Whole Lotta Dog Love at Bark n' Bitches on Fairfax

Bark n' Bitches
505 N. Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90189
(323) 655-0155
http://www.myspace.com/barknbitches
Bark n' Bitches Yelp

This is a store that puts their time and money where their mouth is with regard to rescue dogs. Bark n' Bitches keeps between 4 and 6 adoptable dogs at a time housed in their beautiful store ready for adoption. The owner picks dogs up from one of 3 shelters, grooms them, houses them and cares for and feeds them until someone adopts each and every one.

I'd like you to meet an adorable terrier whose name I cannot remember. A dog like this could change my mind about small dogs. She was so interactive and friendly.

And Hannah.

Below is Sundance.

I was completely enamored of Sundance.

And Zooey, who would not stand still long enough to snap a good pic of her beautiful face.

My two amazingly smart, fun and loving god children having fun with one of the free-roaming hounds.

We were just strolling past Bark n' Bitches with time to kill, when I decided to shop for a dog bed for Jackson.

The three of us spent time with all the dogs and Lauren, the cool chick running the store and trouble shooting. While we were there, a good Samaritan from a gas station called. One of their recently adopted out dogs had been found with a Bark n' Bitches dog tag on its collar running the streets near a local gas station. When she closed up shop in 10 minutes, her first priority was to run down and get the dog at the gas station and bring it back to the store.

In addition to spending their time and money doing much needed & never ending dog rescue work here in Los Angeles, this indie shop carries some of the coolest merchandise I have ever seen at actually very fair prices. (Compared to the closest indie shop to me in Silverlake, whose prices are akin to highway robbery.) Here are some shots of merchandise that caught my eye.

Artsy elevated feeding station.

V cool highly elevated feeding station...Daisy would have loved this. It looks like it was made out of an old (v old) soda fountain. I have never seen anything cooler. This is industrial art.

Requisite fluffy toys.

Carrying cases for the small dog minded.

The selection of collars is gob stopping. I bought Jackson a lovely black leather collar studded with steel stars. I am not sure he is cool enough for it, but we are going to give it a whirl. If you look closely, some of them look like Western tooled leather belts, some with Swarofski crystals, soft leather with delicate metal studding like a Calleen Cordero sandal, and so on.

Above is another item I caved on, antlers found on the ground during antler shedding season. Then boiled and sanded and ready for weeks worth of chewing.

I took home the big bed on top for my special canine, the black one with white bones. The top is made from very short sheared sheep skin. As soon as I set it on the floor, Jackie lay down on it and wouldn't move. He has been suffering a poorly filled and sized Target bed recently, and I think he was communicating something along the lines of, "It's about damn time you got me a decent bed, you ingrates."

Change. Save a life. Adopt.

Delicious, Surprising, Disturbing...Ludobites

Ludobites at Breadbar
8718 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
310 205 0124
Through August 22, 2009

Hating the fact that even on my days off my body insists on waking me up at the ungodly hour of 5:45 AM, what else is there to do but write about last night's dinner? This week my BFF/ex-roommate is in town from London and we always eat well together. I knew we would have a special experience if I took her to Ludobites during the last few weeks of Ludo Lefebvre's engagement there. Seemingly for my amusement, H's sister R decided to come with us for a girls' night out. I don't think I have ever had more fun dining with someone than R. She experienced that dinner with such gusto...previously unbeknownst to me, this is a woman who will try anything. If it isn't right the first time, she will rearrange elements on the plate until she finds a combo with the ingredients that does work, and if it is right the first time she will lick the plate clean. Yay!


We started the evening with this bottle of California sparkling wine. A reliably good fizz for the price, Mom serves this at Thanksgiving to go with the Turkey and sometimes during the annual summertime Fried Chicken and Champagne Feast. Le sigh. I wish I lived closer to her food.

We perused the menu and had a star sighting. Shawn Pyfrom, Bree Van de Camp's son Andrew, was sitting back-to-back with R. We texted A to tell her, and initially she didn't care but rapidly decided she hated us for leaving her at home. Here is a pic of the back of his head, just for A. He's shorter than I imagined, but well made.

We started the meal on the lighter side, with some veg and soup. I wanted something green inside me, so I fell for the Green Beans, Peach, Coconut, Apple, Horseradish Lemongrass.

With al dente beans, surprising long shreds of fresh coconut, and small thin chunks of apple & peach, this dish was dressed with a lovely little horseradish lemongrass mousse.


H started us out with the chilled soup, Chorizo, Cantaloupe, Cornichons. This was maybe my favorite flavor of the evening. I ran into Mike from Pepsimonster at the door, and exchanging tweets later in the evening discovered this was one of his favorites too. He was sitting with L & A from the fish bones and karaoke evening in Little Tokyo a few weeks back, and their party of 6 ordered one of everything on the menu. One.of.everything. This soup was rich, a little like a bisque but not quite as thick. The flavor was totally saturated with chorizo, almost bacony. I thought the chunks of cantaloupe were gratuitous but only because I don't love cantaloupe. Normally I think melon and cured pork products are wonderful companions, thinking of honeydew and prosciutto. What was really delightful was the cornichon granita in the middle of the soup. Frozen vinegar and pickle. Naturally, the still very British R wants to bathe in this. Eat it on crackers, off crisps, or simply with her fingers. It was that good.


R dove in head first to the exotic, Snails, Spinach, Curry-Yogurt. The curry-yogurt was a little off putting for me when reading the menu. The only curry I love is a Thai curry. However, this was a curry-yogurt foam and didn't overtake the flavor/texture of the snails nor the spinach and heavy garlic coating said snails.

I have never seen a prettier dish.

I wanted to show how much pureed spinach there was under that foam, and how dense it was. After we finished the snails, R & I were scooping out every bit of spinachy goodness we could from the bottom and sides of the dish.

One perfect lone snail. Ludo has been twittering about these snails for days.

For the second round, H requested the Heirloom Tomato Salad, Red Onions, Feta Mousse, Oregano, Olives Niçoise. Niçoise, bishes. This is the best heirloom tomato salad I have had all season. It is one of two items still on the menu from the last time I ate with Ludo & wife. Les tomates were very fresh and retained a nice firmness. *snicker* H went ape shit for the feta mousse. She has a couple food allergies, and has trouble with dairy. I remember traveling the world and living together in our twenties as a painful tummy time for her and 100% respect her dietary needs. Since feta is not dairy from cows, she could indulge in this mousse, and now wants to know how to make it at home. I am going to work on this for her. I bet I can master it and send her the info. NOT the way I have mastered Sedlar's habanero caramel? No, much more masterfully. Caramel perfection eludes me.

The second item that remained the same on the menu from my previous visit is the oxtails and polenta. Creamy Polenta, Cantal Cheese, Oxtails, Black Truffle. Of the infamous twitter feed wherein the entire vat of oxtails was spilled on the floor one evening in the kitchen and several tweeters declared willingness to eat it from the floor, this dish is delicious. The truffle this time was more prominent than last. I am sure it is a truffle specific issue. Like onions, some truffles must be naturally more flavorful than others.

For the second round, R spoke for the duck. Duck Breast, Crispy Skin Puree, Carrot Cake Coulis, Pink Grapefruits, Orange Blossom Water, Baby Rainbow Carrots. The right side of this plate was amazingly sweet, warm, savory, fatty duckness.

The left side, the side with the beautiful baby carrots, was overwhelmed by the fragrance of the orange blossom water. I normally love orange blossom water and fragrance. However, this heavy handidness overwhelmed the delicate carrots. I cried to see them go, but couldn't eat a second carrot. The duck was wonderful, and would have been better accompanied by simple buttered baby carrots. But where's the fun in that?

I caved on the Foie Gras Black Croque-Monseiur, Ham, Cherry Tomatoes, Amaretto. Hard to go wrong with ingredients this deliciously decadent. However, the bread was too crispy, a hair short of burnt. Shamelessly tossing the bread to the side, I nommed on the delicious guts, the liver contrasting nicely with the crispy ham and unmelted cheese. Now, here's the thing. In a Croque-Monsieur (or Madame) the cheese is supposed to be melted and the bread is supposed to be soft enough still to bite with your teeth. The ingredients down to the swirl of berry jam were incomparable, but the execution was a little off.

Last night was a crazy decadent food orgy with two of my favorite women on the planet who I just don't see often enough. My regular readers know I am not a dessert fan, however, how could I say no to spending another 45 minutes and another gastronomic adventure with my two beautiful companions. I could not and promptly ordered the Chocolate Cupcake, Foie Gras Chantilly, Candied Bacon Almonds, Maple Syrup. It's not my fault. Folie-a-Choisauce told me to. Looking at her blog right now quickly, a current tweet there describes pornographically (kinda) her love for the chocolate foe cupcake.

"@PepsiMonster those two were my absolute favs. I mean wowMOMwow!! that cupcake is easily my new fav dessert in the city"

Both beautiful and disturbing.

H loved the cake part of the cupcake, and actually liked the candied bacon almonds. She declared the foie gras chantilly disturbing. Creepy, even. She was a little afraid to sit at the same table as the still unfinished dessert. She subtly scooted back her stool and reached for the mace.

