Public fruit jam: It's not too late

Fallen Fruit's public fruit jam has moved to a much larger space than this year, so it will be much easier to get your jam on at LACMA. Bring fruit to LACMA tomorrow at noon and go home with custom-crafted jam.

Food Rendezvous artisan food market kicks off Aug. 28 in Venice

Local food activists and entrepreneurs Laurie Dill and Dominique Leveuf are launching the Food Rendezvous, a celebration of local food artisans on Saturday, Aug. 28 at SPARC in Venice. The monthly event will include cooking demos, gardening and composting workshops, a cookbook swap, food-themed films and a chance to taste and buy products made in L.A. Each month, authors will be there signing books and cooking. August authors are Martha Rose Shulman and LA Farm Girl Judi Gerber; September's guest will be Jeanne Kelly. Tickets for the event, at $10, are available here.


Here's some of the foods that have signed on so far, with more to come:

Aunt Fruuf Aahsome fudge
All Spice Café
Cacao Mexicatessan
Cognoscenti Coffee
Dr Kefir

Katie Rose Jams
Let’s Be Frank
Mark Stambler Back Yard Bread
Mi Hijos Salsa
Morning Glory Confections
Nenette de Campagne
Niceole Cookies
Oh My! Bakery
SisMeliss Family

It turns out the masterminds behind L.A. Street Food Fest are launching another artisan food event in Downtown L.A. in October. Artisanal L.A. is lining up vendors and events, so no matter which side of town you're on, local food will be featured. 

Brent's Deli is the real deal: The classic series

Complete with revolving dessert case and comfy booths, Brent's has the right deli look.

I grew up eating at Nate 'n Al's, so that's pretty much my reference point for delis. But the Chowhounds and everyone else say Brent's Deli has an edge on Nate 'n Al's, so when I had to be near Northridge for a family occasion, it seemed like high time to see what all the fuss was about. My sister was visiting from Berkeley, where she lives a short walk from Chez Panisse and the Cheese Board, but miles from any decent deli. Walking into Brent's, the aroma of a classic deli is instantly evident: lox mingling with salami mingling with rye bread and pickles.

Brent's brisket sandwich - just add a touch of brown mustard.

The menu is vast, with an odd "specialty items" section that encompasses both tacos and potato pancakes, stir-fry and blintzes. Langer's pastrami is the best, but I ordered a brisket sandwich for proper comparison with Nate 'n Al's.

Can't decide? Try the egg salad/chopped liver combo.

My sister went with an egg salad/chopped liver combo, which seemed an inspired combination. Brent's rye bread seems darker than Langer's or Nate 'n Al's, and it has a nice crunchy crust. Like Nate 'n Al's, the brisket is a touch dry before brown mustard is added. Truthfully, I think I prefer a Nate 'n Al's brisket or a Langer's pastrami, but Brent's is certainly the real deal, with a fine bowl of pickles on the side, decent prices and all the smoked fish and sliced meats a person could possibly want. If I lived remotely near Northridge, I'd certainly be back to try the blintzes, the pastrami, the chopped liver and in honor of my late father, salami and eggs. What's your favorite deli?
Brent's Deli
19565 Parthenia Street
Northridge
(818) 886-5679

Street food comes to Angeli: Ricky's Fish Tacos on Monday

Ricky and his fish tacos

StreetGourmetLA's Bill Esparza is a street food experto and he knows his tacos like nobody's business. In fact, he conducted a fish taco task force last year where Ricky's Fish Tacos were named the top fish tacos in the area. In case you haven't found Ricky on the street in Silver Lake or in his new Virgil Ave. location, he'll be visiting Angeli Caffe Monday night and offering Ensenada fish and shrimp tacos for $3.00. It's a good chance to have beer with the tacos, as well as salads and Angeli desserts.
 

When: Monday, July 26, 6-10 pm
Where: Angeli Caffe, 7274 Melrose
What: Amazing Ensenada-style fish and shrimp tacos from Ricky

Taste Beverly Blvd. with FoodGPS

Here's a chance to try a number of places around Beverly Blvd. this Sunday afternoon, led by Josh Lurie, one of L.A.'s most knowledgeable eaters. Seriously, this guy eats in more restaurants in a week than most people do in a few months, so he knows his stuff. He'll be conducting a walking tour including stops at Milk, BLD, Eva and Golden State, with each dish introduced by the chef. So you know beer and ice cream will be involved, but he promises plenty of other tastes too. The tour is $45 and starts at 3 p.m. July 25, and more info is available on FoodGPS.

