Still loving the bibimbap

After trying the refreshing tofu-veggie bibambap at Farmer's Market's La Korea, readers tipped me off the the dol sot bibimbap at Sake House Miro on La Brea. It never would have occurred to me to look for a Korean dish at this cute Japanese pub, but since it's one of the few Asian restaurants of any type near my office, I rushed over to try it the first chance I got. Of course, L.A. was still in the grips of Bangkok-level humidity, and the dol sot part indicates that the mixed vegetable and rice dish is served in a steaming hot granite bowl. The server mixes a raw egg into the mixture which includes marinated beef strips, shitake mushrooms, spinach and rice, then anoints the mixture with hot sauce to the specified level of spiciness. Since the granite bowl holds the heat forever, it takes a good long time to cool off. When it finally does, it's worth it, because the egg is cooked through, and the rice that comes into contact with the hot bowl has formed a tasty crispy crust that's like a prize at the bottom of the dish. This is my new favorite Korean dish, but I have to say this version was much more decadent and filling than the room-temp veggies and tofu adorning the first one I tried. So remember: when it's over 80 degrees, go for the regular bibimbap. On a cool winter day when you want a dish to stick to your ribs, try the flavorful, crunchy dol sot bibimbap.

L.A.'s Ultimate restaurant list

I just had to point out that Chowhound poster Modernist has updated his Ultimate L.A. restaurant list that I flagged last year. This guy (I think his real name is David) obviously loves to eat, and seems to have much more time than I do to check out all the great ethnic places. So next time you're thinking, "I know there's some great stuff in Little Tokyo, but I'm not really sure where to go" or "I'd like to find some real Chinese food, but the San Gabriel valley is pretty overwhelming," check out this list. With Jonathan Gold's Counter Intelligence book sadly outdated, this list is the next best thing. I've reviewed a lot of these places on Eating L.A. if you want more information.

Blind dinner, no forks allowed

The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills is planning a blindfolded dinner where guests will eat with their hands -- "omnivores only," they specify, as of course you will not know what you are eating until you taste it.
Ten Thinkers' Paradise Presents
The Executioner's Dinner
featuring Kirsten Gabrielli
formerly of Alain Giraud's Bastide
Thursday August 16, 2006
7 p.m.
In the Back Room of the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills
10 spaces
200 dollars per person
"I cannot disclose the menu for that would defeat the purpose of our gathering, which is to reconstruct dinner with those senses we possess, other than sight. The ultimate purpose, of course, is pleasure. Dinner will consist of six courses, most of which will be paired with a wine, spirit, or an ale. We will drink from stemless glassware and forgo flatware, using only our hands to eat. Such are the parameters of our delicious adventure."

Taste test: a Magic Carpet ride

Magic Carpet seems to be one of those reliable ethnic adventures like Marouch and Guelaguetza that Angelenos keep in their mental databases for those occasions when a little exotica is in order. Somehow all these years the Yemenite Jewish spot had escaped my notice, but in my perennial quest for new eggplant discoveries, Amy and I tried it for lunch on a quiet Friday. Since they were just about to close down for Shabbat, only one other table was occupied, and we had the handsome young Moroccan-Israeli waiter all to ourselves. First we got a basket of fluffy pita bread and some delicious beets in vinegar. There's a surfeit of eggplant dishes, and I brushed off the waiter's suggestion of the familiar babaghanouj in favor of marinated eggplant with mushrooms (above left). Remembering her grandmother's rendition of the dish, Amy ordered the stuffed cabbage (below right). I scooped up one mouthful of eggplant after another, happy to finally be somewhere where all my eggplant dreams could be realized.
Alas, there weren't enough of us to try the 8-salad eggplant sampler. The stuffed cabbage was kind of a small portion, but tasty if you like that sort of thing, and it came with plenty of couscous and steamed vegetables. I was also intrigued by the Iraqi sandwich with sauteed eggplant and the Iraqi, Tunisian, Moroccan and Egpytian breakfast plates. Next time, we'll have to take more people and try the melawach flatbread. I hear that the meat dishes aren't that special at Magic Carpet, but there's enough salads and other unusual dishes to keep anyone busy for a long time. Since Magic Carpet is kosher, it's closed Friday night and all day Saturday.
Magic Carpet
8566 W. Pico Blvd.
310-652-8507

Amazing Pasadena homestead and garden

This Pasadena family and their urban organic garden and homestead, called Path to Freedom, is amazing. I can't believe I heard about them through the San Francisco Chronicle by way of the blog Ethicurean by way of Boing Boing...kinda circuitous. They grow enough food to feed a family of four adults and sell the extra to gourmet restaurants while using very little electricity and driving a biodiesel car, all cheek by jowl with the 210 freeway. I definitely plan to check out one of their pizza party/eco-film screenings sometime soon.