I was surprised at the chantilly. It was so foie. The texture was marvelously light and creamy, and the foie flavor was so strong. This is an unusual and intriguing dessert. I might need to try it again to decide how I really feel about something so dangerous.

Vanilla Panna Cotta, Caramel, Caviar. R had her eyes on this one immediately. Not a fan of caviar though, she was a little shy about how to tackle this. I dove in and relieved some of the caviar from its duty. She worked her way around the caviar, eating the simple panna cotta and perfect GD caramel. Eventually, the only thing left on the plate was some caviar and a great pool of caramel. So, she scooped some of both up with a spoon. And.....discovered....wait.....for....it.....


Ever so slightly fishy salted caramel!!! Brilliant! She.ate.it.all.

Last night was a slightly less perfect meal than last time, flavor wise. (Company wise it will not be topped, ever, until Friday.) However, I have never had food this adventurous, this surprising...this occasionally disturbing. No one else is making food like this, anywhere that I know of. This kicks the ass of molecular gastronomy like the archetypal schoolyard cigarette smoking bully pummeling the spindly class mathlete with a pencil protector all up and down the middle school hallways. Everything is inventive without so much pretense, so many machinations. Every single ingredient is perfection on its own. (We watched the produce delivery for the next day some traipsing through the restaurant at approximately 9:15 PM.) Not that there weren't a couple of miss steps here and there, but there will always be miss steps on the path to perfection. And that perfect caramel still haunts me this morning.

Another Visit to A.O.C.

A.O.C.
8022 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90048-4307
(323) 653-6359
www.aocwinebar.com


Because A.O.C. calls itself a wine bar, I will lead with the wine. We pulled into A.O.C. the other night after running some errands south of the 10, and for the first time that I can remember there was serendipitously room for two at the bar. I ordered directly from the special flights a trio of whites from the Lompoc wine ghetto just north of us in Santa Barbara county. These whites were deliciously summery. Fruit forward, and not too sweet. I actually liked them best in order rather than progressively. The Palmina Tocai Firulani was my favorite.

Le Journal du Vine did a thorough tasting/journaling in the Lompoc ghetto a couple years back. Based on these wines, I would definitely hit that region for a convenient and low budget weekend tasting.

The menu at A.O.C. continues to excite. In the mood for veggies and fish, there were too many selections to choose from. I wished we were dining with more people. Shrimp, salmon, trout and mussels, it all looked delicious. In advance, please excuse the iPhone pics. Making an attempt to be spontaneous, I headed out without my camera. I am sure even with my G9 the pics would have been mediocre due to the very yellow mid range light quality. The lighting at A.O.C. is really not interesting for food shots.

Food wise, we were jump started with simple white crusty bread and a pepper tapenade. The texture and flavor felt and tasted like roasted bell peppers with something spicy (red pepper flakes maybe?) and lots of rich olive oil. I am not a huge fan of the bell pepper, but D gobbled this down and decreed it yummy.

D has transformed overnight in a pâté eater. From the charcuterie menu for an hors d'ouevres, he ordered us chicken liver crostini with pancetta. Fancy! Atop two long slices of slightly oily grilled bread, the chicken pâté was spread generously and topped by a bacony piece of pancetta with the entire dish topped with lightly dressed frisée. This was probably my favorite dish of the night. I am, of course, a fan of organ meat anyway. This one was a nice rendition, not as fatty as my favorite chicken liver mousse at BLT, and I was thrilled to watch the order for pâté generate from my manly dining companion.

I do love the way food comes out of the kitchen at A.O.C. We ordered one-for-one in terms of course, they came out nevertheless one-by-one to share instead of side by side. Enforced sharing. I like it. The service at A.O.C. is always so good, I am sure they would deliver the food however you ask for it. Above is the requisite summertime heirloom tomato and burrata salad with balsamic and crunchy croutons with broad flat leaf parsley. Ubiquitous that night, this flat leaf parsley was a delicious addition to several items we noshed on. Big herbaceous flavor from those broad flat leaves. This salad, and the one to follow, in my opinion were a little overdressed. With delicious burrata, summertime heirlooms fat and ripe, and all that parsley, dressing should be a slight addition to the flavor not so overpowering.

My salad came out second. Beets with feta, cucumbers and yogurt. I cannot resist savory food with yogurt, and I liked this combo. The yogurt was hiding on the bottom of the dish, so I found myself really scooting things around to evenly coat each beet with cumminy spiced Persian yogurt. The cukes were almost an afterthought in the dish because they were sliced tiny...I think I kind of avoided them. Cucumbers and feta are a winning flavor combination though, and this dish left the bar clean.

Later we shared a carafe of something wonderful. I have no clue what it was, D would remember but he's asleep. I do love a carafe.

My entree was the humongous Gulf shrimp with tomato butter and cornbread. It sounds better in theory than it actually was. At both A.O.C. and Hungry Cat, although I know they are cheffed by different people, there is a tendency toward serving shellfish in their exoskeletons. Removing the proteins from the shell themselves, clients are treated to an experience both sophisticated and earthy. While I am not the most sophisticated person on the planet, I am not the earthiest either. The times I ate at Killer Shrimp I ordered my shrimps shelled for the extra couple clams. I prefer my arthropods sans shells. The tomato butter did not taste as saturated with tomatoeyness as I thought it would, and the effect was greasier than I had imagined.

Again, the yummy flat leaf parsley. Mediterranean style, A.O.C.'s food is not known for being light. There are certainly light choices on the menu, but I found 3/5 of the plates we ate to be overly oily or overtly greasy. The flavors in the shrimp dish were good, just not great. I liked the grilled crispy cornbread but sitting in the tomato butter it absorbed a lot of fat. The small piece of cornbread was pretty much drenched by the time it hit my lips, which compromised some of the grittiness I love in a cornbread.

The last dish of the evening was conversely quite dry. Halibut with salt cod, underneath there somewhere, sorrel and garlic. This dish was good, but the fish itself was rather dry. I would have liked a little more salt cod to squish around with the halibut. Flavors were nice though.

It was a treat to eat casually at the bar at A.O.C. , despite the aggressive "young attorneys mating conversation" in my left ear and one aggressive attorney elbow continually knocking my arm and fleshy breast region. The seats to their left were empty. What is it about property west of La Brea that makes people stand their ground at bars so firmly? It's a strange phenomena oft noted by myself and constantly present company. Some day I am going to have words with someone about how easy and polite it is to share space when there is space available.

At any rate, the times I have been to A.O.C. previously we always planned ahead, got a reservation, ate at a table and the bar was always packed out. This week the bartenders attended to us beautifully in temperament and service. I also really enjoyed the wine list, thank goodness being that this is a wine bar. There are so many selections to choose from at several price levels. I highly prize this at any restaurant and especially at self-proclaimed wine bars. The food could have been better, but nothing could be called bad per se. I just don't think I will hurry across town to eat at A.O.C. again soon with so many other offerings in my immediate neighborhoods both springing up and thriving. But it was a treat to visit again and find things still very much the same as the last visit.

Plate by Plate 7th Annual Tasting Event to Benefit Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program

Coming up next Saturday at the California Science Center is a food & drinks benefit for Product by Product. Product by Product is a national volunteer organization of social entrepreneurs that serves Asian-American non-profits in need by raising public awareness, volunteerism and capitol. Each year, local chapters of Product by Product choose a community based organization and tailors a year-long campaign to help its fund raising, community outreach, and public awareness efforts. This year the Southern California chapter is working with the Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program to work with.

The Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program (API SBP) was established in 1999 to deliver individual counseling and workshop training to low income Asian immigrant populations in Los Angeles. In 2008, API SBP served more than 2500 entrepreneurs!

API SBP serves its clients in Spanish, English, and six Asian languages, providing free individual business counseling and an extensive array of business workshops and courses. API SBP provides guidance to its clients in business plans, loan applications, and other forms of access to capital, basic business preparation, franchise acquisition, etc. Many of its workshops are presented in alliance with business organizations and other community partners, as a way of strengthening the communities in which API SBP works. All of API SBP's program geographies are focused in low/moderate income census tracts. API SBP also provides an entrepreneurial financial literacy program for low income adults co-sponsored by the United Way of LA, which provides modest financial incentives to program participants.

PLATE BY PLATE

Hosted by Project by Project to Benefit the Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program (API SBP)

On Saturday, August 1, 2009, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Project by Project will be hosting the Seventh Annual Tasting Benefit called Plate by Plate in Los Angeles, California. All net proceeds from the admission and auction purchases of the event will benefit the Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program to help the organization strengthen its foundation and mission to assist the development of Asian and Pacific Islander small and micro businesses in Los Angeles, especially those of low income immigrants of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Filipino communities.

Over 30 chefs from many of the Southland's finest New American, international, and fusion restaurants join with exceptional vintners, brewers, and distillers from around the world to bring attendees a midsummer night's dream of savory and mouth-watering food and fun. While having the fill of delicious drinks, divine dishes, and delectable desserts, guests will find celebrities in attendance and will be able to take in the live entertainment on stage. There is also a stellar silent auction for attendees to bid on the unique experiences from exclusive cooking lesson, special dining package, airline tickets to chic products. For the consummate experience, upgrade to a VIP ticket and enjoy access to a private area and reception featuring exclusive tastings and entertainment.