What you need to know about Santa Fe and New Mexico's distinct food culture

 
The Shed restaurant, near the Plaza in Santa Fe, is a local institution in a 300 year-old adobe.

It's always exciting to travel somewhere that's still within the U.S. and has a really distinct food culture. I was surprised to discover how many local specialties were on the menus in Rhode Island and Hawaii; and everyone knows how amazing the food is in Louisiana. Portland, on the other hand, has great food, but few really distinct dishes. New Mexico is another place with dishes that you aren't likely to find in L.A., combining Native American and Mexican traditions with local products like green and red Hatch chiles, blue corn and lamb. Food bloggers FoodGPS, Estar*LA, GourmetPigs, Mattatouille and EatingLA were invited to Santa Fe over the weekend to attend the revived Taste of Santa Fe event and gala dinner to benefit the New Mexico History Museum, where Rivera's John Sedlar was the guest of honor.

Sedlar (above, making tortillas at the Taste of Santa Fe gala), was possibly the first chef to bring the now-familiar Southwest flavors out of his native Santa Fe when he was cooking at St. Estephe in Manhattan Beach. He wrote the book Modern Southwest Flavors in 1986, but though we all started eating blue corn tortilla chips and chile-spiced chocolate truffles, it's hard to really understand the underpinnings of the region's cooking unless you travel to the area.

1) As John pointed out in an email before the trip, "Eat sopapillas whenever you can." So we ate these pillowy raised puffs -- kind of a cross between a puffy pita bread and a super fresh flour tortilla -- at breakfast with honey and butter at restaurants like the Pantry and at dinner stuffed with chile adovada and lamb.

2) At nearly every meal, you'll be asked to choose between fresh green chiles, green chile sauce, or red chile sauce. If you're feeling indecisive, just say "Christmas" for a taste of both, like at Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque, above. But some restaurants are better at one or the other, and some dishes work better with the somewhat more subtle and tangy green chiles than the smoky, assertively spicy red ones.

3) Seek out the area's hard-to-find dishes. Armed with a tip for lamb chicharrones at Angelina's in Espanola, north of Santa Fe from a Jewish mariachi trumpet player I met in the plaza, and a blessing from John and his mom, we drove through the thunderstorms to find a large coffeeshop-style diner full of local families eating chicos, or dried corn stew with pork and green chile; lamb ribs roasted to a bacony crispness, nuggets of chewy, flavorful lamb chicharrones, sopapillas stuffed with chile adovada, and plain sopapillas, of course.

4) Do not, repeat, do not, consider skipping breakfast. It seems to be the most beloved meal in Santa Fe, where it's a tough choice between pricey but creative modern Southwest dishes at Cafe Pasqual's, the sunny patio and blue corn pinon french toast at Cafe Guadelupe, and old favorites like the Plaza Cafe, Tia Sophia and Tecolote Cafe. I would advise starting with The Pantry, a 60 year old diner on the outskirts of town with good prices and enormous portions of buckwheat pancakes, biscuits and gravy, red and green chile on a variety of egg dishes, corned beef hash (above), and solid sopapillas.

5) Be sure to try a green chile cheeseburger, preferably at Bobcat Bite, a low-ceilinged, atmospheric roadhouse on old Route 66. They're well worth the drive and $8 price, and you might even still spot a bobcat out back.

6) Check out local products at a farmers market. Santa Fe has a great, partially indoor market with tons of local color. Even if you can't take home some frozen yak sausage, there's great chile powders and adovada mixes, sage bouquets, baked goods for snacking, local goat cheese and some cute "vintage" table linen reproductions.
Thanks ever so much to our hosts the Taste of Santa Fe, the very comfortable and well-located Inn at Loretto, the Shed and the Pantry.
See more photos from Santa Fe, Espanola and Albuquerque on Flickr.

