Lift going down?

No sooner does the Waffle open than Lift, which was supposed to be a similar all hours/fresh foods/breakfast-type concept seems to be "closed for renovations," according to a Chowhound poster. Surely it was just a few months ago I was invited to the opening, although I never made it there. A person answering the phone says they plan to re-open in two weeks, but we'll see...Hollywood seems to be nearly as dicey as Downtown for getting restaurants off the ground.
Update: I didn't have time to talk to Lift before I went out of town, but EaterLA reports that Lift will reopen in a few weeks positioned as more of a bar and less of a 22-hour a day diner.

HappiSongs becomes Goat, not Wyeth

We agree that Wyeth didn't seem like a great name for a restaurant. Now UrbanDaddy lets us know that Steven Arroyo's revamped HappiSongs will become Goat. Is that better? Not sure yet. Flash-Fried Goat Cheese and Figs with Brown Butter? That sounds pretty good. Goat Confit with Warm French Bread? Not so sure. Chef is Robert Luna. Opens Friday -- lunch and dinner seven days a week!

Goat

460 S. La Brea Ave. 323-936-7622

p.s. If you're not familiar with UrbanDaddy, it's a daily email tipsheet in the vein of Daily Candy, but more for cool young guys (not for dads necessarily). How is it different from Thrillist? Less dude, more urbane, maybe?

Historic L.A. food sites: The Dog House on Alvarado

This photo by William Reagh shows Andy's Dog House and Casa Taco on Alvarado.

Although this only dates back to 1979, I don't think there's much info out there about the Dog House, which was probably a divey little bar with a great front. As a kid, I used to eat at the Hot Dog Show in Santa Monica, which I think had a model train running around the walls.

Quick bite: Brownstone Pizza, Eagle Rock

Brownstone Pizza has some serious coglioni to open just a few blocks down from the iconic Casa Bianca, but if you don't feel like waiting for an hour, it's a good alternative for a very East Coast style pie. Lots of people get the giant $2.95 slices, but if you've got two or more people, just get a whole pie. It looks approximately as large as a kiddie swimming pool, but the thin and pliable crust allows origaming each slice into an edible packet, and you'll want two or three slices each. It's best right out of the oven, and while there's nothing revolutionary about it, it approaches the satisfying New York-style interplay of flavorful cheese and crispy yet floppy crust that people are constantly going on about. Plus, the red-sauced pasta dishes are hearty and ample, they're starting delivery soon, they take credit cards and are working on a beer and wine license. The room's not fancy, so the best bet could be to sip some wine at Colorado Wine next door, where they allow you to bring in a pizza to go with the wine.
Brownstone Pizzeria
2108 Colorado Blvd.
Eagle Rock
(323) 257-4992

Sheddy's opens in Bodega de Cordova space

The tiny, late Spanish wine bar Bodega de Cordova at 361 S. Fairfax is becoming Sheddy's, with a grand opening March 14-17 featuring $3 draft beers and two for one wine...that's all we know right now.

Upcoming Eastsideish food events

Let those Westsiders and Valley dudes have their precious Sur la Table classes and such. Over here on the near-Eastside we roll a little closer to the earth.

Friday, Feb. 29: The second Food for thought night at Yuca's on Hollywood Blvd., from 6-8 pm.

Monday, March 3: Raw cheesemaking workshop at Machine Projects with Nance Klehm's Living Kitchen.
Monday: March 10: Nance takes on Fruit wine and vinegar.

Tuesday and Wednesday, March 11 and 12: Auntie Em's Farmer's Market dinners; main course choices are Moroccan style lamb stew, cassoulet, braised beef ribs or wild mushroom lasagna; also starters, artisanal cheese plate, pastries. $32 per person, $8 per child.

Friday round-up

Notable recent openings: The Waffle in Hollywood -- chef is Scooter Kanfer, formerly of The House and the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop. Waffles, breakfast and much more, 22 hours a day.