Featured Restaurants:

Mo-Chica
BottleRock Downtown
XIV by Michael Mina
Mendocino Farms and Scoops.
Cicada
Roy's
Katsuya
Bon Appetit at the Getty Center,
Wabi-Sabi
Citizen Smith
Michael Cordon Bleu
Jamaica's Cakes
The Bazaar by Jose Andres
Bashan,
Michel Cordon Bleu
Sno:LA Yogurt
XOORO
Vanille de Patisserie
Sweet Temptation Co
Good Girl Dinette
Park on 6th and many more.

Plate by Plate
Saturday, August 1 , 2009 from 7-9 pm
Wallis Annenberg Building at the California Science Center
700 State Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90037

Tickets can be purchased for Plate by Plate by clicking here!

One Night in DTLA: A Photo Essay

Trying to be good about not drinking and driving, being good to the environment and embarking on new adventures, we have been enjoying the bus taking so far this summer. We stroll down our hill to Sunset and catch a bus heading toward downtown or toward the beach.

Here the Limited bus passes us by...


and as the sun starts to set a little on our hood, out transport to fun slowly pulls up to the stop.


Hop on the bus, Gus.

Yeah, sometimes when taking the bus we will get about halfway or far enough to where we need to transfer and if a cab comes along we will just hop in for convenience sake. You can take the man away from the car, but you cannot take car tendencies away from the man. It's still good for the environment though, right? I mean, the cab would be driving around empty anyway if we weren't in it, right? Wrong. This is not the way supply and demand work. It is the way justification for behavior works.


Pulling up in Little Tokyo, we are early. We decide to swing by Wine Bar C to visit Jazz. Lo and behold, Calbi is parked outside. Yes, it looks suspiciously like another Korean BBQ taco truck we all know and, well know. We all know what truck I am talking about. However, there is no long line. D gets some food anyway because we are going to eat small plates with a group, so he has to front load that food adventure by assuaging his hunger first.


I stroll into the kitschy and much loved Bar C to order some drinkseses...

Ice cold sake. D will inevitably pour the decanter the wrong way spilling ice water all over the bar. This magic trick has yet to fail. I am waiting for the day he gets it right and we have a dry clean bar in front of us when we leave. *waits*

We sample the tacos. Lettuce heavy and sauce light.


These were pretty durn tasty. The sauce is very different than "those who shall not be named". A little thinner, but equally savory and delicious. We tried chicken and beef, and both were very good. I have yet to wait long for Korean BBQ tacos, as luck has been in my favor every time I have ventured out seeking the food of "those who shall remain nameless in this post". I am not sure how long I would wait for these, maybe 10 minutes. I have no line aversion. But I am looking forward to trying the food from some of the many other gastro-truck offerings in the Southland. Ice cream, french fries, sushi, and so on. You know.

Nevertheless, our trip to Bar C is somewhat in vain because neither Jazz nor Yumi work there anymore. I do not see more trips there in my near future. Those two, their welcoming natures and the party they were able to generate at a moment's notice were the main draw.

We move on to meet friends around the corner at Izayoi. We met MAG, with whom I have been carrying on an internet friendship for months. We also met several of her friends and had a great time. Izayoi was celebrating their anniversary and booze was half off. HALF OFF! We consumed some serious amounts of sake and Kirin. Turns out, the best bar snack to accompany copious amounts of beer and sake is deep fried fish bones. And about 6 plates of them. It looks like some kind of prehistoric Trader Joe's snack for neanderthalithic yuppies. Fish bones, good.

Eventually we did leave, and things seemed to go south as soon as we walked out the door. In good ways and bad. There were more drinks, karaoke, a possible bar fight (words were exchanged) and banishment from said karaoke bar. No dancing or jumping? WTF?

Not sure if it was the beautiful summer night, the fish bones, or the bus. But this was one of those nights when one forgets their age and their mortality. Everyone is 23 again, and we owned the universe. Until we took a cab home and went to bed, all before 11 pm.

Top Cheffer Ilan Hall Cooks & Smiles His Way Through an Evening at Canelé

Canelé
3219 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039-1831
(323) 666-7133
http://www.canele-la.com/

Chef Corina Weibel (ex-commodities trader, Lucques) and co-owner/manager Jane Choi (Balthazar & Pastis in NYC) opened Canelé in 2006 to offer food of west side quality in an east side neighborhood. 2006 was pre-Palate, pre-Reservoir, pre-downtown restaurant boom and post-Blair's. Canelé lives on my favorite walking strip of Glendale Blvd in Atwater Village across the street from the Tennis Warehouse and the Tee-Yee Room.


I like Canelé although I haven't dined there a whole lot. Just a few very happy times. There was a whole friend dating a friend of the kitchen incident, and the fact they don't take reservations but are often quite busy is also hindrance. D hates to wait. However, in a somewhat irregular but joyous manner they occasionally invite a friend into the kitchen to conceive and execute a three-course prix fixe menu for their walk-in clients on the odd Tuesday. This particular Tuesday Ilan Hall, winner of Top Chef Season 2, was cooking to interesting effect. It crossed my mind, as I read the item in Eater LA, that he might be drumming up buzz for his upcoming DTLA restaurant Gorbals where he plans to cook "old Jewish food, date-raped by bacon." According to Eater LA's Plywood Report, Gorbals is coming along nicely at the corner of 5th and Spring and should be open sometime mid-August.

Treating myself to a mid-week night at home, I really wanted to eat Ilan's food but did not want to wait in the 85+ heat outside for a table, so we arrived as they unlocked the doors at 5:30. I inquired about the early bird senior citizen special, to which the waitress quite accurately guessed my age almost to the minute as being too young for a senior discount (barely). Must have been the wet hair. Do I look my age when I first get out of the shower? We were back in a dark corner...Nevermind. Canelé has a good wine list with some very fair prices. I splurged on a bottle of very cold Drappier Brut Nature for $50 or so. Not really a splurge, per se. But champagne always feels like a celebration. Drappier Brut Nature is a 100% Pinot Noir champagne with no liqueur d'expedition added during the fermentation process. I know what this means, but I don't know what it means to the flavor of the fizz. I do know I really enjoyed it, and would order it again anytime I see it on a menu. The server could fill the Riedel glasses less full with each pouring. She filled it to the brim, so that each glass was only filled twice before the bottle was gone. This left us with somewhat lukewarm half full glasses of champagne, which is a shame when you have an ice bucket on the table. She also could have opened the bottle more gently so the wine did not explode and foam onto the floor. I may be nitpicking, but someone should teach the servers how to serve champagne.It's not that hard, and it's a skill that will serve them well at home and at parties for years to come. Still, major points for excellent stemware.

Hall, hard at work in the kitchen when we arrived, was all smiles. D said hello and that we were here specifically for his food, he seemed pleased. From my vantage point the crew in the open kitchen were humming along, enjoying their work and the company. The first course out was mushrooms in a walnut-bone marrow vinaigrette with julienned green onions. These could have been boletes or simply button mushrooms, I am not sure. They tasted broiled rather than sauteed, because they retained a nice structural integrity, something that usually breaks down a bit when mushrooms are sauteed. These were still firm and glazed on the outside with the silky fat from the bone marrow. The portion was hugely generous, and the mushroom flavor was an earthy foil against the rich nuttiness of the walnut chunks.

Next up was our main course. This definitely falls into the category of "old Jewish food", but instead this was date raped by Great Britain. Chicken haggis with pureed potatoes and braised corn. Here's the thing. The haggis was casing free. I have never had casing free haggis unless I released it from the casing myself. And for a haggis, this was liver intensive. Typically, haggis also includes the heart, lungs, oats, pepper, onions and suet. My favorite haggises (haggi?) have had a generous amount of oats which really lightens up the dish, and black pepper which makes it nice and spicy. To me, this tasted suspiciously like a warm and delicious chopped liver. Over the pureed potatoes, D commented that it reminded him of Shepherd's Pie. So, we were eating Jewish chopped liver crossed with haggis divided by Shepherd's Pie. Don't let the new math fool you. This was delicious. Perhaps a little unseasonable in its comforting textures, but really nommy.

Right in the middle of the protein, Ilan stuck a giant chip of deep fried chicken skin. Oh my, he has me now. I cannot wait to eat at Gorbals.

For dessert, out traipsed another nod at Ilan's Scottish heritage, shortbread with key lime curd sitting in maple sauce. Good not great shortbread, but the key lime curd was delicious. I scooped mine off and licked the spoon clean. (I was already really full.)

After dinner, we made our way on foot up Glendale Blvd headed back over the bridge toward Silver Lake and Echo Park, watching the sun set slowly through the eucalyptus and behind the east side hills.

Reservoir: What Virbila Thinks v. What I Think

Reservoir
1700 Silver Lake Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 662-8655

www.silverlakereservoir.com/

Recently dining at Reservoir in Silverlake sans camera, Virbila's sad review of May 29, 2009 kept popping into my mind while having great service and eating very good food. On this particular visit I didn't bring my camera, nor had I intended to review this visit at all. My dining companion and I, of late, have been conversing about the change in dynamic at our dinner table since I started food blogging. So, on our recent trip to Reservoir I decided to leave the camera and analytical mind set at home and simply enjoy the food and company. However! I couldn't get Virbila's review out of my mind. And I find myself still thinking about it this morning in between clients, planning my next math lesson and going back and forth to the fridge for a diet coke.

