Road trip tip: Extraordinary desserts

Guest blogger Kathy recently stopped at San Diego's Extraordinary Desserts and had this to say:
"Owner Karen Krasne's stint at Ecole Le Notre in Paris is immediately apparent once you've tasted her flaky, buttery Napoleon, layered with an ultra whipped brulee. I saved my sour cream icing and rose petal topped carrot cake cup cake (with golden raisins, walnuts, pineapple and strips of orange zest) for later in the day, as well as two strawberry buttermilk scones for the drive home (only one survived the trip)."
So if you're planning a fish taco pilgrimage, make sure to stock up on scones on the way.

Bacony goodness at R Bakery

One good thing about buying a car that only has a dealership in Santa Monica is that you're forced to procure nourishment before the arduous lease-signing process. In my case, this called for a late morning stop at Hans Rockenwagner's R Bakery in sort of Mar Vista/Marina del Rey. It's a small place with umbrella tables out front and a few sandwiches in the cold case along with a nice selection of bread, scones, tarts and interesting hybrids. My dough-loving daughter and I sampled the pretzel roll, which was like a shiny new Volkswagon beetle -- round and adorable. These would be perfect with a roast chicken and some luscious gravy to soak up with the salty/sweet roll. We also tried a large sourdough boule, which was kind of the Infiniti SUV of breads -- substantial, ovoid, stylishly soft. OK, maybe I'm taking this metaphor too far, but my favorite item, the bacon cheese stick, was much like the Subaru Outback wagon I selected -- chewy, a bit earthy, slim, yet substantial. At R Bakery, none of the baked goods look cloyingly sweet, which I think is great as I'm more of a savory type. There's several toothsome looking cheese/jalapeno/bacon type croissants, muffins and scones with lots of different fruits and nuts, and good coffee, too. Just as well that I probably won't get back until it's time for the 15,000 mile maintenance.
R Bakery
12835 Washington Blvd.
MarVista
(310) 578-8171

Ghetto Gourmet tantalizes L.A.

Cabinet of Curiousities performs at a Ghetto Gourmet dinner
Eating L.A. attended one of Ghetto Gourmet's first L.A. dinners Tuesday night in a baroque Wilshire Blvd. apartment, and it was an evening full of wonders. Photographer Glenn Campbell hosted the dinner and showed his provocative clown porn slides, while chef Anita Bergman, who is the chef at Kinara Spa, cooked up a lovely meal.
We all uncorked the wine we brought and started to get to know each other over piquant artichoke lemon salad crostinis. Ghetto Gourmet's founder Jeremy regaled some 30 diners, seated on floor cushions around four low tables, with the origins of the roving dinner party concept which started in Oakland a few years ago. After a cheeky word game, we moved on to beets stuffed with goat cheese on mixed greens with balsamic viniagrette -- perfect beets, but the dish could have used a more imaginative touch. There was entertainment from the cabaret act Cabinet of Curiousities, and much discussion of Burning Man. The main course was red snapper steamed in grape leaves with lemon relish over bulgur, and the citrusy grain nicely complemented the fish which had strong anise notes. Dessert was chocolate cookie cups with fresh vanilla whipped cream and brownies -- again, although it was satisfyingly chocolatey, I would have liked to see something a touch more innovative with this course.
In sum, the snapper was excellent, and the chance to meet the host and his rather decadent friends, see a wonderful, huge vintage apartment, meet new people and share everyone's wine was well worth it. The Ghetto Gourmet plans to return to L.A. soon, possibly in August or September, so keep an eye out.

A healthy nite's snack

vegan blt, vegeburger, salad with pumpkin seeds and mung bean stew
Getting something to eat before a film at the Arclight can be a bit challenging: the Hungry Cat is expensive and fully booked; Los Balcones de Peru is so pokey you'll miss the film; and who can really handle another thousand calorie burrito at Baja Fresh? I won't even mention the cafe at the Arclight -- a nice place to grab a beer, but use caution when eating. Today I was invited to try the Nite Moon cafe at Golden Bridge yoga just across the street from the back of the Arclight. The large, airy space which once housed the car dealership that sold Cadillacs to Elvis Presley has been reinvented as a spiritual refuge with vegan BLTs and chocolate beauty bonbons to boot. In addition to dozens of yoga classes and spa services, there's a branch of Ron Teeguarden's Dragon herbs which sells restorative elixirs (and the excellent chocolate beauty bonbons). The cafe is open until 9 Monday to Thursday and for lunch Friday-Saturday, with selections like the tasty BLT (I was so taken with it, I bought soy mayo and tempeh bacon at the store today!), a flavorful Tikka Masala vegeburger and organic brownies. After spending a relaxing afternoon at Golden Bridge, you'll feel like you want to move in and dance with your eyes closed to bhangra music all afternoon before downing a Goji berry smoothie.
Nite Moon Cafe
6322 De Longpre Ave.
Hollywood
(323) 988-4052

