, CA 90277

Deerfield Ranch Winery - Sonoma Wine stop #2

2011-11-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

Deerfield Ranch Winery began with a gift of a home wine making kit from a wife to her chemist husband. That first wine made from purchased grapes won an award at a local wine festival and the next thing PJ and her husband Robert Rex knew, a winery was born. 28 years later, they're still living in their Kenwood, Sonoma Valley home, the original winery, and have expanded to a second and much larger facility on the Sonoma highway. Robert is still the winemaker along with an associate winemaker and crafts about 15,000 cases annually. PJ's dedication is to organic wines with low to no sulfite levels.

My visit to the Deerfield Ranch Winery didn't see me at the public tasting room. Rather, due to a partnership with the Fairmont Mission Inn & Spa in Sonoma, I was driven to the private home of Robert and PJ Rex for a lunch with the winemaker. PJ enjoys entertaining and does quite a lot of work with local charities. With the Fairmont, she hosts a private lunch once a month or so.

We began by sipping the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc on their back patio overlooking the hills. The wine was cool and dry, yet lightly fruity with less of the oakiness that I would have expected as this wine is cave barrel fermented. I'm pleased to say that I did purchase a bottle of this wine and I'm looking forward to drinking it.

The view

Our chef for lunch was the winemaker Robert Rex himself, with a little help of course. Turns out he is quite the chef. Our first course was a beet gazpacho with Pinot Gris poached prawns. The vegetables for the soup were sourced directly from PJ's backyard garden. Considering that the weekend was so warm, the cool soup was a perfect choice. One would need to like beets of course, and luckily for me, I had recently been converted. The course was paired with the 2010 Checkerbloom Rosé. This was a fine example of a Rosé, fruity, sweet and served well chilled. A delightful accompaniment to the gazpacho.

The second course was the main entrée, pork loin in a red wine reduction with grilled vegetables and wild mushrooms. The wine reduction was the secret ingredient here. With so much wine being opened and bottles not always being finished, Robert discovered that combining them into a reduction was the best way to make sure nothing goes to waste. In our case, I believe I was told that 12 bottles were used. The reduction is so popular that Robert has posted a how-to video on their website along with a printed recipe: here. I used a piece of bread to sop up any remaining sauce on my plate. I should also mention that it didn't overpower the pork, and played nicely with the mushrooms. The wine pairing for this course was the 2002 DRX Meritage which is a blend: Cabernet 57%, Merlot 20%, Malbec 12%, Cab. Franc 7%,
Petit Verdot 4%. The result is a complex Bordeaux-style blend. A little high in alcohol for my taste (at least at lunch), I did enjoy the unexpected in my glass.

The third course was a light caesar salad with edible blossoms and goat cheese with pesto. I don't recall what wine was paired with this. Neither dish caught my fancy as I was still in a demi-glace haze.

Dessert brought me back with an almond raspberry tart paired with the 2005 Gold dessert wine. I found my favorite dessert wine in this bottle. It was like apricots and honey. At once sweet, but not cloying. I highly recommend this wine for fans of sweet wines. The wine and almond tart were a perfect match. I nearly asked for seconds but didn't want to look a glutton. Looking back, I should have gone for it.

The aftermath

There's a lot going on at Deerfield Ranch Winery that I'm a fan of. They're also busy at work launching the new Arroba wines. The next time I'm in Sonoma I do plan on stopping in at the public tasting room just to try the other wines they offer and to stock up on the ones I know I like. Do check them out the next time you're in the Sonoma Valley.

10200 SONOMA HIGHWAY
Kenwood, CA 95452
(707) 931-4634
http://deerfieldranch.com/

Sonoma - Santé

2011-10-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

When in Sonoma a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be able to stay at the venerable Fairmont Mission Inn & Spa, home of the Michelin rated Santé. Santé received one star earlier this year, the only restaurant in Sonoma Valley to have done so. The style of cuisine here is Cal-French under the watchful eyes of Executive Chef Bruno Tison and Chef de Cuisine Chef Andrew Cain. Tison is a classically trained French chef who began his education at the Belgium Institut Technique Des Metiers De L'Alimentation before studying under such legendary chefs as Bernard Waterlot, Roger Verge, Michel Guerard and Alain Chapel. Chef Cain is a graduate of NYC's CIA and has worked in the kitchens of La Folie and Michael Mina, San Francisco, French Laundry, Yountville as well as Sonoma's El Dorado Kitchen.

One of the wonderful things about dining in wine country is the access to fresh produce in the 'farm to table' style that is so inherent in European culture. French Laundry in Yountville is lauded for their restaurant garden and while Santé does not have their own garden, they do have access to and work closely with local farmers to obtain the finest products. Condé Nast Traveler has said that 'it's worth a special trip just to eat here' and I would have to agree fully.

The wine list at Santé has be honored with Wine Spectator's 'Award of Excellence' and currently features over 500 Sonoma and Napa wines. It's a lot of wines to go through, however, there is something for almost every palate and definitely every budget. We started our evening with a Sauvignon Blanc from Cakebread Cellars, vintage unknown.

I'm not a fan of Cakebread's Chardonnay as I don't like oaky Chardonnay. Their Sauvignon Blancs are predominantly steel fermented (82%, and 18% neutral oak), which reflected in the citrus-like fruit notes. This is one unassuming wine at a surprisingly reasonable restaurant price point.

Our meal began with an amuse bouche of cold red pepper soup and ahi poke in a cucumber shell. The soup was delicately creamy with just the slightest kick of the peppers. It complemented the ahi nicely where it could easily have overwhelmed it. The cold aspect of this dish was welcome on the evening we went as it had been in the high 80's during the day and was cooling to a temperate 75 degrees.

My dinner date had never before had foie gras, and with the CA ban on foie gras looming, I order it every chance I get. The foie gras at Santé is served two ways; seared with rhubarb confit and chilled torchon (Method of cooking foie gras by which it is placed in a towel (torchon in French) and poached) with pickled strawberries. Personally, I preferred the creamy texture of the torchon vs the seared lobe. I think this is a personal preference as the texture of a lobe is a little inconsistent and the torchon was smooth smooth smooth. Both the rhubarb confit and the pickled strawberries were a lovely accompaniment to the foie gras as it gave it the sweet flavor to the savory that I love so much.

I encourage head to tail consumption of animals (less offal) and therefore I ordered the roasted Sonoma duck breast. This came served with glazed ciollini onions, duck confit and foie gras farce, golden and scarlet beets and a lovely port wine sauce. The duck was cooked perfectly and lacked any gaminess. I lovingly speared individual pieces of that tender duck breast and ran each piece through the port wine sauce before consuming. This is easily my favorite dish of 2011.

My date ordered the eggplant caponata ravioli: mascarpone and eggplant farace, crispy capers, toasted pine nuts, tomato butter and parmesan brittle. This was a very nice ravioli dish, though I thought it was a bit basic. It's something I would order if I was a local and I'd had everything else.

I ordered dessert with my entrée as the blueberry soufflé takes 25 minutes to cook. It was worth it. The server brought our soufflé to the table and then poked a hole down to the bottom where he poured the warm blueberry coulis. The soufflé was so light and delicate and then when we hit a bit of the coulis the flavor of the blueberry deepened.

Our meal ended with the server bring out petit fours. We had two tiers of biscuits, macarons and goodness knows what else. Each was better than the last and just when we couldn't stuff another thing into our mouths, they brought boxes of almond brittle to take with us.

The service wasn't stiff or stuffy, everyone had that relaxed and easy wine country manner. At the same time, we were taken care of. As we sat on the terrace, I don't know what the atmosphere of the dining room was like, but I enjoyed our setting very much. I look forward to going back to Sonoma and you can be sure I'll make the time for Santé when I'm there.

If you can't get in to Santé for whatever reason, you can still order their food from the hotel bar if you ask nicely. Our 3rd night at the hotel we were craving a bit of dessert after a mediocre meal at Estate (more on that later) so we wandered down to the lobby where we were able to sit casually on a couple of armchairs and order dessert and coffee. We had the chocolate ganache which was served with pistachio ice cream. Double delish.

Santé at the Fairmont Mission Inn & Spa

100 Boyes Boulevard

Sonoma, CA 95476

(707) 938-9000

Dress Code: Wine Country Casual

Hanzell Vineyards - Sonoma Wine Stop #1

2011-10-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

Recently I was in Sonoma on vacation and was able to visit 3 wineries on my trip. The first was Hanzell Vineyards on their last day of the Pinot Noir harvest. Hanzell was established in 1953 by James and Hana Zellerbach (Han-Zell, get it?) and is currently under it's 3rd ownership. The first planting back in '53 was 2 acres of Pinot Noir and 4 acres of Chardonnay. That has since grown to a total of 42 acres.

Upon arrival to the vineyard, after a long drive up a hill on a very narrow road, we were met by the Estate Educator Ben Sessions. Ben is 2nd generation at Hanzell, his father was the winemaker from 1973-2001. I've been to a lot of wineries throughout California, and while most people tend to be moderately enthusiastic about their wines, I've never met anyone more so than Ben. Our party of 6 was missing 2, so we were able to cram ourselves into Ben's (well, the winery's actually) Land Rover for a driven tour of the vines. Although it was a Saturday, there's no such thing as a weekend on a farm and the farm was buzzing with activity. Ben explained that all the Chardonnay was picked and they were on their 'last day' of Pinot Noir harvesting. They actually harvested on Sunday as well. I can see why Ben loves his job. If I had that view of the vines and valley every day, I'd be happy too.

Perfectly ripe Pinot Noir harvested 15 minutes prior

Our tour took us through their barrel aging caves aka free air conditioning, their library with wines dating back to the 50's and we got a nice view of the destemming and crushing process before heading upstairs to taste a few of the wines. In a good year, Hanzell yields 5000 cases of wine. In a world of mass production, that's a low-ish yield. They're not sacrificing quality for quantity at Hanzell.

A view of the valley

The door to the library

Rushing to complete the harvest

Estate Educator Ben Sessions outside the cave

The cave of wonder

A chandelier from a barrel, commissioned specifically for Hanzell

Brand new French oak barrel, when tested against American oak, I preferred the French, mais oui!

Steel fermentation: none of that butter bomb Chardonnay, more crisp 'apple' notes here.

mixing yeast to add to the fermenting wine

destemmed Pinot Noir

the stems

The entire production less the barrels aging in the cave

1980 Pinot Noir, my birth year (also Ben's favorite vintage)

the library

the winemaker

private tasting for six

L to R: 09 Sebella Chardonnay, 09 Hanzell Vineyards Chardonnay, 08 Hanzell Vineyards Pinot Noir

To end our tour, we sat and tasted 3 wines, the 2009 Sebella, 2008 Hanzell Vineyards Chardonnay and the 2008 Hanzell Vineyards Pinot Noir.

2009 Sebella Chardonnay: 100% stainless steel fermented, 8 months in Sirugue (French Oak) barrels, 14 total months élevage. Where a lot, if not most, California Chardonnay tasting notes includes words like buttery, that is not an adjective to be used here. Instead I'm more apt to use words such as: bright, complex acidity, light creaminess on the back palate with a smooth slow finish. I bought a bottle and will likely purchase more.

2008 Hanzell Chardonnay: Floral notes that expanded nicely with apple and mineral flavors. To me, less personality than the Sebella.

2008 Hanzell Pinot Noir: 18 months élevage in 50% new Sirugue barrels. I think this was my favorite wine of the entire trip. At $95/bottle it was out of my budget, but I'm thinking I may have to splurge and have a few bottles shipped to me. There was a nice earthy aroma that I noticed first and opened up in the first sip to a velvet embrace. Nice long finish makes me think this one would cellar well. Note: this was decanted 2 hours prior to serving.

Hanzell Vineyards is not open to the public, guests are received by appointment only. To make an appointment, please call or email. For the tour I went on, the fee is $45 per person and is ninety minutes long, but can be waived if you join the Ambassador's Circle (Zellerbach was a US Ambassador). If you want to go a step further, there's an upgrade that includes a bottle of each varietal from the library that will be from at least a decade earlier. The library upgrade runs $150 with a $600 minimum (4 people) and is 2.5 hours long.

Hanzell Vineyards
18596 Lomita Avenue, Sonoma, CA 95476
707.996.3860

How Bizarre @ Bazaar

2011-09-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

My bucket list is small but mighty. Last night I got the opportunity to have a girls night out and check one item off my bucket list at the same time. Bazaar by Jose Andres. Chef Andres is considered the godfather of molecular gastronomy at the same time that he shies away from the term 'molecular gastronomy'. Whatever you want to call the use of high tech science in the kitchen, that's what he's famous for. For a long time now we've heard the stories of foie gras cotton candy coming out of Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in WeHo. Turns out, the stories are true.

We couldn't get a reservation for Saam to enjoy their tasting menu due to our varied schedules, so it was arranged in advance that the kitchen would prepare us a menu similar at Rojo y Blanca. We had no clue what was going to be served, which made it fun, but we did need some help pairing a wine. A short talk with our sommelier led us to our first bottle which was the 2008 A. Christmann Spätburgunder, a German Pinot Noir. This was truly the lighest Pinot Noir I've had to date, and while it was of a lighter body, it more than made up for it on the palate. This wine does not lack soul and is one that I'm going to have to hunt down for my own meek cellar.

2008 A. Christmann Spätburgunder $75

The service was amazingly attentive, however the dishes had a lack of flow. We'd get one dish, then three, then a lull, then four. A table full of girls is likely to get chatty, and that also tends to impede the pace. We, at several points, had more dishes than we really knew what to do with. Later, after our savory courses were complete, we were moved to the patisserie for dessert. I find this odd, to be moved during the course of the meal. To be honest, we didn't expect this and almost felt we were being chastised for being too loud and giggly. It was only after I tweeted my confusion was it made clear to me that this was normal. Honestly, I didn't like it. I felt that it ruined the flow of the evening when we were comfortable where we were. On top of that, the second bottle of wine we ordered had already been poured and the glass that was left in it was somehow thrown away by the hostess. To my delight however, they made up for their error by taking the second bottle of wine completely off our check and even comped us flaming cocktails that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of, nor are they on the menu.

While I would prefer to remain in one seat for the entirety of my meal, I did enjoy my experience at Bazaar. We had an amazing menu prepared for us, but I feel that only touches on what is available, so I do want to go back and play some more. Likes: Seared Mary's Farm Chicken, 'Philly Cheesesteak'. Dislikes: chocolate pop rocks (too soggy to work)

Sweet Potato Chips yogurt, tamarind, star anise $10

King Crab Can raspberries, raspberry vinegar $20

Endive Capriola Farm goat cheese, oranges, almond, orange dressing $8

Tuna ceviche and avocado roll Jicama, micro cilantro, coconut dressing $16

Jicama wrapped guacamole micro cilantro, corn chips $10

Snow Crab tempura $18

Tomato/Strawberry salad $10

Sauteed shrimp garlic, guindilla pepper $14

Brussel Sprouts lemon puree, apricots, grapes, lemon air $9

Ottoman carrot fritters apricots, pistachio sauce $9

Not your everyday Caprese cherry tomatoes, liquid mozzarella $12

Seared Mary's Farm chicken honey dates, mustard caviar, mustard greens $11

Baby Japanese peaches, Di Stefano burrata, hazelnuts, arugula $18

Cotton candy duck liver $5 each

'Philly Cheesesteak air bread, cheddar, Wagyu beef carpaccio $8 each

2009 M. Chiarlo Nivole Moscato d'Asti $44

Apples "Carlota" bread pudding with saffron sauce $12

Hot Chocolate Mousse pear sorbet and salty hazelnut praline $12

Nitro Coconut Floating Island passion fruit and vanilla $12

After Eight (chocolate and fresh mint) $3

Chocolate Covered Pop Rocks $3

L to R: Rice Crispy, Salted Caramel, Passion Fruit, Caramel Bon Bon, Passion Fruit Marshmallow $3 each

Get Shaved in Torrance

2011-09-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

Across the street from Musha in Torrance there exists a tiny little shop selling lots of shaved ice. It's been open for just over a month now and the line shows no sign of dying down. All summer has seen this tiny location with a wait of an hour or more. Could it possibly be worth it to wait in line for flavored ice? Absolutely. I'm not talking the crunchy melting ice with a squirt of flavored syrup. I'm talking Hawaiian style shave ice. The ice so fine it's like snow, served over your choice of ice creams and/or mochi balls (I recommend both). Flavors most haole haven't heard of, with lilikoi being among my own favorites, Get Shaved is bringing a small taste of the islands to the mainland. They're also serving shaved ice shakes and ice cream sandwiches. I'm sure they're good, but I'll stick to the main focus.

line

Get there while it's still warm, and judging by today it's going to be warm for a few more weeks, and get ready to wait. It's a little disorganized inside, but I'm sure the kinks will be worked out. I'm just hoping they can make it through the cool fall/winter months. While we do live in Southern California, we still bust out the scarves when it drops below 65 and forget about cool treats.

so many flavors!

Ice cream selection

My virgin Get Shaved experience included lilikoi, pineapple and coconut over vanilla ice cream and mochi balls. Drop a comment and let me know your favorite flavor combinations.

Ludo Bites America - Redondo Beach

2011-08-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

This last Spring famed pop up chef Ludo Lefebvre took to the road with the Sundance Channel in tow. The goal: filming a one night pop up per town. One week from start to finish included finding a location, checking out the local fare, hiring staff and rocking the local palates. The very last stop on the tour that included Raleigh, Mobile, Denver, and Santa Fe was the Southern California town of Redondo Beach.