Eating agenda: Savor Los Angeles, Sweets edition

Savor Los Angeles is a new series of tasting events that's launching with a dessert tasting Friday, July 30 on La Brea. So far they've lined up desserts from Plaisir, Babycakes, Sweets for the Soul, N'Ice Cream, Frosted Cupcakery, XT Patisserie, Popcakes, Pure Cheesecakes, The Crosby, Gotta Have S'More and p.o.p. candy, with more to come. The event also benefits arts organization CoachArt, which provides art classes for children with chronic illness.
Admission is $35, including Intelligentsia coffee, free champagne, juices and sodas, cheese and fruit and there's a dj, photobooth, giftbags and raffles. Just try to have some protein first, for your metabolism's sake.
Event details:
When:
Friday, July 30, 2010
7-10pm
Where:
Miauhaus Studios,
1201 S. La Brea Ave.

Indo Kitchen: Eat, Pray, Meh

Indo Kitchen's mie goreng noodles

Was it reading "Committed," Elizabeth Gilbert's follow-up to "Eat Pray Love" in which she returns to Bali, that got me in the mood for Indonesian food? I don't know, but driving around Alhambra I spied Indo Kitchen on an anonymous side street and decided it was time to give it a try. I kinda knew that even among L.A.'s fairly small selection of Indonesian restaurants, it might not be one of the best ones, but proximity counts for a lot. It's a kind of funky little place, pretty much empty at 7 on a Saturday night.

Indo Kitchen's fried chicken and tamarind soup

Sam liked the basic fried chicken with rice covered in fried garlic, though the tamarind soup it came with is probably an acquired taste -- very sweet, with undefinable hot melonish cubes floating in it. I can't try an Indonesian restaurant with ordering mie

goreng, since the fried noodle and vegetable dish was the first Indonesian food I ever tried on a train from Jakarta to Bali. The thin fried noodles were a touch greasy like they're supposed to be, with chicken and plenty of cabbage making it slightly less nutritionally damaging -- a nice, satisfying plate of noodles, with some crazy hot sauces available if more heat is desired.
I sold Matt on Indonesian food by describing the tangy beef rendang I had tried at places like Indo Cafe, but Indo Kitchen's wasn't all that -- not enough sauce, and not enough seasoning in the sauce to make this dish work. Watercress with shrimp paste and chiles was a nice green addition to the meal. While it's a modest place, the menu is pretty big, and there's plenty of unusual dishes like goat curry soup with vegetables, tongue satay and crispy fried frog legs. Prices are very low, and Indo Kitchen isn't bad if you're just craving those fried noodles, or need to stay in the SGV, but otherwise I'd probably return to Simpang Asia in West L.A. instead.
Indo Kitchen
5 N 4th St
Alhambra

East L.A. meets Napa, from grasshoppers to duck carnitas

La Huasteca: Cochinita pibil sope, at left, nopales and chapulines (grasshoppers!), center, mole tamale, right

Friday night's East L.A. Meets Napa tasting event benefit for AltaMed was mercifully much cooler than last year, stoking more of an appetite for pairing Baja and California wines with all kinds of Mexican tastes. Some of the best of those tastes were: John Sedlar of Rivera's handmade curry-spiced tortillas with olives and flowers pressed into the masa and a yogurt spread; Cacao's duck carnitas and wild boar tacos; and La Huasteca's sampler plate pictured. Pictured below are the beautiful gelatin flowers made with swirled milk from Attila the Flan.

The lines were a bit long, so we didn't get to sample everything, but the patio of Union Station is always a lovely place to spend an evening, and there many nice surprises among the wines of Valle de Guadalupe in Baja, which is an easy drive from San Diego. Here's a full report from Javier Cabral -- we both liked the Miguel Casa Adobe blend quite a bit.

EatingLA's Rules of Pizza Engagement

Lucifer's jalapeno-laden Ringburner

Like most paraprofessional eaters around here, I've tried a pretty wide range of L.A.'s often lackluster pies and have formulated a few guidelines for finding a great pizza. A recent blogger tasting at Lucifer's Pizza clarified these rules. They're my rules. You can feel free to disagree.
Rule #1: Chicken does not belong on pizza. I rue the day California Pizza Kitchen foisted the bbq chicken pizza on an unsuspecting public. I don't care if it's bbq chicken, Thai chicken satay or buffalo chicken wing pizza, it should have stayed off the pie and let better ingredients have their day.