 

New Chowhound and more

My Internet was down all week (note to self: next time, first check the power supply before enduring Best Buy hell to buy new router) so I just now got a look at the new Chowhound. I suppose the interface is clean enough, although the post names seem unnecessarily large and bold, so that only a dozen or so posts can be displayed at a time. There's a few interesting new boards, like Wine, Beer, Spirits and Food Media.

Is there a gentrifying cranny of the city that doesn't have its own wine bar in the works? My hairdresser tells me that a new wine bar is coming to the former Ranch market space in Atwater where Starbucks is also supposedly going in.

Coming soon to the ArcLight Cinemas complex: Sushi Club, which looks scary, and Charcoal, a new steakhouse concept from the Gaucho Grill's Adolfo Suaya.

Around the Internets

Sometime today the new Chowhound format is being revealed...Chowhound is being integrated into CNET's Chow.com, and being totally modernized in the process. Since I'm a staunch traditionalist, I'm pretty sure I'll hate the new interface, but top dog Jim Leff couldn't have continued the site without a cash infusion, so kudos to him for finding a way to keep it going. Here's a Wall St. Journal article describing some of the changes to come.

New York Times writer Cindy Price came to Hollywood and did a fun piece on 36 Hours in Hollywood, without once setting foot in Citizen Smith, Memphis or any other annoyingly trendy spots. Speaking of trendy, the Times wouldn't let her include Lou because of the Manohla Dargis connection. Full disclosure: you can see a corner of my red hair in the video portion while we eat breakfast at Square One, but thank goodness, not my face.

Travel videos seem to be the thing these days -- Cindy was asked to do one as part of her NY Times article -- and here's a site devoted to videos about different cities. TurnHere currently covers Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, with videos on subjects such as Pink's Hot Dogs, the L.A. River and Koreatown.

Does going West lead to a dead-end?

Does anyone have a comment on this week's West magazine restaurant issue?
OK, I'll go first. I thought the conceit of categorizing dishes by which utensil they are eaten with was pretty forced, but I can certainly understand the desperation for fresh ideas. But usually in this type of issue I can at least find two or three places I'd like to try. This one just seemed small and flat. Tuna burger at M Cafe, pastrami sandwich at Langer's...I think we've heard this song before. The only place that might be a discovery was S Vietnamese in Westminster. In his editor's note, Rick Wartzman mentions "all the Mexican and Thai places that, for relatively little money, offer their own culinary bliss." Well, maybe we'd like to hear about some of them.

On the other hand, today's Times Food Section story "Koreatown 24/7" is informative and packed with new places to try...wish I was in the mood more often for a 3 a.m. pick-me-up of jampong, bubbling cauldrons of "deep red, searingly hot soup chock-full of octopus, shrimp, crab and mussels." Hopefully it's just as good at 7 p.m.

In other news, CurbedLA updates the status of Mario Batali's Mozza...apparently phase one is due for August. And why wasn't I invited to the pizza tasting with Jake Gyllenhaal?

Curbed also reports via A.V. Newbie that a Famima is coming to downtown Glendale...that's pretty cool, because there are few things I love more than fishy flavored or green tea flavored Japanese snack foods.

Taste test: Manna Korean BBQ

Manna is an assault on the senses. Rows and rows of cafeteria-style tables are filled with large parties of mostly young people; more sedate foursomes sit on a higher level with a faux South Seas rocky backdrop.
Every so often, the discoish music is cranked up higher and a waiter appears to pop open a bottle of champagne for someone's birthday, letting it cascade onto the grilled meat. Although the patio is theoretically open air, it's covered by a plastic cover that holds in the smoke from the (gas) barbecues, and things get pretty steamy with about a hundred people grilling vast quantities of beef simultaneously.

Add this to the experience of meeting a bunch of food bloggers including Rosie (in photo) from ColleenCuisine (Colleen is her middle name), Pam from DailyGluttony, Eddie from Deep End Dining, Dylan from Eat, Drink and Be Merry, and Jonah from LA.Foodblogging, and it's a lot to take in all at once.
Although I had tried Chosun Galbi across the street, which offers a nice, civilized barbecue experience, this was a whole different kettle of kalbi, but it was definitely more fun and a bit tastier as well.

