Allston Yacht Club in the Huffington Post and the Los Feliz Ledger

The owners of Echo Park's Allston Yacht Club have started writing a blog for Huffington Post called Adventures in the Restaurant Business.

Since the new Los Feliz Ledger comes out Thursday, here's what I had to say about the Yacht Club in September's Ledger:
Allston Yacht Club may have an inscrutable name, but its straightforward menu and full bar are a welcome step closer to the restaurant the neighborhood needs. The new identity is basically a well-priced wine/tapas bar with cocktails. It’s one of very few restaurants in the neighborhood with a full bar, and with plenty of nightly food and drink specials, it offers the kind of value people are looking for right now.
Snacks, plates and side dishes are meant for sharing, and everything is between $6 and $9. The simple menu sticks to tapas-like fare that’s well-prepared, even if it doesn’t revolve around any particular culinary theme.
Grilled asparagus sprinkled with cheese, roast Brussels sprouts with or without bacon and several salads including fennel, orange and greens are welcome green choices.
Richer dishes are also well-made, including a delicious BBQ duck confit for just $7. It’s possible to assemble a substantial meal out of proteins like pork belly, cedar-planked salmon and beef skewers. Or just get some drink-friendly snacks like the crispy calamari, fries with chimichurri or frico—crispy parmesan cheese crackers. Crispy tapenade crackers are another house invention that go well with cocktails.
Allston Yacht Club might be still searching for a concept, but the food’s just fine. And it answers the perennial question, “Where can some friends get together for drinks, that also has food, and isn’t too expensive?”
Have you tried Allston Yacht Club? What did you think?

Hae Jang Chon Korean BBQ: An obsession with crispy bits

Saturday night's dining companion came equipped with the L.A. Times' recent 25 delectable dining deals article, so I relaxed and let him pick the restaurant, a refreshing change of pace for a food blogger. I haven't had Korean barbecue in quite a while, so we ended up at Hae Jang Chon, next to Kyochon Chicken on Sixth St. The all-you-can-eat meal for $16.99 includes a choice of a dozen meats. You could probably try all of them, but it's easier to keep track of what you're cooking if you select fewer than a dozen. I picked beef tongue (my new mini-obsession), marinated shortribs, bulgogi, pork belly and squid. The panchan arrived quickly -- it wasn't the most impressive selection I've seen, but we liked the tofu strips and the refreshing daikon slaw. A pile of cut-up kimchi pancake and a heap of kimchi are also placed on the grill, which you can snack on throughout the meal. The tongue cooks really fast, and my friend was surprised to find he liked it better than he thought he would. Pork belly seemed way too thick and fatty at first, but after a while it cooked way, way down and crisped up nicely. Service was really erratic -- the rice wrappers arrived only after we waved down a server, and after the last meats were put on the grill, they basically disappeared so we had to finish cooking the meats ourselves. By that time, we were too full for the kimchi fried rice that finishes the meal, but they never appeared to offer it anyway. I then became enraptured by various crunchy, caramelized nubbins of beef, pork, onion and kimchi. I just couldn't stop dipping them in the sesame oil and salt, wrapping them in rice paper and reveling in the splendor of the Maillard reaction. The quality is decent at Hae Jong Chon and the price is right, but unless you're a starving college kid, you won't really need an all you can eat experience. But no matter where you get your Korean Q, just make sure to save lots of room for those lovely blackened bits that linger on the griddle.
Hang Jong Chon
3821 W. 6th St.
(213) 389-8777

Chang's Garden: Chinese beginners and pros can enjoy

Despite the wealth of delicious dumpling, dim sum and noodle spots in the San Gabriel Valley, it's not always easy to figure out where to get a full-service dinner. Chung King is great if your group is fairly adventurous, but for those looking for a good and accessible selection of dishes, I present Chang's Garden. It's in Arcadia in the same plaza as Din Tai Fung, so not the closest to central L.A., but it's worth a few more miles to taste their version of fried croaker with seaweed (known here as seaweed flavored fried fish). This dish, a beloved staple at the old Green Village, doesn't have a particularly Chinese flavor profile -- it's basically the same as the fried fish in a better fish 'n chips joint, with a salty inner layer and a bit of sea moss woven through the batter. At $14, it's not the cheapest dish in town, but it can easily feed three or four people. There's plenty of other dishes on the Shanghai-style menu to explore -- spareribs wrapped in lotus leaf is a favorite, chicken with chestnuts, scallion pancakes and more. Eggplant with ground pork was fine and garlicky, but I also particularly liked Snow Cabbage with Peas and Bean Sheet. It feels healthy, yet there's something perfect about the contrast of greens and bean sheets that makes it hard to stop eating. You can go exotic with lamb with sour cabbage warm pot, or get the old favorite pineapple shrimp with mayonaise, which most tables seem to order. Every toddler in Arcadia is eating here with his or her extended family, and it can get crowded, but there's actually an outdoor patio they might let you eat on if you ask nicely.
Chang's Garden
627 W. Duarte Rd.
Arcadia
626-445-0707

