News and notes April 28: Cheese whizzes

It's a big week for cheese...cheese enthusiasts in the New York Times; fresh ricotta cheese in the L.A. Times; Sonoma cheese in the Washington Post; and an educated rant about the lack of artisanal American cheese in L.A. by extremely knowledgeable Chowhound poster Judi. I like how one person who answered her thought she was talking about colby and longhorn...I guess he doesn't get out much.

So cool...
I must be a terrible mom not to pack these lovely little bento boxes for my kids' lunches. I wish someone would pack them for my lunches. Of course, these are nothing compared to some of the ones made by ambitious moms in Japan.

The changing face of Glendale
First Alegemac's closes, and now Cinnabar. No news yet on what will happen to the bar from Yee Mee Loo. It must be hard to sustain buzz on an upscale place for 10 years or more...although Asian is still hot, perhaps their style of pan-Asian wasn't very interesting anymore.

Nadpob still the bomb

Eating L.A. reported on Nadpob, also located in Silver Lake's finest crackhead minimall, when it first opened back in August. We're still exploring the menu there, and so far I'm pleasantly impressed. Their pad kee mao (spicy flat noodles) are truly a wonder. If you order them spicy, they will not gringo you, so be warned. I think their main problem is that since they cater mainly to Thais, they tend to use lesser cuts of meat, and so some of the chicken and pork dishes tend to be a touch fatty and gristly. They do a really nice green papaya salad, and we enjoyed trying the Thai sausage dish -- not as sizzingly succulent as it was fresh off the grill at the Thai temple, but still tangy and peppery. I still haven't worked up the courage to try the fish maw in red wine sauce or the German pork leg, but one of these days... Anyway, it doesn't get any more authentic than this east of Vermont, so if parking in Thai Town seems too onerous, give it a try.
Nadpob is still cash only, but it does deliver now.
Open 4-12 weekdays, 4 pm to 2 am weekends.
Nadpob
4321 Sunset Blvd.
323-666-9000

Taste test: Agra

Since I got a $40 certificate for Agra in Silver Lake at an auction for $20, I was eager to try the newish Indian place tucked deep in a corner of what is known among the locals as Crackhead Minimall. Appropriately for L.A., Crackhead minimall is a veritable international foodcourt, between Saito Sushi, the excellent new Thai restaurant Nadbob and now Agra.
The setting: While Agra is crowded on Fridays and Saturdays, it was nearly deserted Sunday evening, perhaps because of Passover. The room is moderately sized with spare but tasteful decorations and pleasant, only slightly overzealous service.
The food: Agra offers a selection of Balti dishes, a type of Pakistani dish that originated in Birmingham, England. Apparently much beloved by the British, Balti dishes are stews of various vegtables and meats cooked in a small wok-type dish, which don't really differ much from other curries.
We had the mixed Balti with mushrooms, lamb and chicken; the shrimp vindaloo; sag paneer and chicken tikka masala. Garlic naan, rice, chutney and raita rounded out the order. The mixed Balti was quite nice, in a rich and complex brown gravy.


The chicken tikka masala was also a winner, with a thick red curry sauce and tender chicken. The sag paneer, however, was not among the finer renditions I've had -- the spinach wasn't particularly creamy, and there were very few pieces of paneer cheese. Even though I don't go to Tantra often, it's really good there. Although the shrimp vindaloo was quite spicy, the sauce was one-dimensional. Agra seems to have more seafood selections than most Indian restaurants, so it might be interesting to try one of the grilled or tandoor fish dishes.
The verdict: Agra is a worthy alternative to Electric Lotus and Tantra. We asked for everything medium spicy, and all the dishes had a good kick. Next time it might be better to vary the dishes between mild, medium and spicy. Prices seem a touch high for the portion size -- four dishes were just barely enough for four people, since we didn't have appetizers or dessert. Our total for four people before tax and tip was $60 and we brought our own beers, since they don't have a license.
Agra Cafe
4325 Sunset Blvd.
Silver Lake
323-665-7818

Do you REALLY like garlic?