Taste test: Tender are my Greens

ahi nicoise salad
Tender Greens in Culver City is hopping on a warm Friday night. The line snakes out the door as potential diners walk up and exclaim "Who knew!" or "Let's just go to Honey's Fried Chicken, instead." There's babies and strollers a-plenty, young couples and a remarkable amount of golden-aged gents in Hawaiian shirts and shorts. In short, most of the Westside has decided that this is the perfect night to grab a salad at Tender Greens on newly-bustling Culver Blvd. By about 8:30, I'm starting to get faint when it's finally my turn to order an ahi tuna nicoise salad. Now, don't even get me started about how no self-respecting French chef would put seared raw ahi on a nicoise. But no matter, I'm pretty forgiving about my tuna.
The Tender Greens concept is quite streamlined -- you look at a board at the front of the line and order either a large salad, or some chicken/steak/ahi either in a sandwich or as a hot plate. There's also good soft drinks and beer and wine, and some cupcakes and other baked goods. A row of assemblers stands ready to throw the ingredients of your salad in a bowl and toss them with dressing, then deliver them to the cash register where you pick them up and find a table.
The room is clean and modern, the patio is pleasant, the beer selection is decent -- unfortunately I can't say the same about the salad, which should theoretically be the main attraction. Since they're pretty pungent little buggers, I'm not sure how you leach all the flavor out of a Nicoise olive, but somehow they did it. The ahi is equally tasteless -- I could swear the Ralph's sushi bar manages to infuse their fish with more flavor. The hard-boiled quail egg is a darling touch, but for $9 and self-service, just give me a friggin' normal-sized egg in my salad. The uncut salad greens are unwieldy to eat. Like the olives, the string beans also seem to have been resting in a flavor-sapping potion all day long. They're as limp and tired as I was before being fortified with protein. There is some dressing, I guess, but its taste is also undistinguishable.
Verdict: I know some people have liked their food here -- maybe they ordered different dishes. Although it's a good concept, I think it's just tough for food put together in an assembly-line fashion to really have distinctive flavors. If Tender Greens was close to my office, I would be happy to try a few other things on the menu, but chances are the next time I find myself in Culver City, I'll try Honey's Kettle instead.
Tender Greens
9523 Culver Blvd.
Culver City
(310) 842-8300

Cheese Society winners: Cabot is the big Cheese

Eating L.A.'s friend and faithful supporter Barrie Lynn, the Cheese Impresario guest blogs from the sold-out 23rd annual American Cheese Society Conference & Competition in Portland, Ore.
"I have been eating cheese at least five times a day and feel like my dreams have come true," says Barrie Lynn, "hearing the story of Cyprus Grove Chevre right from Mary Keehn and then eating her Humboldt Fog, Purple Haze, Bermuda Triangle - her made-with-pride cheeses. Mary is one of the pioneers in American artisanal cheese along with Allison Hooper from Vermont Butter & Cheese Company. These women are true heroes of our country."
This year 941 American artisanal cheeses were entered into the competition. Because I was interested in the judging process, I took a seminar on the detailed criteria from aesthetics, to smell to taste the judges put these cheeses through.
Now for the Winners
Best American Artisanal Cheese
Cabot Clothbound Cheddar - Cow
Cabot Creamery Cooperative from Montpelier Vermont
Master Cheesemaker Marcel Gravel and his team
This cheese is made from milk from a single herd of cows and is made in very small quantities – 25 wheels per week. Then the cheese is taken to Greensboro, Vermont and aged in the cave of the Kehler brothers from Jasper Hill Farms.
A Sample of Additional Winners
Best Fresh Mozzarella
Mozzarella Company – Dallas Texas - Cow
Master Cheesemaker Paula Lambert
Best Mascarpone
Vermont Butter & Cheese Company
Master Cheesemaker Allison Hooper
American Originals
Open Category Made from Sheep’s or Mixed Milks
1st Place Carr Valley Cheese Co.
Cave Aged Mellage
2nd Place Carr Valley Cheese Co.
Benedictine
2nd Place Carr Valley Cheese Co.
Bessies Blend
Mature Cheddars: Aged Between 25 and 35 Months
1st Place Fiscalini Farms/Fiscalini Cheese Co.
Bandage Wrapped Cheddar Mature
Modesto California
Master Cheesemaker Mariano Gonzales
BLUE MOLD CHEESES
FC: Blue-Veined Made from Cow’s Milk
1st Place WI Farmers Union Speciality Cheese Co. Blue
Best FARMSTEAD CHEESES
Limited to cheeses and fermented milk products made with milk from herds on the farm where the cheeses are produced
Open Category for Cheeses Aged Longer Than 90 days – All Milks
1st Place Thistle Hill Farm
Tarentaise
Open Category Made from Cow’s Milk
1st Place Fiscalini Farms/Fiscalini Cheese Co.
Bandage Wrapped Cheddar
2nd Place Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, LLC