The Dessert Architect is a great resource

I stopped by Lamill Wednesday night for a signing for Robert Wemischner's new book The Dessert Architect. Luckily, there were tastings of desserts conceived by Robert, a longtime chef and author who also teaches pastry at Los Angeles Trade Tech. Several of Robert's current and former students also came by to celebrate "Chef Bob's" book.
If you're serious about desserts, you'll want to check out this sturdy, colorful book that emphasizes mastering the components of sophisticated, modern desserts and then learning to juxtapose contrasting temperatures, textures and flavors.
Dark milk chocolate mousse demonstrated these contrasts with a crunchy peanut brittle topping and a tangy tamarind sauce and creamy, subtle mousse, paired with Lamill's Kenya Thangathi coffee.Caramel poached pear tart with glazed shortbread, cookie and ice cream.

Nougat glace with roasted peaches went for a warm/frozen temperature contrast, perfect with Lamill's frankly amazing iced Hong Kong milk tea. Memo to self: ask Lamill how to make that, then replicate at home frequently.
Caramel poached pear tart, pictured above, had a brilliant caramel sauce along with a fruit-infused shortbread ball and a creamy ice cream triangle, and was paired with another wonderful tea, Ceylon Rathkana black tea.
Chef Bob is a great resource for desserts, tea and professional pastry training, so keep an eye out for the next time he samples some of his multi-element desserts.

Top Chef: Penn & Teller - The C Word

Michael "Deconstructed" Voltaggio vamps with the likes of parmesan gel and spherical Caesar dressing

Top Chef #6 combined an Angel/Devil theme for the quickfire challenge with special guests Penn & Teller as well as judge Toby Young, the snarky British food critic.
In honor of the departed Mattin, they all don red kerchiefs. A few chefs made mean comments about Robin, saying she should have been the one to go instead of Mattin. Moments later, they must be regretting their meaness, as she describes her battle with lymphoma.
Highlights: I would have picked Michael V.'s salmon with ice cream as the worst idea, but the novelty-craving judges like it and it makes the finals.
It seems like everyone else does scallops.
The winner: Robin makes the kind of healthy dish she has been eating since she was diagnosed with cancer and became obsessed with raw food -- a "raw salad" of apples and fennel (salad is often raw, no?) and cardamom ginger crisp. Robin wins, playing the cancer card -- perhaps it's a pity vote, but at least she made something besides scallops. Eli cynically agrees, "That's a good way to win, telling them you have cancer!"
Now Penn and Teller come on and do a magic trick with a lime.
The elimination round: The chefs must deconstruct classic dishes like paella, fish 'n chips, shepherd's pie, etc.:
Highlights: At first, everyone flails around. Mike doesn't know what eggs florentine is, and apparently Googling isn't allowed. Several others look glum, since deconstructed isn't part of their culinary repertoire. The brothers V, on the other hand are practically smirking -- they should probably do this challenge with one hand tied behind their back. Michael immediately sets to baking brioche from scratch, basically just to make everyone else look bad. Eli, for some reason, is carting around his own dented pressure cooker as some kind of eccentric chefly security blanket, while Robin's chatter is making Laurene increasingly tense.
Highlights: Whoa! Michael's Caesar salad dressing is encapsulated in a sphere, vaulting him instantly into the top 4. Of course, he kind of snagged that from Jose Andres' liquid olive, but it's still an impressive-looking deconstructed Caesar salad.
Random: Toby Young looks a little scared of Penn. Teller, who never speaks, looks pained while tasting the fish 'n chips.
The loser: Ron seems increasingly over his head with his soggy yet dry paella which isn't really deconstructed -- "A sad bowl of food," says one of the judges. He's dismissed, but seems grateful to have made it from Haiti all the way to "Top Chef."
Young also says Robin's flan is "repulsive," and suggests Penn and Teller demonstrate how to magically make food disappear. Fortunately she has immunity. American critics don't make enough use of the word "repulsive," I feel.
The winner: Kevin's deconstructed chicken mole with chicken croquettes, Mexican coffee fig jam and pumpkin romesco looks quite good. The judges agree, although it's so spicy Teller is pantomiming smoke coming out of his ears. The brothers both turned in solid performances tonight, but it was a chance for some of the quieter chefs to shine with slightly simpler dishes.
Tonight's morale: Kevin says: "Cook what you believe in." Otherwise, you might try bringing up your close brush with death just before judging.
Best line ever: To deconstruct sweet and sour pork, Eli made pork tempura balls, which tasted good but looked...odd. Padm said, "I've actually had bull's testicles." Guest judge Penn Jillette said, "I'll bet!"

Congrats to Barbrix winner Jeff! Here's the answers.

