Two Boots Pizza comes to Echo Park; more from Eagle Rock

Suebee from the Silverlakeboulevard blog brings us news that New York's Two Boots Pizza will be moving in next to the Echo...I've never had their pizza, is it any good? Echo Park could certainly use more dining options, so this is good news.

My faithful Eagle Rock reader tells me that Elements Kitchen, the Pasadena caterer, may take over the space Townsend Gallery space on Colorado with take-out options, baked goods and coffee.
Also, a Japanese restaurant is moving into the flower shop on the corner of Shearin and Colorado...and,
Lemongrass may be expanding into the space that was supposed to be Michaelangelo's.

I'll have to hop over to NELA and investigate...any excuse to try the fish 'n chips at the York.
Speaking of drinking options, Senor Fish in Eagle Rock has applied for a liquor license...if it's approved, a Bohemia would certainly go down well with a few fish tacos on the patio.

Chilling with Ellroy at the Pacific Dining Car

sometimes we are just carnivores...

Well, actually we didn't have dinner with James Ellroy, he was sitting across the room, wearing a faded pink polo shirt and dining with a well-heeled looking couple when we stopped by the Pacific Dining Car Saturday night. We were overdue for a meal for Matt's birthday, which falls at the hottest part of the year. Last year an otherwise enjoyable meal at Angelini Osteria was marred by half-assed air conditioning (to be fair, it was probably 100 degrees that night). I remembered that the Pacific Dining Car is always kept at meat-locker temperatures, which is actually surprising when you consider the age of most of the patrons.
Matt was thrilled to see Ellroy show up, and impressed that he managed to mention the titles of two porn films within two minutes of being seated. For my part, I was thrilled to have a distraction from the conversation going on next to us in which a middle-aged lady stridently explained the mortal dangers of date rape and Internet dating to her bewildered octogenarian mom.
Matt enjoys a good steak, and the enormous filet mignon topped with truffle butter was a very nice piece of meat. I thought both our steaks verged on rare instead of medium rare, but otherwise the dinner was impeccable, from the buttery sauteed spinach, the also-buttery potatoes au gratin, and yes, the good butter served with the bread basket. The rooms are blissfully quiet compared to every other restaurant, and it's great how even though it's not full, they spread out the parties in all the rooms rather than squishing them into just one. So happy birthday, Matt...next year, party at our place!
Also, here's an earlier report of lunch at the PDC with their wonderful steak salad.

We have a Reggae night winner!

There were some great entries for Reggae Night tickets, and I've excerpted some of the suggestions below.
I'm going to go with Lucy, who suggested TiGeorge's Chicken. It's appropriate since Haiti is certainly in the same vicinity as Jamaica, but I think it was the thought of the aphrodisiac conches (and a few band references woven in) that sealed the deal. Thanks for playing!

Here's Lucy's winning entry:
"OK technically it's Haitian, not Jamaican, but when TiGeorges Chicken gets your lips smacking to the sultry beat of the Caribbean, you're feet are sure to follow. Whet your appetite with the tender conch and let its spicy aphrodisiac powers put you in the mood for the hot pulsating rhythms of Reggae Night. For the main course, choose the whole rotisserie chicken, which serves four, and as it melts in your mouth, see if you can taste the delicate scent of avocado infused when the bird turned on its Burning Spear. Chef-owner TiGeorges is an incorrigible flirt so exchanging bon mots en francais usually satisfies my sweet tooth. If you're like me, you prefer heat to sweet, especially on sizzling Reggae Night, so I recommend TiGeorges Hot Pickle Pickliz to go. A jar of that, you'll be Wailing reggae with all the lost souls at the Hollywood Bowl. -- Lucy
***
Here's some other great suggestions from Eating L.A. readers:
Knowing that most Rastas prefer 'ital' style food, the first place that popped into my head was Chadni. Chadni is a great little Indian cafe serving vegetarian (ital) style dishes at very affordable prices. An always friendly staff combined with a staggering 70 item menu and their should be little trouble finding a tasty dish.
A perfect menu leading up to Reggae Night would have to include the following:
Makki Rotti (griddle baked cornmeal bread), Gajar Matar (carrots and peas in a tomato based sauce) and finally Saag (mustard greens cooked with garlic/tomaotes/and ginger.)
These dishes may not be prepared in the Jamaican style, but indigenous ingredient similarities are definitely present. -- Matthew
(Chadni, 1909 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica)
***
The ideal place to dine before Reggae Night is Cha Cha Cha in Silver Lake. Sure, they have a great take-away menu packages so that you can easily cart up food to the venue and enjoy it al fresco at the Bowl, but I recommend dining at the restaurant which has been at the corner of Virgil and Melrose since 1986 with its playful Caribbean decor and friendly waitstaff. The menu offers a terrific array of spicy grilled fish and succulent pulled pork. The rice and black beans served with many of the entrees -- along with fried plantains -- are cooked to perfection, not overly salty like they can be at other Cuban places around town. The mango salad is a particular favorite, especially in the summertime. And, don't forget the Sangria, which keeps the locals coming back for Sunday brunch, but it's refreshing at any time of the day. -- Christina
***
Although not Rastafarian -- Cuba's music and culture shares something soulful, so my vote is dinner at Bodeguita de Pico at 5047 Pico. Now, do they have Red Stripe? That I don't know.
-- Linda