I am a butter woman and love the butter from Vermont Butter & Cheese
BUTTERS
Salted Butter Made from Cow’s Milk with or without
Cultures
1st Place Cabot Creamery Cooperative
Cabot Salted Butter
Flavor Added: Spices, Herbs, Seasonings, Fruits - All Milks
1st Place Bittersweet Plantation Dairy
White Chocolate Praline Butter
Master Cheesemaker Chef John Folse
This butter is amazing! I served it to Mira Sorvino and "Curb Your Enthusiasm’s" Jeff Garlin and both were thrilled with the taste and the look of this butter.
WASHED RIND CHEESES
Liederkranz, Limburger, Brick Types and Styles, etc.
We learned that the washed rind category is the fastest growing entry category in this competition. The next fastest growing is goat cheese.
Open Category Made from Cow’s Milk
1st Place Leelanau Cheese Company
Aged Raclette
2nd Place Fromagerie Bergeron
Le Fin Renard
3rd Place Cowgirl Creamery
Red Hawk
Open category made from Goat’s Milk
1st Place Carr Valley Cheese Co.
Riverbend Goat
Click here for the complete list of winners.
Thanks Barrie Lynn! You can pick up many of these great cheeses at the Cheese Store of Silver Lake and the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.

Friday flights

Cindy Price, who did a nice job covering Hollywood in the New York Times a few weeks ago, is back with the second leg of her trip, a taco-sampling trip up the California coast. I never knew what I was missing driving straight through Morro Bay and Pescadero without stopping for tacos!

Genevieve wrote in to say that her Delilah Bakery in Echo Park will open sometime in September...in the meantime, check out the lovely cakes and cupcakes on the Delilah website.

Taste test: BLD

Once upon a time, there was Grace, a lovely, expensive restaurant on Beverly where celebritities nibble on short ribs and foie gras amid soothing tones of brown and wood. And once upon a time, there was a choice corner restaurant location, first home to Red, which was a kind of trendy diner for a few years, then to Opaline, which was an interesting pale green restaurant for a little while, and then to Cafe Capo, which was Italian, I guess, for a very little while. Now the owners of Grace, including Iron Chef winner Neal Fraser, have opened the more casual BLD, as in breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The room has been beautifully redone yet again, in sedate reds and blacks, with the tiny adjacent bar melded into the main room as a foyer.
The food: For breakfast, there are incredibly rich and buttery pastries, brioche French toast, eggs benedict paired with hangar steak (in case you're not going to get another chance to eat for another few days or so) and omelettes with lots of delicious-sounding ingredients.
For lunch, the hangar steak reappears in a salad, and there's Wagyu beef burgers, turkey burgers, short ribs sandwiches and caesar salads.
The dinner menu is basically the same as lunch, with the addition of grilled chicken ($18), hangar steak again, or salmon served with a choice of two intriguing sides.
Grace is one of the few fine restaurants to offer a few serious vegan entrees, and its hempseed-encrusted tofu turns up at BLD in a salad of Japanese greens, roasted shisito peppers and asparagus (pictured above). It's the perfect thing to eat on a hot day, with the crunchy hempseeds and deeply-flavored soy dressing perking up the humble tofu. Ramin was happy with his hefty turkey burger with Gruyere ($12).
The verdict: Not surprisingly for a Grace offshoot, all the ingredients and preparations were top of the line. Unfortunately, the prices were too, with some sandwiches up in the $18 range. Service was extremely friendly, if a bit slow. This neighborhood seems to have a bottomless need for brunch spots, and I'm glad to have a new spot for work lunches. I hope, though, that the menu will continue to evolve even farther beyond haute diner fare.
BLD
7450 Beverly Blvd.
(323) 930-9744

Kibbles and bits

The barmaid at Johnny's in Silver Lake told me she's opening R Bar in Koreatown soon, just down Eighth Street from Taylor's Steaks...

from the help wanted department...
Only at the Red Lion could they be looking for bartenders who speak German, probably...