I found Virbila to be incredibly ungenerous in her review of Reservoir, starting off mean spiritedly, but perhaps with validity, mentioning, "What could I say but that we had a wonderful time. And we did. Despite the food, I could have said. But I didn't. I didn't have the heart.", and continuing to criticize the investors/owners/developers for taking so long to get the restaurant up and running. The only thought I had about its opening is what a beautiful job they did, how pleasant the room is, and during my first visit how I couldn't wait until summer when the windows would be flung wide in the evening leaving the room open to the night air, sounds of traffic and dogs at play coming to and from the dog park across the street. I thought they lucked out with a unique space in a brilliant neighborhood location with a parking lot. With LAMill one block away, Spaceland and 7-Eleven across the street and beautiful homes at several different levels of value right up hills on both sides of Silverlake Blvd, this is the perfect spot for a true neighborhood place meeting the needs of many different kinds of humans.

Virbila's main concern in the review appeared to be a lack of development in the menu as the seasons changed and offerings at the farmer's market changed with them. I cannot speak for Virbila, but the menu on this recent visit was entirely different from my last visit, if not in concept certainly in produce. Last visit, mid-March, we shared a baby green salad with green beans and a variety of warm sauteed mushrooms. Not offered on the menu this trip, we instead ordered a grilled watermelon salad with arugula and marcona almonds. We also ordered the heirloom tomato and burrata salad Virbila wrote about, with the infamous balsamic reduction. Both salads were delightful in flavor and presentation.

I also enjoy the format of the mains. There are several plate "set-ups" and several proteins available including cowboy steak, short ribs, the chimichurri skirt steak and a nice selection of seafood including scallops, miso marinated black cod and even a tofu option. The reason I am enamored of this approach is that I usually have a yen for a certain protein but envy the accompaniments listed elsewhere on the menu. I like the interactivity, and that I have a hand in choosing the veg and starch/grain that comes on my plate. Both visits, however, I did ask for the assistance of my server to decide what to put where. This trip I ordered the miso black cod (delicious) served over Forbidden rice with potatoes, fava beans and grilled cippollini onions. It was fantastic.

SIV complained, "the food is all mushed together, steak sitting on top of braised kale and roasted tomatoes with fingerling potatoes and baby yams. Chicken is served with the Parmesan polenta (which is very good) and roasted balsamic cippollini onions. But does the same plate also need to be mucked up with sautéed shiitake mushrooms and fresh peas? It begins to seem like baby food for adults." I don't understand what she means here. Is it a textural issue? Does everything seem soft and uniform in consistency? If that is what she means, I suppose I can understand that. But at nearly every restaurant I eat at, the protein lays atop the veg/starch/grain (except steak). Because if she means similar to baby food flavor-wise, maybe she has never seen or tasted baby food. Baby food is simple, homogeneous in flavor and ingredient for a baby's developing digestive system. The flavors at Reservoir bring to my mind sophisticated comfort food. I can comprehend the criticism of too many flavors on the plate, but I still enjoyed all my flavors. I thought the food was very good, both times.

At a recent family wedding, a relative knowledgeable about food and the LA dining scene asked me if I was overly generous in my analysis of the places I dine. And in the past I have wondered if I am Pollyanna-esque when dining out. Perhaps I am. Although I have certainly had bad experiences and food I did not enjoy. I tend to not review these experience on my blog, saving them for commentary on someone else's blog or in a Chowhound thread.

Reservoir was worthy of a good write up here, both visits. I think it is great for what it is, a neighborhood spot for all kinds of people in an economically developing artsy neighborhood with an accessible price point. I wouldn't consider this a destination restaurant for people from the west side, as I would Rivera. However, I don't see Reservoir hurting for business. Not now, and if they are consistent in the friendliness & efficiency of their service(unlike Blair's, which I have stopped going to because I always feel like they act like they are doing me a favor by letting me dine there), not in the near future.

SIV and I can see eye-to-eye on the wine list, however. Many restaurants have proven how easy it is to have a small but intriguing wine list staying within a low price point by consulting a sommelier and staying away from designer labels. City Sip and Barbrix come to mind as places with some intriguing and delicious wines without going into wallet shock.

I am not a restaurant critic. I am a person who blogs about food experiences. I like Reservoir. The food tasted good and the service only added to my enjoyment of the experience. The end.

Palate Food + Wine

Palate Food + Wine
933 S Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91204-2107
(818) 662-9463
http://www.palatefoodwine.com/

Food people, neighborhood people, bloggers, newspapers and magazines have all been going on and on and on about Palate Food + Wine since the day they opened their doors about a year ago. I went once with a good friend, sat at the bar and had such piss poor service it took me nearly a year to bring myself to go back despite the fact that it is in my neighborhood, I eat out constantly, and blog about eating like I have verbal diarrhea. You would think I would have given it a second shot. Well, I finally did this week, and what a difference a year makes. The food was delicious, the service was excellent (at times maybe too excellent) and even the people sitting next to us contributed to upleveling our enjoyment.

Really nice pEEEEEEople, Maelle.

Supper started off a little slow with one of the busser/support personnel bringing us a delicious plate of wheat bread with radish, sea salt and herb garnished butter. The butter was amazing on its own. It would be great spread over the bread while laying on a red checked blanket under a tree in the park drinking a nice cold rose from stemless glassware. The butter is housemade and has an almost cheesey quality.

After a little bit our server arrived and gave us "the speech". How long Palate has been open, explaining the progressive nature of the plates on the menu in size and complexity, the chef's pedigree, upcoming events, the wine list, restaurant philosophy and so forth. Honestly, it was a little exhaustive, in my opinion. Certainly no fault of the server, I am sure it is a standard spiel. But it kinda wore me out. Bring me some wine before I have to listen to anyone else talk. And that last bit is all me and my job, the majority of which is spent hearing people out patiently. And it is the middle of a busy summer, in the middle of a busy week. I could happily not talk nor listen to talk for several days straight at this point. Things got better after the wine came.

One side of the menu contains an entire selection of pickled veg, which made D's taste buds do handsprings through the restaurant. He ordered pickled cauliflower, which was a little on the sweet side but nice. The pickling did not overtake the integrity of the fresh cauliflower taste.

He also ordered pickled cucumbers. Elsewhere, we simply call these pickles. I love that these, like the cauliflower, were only slightly pickled. Lots of fresh cucumberey flavors popping through the vinegar and herbs. I agreed with the gentleman dining next to me that I somehow prefer Korean pickled veg to American style pickles. I love all that Korean garlic and heat. Both these pickles were nice and summery though.


Every time I go out to eat, shoot and blog lately, my desire for a DSLR is reinforced. I was super happy with my Canon G9 when I first started learning how to really use it. But as a long time photo-hobbyist, I remember the days with my Canon AE-1. I remember the fun I had with composition, choosing the subject of my focus, playing with negative space and so on. These shots of the potted meats bring it home once again that this point-and-shoot girl is ready to step it up equipment-wise. Above is one of Octavio Becerra's infamous potted meats. I chose the potted lamb, which was super generously portioned.


It was very good, although the curing process seemed to take over the flavors of the lamb. Don't get me wrong, it tasted good and the texture was marvelous, but it was not particularly lamby. If I had to guess, I would have said the meat in question was pork. However, I enjoyed both the format of the presentation and the meat itself. I cleared my pot like a good girl.


Another example of point-and-shoot focus gone wrong. I could have played with this more and gotten something better. However, I am trying to go in for the shot when the course comes, put the camera away and enjoy the food. D is working on a little guest blogging piece entitled "The Lament of the Food Blogger's Companion". Look for it at a blog near you.


D's potted meat was shrimps, and they were fantastic. Shrimpy without being fishy, light textured, a hair creamy. I want this again. Planning to revisit at the end of the month for the Cirque du Fromage, I may also order the potted shrimps. Just lovely.

At some point early on during our dinner, our neighbors at the next table accidentally spilled their water glass. I think exactly one drop spilled onto my flip flop clad toes. As an apology, they offered to let me taste some of the Peter Michael 'Belle Cote' chardonnay they brought in and criminally were not going to finish. This is an incredible chardonnay. Rich tasting and fruity, with the flavor of stone fruits like apricots and peach, no wood thank dog, full and nutty tasting with a very slight initial spritz. A high alcohol content at 15.5%, this chard sells online for between $110 and $150. Sharing this with a neighboring table was really treating me to something special. I think the group was mother-father-daughter, and daughter left with a balloon glass almost full of wine. I thought about drinking it before the bus person came, but decided I was feeling too civilized. Sometimes civility is such a wasted behavior.

For a main course, I ate this beautiful and generous arugula salad with summer stone fruit (peaches), haricots verts, red onion and hazelnuts. It was maybe a hair too liberally dressed but the dressing was light in flavor and I could feel the ever so slight crunch of sea salt all the way through. I love salt. I must have been a deer in a previous life. Salt lick.