Restaurant roundabout: Le Figaro, Madame Matisse change hands

Some people remained loyal to Le Figaro on Vermont through all its changes...price increases, organic food, wasn't there even biodynamic food at some point? Eating L.A. gave up when it took half an hour to order one frigging espresso, but with nice Frenchy decor and a prime location, it could be so much more. Now it's changed hands once again and hopefully the new ownership will be more local and more interested in what the locals want in a bistro.

Madame Matisse has also changed hands, with Debra King from Cakewalk taking over the tiny Sunset Blvd. cafe. King plans to keep things much the same, just adding some daily specials and more of her baked goods which have gotten good notices.

And Gingergrass has taken over the lease on the bookshop next to Silverlake Coffee...wouldn't it be nice if it turned into a Vietnamese fast food spot or something cool? But the word for now is that they'll use it as a kitchen for their catering operation.

Ragging on the SF Chronicle for a change

We're going to give the L.A .Times a break this week (of course, I haven't seen My Favorite Weekend yet...) and single out the San Francisco Chronicle for a lashing this week. I don't know whether restaurant critic Michael Bauer is loved or reviled up there, but his article The Dish on Los Angeles seems pretty lame. He's only, what, 360 miles away, and yet he hasn't been to L.A. in 10 years? Give me a break. Surely S. Irene gets to San Fran a little more often than that. We've been dissed, I guess.
Let's put aside some of his more shopworn cliches (Spago "keeps going like the Energizer Bunny" and gasp, "people have to drive to get anywhere") and look at his selections: ...two Wolfgang Puckeries, a Mozza, Lucques, Jar, La Terza...is he trying to chose the most San Francisco-esque selection of restaurants possible? Yawn. They're certainly some of L.A.'s best, although you get the idea that Hatfield's made the cut mainly because the chefs hail from San Francisco. But other than endlessly repeating that, surprise, people in the industry seem to go to a lot of good restaurants, where they do a lot of business, he shows absolutely no insight into the character and texture of L.A. dining. This is about as good as it gets: because it's warmer here, restaurants have patios. Oh, and also, there's this thing called Disney Concert Hall, and it's cool-looking, although Patina? Not so hot anymore.
OK, Michael, you can go back now.

Win tickets to Reggae Night!

Eating L.A. is sponsoring our first ticket giveaway with tickets to Reggae Night VI, Sunday August 12th at the Hollywood Bowl. Here's how to win: Tell me where you would go to eat if you could have a great meal that complements Reggae Night in some way. It can be a Jamaican restaurant, a place that serves yellow, green and red food...or whatever, but use your best restaurant critic skittles and tell us in a few lines why it's the place to eat before Reggae Night. The program features Burning Spear, Sly & Robbie, The Taxi Gang, with Horace Andy and Cherine Anderson and Wailing Souls Reunion with Anne Litt hosting. Here's what they say about it: Reggae's grandmaster Burning Spear returns, plus reggae drum and bass pioneers, Sly & Robbie with the distinctive vocals of Horace Andy (last heard with Massive Attack). The Wailing Souls reunite after a 22-year absence. It's a roots rockin' night not to be missed!
Email your response to pattyberlin@yahoo.com and I'll pick a winner by Friday, July 27.