I like garlic a lot. I find it really odd that people are always warning you to stand far away from others after eating at Versailles or Zankou -- if those people can't handle someone who's just eaten at Zankou Chicken, maybe I don't want to know them anyway. I love the Thai garlic pepper dishes where little heaps of golden fried garlic puddle around the shrimps, providing the perfect garnish for the rice after the shrimp is gone.
I had a hankering for some camarones al mojo de ajo (garlic shrimp) after work the other night, and stopped in at Marisco Colima. It's a tiny shack anchoring a carwash on Beverly, which looks like it should be on an Ensenada street corner, with a basic menu of Mexican seafood straight up -- there's the cockteles, the caldo, shrimp with ranchera or diablo sauce, and some fried whole fish. That's it. And these aren't Ensenada prices either -- the place may be a hole in the wall, but it gets an A rating, and shrimp don't come cheap anymore. So I got my $11 camarones to go, and opened the to-go box at home to find huge snowdrifts of garlic covering a medium-sized pile of shrimp.

Unfortunately the corn tortillas had fused back into masa on the drive, so making shrimp tacos was out. I quickly polished off the tasty, garlicky shrimp, garnished with avocado slices. I didn't feel like rice or beans so I started scooping up bits of garlic with the shards of tortillas I could salvage. This went on for sometime, until I had probably consumed about half a cup of minced garlic in an unidentified oily, buttery sauce, tempered by a bit of tortilla.
The verdict: Marisco Colima makes a nice plate of shrimp. After finishing the shrimp, put down the fork, and walk away. All that leftover garlic is to give the shrimp flavor, not to be eaten plain. You have been warned. Will be back for the caldo (fish soup), perhaps -- this place makes me feel like I'm in Mexico.
Marisco Colima
4002 Beverly Blvd.
(213) 385-2828

Craving Ludo

Having finished Never Eat Your Heart Out, Eating L.A.'s next book is a 180 degrees switch from church potlucks to Crave: See Touch Smell Hear Taste by Ludo Lefebvre and Martin Booe. Since Martin is a friend of Eating L.A., this isn't a totally objective review, but let's just say Ludo is awfully hot. (Of course so is Martin.) If you can get past the shirtless pinups of Ludo (not of Martin, though), the book is divided into chapters covering the five senses. It's an interesting approach, although I hope the dishes in the "see" chapter taste as good as the ones in the "taste" chapter. The recipes don't sound quite as contrived as the menus at Ludo's restaurant Bastide, which is probably just as well, since I don't get a hankering to make cinnamon sweetbread foam all that often. The large format hardcover is a combination of chef porn photos, food porn photos, and recipes divided between French standards (creme caramel, Mom's chocolate cake) and more daring dishes (foie gras with not just chocolate, red wine, pomegranate and onion jam, but also juniper berries!). I'm tempted to try the crispy soft-shell crabs with beurre noisette, the fried candied milk with green cardamom, and the caramel souffles. But unless you're really bored with most cookbooks, this is more a browsing than a cooking book, unless you're dying to run out and pick up some gold leaf, live sea urchins, and licorice root.
Archived comments:
Sue said...
I saw Ludo at the LA Times Festival of Books this weekend. I caught about the last 5 minutes of his talk, which was falling flat with the audience, perhaps because the planned cooking demo had been disastrous due to stove failure.The thing I noticed about him was that he looks dang near exactly like a long-haired, tattooed Tom Cruise . With a better accent, too. Like you say, hot.I took some photos on film (it was a trip in the wayback machine with my trusty 1974 Minolta SRT-102) and will post them on my blog as soon as I get them developed. Boy, I never thought I'd say THAT again.
Pat Saperstein said...
Those Minoltas were great. I remember dying for an SRT-101, but I got an Olympus OM-1 instead. Haven't used it for a while.
Anonymous said...
Could we please please please see more photos of Ludo? I wouldn't want to miss him at the Traverse Epicurean Classic in mid-Sept on the streets of TC