Thanks to everyone who entered the Barbrix cooking class giveaway. There were three correct entries, and @jeffhallstead was chosen by my tiebreaking cat. Here's the correct answers:

Barbrix cooking class quiz:
1) What type of institution occupied Barbrix after it was a private house and before its current incarnation as a restaurant? Church of Scientology kids school
2) One of Dickman's tasty appetizers is blistered shisito peppers with Murray River pink salt. Where is the Murray River? Australia
3) Barbrix menu analogy: tzatziki is to Greece as charmoula is to: Morocco
4) What character did which Barbrix partner play on "Mad Men"? Adria Tennor/Joyce Darling
5) True or false: One of Chef Dickman's earlier gigs was afloat, while another involved golf. True
6) Which of these is not like the other: aleppo, panzanella, tarantella, sobrasada? Tarantella -- Aleppo is a pepper, panzanella is a salad, sobrasada is a sausage, but a tarantella is a dance and is not on the Barbrix menu.

Check back for more giveaways soon!

Win a Barbrix cooking class!

Here's a great opportunity to win a place at the first-ever Barbrix cooking class with chef Don Dickman, featuring Autumn Pasta.
On Oct. 17, he'll do Italian Seafood, and Nov. 14 will be Thanksgiving-themed with Turkey 101.
The first Barbrix class is Saturday, Sept. 26 from 9-12, and here's what you'll learn to cook:
antipasti
pappardelle with bolognese ragu
bucatini cacio e pepe
strawberries with mascarpone & mascarpone

Because this is such a cool prize, it's going to be a little tougher. Answer all of these questions correctly and you'll get a free class. You must email me directly to win, don't put the answers in the comments. In case of a tie, my cat will pick the winner.



Barbrix cooking class quiz:
1) What type of institution occupied Barbrix after it was a private house and before its current incarnation as a restaurant?
2) One of Dickman's tasty appetizers is blistered shisito peppers with Murray River pink salt. Where is the Murray River?
3) Barbrix menu analogy: tzatziki is to Greece as charmoula is to _________
4) What character did which Barbrix partner play on "Mad Men"?
5) True or false: One of Chef Dickman's earlier gigs was afloat, while another involved golf.
6) Which of these is not like the other: aleppo, panzanella, tarantella, sobrasada?

Have fun cooking with Don!

Cafe Flourish brings on the greens

Cafe Flourish opened down the street from my office several months ago, and despite glowing reviews from vegan bloggers like Quarrygirl, it took me a while to get there. Why? Well, for one thing, it's vegan, and I'm kind of compulsive about making sure I get enough protein at lunch to get me through the day. Plus, ten blocks might as well be ten miles when you're stuck in a busy office all day.
Feeling like I could use some more vegetable matter in my diet, I finally stopped by for dinner after work the other night, and now I know I'll be hauling some of my vegetarian colleagues back there soon.Cafe Flourish is located in one of the Miracle Mile's historic office buildings, with a clean, modern design. The dishes are saddled with cutesy names like Amen for Almond Hummus and Hooray for Burritos, but don't let that bother you, the food is fresh and vibrant and makes you feel like you've actually eaten enough vegetables for a change (a constant challenge for those who live to sample taco trucks and sushi buffets). For some reason I always order BLTs in vegan cafes. I think it's because I love how they slather everything in pseudo-mayonaise. Flourish's BLT & A (yes, it stands for Be Love Thanks and Abundance) is one of the best I've had. For $9.25, it's a reasonable portion rather than an overstuffed sandwich, with excellent tomatoes, avocado and spicy mayo alongside the tempeh bacon. Each sandwich comes with a side of green salad, tabbouleh or 3 bean salad. Don't be fooled by wan pre-made 3-bean salads you've had before: this one combines kidney beans with edamame and black-eyed peas, with a sweet viniagrette and chopped peppers and celery. It's delicious, plus you feel incredibly virtuous while eating it. There's a few tables inside and a few outside on Wilshire, and they seem to do a very steady takeout business as well.
I'll definitely be back soon, even if I'm forced to ask for a "Flourish Plate, Y'all" or a Mediterranean Gratitude pizza.
Cafe Flourish
5406 Wilshire Blvd.
323-939-3932

Our wishes come true: Buttermilk Truck will serve pancakes

Hard to believe it was only five weeks ago I tweeted:
Why doesn't someone start a pancake truck? Just wondering.5:28 PM Aug 6th from web.

And sure enough, here comes The Buttermilk Truck, bringing chicken and waffles, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, scones, granola and more. We'll let you know when they roll out for business.

Here's an interview owner Gigi Pascual did with the California Taco Trucks blog. I'm guessing eating pancakes while standing up could be a little tricky, though.

Top Chef: Camping -- Where's the BBQ?