Tasting notes: Froma and Amir's Falafel

We needed some provisions for a picnic at the Cinespia screening of Dario Argento's Suspiria Saturday night, so I stopped in the new charcuterie/cheese shop Froma on Melrose. I tried some La Quercia proscuitto, the great domestic procsuitto from Iowa that the L.A. Times wrote about a few weeks ago. It's good stuff; even better after I made some little rolls to take with us with the BreadBar rolls they carry at Froma, sliced heirloom tomatoes, a drizzle of homemade garlicky viniagrette and some shaved parmesan. We also had an excellent bottle of Pinot Noir from De La Montanya Vineyards near Healdsburg (a party favor from the publicist for the Michelin guide, Ceci De La Montanya).

That was a pretty good dinner, but lunch wasn't too shabby either: we were in the Valley so we stopped at Amir's Falafel (11711 Ventura Blvd.) Amir's is Israeli style, which means that like Falafel King in Westwood, there is a great selection of side salads. There's a nicely-spiced carrot salad, eggplant, two kinds of coleslaw, tabbouli and several others. Matt thought his grilled chicken sandwich was delicious, but the falafel is the piece de resistance: freshly made, soft and pillowy, stuffed into a fresh pita with cabbage and tahini sauce. It's not as cheap as some falafel places, but it might be worth being just a stone's throw from Universal City and not having to brave deepest North Hollywood.

Abigail Breslin flogs $20 kids menu at the Palm

Here's a little piece I wrote for Variety about all the food tie-ins for the film "No Reservations." No fear of child labor here -- they've got kiddie thesp Abigail Breslin appearing on Emeril Live next Thursday before the movie opens as well as "consulting" on a new kids' menu for the Palm Restaurants...just $20 for mac 'n cheese or steak tenders. While Thomas Keller consulted on the food for "Ratatouille," "No Reservations" got advice on cooking up a fictional New York restaurant from Michael White of Fiamma.

Hot Knives cut into Daily Dish

Just a few weeks into the L.A. Times food blog's life, local bloggers are already drawing swords. Hot Knives, the vegetarian chef/beer lover guys who do the vegan BBQ at Little Radio's downtown summer camp events, have a bone to pick with one of the Daily Dish's posts about a new beer guide. They feel like the Times doesn't really get the Internet; what's the point of publishing a printed beer guide that will taste like stale beer by tomorrow, etc., etc., just read their take on it. Meanwhile, I'm going to be searching out some of that Sonoma Farmhouse Saison beer they write about on the post above.

The York rocks Highland Park

Eating L.A. was in Highland Park not once, but twice last week. The first time was for the preview night at The York, the new gastropub on, of course, York Blvd. where the Wild Hare used to be. They've opened up the space completely with big windows on the street, brick walls and imaginative light fixtures for a very New York feeling. There's a nice selection of beers on tap (we tried the Heavenly Hefweizen) and a good small wine list. Food seems very solid so far -- a super juicy, tasty burger; seared catfish had a clean taste with no doughy breading and a nice side of sauteed corn; fries a bit overdone like I like them and addictive fried garbanzo beans for snacking on with drinks. Only the Cuban sandwich seemed to need a little more work -- the pickle needs to go on the inside to add moisture, not on the side. I'm sure opinions will be divided over whether Highland Park wants/needs a $12 hamburger, but it seemed pretty fun to us.

Saturday night we checked out faithful reader Ellen Bloom's art opening featuring collages of historic L.A. neighborhoods, as well as the amazing pieces by Clare Graham at MorYork gallery and then stopped by Johnnie's Bar. I liked the people, the drinks and the ambiance, but I could have done without "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" playing on the large-screen TV (how about an artsy movie or something fun to look at?) and the incredibly loud music reverberating off the tiny room's vintage tin ceiling.