Rudolpho's at the corner of Fletcher and Riverside is now calling itself an American bistro and looking for cooks and servers...this location has a lot of potential with a patio, parking and a liquor license, so hopefully they will do something nice with it. It's the perfect spot for my imaginary beer garden...

The Redwood Bar is reopening soon downtown with a "simple and creative menu"...now staffing up.

And from the odd concepts department, uWink Bistro in Woodland Hills from videogame pioneer Nolan Bushnell (He invented Pong!) will feature "touch screens at every table and bar stool, each piping videogames, media content and interactive menus to a young-adult dining crowd" in kind of a Chuck E. Cheese-for-grownups approach.

Farmer's Market: La Korea Korean BBQ

I'm starting to enter the second level of Farmer's Market stands -- the less-than-obvious places that aren't recommended as often as Loteria and Singapore Banana Leaf, but there might be some undiscovered gems in there, so let's dive in.
Some of you know that when it comes to Korean food, I'm not quite a virgin, but I still haven't had that many good Korean experiences. Clearly I need a tender, gentle lover of Korean food to show me the way... Anyway, I just had Korean barbecue last week at a place that is better not named (oh ok, it was called Nam Dae Moon Jip), so at La Korea, I decided to try the bibimbap instead ($6.99). Bibimbap is a huge bowl with warm rice on the bottom (brown rice is available!), a carefully-arrayed assorted of julienned and sauteed veggies on top -- spinach, mushrooms, carrots, topped with a mildly spicy soy-based sauce. On top, you can get tofu, chicken, pork or beef, or just have the vegetables. I got the tofu, and it made a healthy, tasty and very filling lunch. The barbecue dishes are a pretty good deal, since each comes with three sides of dishes like glass noodles, seaweed salad or Korean slaw. Unusual Korean soft drinks are also available.
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Thursday links

Variety's Gabriel Snyder looks at the revitalized Century City, which will include an outpost of Tom Colicchio's Craft. It's about time Angeleno's got to experience Colicchio's food, although his empire seems to be expanding worrisomely fast with restaurants in Las Vegas and Dallas in addition to several Gotham outlets. Also coming or already open in the rapidly-improving area are The Stand and Breadbar.

The L.A. Weekly's Jonathan Gold visits the new Chung King location before I got a chance to...sounds like a must. And all those chilis serve to make you sweat, which is actually cooling in summer, theoretically.

Taste test: Chop Suey Cafe

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone for their comments and links. To Linda, the chef: thanks for your input; unfortunately there were no soft portions of the noodles and no discernible gravy. But hey, if other diners like it, then no problem.
To everyone else: I get it, the restaurant has a long historical association in the community and many people who would like to preserve that nostalgia. However, you can't run a restaurant on history alone -- especially a new one -- so the food, service and ambiance will still have to be comparable or better than other restaurants in order to prosper and serve the community.

CHOP SUEY back in Little Tokyo
Little Tokyo's Far East Cafe, which opened in 1935, looks like the set of a film noir, the kind of place where an innocent man could be ambushed by a gunman hiding behind a weathered wood partition, who would escape out the back way while the drunks in the lounge had their attention on the whiskey bottles in front of them. In fact it did appear in the 1975 version of "Farewell My Lovely," but I don't remember ever eating there when it was open. The Chop Suey Cafe has now opened in the old Far East location as kind of a fusiony open-late spot aimed at nearby loft dwellers and college kids who have eaten at Suehiro once too often.
The old Far East Cafe surely had almond duck, orange chicken and chow mein on the menu, and the new one does too. The new menu goes farther afield into the likes of Thai beef salad, Asian burgers with garlic fries, bahn mi-type sandwiches and small plates of fried squid, edamame, etc. The place just opened a few days ago and is still getting its sea legs -- in fact, according to a Chowhound post, the permanent chef is still in Paraguay!
The room: The server told us they couldn't change much of the inside, as it's under some sort of historical preservation, although it's hard to believe they couldn't add a little decor to the decades-old wood dividers and kitchen-table style chairs and tables. It's an odd feeling eating divided from the other diners, kind of like eating in your office cubicle, and lacking the cozy intimacy provided by curtains and booths like at Luna Park.
There's a patio prised into an adjacent space between buildings, and the best part, a hidden bar at the back which will no doubt become quite the place to be when word gets out. But the restaurant itself is an odd bird which may take a while to find itself.
The food: I ordered the Asian burger, which was fine -- a smallish patty with a hint of chiles on a huge glazed bun, with some slightly limp but tasty garlic fries and aioli. Matt tried the special chow mein (pictured below), which like the other noodle dishes, is served "bird's nest style." We were perplexed by the rigid, hard, greasy, noodle hockey puck topped with somewhat cold vegetables that emerged from the kitchen.

