L & E Oyster Bar: Silver Lake gets its oysters

Apparently the people of Silver Lake have spoken, and they've asked for...oysters? It's hard to say if an oyster bar was exactly what was needed in the former Domenico's and Michelangelo spot, but judging from the crowds of the first few nights, it was a popular choice. Dustin Lancaster and Matt Kaner of buzzing Los Feliz wine bar Bar Covell have transplanted their approachable wine and beer list and unfussy approach to L & E Oyster Bar, a casual spot with a tightly edited, oyster-centric menu. Oysters come from nearby (Carlsbad, Baja) or far away (Washington, Virgina) and they run around $2.50-$3 each or $28 a dozen. They're fresh as can be, served with cocktail sauce, mignonette, fresh grated horseradish and lemon, and go down well with a crisp muscadet.
Oysters are available raw, steamed, grilled, fried and fried in a sandwich. Other shellfish include steamed mussels and clam chowder, while the bivalve-averse can choose from a skirt steak sandwich ($18), blackened catfish plate ($16), salads or Cajun shrimp pie.
The Bar Covell guys transformed the space quickly, adding a long bar down one side of the small room, about 10 tables inside with a few wine racks and lighted signs spelling out the provenance of the oysters. Industrial chic lighting fixtures and a few nautical knick knacks complete the quickie makeover. Like the restaurants before L & E, the patio is a desirable spot, but now the bar also offers extra seating.
So L & E stands for...Lox and eggs, in a nod to the possibility of brunch in the future? Lancaster and Eastside? Left coast and East coast? Up to you to decide.

 L & E Oyster Bar

1637 Silver Lake Blvd
(323) 660-2255

Eating wild L.A.: Foraging with Transitional Gastronomy

Toyon berries are vaguely cherry-tasting and can be made into jam or put in baked goods

Even before Noma restaurant and foraging TV shows were in vogue, I've wanted to find out what's edible along local trails. I didn't think I could figure it out by myself, so I was happy to be invited to try a Foraging Foodies class with Transitional Gastronomy. 

Mia, left, tosses chickweed salad while Pascal points out wild pickles

Mia Wasilevich is the foodie part -- she finds ways to make wild foods taste great, while Pascal Baudar is the foraging part -- the Belgian native grew up learning wild foods while rambling in the forest, but he's lived in L.A. for years and knows our foodshed well, especially desert plants. We met up up in La Canada's Hahamongna Park, known to generations of Tom Sawyer campers as home of the one-eyed monster tunnel, but also home to a veritable salad bowl of easily-accessible edibles. Easy, that is, if you have some guidance -- don't be fooled by poison hemlock, which looks surprisingly similar to carrot tops escaped from a vegetable patch. 

Pascal touches nettles without gloves, but you shouldn't

Pascale showed a group of about eight of us (GourmetPigs was there too) how to find and distinguish chickweed, a rampant weed salad green with a grassy taste; stinging nettles, a trendy ingredient at top restaurants that are easily found for free (bring gloves!), toyon berries and wild sage. Many wild plants are also useful natural remedies, of course, and he pointed out black nightshade, a good remedy for the stinging nettles (oh yeah, it turns out deadly nightshade isn't actually deadly, and the berries can be made into ketchup!) and horehound, which can be made into cough-soothing candies. 

Pickled yucca shoots and radish pods

We gathered bags of chickweed, nettles and fragrant sagebrush and white sage, and returned to the picnic area, where Mia was cooking up acorn burgers on a bed of nettle puree, served with chickweed salad with toyon berry dressing, pickled acorns, radish pods, black walnuts and yucca shoots and mugwort and nettle beer. Once nettles are cooked, the stingers completely disappear and they make a vivid emerald puree that can be used like pesto or spinach. The acorn burgers had a chestnut-like sweetness and starchiness and were delicious and filling. Mia and Pascal gathered the fat acorns in the Angeles Forest (not the skinny ones you get at lower elevations) and boiled them several times to remove the bitterness. The tangy beer was much tastier than I had expected, since it's made with just nettles and yeast (maybe a little sugar?) -- no malt or hops. 
Classes in foraging and cooking are offered most Saturdays for $65, while Pascal offers other workshops like Beer with Wild Plants and Basic Trapping (great if you want to catch your own rabbit or quail!) through his Urban Outdoor Skills. Hopefully I'll never need to survive on chickweed and gophers, but it's a good feeling to know what might make a nice snack while others hike right past it and then buy arugula at the store.