For anyone who doesn't know, I'm a South Bay girl. Redondo Beach is the neighboring town to Torrance, where I grew up. So when it was announced that Ludo Bites America was filming there, I knew I couldn't miss it even if I don't want to be on TV.

The location of choice for this particular one night stand, was Casa Pulido. That took me by surprise. Being familiar with the food/service here, it didn't strike me as an obvious choice. Though truthfully, because of the lack of clientele during the week, maybe that makes it the best choice. I was definitely curious to see if they would be able to adjust to Ludo taking over. I was lucky enough to secure a reservation and with a good friend and my daughter in tow, headed over there to see what was what.

Upon arrival, we were bombarded with shouting and chanting from a small crowd of foie gras protesters carrying pamphlets and signs depicting obviously mistreated geese. These people were preaching to the wrong crowd. One particular overzealous protester attempted to shove a pamphlet in the hand of my 3 year old child. I told the woman that my daughter happens to love foie gras and I was told scathingly that I was a horrible parent. I said it then, and I'll say it now: if being a horrible parent includes feeding my child humanely sourced foie gras, then I'm terrible. Call CPS. I am sick to death of people having narrow minded views and trying to shove it down my gullet. (Get it?) It's all well in good if you want to hug animals and not eat them, but keep it to yourself. I like my steak still mooing, my veal tender and my foie gras perfectly seared. Have a problem with that? Talk to the hand, but if you try to harass my daughter about it, you can have a nice introduction to my fist. Capiche?

Once inside, we were quickly seated in a nice booth and immediately ordered the entire menu. In fairness to us, it wasn't as extensive as a typical Ludobites. Several items on the menu had me excited from the start, namely the foie gras quesadilla (suck it protesters). Then the service started to get a bit dodgy.

Everything I had worried about regarding the location proved to be true. Our server forgot that we had ordered and came to get our order again, and our dishes were completely out of sync with some dishes coming multiple times. Later on in our meal we were interviewed, which I'm sure will be cut, regarding the service. I'm sure they were looking for that typical reality tv bashing, but I just couldn't do it. Especially watching the table across from us acting like a bunch of douchey morons just to be on TV. I was there for the food, not to make some big break into television.

Facts being facts, Casa Pulido staff is not capable of handling the type of service typical to this kind of event. It's the type of restaurant where you see your server 3 times. Once when ordering, in the middle and at the end. Anything more than that confuses them. It's also apparent by the recent interview the owner of Casa Pulido gave to the Daily Breeze that they have no clue, nor do they want one. I love the staff for the regular LudoBites and I only wish they had been there for this one.

The Redondo Beach episode airs tomorrow, August 23rd at 9pm. Set your tivos to stun. Maybe you'll see me, hopefully you won't. But I'm dying to see how it's edited.

UPDATE: Well, they actually used a few seconds of my interview in which I mentioned the long wait time for our server to take our order. I'm right at the 35:47 mark. I will now be going on the starvation diet. Being a foodie plus the camera 10lbs is not kind...

Shameless Self Promotion

2011-08-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

I've always known I was awesome, and apparently it's finally catching on like I knew it would. Recently I was contacted by PocketChange (a subsidiary of Become.com) asking if I would be open to an interview for their Be @ Home feature. I've never been interviewed so I was game. Mostly I was curious as to why I was picked, but I decided against asking that particular question. Despite my opening sentence, I don't think that I'm a particularly good food writer. I don't think I'm the worst, but I would put many others before me. By many I do mean most. However, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I went for it and the results can be found here.

Be @ Home is a blog that features home life, lifestyle and decor. Other related blogs are: Be in Style, Be Connected, BeLoved Pets and Be Green. In other words, a little sumthin', sumthin' for everyone. Including a nugget of gold I found on Become.com's main site: baking tips. I don't know about you, but if I had a dollar for every madeleine I've burned, well, I'd have a lot of dollars. Shhhhh!

Go check out my interview on how awesome I am, and then see what else strikes your fancy.

Be @ Home

Dining in the Dark

2011-08-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

I rarely, if ever, get over to the SGV to eat. It's not that it's far, though it is. It just doesn't come up often. I had an opportunity recently to do a tour de SGV headed by my friend the Kung Food Panda along with The Catty Critic and Kirbie's Cravings. However, my daughter had double booked me for a birthday party and that won out. Sadly, I had to figure that as easy as it is to drag my kid around to various restaurants, she would far more enjoy a birthday party.

So when my boyfriend told me he needed to go pick up something in Rosemead, I put out the Twitter SOS. Where should I eat? It was unanimously decided that I needed to go to JTYH. JTYH is known for their knife cut noodles. You may ponder how that's so special, I'll explain. They cut or shave the noodles off one giant log of noodle. For photo examples, you can go here. As I love Chinese food and I adore noodles, agreeing to go was something of a no-brainer. I just had to convince the BF. Lucky for me, he's pretty easy going and there are very few things he won't eat.

After we unsuccessfully ran my BF's errand, we headed over to JTYH. Curiously, it looked closed even though the sign said they were open. The light was starting to fade as it was around 7:15pm when we pulled into the parking lot. As we walked in we realized that it was unusually dark for a restaurant at dusk. A quick look into the kitchen and we saw why: the electricity was out. The cooks were working away (thank you gas stoves) and were using flashlights to see. We could have walked out. But I don't think seeing is necessary to eating and I really really wanted to eat. The owners came over and apologized for the lack of light and explained that the entire block was out. I told them not to worry about it and ordered everything I had been told to order.

First up:

A cold appetizer of slightly pickled cucumber. This was nice and refreshing as it was still warm and muggy outside. The cucumber had only the slightest hint of heat, and I would have liked a bit more. But it's a free appetizer so who's going to complain? Not this girl.

The spicy wontons were next. I couldn't find them on the menu to save my life, but I was told they were there so I ordered them. Our server wrote it down without question, so maybe I just missed something? I loved these. They weren't too noodle starchy and the heat was nice without making my lips burn. There was a good amount of pork in each wonton which was much appreciated. There's not much worse than a poorly made wonton.

The beef roll was surprisingly big. I was expecting half this amount for what it cost, and was impressed at what showed up to the table. The flaky outside was just thick enough to exist, but thin enough to let the other flavors shine through. Inside, we had thin shaved beef, cucumbers and a variety of who knows what else because I couldn't see what I was eating. By this point we had 2 votive candles glowing, but the light was still super dim. Inside my mouth was a flavor explosion, but I was still carrying some of the heat from the wontons, so I couldn't pinpoint exactly what was going on in there. Someone bogarted the leftovers as well, so until I go back, I won't know for sure.

The winner of the evening was the Mooshu 'Cat Ears'. I thought since everyone has been going on and on about them that they'd be anticlimactic. I was wrong. I adored this dig. The dish is nicknamed 'cat ears' because of the curious shape of the noodles. But really, they only look like cat ears if you're squinting. Or eating by 2 votive candlelight. The noodles were deliciously chewy instead of being gooey. The scrambled egg with mushrooms and pork was a delightful savory accompaniment to the whole.

The BF also ordered the wonton soup, but I didn't really have any. I took a small sip of the broth and deemed it both prosaic and bordering too salty. On top of that, I was full. We ordered only a few dishes and had more leftovers than we knew what to do with. All for less than $25! There are a few dishes I want to go back for, but I think there are some other places in SGV that I need to check out first. However, I'll definitely be back.

Palate = rocked out with the lights out!

Katana

2011-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie: Hollywood's Sunset Strip is a bitch. She's hard to negotiate thanks to all the tourists and the crap drivers. And there's rarely any places worth my while to make the trek for. I was recently invited to try Katana for their summer Sunday BBQ series. Sadly, I couldn't make it, but I was able to get in on a week night to try their more typical fare. Katana, while poorly located for random visits (for me at least), does provide a dining solution when in the general area, specifically if you're across the street at House of Blues. Let's face it, HOB's food is suspect. It'll do in a pinch, but if you don't have to, don't. Katana provides a nice, close alternative.

Upon walking in, I suddenly realized that I'd been there before, albeit 5+ years ago. The stand out for me then was the Chilean sea bass. It's always a good sign when I remember what I ate. This time around didn't disappoint either.

Katana specializes in robata, which is a charcoal grill. Their charcoal comes from Japan and gets crazy hot creating a nice char on the food without stealing any of the juices. The below is how it all went down (excuse the photos, sister dropped my camera in a jacuzzi and it's been cell phone since)

Left to Right: Fuzzy Tea Cocktail (Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka, Muddled Lemons, White Peach Puree, Fresh Lemonade) Spicy Skinny Margarita (Resposado Tequila, Muddled Lemon, Lime, Orange and Jalapeno) Blueberry Mash Cocktail (Blueberry Vodka, Fresh Lemonade, Muddled Blueberries and Lemons)

I seriously loved the Blueberry Mash, it tasted like blueberry lemonade. I didn't like the Fuzzy tea cocktail, and I kind of hated the Margarita. Those just didn't work for me.

Tsukune - Chicken Meatball with Teriyaki Sauce: The problem I find with most chicken meatballs, is that they're chicken meatballs. Too bland, too dry, too boring. I was pleasantly surprised to find that these were moist with that nice char on them, but not overly so. The addition of the teriyaki glaze was just right in order to make these completely unboring. Still, compared to the rest of the meal, I may not order these again, if only to try everything else on the menu.

Surf 'n' Turf - Lobster and Rib Eye with mustard BBQ sauce: You had me at surf, and you kept me at turf. Although this meat was cooked a little more thoroughly than I typically prefer, it was still tender and didn't require an excessive amount of chewing. There's nothing more unslightly than someone trying to choke down tough meat. On the flip side, the lobster was perfect if slightly overpowered by the sauce. Lobster is such a subtle flavor and it doesn't take much to take over.

Foie Gras - Filet Mignon wrapped Asparagus with Foie Gras: The following, if you know me, will make your jaw drop and your eyes bug out: I didn't like this. Least favorite of the evening. I know I've said previously that I love foie gras in almost any rendition. This one proved me wrong. Maybe because I barely got the flavor in there. The filet flavor was at the forefront, and then the crunch of the asparagus hits. There's also a nice teriyaki thing going on, and thus, the foie gets lost. That being said, it really wasn't terrible. It just didn't live up to expectations of which, apparently, I had many.

Gindara - Black Cod with Asian BBQ: I'm generally apathetic about cod, but when it's smothered in Asian BBQ sauce, I'm in. This was nicely juicy and not at all dried out, which also helped a ton.

Tomorokoshi – Corn: Pretty self explanatory, but it was grilled over charcoal fire and thus has that same yummy char on it. I could eat this as a side every night for the rest of my life. The same goes for the brussel sprouts that we had as well. YUM!

Brussel Sprout Robata-Yaki

Suzuki – Chilean Seabass: Without a doubt, my favorite of the night. I love this endangered species of fish. We need to find a way to save the population so that I can continue eating them, but with less guilt. (I'm so very un-PC, I know) The best word I have to describe this one is: succulent. Each morsel was so savory and delicate that my mouth waters just thinking back.

Kohitsuji - Lamb Chop marinated in Soy Garlic: This dish was pleasant. I do like lamb. It didn't stand out in any particular way, but the soy garlic complimented the lamb nicely. It's not all about mint jelly.

We also had the Kobe Beef “Ishiyaki” with Soy Garlic Sauce and Shitake Mushrooms (4oz) which I somehow managed to not get a photo of. This makes me sad as the beef was a nice medium rare and went perfectly with the mushrooms.

Dessert led us to a very nice sorbet with fruit and the typical chocolate souffle. I preferred the sorbet to the souffle, but only because I was in the mood for light and refreshing vs a chocolate bomb.

All said, would I go back to Katana? Absolutely. I may not make a special trip for it, but once or twice a year I can be found at HOB, and I would much rather enjoy a leisurely meal of robata-yaki over anything HOB has to offer. Also, I could imagine sitting on the patio would be a pleasant experience as well on a sultry summer evening. I've also heard their sake offerings are something not to miss, and I may just make a trip back for that. So ignore my earlier sentence. I apparently lied.

Palate = sufficiently rocked

Katana - WeHo
8439 W. Sunset Boulevard
323.650.8585

Note: This meal was hosted

Leggo my Chego or The Laziest Blog Post in the WORLD!

2011-07-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

Rosa over at The Catty Critic and I decided to pop over to Chego before going to the non pop up dessert event that Chef Dan Moody was doing at Scoops Westside. For those not in the know, Chego is a block away from Scoops. A lot of LA is in love with Roy Choi of the Kogi Truck, Chego and A-frame fame. Personally, I wasn't convinced after Kogi, and still have yet to hit up A-Frame. Chego was pretty decent. Rosa took photos, I did not. But since our tastes tend to run roughly similar, you can read about our experience here. See? I told you it was the laziest blog post ever!

Chego

3300 Overland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Tue-Sat 5:30PM-11:30PM
(310) 287-0337

Picca Peru by way of Test Kitchen

2011-06-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

Food and Wine Classic's 2011 Best New Chef Ricardo Zarate, the chef behind Mo-Chica, opened his new Peruvian influenced restaurant last week in the old Test Kitchen prep space. For those not in 'the know' this is above the old Test Kitchen which is now housing Sotto. Some say the location is cursed as many restaurants have come and died before them. You wouldn't know it to go there now; the place is booming. Not to mention the overhaul that managing partner Stephane Bombet did on the place. It's truly gorgeous.

Picca Peru sounds oddly reminiscent of Pikachu. So much so, that I constantly say Picca Picca! In my head. Yes, I'm that much of a dork. Me and my partner in gastronomical crime, The Catty Critic arrive promptly at 6pm for our soft opening Test Kitchen style meal. While we waited for our other dinner partners from I Flip for Food to arrive, we started off with a few of the drinks:

Maracuya: fresh passion fruit, lemon juice, grenadine, scant absinthe, pisco, shaken, cava lemon twist. I truly loved this. It was refreshing with the fruit juices and ever so slightly boozy. Also the cava added a nice sparkling element that would have been missed.

Mark, the testosterone half of I Flip for Food had a pisco sour to start, pretty, but I didn't taste it.

With the Test Kitchen format, we were to each choose one item from each of the 5 sections. We went a little out of order, but the results were fun nonetheless.

We began with ceviches & tiraditos. Tiraditos are the japanese influenced equivalent of ceviche. This is interesting because it shows how prevalent the Asian community is in Peru. Particularly Japanese culture. Tiraditos differ from traditional ceviche in that they don't have onions. We began our evening with tres leches de tigre or the Milk of Tigers.

Tres Leches de tigre: aji amarillo, rocoto, sea urchin shooters (L-R). The shooters were mainly pepper based, and it showed. I liked the uni one the best, but even in that one the pepper was a touch overwhelming. The result was that my tastebuds were a little blown out. Having this first did a diservice to the next few dishes that followed as the pepper lingered longer than I would have liked.

Causa sushi - snow crab: cucumber, avocado, huancaina sauce. spicy tuna: tobiko, cucumbers. Spicy yellowtail: spicy mayo, green onions, wasabi tobiko. The way this sushi is different is obvious by the photo. No rice. Instead, the fish is placed upon a rectangle of potatoes. This is definitely different, and I liked it. Each one was slightly spicy, and this was good, if it had been just sashimi, the potatoes would have overwhelmed the flavor of the fish.

ceviche mixto - mixed seafood, sweet potato, choclo. DUG THIS. Especially the large pieces of corn. I'd like to see an ear of that corn, because the kernels were HUGE. This ceviche was a bit creamier than I'm used to, but no less satisfying.

tuna tartar - tuna, lemon soy dressing, wonton chips. This was lovely, and was probably the most typical thing we had of the evening. It's flavor profile was definitely more subtle than the previous dishes and it worked well to calm some of the still lingering fire of the tres leches.

conchas a la parmesana - scallops, spinach, parmesan, lemon sauce dressing. It was a bit like scallops rockefeller but with a crunchy cheese crust that begged to be picked clean off the shell. The scallops were a touch close to being lost in there, but in the end added a nice briny edge to the savory and citrus flavors.

choritos - steamed mussels, pancetta, aji amarillo butter. This was easily my favorite dish of the evening. The yolky broth the mussels sat in begged to be sopped up with bread. The mussels should have been the star, but it was the broth that took the main stage. The mussels win for best supporting actor. It turns out the mussels enhanced the sauce, and not the other way around. It was madness!

chicharron de pollo - marinated crispy chicken, salsa criolla, rocoto sauce. Definitely crispy and delicious while remarkably maintaining the tenderness of the chicken. It was probably not quite as crispy as I would have preferred. Lowbrow analogy: it was KFC original recipe to extra crispy recipe. Yeah, I went there.

beef filet - sea urchin butter, garlic chip. So. Frickin. Good. I'll be honest, I'm more of a surf vs turf gal, but when I eat beef, I tend to like my cow still mooing. This looked to be dangerously overcooked, but instead it was a delightful char outside tender, juicy meat. While I didn't get much of the brine I would expect from sea urchin butter, the addition of the garlic chips gave it a nice snap.

banana hammock - I'm not sure what was in this. It tasted quite banana-y. I'm not the biggest fan of bananas. If you like bananas, go for it.

Anticuchos are essentially Peruvian shish kebab or skewers. There are many variations of marinades and spices that are used. While most meats are used to make anticuchos, the most popular is beef heart. Which of course was offered and we did not pass it up.