When we told the server it didn't seem possible to penetrate the mass with either chopsticks or a knife, the manager came over to rather smugly inform us that it was supposed to be that way, period. (Apparently bird's nest noodles are normally loosened up by the server as well as bt the dish's hot gravy). She did take it off the check, though, and Matt ordered the very average sweet and sour pork instead. Service was friendly, if slightly flustered -- "You guys make me miss my black glasses!" our server winningly blurted at one point.
The verdict: Downtown could certainly use some more late night options, and perhaps if the chef ever arrives, Chop Suey will be a good alternative to Full House or Suehiro. Prices are fairly reasonable -- about $7-10 for most dishes. But the concept needs a little more work -- the fluorescent lights are ugly, the music is awful, and the noodles suck.
Chop Suey Cafe
347 East 1st Street
Little Tokyo

Eat Drink Make Movie: Food movies in the NY Times

Check out my colleague Steve Chagollan's article "Eat Drink Make Movie: Hollywood's Next Course" in Sunday's New York Times. It's a fun look at America's current obsession with food and how it's being translated into movies like the "Mostly Martha" remake, "Julie Julia" and "Fast Food Nation."

Coming to Echo Park: Delilah's Bakery

Thanks to Jon Huck who tipped us off to a new bakery underway in Echo Park...Delilah's is in a freestanding building on Echo Park Ave. just north of Chango and Show Pony. It looks cute...does anyone know when Delilah's plans to open?

Breakfast is busting out all over...

Blair's in Silver Lake is opening a breakfast cafe...here's a wishlist, Blair's, in case you're listening:
--really good espressos and cappucinos...ask Craig at Lamill how he makes his.
-- excellent pastries. Personally I like the raisin snails, but flaky pain au chocolat and almond croissants would also be appreciated.
--great bagels. Probably not available in L.A., but we can always dream.
--some healthier pastries, like bran muffins with lots of fruits and nuts, like at R Bakery.
--Healthy yet tasty breakfast dishes -- how about a multi-grain French toast with fresh fruit topping, or a really delicious eggwhite omelette with a beautiful fruit cup like Square One's?
--Maybe some fun papers and magazines from other cities and countries to peruse during breakfast?

And Grace's little sister BLD is supposed to open July 11...too bad I missed the real piggies at one of the pre-opening events, but I'm sure I can return to eat them up as apple-smoked bacon.
)Sorry, vegetarians, couldn't resist.)

Wednesday widgets

Swamped at work but I haven't forgotten y'all...here's a few tidbits to keep you going.

Did you think a new Middle Eastern restaurant was coming to Atwater? Well, not unless Tony Shalhoub is the head chef. The film AmericanEast, about Arab-Americans, constructed an realistic-looking restaurant set in the former Manila Oriental market space on Glendale Blvd., just up the street from Osteria Nonni. Filming will continue for another few weeks.

Nonni and Netty's, both survivors of the '80s, are in the midst of changing hands. The new proprietor of Netty's is Gloria Felix. The new brunch menu looks good, but I hope she updates the regular menu, which is looking a little 80s-ish.

The New York Times discovers Musha, Orris and Izakaya Haru Ulala in a story by new L.A. bureau chief Jennifer Steinhauer. I beg to differ, though, some of the vegetable dishes at Haru Ulala are quite nice and they're not all fried, either. And it really isn't that hard to obtain the cod.

Farmer's Market: The Gumbo Pot

I've probably eaten at the Gumbo Pot far more times than at any other Farmer's Market stall, but until fairly recently I always got the fried shrimp or the jambalaya (shown at least). During my lamentable Atkins phase, I checked out the forgettable seafood salad, and now I've come to rest at the fried catfish. As with most market eateries, it's probably not even the best fried catfish in L.A., and it certainly doesn't equal some exemplary examples like the one served at Lasyone's Meat Pies in Natchitoches, Louisiana. But it's a darn satisfying plate, involving a nice medium-sized mild fish nicely fried with a crispy cornmeal batter and the sweet corn muffin that I've always been fond of. For the side dish, I always used to order the green salad with its honeyed pecans that seemed so innovative in 1987, but I recently discovered the collard greens, which despite being vegetarian, pack a fragrant, swampy pot likker. The red beans and rice are pretty good but very filling, but the gumbo doesn't add up to quite as nice of a stew as the rich jambalaya. The beignets are another nice southern touch, but I haven't tried the New Orleans style brunches.
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