Tonight's Top Chef, episode 5 traded Vegas glitz for desert sand and cactus. I liked using the southwestern themes instead of cheesy Vegas references. Guest judge Tim Love was from Ft. Worth, Texas, and I felt like the contestants could have at least tried to give him some decent barbecue.
High stakes quickfire challenge has a $15,000 purse: Fans were able to vote by phone for the Quickfire challenge ingredient, and chose cactus over rattlesnake, so at least we were able to avoid the "taste like chicken" jokes.
Cactus, which is mostly used in Mexican dishes, can be slimey if it's not prepared right, and some of the chefs are intimidated, like the cocky Mattin says he wasn't even sure cactus was edible. Highlights: Ash misses Hector, so he decides to make a sope, but it turns into a sort of cactus grilled cheese sandwich/nopales quesadilla kind of sloppy thing. Not a success.
Kevin's smoked pork tenderloin with cactus marmalade looks pretty nice, but my favorite idea of this challenge was Ashley's cactus jelly donuts with orange cream. Where can I get one of those?
Cactus jelly donuts with orange cream: Now that is original!

Stupidest idea: Ron says Haitians never cook with cactus, so he makes a sauce from the cactus because he didn't know how to work with it. The judges couldn't really taste the cactus in the sauce.
The winner: Mike for his sliced nopales and raw ahi in a pepian sauce. It looks deceptively simple, and I feel like all the contestants are relying way too much on ceviches and other crudo preparations, I suppose because they're both trendy and don't need any cooking time.
Elimination round: The chefs have to make lunch outdoors using firepits and a chuck wagon pantry for cowboys at Sandy Valley Ranch, but first they must bond by sharing tipis overnight on the ranch.
Requisite lesbian tension: None really, but I think Ashley and Robin got to share the tent, and Robin proclaims, "I love getting dirty!" Random: We learn a little more about the chefs' personal lives: Ashley talks about growing up with a single mom in the woods on food stamps. Eli, who says the temperature in the desert is "around the temperature of Venus," doesn't believe in camping -- it's his idea of a living hell. Also, he has a girlfriend. Kevin had a regulation horseshoe pit growing up, so that's eccentric.
Brotherly tension is encouraged again, as Michael and Bryan have to share a tent.
Elimination dishes: Mattin, intoxicated by his cactus with tequila success in the first round, decides to do ceviche three ways with a margarita, cannily remembering that the judge likes tequila.
Laurine, who has lived on a ranch, thinks the guys making ceviche are cheating, and I agree. Bring on the Q!
I'd eat that: Kevin's duck breast with mole and tequila-marinated watermelon seems a little fancy for a ranch, but looks like a good flavor combo.
Eli makes a tuna sandwich -- can he be any more boring?
The losers: Frankly none of these dishes look like delicious cowboy food cooked over an open fire -- they look more like fine dining fare.
The loser: At the bottom were Ron, whose ceviche with coconut wasn't bad, but the teetotaller Ron killed with a coconut mojito. Also Robin, whose grilled prawns "inspired by steak," whatever that means, tasted of chlorine, and throwing bacon on it was of no help.
But Mattin is the ultimate loser for his lame idea and bad execution of feeding a trio of ceviches to cowboys.Tom Colicchio says Mattin's cod ceviche is "gross" and the guest judge is feeling ill.
Guys, whatever you do, try not to feed the judges bad fish. That really gets them testy.
The winning dish: pork loin with polenta, dandelion greens and glazed rutabaga
The winner: The fetching Ashley is finally recognized for her halibut with avocado mousse and bacon. The judges also like Michael's very Japanese black cod with dashi. But best of all, they like Bryan's pork with polenta. Personally, I would have liked to see more use of the firepits and less friggin' raw fish in the middle of the desert. Bryan now feels like he's gaining on Michael, and it looks like the judges are determined to play up the brother angle to the bitter end.
Next week: Penn and Teller come for dinner. No bullshit!

Giveaway! Win a quickie cooking class Sunday

Private chef and cooking instructor Christy Morgan from Viva La Greens, who recently cooked for Alicia Silverstone, is teaching a series of vegan-oriented cooking classes Downtown and at Surfas. EatingLA is giving away two passes to Sunday's class The Versatile Bean at Surfas.
In just one hour, you'll learn the secrets of the bean including recipes for quick meals with beans and how to wrestle a pressure cooker into submission. And it's ok if you're not vegan -- you can take your beans home and slip a ham hock in them, and the instructor will be none the wiser.

See more classes coming up at VivaLaGreens, including Saturday's Downtown classes: Great Greens and Turning Japanese.
For two free passes to Sunday's bean class, 4-5 p.m. at Surfas in Culver City, email me, Tweet me or reply in the comments with the name of your favorite bean and your email.

UPDATE: The winning bean was Persian lima beans! Thanks for entering, check back soon for more goodies.

Try on DineLA restaurants at Food GPS's progressive dinners

Want to try some of the restaurants participating in DineLA, all in one night? FoodGPS is sponsoring two progressive dinners next week previewing some of the restaurants offering DineLA menus.
Wednesday, Sept. 23 is Santa Monica, with stops at Anisette, Whist at the Viceroy and the Restaurant at Hotel Shangri-La.
Thursday, Sept. 24 is a Latin-themed walk Downtown, with stops at Rivera, Provecho, Ciudad and Rosa Mexicano.