Lots of new stuff downtown including Saffron, fast food Indian; fancy Tranquility Base with lights that change color every hour, outdoor firepit and brunch bloody mary bar; and Master Chef, a new Chinatown spot in the old Plum Tree Inn location with a chef from Full House.

This week, JustOnePlate visits Square One and gets the French toast recipe with creme anglaise...watch out, arteries! If I'm not mistaken, the recipe also appeared in this month's Bon Appetit.

Of course, for nearly every opening, there must be a closing...Steven Arroyo's HappiSongs has closed on La Brea...it was a cute space, but it never felt quite right, and perhaps Asian is not his forte. EaterLA says the space will be reborn as Wyeth.

Also closed, Sabor a Mexico, the quirky, authentic cafe near Culver City we reveiwed a few months ago...they are supposedly relocating to Jefferson Blvd., making it even harder to get to.

Dessert madness in Berkeley

Chocolate rum banana crunch creme fraiche cake...

We made a quick trip to Berkeley for my sister's birthday, but managed to squeeze in plenty of good food. My sister's next-door neighbor for some 30 years is Alice Medrich, author of many great dessert cookbooks, and she graciously hosted the party and made the desserts and fabulous cake. Alice samples the lime sorbet

There were buttery little peanut crunch cookies, delicate coconut straws and flaky currant rugalach. Then there was homemade lime sorbet, with lots of zest, and just enough sourness to cut the other rich desserts. Then there was the cake: on a layer of chocolate crunch rested layers of chocolate banana cream, chocolate rum cake and creme fraiche, topped by a sheaf of chocolate leaves. Pretty amazing. An assortment of ladylike cookies

We also stopped by Naia, one of Berkeley's many gelato shops, for chocolate orange and Thai young coconut gelato. We tried to go to Ici, the even-trendier ice cream shop (Earl Grey ice cream!) but the line was way out the door and I was afraid we'd miss our plane.
We squeezed in a tour of the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory, where Sophie and her cousin found out they don't like plain chocolate nibs, but I do. Other facts about Scharffen Berger: the Dr. Bob's chocolate port sorbet is to my disappointment, only available at the factory, as well as the milk chocolate with sea salt and almonds. Also, you can put nibs in with your coffee grounds for a subtle chocolate flavor without all the yuckiness of commercial mochas. It wouldn't be trip to Berkeley without bread, so we hit Acme Bakery for an incredible cheese roll, a baguette and a pain au levain, which travelled well back home. Sorbettos at Naia

The Cheese Board was closed, so we dropped by Andronico's market, where I ended up getting into a conversation about Wisconsin cheddar with the head cheese buyer, who dispensed samples liberally to the girls. I wish that happened at Ralph's!

55 Degrees: wine store and tastings in Atwater

Angelenos are used to the best ethnic restaurants being located in minimalls, and Lou on Vine certainly surprised with its hip decor and haute pig candy in a nearly-hidden minimall location. Now up-and-coming Atwater has its own minimall surprise. 55 Degrees is a wine shop specializing in Italian wines and unusual sparkling wines...with a cozy basement tasting room deep in the bowels of the Starbucks minimall on Glendale Blvd. Owner Ali Biglar (he's also owner of Wine Expo on the Westside) wants to introduce customers to small-producer Italian wines, and to make sure people focus on them, he's stocking very few new world varieties. In addition to what Biglar says will be a rotating selection of some 2000 Italians, he's planning a nice selection of Spanish bottles, 500 rotating small-production sparkling wines and eventually beer, cheese and condiments.
The basement tasting bar offers rotating flights such as tonight's Italian Light with three tastes for $9, as well as sparkling, white and red tasting flights that change each week. Cheese plates selected to complement white or red flights are $13.50 or $15 for a good-sized plate with some intriguing cheeses like my favorite La Tur. The wine shop is open 11-10 every day, while the tasting cave is open 6-10 pm.
55 Degrees
3111 Glendale Blvd.
Atwater
(323) 662-5556