(top to bottom) pollo - chicken breast, rocoto pesto. corazon - beef heart, rocoto sauce. I didn't try the chicken as I was getting full, but I did have the beef heart. This was my first time having beef heart, so I concentrated more on the texture than the flavors. It was chewy. Less chewy than I expected, which was nice. But since then I've had the image of Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom in my head: Kalima! Kalima!

locro de quinoa - quinoa pumpkin stew, choclo, parmesan cheese, crispy tomato. Yum, yum, yummers. I do love quinoa and stewed squash, so this was an automatic winner for me. Again we saw the GIANT CORN which made me kind of giddy. I cannot explain why..

arroz con erizo - peruvian paella, mixed seafood, sea urchin sauce. We saw a lot of sea urchin that night, and I wasn't about to complain. This version of paella was superb. There were a couple large prawns swimming around in there and a nice large piece of uni gracing the top. Lovers delight.

santa barbara prawns - lemon grass yuzu kosho pesto. The prawns were perfectly cooked to be just medium rare. There's nothing worse than an overcooked prawn. By keeping it slightly rare, we were able to taste the sweetness of the meat which was nicely offset by the citrusy pesto.

chanfainita - braised oxtail, mote and potato stew. The meat of the oxtail was fall off the bone tender and the table ate it up. I had just the smallest nibble as I was already full to the brim with the prospect of dessert, but the small mouthful I got was enough to convince me to go back for more.

There are four desserts currently offered at Picca Peru. I saw 'currently' because I don't know think that they are permanent fixtures. These seemed seasonal and that's a good thing. We had, from top left clockwise: lemon tart, churros with a passion fruit filling and 3 different dipping sauces, Peruvian cheesecake with aji amarillo, and tres leches with berries (and cream). All were smashing, and my favorite was the tres leches with berries. It's summer, and summer equals berries. I plan on being permanently stained purple by September.

Our meal ended on a fun note because as the bill came, so did these fun little cows that go moo.

I will definitely be going back. The menu was barely dented by the four of us and it was such a fun evening, with colorful flavors. I also still need to get into Mo-Chica. There aren't enough hours in the day. Many thanks to Chef Zarate, Stephane and our wonderful server Kimberly for making this a fun experience.

Palate = doing the marinera

Photos courtesy of: I Flip for Food

Take The Cake - Pastry Class

2011-06-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get PR emails asking me to put stuff on my blog. I usually ignore those. This one actually appeals to me because I'm planning my good friend's baby shower and while I would have loved to make the cake myself, I am lacking the skills. Apparently a series of pastry classes are taking place at the Montage in Beverly Hills featuring 'The Best Cake Artist in America' Chef Richard Ruskell this summer and fall. I will probably try and attend at least one of them myself, specifically the gingerbread house class on the 30th of November.

Each class has a very limited seating of 15 people, so if you think this is something you want to do, and who doesn't want pretty desserts, sign up soon. The upcoming class on June 29th is featuring the Blackout Cake. If you're a chocolate lover, this might be the one for you.

When:              Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Where:             Scarpetta display kitchen
Time:                9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Cost:                $50 per guest
To reserve a seat with the Best Cake Artist in America, please call (310) 860-7940.
For a full list of Chef Ruskell’s pastry class dates and themes, visit http://www.montagebeverlyhills.com/beverly-hills-pastry-chef.php

This post was not sponsored in any way, shape or form. It just really sounds like fun.

Lunch in Midtown Manhattan

2011-06-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went on a work related trip to New York City, one of my favorite cities in the United States. NYC is one of those places I love to visit, and imagine myself living there. Alas, I would not want to raise a child in that city and therefore will not be relocating. Lucky for me, I do a lot of work with clients and station reps in that town so I'm there once or twice a year. This round I went to meet up with my Fox News ad sales reps for lunch. I put myself in their hands because I knew that they probably didn't need to be traipsing all over town for lunch. The ladies chose Quality Meats on 58th Street. Looked fine by me. I went for a morning walk after my early breakfast at Pastis in Greenwich, strolling from my Hell's Kitchen hotel over to Tiffany & Co (when in NY...), and then over to Quality Meats for lunch.

With a name like Quality Meats, you'd expect a butcher shop in the Meatpacking District, not a perfectly trendy steak house in Midtown. When you walk in off the street, everything is old wood, glass and gleam. It's not over the top however, it still seems understated.Once seated, and after noticing a healthy chip in my glass of iced tea (which the server was horrified about), we were ready to order. Since we were there for lunch, I opted against a heavy steak and found that there was a open faced 2lb lobster roll. Yes, you read that correctly: 2lbs of glorious Maine lobstah to shovel into my piehole. Want to see what it looked like?

The QM 2 lb. "Lobster Roll"
Brioche/Seasonal Greens/Fries $33

It. Was. Huge. 2 lbs of lobster people. 2 lbs! It was situated on top of this amazing toasted brioche and a small bed of arugula. Though it came with a salad and fries, there was so much lobster that even the brioche didn't get finished much less the salad and fries. So good. Normally I stop when I'm full but for a few things: any seafood, and foie gras. This definitely wasn't going to get wasted. I figured I was walking for the most part so I could easily work off the 2lbs of extra calories going into my system.

The girls went on and on about the ice cream, so we had to get dessert:

Chocolate Raspberry

Coffee & Doughnuts

Cookie Monster

The ice creams didn't really do it for me. Sorry, but I'm a Scoops lover and they just didn't compare. Too heavy and rich. Although I imagine if I wasn't comparing, they'd have been good to excellent. Thanks Scoops. You've ruined me.

I'm normally not a big fan of eating in the Midtown/Times Square areas. Too damn touristy for my tastes. This place seemed more directed at local businesses and that worked fine for me. If I'm out there again and someone suggests it, I'd go back.

Palate = nom nom nom

Let's Get Ethical

2011-06-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's post opened up an interesting can of worms. It was brought to my attention that there were a couple 'glowing' reviews of MoKo on the interwebs that directly contradicted what Rosa and I experienced. A little research (aka Google) into it and I was able to find out what he was talking about. I'm not going to name names, mostly because I don't want to increase traffic to the ethical travesty that exists there. What I saw was two people whom attended a PR 'blogger dinner' and then wrote up the restaurant. They did not disclose the fact that they were there. They waxed poetic about the food, the chef, the drinks, you name it. This opened up a large conversation on the Twitter about the ethics of bloggers.

Over the past several years bloggers have come under fire for a variety of things, including: not disclosing if their meal was comped, demanding free meal or bad review (aka blackmail), and being general celebrity chef star fucking douches. The blackmail and douchbaggery aside, what are the requirements on admitting the meal was hosted? Essentially, there are 'guidelines' from the FTC:

Endorsements must be truthful and not misleading;
If the advertiser doesn’t have proof that the endorser’s experience represents what consumers will achieve by using the product, the ad must clearly and conspicuously disclose the generally expected results in the depicted circumstances; and
If there’s a connection between the endorser and the marketer of the product that would affect how people evaluate the endorsement, it should be disclosed.

However, there are no fines for bloggers not in compliance and the FTC is not monitoring bloggers with no future plans to. It comes down to the personal ethics of said blogger to disclose or not.

The way I see it is this; if you want to tell a story, you have to tell the whole story. People read the words we bloggers write. By not giving the whole truth and nothing but the truth, we are misleading the consumer. If we tell the truth, admit a meal was hosted, then the consumer has the choice to accept our judgment, or weight it based on the facts presented.

My meal at MoKo was overpriced for what I got. Had I attended the dinner with the other bloggers, I wouldn't have felt the pinch and it would have reflected in the subsequent post. However, I would have posted that it was hosted and let the reader do with that information what they will. Seeing as I did pay for that meal, I was outraged and that changed the direction of my post. I had no need to kiss the chef's ass and write flowery words over what was really mediocre food (even if it had been nominally less expensive). Though I'm not one to do that regardless if my meal has been hosted or not.

It comes down to this: tell the truth, tell the story. Let the reader decide how to take your words. But don't think we (the other bloggers in the community) don't see you. Los Angeles has a small, tight-knit blogging community. We talk. If you were seen at a PR event and that doesn't reflect in your post, expect it to show up in your comments. It's just a few words, it won't cost you a thing. Just like your meal.

UPDATE: It would also help to stay away from PR flacks that ask you specifically to not admit your meal was hosted. This does happen.

In which her pocketbook was raped...

2011-06-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

'Foodies', the group that I will grudgingly allow myself to be grouped in for the sake of this argument, will often shill out astronomical amounts of money for a meal. When the quality and experience back up the expense we have no problem with this. An amazing meal creates a lasting memory, and not all of it is about the food. Memories are a justifiable expense. Otherwise you'd take your vacations at home rather than some exotic locale. What is not justifiable is a meal that leaves one wanting, both in palate pleasure and in cash. Not to say that every meal needs to be a bargain, but what happened this last Friday night was assault on my wallet. I didn't go in with high hopes, but I certainly didn't expect what took place.

Photo: Rosa Camp

Culver City's food scene is booming. With restaurants like Father's Office, Lukshon, Akasha, Fraiche and Le Saint Amour, Culver City is definitely a destination point. Gyenari was located in the thick of it; across from Akasha and next to Rush Street. However, Gyenari (not surprisingly) was unsustainable. Recently Gyenari closed briefly and revamped. Under part ownership of a new investor, they've renamed themselves Moko. No longer an overpriced Korean BBQ restaurant, they're now an overpriced banchan (small plates) restaurant. When I say overpriced, I mean it. Items that come with, as in gratis, with your typical Korean meal are being served at a minimum of 3 @ $7.5. That's the equivalent of $2.50 for freakin kimchi or sprouts.

My dining partner, The Catty Critic and I decided to skip the more basic banchan as we couldn't justify the expense. Little did we know it got worse. The following is what took place:

Photo: Rosa Camp

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings w/ black vinegar dipping sauce $9: 3 dumplings. 9 dollars. That's $3 per dumpling. I make better shrimp dumplings at home. I can order shrimp dumplings at a dim sum brunch and get 4 for $2. Is this a problem? YES. They were decent, but not worthy of the cost. Not nearly. So began the daylight robbery.

Photo: Rosa Camp

Pan Fried Duck and Foie Gras w/ sour cherry dipping sauce $12. $4 per dumpling. You got some of the flavor of the foie gras in there, but it was mostly duck. Good, but mostly meh. And again, there were only 3. What if we had a table of 4 people? Do we ro-sham-bo? Good grief.

Photo: Rosa Camp

MoKo Wings crispy jidori chicken in chili garlic sauce w/tofu creme $10. Tiniest wings I've ever seen. The chili garlic sauce had promise, but could definitely use more kick.

Photo: Rosa Camp

Kimchi Jean w/ apple smoked bacon, crisp pork belly and chili plum suace $12. The pancake itself was rather bland, but not altogether bad. I shoved off the pork belly (not my thing) to Rosa, and as the plum sauce was on the pork belly, I didn't get much of that. I did enjoy dipping my jeon in the remains of the MoKo wing sauce. I needed something to make up for the lack of spice in the kimchi.

Other items on their menu include an entire snapper fileted at your table, tabletop grilling and various bowls. I don't recommend the grilling: scallops $8/ea. That scallop better be the size of my face.

Given the portions at the insane pricing, we were hungry but couldn't go further. I understand the rent in Culver City has to be pretty steep, and the space is rather large. This does not warrant abusing what few patrons they have. It was a Friday night in Culver City. That place should have been packed. There were maybe 4-5 small tables and one large party there with a few people spreckled at the bar. A word of advice to MoKo, your business plan, like Gyenari before you is likely not sustainable. Rework it. Because at the rate you're going, you'll be unlikely to finish out the year.

Photo: Rosa Camp

palate = annoyed

MoKo
Culver City. I'd give you the address, but I'd like to save you some cash. If you like abuse you can Google it.

Note: Thanks to Rosa (The Catty Critic) for the photos.

RH at Andaz Hotel

2011-06-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

Bloomspot offered a deal on a tasting menu for two that my friend The Kung Food Panda and I couldn't pass up, so off we went. RH was helmed at the time by Michelin Star chef Sebastien Archambault (he's since moved on to L'epicerie). The kitchen at RH is just shy of being in the center of the dining room and is completely open. I do love an open kitchen as I love the process.

We began our meal with a simple plate of fresh vegetables and dip. And of course, a tasty baguette:

First Course: Hudson Valley foie gras terrine with plum marmalade, arugula, and homemade brioche. In my opinion, you can never have enough foie gras. So of course, I felt there wasn't enough. What can I say, when it comes to foie gras I'm greedy. I liked the plum marmalade with it as I like the sweet/savory combination. I could have done without the arugula. So distracting.

Second Course: Escargot à la Perigourdine with prosciutto la quercia, roasted baby heirloom potatoes, parsley and spring garlic. Yes to the escargot, meh on the potatoes.

Third Course: Seared diver scallops and sweet corn gnocchi with red pepper, romaine leaves, and sage jus. Nicely seared scallops, though just this side of overcooked. It was a close call. I really liked the sweet corn gnocchi as well.

Fourth Course: Homemade crispy Hudson Valley duck confit, sautéed potatoes, green onion, garlic, and parsley. This was confit as it's meant to be: the meat fell right off the bone. I love duck, and Hudson Valley has a great reputation. The skin was so nice and crispy. It was a bit rich however, and I didn't eat more than a few bites.

Fifth Course: Araguani chocolate pie with frozen praline bar and roasted hazelnuts. The chocolate was nice and rich, but the crust was a bit too bland. Overall, yummy.

Sixth Course: Warm cherry clafoutis with crème fraiche and homemade cherry liquor. This was a very, very good clafoutis. I enjoyed this immensely. I especially liked how the crème fraiche's bitterness took the edge off all the sugar.

The problem that Bloomspot and Groupon deals have, is that they don't trend towards repeat business. The same is true possibly in this case. I liked the food, and I am curious about their regular menu, however, it was a trek for me, and right up in the thick of Hollywood craziness on Sunset. I would go back, and I would like to say that I will go back, but I don't know if that's going to happen.

Palate = slow jams.

Ray's at LACMA

2011-06-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

'Designed by famed architect Renzo Piano, Ray's and Stark Bar, named after Ray Stark, the late film producer known for such works as Funny Girl and Steel Magnolias, is adjacent to the new Resnick Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Ray’s offers a bold, Mediterranean farm-to-table menu based on seasonal, local ingredients and the restaurant’s wood burning oven and grill. Ray's Executive Chef Kris Morningstar, who was most recently Executive Chef at District and Mercantile, and prior to that worked at such top L.A. establishments as AOC, Patina, and Blue Velvet, presides over the kitchen. A separate bar and lounge named Stark Bar offers handcrafted, seasonal cocktails by famed Los Angeles barsmith Michel Dozois and a dynamic menu of small plates.'
- Ray's and Stark Bar Website

Honestly, this is one of the best meals I've had in LA so far this year. Words escape me, so let's just dive in shall we?

Where's the silverware? Not ON the table, but IN it! Loved this! My girlfriends and I were looking around quite confused until our server came over and explained it to us. What a great space saver. On top of explaining where our silverware was, he also explained the entire menu. And he did this without being boring or condesending.

Amuse bouche: Lightly grilled salmon eggs on french green beans on potato mousseline. This was very light and delicately briny with just a bit of crunch from the beans.

Chile: wood roasted chile, chorizo, dates, local goat cheese, almond sauce. Our server told us this was 'life changing' chili. It wasn't all that. But it was pretty good.

Fan Shell Scallop: sashimi, cara cara oranges, chives, cracked black pepper, Maldon salt. I love scallops, and scallop sashimi is a great way to eat scallops. The sweetness of the oranges offset the brine a touch, but not too much. I would order this again in a heartbeat.

English peas: agnolotti filled with pea puree, pea tendrils, lobster. Oh. My. God. This was amazing! I want more. Now. Seriously. And it was lucky timing as it was the tail end of lobster season (tail end, get it?). I see they've adjusted this dish slightly. I'm guessing it's still pretty darn good.

Cornish Hen: wood grilled, barley salad, golden raisins, confit lemon, dandelion greens, muhammara. This was my entree, and I adored it. The hen, though small, was meaty and tender. I really liked how the sweetness of the raisins cut into the savory element, but it wasn't intrusive.

Wild Stripe Bass: sunchokes, chanterelles, grapes, green garlic puree. This was another wonderful entree. The problem was I only got one bite. It's really so easy to overcook white fish, and this wasn't the case here.

Steak: hangar, smoked marrow, marble potatoes, cipollini onions, watercress. Meat afficionados will say no steak should ever be cooked sous vide. I'm not a meat afficionado, I rarely crave red meat, and I would normally agree as I like my cow still mooing. This is one case where I will disagree. This steak was so tender and juicy that I sincerely wished I had ordered it for my own. Alas, it was not to be. When I get back over there, it will be mine. Believe it.

What are a couple of girls to do but order nearly every single item on the dessert menu? I'll try to remember how it went:

Blueberry tart with pistachio ice cream. Holy god.

Panna cotta with strawberries and a shortbread cookie. Heaven.

Whoopie pies. Do I really need to say anything? One look should have you drooling.

From the clean lines of the architecture and the efficiency of the table settings, to the knowledgeable waitstaff, down to the every bite that passed through my lips, this was simply an amazing meal. I've been talking it up to everyone I know and I can't wait to go back myself.

palate = sufficiently rocked

Haldi Root

2011-05-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

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.