Just in case you need more cupcakes...Lark Cakeshop

I've parsed the cupcake fascination inside and out for several years now, but I'm still kind of amazed that cake and cupcake shops continue to open at a feverish pace. Now we have our very own in Silver Lake, the stylish pale green Lark Cake Shop on Sunset at Micheltorena. I liked that the red velvet cupcake, left, was a very reasonable size yet with a healthy dollop of frosting nonetheless, perfect for frosting freaks. The cake part could use a little fine-tuning -- I'm used to Auntie Em's, which super moist. In case you've had enough cake, which I think maybe I have at this point, there's scones, cookies, tiramisu and coffee. Lark plans to stay open until 10 on weekends, just the place for a cupcake fix after dinner. Now if only someone could open a good bread bakery...
Lark Cake Shop
3337 W. Sunset Blvd.
(323) 667-2968

Best Fish Taco in Ensenada comes to Hillhurst

Eating L.A. stopped in at the brand new Best Fish Taco in Ensenada stand on Hillhurst Saturday. It's kind of a soft opening as the outdoor seating area isn't ready yet but the tacos are up and running. The super simple menu consists of fish tacos ($1.50), shrimp tacos ($2.00) and sodas. That's it, but what more do you need, really? Well, maybe some good beer from Cap'n Cork next door...now there's a combo I could get behind! Owner Joseph Cordova comes from the wholesale fish business and says he will add more salsas and relishes. They've already got a nice selection; we combined the radish slaw with avocado salsa and sour cream which was a great topper for the shrimp taco. Unlike Siete Mares and most other fish taco places, Mendoza favors a very light breading so they're not too bready and filling. He's serious about serving each taco fresh and hot: the counter girl doles out one at a time so you won't end up with cold fish.
Best Fish Taco in Ensenada (open 11-7 ish, probably 7 days)
1650 N. Hillhurst

Something different: Breakfast for dinner

Eating L.A. was invited to sample something different at Noe last night. Chef Glen Ishii, who recently took over as executive chef from the departed Robert Gadsby, is doing a Breakfast for Dinner tasting menu July 15-August 14. We started with an amuse of asparagus panna cotta, followed by lobster quiche with grapefruit. Next up were banana pancakes (pictured), topped with foie gras and peppered strawberries with a nice spicy bite. I could easily eat a plate of these for breakfast anytime! The main course was either a filet of beef topped with a truffled fried egg and potatoes with tasty little bits of kielbasa; or an original bagel bread pudding with smoked salmon and capers. For dessert, homemade doughnuts with strawberries and cream. We all went wild for Ishii's truffle butter spread on French rolls; just deliver a few pounds of this to the house, please. The tasting menu is $60 and can be paired with breakfasty cocktails like a mimosa with fresh-squeezed orange juice, a greyhound, a zesty bloody mary or an Irish coffee. Ishii plans to unveil more changes now that he's taken over at Noe, both in menu and decor.
Noe at the Omni Hotel
251 S. Olive St.
213.356.4100

Feeding those pesky young 'uns

Two approaches to feeding the gaping maws of children:
#1: Make them cook it themselves: Chris Rubin writes about kids cooking classes in the L.A. Times today. Mine haven't been receptive to classes yet, but I'm still holding out hope. Two other places worth looking into that weren't mentioned in the Times are The New School of Cooking, where Kathy's son got a great start to his cooking and The Summer Art Academy in Pasadena and Woodland Hills, which runs weeklong cooking camps all summer.
#2: Approach family dinners like a military campaign: I have to hand it to The New York Times Leslie Kaufman, who like me, gets home around 7:30 at night, and like me, has two kids of which one is super-picky. In her story Mom Puts Family on Her Meal Plan, she describes how she cooks ahead on Sundays and puts a decent meal on the table at least five nights a week. She uses more beef than I would, but it's a good explanation nonetheless.

L.A. Times does the Daily Dish

The L.A. Times new food blog The Daily Dish debuted today and it seems like a pretty solid effort so far -- a mix of restaurant news, musings on various ingredients and dishes, miscellanea like the toy sushi, etc. Even better, it's flagged on the Times' homepage -- just a few months ago, I probably would have been clicking around for 15 minutes trying to find it. I'm sure they'll be working on their rather idiosyncratic link list-- I like reading about farms in Monterey and Chinese cooking, but a little more local content would be nice (cough, cough).