Osteria La Buca ready for its close-up

While Osteria La Buca's remodel has been open off and on for several months, restaurant designer Kris Keith of the Spacecraft Group was finally ready last night to unveil the finished design. We liked the clever wine bottle chandeliers, the cozy upstairs fireplace and the vintage black and white photos on the walls, although we'll miss the tiny, charming original room. That room is now part of the entry patio with a few tables, shown. The main room is bigger but still intimate, and the upstairs room looks like the perfect canoodling spot on chilly evenings. We sampled quite a few dishes -- truffle ravioli and fritti misti were standouts, although I'm not sure if they're on the regular menu. Also good were arancini, several pizzas and calamari in tomato sauce. Pizza prices seem about the same, but some of the other dishes are a bit higher. Oh well, maybe it will actually be possible to get a seat now that there's more than five tables. Viva La Buca!

This week in food writing..."Trail of Crumbs"

There's zero connection to L.A. in "Trail of Crumbs," but as a Francophile and New Orleans-phile, I was curious to read this memoir by Kim Sunee, the food editor at Cottage Living magazine. Abandoned by her mother in Korea at the age of 3, Sunee was adopted by a young New Orleans couple and grew up watching Justin Wilson with her granddad, who taught her that mirlitons and gumbo were the important words to learn in English. Recipes are interspersed through the memoir, which mostly focuses on her seemingly-idyllic relationship with the sybaritic French owner of L'Occitane and the amazing meals they cooked. Her lyrical descriptions of life in a Provence villa will make you wonder why you never managed to fall in love with a sexy gourmet mogul, and her descriptions of inscrutable Parisian analysts will make you appreciate your approachable American therapist. The only thing missing is a final coda describing how she made the leap from proprietor of an impossibly quaint poetry bookshop on the Ile St. Louis to a shelter mag in Alabama, but it's a quick and enjoyable read that transports to reader to sunny Provence for a short, bittersweet trip.

It's the Wisconsin cheese at Lou

Lou's chalkboard wall shows where the restaurant sources its meats and cheeeses

One of the coolest things about being a food blogger (well, besides eating lots of tacos and the occasional free artisanal chocolates) is the chance to meet people who actually create great ingredients. Thanks to the Cheese Impresario, I've been able to meet several cheesemakers, and Monday I was invited to Lou for a Slow Food-sponsored Cheesemaker's dinner with Tony and Julie Hook from Hook's Cheese Company in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. I never even liked cheddar until I tasted Wisconsin aged cheddar, and we got to sample Hook's cheddar in two dishes, and talk to Tony and Julie about how they got started making cheese.
First up were crostini made with Lou's house-cured duck ham and Hook's 12 year old cheddar, and that smoky, dense duck ham was one of the best things I've eaten in a long time, complemented by the pungent cheddar. A refreshing salad followed, with frisee, apples, walnuts and Hook's Tilston Point Blue cheese. I had never had beer and cheese soup before, but Lou's "fancy pants" version with Reinaert Wild Ale and Hook's 10 year old cheddar was a standout version, topped with 12 year Cheddar cheese popcorn -- why don't more people use popcorn in cooking? The blue cheeses continued with a Niman ranch flat iron steak with Hook's blue paradise and a Sauternes-poached pear for dessert with Hook's original blue. My favorite wine of the evening, even though I'm not normally a white lover, was the Scholium Project Gemella 2006 with just a hint of raisiny sweetness ("aroma of sticky bun," says the website).
Hook's cheeses are available at Cheese Shops of Silver Lake and Beverly Hills, Artisan Cheese in Studio City and some Whole Foods, so if you haven't had a 12 year cheddar lately, I think it's high time.
And check back with Slow Food and Lou for more artisanal producer dinners, because it's fun to meet the people who slave in humid cheese barns all day so we can eat well.