Half-Greek, half Margarita

Rule #2: You can't recover from a bad crust. If the crust is flavorless, cardboardy, too thin or too bready, it's not gonna matter too much what the toppings are. I was pleasantly surprised by Lucifer's crust -- good flavor, good chew, nicely browned. Not as thin as a real New York-style pizza like Tomato Pie, closer to Vito's, which remains my gold standard for L.A. pizza.
Rule #3: Silly names are...well, kinda silly. I really can't get away with tweeting "Hey, that Ringburner pizza really lives up to its name!" Maybe the Glutster could, but for me it's just embarrassing. Ordering a Bayou Beast or a Cleopatra Jones at Two Boots is nearly as bad. The thing is, the Ringburner is actually pretty great, if badly named. See rule #4.
Rule #4: A pizza with no heat is good, but super spicy pizzas might be even better. The aforementioned Bayou Beast at Two Boots combines jalapenos, crawfish and andouille to a particularly good effect. The Ringburner, with pepperoni, jalapenos and hot chili sauce is equally fine. The spice level isn't for chile wimps, but it doesn't even approach most of the dishes at Jitlada. Lucifer's pizza comes in four different spice levels, because New Zealand-born owner Adam Borich simply loves spicy food. It's a little gimmicky-- "There's scary stuff in here!" said the adorable mini-Deep End Dining, of the gargoyles and devil portraits. But hey, you gotta stand out in the crowd of dozens of local pizzerias, right?

Lucifer's pumpkin proscuitto pie

Rule #5: Branch out beyond your normal order once in a while (but possibly not as far as chicken). I was a little skeptical of Lucifer's roasted pumpkin and prosciutto, but the combination of salty ham, sweet caramelized pumpkin with roast garlic and basil was way more successful than I would have thought. Similarly, I might not have ordered the Greek Lamb & Rosemary on my own, but the lamb sausage, feta and Greek olives were just different enough from the usual sausage and olive pie to take it to a whole other level. It was possibly the favorite of the group.
Lucifer's Pizza

1958 Hillhurst Ave.
(323) 906-8603

Bar Covell opens in Los Feliz, Mark Stambler's bread on Off-ramp, Xoia & Big Mista in the L.A. Times

beer selection, from Covell's Facebook page

Bar Covell opened Friday on Hollywood Blvd., and it's more than just a wine bar...Dustin Lancaster, formerly of Cafe Stella, and Matt Kaner, formerly of Silver Lake Wine, have laid in some nice draft beer selections, too. Covell looks to be a great addition to the neighborhood, which now has plenty of wine bars to choose from, and more good beer than I ever thought would be available east of Santa Monica.
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Xoia gets a nicely-wrought description from localista Jessica Gelt in this Early Bird piece in the L.A. Times, capturing the Echo Park vibe of Origami records, Tacos Arizas and other neighborhood touchstones.  If you've already read the print version, check out the online one for the photo of an adorable little girl slurping noodles.
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I was hoping to report on Mark Stambler's award-winning French bread, but Miles beat me to it on this piece for KPCC's Off-ramp. The Silver Lake resident's bread is being sold on weekends at the Cheese Shop of Silver Lake.

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And this was a few days ago, but if you missed the food section last week, check out this wonderful article on the Atwater Farmer's Market's Big Mista himself, in honor of 4th of July barbecues.

How to pack a zillion Latin tastes into one wine-soaked night

Rivera's John Sedlar and crew at last year's event (photo by StreetGourmetLA)

Lost your passport? Can't swing a weekend in Mexico? The East L.A. Meets Napa tasting event on Friday at Union Station is one way to try some of L.A.'s finest Latino-owned restaurants, meet chefs like John Sedlar and try pairing Latin flavors with wines from both Baja and Latino-owned vineyards in California. East L.A. Meets Napa is a benefit for AltaMed, which gives access for health care to underserved populations. Tickets are $150, and the outdoor patio setting at Union Station is a lovely Spanish-style setting for the event.

Friday, July 9

6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Union Station
800 N. Alameda St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Some of the participating restaurants include:
Birrieria Chalio
Cacao Mexicatessen
Cook’s Tortas
El Portal
El Tepeyac Café
Homegirl Café
La Parrilla Restaurant
La Serenata de Garibaldi
Porto’s Bakery & Café
Señor Fish
Tamayo Restaurant
Teresitas
Rivera
Loteria Grill
Also: Baja wineries L.A. Cetto Vineyard, J.C. Bravo and Adobe Guadalupe and plenty of California wineries, as well.