For this time, I was shown how to peel off thin sheets of rice noodle wrapper and layer my perfectly-grilled beef with lettuce, bean paste, chili paste, dip it into the oil and salt and soy dips, and pop it into my mouth. Grill, wrap, pop, glass of Hite beer, grill, wrap, pop, glass of Hite beer... you get the idea, but I might have repeated this process just a few too many times.
It's hard to be reasonable though, with Manna's $14.95 set meal which features an endless platter of sliced brisket, boneless shortribs, mushrooms, onions and jalapenos. We tried some chicken too, but the shortribs were the star. Patience is key though...as my Nerve profile once said, "Instant gratification is sexy; delayed gratification is sexier." The same applies to grilling, as this type of meat is meant to be eaten well-cooked, with carmelly bits clinging here and there, not rare.
Manna Korean Cuisine
3377 W. Olympic Blvd.
(323) 733-8516

News story of the day

It's not easy being a food editor. According to this L.A. Times story, Saveur's Todd Coleman was detained at the Tallahassee airport for having honey, a spice rub, an oyster shell and a tape recorder in his bag, which seemed suspicious to authorities. I'm pretty sure that somewhere on the Internets there's a recipe for a bomb made out of Cajun rub and honey, with a little ground oyster shell thrown in.

Monday news: Ghetto Gourmet and Loteria in Hollywood

While reviewing Loteria Grill in Farmer's Market today, I caught wind that Loteria is planning a Hollywood location -- a sit-down restaurant on Cherokee near Hollywood Blvd. Plans are to open by the end of the year, and Hollywood could certainly use some spots that are more cuisine, less scene.

What's the Ghetto Gourmet? It started as an underground restaurant in Oakland and became quite a Bay Area sensation. Now the wandering supper club is hosting its first series of L.A. dinners. Prix-fixe four-course menus (and entertainment) are $40, byob, and held in a series of private homes. L.A. dates are Thursday and Friday June 22 and 23 in Silver Lake, Sunday the 25th in the Valley, and Tuesday the 27th in mid-Wilshire. Click on the link above for reservation info.

Farmer's Market guide: Loteria Grill

Some people are disappointed in Loteria Grill because they go expecting the best Mexican food in all of L.A., or they think it's slow, or expensive. Well, it can be pricey if you get something like the Chiles en Nogada special for $14.95, and it can be a bit slow because it's popular and crowded. But I like Loteria for several reasons -- they have interesting vegetarian tacos like mushroom and zucchini; they have the best housemade drinks like jamaica and tamarindo; and everything is freshly made and generally pretty good. I had the plate above, with a cochinita pibil taco, a mushroom taco, a side of cactus salad and a tamarindo drink, all for under $10, which I don't think is that bad, price-wise. The cochinita didn't have as much flavor as Yuca's or Chichen Itza, but everything else was good. At the Chowhound tasting, we tried the carne asada nachos, which I never would have thought to order, but they were seriously tasty. They also have several brunch dishes available including chilequiles. Loteria may not be perfect, but it has defintely elevated the expectations for Mexican food, especially in the Fairfax area where there's not much Mexican available anyway.
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A taste of downtown history

I met up with Franklin Avenue's Mike and Maria and a few other local bloggers at Cole's Saturday to commemorate Franklin Avenue's 100th Rate-a-Restaurant review. I didn't eat, so I'll let Mike handle the reviewing this time. But I had a good Spaten on tap, and I'm glad I finally got a look at Cole's and got updated on some other Downtown news.
-Celia from 5th and Spring and Eric from BlogDowntown filled me in on what's going on with the Cole's building: apparently the building's new owner has applied for several liquor licenses and plans a gourmet market as well, but it's not clear what his plans are for Cole's, the oldest restaurant in L.A. (1908!) So if you haven't been there, try a French dip soon in case they decide to clean it up and hipsterize it. Mike thought Cole's French dips, however, couldn't hold a candle to Philippe's, yet Eric preferred Cole's, so ymmv.
-Fourth St. is the center of much of the new restaurant activity downtown. Celia's b.f. Jim, whom she met through her blog, said he enjoys the Vietnamese spot Blossom at 4th and Winston.
-The tiny Indonesian restaurant Warung sounds interesting, yet the downtown residents agreed they've never seen anyone in there. Eric said Tom Gilmore plans to open a Spanish restaurant on 4th and there was talk of a hot dog stand/art gallery in the works called, I believe, Weenie's.
-As far as watering holes, Celia was pro on wine bar 626 Reserve and the Golden Gopher, but no so much on Bar 107 and the Broadway Bar.