Road trip: San Diego's got the brews

house-cured charcuterie at the Linkery

Why does San Diego county get all the good beer, while Los Angeles suffers by comparison? This question was never answered to our satisfaction during this weekend's whirlwind San Diego beer tour, but we had some great food and beer nonetheless. We started our tour on the way down at Pizza Port in Solana Beach, a cute, artsy little town just north of ritzy Del Mar. It's the kind of place they could use a half dozen of in L.A. -- super casual with outdoor tables, decent bready pizza overloaded with toppings, plenty of games to occupy the kids while the adults taste beer, and an excellent list of house-brewed and guest beers.

a flight of beer tastings with house-made chipotle potato chips at Stone Brewing


I tried the Baja Session ale, which had a nice spicy finish and very little carbonation, while Kathy had the Belgian white ale. We detoured to Imperial Beach, where they film "John from Cincinnati," to drop off Kathy's son at surf camp, and then checked into our hotel, the historic U.S. Grant, which is now owned by a local Indian tribe. After a bit of research I decided on The Linkery for dinner. Kathy was dubious, since their Web site seemed to contain many stipulations including a mandatory 18% service fee and no reservations.

Sun Cafe, a vestige of old San Diego still open for breakfast


We found it in the quaint North Park neighborhood which had several cute cafes, bakeries and bars, and were happy to see it wasn't at all busy on a Sunday night. The menu is chock full of dishes composed of local or sustainable or organic ingredients as well as a great beer list (and nice Californian wine, too.) I had probably the best beer I've ever tasted -- a cask-conditioned Summer Yulesmith IPA from San Diego's Alesmith Brewing. The full-bodied, carmel-scented brew was sweet enough to offset the hoppy IPA flavor, and it packed a real punch. I savored it with the Linkery's house-cured saucisson sec and grass-fed bresaola, some portobello tacos and a lively herb salad. The Yardhouse was right across from the hotel -- in San Diego, even the touristy chain places have 100 beers on tap.

Carlsbad mussels and clams in beer broth at Stone Brewing


On the way home, we stopped at Stone Brewing's amazing facility in Escondido. From a distance, it looks like a warehouse, but up close, it features a beautiful sunken garden, huge open air patio and restaurant overlooking the glassed-in brewing operations. The food at the Stone World Bistro was also excellent, including local mussels and clams and a salad full of extremely flavorful greens and veggies. We peeked inside the brewery, picked up a bottle of Arrogant Bastard, and went home to the nearly beerless Eastside.

Dream with the Fishes

There's something fishy about my dream life. The other night I was blogging in my sleep (yes, I'm afraid that happens sometimes) about Seafood City, the Filipino supermarket in Eagle Rock mall with the killer selection of whole fish. In my dream, I had a famous seafood chef tour the market with me, picking out the best deals and showing me how to cook the unusual varieties of fish. After the dream, I felt strangely driven to buy a big fish so I went to Seafood City and took pictures of all the fish. There was no famous chef to be found, so I asked some of the ladies which ones they liked. People seemed to be buying an unnatural amount of tilapia, which I avoid, so in the end I bought a striped bass. The name was at least somewhat familiar, at $1.99 the price was right, and it said it was both from the United States and fresh. You bag your own fish from the ice-filled displays, and hand it over to the lady behind the counter for weighing and cleaning. Everything is sparkling clean and there's no fishy smell like some of the other fishmarkets suffer from.
Most of the other fish don't exactly involve eating locally -- they hail from everywhere from Ecuador to Vietnam to the Great Lakes, but they're almost all well under $5 a pound. Barely any of the varieties are recognizable as something you've ever seen a recipe for, so I just threw the bass on the grill and topped it with some charmoula. I also got one of those little red fishes in the bottom photo, called a redtail fusilier. The redtail was meaty with a good flavor, like a fresh sardine. The bass was mild with a firm, flaky texture, although it was hard to keep in one piece on the grill and didn't filet very easily. Here's some of the fishes at the market -- if you know which ones tend to be good or the best way to cook them, please let me know! Some of the other varieties found there include gasper goo, china bream yellowfin, sea bream, white perch, golden pompano, pony fish, mullet, round scad, yellow croaker (I know they fry these in Shanghai-style restaurants), moonfish or opah and the beautifully-colored parrot fish. Next, I think I'll try the big strawberry grouper, which Filipinos call lapu lapu.

