Church & State: Revisited

Church & State
1850 Industrial St.
Los Angeles, CA 90021
213-405-1434

Friday night we revisited the very busy, bustling Church & State for another go at their French bistro fare. Located on Industrial, in the first floor of the Biscuit Company lofts, in a neighborhood that is really starting to pop. I loved the atmosphere last time, and we love Nicola the bartender, so we gave it another whirl Saturday despite not being thrilled with the food last time. This time was better.

Biscuit Company lofts to the left, Toy Factory lofts to the right. The first floor of the Toy Factory lofts houses Royal Clayton's, a British style pub.


I again ordered the Salade Lyonnaise, one of my favorite salads. I love warm poached egg over cool frisee with a nice vinaigrette, and this rendition is almost perfect.


Two things could have improved this. I would like more frisee. And being that bacon is a hallmark feature of the Salade Lyonnaise, I would like more than one tiny rectangle of bacon. Lots more. Like maybe even a dozen pieces. I am not greedy, but the stomach wants what the stomach wants.

That was really the only failure of the evening. Again we sipped and shared with our neighbors our favorite Chateauneuf du Pape, La Fortia.

I was very impressed with the chicken liver pate. This one was quite a bit lighter than the one I gobbled down a few weeks ago at BLT. And on top was a sweet fruity syrup. The wait person says it was a red wine reduction, but I will swear on a stack of blueberry plastic boxes that there was fruit in this reduction.

Either way, the combination of the chicken liver pate and the fruity syrupy reduction was immense. Massively delicious. This was my entree and it was wonderful Around this dish, Church & State have redeemed themselves.



D started with the clams, which were, like last time, perfect. Cooked just right, just the right amount to start with and not over-brothed or over-garlicked.



For an entree, D ordered the scallops, well done. I love the dark stickiness on the outside of a well seared scallop. And these came with frisee, which is always lovely. For some reason D decided that night that he hates frisee, when he loved it just a couple weeks ago. Clearly, he is slightly unhinged. This was lovely all around.



The night went south in a much less civilized manner later on, but we started out well.

Church & State: Week One

Church & State
1850 Industrial St.
Los Angeles.
213-405-1434

I am going to give Steve Arroyo's new offering an A for effort during their first week, for creating something in atmosphere, decor and location that so perfectly suits me I plan to be there weekly. Located in the Biscuit Company Lofts, across the street from a busy convenience store and The Royal Clayton's, the Arroyo's choice of address is the perfect combination of slightly renegade (a marginal neighborhood in downtown, close to the produce markets and the strip clubs) and safe (downtown is burgeoning, Royal Clayton's is across the way, and the lofts are starting to fill up).



The dining room was packed last night, all night, from the time we got there at 8 pm til the time we left around 11. Surprisingly, this is kid friendly. Arroyo was there with his own offspring, and several tables had toddlers of various ages. There is an outdoor dining area, and the door opens onto an expansive sidewalk, perfect for kids to blow off some energy doing cartwheels or walk a crying baby. I love this, like I love 3 year old girls with brown curls and shiny red galoshes.



Church & State has a very New York vibe. Most likely the age of the building helps. But the way they dealt with the interior helps as well. They left a lot of the industrial touches, exposed beams, pipes, the usual. They hung strands of lights, used subway tiling, and kept the colors dark and moody which is beautifully offset by the expansive windows.



I adore the choice in artwork scattered throughout the restaurant.



I even love that bathrooms for both genders feature these OG trashcans. Don't ask me how I know this. I know things.



Now, onto the food. We sat at the bar. They had a table for us, maybe briefly for 5 minutes they had a table for us. People just continued to pour in the door. But another great thing about Church & State is that they managed to steal an amazing bartender from Cafe Luna on La Brea. Several people in our party knew her from visits there. She is pretty awesome. Actually, both bartenders were accommodating and entertaining. The bar seemed to me to have capacity to seat about 10 people.



I like the price range here. Nothing would stop someone of average means from eating here on a semi-regular basis.