For a main course, D ordered local halibut with baby artichokes and dragon beans. This was delicious and light, generous with the veg. What the hades is a dragon bean? The Wise Geek says,

"The dragon tongue bean was first raised in the Netherlands, when farmers began to experiment with bean varietals looking for a sweet, waxy bean. The snap beans take around two months to mature, while the shell beans require an extra month or two to fully develop and dry on the vine. People who want to grow dragon tongue beans should plan on finding a sunny spot in the garden and working the soil with lots of compost and mulch to make it congenial for beans. Space the plants well apart so that they have room to grow, and keep them moist but not saturated in water."

Recently I have been playing with an iPhone app called "Flashlight" to try and get better lighting in restaurants for shooting. With very mixed results. If the light is held too close, it blows out the colors and makes weird kind of fluorescent effects. But I think, as in the case here, if held far enough away, it can add a little light (highly artificial looking and somewhat Starship Enterprise-esque) that shows the food fairly accurately.

A little later we headed into the back wine bar. Knowing there was a retail space somewhere in the back nohow informed me this was a beautimous earthy wine bar with food and whatnot.

Loved. Wish it was walking distance to our house.

I sampled a summertime appropriate Torrontes, light and a little more tart than I typically expect from a Torrontes.

And D sipped at a red. I cannot remember the grape, but the label was sweet to look at. Essencia de Monte.



And above is the shill for Tuesday cheese nights. Todd the cheese guy spent as much time at our table in the dining room as our official server and we really enjoyed his attention. I am going to hit the Cirque du Fromage on the very next Tuesday night I am physically in town. I know Sinosoul tried to come on Jour de Bastille, but Palate had closed up shop before 9:30. With my early rising hours, I will probably stop by long before that hour, and am planning on hitting up Melissa from Controlled Burn for some companionship.

East LA Gets Fancy and Meets Napa Valley at Union Station to Benefit AltaMed Health Services

East La Meets Napa
AltaMed Health Services
Union Station
800 N.Alameda St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 624-0171


On Friday July 10th, Latino movers and shakers in the culinary world partnered with Latino wine makers and vintners to host a blow out event assaulting the eyes, ears, taste buds, and livers of ticket holders and media alike with amazing food, beautiful wines, interesting music and high quality people watching all to benefit AltaMed Health Services organization. This is the fourth annual East LA Meets Napa, it was my first and it won't be my last.

Above is the exhaustive list of food and wine providers. I didn't come close to hitting all of them. Even though I walked through the gates at 6:10, the courtyard was packed with people already making merry. Many thanks to Alexia Haidos for making sure many food bloggers were sported entry gratis. My husband and I had a beautiful time and will surely enjoy the Reidel stemware handed out for tasting until someone breaks them. Likely they will last through August.

Due to crowds of people, I was unable to respond to the wine pairings set up with the foods, or make really intelligent choices for myself in terms of pairings. All the tables were pretty crowded when we got there, and moreso as the evening wore on. The review, henceforth, has the liquid commentary at the end, leading with the food.

Above is the AltaMed table. They had a Wheel of Fortune game set up. Spin the wheel, answer a trivia question about the organization and win cute little prizes! Thanks to the media preview at Rivera two weeks ago, I answered them all correct! Woot! I didn't take any prizes though, I didn't think that would be fair.

My first item up for snacking were empanadas from La Monarca Bakery in Huntington Park. Chorizo or chicken, and they were pretty nice. I liked the chorizo one a hair better. But still warm, slightly crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. Lovely little puffs of pasty and meat. Perfect front loading for wine and tequila.


One of my next stops was at the El Portal table for mini quesadillas in corn tortillas. These were simply cheese and some beautiful pepper sauce. They were hot and tasty, and moving quickly like the idiomatic hot cakes.


Back in the days of our courtship, D used to swing by my K-Town apartment building, The DuBarry, between 8 and 8:30 for a 9 PM dinner reservation somewhere. This was prior to classrooms full of 11 year olds at 7:30 am demanding a bright and perky teacher, or 7 AM client meetings 60 miles away from home. Nowadays, senior citizen dining hours tend to suit us better, and they suit food photography better as well. The natural July evening light between 6 and 7:30 makes for easy shot making and happier digestive systems.

The mission of [HOMEBOY] industries is compelling and impressive. From their website:

A distinctive feature of Homeboy Industries is its small businesses, where the most difficult to place individuals are hired in transitional jobs in a safe, supportive environment where they will learn both concrete and soft job skills. Here an individual can build a resume and gain work experience in the Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Café & Catering, Homeboy Maintenance, Homeboy Merchandise, Homeboy Press and Homeboy Silkscreen & Embroidery. Proceeds from these businesses help support our services.

The Homegirl Cafe division created an artistically beautiful spread, using a cornucopia of summer fruits and veg to make the point they use seasonal ingredients and offer flavors bursting with California freshness.

They offered bright green salads and chicken tacos with picked onions, cabbage and whatnot. Despite the clear picture here, the crowds would not let me get close enough to wrap my lips around one of these nice little tacos nor get my paws on a salad plata.


Moles La Tia is one of the restaurants that provided offerings at Rivera's media event the week previous. That day they offered the tight little light tasting veggie rolls above and to the left. To the right is a little dumpling not offered that day, but much enjoyed at the Union Station evening. Mole? Well I need some for my veggies too!


Moles La Tia was serving a tender pork with the classic dark mole I often dream of when thinking of the Yucatan & Quintana Roo. Despite the fact it is traditionally Oaxacan, I was introduced to it in Yucatan and eating it always reminds me of that trip so long ago. This one was dark, silky and smokey.

But, by far my favorite tasting mole was that offered over pollo at Cook's Tortas. People I knew were mentioning this all over the courtyard, "Did you taste Cook's Torta's pollo?" Yes, I did!


Amazing.

It isn't much to photograph, but it was great. Teenage Glutster describes it as a, " luscious version of my homestate's toasted, green pumpkin seed based Pipian Verde." Pipian Verde is a green mole made and getting its green color from pumpkin seeds and vegetable broth. This is a much lighter mole, I aim to try making this one at mi casa.

Already big fans of Rivera, a stop by the Rivera stand early was a must prior to them potentially running out food. The cooks were making a fresh batch of tortillas florales, tortillas with fresh flowers cooked into them.

Obviously, pretty as a picture.


Next, spooned generously on top is an avocado salsa.

Followed by a lightly citrus shrimp mixture, ceviche like but the texture of the shrimp seemed cooked not cured. I adore everything about John Sedlar's food, from the plating and presentation to the bright, smokey, interesting but always Mexican flavors.

Phlight won D's heart. Phlight, located in Whittier, also offered food at the media preview at Rivera and being tardy I tasted none. I didn't miss the chance a second time. I wanted to know if it was worth driving out to Whittier for. The answer is a resounding yes.

Above is a shrimp/pineapple/orange juice/cucumber ceviche. D's taste buds did little somersaults of joy in his mouth after snacking at this.

The man working the counter requested that we come back in an hour to try their crepes with ricotta cheese and hibiscus juice, then he second guessed himself and pulled one out from somewhere behind us for us to try. This was beautiful. The hibiscus juice with perfectly light sweetness balanced the creaminess of the ricotta and the thick starch of the crepe. I could have had even a little more sauce. I love the drama of its appearance.

This very cold and very summertime drinkable Sauvignon Blanc was waiting just inside the front gates. I drank this while noshing on La Monarca's empanadas. Perfect crispness with the savory pastry.

We spent some time at the Elements table. By spending time, I mean we returned more than once and even took an order form. The syrah was very nice but the real standout was the Mourvedre.

I love the loteria card-esque labeling of the wines at El Vino. I have a longtime obsession with loteria cards and even have an entire set of Christmas tree ornaments made from mini-loteria cards.

I caved on Rousanne the El Vino people were sampling. I did not like it. The flavors were tart and thin for a Rousanne.


In the press preview, no one mentioned there was going to be tequila at the event, but tequila there was. Metl, a new label. Silver, gold reposado and anejo were being offered. I tasted the silver and anejo both sippable and wonderfully smooth. They also shared Mezcal! Mezal typically goes down a little rough for me, so I passed but D and LAOCFoodie both knocked some back and loved it.

LAOCFoodie has been calling this the "Tequila from the future" in tweets ever since because all bottles were labeled 2012. Still delicious.

We made our escape at 7:30-hot and headed to Cole's for a cold beverage and soothing darkness. After bopping our way around downtown for a couple hours, we eventually ended the evening sitting on the stone wall in the outside courtyard at Edendale with some friends where, sadly, I fell asleep in public.

Because My Dog is Awesome

Let me start by sharing there is nothing good about losing Daisy. It has sucked to the utmost degree of suckishness. However! If there were some small side benefit to having solely one dog in the house, it is that Jackson has begun hiding bones again.

Since he was a teen, Jackson has enjoyed hiding bones. I have found bones in a closet, under a chair, buried in a basket of scarves, in between the seat cushions of a very expensive leather couch and in random kitchen cupboards that yes, he can open with his snout. He stopped hiding and burying his bones about 4 years ago when beautiful Daisy came home with us at 8 weeks of age. Obviously, because that garbage disposal of a canine ate anything she could get her soft damp lips around. The bone hider returns. Please observe. (Each video less than 35 seconds long, I am nothing if not to the point.)




In Temecula for a tennis tournament this weekend, we sat by the sidelines watching David lose to a very worthy opponent in three sets. The first bone goes into the ground under the edge of court 1.