I love Indian food. It's something I discovered all on my own in the South Bay. I have a favorite tandoori place on PCH in Torrance that I've been going to for AGES, and aside from there, I've only stopped into various Indian Sweets & Groceries for a lunch here or there. When I was invited to try someplace new, I quickly jumped. The catch, it's in Woodland Hills. I live in the South Bay. To put that in perspective, it was a 60 mile drive in Friday night rush hour traffic. ON THE 405!!! I brought with me my partner in crime, The Catty Critic, and the time passed quickly enough.

The space is unassuming; a large brick building on a quiet neighborhood street corner in Woodland Hills. The sign when you walk in announces karaoke in the bar. This earned the first WTF from us. Or second really as we already knew about the Italian menu. The decor is fancier than expected, with very high ceilings and dim lighting. And how is the food? Well....

Appetizer: various fried appetizes: papadum, onion bhajji, shrimp pakora, samosas, paneer pakora. It was a LOT of fried food. We definitely didn't finish it all, and the vegetable samosa was my favorite. I think I would stick to maybe one or two appetizers and not order the sampler next time.

Garlic Naan, an absolute favorite of mine. I adored using it to scoop up what came next.

Lamb tikka masala: This was absolutely wonderful. I really enjoy tikka masala, even though there's some argument over whether or not it's really a traditional Indian dish. Regardless, I like it, and really that's all that matters. I'm used to chicken vs lamb, but the lamb was so deliciously tender. (It also made really good leftovers)

Bengan Bhartha: Curry made with roasted Eggplant, onions, tomatoes and spices This was Rosa's pick, and I'm glad she picked it. I love the above ingredients and I'd never had them with curry. It was mouthwatering savory goodness.

Saag Paneer: Spinach curry mixed with Indian Cheese This has long been a favorite of mine, especially with the aforementioned naan. Creamy spinach and cheese with just a hint of spice. Mmmmmm....

Saffron rice: loaded with vegetables, perfectly cooked and with the lovely hint of saffron. Top it with lamb tikka masala for a delightful combination of meat, rice and vegetables.

Chocolate Samosas: apparently an 'award winning' dessert. Not sure which award, but I'll bite. Personally, it didn't do it for me. Mostly because the oil it was fried in was the same oil that had fried everything else and it showed.

Overall, good food. At least on the Indian side of things. I couldn't say or surmise about the Italian fare. Was it great? Meh. For me personally, it's not worth the drive. However, if you're over on that side of the world, stop in. Have the lamb tikka masala and report back your findings. I also think it would be better served as a smaller neighborhood restaurant. In my opinion, the place is too large to be sustainable. There were only 3 full tables on a Friday night, which doesn't speak of a strong local clientele. Maybe I was there on a bad night? I don't know. I do like the idea of two totally different menus if you're dining with someone who doesn't like Indian food. I don't know a single soul that doesn't like Italian. So in that sense, something for everyone!

Note: all food and drink were hosted

Palate: moderately bemused

Magnum 3.0 Part 2

2011-05-25T16:21:00.000-07:00

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

Amuse bouche: Shrimp chip wrapped in cured Thai snapper with a wasabi aioli. I do love me some shrimp chips. The snapper was a bit too mild to do anything for it, but the aioli was a nice addition.

Photo: Angela Serranzana

First Course: Oysters / Brown Butter and Lemon Briny and delicious. The brown butter added a nice savory element to the brine. This was paired with Von Buhl Brut: Riesling. The natural acidity in the riesling also helped to cut into the brininess without overpowering the oyster.

Photo: Angela Serranzana

Second Course: Potato Chip Soup/Ramps/ Cucumber/ Fried Oysters I liked the fried oyster, like, a lot. And the cucumber balls were just fun. It was a nice soup and after adoring the soup at 1.0, it seems Mahon has a strength there. We need a West Coast soup nazi. You know, just putting it out there. This was paired with 2008 Batic : Pinela. Honestly, I shouldn't have waited to write this up. I barely remember how it paired.

Photo: Rosa Camp

Third Course: CrispyTofu/SunflowerSeeds/Cilantro/MarinatedVegetables/ Dashi Emulsion This was not a favorite of mine. I was expecting crispy, as implied by the name, but instead the sunflower seeds were less crunchy and more chewy. The flavor was all seeds, though I did love the veggies that it came with. This was paired by my new favorite beer: Hitachino White. LOVE THIS BEER. It's almost creamy. So good!

Photo: Angela Serranzana

Fourth Course: Tuna Rolls w/ Crab/ Jicama/ Mango/ Spicy Mayonnaise I think this was my favorite. It was everything it was supposed to be. The tuna, crab, jicama, mango and spicy mayo blended together so very nicely. It also happened to be paired with my favorite wine of the evening: 2008 Francois Pinon Silex, Vouvray. I had this the day before and it stood out on it's own. I also had someone make an excursion to Domaine LA to pick up a bottle for me earlier in the day as I wanted to make sure I could get my hands on some for my at-home drinking pleasure. My only regret, not buying more bottles.

Photo: Angela Serranzana

Fifth Course: Braised Baby Octopus/Leek Risotto, Pine Nuts/ Pancetta Vinaigrette Well, here's where I don't quite know what to say. It was less braised, more chewy. The leek risotto was amazing, so there's that. Our server Akilli noticed the table collectively didn't finish this one. He spoke to the kitchen and they sent new dishes out. They weren't much better, but it's nice that they acknowledged the problem. Chef Mahon even made an appearance at the table to apologize. This was paired with 2009 Jean Paul-Brun: Chardonnay, which was a Beaujolais blanc. This was new to me, and I'll stick with the Gamay I think. More my style.

Photo: Angela Serranzana

Sixth Course: Miso Cured Hangar Steak/Creamed Spinach/ Shitake Mushroom Tempura/ Sesame
Seeds/ Ponzu Sauce This was another really good dish. The meat was nice and tender and I really enjoyed the sauce as well as the creamed spinach. We had one member in our party whom only ordered this course and had to wait and watch the rest of us eat to get there. Red meat deserves red wine, and it was delivered as 2007 Eric Texier LA Vaison Romaine, Cote du Rhone.

Photo: Angela Serranzana

Seventh Course: Yuzu Crème Brulee/Poached Apricots Sadly, this was another table miss as the creme brulee was oddly gritty and the top was less than crackable. So it went more liquid dessert with D. Delecheneau Domaine La Grange Rose.

This version of Magnum was more than a pop up as it also included a silent auction benefiting the Japan Sake Brewer Association. The auction raised $12,000 which will go towards helping repair damages from the recent earthquake. For a complete listing of donations, and winners, go here.

Pop ups are hard work. Weeks of prep for only a few days of actual work. They're short lived, yet grueling. This was the last of the Magnum pop ups. Though, if the winds of fate are kind, we can expect to see Magnum popping up in a brick and mortar, hopefully by the end of the year. In the meantime, Mahon has his eye on a burger joint in Fullerton. This 3.0 version of Magnum didn't really do it for me, but I have high hopes for what's to come.

Magnum 3.0 Part 1

2011-05-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

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.

April 17, 2011

My morning began at 8am when I woke up to head over to Pacific Marukai market in Gardena, CA. Two days prior I had been speaking to David on the phone when he mentioned he needed miso soup spoons. I offered to find them for him as I live in the South Bay which is the Los Angeles Asian mecca. Marukai opens at 9am on Sunday, and I wanted to be there promptly when they opened on the off chance I wasn't able to find what I needed in the amounts needed. As luck would have it, I hit gold on my first try. After my purchase was made, I skipped over to Sea Empress restaurant in the Pacific Square plaza in Gardena for dim sum with a friend. A great way to kill time as David was planning on being at Royal T at 11.

My plan was to drop off the spoons with his nibs and then head back to the South Bay, but somehow, that's not how my day went. Soon after meeting at Royal T and discussing everything that was needed that day, I was shanghai'd into a trip to the printer to get table tents and posters made. After that it was a jump over to Surfas for various needs. Akilli, whom, as it would happen, was my server at Magnum 1.0, met us on our return and we jumped into the wine pairings.

Safe to say, this was my favorite part of the day. I hadn't planned on being there, but if you're going to be there and David brings out the wine to explain the pairings, you stick around. He went through each and explained the dish and what he was trying to do with each. A few of the wines on their own needed some help, which is where the food came in. A few were amazing on their own. I was also introduced to an amazing beer and a sake that comes in a can. My own reservation wasn't until the next day, but the wine/beer/sake had me excited and more than a little bummed I had to wait.

After the sampling, it was back to the printer to pick up the goods and another trip to Surfas. Upon getting back to Royal T, which had been operating all day in their normal business function, it was time for the FOH (front of house) crew to arrive and start their own prep. The kitchen crew had arrived at around 1pm and was already underway with all things food. Royal T closed at 3pm that day and all but one table had left as the tables were moved around to accommodate that evenings reservations. Wine glasses were set out and polished, silverware was polished and organized. Table tents went onto the tables (courtesy of yours truly) and the posters went onto the easels to stand next to the silent auction table. I made one more trip to Surfas to pick up a tablecloth and was told by the staff there that they don't sell bedding. I guess after 3 separate trips there, I deserved that.

The next thing I knew, it was 5pm and time for me to leave. Somehow, my entire day had flown by. Before I left, David decided to share one of his favorite pairings with me: Whoppers and Pinot Noir. Boxed Pinot Noir, if I'm to be accurate. Truly a surprising pairing. I don't know of many other people (read: any) pairing junk food.

Next: Magnum 3.0 day 2. I ate.

Chef Joseph Mahon breaking it down

Prepping the oysters

Goodbye Test Kitchen, Hello Sotto

2011-04-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

Test Kitchen was meant to be a short run with Sotto taking it's place in January, if you listen to LA Weekly. Like with many restaurants they were delayed, thus, opening at the very end of March. More has changed than just concept and name. The interior has seen a mild overhaul as well with the back booths taken out and replaced with bench wall seating and tables. The chalkboard is gone as well creating a feeling of the room being slightly more open. Then there's the fact that the players are going to remain constant with former Pizzeria Ortica chef Steve Samson and Zach Pollack helming the kitchen after 2 Test Kitchen runs in the same space and a tour of Southern Italy.

Now that they're in, let's take a look at some of the food. We went a week after they opened and I avoided reviews as best I could. The date we chose to go was partly due to the fact that Jeremy Parzen was to be in the house and we wanted to meet the man who planned the wine list. Jeremy lives in Austin, TX and will likely be in LA once a month. The wine list is interesting and, as the restaurant serves Italian food and Jeremy is an Italian wine guy, is very heavy in the Italian wines.

We started with a bottle of Gulfi Cerasuolo di Vittoria.Wine words: light, smooth tannins, balanced. Plain English: delicious.

Our server then smoothly steered us towards the bread and lardo ($5 and $7 respectively). It came as two thick slices of the house made bread smeared with lard. I'm glad we didn't have a table of more than two as I wasn't about to share and I don't think the two slices were worth $5 when most restaurants include bread gratis. It was a nice combination, but still doesn't top the baguette and smoked lard from Ludobites 4.0.

Our first entree arrived shortly after we finished the bread: squid ink fusilli (pistachios, bottarga, mint). Funny think about this dish, is that I really wanted to like it. I'm not sure if I did. I definitely didn't dislike it. It's stuck in limbo, that grey area that has no real definition. My date liked it, if that helps.

We chose one pizza to share, the Guanciale (house-cured pork cheek, ricotta, scallions, fennel pollen). This pizza had a surprisingly thin crust, was served with no tomato sauce (yay!) and yet despite the lack of sauce, was soggy in the middle. I think this may have had something to do with the ricotta. It doesn't really matter, it was delicious! The fennel pollen was definitely the dominant player on the palate, but everything combined was just really, really good. Soggy crust or not, this pizza was, how do you say...WINNING! (yeah, that just happened)

For dessert we split the ricotta al forno (candied kumquats, grapemust), which is a must try if it remains on the menu much longer. I love the sourness of kumquats, and though that was brought down by the sugar, a hint remained and when paired with the warm creaminess of the ricotta, was taken to a whole different level.

The meal, was overall a success. I didn't expect to like or agree with everything, and the more I think about the squid ink fusilli, the more I'm inclined to say that I liked it. Obviously it's made me think, and I've forgotten how many meals I've eaten that didn't make me think at all. I'll be back, and it's likely I'll be back sooner vs. later.

Palate - sufficiently rocked

Sotto Restaurant
9575 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035
310.277.0210
www.sottorestaurant.com

Lou on Vine

2011-04-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

'What's your tolerance for strange wine?' - Lou Amdur

Lou on Vine is primarily known as a wine bar. Lou Amdur, proprietor, is the ultimate wine geek's wine geek. His knowledge and enthusiasm for wine is vast, with the enthusiasm being contagious. I haven't had a glass of wine there that I didn't enjoy. And I definitely enjoy funky wines. However, there's more to Lou than wine. Turns out, the kitchen is doing something as well.

Photo: Mark Ryan

Once we sat down after a short wait by the bar, where I had a lovely Tressalier, we quickly decided to share the charcuterie plate to start. This consisted of a mild spread of various salami and pancetta with a few cheeses, a pate and gherkins.

Moving on, we ordered the Ragu of Smoked Duck: black trumpet mushrooms, tagliatelle. This really was delightful. Not overly oily, like some duck can be, it was abundant and savory. Plus, it had the added bonus of mushrooms. I haven't yet met a mushroom I didn't love. Nor do I expect to. During this dish, Lou made his way over with several different wines that I sadly cannot remember the labels of. I wrote them down somewhere, I swear. I vaguely recall one of them being a rather pleasant Pigato.

We also decided to split the Maine Scallops: celery root puree, bacon, black olives, apple, fennel. This is tied with Wolvesden as the best scallops I've had in LA. They had a perfect sear, and were lovingly accompanied by the puree. On a subsequent visit, I saw someone eating this particular dish, and wanted to snatch it away from her.

We finished up our evening with their take on the banana cream pie. I had one bite, maybe two. I'm not a big banana fan, so this wasn't my bag to begin with. But it was cool, and banana-y. The best part of dessert was the Madeira that Lou dropped off with it. Mike Steinberger (Slate Wine Columnist) wrote a piece recently about Madeira wines, and I remember reading it and thinking, 'yeah, about time.' Lou has several that he carries, and I've been lucky enough to try some of the more aged ones. All I can say is that sometimes older is better.

If you like funky wine, great food and engaging and interesting proprietors, I could suggest shaking the lead out and heading over to Lou. Totally worth it, and I enjoy it every time I go back.

Palate- happy dance

Lou on Vine

724 Vine Street
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 962-6369

Delphine at the W Hotel

2011-04-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last month, The Minty and I went to see a show at the Pantages (Avenue Q, for the curious) and wanted to have a bite before curtain. The W Hotel sits conveniently across the street from the theatre, so it was obvious where we should go: Delphine. Delphine made a bit of a splash when it first opened last year, and I honestly haven't heard much out of there as of late.

Luckily, we arrived during Happy Hour which consists of the standard drink specials and..wait for it..raw bar specials. Think $1 oysters. Well, $1 for East Coast and $2 for West Coast. Either way, you can eat a literal ton of oysters and not break the bank. We ordered a half dozen each of the East and West to share. Personally, I liked the West Coast better. It was a slightly more intense briny flavor.

We also ordered both of the crudo available that evening: yellowtail and tuna. The yellowtail (not pictured) had a cilantro chili oil and kaffir lime salt that I felt was a tad overwhelming. This might be a personal bias as I think kaffir lime anything overwhelms a dish. The tuna (blood orange and basil salt) was favored by both of us. (note: the crudo was not on the Happy Hour menu, but on the full Raw Bar menu)

We rounded out our raw bar experience with the seafood ceviche. At $3, why not right? It was damn good as seafood ceviches go.

When I had been pondering my dinner options during the day leading up to our meal, I actually stopped on the Delphine Salad. Signature salads tend to be the popular ones. The Delphine includes escarole, red onions, walnuts, grana padano, lemon truffle vinaigrette. You could smell the 'truffle' from a mile away. Normally, I'm not a fan of 'truffle' oil (quotations included because truffle oil is not made with truffles) as it's taste past the first whiff is rather on the chemical side. Or is that because I already know it's chemicals? I digress, the truffle oil is smoothed out nicely by the lemon making this a delectable salad. It's also on the big size so if you're going to have it with your dinner, I recommend sharing.

Split plate of Delphine Salad

For my main, I chose one of the weekly specials, the halibut. Here's where the meal got shaky. Halibut can go one of two ways: perfection, or overcooked. And really, overcooked is easy to do with this delicate white fish. Sadly, mine was overdone. Not by much, but enough to put me off. It came in a seafood 'chowder' which I thought was on the thin side. It didn't stick to the fish like I would have wanted it to. I ended up leaving the majority of it on my plate.

Shauna went with the trout meunière which was to have sautéed shrimp, potatoes, lemon, parsley brown butter, only it came with langostines instead. A lot of them. The flavors didn't really jive for this particular dish, and the actual trout got a little lost.

We did order a few sides, the brussel sprout leaves (winner) and the mac and cheese with cured ham and gruyère (not so much).

We did have a few drinks to go with our meal. Specifically, the mojito, which I physically wasn't able to drink due to mint leaves getting stuck in my straw and the Manhattan, which was delicious. Prior to our leaving the manager made sure we had a shot. Forgive me, but I don't remember the name. But I do remember what it tasted like: jungle juice. Super sweet and super dangerous.