DineLA's restaurant weeks take place Oct. 4-9 and Oct. 11-16 with dozens of participating restaurants offering discounted menus. In the greater Silver Lake area, there's Domenico Ristorante, Bashan, Carousel, the Tam O'Shanter and Vermont. Not to mention mid-city choices like Street, Grace, BLD, Cube and Campanile.

News this week: around the blogs

Tonight at Verdugo Bar: the Let's Be Frank truck and Stone Beer tastings, as well as the Coolhause truck. Sausage/beer pairing suggestions included. Starts at 6.

The Octopus Grigori blog is trying to eat at at every restaurant in Eagle Rock, even the obscure one's like Elvira's.

EastsiderLA considers Has Silver Lake Made the A-List? Indeed, it seems everyone has seen Chris Pine and/or Zachary Quinto at Reservoir or Lamill. And here I was happy just to see Miranda July at Domenico. (Amazing that according to the comments, Scarlett Johanssen actually ate at Town & Country Bakery.)

I want her at my next party!

This living doll with a skirt of sushi was the centerpiece of Katsuya Downtown's grand opening at L.A. Live last week. Sorry guys, she won't be there every night, but I'm sure Sam Nazarian could hook you up if you give him a call. It's amazing how quickly Katsuya has expanded, but it's nice to see L.A.born restaurants like Rock 'n Fish and the Farm at L.A. Live along with national chains and out-of-towners like Rosa Mexicano and the Yardhouse.

Jonathan Gold tells the Culinary Historians: "Yes, there will be another Counter Intelligence...someday"

When eating with Jonathan Gold, crispy pig skin is inevitable.

For anyone still toting around a tattered copy of Jonathan Gold's "Counter Intelligence," do not lose hope. Gold told the Culinary Historians of Southern California that he does plan to update the book and this time will definitely include an index by neighborhood -- although he was vague about when we might actually expect it.
Gold gave the audience a tour of regional cuisines of the San Gabriel Valley via a rambling list of 25 or so of his favorite Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants from 1975 to the present. The laidback presentation was more fond reminiscence than some of the Culinary Historians' more scholarly subjects, starting with Gold's first dim sum east of Downtown at the restaurant that is now NBC. Just as I began trying to remember my own first San Gabriel Valley experience, he came up with what it was: Deli World, a cafe overlooking a supermarket that was one of the first places to serve soup dumplings. Harbor Village (also next on my list), Quanjude Duck, Tung Lai Shun...it was a test of memory to recall which ones I had also tried. Touching on Islamic, Hunan, Sichuan, Cantonese, Hong Kong cafes, Chiu Chow and Vietnamese places, he pointed to the cross-cultural influences at Boiling Crab as one of his favorite examples of melting pot L.A.Pork and shrimp balls topped with shitake caps were a new item to me.

After the talk, I biked over to meet some of the historians and Jonathan at Ocean Seafood. The dim sum was so-so, but getting to talk to Jonathan about Noodle Island, Earthen, Vietnam and some of his other favorite spots is always a good time.
Here are some of the restaurants he mentioned. Feel free to add your memories or ones I missed from his talk in the comments.

• Golden "something," where NBC is now
• Deli World, above the Chinese market -- eel with chives, soup dumplings - closed
  
• the noodle place that changed its name to Heavy Noodling because of the headline on Gold's review - closed
  
• Lake Spring, where Gold took Marcella Hazan for pork pump and she insisted on drinking Jack Daniels. Still open, but not what it once was.
• Harbor Village, the best dimsum of its time, as well as Japanese sun-dried abalone. Now Empress Harbor, right?
  
• Charming Garden -- one of the first places with real Hunan cuisine like strange-flavored noodles, stir-fried bacon, not "Hunan" as in the San Franciso restaurant -- many changes of ownership since
  
• Golden Deli -- still there and going strong
• Tung Lai Shun -- one of the first Chinese Islamic specialists - closed
  
• Noodle World -- appealing to young people with noodles of many countries
• Nice Time Deli
• The Other Taste
• Quanjude -- the famous duck restaurant was owned by the People's Republic - closed.
  
• Chicken Garden, Rowland Heights. Gold says he used to "think San Gabriel was as far as the moon," but now he finds himself going even farther to Rowland Heights
• Chung King
• Din Tai Fung
• Mr. Baguette
• Pho Minh
• Boiling Crab
• Northern Chinese restaurant, Rosemead
  

Top Chef: Vivre Las Vegas -- Bacon is a fair-weather friend.

As someone on Twitter said, "Bacon jam. That is all."

Obviously, since it has already aired, there could be SPOILERS in this post.