French foods quiz

For lack of any interesting eating this week, I'm doing another quiz. The last was on terms found on L.A. restaurant menus -- this is on foods found in a French cooking magazine that Kathy brought me back from Paris. I don't feel like looking them all up, so can anyone define these foods or terms, preferably without consulting a dictionary?
topinambours...apparently they're served with scallops
curcuma...a spoonful of it goes into a tagine
etoiles de badiane...is it star anise?
ras-el-hanout...for another tagine recipe
what fish do these correspond to? Cabillaud, colin, fletan, merlu?
mimolette...in a fruit salad
potimarron...mixed into a creme brulee

News and notes

Sorry for the lack of posts...it wasn't a very chowish weekend. Some nice takeout from Mae Ploy, and I tried Nigella Lawson's maple ribs and chicken recipe -- not bad. My chicken skin came out much blacker than the picture, though, even though Nigella said not to turn it. Went to the L.A. Family School spring fair -- spotted Laura Dern and her baby with Ben Harper in the crowd of kids and scored a $40 certificate from Agra for just $20 at the Silent Auction -- does anyone have any recommendations there?

Trader Joe's product of the week: tuna in very spicy Panang curry sauce. Pair it with the new pre-cooked packets of brown rice, and you've got an instantly delicious, healthy meal.

Interesting story about hot sauce piracy in the L.A. Times -- now I've heard everything.

I'm reading a really interesting food memoir called Never Eat Your Heart Out by Judith Moore. I like the way she weaves together subjects like adultery and pie or small town religion and canning. It's surprising, though, that she's the author of Fat Girl, because the book never touches on weight issues - it's mostly a celebration of pre-women's lib small town living, complete with church socials, jello molds and experiments in gourmet cooking. But now I'm dying for some spiced peaches and her complex, adulterous chutney.

City of Lights, City of Angels

My favorite film industry events are those with a culinary tie-in -- the "Sideways" premiere, the Cinema Epicuria festival in Sonoma -- and the opening night cocktail for the City of Lights, City of Angels French film festival was no exception. Before the opening night film, Claude Lelouch's "Men and Women," some very distinguished members of the Club Culinaire brought in hors d'oeuvres. Josie LeBalch served her famous mushroom quiche, and Jean-Francois Meteigner of La Cachette brought a wonderful crispy tomato tart.

Jean-Francois Meteigner's savory tarts
The most unusual presentation was the Jonathan Club's smoked salmon cones topped with ginger ice cream. Opinions varied on how well the combination worked -- I thought the sweet ice cream was a little too jarring with the salty salmon, but it could have worked if there was no sweetening in the ice cream.

Liz tries the salmon cones
The Club Culinaire of French Cuisine has events all year long open to non-members, including $45 bistro dinners and the French picnic June 12 in Griffith Park. These sound like fun, since the Club members are some of L.A.'s finest chefs.

Wat's up? Thai water festival

I love the Wat Thai temple in North Hollywood, because it's so much like going to Bangkok that for a few hours, anyway, you're persuaded that you've saved on that plane ticket for a little while. The only difference between Wat Thai and a real Bangkok temple is the lack of dozens of mangy, maimed stray cats, but those I could do without anyway. This weekend was the Songkran festival, which is the Thai New Year. The tradition holds that sprinkling water on people on this day brings good fortune for the coming year. Thai children interpret this custom as "bring the biggest Super-soaker you can carry, and drench anyone under 16 who walks by you." My children joined in this custom with gusto, so hopefully they'll have lots of good fortune this year.

If you missed the Songkran festival, many of the food vendors are at the temple every weekend from approximately 11 to 3 on Saturdays and Sundays, although on regular weekends, there's no dancers and no chance to win a bizarrely ugly denim vase at the game booths. But if you can't get to Thailand this year, go anyway. And try the pork sausage on a stick, which is a garlicky, not-too-greasy little taste marvel, certainly one of the best $1 snacks I can think of anywhere.
Wat Thai
8225 Coldwater Canyon
North Hollywood