We skipped dessert as we had a show to catch. All in all, I'd definitely go back before a show, but I'll probably stick to the raw bar. I'll also pass on drinks that include dense amounts of vegetation. But that's not so much their fault. I never seem to learn and I do like mojitos.

Delphine at the W Hotel
6250 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028
323-798-1355

Palate - pleased

Note: all food and drink were hosted

Bluegrass Brunches @ Urban Solace

2011-04-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

San Diego - One day, several months ago, Chef Dan Moody posted a photo on Twitter of a beautiful plate of foie gras eggs benedict. Lovely and decadent, it sent my mouth into a mouth watering tizzy. There was a conversation following between Moody, myself and Urban Solace chef/owner Matt Gordon. It was decided that when I should decide to come down to San Diego, I was to notify Matt in advance and the off menu item would be happily added to that days' menu. Turns out, it was sooner than later as soon after this conversation, I went to San Diego to partake in the pop up event of Moody's, Relate.

The morning after we attended Relate, Mark and Angela (I Flip for Food duo), Rosa (The Catty Critic), the Cat Wrangler, Dan Moody and I headed over to Urban Solace. We were expected and as such, the service was beyond friendly and accommodating, though I get the feeling that this is normal behavior for the staff. We were seated on the patio which was shaded and cool to enjoy our meal and the strains of music from the Bluegrass duo playing the guitar and banjo. There were three of us, the girls, that ordered the foie gras eggs benedict, 2 steak bennies were ordered and the kitchen sink. You may ask what's in the kitchen sink, and the answer would be: everything but. (insert chuckle here)

The foie gras benedict consisted of perfectly seared lobes of liver over english muffin, topped with poached eggs and drizzled with ancho chili hollandaise. The result was complete decadence. The amount of foie gras in this dish was almost too much. And trust me, I can't believe the words are even coming out as I generally don't believe in too much foie gras. The ancho chili hollandaise was a pleasant surprise, adding just a little heat. My only tiny little complaint is that I prefer my hollandaise a bit thicker. The taste though, was sublime. I'm incredibly glad I included this stop to my SD trip and I really look forward to getting back down there to see what they're doing for dinner. If you're ever in the San Diego area and looking for a brunch spot, I recommend this for both ambiance and fare. Maybe you'll even get lucky and foie gras benedict will be available.

3823 30th Street
San Diego, CA 92104-3609
(619) 295-6464
http://www.urbansolace.net/

Ktown Series: Episode 1: Kalbi Burger

2011-04-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

The very first time I had ever heard of Kalbi Burger was at last year's KBBQ Cook Off. It was the first booth to have food ready after a fire department inspection delay. Burgers happen to cook faster than galbi. At the time, I only had a basic cheeseburger with their special house made aioli. To say that it made my mouth water in sensory overload was an understatement. However, despite this strong beginning, it took me many months to make the journey into their actual restaurant.

I've been a few times since but never got around to blogging. Sometimes I like to eat just to eat. And if you can't tell, I'm fairly lazy about posting. Rosa, The Catty Critic, and I got around to discussing the idea of doing a Korea Town Series. We want to get into the heart of Korea Town and discover what the city has to offer other than amazingly delicious Korean BBQ, which we already know and love. Talk to anyone and they have their favorite place to go. We've heard the names Chung Ki Wa and Soot Bull Jeep a thousand times, and we'll never doubt their ability to feed us into spectacular comas. But there's more, so much more to Korea Town than just BBQ. There are now gastropubs like Biergarten and soon to be Beer Belly. There are soon dubu joints and cemitas. There are all sorts of finds that rely strictly on word of mouth and occasionally Jonathon Gold. So we thought we'd dig and see what we can find. We'll be aiming for once-a-month adventures and will likely post on Twitter prior to going so that anyone who wants to join us, can.

To start our series, we hit up Kalbi Burger. I tweeted our proposed adventure and this was picked up by @KoreaTown who handles the twitterverse for many of Korea Town's eateries, including Kalbi Burger. What began as a 3 person (Rosa, Kiddo and myself) adventure, soon bloomed into an impromptu Tweet Up. I had the opportunity to talk to Hawk, the owner, and discuss what he's doing over there. Basically, it comes down to organic beef; no hormones, no additives, just the good stuff. He says it with a look of pride. Which, in a day of questionable meat (ahem, Taco Bell), is appreciated by the many who dine there.

There are several different burgers and salads, with a hot dog or two thrown in for good measure. Each burger can be adjusted upon request. For example, I LOVE the Seoul Burger, however, it comes with Thousand Island dressing. But I prefer the aioli from the Kalbi Burger. So I simply requested to ditch the 1000 island and sub out the aioli. This was done without any problems. So what I got was an amazingly juicy burger patty on a perfect brioche bun with kimchi, cheese and aioli. A little bit of lettuce, some fresh red onion and it was mouth watering perfection.

Rosa went with the Banh Mi Burger; you can check her thoughts here. I had a bite and honestly thought it was the perfect blend of banh mi and burger. Hawk admitted that it's his wife's favorite and I can totally see why.

Kiddo went simple with just a basic all beef hot dog and ketchup. She didn't say much, but she ate the whole thing which in turn speaks for itself.

If you want to get your palate rocked by something as basic as a burger, look no further than Kalbi Burger. The only thing that needs work is it's lack of more locations. I'm trying to convince Hawk to build one Gardena. I have the perfect location for it. Maybe I should franchise? Do go next time you're near there. I rank it high in my top ten burgers in LA.

Palate - Salivating for more

4001 Wilshire Blvd., Unit East
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 738-7898
kalbiburger.com

Lukshon: It's not Father's Office (It's next door)

2011-03-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

Culver City - Sang Yoon, proprietor and chef of Father's Office picked well when he chose the Helm's Bakery district. Quietly charming, the area houses several upscale furniture showrooms and such restaurants as Father's Office, Let's Be Frank, La Dijonaise (a former fave of mine, and I'm committed to going back as it's been 9 years), and now Lukson.

Unlike the dark gastropub atmosphere of Father's Office, Lukshon is all clean lines of wood, steel and glass. Smooth, satin wood lines the walls of the somewhat narrow interior. Rounded booths on one side, a communal frosted glass table in the middle. Truthfully, I barely got a glance at the interior prior to being seated outside on the heated patio. Here's a funny story, I called in advance to inform them that I would be coming with a toddler. The hostess immediately offered to seat me outside. I accused her, jokingly, of thinking toddlers were a loud nuisance. I think she took me seriously, poor girl was so flustered. But, of course being outside does work best when meals go 2 hours+ long. Kiddo does well, but she has her limits. The patio did allow for a bit of movement, and the heaters were just right.

Two of my dining companions, Mark and Angela of I Flip for Food were there already and sipping on cocktails. You can check their post for their thoughts as I was driving and chose not to partake. Though I did have a glass of wine (riesling? I honestly can't remember). All day, Rosa from the Catty Critic, Mark, Angela and I were bouncing menu items around, so we had a solid idea of what we wanted to order. Once Mark from Flow Films arrived, we were ready to go:

Just that morning EstarLA posted her thoughts on the Duck Popiah, and needless to say, it was at the top of the list. The duck popiah was made from house made skins and included cilantro, pickled jicama and a house made hoisin-chile sauce. Typically I cringe at cilantro, but this was just the right amount. It was not overwhelming in the least. I will say that the duck to filler ratio was just a tad off for my taste. I felt that my piece didn't have enough duck (1 tiny morsel). And I wished we had ordered more as with 5 adults and one toddler, 4 small pieces was just not enough.

Our next appetizer was the spicy chicken pops: kecap manis, garlic, spicy sichaun salt. Drummettes that had been stripped of tendon and skin, and the bones seemed trimmed as well. Like a chicken lollipop. The amount of spice was actually agreeable to Mark, but it blew out my tastebuds immediately and made my lips feel collagen injected. In short, I really liked it! The only bad part, was that I couldn't taste the next dish until the spice wore off.

I ordered the chicken dumpling soup: superior broth, pea spouts, 63° egg for the kiddo. I figured she likes soup and a lot of the dishes we ordered were not particularly toddler friendly. The soup was smooth and nice. Not a whole lot to say here. There was a good amount of dumpling and the mix of the cracked egg was delightful. Kiddo spooned it up, so winner there.

The foie gras ganache earned mixed reactions from our little crowd. While everyone loves the foie, the use of cinnamon and tamarind made it seem more dessert-like and a bit much to eat more than one bite. Oddly enough, this was my 3 year old's first try of foie gras and she lapped it up like it was candy. This isn't my favorite way to enjoy foie gras, but I'm glad I tried it.

The lamb sausage roti canai (chana dal, cumin, mint, pickled cauliflower) was a trip to south east Asia with it's Malaysian roots. While I liked it, I think it's flavors strayed farther from the other dishes than I would have liked. (foie gras excepted as that's just not Asian at all).

Skirt Steak: sichaun 'au poivre' with shishito peppers. This was hands down my favorite dish of the night. Medium rare and deliciously juicy, the peppers and peppercorn were a nice balance. My mouth is watering thinking about this one, and I'm not much of a red meat eater.

X.O. rice: jasmine rice, housemade x.o. sauce, long beans and egg. This tasted almost exactly like my mother's friend rice. I think this food memory is what made me like it so much. It's a rice side, and one you must get if you like fried rice. It's not fancy, but it's just like mom's, so that's saying something.

Garlic pork belly: do ban jian, rice cakes, cabbage, garlic chives. I'm not a pork belly fan. This didn't change that.

Crispy coconut rice cakes: pandan, shallot chilie jam. I expected more from this, but it was nice. I liked the crispiness of the rice and it went well with the oniony jam. But the coconut was almost non existent. Kiddo loved it.

DanDan noodles: kurobuta pork, sesame, preserved mustard greens, sichuan peppercorns, peanuts. We were told to eat this last due to the spice, and I think that may have been overkill. I honestly thought the chicken pops were more spicy than this one. This was also the only dish that came with peanuts, but it's also the one I hear the most about. I believe you can order it sans peanuts if you have allergies, and that may be worth looking into. The noodles were a touch too soft for my taste, but overall, it was enjoyable. Though, in my opinion, not nearly as memorable as 'everyone' is making it out to be.

One of the nice things about Lukshon is that dessert is complimentary. We had 3 desserts to try, the mango lassi (shot glass), the panna cotta (other shot glass) and a little cake. It's a nice way to end the meal and the mango lassi is a nice palate cleanser to kill any lingering pain from spice. It was small for our table size, but we skipped over to Scoops Westside as we usually do when we're on that side of town. Kiddo loves her Uncle Matt.

The question remains, would I go back? Yes, I would. We didn't get into any of the seafood on the menu and there are several items that caught my fancy. I was 'meh' for a few of the dishes we have, and that's totally fine. I liked enough of them to make a return trip worth it. I just wish the wine list had wines from someplace other than California. I'm sure that will come in time (at least it had better).

Palate - slow jams

Magnum Popping the Cork at Royal T

2011-03-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

Culver City - Royal T in Culver City is the local version of the Japanese cosplay cafe. Cosplay cafes in Japan are themed restaurants that include maid and butler cafes. Confused? Don't be, go check it out. Just be aware that from April 17-19, Royal T will lose the maids and take in a wine pimp and kitchen gangsta. The Magnum duo of David Haskell (pimp) and Joseph Mahon (gangsta) will be making their 3rd pop up appearance, the previous two being at Biergarten and Cemitas y Clayudas Pal Cabron, respectively, both in Koreatown.

This latest rendition sees Mahon using more Japanese flair with the menu. His past two pop up locations have seen their individual influences reflected in the menus as well. At Biergarten, we saw a bit of Korean, and at Pal Cabron some oaxacan show up in a few dishes.On top of the Japanese influence, a portion of the proceeds from the 3 day pop up will benefit a to be named Japanese restaurant or sake brewery in the wake of the earthquake/tsunami.

Where: Royal T Cafe
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

When: April 17-19

MENU
Updated 4/11/11 to include wine pairings:

Oysters / Brown Butter and Lemon
Wine: Von Buhl ³Brut²: Riesling: Bad Durkheim. Germany

Potato Chip Soup/Ramps/ Cucumber/ Fried Oysters
Wine: 2008 Batic : Pinela: Sempas, Slovenia

Fennel Royale/Sea Urchin/ Apple Cloud/ Nori Powder
Wine: 2009 Riviera Ligure di Ponente: Pigato: Durin, Italy

CrispyTofu/SunflowerSeeds/

Cilantro/
MarinatedVegetables/ Dashi Emulsion
BEER: Hitachino White

Tuna Rolls w/ Crab/ Jicama/ Mango/ Spicy Mayonnaise
Wine: 2008 Francois Pinon Silex: Chenin Blanc: Vouvray, France

Braised Baby Octopus/Leek Risotto, Pine Nuts/ Pancetta Vinaigrette
Wine: 2009 Jean Paul-Brun: Chardonnay: Beaujolais, France

Ocean Trout/Peas/ Mint/ Morels/ Lobster Jus
Wine: 2007 G. Rescombes ³Villes Vignes²: Gamay: Brouilly, France

Sliders w/ Grass Fed Beef/ Potato Chips/ Bibb Lettuce/ Chipotle Aioli
Sake: Jukusie Funabuchi: Junmai Ginjo: Nigata-Ken, Japan

Miso Cured Hangar Steak/Creamed Spinach/ Shitake Mushroom Tempura/ Sesame
Seeds/ Ponzu Sauce
Wine: 2007 Eric Texier ³ LA Vaison Romaine²: Grenache: Cote du Rhone , FR

Yuzu Crème Brulee/Poached Apricots
Wine: D. Delecheneau Domaine La Grange Rose : Cab Franc, Cot: Loire, Fr

5 course: 62.00
wine pairing 45.00

7 course: 80.00
wine pairing 62.00

10 course: 118.00
wine pairing 92.00

UNI MENU:

Uni/ oyster/ soy mignonette
Uni/Tuna Tartare
Uni Tartine/ Cucumber/ Brined Halibut

Uni/Cauliflower Royale/

Uni/ pizza/bone marrow
Uni/Veal/tempura Mushrooms/bordelaise sauce
Uni/Venison/shiso pepper sauce

dessert

$130.00 for the food
$80.00 for wine pairing

split wine pairing charge of 25.00

Lounge Bites:

Sliders w/ Grass Fed Beef/ Potato Chips/ Bibb Lettuce/ Chipotle Aioli $15

Tuna Rolls w/ Crab/ Jicama/ Mango/ Spicy Mayonnaise $19

Oysters w/ Brown Butter and Lemon $14

Haskell will be celebrating his birthday on the 19th, hence the uni menu. There will be limited offerings of the uni menu, so if this is something you would like to order, please let them know in advance. As in, today. I'm all set for the 18th, so be ready for the follow up post!

323-798-4648 or email magnumdh@gmail.com

Taste

2011-03-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

There was a night, several months back, when I went on a wild food chase through WeHo. It was late, and I had left XIV to meet a friend at Biergarten, only he had left and told me to meet at Bastide, but the kitchen was closed so we walked over to Comme Ca, where the kitchen was closed at well. We hopped across the street to Taste, where they were sweeping up the patio. Closed. We ended up at the Belmont that night, where they have the kitchen open late. 3 restaurant strike outs in the span of 15 minutes. Since then, it's been a goal to get back to each of the three places. Taste was first on the list since Mahon has since left Bastide to pursue other ventures.

Taste is a name that only pops up now and again on my radar. It's been quiet out of there recently, and maybe that's the point. While they have two locations; West Hollywood and the Pacific Palisades, it's less a point of interest restaurant then a neighborhood restaurant. Certainly, at the WeHo location, there are the trappings of fine dining, low(really, really low) lighting, white linens, etc. It's small and cozy, with a see and be seen patio. There's a fun cocktail list, and an ok wine list. There's little seating from what I could see, and where I was sitting, only four tables in a mildly cramped alcove. The menu isn't large by any means, and they have the standard weekly specials. A look at their website reveals rotating promotions such as:

-Happy Hour T-Su 4p-6p
-1/2 off Wine Mondays
-Bottomless mimosa Brunch on the weekends
-Daily lunch specials
-Full moon aphrodisiac tasting menus (not entirely sure what that's about)

With other promotions, same and different in the Palisades locale.

To get to the food, it will be sans photos. The lighting was too low for photos of any quality to be had, and so much the better because the dishes were pretty basic.

Thai Chicken Cups -Minced Chicken, Shallots, Crispy Rice, Peanuts,
Lemongrass Vinaigrette, Romaine Lettuce, Cilantro - meh. P.F. Changs did it first, and in my opinion better. This version used Romaine vs. iceberg, so it has an edge there. However, the cilantro, to me, was overpowering. In all fairness, I kind of border on hating cilantro. So that's just personal preference.

Crispy Rock Shrimp-Wasabi Aioli, Spicy Aioli, Thai Sweet& Sour Dipping Sauces - Tempura popcorn shrimp. Nothing fancy, and just as it sounds. The wasabi aioli won me here. I like a little kick.

Ravioli - it was the special, it had mushrooms, and a heavy cream sauce. I didn't finish it. It was good, but really really rich. I'm trying desperately to remember what was in it other than mushrooms, but I'm blanking, and as it was a special, it's not on the menu to help me out. You really can't go wrong with mushrooms in my book

Lastly, chocolate brioche bread pudding with Crème Anglaise and Vanilla Bean Gelato for dessert. I took this one to go as I wanted to share with Matt over at Scoops Westside. He and I agreed that this was a sugar bomb. It was unique in that it was bland, yet sugary. I couldn't manage more than 2 bites. Bummed? Yes, yes I was.