The wine list is heavily French, which I am still not good at ordering. But I am very good at drinking almost anything, and was extremely happy with this lip smacking Chateauneuf du pape 2006 Chateau-Fortia. I even went in search of this the next day at Rosso's (Montrose/Glendale's premiere wine shop) 2nd anniversary party.



Onto the food...



My friend C has a wild and wacky ordering style. He just starts calling out random things from the menu, "let's try a couple of these, let's try a couple of those" and so on and so forth. We started, I think, with a couple frisee au lardons, one of my all-time faves. It was nice enough. I would have liked more pork, and a little more tang to the dressing.



Next arrives beef tartare. I prefer a little less egg in the egg/beef ratio. I would have liked the kitchen to have used a smaller egg. But the beef was good quality, tasted fresh and they kept the presentation simple. I liked the accompaniments of cornichons and whole grain mustard. The whole grain mustard was almost all mustard grains, with very little mustardy stuff to carry the grains. I loved the texture, spread on a little bread with tartare on top.



D ordered one of his favorite soups, French Onion. What we liked about it: the perfect amount of cheese. Sometimes a soup is overcheesed, but this was perfect. It was a delicious Gruyere, just a little smelly. So nice. We also loved that the bread was cut into the shape of large croutons. You probably know that sometimes the bread is one or two slices of a baguette, and one has to wrestle with this in the middle of the hot cheesy soup. The smaller pieces of bread made it easier to eat, which would have been a plus in a soup that tasted better. This was the saltiest soup I have ever eaten. They could solidify it and hang it as a salt lick in the Fallow Deer Reserve. Once you got past the cheese and bread and into the broth, this was uneatable.



T ordered the clams. These were rather nice, and when I go again (I pledge to try again in a couple of months, maybe week 10) I will order these because they were a succeed this time. Simple steamed clams, not too much broth and some nice grilled bread.

Dear Restaurateurs,
Grill your bread,
Love L.



For an entree, D ordered the scallops. Quel Surprise! Little frissee on the side, no sauce to speak of. Meh.



C ordered steak frites. The steak was fine, but the fries were just ok. I cannot wax poetic about the fries because they weren't great. Fries can almost always be great. If you are going to have anything, have great fries. Everyone has great fries. To have mediocre fries is just veird. And the steak sauce was, again, nauseatingly salty. WHAT up, back in the kitchen, people? Someone burn their taste buds while tasting something hot? That's the only plausible excuse for this much salt in two courses.



All in all, it was a fun evening. We had great service and a great atmosphere. We were extremely well tended to. I just wish we were well fed.

Blue Velvet sans Kris Morningstar: Delicious & Well Managed

John McDowell, Morningstar's sous chef, is now heading the kitchen at Blue Velvet. In my opinion he is heading the kitchen to good effect. It may be my imagination, but it seems as though the food is heartier and a touch less precious. In addition to the wonderful food we ate, an issue with the wine we ordered was handled beautifully and with such politesse that we will surely visit again sometime soon.



I don't understand or really appreciate French wine in the way that I understand New World wines. I have taken classes on Old World wines. I drink French wine on a somewhat regular basis. I have visited France more than once, and I go to wine tastings at a shop that specializes in European wines. Nevertheless, my taste buds out me consistently as a rube. My mouth is accustomed to bold, Oregonian reds & rich California whites. For some reason D decided we needed to try a French pinot Friday night, and it did not sit well with me. This 2005 Chambolle-Musigny was so tart that my face screwed up every time it hit the back of my mouth. My eyes watered. I know an off wine when I taste it, and this was not off. It just did not suit me. The waiter asked if he could decant it, and we agreed, hoping the not inexpensive wine would open up and soften. In the meantime we downed martinis and ate these appies.



I noshed on the above piece of pork belly. As fatty as pork belly is, I don't typically order it. But after watching several contestants from Top Chef have a go at it over the last few seasons, I was intrigued. And it was good. Very good. It was served with sour cherries with a cherry glaze drizzled on the plate, and accompanied by the short seasoned and much loved squash blossom, lightly fried.



D has come to love frisee au lardons, or anything mimicking that, this summer. This particular version used pea tendrils as the green, and it was a lovely rendition.