Grand Central Market: the consolations of jury duty

This guy sells the killer tamarind balls, 4 for $1

All morning during the endless waiting of jury duty, I imagined scallop tacos and tamarind balls, two of the delicacies I knew were awaiting me at lunchtime. The hour and a half lunch break is more than generous, so after a brisk walk to Grand Central, I had plenty of time to look around. I was worried to see that there seem to be several more empty stalls than the last time I was there. What will become of them? A Chinese massage operation has moved into one (I recommend trying the female masseuse; I'm a bit bruised today from the male masseur.)
Since people actually live Downtown now, in addition to tons of office workers, couldn't there be a Langer's stand? A Pink's stand? A Tommy's stand? Perhaps a change of pace from Mexican and dubious Chinese?
Anyway, lunch at Maria's Fresh Seafood was certainly one of the better $5 lunches I've had lately -- when you order a scallop taco they scoop up some raw scallops, bread them lightly with cornmeal and fry them right in front of you. The shrimp tostada had a huge quantity of super-fresh shrimp for $2.50 -- so much that you should probably get extra chips to soak it up. Before my Chinese chair torture, I picked up some tamarind balls at one of the many Mexican mole/chile/spices stands -- despite having many surprise tamarind seeds at the center, these are about my favorite sweet of all time, and Grand Central is the only place I ever see them. I ended my break with a pretty decent espresso from the fresh juice/coffee/boba place, which still didn't stop me from feeling drowsy the rest of the afternoon. I hope tomorrow's jury duty, when I'll probably strike out towards Little Tokyo, will be just as tasty.

The only thing Frank Bruni and I have in common...

What are you doing on Valentine's Day?
A prix fixe dinner at Il Cielo is $225 per couple.

...is that quite a few people ask us for dining advice. Unfortunately for Frank, many people ask him for recs for romantic places for Valentine's Day. But romance happens at the most unlikeliest times and places, not necessarily over a plate of $30 risotto under the fairy lights at Il Cielo. A friend once told me that the most romantic evening she had had with her husband was walking down to a taco truck on Sunset and scarfing carne asada in the parking lot, and walking back home hand in hand afterwards. Bruni's list of romantic places in New York didn't mention Picholine, where I once had a totally unplanned yet totally romantic dinner.
My advice is to never go to a good restaurant on Valentine's Day. Not only is it a ripoff, you won't be getting the best cooking, and it's not very original. If you don't feel like making your honey a sumptuous feast, here's some other ideas:
1) Order a Vito's pizza; lay in some pinot noir ahead of time. Try eating in bed if you don't mind getting the sheets greasy.
2) Gather up all your single friends and have a big Chinese banquet. Choose a Szechwan place, and maybe the endorphins from the peppers will lead to some impromptu romance.
3) Pick up some decent takeout sushi and a bottle of sake from Mitsuwa or Bristol Farms. Climb a hill with a view of the city at sunset. Feed tasty bits of tuna to each other if that's what you're into.
4) Skip dinner. Hit an old school bar -- maybe Boardner's or the Formosa. Or Irish coffee at the Tam O'Shanter. Let the demon rum do its thing.
I'm glad my readers ask for slightly more interesting advice than just where to go for Valentine's Day. Recently, I've answered a reader from San Francisco who wants to take her mom to lunch after shopping on Santee Alley (contemplated Tiara; settled on Daikokuya) and a writer from London who wants to explore what L.A. has to offer besides Pinkberry and raw foods. She was thrilled to hear that L.A. is famous for donuts and burgers as well as an incredible array of ethnic food. So feel free to send in your dining questions, and I'll attempt to answer them.