I have a friend who went there for Brunch and enjoyed herself on the patio. I think that as neighborhood restaurants go, it's good. The location and ambiance border on great. I, living in the wilds of the South Bay, won't be going out of my way to go back, but as I'm in the neighborhood frequently, I can see popping in for lunch on a weekend to check out what's going on there.

Palate - mildly amuse'd

8454 melrose avenue, west hollywood, ca 90069
323.852.6888
www.ilovetaste.com

Side note: all food and drink were hosted

Wolvesden

2011-03-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

‘I want to fucking feed you’ – Craig Thornton aka Wolvesmouth

On February 16^th, 2011, I was fucking fed. The month prior I received an invite from The Catty Critic to join her at a private dinner set up by Catty in London (not the same person). Catty was going to be in Southern California for a week and had asked several of her friends if they would be interested in joining her for dinner. Wolvesden has been getting harder and harder to get a reservation for, and after my canceled dinner back in October due to the move to the current location, I was unsure I would be able to get in. This was a golden opportunity that, of course, I wanted to take advantage of.

Due to the nature of the underground dining scene at Wolvesden, it’s BYOB, so I brought along a Bandol Rose from Domaine Ott and a Cote du Rhone. We never did end up opening the red, but the rose paired nicely with the first few dishes. When we got there, there was a small staff comprised of friends of Craig’s hard at work cranking fresh papparadelle and cutting up loaves of bread for croutons. A pot of soup, the first course, sat bubbling on the stove. While we waited, we milled about in the wide open loft, drinking wine and catching up. One of the fun things about Wolvesden, is that it brings people whom might never have met, to dine together at one table. In this instance, most of us have either met before or are familiar on social media.

Soon enough, it was time to eat. We began with the soup. Celery root and parsnip soup with a crab salad and croutons. This ranked high in my list of favorites for the evening. Creamy smooth, and not heavy in the least.

Next up was the scallop: perfectly seared and served with a candied carrot, meyer lemon and bacon bits. It really is getting harder to find a perfectly cooked scallop in Los Angeles. They tend to be overcooked and ridiculously salty. No such problem here. It was fork tender, and went wonderfully with the candied carrot and bacon. I would love to recreate this at home.

Our third course is what became known as the ‘deconstructed fish taco’; the Black Sea Bass. Light and juicy, it was served with a burnt tortilla puree, avocado, pickled onions and cilantro flowers. I’m not the biggest fish taco fan, or taco in general fan really, if I’m to be honest. If all fish tacos tasted like this one, I would be happily converted.

The fourth course was my least favorite of the night: skate with chorizo. I just felt the chorizo overwhelmed the fish, and skate isn’t one of my faves to begin with.

By this time, I was already starting to feel full. The portions Craig was serving up are nothing to be scoffed at. This was no one bite tasting menu. Course five didn’t help this feeling as it was a pasta dish and the first of the meat proteins. This is what I’ve been calling Thumper Stew: shredded rabbit with papparadelle and mushrooms. Not even a tiny bit gamey, if rabbit was this good all the time, more people would eat it. I only wish I could have finished my plate. This is where guilt started to kick in. I hate being wasteful, but I knew I had 5 more courses to power through.

Luckily, the sixth ‘course’ was a palate cleanser consisting of pop rocks, ground espresso, and dehydrated banana. Definitely fun to eat and you could hear crackling and popping coming from clear on the other side of the table.

Seven brought us to the pork cheek dumpling with horseradish crème fraiche, apple balls, dill and white beets. This was delightful, but SUPER filling. Again, I couldn’t finish, though somehow, I caught a second wind for the eighth course.

The lamb was my favorite meat course and marked the end of the savory dishes. This lamb was medium rare (as it should be) and served with apricots, pistachio and crumbled pita chips with arugula flowers. I scarfed this down like it was going out of style. Perfection.

The ninth dish, first of the desserts was crème fraiche panna cotta with yuzu and green tea shortbread, raspberries, and a white chocolate capsule filled with raspberry yuzu and orange blossom. It had the added benefit of having white chocolate shavings over the whole of it. One first had to break the capsule to release the juices that heightened the panna cotta. This would be a fantastic dessert in the warmer months.

The tenth and final course was what Craig was calling an ‘Elvis Sandwich’ though it was essentially ice cream. Peanut butter ice cream with French toast, bacon, pop rocks and bananas. It was entirely too rich for me at that point, but in a different mood, I could see myself diving into it.

After the meal, Craig was on hand to candidly talk about what he’s trying to accomplish and his motivation. He’s remarkably charismatic, which stands to reason as he’s essentially opening his home to strangers. His approach to food is bold, but not over the top which I appreciate. I’ll be watching to see what direction Wolvesden takes and of course will be trying to get back in, hopefully this Spring.

Wolvesden

Location: I’ll never tell

Reservations: join the mailing list: http://wolvesmouth.com/wolvesmouth/index.php/wolvesden

Palate = rocked hard with massive hangover the next morning while doing the walk of shame.

Relate: The Follow Through

2011-02-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

The day Relate, the first San Diego pop up headed by Chef Dan Moody, opened up for reservations, I jumped on the interwebs and snagged my reservation. Turns out, I was the first official reservation for Relate. I wasn't the first to go, but I was the first to say I was going. I'll take that. Following my confirmation of the rez for dinner, hotel plans needed to be made and dining companions to be procured. Easy on both accounts. Can you guess who came with me? The Catty Critic the Cat Wrangler and I were joined by the duo Mark and Angela from I Flip for Food and Jen from Kirbie's Cravings and Donald, Jen's boyfriend.

The trip south was uneventful, I was rolling solo and staying by myself at the Mission Plaza Inn & Suites which is located just across the street as the ever popular Phil's BBQ. Though, a word to the wise, NEVER stay at the Mission Plaza. I was greeted with a bag of trash on the dresser, an unflushed deuce in the toilet and a front desk that thought I was lying. This was after they attempted to charge me $40 more than my booking rate and had to bring that back down.

Of course it was raining the evening of our reservation, and as such the patio was closed, but it was cozy and warm inside St. Germain's Bistro and Cafe which was housing this first Relate pop up event. We were greeted by a gentleman coming out of the restaurant whom asked us if we had been before, and then proceeded to wax poetic about the meal saying every dish was perfection. I've never seen anyone do that. Obviously, he loved his meal there. It was a fantastic sign of things to come. Rosa, her hubby and I had carpooled from San Diego to Encinitas, and had to wait a bit for the rest of our party to arrive as they got stuck in traffic. We perused the wine list and had a glass of white while we were waiting. The wines are all from Mount Palomar, why, I don't know. They weren't horrid, but they weren't great. While I did order the wine pairing, I'm not going to talk about the wines as they were paired.

Once our entire party arrived, we were served our first course, the French Onion Soup.

This was a unique representation of french onion soup as the crouton, rather than soaking in a broth bath and covered in gruyère, it was wrapped around the cheese and soup. The result was a quick burst of warm soup in your mouth, all in one bite. The talk around the table was about the soup to dough ratio. I felt mine weighed heavily on the side of dough, while others felt that they got a sufficient amount of soup. Later, I discussed this with Chef Moody and he did agree that because of the way it's made, there are mild inconsistencies. Either way, I loved it. The concept down to the execution.

Our next dish was the bacon fried egg with potato rosti, baby lettuce and sherry vinaigrette. LOVED this! I loved the way the runny yolk came out when I opened the egg and then drowned the potato rosti. It doesn't hurt that I like things that are fried. Well played Mr. Moody. Well played.

The grilled octopus is first braised for 4 hours and then thrown on the grill. I have never had such tender octopus before. There was no need for a knife and my fork was able to cut nicely. This was served over a bed of mediterranean quinoa salad. I love octopus any way you serve it to me, and this was no exception.

The Redrock was, to me, the star of the evening. So much so that I even polished off Rosa's (she doesn't like beets). The redrock is sauteed, and then served over vadouvan beets with a coconut curry hollandaise and topped with fried spinach. The curry and the beets were just amazing. The coconut gave it a touch of sweetness to counteract the kick of the curry and the fried spinach gave it a nice bit of crunchy texture. The spinach, in a way, reminded me of nori. All in all, just delightful.

You can't go home without having at least one meat dish, and the spiced beef was that dish. Perfectly cooked it was juicy and tender. The picture doesn't show it, but there were several pieces strewn over a spinach avocado puree and green flash double stout gastrique with a nice amount of crispy porcini spaetzle. I don't know exactly what was in the spaetzle, but I got a mild maple flavour that I loved. Sadly, I didn't finish this one as I was getting full and there was still dessert.

The menu says we were to have a chocolate terrine however, plans were changed. Earlier in the week I had emailed Chef Moody about Angela's birthday. I asked him if he could kindly make her a cake, and he did. What you see below was the most decadently chocolate cake that had a cognac chocolate icing. Mmmm, icing.

blurry, I was a little buzzed by this point as well as full

The pieces were cut thin, and I still could only finish a half slice as it was so rich. The cake was much larger than the 7 of us could eat, so we left half at the restaurant. I sincerely hope he shared with the staff as they did such a great job. One slice went home with Angela for later. I think she had a good birthday. All I know for certain, I had a great meal, one that I'm glad I made the trip out for. I love supporting my Twitter friends, especially when it pays off in awesome food.

There was mild talk of Moody bringing Relate up to Los Angeles, and I hope he does. Not that I mind driving, but I want all of LA to be able to partake. Congrats to the Chef on a successful first pop up, and I look forward to future events!

Relate at Bistro St. Germain’s
1010 S. Coast Highway 101 #103
Encinitas, CA 92024
858-367-3709

MEGA Bad Movie Night: Foodbuzz 24x24

2011-02-07T15:48:00.000-08:00

Once a month, or about that, The Catty Critic and the Cat Wrangler (husband) host a bad movie night at their digs. I went to my first BMN there5 months or so ago for Sharktopus. About a month ago, I noticed that Mega Piranha was premiering on SYFY and a BMN was quickly in the works. Shortly after the evite was sent out, Foodbuzz announced that their 24x24 was to take place the same day. A flurry of emails were sent back and forth: should we submit a proposal? What would the theme be, besides the obvious. Menu options? There were questions, we addressed them and before you knew it, were ready for Rosa to submit our proposal.

A little bit about the 24 x 24: Once a month, Foodbuzz puts out the call for bloggers to submit their ideas for a full dinner, to be blogged of course. 24 bloggers around the world are chosen to host a dinner on a specific date. Once done, the blogger has 24 hours to post their experience to their blog. A stipend is given once posted to help defray the costs.

Our proposal, drafted by Rosa, was simple and to the point. A Mega Piranha themed dinner, taking us from the Brazilian Amazon up to the Florida Keys. Complete with cake wreck. At first, we weren't chosen. We weren't sent the approval email on the day that Foodbuzz said they were to go out. We secretly breathed a sigh of relief as we thought we may have gotten in over our heads. Then, 5 days later, the email came. We were in! Okay, so now to follow through. The menu:

-       Bacon-wrapped scallops
-       Conch cerviche
-       Bolinhos de Bacalhao (Fish cakes made up of potatoes, eggs, parsley and dry salted codfish)
-       Picanha (garlic top sirloin)
-       Linguica (Brazilian sausage)
-       Grilled pineapple
-       Fried Polenta
-       Pão de queijo (cheese bread)

First step: research and development. We may have lofty ideas about what to serve, but nothing we made was anything that we'd ever made before. We figured that the scallops, pinapple and polenta were no brainers, as was the picanha, the polenta and linguica. The cheese balls and ceviche were our challenges. Rather than attempt bolinhos, we cut a corner and bought them from Portugal Imports in Artesia, CA.

The ceviche was first. Neither of us has ever worked with conch, and it's likely we never will again. I went to the Korean market to get conch, and quickly learned that conch is a name given to pretty much any variety of sea snail. To save time, I bought periwinkles. The recipe said to pound them out otherwise the texture was too tough. Long story short, it was chewy, and there's no way around that.

We bought a box of cheese bread mix to compare against the cheese ball recipe. The ones from scratch had much better flavor, but the texture was better from the mix, but lacked flavor. That would need some work.

I found a recipe (thank you Queen of Butter Paula Deen) for caramel corn, and my idea was to use red dye to make it bloody caramel corn. We didn't have time to R&D this one, so it got pushed to the day of. Obviously, we had a few things to adjust prior to the big day.

The day of was rather smooth. We gave ourselves ample time and it went well at first. We were working at a steady pace that should have given us about 20 minutes to relax before the guests arrived. I had switched out the conch for red snapper at another failed attempt at conch using turban snails. This was the first dish that we started due to the long citrus bath the snapper had to take.

After that we moved to the cake wreck. Rosa made banana cake with a homemade strawberry filling. The filling, when the layers were put together started to bleed out. I looked at the amount of fondant we had and the amount of buttercream we had and made a snap decision. We were going to 'bandage' the cake with the fondant, and only use the buttercream on the top. This was the best decision we could have made as I didn't have enough fondant to cover the entire cake, no buttercream, and at that, the buttercream would only have staunched the wound for so long. It worked and we were able to create a full Mega Piranha them on top of the cake using plastic army men, a giant fish toy and a few boats.

Every other dish went completely smoothly, except, once again, the cheese bread decided to defy us. We adjusted the home made recipe, but this time, it was too bland. All that we had time or ingredients for was once again the box mix. I decided to cut little nuggets of the queso fresco from the other recipe that we had left over and insert those into the balls of dough. This proved to be the hail mary we needed as they came out with good texture (though still not as pretty) and much more intense cheese flavor.

The caramel corn turned out exactly as I wanted on the first try (thank goodness), the tri tip was cooked by the Cat Wrangler to perfection. The guests were enthusiastic with their praise of our food, though not so much for the one thing we bought pre cooked: the bolinhos. The movie was as horrifically bad as you could expect or want, and even led to a double feature as Mega Python vs. Gatoroid was on after (featuring Debbie Gibson and Tiffany). It was definitely a night to remember.

I learned a lot in this experience: R&D is your friend. Never wait until the day of when you are making dishes that are foreign to you. Never cook with sea snails unless you know what you are doing, and even then, those don't make a good ceviche. But red snapper does. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And lastly, HAVE FUN! The whole experience was a blast. I also learned that I am capable of sharing kitchen space. I also developed a deeper appreciation for chefs. To get the timing right is a skill, and cooking for others is truly a pleasure.

Props to Rosa for hosting and putting in the proposal and thanks to the Cat Wrangler for the grilling of the meats!

For more photos, go HERE

San Diego's FIRST Professional Pop Up: Relate

2011-02-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

In two days, San Diego is going to have, finally, it's very first professional pop up in the form of Relate at Bistro St. Germain's in Encinitas. Relate is the brainchild of Chef Daniel Moody, the RelationChef, whom is probably most famous for being Ludo Lefebvre's sous for Ludobites 3.0-6.0. Or, maybe for his foie gras powdered donuts from his Test Kitchen run. Personally, I know him more for Twitter bantering over which of us is more awesome. I still say me.

Whether you've had personal interaction with him or not, a trip to San Diego should be on a list of priorities in the month of February when Relate takes over the kitchen of Bistro St. Germain's from the 3rd through the 26th (closed on Sundays and Mondays). Described as contemporary French cuisine with a down-home American flare, the 5-6 course prix fixe menu will run $50+ per person with wine and beer pairings available.

The Catty Critic, Kirbie's Cravings and I will be traipsing down to SD on the 19th. Stay tuned for the follow up post. I'm really excited for this new venture of Chef Dan's and wish him luck in his adventure.

Relate at Bistro St. Germain’s
1010 S. Coast Highway 101 #103
Encinitas, CA 92024
858-367-3709
(or opentable.com)

Pan seared sea bass, red quinoa & roasted fig hash, fennel salad, garam masala beurre blanc

MAGNUM Pops Up Again in KTown

2011-01-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

February is quite nearly booked. I think I have maybe 2 nights free, and I'll likely use those to do laundry. Or sleep. (And we wonder why I don't date) Because my calendar is so full, I'm unable to attend MAGNUM's newest pop up, which is extremely unfortunate because I truly enjoyed the first go-round. I'm still trying to figure out if I really have to skip it, or if I can just bring my 3 year old with me. But then there's the fact that the two day pop up lands in what I have officially deemed: Food Week. Wolvesden and Relate in the same week followed by the foie gras eggs benedict at Urban Solace. Toss in Sea World and the San Diego Zoo plus a 2 nite stay in SD and you have here a girl who will be completely broke by the end of it all. I don't think my budget will stretch to MAGNUM. Sorry boys, next time. I promise.