Tonight's Gallic-themed episode of "Top Chef" was intimidating for some of the chefs who weren't familiar with French cooking. I thought you had to learn all those sauces and such in culinary school, but maybe some of them learned from experience. Daniel Boulud was guest judge.
High stakes quickfire challenge: None of the chefs seem to know much about tonight's ingredient escargot, except Mattin. Mattin has just a touch too much French attitude, so it seems clear he's being set up to be the sacrificial agneau. In this high stakes contest, the loser will go home.
The winner: Kevin prepares his escargot in a fricassee with mushrooms, Brussels sprouts and candied bacon jam -- hot damn! Natch, he's the winner.
Requisite lesbian tension: The losing lesbians are pitted against each other for second chance. Ashley looks so hot and cerebral in her horn-rim glasses and tattoos.
Random: They're loving cooking with ramps today.
The loser: Whoa, Jesse is out! Most people don't really like looking at pierced lips on food personnel, so that's one more down for the body mod crew.
Next round: Each pair of chefs gets a classic French sauces to pair with a protein.
Mattin feels like his grasp of French cooking almost automaticallly makes him a winner, but methinks pride cometh before a fall. They'll be cooking for esteemed chefs Hubert Keller, Laurent Tourondel, Boulud and Joel Robuchon, who practically makes them all fall down and salivate with fear and awe. Kevin gets to have dinner with them, since he has immunity from the last round.
Robuchon doesn't speak English, but as a certifed Frog, he finds Robin and Ron's frog legs with lemon confit not nearly froggy enough.
The judges love Mike & Bryan's deconstructed, sophisticated trout with bearnaise and Jennifer and Michael Voltaggio's rabbit. "Very mature work!" says a judge.
Stupidest idea: But cocky Mattin and fetching Ashley make a misstep with their fussy dish of poussin with chicken ravioli and too much bacon in the bechamel sauce. C'est banal!
Another misfire is Hector and Ash's chateaubriand with sauce au poivre, which is overcooked, badly sliced, with not enough sauce.
Hector doesn't know how to be delicate, and we learned that under-rested beef is almost as bad as under-rested writer, like me at the moment. These brothers can do no wrong. He gets invited for a weeklong stage at Joel Robuchon in Vegas. Somehow they can figure out that Mike didn't have as much to do with the dish. The Loser: And it's Hector! He wanted to represent his people longer, but he was just a little rough around the edges. Lo siento, Hector.
Now, I must go rest myself, like the chateaubriand needed to do. A la prochaine mercredi!

Making kimchi is easier than you would think

Granny Choe lays out kimchi ingredients: Nappa cabbage, onions, mustard greens, daikon, ginger, garlic, chile powder, sugar, salt.

Machine Project hosts some of the best food events, usually at really affordable prices. With Boingboing's Mark Frauenfelder and Homegrown Evolution's Kelly Coyne and Eric Knutzen organizing with an assist from SlowFoodLA, the Krautfest 2009 was destined for cabbagey awesomeness.
Here's Mark's report on BoingBoing. I couldn't make the kraut part, so I showed up to learn how to make my own kimchi.
Kimchi expert Granny Choe and her daughter showed us how it's done.

• The night before, you have to submerge the leaves from a Nappa cabbage in salted water. The next morning, you drain them.
• 

• Slice them up into about 1" slices into a large bowl. Now mix in some chopped scallions or onions, a cup of chopped mustard greens and a handful of shredded daikon if you like.
  

• Pound or pulverize an entire head of peeled garlic cloves and mix it with about an inch section of grated ginger, two teaspoons non-iodized salt, a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of pulverized cooked white rice and a cup of water. Pour that mixture over the cabbage.

• Now pour in a cup of powdered Korean red chile pepper. You need to get this at the Korean market -- cayenne pepper or Mexican chile powder is not the right stuff.

• Mix it all up, and it already looks like bright red kimchi ( above left). You can taste it, it's already pretty good before it even ferments. But you're not done yet. Like with yogurt or bread, you'll need some starter. Mix in a few tablespoons of kimchi from the store, or ideally from your last batch, to get the fermentation going.

• Now put it into a closed container (a big jar like the one at right is good) and leave it in a kitchen cupboard for a day (maybe two if it's chilly out). Put it in the fridge after two days, and voila, you've got kimchi! It's pretty forgiving stuff -- you can try out all kinds of different ingredients, and it will last for quite a while in the fridge, getting more and more fermented. Granny Choe says it's the interplay of the chile, garlic and onions that makes the magical kimchi juice. I left out the pulverized rice and daikon, but mine tastes just fine.
  

Have you ever made kimchi? Did you do anything differently from this class?

This Saturday and Sunday is another great SlowfoodLA food workshop at Machine Project -- you can learn how to make bread and pizza dough Saturday, and then build a pizza oven and bake it on Sunday.

Kyochon Chicken now open in Glendale

The Glendale Galleria has one of the better food courts in any ordinary, Hot Topic kind of mall. There's not just one but two stalls from perfectly respectable Massis Kebab, and a Brazilian place that has some of the best garlic collard greens around. Now there's another reason to not to fear the mall quite as much: Kyochon Chicken has opened a location in the mall, but it's substantially different from the 6th St. minimall location. The menu is both broader and narrower: there's several types of salads, chicken wraps and bowls and macaroni & cheese (huh?). But the chicken itself -- the centerpiece of this temple of Korean fried chicken worship -- is only available in wings, instead of the drumsticks, which are a superior crunch delivery system. The other fatal flaw, however necessary to operating in a mall food court, is that, judging from the speed with which my order was filled and the resulting lukewarm chicken, it must be cooked ahead of time in large batches. Now, as everyone who has been to Kyochon knows, it might take its own sweet time coming out but when it does you will be amply rewarded. The lukewarm wings still had a nice sweet and spicy flavor, and the broccoli salad with raisins and bacon wasn't half bad.
Verdict: If you desperately want to taste this stuff and you happen to be near the Galleria, it's not a bad lunch option. But if you want a real Korean fried chicken experience, go to the Sixth St. location, or to Bonchon, which is preferred by our fellow bloggers at Franklin Avenue.