News dribbles

Eagle Rock continues to percolate, with the opening of the Oinkster nearing and now Larkin's set to open around August in a craftsman cottage on Colorado. According to the Eagle Rock residents newsletter, Larkin's is owned by Larkin Mackey & Joshua McBride, who plan a restaurant "in the vein of restaurants such as Off Vine andthe Raymond, but with a contemporary soul food twist." The entire opening process will be chronicled on an HGTV show this fall called "Opening Soon."

Steven Arroyo's empire continues to expand, with a wine bar coming to South Pasadena at Mission and Meridian and a planned French bistro in the Nabisco building Downtown. He's also recently started a catering division featuring Spanish and Mexican fare.

And Hatfield's, which Eating L.A. mentioned back in April, is now open for dinner on Beverly Blvd. One Chowhound poster tried it and thought it was excellent, but on the pricey side.

Taste test: Pazzo Gelato

Last night we decided to only eat at places that had lots of P's and Z's, so after a dinner of (passable) sushi at Pazazz Sushi, we tried out the new Pazzo Gelato on Sunset. It was hopping on a warm Friday evening, and the mango gelato I had heard was good was already sold out. Sam was disappointed that there was no espresso either; he's pretty much a coffee-only ice cream eater. There's only a dozen or so flavors, but everything we tried was good. I had a small cup ($2.95) with half cantaloupe sorbet and half fig and almond gelato. The fig and almond was nicely creamy, but a bit sweet and not very figgy, while the cantaloupe was excellent, and believe me, I've eaten a lot of cantaloupe gelato in my time. Sophie was happy with her cup of chocolate malt, while Sam just had an ice-blended cappucino. Other flavors include flor di latte, banana fudge, cinnamon, a deeply colored blueberry sorbet and fresh peach sorbet. They also carry a few candies from Boule, including the wonderful caramels, and cupcakes and other baked goods from Heirloom Bakery in Pasadena.
I've only been waiting for interesting ice cream to come to Silver Lake for about 20 years, so Pazzo is a welcome addition, even if their selection of flavors isn't as large as Il Cono or some of the other gelaterias. As good as Pazzo is, the gelato in L.A. never tastes the same as it did in Italy. I guess it's good that there's still a few things worth travelling for.
Pazzo Gelato
3827 Sunset Blvd.
(323) 662-1410

Farmer's Market: Singapore Banana Leaf

The thing about Farmer's Market is that there are lots of stands with decent renditions of their specialty, and hardly any that are the absolute best example of that food (Littlejohn's English Toffee being one exception).

mee goreng with tofu
But I don't care, because I love Singapore's Banana Leaf anyway, even though I've had better beef rendang at Indo Cafe in West L.A. Their mee goreng (fried noodles) remind me of the ones I had in dining cars chugging across Malaysia, and their gado gado (tofu, green bean and potato salad with peanut dressing) makes me think of the first time I tried the dish in a tiny warung in Jogjakarta. I like the fruity, refreshing rojak salad on a hot day, and the steamy laksa soup brimming with curry-scented coconut broth, rice noodles, chicken and tofu on a cold winter evening.
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Puck opens Cut

Eating L.A. stopped by the opening party for Wolfgang Puck's new steakhouse Cut in the Beverly Wilshire hotel Wednesday night.
A motley assortment of food and travel writers, club kids, Beverly Hills businessmen and quasi-celebs like Ryan Seacrest and LaToya Jackson mingled with Puck in the contemporary Richard Meier-designed white space with grey velvet couches and silver window screens, a far cry from the hotel's clubby old bar that formerly occupied that space. We sampled Pisco lemon drops and refreshing watermelon martinis and had tastes of appetizers like Kobe beef tartare, maple glazed pork (even better than pig candy, I'd have to say) and shrimp and crab cups.

At the Moroccan-themed pool and spa area upstairs, I went a little nutso at the dessert bar, feeling it was my duty to sample pate des fruits, churros with vanilla sauce, chocolate cups filled with ricotta, Yuzu citrus bars, chocolate lollipops and a tiny caramel lavender tart.



I would have tried the macaroons too, but Nicole had generously brought in a box of Laduree macaroons straight from Paris that morning, so I was on macaroon overload.

Hired semi-nude models getting massages in the cabanas added to the surreal atmosphere.

The menu hits all the standard steakhouse/chophouse highlights, with just a few discursions like the marrow flan on the appetizer menu. Everything we tasted was completely yummy, but I'm not sure why seemingly every new restaurant has to be a steakhouse.