Milk Bone #2. I was so amused, I wanted to see if he would do it again or give himself the pleasure of eating one. Watch how he pats the earth down with his snout, so it is nice and smooth and firm. No one would ever know someone had squirreled away a tasty treat for later snacking.



Milk Bone #3. Why stop now, I am so amused. Between D's match and mine, Jackson hung out in that shady corner for about 4 hours. He buried the bones almost immediately, and never retrieved them. Exhausted after my match, I didn't bother to get them either, and I kind of regret it. I wonder if he is thinking about them right now, like that little white dog in the Traveler's Insurance adverts?

And FYI, while this is supposed to be a food blog, let me remind you that Milk Bones are food.

Lazy Sunday Meme

I am waiting interminably for iVideos of Jackson to upload from my iPhone onto my iMac. I order to get on with my iLife, I will complete an iMeme, just until something more substantial is available to blog about. Seen first at Chatiry World, a lovely little blog generated in the UK.

The Foodie Confessions Meme

IN THE KITCHEN

1. My trademark recipe: I don't have a trademark, per se. I get inspired when eating a certain dish, and tend to try to recreate those in my home. I am currently obsessed with John Sedlar's Mexico City Sundae.

2. Kitchen gadget or accessory I couldn't live without: corkscrew

3. Biggest kitchen handicap: I'd rather eat out.

4. Dish/technique that I want to learn: I'd like to cure bacon from scratch in order to participate in Michael Ruhlman's BLT challenge. I won't tell you what my idea for the challenge is because I think you will copy it the way someone in an online chatroom stole that L.A.M.B. purse out from underneath me on eBay. And I am currently constructing a hat out of tin foil.

5. My top cooking tip: Don't feel hemmed in by a recipe. Do some reading to understand the chemistry involved, then close the book. For everything but baking.

6. Favourite cuisine/food style: Japanese.

7. Favourite cook book: To look at & dream, Heston Bluementhal's Big Fat Duck. To use, the cookbook Mom made from all her recipes with the post-it notes of memorable occasions, and which was whose favorite and so on. Best book in the house. Blumenthal would be lucky to get his hands on one.

8. Favourite chef: John Rivera Sedlar, Ludo Lefebvre, and my mom (she could have been a chef, she's mad enough and loves food enough and can get really angry, but I think she's more of an amazing cook than a chef. But so what? This is my meme.)

9. Favourite food programme: Top Chef. Although, I am starting to adore Throw Down with Bobby Flay. He clearly has so much respect for these people's skills and culture. He has really begun to woo me.

10. Favourite food magazine: They publish food magazines? I don't really read them, but I do enjoy flipping through Bon Appetit.

11. Favourite local restaurant: Izayoi or Ludobites, right now.

INTERNET FOR FOODIES

12. Favourite foodie website: There are so many I love, I cannot begin to narrow it down to even 5. Blogs, news sites, recipes, reviews sites. This is my life, strangely.

13. Favourite recipe search: Epicurious. Fast and easy on desk top or iPhone, a great reference for figuring out why things work the way they work and then immediately doing it differently.

14. Online recipe binder: I am not really a recipe collector.

15. Favourite food blog: Again, just cannot go there. I love so many for so many reasons. Sinosoul because he's angry at food, mattatouille.com because he so earnestly loves the food experience, Oishii Eats! for the photography, Teenage Glutster and LAOCFoodie for their soundbites, Food GPS and Caroline on Crack for the news and happs, and so on and so forth and on and on and on.

FAVOURITE RECIPES

Do I have to?

16. Main course: broiled miso salmon with ginger and green onions

17. Quickie: Scrambled eggs with a little cream, green onions, cheese & truffle salt. I eat this alone in front of the tv sitting cross legged protecting my plate from Jackson because he loves scrambled eggs.

18. Soup/salad: Anything with arugula and red onions.

19. Baked treat or dessert: As referenced above, John Sedlar's Mexico City Sundae. But this current infatuation will be gone in about the same amount of time the macaron fetish lasted. I give it another 3 weeks, tops.

20. Self-invented (or adapted): Everything made in my kitchen, ever.

I would love for any readers to email me their meme...I am fascinated by other people's kitchen habits. There could be a book deal in my fascination somewhere.

And my husband just vacuumed up a pair of my panties with the Dyson hand vac.

You Have to Eat Anyway, So Dine Out for the Cure!

On Wednesday July 15, 2009 all of Los Angeles can dine in one of many popular restaurants to benefit Susan Komen for the Cure. The following restaurants will donate 10% of the gross profits from breakfast, lunch and/or dinner service to benefit the search for the cure to end breast cancer.

• BLVD 16 at the Palomar Hotel (Breakfast, Dinner) – Westwood
• Café Rodeo at the Luxe Hotel (Lunch, Dinner) – Beverly Hills
• Cézanne at Le Merigot Hotel (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) – Santa Monica
• Ford's Filling Station (Dinner) – Culver City
• La Grande Orange Café (Dinner) – Pasadena
• Michael’s On Naples (Dinner) – Long Beach
• Roy’s restaurant
  • Downtown Los Angeles (lunch, Dinner)
  • Pasadena (Dinner)
  • Woodland Hills (Dinner)
• Rush Street (Lunch, Dinner) – Culver City
• The Gardens on Glendon (Lunch) – Westwood
• The Madison (Dinner) – Long Beach
• The Organic Panificio Cafe (Lunch, Dinner) – Marina del Rey
• The Waterfront Restaurant (Dinner) – Marina del Rey
• The Zinc Lounge at the Shade Hotel (Lunch, Dinner) – Manhattan Beach
• West Restaurant & Lounge (Breakfast,Lunch, Dinner) – Brentwood
  

Personally, if it were me, I'd hit Michael's on Naples because my food crazy friend Melissa A-G loves that place. I am just looking for a reason to dine there. Or maybe I will hit Roy's DTLA because it is right by my house, and the 15th is a school night and all.

Supposedly, they are adding new restaurants daily. Click that link up there at the top early next week and see if anything new has been added that really grabs you!

And by all means, eat some wonderful food, have a lovely time, and let's communally tell cancer to fuck the hell off.

A Perfect 4th of July

This 4th of July my favorite cousins *wink* were in town with the wonderful exchange students, Marta & Liza. I took advantage of their presence to invite a whole passel of people over for an Independence Day celebration. People cooked, B sliced a watermelon, F made everyone laugh, JAF charmed our collective pants off, the dog had the run of the house and we all had a fantastic time.


J gave me the inspiration to cook Mom's fried chicken for late lunch/early dinner. Mom is an attorney, and I am assuming she approaches law the way she approaches cooking. She likes precision, not guesswork. However, this chicken recipe is a different thing altogether, a heretofore unknown part of her personality. She doesn't even have it written down. WTF? She emailed me an extremely imprecise recipe with no ingredient measurements or things of that nature. Although, she did discuss the temperature of the electric frying pan that I don't have. Who has an electric frying pan anymore? Mom. That's who.

I counted around 20 people coming to celebrate. Since there would definitely be more food, I bought 4 chickens cut into parts, rinsed them, dried them on paper towels and cut each giant breast into two smaller but still rather giant sized pieces. Above is only two of the four, I think.


In a paper bag I dumped flour (maybe a cup), some sea salt, some Italian seasonings, some cracked pepper and some paprika for color. After slightly drying, salting chickens and letting them sit for 20 minutes, I threw 3-5 peices at a time into the paper bag, shaking to thoroughly coat in the dry goods mixture. Then into my skillet with a little butter and vegetable oil they go. I would give you a temp for the skillet, but since mine is not electric, the temp is somewhat immaterial to me so I refrained from committing that to memory. I knew the skillet was hot enough when water droplets sizzled after being sprinkled into the fat. I preheated and cooked at a medium temp.

This is a time consuming process. Each side cooks about 12 minutes, trying to cook them equally on at least three sides. I kept a meat thermometer handy for the times when I was paying attention more to guests than to chicken. If the internal meat of the chicken reached 180, they were cooked through.

Above is more or less the finished product. Shots taken of huge piles of fried chicken on a platter are less mouth watering for some reason than the chicken still cooking in the pan. Naturally, it did not taste exactly like Mom's. However, it was delicious. Most people ate two or more pieces. Some people exclaimed over the deliciousness as soon as they bit into their first piece, D included. Thanks Mom, it was perfect.

The second dish I cooked was inspired by BoHo in Hollywood. They offer delectable oyster po' boy sliders. While EKD and I were tweeting about copying their recipe, I realized how easy it would be to make. Since I was already wandering down the Southern food path, I decided to throw these in for the party as well. Served at BoHo on a biscuit, I started with Pillsbury refrigerated dough. To my reader who asserts that I am all that is wrong with the culinary arts in this country for using anything instant or convenient, you are right. I suck. I did not make biscuits from scratch. The end.

I knew the amount of dough for a full sized biscuit would create too large of a bun for the sliders.
For a trial run, I made 50% sized and two 25%, cutting the dough and then reshaping into rounds.


They came out of the oven after 8 minutes perfectly round, brown and delicious.


50% size was juuuuuuuust right.


Liza & Marta sat at the bar keeping me company, cutting and shaping the dough for all the sliders. Four containers worth. Good work girls!