Mariscos Chente: Get your snook on in West L.A.

Sinaloa-style seafood joint Mariscos Chente in Mar Vista has already become a local foodie legend thanks to the tireless Bill Esparza, champion of authentic Mexican food. With 187 replies to Bill's original Chowhound post, nearly all glowing, this is the kind of place that everyone wishes they had discovered.
But after hearing about it for months, I may have been expecting something a little different than this very bare-bones storefront which sat empty and stuffy at lunch on Labor Day weekend. The folks at Mariscos Chente actually travel to Mazatlan every week to bring back impeccably fresh fish, so they're able to offer varieties that aren't usually available in L.A. The menu is simple: a dozen shrimp preparations, raw seafood coctels, ceviche, and a handful of cooked fish dishes. They're served simply with a little rice on the side and corn tortillas. Thick, crunchy tortilla chips come with lime-heavy salsa verde which works well on the fish dishes, too.FoodGPS, Matt and I ordered camarones a la diabla (shrimp in spicy chile sauce, $12) and pescado zarandeado, a whole snook butterflied and grilled with a soy-mayo marinade (above). We also asked for hard-to-find marlin tacos, which weren't on the menu, but Josh and I preferred the ones we had in Baja. The shrimp was excellent, with a just-spicy-enough sauce and the meaty texture you want in a Mexican shrimp dish. The snook ($20 a kilo, which serves two or three) arrived impressively splayed on a platter, glistening with marinade and perfectly cooked. It's a firm fish that stands up well to the grill. Folded into a corn tortilla with the pickled onions that are served alongside, and doused with the green salsa, it was a fine-tasting, rustic package that laughed at the complexity of a fried fish taco.
I realize now that we missed out on the raw seafood cocktails, so a return visit is now in order -- hopefully with mas cerveza on a cooler evening.
Mariscos Chente is super-authentic and very fresh, but as a specialty operation, it's a different style of Mexican restaurant from what most of us are used to. One Chowhound poster, for example, complained that it's not cheap. It's not a taco truck, but it's an excellent value nonetheless -- it's fresh seafood, folks -- is Santa Monica Seafood cheap?
Mariscos Chente does take credit cards now and serves beer, but there are a few other things to remember:

• It's a small, family-run operation with a Latin American approach to service -- if you need the bill or anything else, flag the server down, don't expect her to anticipate your every need. The interior is bare-bones, and there's no patio, so don't expect to replicate a hanging-out-at-picnic tables-in-Mexico type of experience.
• As I said before, there are few extras. Drinks are mostly beer and sodas -- no iced tea or aguas frescas. There's just the one green salsa -- Bill says Mexican seafood dishes are usually accompanied with bottled hot sauce, not fresh salsas. No beans, fries, or other sides either.
• It might be best to call ahead and make sure they're open, as hours can vary. But if you want to see what real fresh Mexican seafood is all about, and a trip to Ensenada isn't in the offing, you'll want to try Mariscos Chente.

Mariscos Chente
4532 S. Centinela
Mar Vista
310-390-9241

Silverlake-area restaurant news round-up

Looks like the recession may be starting to really make a dent in the Silver Lake-area restaurant scene:

Andiamo on Sunset has closed...guess the Vespa-delivery-of-pizzas thing wasn't quite enough to keep it going. There is seriously a lot of pizza around Silver Lake, so it must be pretty hard to stand out in the crowd.

Zanzabelle and Freight/Freight at Night is also no more...the charming bungalow is for lease and would make an amazing little breakfast cafe, but the kitchen needs to be built out.

Now it looks like Kokomo taking over Eat Well is on hold indefinitely...too bad.

Now for better news:
H.C. of LA-OC Foodventures approves of Reservoir's new brunch menu.

If you like Palate, you'll want to check out ex-executive chef Gary Menes' new restaurant Marche, in the former Max space in Sherman Oaks. Marche is set to open Tuesday.

J. Gold is everywhere right now...

...In James Rainey's L.A. Times column L.A.'s man with the golden palate, which also mentions Jitlada's beloved Jazz. Ah, so Rainey is who is was eating with when he tweeted about 101 Noodle the other day!

...at the Culinary Historians of Southern California talk next Saturday at the Downtown L.A. public library. Gold will talk about "The Rise of Regional Cuisines in the San Gabriel Valley," plus, it's free!
Saturday Sept. 12 at 10:30 a.m., reception following.