Groovy, groovy Gingergrass

Sometimes the restaurants right in your own neighborhood are the hardest to get to -- it seems too obvious or something. So we finally went to Silver Lake's groovy nouveau Vietnamese Gingergrass, only like a year or something since it opened. Just to be clear upfront, this is not the place to go for super-authentic spicy Vietnamese food nor the place to go for dirt-cheap Vietnamese food. This is the place to go when you and your friends want a fun, tasty dining experience that's relatively reasonably priced, attractively presented and won't scare people who aren't familiar with the real thing. Since that's what pretty much everyone seems to be looking for, be prepared to wait on weekends.
The room: A modern, spare design with bamboo-topped tables and an open kitchen is the perfect foil to the modernized Vietnamese food. The crowd is a mix of decoratively tattooed Suicide Girl-types with very appropriate chopsticks in their hair, beanie-wearing hipster homeboys, a seemingly large quotient of 20-somethings taking their parents to dinner and regular Silver Lake folks.
The food: The menu has a fairly large selection of appetizers, salads, noodle dishes, meat dishes, banh mi sandwiches and seafood dishes so it's easy for everyone to find something that fits either their diet or their price range. We started with crab spring rolls, with a nice filling but a somewhat rubbery wrapper.

Jen had the tilapia wrapped in a banana leaf while Kathy had the crispy shrimp special (basically a version of Chinese salt and pepper shrimp) and Levi and I both had the shaking beef.

Everything was beautifully presented on square plates with a refreshing, spicy slaw accompaniment. I liked the very savory shaking beef, although it wasn't as tender as the version we recently had at Newport Seafood. Jen liked the tilapia's sauce, but the texture seemed a bit mushy. Kathy's shrimp were tasty but no different than any average Chinese restaurant's version. For dessert, we shared a ginger creme brulee, which had a nicely assertive ginger flavor but lacked the supple creaminess of the best creme brulees. Part of the fun of eating at Gingergrass, which doesn't have a liquor license, is picking out unusual beers and wines across the street at Silver Lake Wine. They suggested an Austrian white Gruner Veltliner which perfectly complemented the lightly spicy, slightly sweet food.
The verdict: This food is not challenging, it's just tasty. And sometimes that's just what you want, especially when a neighborhood spot with a fun atmosphere is called for. The bill came out to $23 each including $5 corkage but not including the $13.75 bottle of wine, which seemed reasonable for the total experience.
Gingergrass
2396 Glendale Blvd.
Silver Lake
(323) 644-1600

Sonoma-rama

Last weekend Eating L.A. was invited to serve on the jury at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival -- and fortunately, this festival is also known as Cinema Epicuria, because in addition to showing films, it features wine tastings before each screening, parties at wineries, and lots of good Sonoma County food. Some of the highlights were visiting the Marin French Cheese Factory, which just beat out French cheeses to win a best brie award and the Schug Winery, which is known for its pinot noir.

At the festival's closing night party, I tried my first jello shots -- a landmark moment, to be sure.

For a break from all the fancy goat cheese and wine, Murphy's Irish pub has excellent fish and chips and a nice selection of cider and ale.

The fest's gala dinner was at the Sonoma Mission Inn, where the caviar served in an edible spoon was a clever touch.

We also had a lovely picnic at the beautiful Jack London State Historic Park, with Humboldt Fog goat cheese and Laura Chenel fresh goat cheese with cranberries, bread from the Sonoma Basque French Bakery and other delicacies from the wonderful Glen Ellen Market.

Food buzz April 6 edition

The James Beard award nominations are out. Congrats to Jonathan Gold for a well-deserved nod for his Korean restaurant series and a few other articles. A few L.A. restaurants were nommed -- Spago in the old-timers category, Angelini Osteria, A.O.C.

Excellent exploration of salt in the L.A. Times. Now I'm ashamed that I use regular superfine popcorn salt on my gourmet red popcorn from Surfas. I guess it's one way to use up all that fleur de sel.

If you're heading to the Bay Area, here's 20 pizza places to try. They sound slightly more promising than L.A.'s paucity of pleasing pizzerias.

R.I.P. Algemac's. Probably not the best coffee shop in the world, but certainly one of the few places near Silver Lake with cheap breakfasts, real hash browns, and trout 'n eggs on the menu.