In the meantime, here are the deets on what's going down in Ktown:

On February 15th and 16th, the MAGNUM crew will be bringing you the food stylings of Joseph Mahon (Bastide 5.0) with the wine accompaniment of Mr. David Haskell to Cemitas y Clayudas Pal Cabron. You may notice that this falls the day after the Hallmark Holiday of Valentine's Day. Here's my advice to you, skip the VDay madness, the flowers, the chocolates, the crappy prix fixe menus, and do it the day after (or the day after that) at MAGNUM. Guaranteed you'll have a better time. You might even get laid. Wine pairings are sexy you know. If that wasn't enough to convince you, here's the menu:

Four-Course Tasting Menu $48
Pozole with Romaine/ Cilantro/ Mint/ Radish/ Lime
Squid with Chorizo/ Cucumber/ Jicama/ Sesame Seeds
Flank Steak with Cactus Salad/ Chilies/ Grilled Corn Sauce
Flan with Pineapple/ Vanilla-Carmel Sauce

Additional Courses $8 each or $72 for the whole kit and kaboodle
Chilled Poached Shrimp with Cabbage/ Grated Horseradish/ Tomato-Ketchup Sauce
Poached Egg with Fried Pig Ears/ Black Beans/ Caramelized Onions
Roasted Beet Salad with Crispy Veal Tongue/ Wild Arugula/ Pumpkin Seeds/ Creamy Feta Dressing
Scallop with Crushed Avocado/ Chickpeas/ Spicy Tomato-Mussel Broth

$27 per person wine pairing (sorry, no sharing this time) which is sure to be one of the best pairings of your lifetime. If it's your first pairing, then congrats, you'll have peaked. If your liver can't hang with the full pairing, or you're driving (please don't drink and drive) there are wines by the glass and David is great at pairing one wine with multiple dishes.

Word on the street is that Haskell is opening MAGNUM-DH some time in 2011. I'm sure it's going to be awesome. In the meantime, get over to MAGNUM 2.0 and let me know how it is. I'm already green with jealousy.

Reservations can be made beginning on
Monday, January 31st by emailing magnumdh@gmail.com or by calling 323-798-4648.
3337 1/2 W. 8th St,
Los Angeles, CA 90005
www.palcabron.com

What you want (okonomi) baby I've got it

2011-01-27T09:29:00.000-08:00

Okonomiyaki was foreign to me until one day, when I was asking Twitter where to eat, Christine of Folie a Choisauce recommended Gaja in Lomita. I trust her judgment in all things Asian, so I wandered over there with kid in tow to see what was what. Since then, I've been back to Gaja a few times after getting a hankering for the Japanese savory pancake, but that's not always possible. A few days ago, I was at the Marukai Market in Gardena and they had a small display dedicated to the wonders of Okonomiyaki. Everything I needed, okonomiyaki flour, okonomiyaki sauce, Japanese mayo, nori, and bonito flakes. I just needed to hop over to produce to pick up a head of cabbage, the noodle aisle for some chuka soba and finally the fresh fish section for some octopus sashimi. I was finally going to make this wonderful dish at home!

A little history: Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked" (cf. yakitori and yakisoba). Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region.. (wikipedia)

After a little research I have to come to the conclusion that the okonomiyaki served at Gaja is a combination of the two main styles of the dish. As this is what I am familiar with, and the fact that I love the noodles in it, it's the version I made as well.

Honestly, it was totally easy to do. The hardest part was flipping the giant pancake over. It could be why they say to make several small ones, but frankly, my griddle is on the small size and I didn't feel like standing at the stove all night. Here's how I did it, in pictures!

First: I cooked the soba noodles. But not too much, you don't want overcooked noodles

Second: I chopped my cold ingredients that would be used a little later. You can use meat or fish, I like octopus.

Third: I grilled the soba and octopus with a dash of soy sauce


Fourth: I mixed the cabbage, flour eggs and water together to create the batter, and poured half on the griddle. After it started cooking through, I added the noodle and the octopus.

Fifth: I poured the 2nd half of the batter over the top and flipped the entire thing. This was difficult due to size, and got a little messy.

Last: Once the pancake had cooked completely through, which included one more flip to be safe, I brushed on the okonomiyaki sauce, drizzled it with Japanese mayo, then sprinkied bonito flakes and nori on top. I cut it into fourths and was ready to eat!

As you can see, quite simple! And delicious! You can use thin shaved meats, shrimp, scallops, squid, whatever you like, which is how this dish gets it's name. Now that I've done it once, I'm looking foward to doing it again. This will likely happen soon as I only used half a head of the cabbage and that won't last forever. O tanoshimi kudasai!

Update: It occurred to me that I should have included measurements. Oops:

1 cup Okonomiyaki flour
2 cups of shredded cabbage
1/2 package chuka soba noodles
1 cup meat/seafood
3/4 cup water
3 eggs

Directions are on package of flour.

Big fish, little fish, swimming in the water....

2011-01-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

Santa Monica - Long have I heard the rumors of the Sushi Nazi in Studio City at Sushi Nozawa: you don't get to order what you think you want, he'll tell you what you want and you'll like it. Also, don't let your cell phone ring, or you're out on your ass. But in the same breathe, I've heard that the sushi is excellent, if not crazy expensive. Soon, I will have to schlep up to Nozawa and find out if the rumors are true. In the meantime, for those that aren't willing to travel, and would like to spend less than the cost of the Amazon Kindle, there is the new sugarFISH by Team Nozawa in various parts of LA County: Downtown, Marina del Rey, Brentwood and now: Santa Monica.

In the same vein as their parent restaurant, sugarFISH is strictly minimalist, there are 3 set menus, Trust Me, Trust Me Lite and the Nozawa at $28.50, $19.50 and $35-38 respectively. They also have a small selection of a la carte sushi if you decide you don't need to eat that much, or perhaps you need just a bit more. Things you won't find: anything that requires extensive cooking, or at any point was considered a mammal. Another thing you won't find at sugarFISH is your traditional sushi bar. There's a bar. As in a bar, but all fish is coming out of the kitchen. Their website claims that this process is for maximizing efficiency and cutting out the show. I would begin to say that it worked, but at what cost? I'll get to that.

The decor is as streamlined as their food process, all clean glossy wood and walls with drop lighting. The 45 seat restaurant is preceded by a large waiting area. As quickly as it filled up when I was there, I imagine that the waiting area is going to be greatly occupied. However, considering the pace of the food (there's that whole efficiency thing), the wait will likely not be long. Still, I strongly suggest making reservations if you have no desire to wait.

How's the food? Glad you asked. My usual partner in crime The Catty Critic and I both ordered hot green tea and the Nozawa. The Nozawa consists of organic edamame, tuna (maguro) sashimi, 2 pieces each of albacore (binncho), salmon (sake), snapper (tai), yellowtail (hamachi), halibut (hirame) and scallop nigiri followed by one each of the toro and crab hand rolls, plus 2 pieces of the 'daily special', whatever it may be that day. For us, the daily special was unagi (freshwater eel for you non sushi speakers). Our server quickly brought us our green tea, and while I was suprised that it was from a packet, I cannot complain about Yamamoto green tea. Shortly after, our edamame arrived. And very shortly after that, our tuna sashimi arrived.

Tuna Sashimi

The tuna was swimming in the house made ponzu sauce that Nozawa is apparently famous for. Sweet, yet salty, yet tangy it was a wonderful choice for the amazingly fresh tuna. The tuna itself was buttery soft and seemed to melt on my tongue. No chewy, stringy tuna here. The green onions added just a touch of texture. No sooner than we popped the last morsel in our mouths and our next dish was on the table.

L to R: Albacore Nigiri, Salmon Nigiri

The albacore and salmon nigiri were up next. The albacore came with a light dash of the ponzu that had just made an appearance on the sashimi. The rice was very lightly packed and still warm, versus that of other sushi restaurants that pack it tight and cold. Also unlike other places, this albacore was not at all firm. Again, the fish seemed to melt away. The salmon while again on lightly packed, warm rice did not have the addition of any sauce. I should point out that the chef recommends that you don't dip any sushi with sauce into soy sauce. Since I prefer not to mask the flavor of my fish, this is never an issue. Since the salmon did not have a sauce, it's safe to assume it's okay to go with soy, but I just went for the fish. Not at all fishy the way some salmon can be, this was perfectly light and fresh, and again with the melting thing! At this point, I got a little frustrated because the flavor of the fish was gone so quickly. One barely needed to chew, it was so smooth.

L to R: Yellotail Nigiri, Halibut Nigiri, Scallop Nigiri

Once again, the second we were done with that plate, the next was dropped off. We were flying at warp speed on this particular sushi adventure, and I have mixed feelings on that. I digress, so next up we have yellowtail, halibut and the snapper was switched out for scallops. The yellowtail came without sauce, the halibut and scallops both had a yuzu ponzu that was amazing. Just a hint of spice to go along with the smooth perfection of fish. The story, should you choose to believe it, is that the fish chosen for all the sugarFISH locations are bought that morning, and are the same grade/suppliers as Nozawa, which brings up an excellent question: if sugarFISH is so affordable, and Nozawa is notoriously expensive, then what kind of crazy markup is going on at Nozawa, because it's doubtful that anyone would want to take a loss on the newest venture. That is assuming, of course, that the story is true.

Toro (Fatty Tuna) Hand Roll

The toro roll came next with the instructions to eat it quickly before the seaweed gets soggy. It also came in a cylinder form versus the cone which provided an even spread of the delicious toro.

Crab Hand Roll

The crab hand roll had the most flavors of the two rolls. It could be in part because there was mayo mixed in with the crab, but even so, it was preferred to the toro. This is actually odd to me because I am a huge toro fan, but I felt the flavor was a little lost in the toro roll.

Unagi Nigiri

Lastly, the unagi. Unagi and I have a convoluted history. I used to love eel. I think it was mostly the unagi sauce, but I did love it. Until the day I had a horrible piece of unagi at Onami. Yes, yes, why would I expect quality fish at an AYCE buffet? It put me off unagi for 8 years. I would like to say that sugarFISH changed my mind, and really, it almost did. But not quite. I'm perfectly fine avoiding it when I can. I'm glad I tried again, but you know how bad food experiences are. Sometimes it's hard to get back on the seahorse.

My conclusions are as follows: love the quality of the fish, amazing, truly. The price? Even better! I loved the use of the sauces as it added a nice touch without drowning the fish and masking it's flavor. While I liked the loosely packed warm sushi rice, it did make for messier eating that I am used to. The pace was a bit fast for my taste. I like to linger over sushi, talking with friends, gesturing with chopsticks and generally enjoying myself. The pace gave me a weird sense that the drawback of the inexpensive pricing was the need to turn the tables quicker. Though looking back, it was an hour long meal. By some standards, that's a long time. I guess I've gotten used to 2+ hour epic journeys.

I'll definitely be going back to one of the various sugarFISH locations and introducing some sushi loving family and friends.

Palate = Surfin' Safari

Sugar Fish

SUGARFISH Brentwood
11640 W. San Vicente Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Phone: 310 820-4477

SUGARFISH Downtown Los Angeles
600 W 7th Street, Suite 150
( Corner of 7th & South Grand)
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Phone: 213 627-3000

SUGARFISH Marina del Rey
4722 1/4 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: 310 306-6300

SUGARFISH Santa Monica
1345 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Phone: 310 393-3338

Au Revoir Monsieur Marcel

2011-01-20T12:27:00.000-08:00

Don't let the title mislead you, the french market/restaurant in Los Angeles' The Grove on Fairfax isn't going anywhere. Not technically. Though they have taken a nasty turn into 'not so great' in the 6 years since I've been last. Some things are just better in our memories. The setup remains the same, kitschy and cozy, nestled in the Farmer's Market. The food on the other hand, left much to be desired.

Monsieur Marcel is where I had my first taste of foie gras nearly 10 years ago. That first sublime bite is what set off my love of foie gras. Served then with only toasted bread, it's flavour was unfettered by additional accoutrement. Here was where I realized how sheltered my food upbringing was. This memory is one I have looked back to fondly as I've moved forward in my journeys with food.

Fast forward to modern day: I ordered the foie gras tapas to start followed by the coq au vin. My dining companion, a Frenchman, Nic ordered the croque marcel (think, turkey). The foie gras, of course, arrived first. Served on toasted points, it was covered with a dollop of caramelized figs. Though I love figs, fresh, dried or otherwise, it completely overpowered the smooth decadence of the foie gras. I do believe that something ever so slightly sweet with foie gras can be nice. But masking it makes it unrecognizable and certainly not what I wanted.

The coq au vin...oy. I know that there's the old adage of 'If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all'. Since I'm pretty sure that is in regards to people, not food, I'm going to go ahead and blast this dish: This. Was. The. Driest. Chicken. I. Have. Ever. Had. Seriously. Coq au vin should be so tender, so succulent that the meat falls off the bone. This very well could have been freezer chicken breast cooked in the oven until it was as hard as a brick, then served with a couple of carrots and some mushrooms in a sauce that may or may not have one time come from a bottle of wine. I took two bites (the second was to assure myself that it wasn't a fluke), and then pushed my plate away. I could have sent it back, in fact, I should have sent it back. I could have replaced it with a cheese plate, and since it's hard to screw that up, it would have been much more satisfying. However, I would have needed to see my server first, and we never saw him once he took our order. In fact, we had to flag down the hostess to get our check.

The croque marcel was a croque monsieur, but in place of the ham, turkey and instead of Swiss, goat cheese. This was quite decent, and I sincerely wish I had ordered it myself. It was served with thin french fries.

All said and done, I can't see why on earth I would go back. Someone is asleep in the kitchen, or just doesn't care. I will look back at Monsieur Marcel with a bittersweet smile, trying to forget this last experience and remember only the first.

Palate = canceled show, no refunds

La Crème de la Crème Fraîche

2011-01-19T17:29:00.000-08:00

It's been over a month now since Chef Ben Bailly has taken over the helm at Fraîche in Culver City, CA. In that month, I've been bombarded by what seemed like daily food porn from various Southland bloggers, all gushing their food crushes on Chef Ben. Notably, here, here, here, here and here. I had missed out on his tenure at Petrossian, but I refused to miss out on Fraîche. What with the constant game of musical restaurants in Los Angeles, it's wise to get the jump before you miss the sushi boat.

Finally, after weeks of coveting, and a fair amount of drooling, I was able to finally get my rear over to Culver City on a Monday night with my usual partner in crime, The Catty Critic, her hubby and another fab friend Jean. Upon arriving, we saw several friends of ours enjoying the happy hour fare, and at $5 cocktails, who could blame them. I was rather surprised at the crowd on a Monday night, but at the time, I neglected to take into account that it was the MLK holiday, so that would help explain it. We were sat quickly thanks to reservations made on Open Table (be warned, parties larger that 4 persons requires a credit card hold), and the young, and dare I say, hot, chef came over to say hello. He informed us that the soupe du jour was a mushroom hazelnut soup, which sent Rosa into joyous hysterics. I wish I could say that I was exaggerating, but I'm being entirely truthful there.

A quick perusal of the menu and we were set to order. First, Ben had the first of many kind surprises as he had sent over flutes of a very nice cuvée rosé (label, unknown). I had intended to order a signature cocktail, but as I was driving had limited myself to one drink. This was to be it, apparently. I suppose that will induce me to go back for HH. As we sat back to enjoy our drinks and chit chat, the onslaught, and I mean that in the kindest sense, began:

Fois Gras Terrine - frissee/rhubarb/pomegranate ($18) - I love foie. Foie, foie, foie. I rarely find fault with foie gras, in any of its incarnations, and I found none here. I really enjoyed the rhubarb gelee it came with. The combination of savory and sweet was indescribably pleasant.

Piquillo Cheese Spread and Smoked Trout Rillettes - chorizo/manchego and lemon/chives/creme fraîche (respectively) ($9/each) - I'll be honest here, the cheese spread tasted like upscale nacho cheese dip. I would serve this at a superbowl party. And if Ben is willing to part with the recipe, I just might. It was good, but the smoked trout rillette was right up this fish lover's alley. I loved the smoky creaminess, and it was amazing on the house made bread.

Soupe du Jour (Mushroom) - goat cheese ravioli/crushed hazelnut ($12) - I do love me some mushroom soup, but this one just didn't do it for me. The mushrooms were completely overpowered by the hazelnut. It was good, but only just. The raviolis were a nice touch, but then again, they too were lost amongst the nuts.

Lobster Ceviche - ($16) - This is a new menu item designed to replace the hamachi tartare of weeks past. I left out the description for this one because I think it's wrong, it shows on the menu as green apple, but we had it with daikon radish. In fact, the server dropped it off and said it was hamachi, only it was lobster. And it wasn't ceviche. So I'm confused, and not really sure, but it was good, though a little bland.

Taglierini Neri - maine lobster/cherry tomatoes/basil ($24) - House made squid ink pasta. So long that even as I kept twirling, it never seemed to end. Twirl and slurp, twirl and slurp. Be sure to pause long enough to gorge on the HUGE pieces of lobster. This was decidedly my favorite dish of the evening. I loved the mild brininess to the pasta. The fact that it was fraîche only adds to the appeal.

Bucatini Carbonara - poached egg/pancetta/pecorino romano ($18) - I didn't try this one. It's Rosa's husband's favorite and as he had none of the previous dishes (picky), I didn't want to deny him the one thing he was eating.

Crispy Loup de Mer - sunchokes/wild mushrooms/salsifi/bordelaise ($28) - This was one that I maybe could have done without. I really liked the sunchokes and the crispy skin on the fish, but I was more entranced with my pasta. I may be being unfair, but I really liked the pasta.

House Made Agnolotti - wild mushroom/mascarpone/truffle butter ($16) - You had me at mushroom, but won me at truffle butter. Ever flavor played off each other nicely in this one, and though I only had one bite that night, it was a good one. It also happened to make delightful leftovers for lunch the next day.

Mangos/Panna Cotta/Passion Fruit Gelee and, wait for it, POP ROCKS! ($8) - Not yet on the menu, this was creamy, refreshing and fun all in one jar. The pop rocks had the whole table laughing as they popped and sizzled between our ears. A lovely throwback to days gone by. Though I would have loved this even without the candy.