Nice piggy!

The L.A. Times food section had a lovely article on an Iowan Herb Eckhouse, a Harvard-educated Jewish liberal who makes excellent artisanal proscuitto with his wife. The article said you can buy La Quercia's products at Froma on Melrose -- but Eating L.A. did not know of such a place! Apparently the gourmet deli just opened this week. Froma (7960 Melrose Ave. (323) 653-3700) carries a variety of savory cheeses and meats and such and sounds like it might give Cube a little competition in that neighborhood.

Also in the Times, lotsa yogurt stuff. No mention of my current favorite, Milano Freezer, or another mini-chain, Yogurt Queen. Otherwise, it's pretty comprehensive. So maybe we can stop with the yogurt now?

And in My Favorite Weekend, "John from Cincinnati's" Austin Green seemingly does his weekend in character as a spacey alien-type dude -- "there's this place, like, called Mozza that's really cool." Gotta love a guy who likes to hang out with the crazy man at Cactus Taqueria and goes to the Watts Towers to lie on the grass and read a book.

Taste test: Shamshiri on a summer evening

crusty Persian rice, left
Sometimes the best reason to try a new restaurant is when the location fits elegantly into your plans for the evening. In our case, the route last Saturday involved delivering a teenager to deepest west Glendale. I remembered from my regrettably brief tenure in Weight Watchers that Shamshiri in the same complex looked like a promising choice in that neighborhood, and Matt had never had Persian food, so voila, a plan was hatched.
Shamshiri has various locations around town -- the Glendale location has plenty of parking and a patio that's pleasant on warm nights. We started with a refreshing tomato and cucumber salad with a bracingly sour dressing -- it would have been a great foil to something oily like hummus but we didn't want to fill up too fast. I insisted Matt try fesenjan, the chicken stew made with pomegranates and crushed walnuts. Fesenjan, being a murky stew with a burnished burgundy color, doesn't photograph well, but it was delicious -- fruity without being cloying and not as oily as some versions. The fesenjan was served with a large plate of rice with the crunchy, buttery crust included, a delicacy for Persian diners. I had a chicken dish in a very mild saffron gravy (adas polo, above) served with an enormous plate of rice studded with barberries, dates, lentils and raisins. I liked the combo of tasty items in the rice, but the overall effect was a bit bland. It does end up being a lot of rice, so if you're carb-phobic, you might want to find some substitutions among the appetizer salads.
Most of the dishes are available in vegetarian versions, the prices are reasonable, portions are huge and the service was efficient -- so we'll definitely add Shamshiri to our list of reliable places in Glendale. It's more casual than some Persian restaurants, so it's a good stop on the way to a movie, shopping trip ...or Weight Watchers meeting!
Shamshiri
122 W Stocker St
Glendale
(818) 246-9541

What will Michelin make of L.A.?

When Michelin first announced it was producing restaurant guides for not just New York but San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, I wondered how the venerable French star system would hold up in more casual cities. After all, just because Bandini gives El Parian five tacos doesn't mean the Michelin inspectors would even deign to set foot there.
Michelin hosted a lovely Beverly Wilshire hotel lunch -- impeccable service, by the way -- to explain a little bit more about how the process works. Jean-Luc Naret, director of all the Michelin guides, said he knows that the common impression of L.A. is that "there's more stars around the table than on the plates."
"But just because it's very casual doesn't mean that it's not good," says Naret. He explained that the inspectors work for the guide full-time and are generally people with a passion for food who have worked as chefs, sommeliers, etc. And indeed, although the San Franciso guide only doled out a three-star rating to the French Laundry (by this measure, Los Angeles is unlikely to end up with any three-stars), the guide itself is quite democratic. Granted, there's no taco trucks or roving tamale ladies, but there are several stalwart San Francisco budget eats places like Burma Superstar. There's also a page of suggestions on where to eat for less than $25 and a category called "Bib Gourmand," where two courses and a glass of wine can be had for $35. And there's just as many Japanese restaurants listed as French, so it doesn't seem overly Franco-centric. Citybeat also sat down with Naret -- here's their Q & A on the Michelin guide, which will be published in November for both L.A. and Las Vegas.