About this time the waiter swings by and we try the decanted and oxygenated 2005 Chambolle-Musigny yet again. I pull a sour puss. We assure the waiter that there is nothing wrong with the wine, rather there is something wrong with us, and we will happily pay for it, but we really need to drink a different bottle of something else. He sends the manager our way, and the manager offers to bring us something different and eat the cost of the offending wine. We assure him this is not necessary, but he convinces us in such a lovely way that I left feeling both very pampered and very drunk. Goldilocks ended up with the above Oregonian pinot noir and it tasted just right.



Goldilocks also ate the above guinea hen, wrapped around caper berries then wrapped in what I believe was its own skin, served with long beans and a variety of mushrooms. The menu mentioned a cream sauce, but knowing how sparely sauces are used in this kitchen I ordered it anyway, and I guessed correctly. There was just a trace of cream sauce to accent the mushrooms rather than drowning the bird.



D predictably ordered the scallops from the prix fixe menu. I didn't taste the shellfish, but I sampled what looked like vermicelli on his plate. It was actually some sort of radish type veg cut to mimic pasta, it tasted wonderful and added a lovely acidity to the dish.

After martinis and red wine, on a much needed Friday night...

most.delicious.food.ever.(maybe)

In San Francisco last weekend meeting friends, we stopped in at the South Market wine bar and restaurant Bacar for a quick meal. I have been there once, and remember it being a nice meal with an excellent wine list, but I do not remember being of this caliber. This meal was the best meal I have had in a long time. Interesting choices, well prepared and cooked meats, top class service and consideration...I was really floored by the experience.

http://www.bacarsf.com/



We started with a beautiful bottle of 2004 pinot noir from hope & grace vineyards, it was great. Full bodied for a pinot, deep and delicious but not overpowering in the company of chicken and fish. Love the balloon glasses, I could drink diet coke or coffee out of these daily.


Because you never see this rustic and earthy item on a menu in California (I never have, as a dish unto itself anyway) I HAD to order the bone marrow. It was delectable, silky and luscious...a treat after all the walking of the past two days. I spread it on the wheat bread crostini it came with and it was perfect with sprgs of parsley to add a touch of grassy green flavor.



My constant dining and sleeping companion ordered the "warm mushroom salad", which was a misnomer. It was really a frisee au lardons, with warm wild mushrooms and butter lettuce added to the frisee. It looked gorgeous, and he swears it was yumminess. Two pics, one for the presentation and one for the good bits at the bottom!

cursor:hand;"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX60eYOL0L8kM4RkKeB9L747kmqNfT5AOCuuDaMrcb1021CHuo-BZKLwu_s78K0zELNybVIR0EFevFzfJ475ZHETC4T1m6HuJXIhPOMM9d-cRYqxbGvOb1ntOir8oErk9LXzoJ2Sv6Db9F/s320/IMG_0556.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5114338054333110370" />




For mains, I ordered the oven-roasted chicken and he ordered the salmon. Both were exceptional. The chicken was perfectly cooked, juicy with crisp skin served over a genius bed of chicken livers, warm green grapes, slivered green beans and candied walnuts with a reduced chicken jus...and along the side of the plate was a pureed sauce of walnuts and bread, soft an subtle flavor, warm homey texture. I would fly back to SF just for this dish. Why do I love chicken so? It tastes....just like chicken.



The salmon seemed well paired if not well cooked. Not well cooked for a barbarian, anyway. My companion cannot eat any meat that is not cooked within an inch of charcoal So he sent back the lovely slightly pink salmon so they could scorch it to his liking. It came back served over lovely little fingerling potatoes and honeydew melon. I love the idea of pairing the salmon with the honeydew..sweetness and light with that unique flavor and fatty texture of salmon. Nice. I didn't taste it because I don't always want to share food. Usually because I order what I want to eat. I see no reason to share. Unless yours looks better than mine.



Last but not least was the cheese course (for me) and the chocolate "looks like a gooey pile of sugary junk from Ralph's" dessert for him. I never understand this type of dessert. If I want chocolate, I want something simple like a chocolate mousse or chocolat pot de creme. Whatevs! My cheese was great, some kind of tomato rubbed pecorino.