Strawberries/Pistachios/creme/Balsamic Gelee ($8) - Again, not on the menu, yet. You would think the balsamic gelee sounds gross, but it was really really nice. I love strawberries on salad with balsamic vinaigrette, so it would make sense that these would go together. This reminds me of a summer day. I hope he keeps it around, or at least brings it back when strawberries are more in season.

Chocolate Coulant - toffee/peanut butter ice cream ($12) - MMMMMMMMmmmmm. Warm, chocolate, rich... you know...

Pistachio Crème Brûlée - apricot sorbet/rosemary crumble ($9) - I loved this. LOVED. I'm a huge fan of anything pistachio and this rocked my socks. I will say this, if you are iffy on this particular nut, then it's not for you. But that's fine, because that would mean there's more for me.

Digging in

I was incredibly pleased with my first visit to Fraîche. I've spent the last three days dreaming of the taglierini neri and hope to get back over there soon. I'm also happy to finally have gotten to enjoy a broader range of what Ben is capable of.

Palate - TOTALLY rocked!

Fraîche
9411 Culver Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232
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Room with a Vū (view)

2011-01-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

Marina Del Rey - The waterfront in Los Angeles' first man made harbor of Marina Del Rey is essentially a cluster of high rise condos overlooking boat slips. Spreckled here and there with the occasional hotel and restaurant, it's generally not someplace I immediately think of when going out for a high end meal. However, this world is a'changin, and with it, my scope of new accessible restaurants.

The Background -

Vū (view) is housed in the Jamaica Bay Inn which has recently reopened after an 18 month remodel. When I heard that Vū was in a hotel with Jamaica in its name, I immediately expected jerk chicken and steel drums. I was entirely wrong in my prejudice as nothing I had there could even remotely be described as Jamaican.

Headed by executive chef Kyle Schutte, the menu is comprised of fairly modest menu items, all with a touch of the ever popular molecular flair. This is Kyle's second turn as executive chef, his first being at XO Restaurant and Lounge in Charlotte, NC. Kyle was the first chef in NC to 'embrace' molecular cooking, which in turn gained him the experience and courage to enter the Los Angeles food fray. When asked what he would define his food as, should he be absolutely forced to, he came back with 'progressive comfort food'. I see no reason to disagree as the influences of his Southern past are apparent in the menu.

When I hear molecular in Los Angeles, my thoughts immediately fly to Jose Andres (but, shhhhh, don't tell him that). I also tend to think of other meals or stories of molecular gone too far. I certainly don't like to shell out a lot of money for pretty foams and the such that leave me hungry at the end of the evening. I will say this about what Kyle Schutte is doing at Vū, he didn't leave me wanting, and he didn't go too far. Each dish was in its own way innovative, but wasn't trying too hard. Even though, in my humble opinion, not every dish worked.

The Scene -

Modern edges, open spaces and the bar in the corner, with large windows bringing the patio, gardens and beach in, this would be a great place had I gone in the late spring or summer for happy hour. As it was, it was already dark when I arrived, but I can imagine sitting on the patio on a warm evening when the light doesn't die until nearly 9.

Drinks -

Do make sure to try the cocktails, though what I had may not be there when the cocktail menu changes in the spring. My choice for the evening was the Stiletto: Grey Goose vodka, framboise, canton and simple syrup. Thoroughly girly and sweet, it's doubtful I would order it again, but it was a pleasant start to the evening. I did take a sip of Fiona's (Gourmet Pigs) Mojo: Death's Door whisky, Dimmi, peppermint, honey and fresh lemon. The Mojo is definitely more my speed, and as I'd never had that white whisky before, was fun and new.

Our meal was served with two wines, paired by the bartenders as there is no sommelier on staff. I think they would be wise to have someone consult on the wine menu as they go along, but I found nothing to complain about in how our wines were paired with our meal. In fact, one dish/wine combo was rather inspired in my opinion.

The Food -

I'm not going to wax poetic about everything I had, but the highlights were as follows:

The "Reconstructed" Caprese Salad ($8): balsamic injected cherry tomatoes, basil infused fresh (made in house) mozzarella, red hawaiian sea salt, micro basil - quite simply my favorite dish of the evening. It was a one bite caprese salad with a burst of flavor the moment the tomato exploded on my tongue. Drenching balsamic and tomato juices, smooth creaminess of the mozzarella. I could eat this for days.

Thai Mussels ($9): green curry broth, hamachi salad, coconut jello, scallion, micro cilantro - it was vaguely reminiscent of Joseph Mahon's (MAGNUM) coconut soup. This particular dish went amazingly well with the Rose that was served. It was cool and smooth until just the lingering of the curry was left, and then, the sip of rose...bliss.

Chicken Fried Watermelon ($6): with pickled rind - It's exactly how it sounds, cubes of fresh watermelon, breaded and fried, then topped with pickled rind. You might think it sounds wrong, but let me tell you, it was oh so very right. And a lot of fun to say: I ate chicken fried watermelon. And I'd do it again.

There were other dishes (as pictured), but nothing that caught me like these 3. Most were quite good in their own way, and there were a few misses as well; the Vichyssoise which to me, tasted of nothing but salt, the scallops which were over cooked, though I did love the whipped potatoes it came with, or the tuna which was completely overpowered by Kaffir lime, and the frosted flake fried polenta, which I thought was overly greasy.

Overall, way more hits than misses, but you should be the judge of that. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and will be back for a bottle of white on the patio to drink while I slurp on Thai Mussels and Caprese bombs.

In the meantime, if you're looking for someplace new for the upcoming (and dreaded) Valentine's Day, Chef Kyle has put together a V Day exploration menu for 2.

Clockwise from top left: "Reconstructed" Caprese Salad, Thai Mussels, Montana, Free Range Bison Carpaccio, Tuna

Clockwise from top left: The Caesar, Chicken Fried Watermelon, Pork Belly with root beer jello, Bone Marrow

Clockwise from top left: Chicken Fried Calamari, Vichyssoise with potato waffle, King Cole Duck Breast, Sea Scallops

Left to right: Buttermilk Panna Cotta, French Toast, White Chocolate Polenta

Clockwise from top left: Bar, dining room, patio, lounge

Typical room in the Jamiaca Bay Inn

Palate = rocked

Vū @ the Jamaica Bay Inn

14160 Palawan Way

Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

310.439.3033

This meal was at the invitation of Vū

P.F.Chang's Korean Cousin: Gyenari

2010-12-29T17:32:00.000-08:00

The title may have you going 'wha? P.F.Chang's is GOOD!' to which I can concede that yes, you can eat there with little complaint. As long as you enjoy Americanized 'safe' Chinese food. A few weeks ago, I was introduced to P.F. Chang's Korean cousin, Gyenari.

Located in the thick of the now very much thriving heart of Culver City, across from Akasha, Gyenari does not have the typical vibe of Korean eateries. Glossy, polished and dare I say, TRENDY, Gyenari reminds me of Crustacean. Not in that it's over the top decadent, but there are similarities in water features and over priced Asian cuisine.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have the Asian rule (being Asian, I can say this): if the crowd is predominantly Asian, yay! If the crowd is predominantly CAUCAsian: BEWARE! Asian style eateries have this tendency to dumb down the cuisine for the masses. This is all well and good in Idaho, but I dare say in California, the melting pot, it's totally unnecessary. Here at Gyenari, my table was the only one seating anyone of Asian descent, and the staff was 80:20 Caucasian.

To that end, is Gyenari good? Yes, the meat was delicious and there was plenty of it. Was it safe? Absolutely! And by safe, I mean not palate challenging. Did I feel like my wallet got raped? Of course! Someone has to pay for the decor. Would I go again? Ehhhh...if I was one voice in 10 that didn't want to, I would give in. But of my own choice, no.

Dinner was with new friends Catty Critic, I Flip for Food and Princess Gourmet along with various significant others and my Mini Me. We ordered the Crispy Ginger Chicken and appetizer and the prix fixe:

G2: Gyenari Galbee, Bulgogi, Aged Pork Belly, Spicy Pork, Gyenari Flower Chicken, Spicy Seoul Chicken, Japchae, Mandoo and Asian vegetables.

G4 (not pictured as it was on the other end of the table): Gyenari Galbee, Filet Mignon, Wagyu Beef, Tiger Prawns, Lobster Tail, Sea Scallops, Japchae, Mandoo and more vegetables.

Personally, I could have done without G4, there wasn't really anything 'Korean' about the lobster, prawns or scallops. And I never even got to try the filet, wagyu, or prawns. Everything was good. Nothing turned me off, per se. It was just all so tame. Dessert was a chocolate creme brulee that tasted like jell-o pudding, and the banana creme pie was still frozen. I still feel so 'whatever' about the whole thing. What a bummer.

Crispy Ginger Chicken

Pork Mandoo

G2 - Gyenari® Galbee, Bulgogi, Aged Pork Belly, Spicy
Pork, Gyenari® Flower Chicken, Spicy Seoul Chicken,
Japchae, Mandoo and Seasonal Asian Vegetables

G2 on the grill

Japchae-Sweet Potato Glass Noodles wok
tossed with Assorted Vegetables,
Soy, and Beef

Various Banchan

Spicy Chocolate Creme Brulee - Bacon shortbread, almond cream

Banana Creme Pie - Graham cracker crust with a light vanilla banana custard topped
with fresh bananas and homemade whipped cream, served chilled (FROZEN)

Gyenari
9540 Washington Blvd. Culver City CA 90232 | P: 310.838.3131
@GyenariLA

Time to take your medicine..

2010-12-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

One of the nice things about writing for myself, is that I have the freedom to write about whatever I want. Today, I feel like editorializing about some shenanigans that took place last week at one of Los Angeles' newest restaurants: Red Medicine. I suppose that I could try to let it go, however, I find myself unable to. One could argue that I'm not qualified to speak on the topic, but I would argue back that I've done my time in the food service industry, enough to know that this was wrong. So let's just get down to brass tacks.

If you haven't heard what happened last week between the 16 year LA Times Food Critic and Red Medicine and you read my blog, either you're a family member or you live under a rock. Last Wednesday, during what managing partner of Red Medicine Noah Ellis says was 'a particularly hairy service', Los Angeles Times food critic S. Irene Virbila came in for her reservation. She was on time, and rather than pull diva antics, waited patiently for her table for 45 minutes before a camera was shoved in her face to snap a photo. This was before she was asked, not so politely, to leave. After her departure, the rare photo (aka unicorn sighting) was posted on the Red Medicine website with the following manifesto (since removed):

Tonight, in the middle of a particularly hairy service, Irene Virbila arrived for her reservation (4 people under the name "Fred Snow" with a phone number of 310-xxx-9959), and because we had guests lingering, were not able to sit immediately.

She was recognized, and at while standing by the door, I was able to take this photo of her. At this point, I asked her and her party to leave, as we don't care for her or her reviews.

Our purpose for posting this is so that all restaurants can have a picture of her and make a decision as to whether or not they would like to serve her. We find that some her reviews can be unnecessarily cruel and irrational, and that they have caused hard-working people in this industry to lose their jobs -- we don't feel that they should be blind-sided by someone with no understanding of what it takes to run or work in a restaurant.

Upon asking her to leave, her husband and dining companions were quite upset, and made mention that this may be illegal and was cruel and unfair. Obviously, she was not discriminated against as part of any protected class, but rather because she is someone we choose not to serve here.

We're writing this to make everyone aware that she was unable to dine here, and as such, any retribution by her or on her behalf via a review cannot be considered to be unbiased.

We hope that those of you in the industry will support us by coming by for a late-snack or drink (the story is told much better in person), and will use this recent picture to your benefit.

While a restaurant does have the right to refuse service to anyone, usually 'anyone' has just cause besides not liking what someone would possibly, maybe, perhaps write about them. Just cause usually includes being verbally abusive to staff, being overly intoxicated, or in the case of one particular LA blogger, whom shan't be named, a shit talker of astounding proportions. Generally, refusing service to a food critic doesn't happen. Unless you're Red Medicine and you have your diapers in a wad because of an old review of your desserts at XIV (from which executive chef Jordan Kahn hails from).

After this all went down, I looked up some old reviews of the shunned critic and was surprised to see nothing that stood out as being 'cruel'. Calling Kahn's dessert, the 'worst she's ever tasted' was the suggested motive, however it's the not scathing review I would have expected to have received this amount of vitriol in return. Had she said that her dog could have defecated on a plate and served to her still steaming, and it was better than Kahn's dessert, now that, my friends, that would have warranted some of this nonsense.

I say some, because I believe while you may refuse service to whomever you like, waiting 40 minutes to take someone's picture because you were 'waiting for the right angle' screams vengeance. Really? You recognized her 5 minutes in, planned your mode of attack, and needed additional time to pull it off? Oh, you fucking tool. While Virbila has been striving to maintain her anonymity in the day and age of camera phones and food paparazzi, her statement to her employers at the LA Times was rather blasé, noting that higher profile food critics have long since been 'outed' with little to no effect.

Had this happened not 15 years ago, her career would be damaged. Today, not so much. But it's the fact that this was the intent of Red Medicine, to damage her career as they have claimed she has damaged others. An eye for an eye. Only, I have yet to hear of anyone coming forward whose career has been damaged by Virbila. Lost jobs? Would someone please step forward? I would love to know who has lost their job solely because of the 'cruelty' of her reviews.

RM's excuse, to me, is Swiss cheese. And not even the good kind. I'm talking, stanky, moldy, mad cow cheese. Personally, I think they lack the confidence needed to survive in this world. Most restaurants in their position would roll up their sleeves and give her an amazing meal, because they know that their food will speak for itself and if it doesn't, then they deserve what happens next. But, they don't want it reviewed. During their Test Kitchen run, it was rumored that Kahn was against the camera toting foodies as well. Well, Test Kitchen is over, but Kahn still hates the cameras as proven by what he wrote on Kevin Eat's menu.

To all this I ask: what the hell are you afraid of? Okay, yes, he's a white boy serving Vietnam influenced food and telling us not to compare it to Vietnamese food. In fact, white boy has never even been to Vietnam, or, from what I can tell, worked in a Vietnamese restaurant. If your eyes are bugging out and your mouth is agape, you're not alone. I don't get it either. According to the 'manifesto' on their website, eating large bowls of pho qualifies you to create your very own take on an ethnic cuisine and then serve it in small quantities whilst overcharging the patrons for it. But please, no pictures! I'm sorry, if someone rear ends me, I'm taking a picture of the damage. My friend Kung Food Panda did.

There are some reports saying the reactions to this debacle are mixed. If mixed is 90:10 against Red Medicine, then yes, they're mixed. The ones that are for it, in my humble opinion, are just jumping on the douche wagon. CJ from The Yard in Santa Monica thinks it's 'positive for the future of LA food'. I would love for him to elaborate on how it's in any way positive. On top of looking like total douches, they look afraid. Sack up ladies. Anyone reading newspaper critics reviews, in an age where newspaper circulation is on the decline, knows that taste is subjective and only used that review as a starting point. If it wasn't for critics and the press, your restaurant would be just another in a sea of restaurants, doomed to fail within the first two years of business.

Have I been to Red Medicine? Nah. Wasn't on my radar after the Test Kitchen reviews came out (people left hungry and vastly disappointed). Am I inclined to go now? No fucking way. What they've done is petty, childish, and to use one of their own words: cruel. Sure, there are plenty of people on the books for the next several weeks. Everyone looks at the wreck on the freeway. You just can't help it. But eventually the wreck gets cleared and all you have left is a totaled car on a flatbed while everyone else passes by.

Lunch at the Gramercy Tavern

2010-12-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

Gramercy Tavern was co-founded in 1994 by Tom Colicchio (Craft, Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, multiple James Beard Foundation awards), whom has since sold his share and Danny Meyer (Eleven Madison Park). Located in the Flatiron District, a mere stone's throw from Gramercy Park, the Tavern is known for it's Pottery Barn meets Restoration Hardware ambiance amid white tablecloths. While during the week the dining room is open for both lunch and dinner, Saturday lunch is only in the Tavern Room with a limited, lackluster menu. I was hoping for the full monty, and instead was left with the topless only version. C'est la vie.

After walking some 30 blocks in the November chill, I opted to have a basic meal consisting of the seafood and saffron-fennel chowder with mussels and celery. I love how just a little saffron goes a long way. As it should be considering that saffron is the most expensive spice in the WORLD with 1lb running around $1300 approx these days. I felt the chowder was too thin, with the flavoring being remarkably bland. Essentially, only the saffron gave it any flavor at all. The white fish was chewy, and frankly the pieces were huge to the point where I felt I needed a knife to cut them down to size. It did work to warm me up, so I suppose that's something.

My dinner companion also opted for the soup, but we went in different directions for dessert. My choice was the pear and fig tart with roasted almond ice cream. R went for the apple pie with candied walnuts and cinnamon sour ice cream.

The pear and fig tart was perfect for the crisp Fall weather. Warm on the inside with the crunch of the oats on top, then combined with the almond ice cream, the flavors invoked vague memories of childhood. Someone really needs to do a study on flavor invoked memories.

The apple pie, was apple pie. I didn't find anything that stood out to me. The cinnamon 'sour' ice cream was a nice touch for the a la mode aspect. But again: meh. It was nice.

Would I go again? Sure, if I can eat in the dining room. I truly don't think the Tavern Room is worth it for such a short menu. Nothing really stood out on the menu for me, and I feel as though I merely settled. I can, however, say that I've gone, like many tourists before me. I'm only in NYC once a year, so I think I'll try something different next year.

Gramercy Tavern
42 E 20th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 477-0777