Golden Road Brewing: Yes, we can!

giant pretzel is the thing for beer; kale rolls (left) are...kind of vegan-ey

Golden Road Brewing has come together in an amazingly short time compared to most things in L.A., and Sunday was both the grand opening of the pub eating area and the beer's availability in cans. Just seven months after the brewery was first announced, the owners of Tony's Darts Away and Mohawk Bend are brewing around a dozen beers, offering growlers to take home, cooking up a full menu of vegan and omnivore dishes and canning two varieties of beer which will soon be available at Whole Foods around L.A.
 
The first two canned brews (in generous pint cans) are Golden Road Hefeweizen and Point the Way IPA, both versatile beers that are solid representations of their styles. The cans sell for about $3.29 each or around $11.99 a six pack, and the Hefeweizen has a screen print of Los Feliz's Shakespeare Bridge for true local flavor.

The Hefeweizen was a little light for my taste despite subtle notes of lemon and orange, but perfect for most Hefe lovers. However, we also tried the El Hefe Anejo on tap at the brewery, a Hefeweizen style brewed in tequila barrels, that was one of most flavorful of the type I've tried. The Point the Way is a nicely-balanced IPA with a moderate 5.2% alcohol that won't clobber you over the head with bitterness.
 

 Several other Golden Road beers are available on tap, including Rye on the Palate, Get Up Offa That Brown and Lost Its Way IPA. Like their sister establishment Mohawk Bend, the menu offers plenty of vegan dishes alongside meatier choices, like the beef and pancetta meatballs with cornbread, above. A coconut noodle-cabbage salad has roughage for days, and sides like bean salad or miso crabby salad offer a nice fresh counterpart to heartier fare like burgers, a pulled pork sandwich braised in Hefe or a Sloppy Joseph sandwich with stout-braised short ribs. Vegetarian dishes include vegan meatballs, vegan banh mi, a chickpea sandwich or portabello mushroom Philly sandwich. Because the fryers are kept for vegan items, there's no fish 'n chips at the moment.
With plenty of room on the spacious covered patio or inside the cavernous warehouse of a pub, Golden Road is sure to be a festive gathering place despite its neither Atwater-nor Glendale location (it's across from the Glendale Home Depot, on the other side of the railroad tracks.) Each time a train goes by, everyone raises a glass, welcoming the passengers bound for Santa Barbara and beyond.
Golden Road is open every day from 11 am to 11 pm.
5430 San Fernando Rd.
(213) 542-6039

Gastronomico: Get on the bus to Los Feliz

Gastronomico's cured salmon sandwich

The Gastrobus was one of the earlier stabs a mobile gourmet food, though I never got to try it. As with several other food trucks, the Gastrobus has morphed into a brick and mortar spot called Gastronomico. Tucked in the corner of the same Hillhurst Ave. mini-mall that houses the Drawing Room bar (open at 6 a.m.!), Gastronomico is a handy spot for a neighborhood lunch or supper, with homemade bread for sandwiches and a fine selection of salads and homey soups. The cafe takes its birthplace in a bus possibly a little too seriously, with chrome walls, yellow and black walls and highway signs on the wall. Cute, but seems more like what you'd expect in a hot dog place instead of gourmet sandwiches. (Love the Yelper who called it "an industrious aesthetic.")

Order at the counter of the bus-themed cafe

Anyway, the sandwiches are legit. Cured salmon paired up in a lush way with avocado on a ciabatta bun, and my friend had a Groupon so it wasn't quite as painful to pay $10 for a sandwich. She got the salad sampler, with Brussels sprouts, squash and cauliflower, but felt there could be a few more options for vegetarians on the menu. Sandwiches include Ecuadorian pulled pork ($7.50), grilled cheese, specials like a squid po-boy and an organic turkey burger. A few mains include braised shortribs ($14), free-range roast chicken, crispy pork belly with yams ($11) and fried organic eggs with sauteed greens.

salad sampler makes a light lunch

Lots of sides can be combined for a meal or added to a main course: crispy Yukon gold potatoes, roasted beets, brown rice and kale.
A chance to try desserts like ricotta donut holes with blackberry coulis or banana chocolate upside-down cake sound like they'd make another visit to this slighty odd but sincere spot worthwhile.
Gastronomico
1802 Hillhurst Ave.
323-660-8800