...at a benefit Oct. 10 for the Zocalo Public Square lecture series, he will host Jonathan Gold's Union Station cocktail party. O.K., at $300, this one's a little pricey for most of us, but the food is from Cut, Providence, Palate, Rivera, Mozza, Comme Ca and Church & State, so it doesn't get much better than that.

...plus, you can help support Taking the Reins, which gives high-risk girls the chance to work with horses, by buying a $20 raffle ticket for a chance to go out for a meal with Gold.

Top Chef #3: Pasta salad is so, so over

Pork belly, right, was a winner; "Greek" salad, left, a loser

The Quickfire challenge: Create an "out of the world dish" using a variety of different potatoes.
Stupidest idea: Ash wanted to make sweet potato ice cream. It didn't come out, so he renamed it a custard, but amazingly the judges thought it was pretty good.
Dishes I really want to eat: Robin's potatoes, pancetta, fried egg and frisee -- I'd like to try that dish and Eli's yam puree with bourbon maple syrup, even though Peel said it was too sweet.
Quickfire winner: Jennifer's mussels had duck fat and butter and creme fraiche -- think there's enough fat in those mussels? So of course they won, probably based on fat content alone. Commenters feel more attention should be paid to Jennifer.
Random: Michael Isabella has a little too much machismo posturing for his own good.
Elimination round: The chefs have to cook for hundreds of Air Force Thunderbirds in an airplane hangar. They decide to team up and work together based on common cities or similar levels of chubbiness. But there's nothing to work with but canned food -- even Spam -- and huge industrial cookware.
I wouldn't touch: Mike's Greek salad and the pasta salad both looked insipid, like they would taste of refrigerator as soon as they were made.
Crowd-pleaser: The airmen said their favorite dish was elfish Eli and elfish Kevin's Georgia-style braised pork -- Kevin's family does competition barbecue, so he's got the chops.
The winner: Michael Voltaggio, whose sister was in the Air Force, showed that it's hard to go wrong with "super mega-delicious" soy and mustard braised pork belly made from slab bacon. That's why it's one of the most popular dishes in most restaurants at the moment, because it's rich, decadent and delicious. Michael's brother Bryan won last week, so now the brothers are neck-and-neck.

The loser: Preeti and Laurine pretty much sealed their fate the moment they decided to make a pasta salad using bowtie pasta and sundried tomatoes. That happens to be the exact recipe I contributed to the 1994 L.A. Family School nursery school cookbook, so can you say TIRED? Neither would cop to actually coming up with the idea, but because Preeti seemed less remorseful, she had to go. Preeti, who claimed she got eliminated because "the competition is much stiffer this season," is executive chef for Google, which sounds pretty cool, but maybe overworked computer geeks are more forgiving than guest judge Mark Peel of Campanile.
In conclusion: I feel like it's all about the guys this season, but maybe next week my girlcrush Ashley will get some facetime.

NomNom Truck: One of our favorite meals-on-wheels so far

As soon as I heard about the Nom Nom Truck, I was excited, because delectable Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches are really only available east of Downtown or in the faraway Westminster area. I know, there's a few places around Silver Lake that have them -- Viet Noodle Bar, Gingergrass -- but they're pricey and it seems a bit precious to order them in a real restaurant. If an outlet of Lee's or another chain were to open a shop in Santa Monica, Westwood or Hollywood, people would go completely nuts, even if they charged double what they charge elsewhere.
Anyway, I was swamped at work when the Nom Nom truck arrived on Wilshire Blvd., but two helpful co-workers were game to check it out and pick one up for me. Justin, Janine and I all got the bbq pork banh mi ($5), so I can't report on the other flavors (lemongrass chicken, deli special, grilled pork, tofu). "The bread was much better than I expected," reported Janine, although she didn't like her lemongrass chicken taco as much.
Indeed the bread was soft and crunchy, the pork was good-enough quality and there were the requisite veggies and cilantro inside. Some traditional ingredient was missing -- hoisin or Maggi sauce? and there was more mayo than usual, but it this sandwich was head and shoulders above what is normally available on Wilshire Blvd.
This truck should be a lesson to other trucks: Keep the menu simple, make it possible to have lunch for $5, and make sure it actually tastes good.
Tip: Make sure to ask for sliced jalapenos if you like it spicy.

Nom Nom Truck rating: 3 1/2 tires out of 4

Follow the Nom Nom Truck on Twitter.

What a great way to remember a mom!

My friend Mimi Pond, who did the funny Super King cartoon I posted a while ago, made this wonderful cake for a memorial service for her late mom Janet, who volunteered at a library. She had a little help from Jewish lesbian folksinger and Tupperware maven Phranc, who apparently knows her way around cakes, too. The cake features some of her mom's (and every mom's) favorite sayings: "You are deliberately trying to drive me insane" and "This house better be picked up by the time I get back."
I can hope hope my kids would be so creative! Mimi used a yellow cake recipe from "How to Cook Everything" and buttercream frosting from Smitten Kitchen.