J holds the platter of mini biscuits in the sun for me to shoot. They tasted as lovely as they look despite the preservatives and chemicals, and left me plenty of time to work on the oysters. Using four 8 oz cans of fresh raw oysters from the seafood section at the Silver Lake Von's, I dunked each one in cornmeal, then buttermilk, then cornmeal again, frying them lightly in vegetable oil. Inside the bun, my European production line spread a pesto aoili (made from Mom & Sue's springtime pesto and mayo), and lined each bun with arugula before welcoming the hot little oysters to make pretty platters of oyster po' boy sliders.


Liza is vegetarian, so a half dozen of those suckers were made with battered and fried tofu. Reportedly delicious.

I know I loved them, and I also know the several dozen sliders did not last long on the platter. They were all eaten within about an hour. I was barely done cooking and they were all already gone. Just what every cook hopes for, happy and hearty eaters.

Definitely an inspired meal, dessert was motivated by the gobstoppingly delicious Mexico City Sundae served at the Rivera press preview for East LA Meets Napa last week. Vanilla bean ice cream with pine nuts, whipped cream, cinnamon and habanero caramel sauce.


I was totally winging it on this course. I looked up several caramel recipes on epicurious, deciding the best way to go about making the sauce was to infuse water with habanero oils by boiling and reducing, then substituting this for the plain water used in a regular caramel sauce, the way orange juice is used in an orange flavored caramel sauce.

There's really only one issue you need to keep in mind when boiling habaneros in water. Use a pan with a lid. I left mine open to the air, intending for the water to reduce somewhat. About 15 minutes later the entire population of my crowded kitchen were coughing and had watery eyes. D panicked, yelled at me in the bathroom that my food was smoking...I came running. Was it the fried chicken? The biscuits? The oysters? What had I left cooking that was already on fire? Nothing. Not a damn thing. But everyone looked like they were being poisoned. The oils and habanero essense were leaking into the air and the kitchen had filled with their spiciness. Most people went outside altogether. We opened some windows and doors, I covered the habanero water, and the toxins dissipated. It's not a party til someone is coughing up a lung.


Later, the caramel. Trial and error process, and thankfully sugar and water aren't expensive. I ruin one batch every time I cook caramel. Why do I not follow directions in a recipe? I have a mental block. I typically read the directions quickly, then cast them aside wantonly and go for it. Some recipes require more precision, correct amounts of ingredients, and appropriate tool use. Thank goodness for H, A, R & R. They stood by my side through a couple batches of caramel til we got a worthy product. Maybe next time I will do it right the first time.

Habanero caramel sauce. I also made a non-habanero batch for the fearful. Really, this was not that spicy. I could been more daring.


Drizzled over, (*gasp*, not homemade?), Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean ice cream

Whipped cream and cinnamon, with pine nuts under the whip. Thanks to R for making a beautiful whipped cream. Both sets of dessert were a wonderful way to end the meal. By this time we were all sitting around the chimenea with our shoes off, talking and listening to the fireworks. My European sous chefs long gone, an LA Galaxy match completing their world wind tour of Los Angeles while taking care of J's somewhat fragile emotional state.


It was all my pleasure to meet you, Marta & Liza. I enjoyed spending time with you and appreciated your endless support in the kitchen. Thanks for bringing my cousins to me and spending such a lovely day with my family.


Happy Birthday, United States of America.

Happy Birthday to you.

Mouth Heaven at Ludobites at Breadbar

Ludobites at Breadbar (til 08/22)
8718 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
310 205 0124
http://www.breadbar.net/events.html

Our Thursday night culinary adventure started walking down a hill and hopping on the bus, heading toward Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his Ludobites concept at Breadbar on the very eastern outskirts of Beverly Hills. The lovely 3 bus. The metro transit system in Los Angeles may have its faults: not enough lines, they don't run often enough, there are sometimes weird freaks with 3 foot wide 6 foot long dreadlocks that look like the world's largest poop high as a a kite on who knows what basically speaking in tongue. However, buses are cleaner and smell better than a taxi. They are incredibly safe. I find the drivers to have a wonderful balance between efficiency in terms of speed and safety. Air conditioners pump out so much cool air, one needs a sweater on an early July afternoon. Buuuut, they are unpredictable in terms of delivery time. We were 30 minutes late for our reservation. Nevertheless, Ludo's lovely and gracious wife made room for us despite it, with a nice little table on the sidewalk patio.

Breadbar is BYOB, no corkage. LOVES! Since we literally ran out of the house to catch the 6pm 3 at the corner, we didn't have time to swing by our local, Silverlake Wine. Lee's Liquor on 3rd is about a block away, so we stopped in there and among their kinda not so great selection found one lone bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape. We're snargy like that. Louis Bernard Red Rhone Wine, 2005. A lower priced Chateauneuf, but after breathing a bit it was perfectly serviceable for wetting our whistles while noshing on Ludo's small plates.


Last night's menu above. What the hades is Ludobites? Ludobites is a guerrilla style pop-up restaurant created by Chef Ludo Lefebvre, recently featured as the melt-down king of pig's ears quesadillas on Top Chef Masters. Please do not hold that against him, different people work well in different kinds of situations, and in his own kitchen Ludo's food shines. He has a very loyal following of bloggers and food eaters in Los Angeles, and it can be hard to get a reservation right now at Breadbar. From his website Ludo says that the goal is to, "create a new 'bistronomy' cuisine that features Michelin style French cuisine with modern technique offered at affordable prices". The plan is to offer a "restaurant within a restaurant" by coming in to do temporary dinner service in restaurants that only typically offer breakfast and lunch. Genius in concept, one of my favorite recent restaurant experiences in execution.

Food. Wonderful food. All the food is small or moderately small plates intended to share. D has come along way during this heavy blogging year. He is now not only willing to eat oysters, but often requests them, and he is also now open to sharing small plates. Yay. We started by sharing the White Asparagus Veloute with Mozzarella Ice Cream, Shaved Fennel, Dried Olives and Lemon Zest. Starting off on the right foot, this was elegant and innovative.


Look at this pic carefully and you can see the differences in the two soft textures. On the outside the soup is, well, thick and soupy and the ice cream remains just barely frozen in the middle. The temperatures mixed interestingly, the soup being served at a fairly ambient temperature, and the ice cream just barely cold enough to be able to discern the differences in texture and flavor. Flavor from the dried olives was very intense, keeping the asparagus and mozzarella flavors from being too mild.


D was entranced by the Poached Egg 65 Degrees with Savory French Toast, Black Truffles and Parmesan-Onions. He claims this is the consistency to which soft boiled eggs are cooked at every Jewish deli on the planet, then served less fancifully over rye toast. He even challenged me to a culinary tour of the great Jewish delis in LA, comparing and contrasting soft boiled eggs on toast moving from the Westside to the Eastside.

I counter challenged him that they could not be this delicious without the black truffle and whatever those two delicious sauces are on the bottom of the plate. I wish I snapped a pic of the egg broken open. The yolk was that perfect bright orange with a luxurious almost pate-like texture. Spreadable, and not the slightest bit runny. Good thing the bus person came along when he did, because I was about embarrass my easily embarrassed husband by licking the plate. I swear.


Above is the Cod with Spiced Butter, Fresh Porcinis & Almonds served Tonnato style. This was the only meh of the evening. The ingredients all look and sound wonderful together, the quality was good and the freshness and texture beautiful together. But the flavors were flat. There was nothing popping on this dish. Next.


Next was good, very good. Creamy Polenta, Cantal Cheese and Oxtail Meat.

While fairly well buried in the delicious and not overly rich polenta, the oxtail meat was generously portioned. Basically it was just barely surrounded by polenta. I might make this at home with the leftovers the next time I make oxtails. Because I rarely cook, it takes true inspiration to get me in the kitchen. If I want to riff on something a chef does, that is the highest compliment I can give.

Surprisingly, D was less inspired by the Heirloom Tomato Salad, with Red Onions, Feta Mousse and Oregano. He said, this isn't that original or unique. My thought was this is the perfect spin on a classic summertime heirloom salad, with the feta mousse. Not much needs to be done to a Greek style tomato salad to improve upon perfection. He wisely agreed. It was acidic marvelousness balanced by the creaminess of the cheesy mousse.

Strangely, we ended with the Chicken Liver Mousse with Cornichons and Green Apples. Strange because it's really an hors d'ouevres. It was super good though, the sweet green apple surprising against the sour of the pickle and the richness of the liver.

We had a really wonderful meal, with great service. Really great, comfy personal service. Nothing pretentious or ever the least bit formal. I love this kind of service, like these people could be your next door neighbors or someone you sat next to having drinks at your favorite bar. I definitely plan to go back before August 22nd. And after August 22nd, I will follow wherever Ludo's food leads.

And we took a stinky cab home.

Douchebaggery at The Bazaar?

Has the level of douchebaggery at The Bazaar risen to such heights that the staff must treat paying clients like schoolchildren worthy of a scolding? Apparently so, by both witnessing the complete takeover of the restaurant & bar area by the ex-Skybar crowd and experiencing a bit of a scolding by a waitress in Le Patisserie.