Quick bite: Pho Saigon is a worthy pit-stop

I finally came down with that Sundance sickness that's been making the rounds, and it's now become Pavlovian for me -- colds = pho. So I stopped in at Pho Saigon, a sparkling, brand-new looking Korean pho place on Sixth St., since it's right on my way home. Arriving at 7:01, I scored a parking spot on the street and ordered up a brisket pho ($6.75) and some eggrolls ($5.75). Just a few minutes later, they were neatly packaged up and ready to go.
I think I prefer the rare beef at the real Vietnamese places, and the broth could have been a touch meatier. But the copious accompaniments were spot-on, and the egg rolls were still warm and crispy when I arrived home. They're open from 7 am to 4 am, should you need some pho at odd hours, and they also have rice plates, noodle plates, chicken pho and shrimp pho.
Pho Saigon Noodle & Grill
3831 W. 6th St. (at Serrano)
(213) 386-6555

LaMill "overrated"? -- That was quick!

Only a few weeks old, and already the L.A. Times has decided La Mill is overrated...snap judgments anyone? Normally I like this section, and I certainly agreed with the Nic Harcourt slam last week, but this does seem a tad premature.

Of course, that's in the print version of the Guide, for those who still deign to touch newsprint. (Or click on The Guide - Print). If you just click on the Guide, they promise an Interactive Cupcake Map -- definitely what the city has been waiting for -- but there's nowhere to click! Oh Guide, why do you torture us so?
UPDATE: OK, someone sent me the link: L.A. Cupcake Map by the L.A. Times.

Elsewhere, via LAObserved and Angelenic, La Fonda will re-open on Wilshire Blvd. on Valentine's Day. With so many places Downtown on hold because of the economy, maybe it's just as well to concentrate on preserving the ones that are already there.

Taste test: Honda-ya

testicles of giant octopi? No, they're takoyaki!

I'm so glad to see the Little Tokyo Shopping Mall getting more popular restaurants -- it was so sad when nearly everything was closed up. Luckily Honda-ya is open even on Sunday nights, even during the Superbowl. Yes, some of you watch football, some of us eat octopus balls.
We brought the meat-eating teen along to help sample some dishes. He blithely ordered a $12 Super California Roll with eel which I belatedly realized was twice as much as a normal California roll, but no matter. We also tried the garlicky spinach; skewers of beef, bacon-wrapped sausage and smoky pork belly; kalbi (Korean short ribs), the aforementioned octopus balls or takoyaki, black cod and grilled eggplant.
Honda-ya has a fun quasi-traditional decor -- you can sit at low tables in the tatami room, or watch the chefs around a large counter. The draft beer seems kind of flat, but I think that means you can drink a lot of it. Some dishes were more successful than others -- the takoyaki were very rich but tasty, the cod was perfectly done -- but others suffered in the execution. But with plenty of sakes to choose from, reasonably priced draft beers and a vast menu, it doesn't really matter. Honda-ya is for drinking and nibbling, not for scrutinizing the quality of the food too carefully. If you want better izakaya , go to Iyazoi. If you want to hang out, drink beer and munch on skewers, go to Honda-ya. Plus, free parking in the mall's garage!
Honda-ya
333 S. Alameda #314
(213) 625-1184

Historic L.A. food sites: Yee Mee Loo's, and me

Here I am checking out the jukebox at Chinatown classic Yee Mee Loo, best dive bar ever, circa 1989 or so. It closed soon after. Most of you know that venerable bartender Richard went on to work at the Good Luck Bar, which was sort of a semi-classy recreation of Yee Mee Loo. The Chinoiserie wooden bar itself resides on Glendale Blvd., in the space that used to be Cinnabar. That space is due to re-open very soon as Palate from Octavio Becerra, and that bar had better be intact, or there'll be some splainin' to do.
These photos are by Ron Resnick. You can see more of his work at Blurry Lens.

Silver Lake Supper Club returns

The San Francisco Bay Area, and sometimes L.A., has the Ghetto Gourmet...and now Silver Lake has its own private dining experience, the Silver Lake Supper Club. Dinners are $50 and held at a private Silver Lake home. The next one up is Saturday, Feb. 23.