After supper in the neighborhood (more on that blissful experience later) the bright idea to revisit The Bazaar for a special after dinner cocktail struck us as inspired. We strolled over in the cool evening air, reliving our meal over and over in our conversation. As we rounded the corner of the parking loop at the SLS, I was amazed at the nightclub like frenzy at the valet parker, in energy and in dress. Y'all know what I mean.

Inside we headed to the very crowded bar and paid $40 for a vodka/soda and a vodka/caipirinha. Is that a lot of money for a couple cocktails? Yes. That was close to half the price of a 6 course small plates meal of quality equal to The Bazaar right round the corner. But we know where we are, and covering the heavy overhead of that décor & good address is spendy.

The problem arises in finding a place to drink the $40 worth of vodka. The bar area is packed. The music is a little thumpy, and there's nowhere to sit. So we stroll over to the Patisserie side and sit on one of their delicate couches, to be asked quickly if we'd like dessert and to be told in no uncertain terms that we cannot sit here without ordering dessert. We tried to explain there was nowhere to sit in the bar, and we were planning on staying about 10 minutes, finish our drinks and leave. "No, this The Patisserie. You can't just drink here." D, with his sweet tooth & sweet nature, naturally asks for the menu fully intending to order dessert. The server says of course we can see it and adds over her shoulder, "if you don't order you have to leave". After that comment, and it was far more about the method of delivery than the message itself, there was no way I was going to stay for one of Jose's beautiful desserts.

I understand that this is an "it" spot. Everyone wants to be at The Bazaar right now. The food is fantastic and fantastical. The atmosphere is a cross between Alice in Wonderland and Pan's Labyrinth. The people are beautiful. By only allowing people ordering dessert to sit in the Patisserie, management is actually trying to protect their serious diners' experience from what is most likely the temporary onslaught of the B&T/striped shirt/mini-skirt/Skybar brigade. However, I recall our second visit to The Bazaar. After dinner we strolled through the retail area with a cognac, I took snaps of the sweets, and we curled up cozily on a Patisserie couch & emptied our snifters unaccosted.

I love The Bazaar. I am beyond thrilled at Andres' success and happy to have a culinary venture of this genre and reknown in my fair city. I know their food will outlast the fickle nightclub crowd. I just hope in the meantime they can find a way to protect their foodie clientele from their professional partying clientele a little more nicely.

OK, OK, I Like You La Grande Orange

La Grande Orange
2000 Main St
Santa Monica, CA 90405-1010
(310) 396-9152
http://www.lagrandeorangesm.com/

You are adorable! From the walk up window where one orders breakfast pastries, salads, burgers and sandwiches to the open kitchen and service area customers walk trough to get to a table, you're just fun and lively.

Your English muffins were the only pastry really worthy of note, not being a pastry eater. These muffins were bigger than my head. It may be hard to tell with no physical frame of reference, but these were easily treble the size of the ones you buy at your local market. Where on Earth are you getting these behemoths?

You make fresh juices to order for a mere 3 bones.

And c'mon, how cute is that kids' menu? PB&J Sushi roll with vegan orange jello slices? I want.

La Grande Orange offers some quality reading material to patrons with giant tags on them so media kleptos don't go running off into the sunset with Gourmet magazine or The New Yorker. I know of these media kleptos from first hand experience. I have been known to nick an Allure from the nail salon, or even worse a tabloid so I can read about the latest Brad-Jen-Ang drama. BTW, I am totally enjoying the trumped up possibility that Ang is jealous of Brad's friendship with Jen. Be careful what you ask for, home wrecker.

The dining area is spacious and varied. Lots of regular tables to sit at, booths and even taller bar height tables all with access to free wifi. The high ceilings ensure that what could be a crowded space remains spacious feeling.

I was very tempted by the bar itself. It is a little on the small side, but offers a small selection of great beers but nothing too fancy-pants. Exact same thing with the wine list. My cousin ordered for me some Pinot Grigio (not knowing I don't love Pinot Grigio, it is usually a safe wine for everyone else on the planet) that was very decent )for a Pinot Grigio) and when going to the bar for a second trip I noticed several other wines worthy of drinking. No big names stood out at me, which tells me someone probably chose for flavor and value rather than name recognition in the same price category which usually merits very mediocre wines.


I ate a burger. I have been on a burger kick recently, it must be the season. Or maybe the fact that the entire food blogging universe is talking about, photographing and eating burgers. I am such the happy band wagoner.

This one was damn good. The Green Chili Burger. Roasted poblano pepper, sharp cheddar cheese and medium rare ground beef. Tasted great, and I loved the pepper with it. NO spiciness whatsoever, but the flavors were delish. Meat cooked to perfection. Good bun. Toasted a little, but not to the point it would tear up my mouth like a cheese grater. Also, nice bread flavor and texture. Didn't fall apart after being exposed to the juicy meat.

Wall of wines.

And various other things. They sell a cute tee-shirt with a peace sign constructed from little oranges. We were tempted.

All in all, La Grande Orange is an adorable spot. Full service dining area in the evening, counter service with runners during the day. My companions ordered a Rainbow Roll, Pulled Chicken Nachitos, salad, and Liza the German exchange student ate a veggie burger she raved about on and on. I always think of veggie burgers as being ubiquitous in Europe, so I assumed she knew what she was talking about. If I hadn't met her 5 minutes prior, I would have been eating off her plate.

Media Preview at Rivera: East LA Meets Napa

East LA Meets Napa
Benefiting AltaMed Health Services
July 10th
Union Station
800 North Alameda Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Last night, John Rivera Sedlar of Rivera Restaurant in DTLA hosted a media event previewing the upcoming benefit for AltaMed Health Services, East LA Meets Napa. During the event Cástulo de la Rocha, President and CEO of AltaMed spoke of the organizations founding mission and development. AltaMed started as a free clinic and now serves underserved populations, providing community access to medical and dental clinics, complete senior services, including adult day health centers, case management, and the Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), youth programs as well as HIV/AIDS and substance abuse prevention and treatment. De la Rocha noted that they serve more than 240,000 clients per year.

As an end to support this worthy cause, and I think as an end unto itself as well, over 20 restaurants and more than 20 wineries will present offerings to ticket holders a week from Friday. See the current list here. The gist of the event is to educate consumers on how to pair high quality Latino foods with fine wine as a companion beverage, as opposed to the standard margarita or Corona (Tecate, if you are in my house). All the food presented on the 10th is Latin, and all the wine makers and/or vintners themselves have their roots in Latino ancestry, although the wines are all made in California.

As shown on the menu above, three of the many restaurants participated in the tasting last night. Rivera, headed by chef de cuisine Joe Panarello and the charming John Rivera Sedlar who made himself very present during the event for scintillating conversation about his beautiful restaurant (now a favorite of mine) and the upcoming event. Rocio Camacho, chef of Casa de Moles La Tia, was also quietly in attendance seeing to food and chatting just a little. I have not yet gone to Moles La Tia, but it is on my to-do list, written right there on a post-it in my iPhone alongside Ludobites, Huckleberry and Palate Food + Wine. Also, in the house were Daniel Salcedo, Jay Arroyo and Nikomi Arroyo of Whitter's Phlight. Phlight started out as a small tapas restaurant, and through offerings of specials the owners discovered what their regulars really wanted to see on the menu in Whittier. The menu now includes a mix of Latin-American cuisine and Spanish style tapas. Might just warrant a trip out to Whittier, methinks.

I arrived a tiny bit late, after spending the afternoon with my wonderful out-of-town cousins tracking down the Beatles star on the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame. I arrived hot and thirsty. Immediately, I was supplied with this amuse-bouche-esque deliciousness. From the Rivera kitchen, this is shrimp in a pineapple foam. Loved the mixture of salty and sweet, and although they are hiding in this pic there were definitely nice sized chunks of shrimp in there. After delicately spooning out the shrimp and foam I knocked back what was left of the sweet/savory juice like a caballero sucking down his tequila.

Next tasting was a spin on a regular menu item at Rivera. For a snack, Rivera offers patates xips. Housemade potato chips form Kennebec spuds with chipotle-lime crema and caviar. The above spins that menu item by changing the topping to butter poached Maine lobster in chiplotle crema. Delicioso!

This item won my heart. My heart that is cold and wooden toward anything dessert oriented. Melted it like buttah in the hot Zona Rosa, D.F. August sun. I spoke to Mr. Sedlar about its absence on his regular menu. This I would have noticed. If I ever see it appear on the menu, I plan to skip dinner and dive straight into a vat of this. Treble size, face first.

OH! You wanna know what it IS! The Mexico City Sundae. Housemade vanilla bean ice cream is the base of the sundae. Drizzled on top is habanjero spiced caramel. Topped with roasted pine nuts, whipped cream and freshly grated cinnamon.

I have never had anything better tasting in my mouth, ever.

The wines were great, too! Of particular note is the Sequoia Grove 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and the Madrigal 2008 Sauvignon Blanc. And the wines were very generously shared. Alexia Haidos of Double A Public Relations and Marketing spoiled us bloggers by asking us which wines we liked the best and sending us home with a swag bottle. There is one cold bottle of Madrigal Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge waiting for me to crack open and suck down.

I am looking very much forward to July 10th. I plan to coast my bike from Echo Park right down the Sunset/W. Cesar E Chavez hill toward Union Station and likely walk it back up the hill toward home at the end of the evening.

Viva California y Mexico!