Sycamore Kitchen: The neighborhood spot La Brea needed

In the 1990s, lunchers along La Brea were happy with spots like Rita Flora, Maison et Cafe and Sonora Cafe. After all, you can't always spend three hours at Campanile, and there's no place to eat items bought at the bakery.
So Sycamore Kitchen, the more casual spot from Hatfield's Karen and Quinn Hatfield, is a welcome update to the street. Right now the emphasis is on fresh and light sandwiches and salads at lunchtime, an ambitious array of homey baked goods and Portland's Stumptown Coffee, though full breakfasts are coming soon.



My lunching companion's turkey sandwich had a certain spare purity compared to the sauce-laden version over at Mendocino Farms: where everything there says FARM! FRESH! LOTSA MAYO! IN YOUR FACE, LOCAVORES!, the food at Sycamore Kitchen whispers "berry cream cookie...you know you want it...freshly roasted turkey with just the right amount of cherry mostarda spread...we're quiet but we're the real deal." Both approaches are fine, but Sycamore Kitchen clearly shows the sophistication that the Hatfields are known for. The turkey meat was thick and seemed recently-roasted, and it was served onb bread baked at the restaurant. (The bread's not available for purchase at the moment.) Some might call it too simple, like something you would prepare at home if you happened to have cherry mostarda, a turkey and a freshly-baked load of bread on hand, but I think that's kind of the point.


Mediterranean chicken salad was a well-balanced bowl of radicchio, kale, dates, hazelnuts, blue cheese and chicken, lightly dressed to let the assertive blue cheese and dates shine through. The afore-mentioned berries and cream cookie was a compelling idea for this berry-phile, but the "cream" part (white chocolate?) was way too sweet for me. My friend took a piece of the moist, restrained ale gingerbread home and I envied his afternoon teatime snack.The gooey pecan bun has drawn attention, but I fear it would be even sweeter than the cookie. Next time I'll try the sour cherry scone or fruit tartlets instead.
The ambiance is industrial and the patio's a tad stark, while those who want backs on their chairs should sit along the long brick wall to the side. Prices are what they are at all the stylish newer places -- $9-$12 for salads, sandwiches and open-faced toasts like cured salmon with capers, avocado and egg. Also on the menu are turkey chili, soup of the day, some veg sides and freshly made potato chips.
Sorry, Maison et Cafe, I've had some good times with you and your Eurotrash friends, but I'll be saying adieu to your tired, over-priced menu now that this sleek newcomer has moved in across the street.

Sycamore Kitchen
143 S. La Brea
323-935-2977

Mark Stambler and his Pagnol bread: Silver Lake's wild yeast man

Longtime Silver Lake resident Mark Stambler's been baking bread for years -- I remember being impressed by his baking when our kids were in school together. Now that his son's nearly off to college, he's gotten way more ambitious and constructed a wood-burning brick bread oven in his backyard to bake his signature Pagnol loaves (It also bakes great pizza). And it's none too soon, since there is still a severe shortage of good bread in L.A., especially for those not near La Brea Bakery and BreadBar. Stambler gets up in the wee hours to start stoking his fire, waiting until his oven gets around 900 degrees to bake about 10 loaves of bread at a time.
 
He attended the King Arthur Bread Baking Education Center in Vermont and avidly studies blogs and books like "The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens" on breadmaking and wild yeast. Since he cultivates his own wild yeast starter, the only ingredients in the bread are flour, water and salt.
 
The batard-sized Pagnol loaves have a sturdy, chewy crust and a lovely beige crumb, due to the mixture of 70 % white flour and 30% freshly-ground whole grains like red winter wheat, rye and spelt. They're a bit heartier than soft white baguettes, but with none of the leaden quality of some whole wheat loaves. While he bakes just a small quantity each week, they're normally available for $8 at the Cheese Store of Silver Lake on Fridays and Saturdays until they run out. Stambler's bread will also be at the Food Rendezvous event in Venice on Aug. 28. This just in: the bread will also be available to members of the Silver Lake Farms CSA. Get info here.
Want to really eat local? Try Mark's backyard bread with some Silver Lake honey from Feral Bee. And let me know if anyone else in the area is selling handmade foods we should know about.

Zaatar Factory: A savory Lebanese journey to Burbank

 Khachapuri comes in egg, cheese, potato and sausage combos, and is cooked to order.

Over here at Eating LA, I mostly leave cupcakes, donuts and brownies to other bloggers. But give me a good loaf of French bread or a spicy cheese-stuffed burek, and I start to get a lot more intrigued. The one-year old Zaatar Factory in Burbank is one of many excellent Lebanese or Armenian bakeries in L.A. baking burek stuffed with spinach or cheese, meat-topped lahmajune and sweet tahini bread and cookies. The small cheese burek ($10 for about a dozen) would be perfect party hors d'oeuvres. But the friendly bakery has a wider selection than many, adding meat or potato-stuffed burek in a half-moon shaped turnover and freshly-made khachapuri.
Unfortunately I was in a bit of a rush, because the real attraction at Zaatar Factory is the khachapuri, sort of a Lebanese pizza-like breakfast bread, with eggs, cheese or sausage topping a foccacia-like base. The bakery is to-go only, so you can take it home and reheat, or just scarf it down in the car. They take about 15 minutes to make, so call ahead or browse in the tiny but well-stocked Lebanese market next door, which also serves grilled meat sandwiches.
The maneishe bread is topped with the bakery's namesake zaatar mix of marjoram, sesame seeds, thyme and oregano. This one is half zaatar, half pepper sauce, and it's dynamite if you take it home and top with a little feta or mozzarella and melt it in the toaster oven.

Zaatar Factory

2909 N. Glenoaks Blvd.

Burbank

(818) 859-7353

 

 

Village Bakery & Cafe: Atwater loves its daily bread

Biscotti and fresh bread daily at Atwater's Village Bakery & Cafe

I kept hearing good things about the Village Bakery on Los Feliz Blvd. in Atwater, but I have to confess that I have a fear of bakeries: First, that they will let me down and I won't find the rhubarb tart or pretzel cheese bun of my dreams, or second, that they'll be so great that I'll be forced to work weekly pain de campagne binges into my exercise plan.
Village Bakery falls somewhere in-between on the bread and pastry scale -- it's solid stuff if you often have a hankering for fresh bread and bacon scones, but not really a drive-across-town kind of place like Huckleberry Bakery. What it is good for is a non-sceney place for breakfast or lunch, with some nice egg dishes and pancakes that pleased even my super-particular daughter. Here's an excerpt from my review for the Los Feliz Ledger:

The saddest part of L.A.’s five-year long cupcake craze is that it’s taken diverted attention from fresh, basic bread. Village Bakery and Café is working to solve that dilemma, revamping and expanding the former LA Bread space with a spiffed up menu and homemade pastries. The homey café was launched last fall by Barbara Monderine, a former partner in Auntie Em’s. There are few bakeries on the near-Eastside, so Village Bakery is a good place to stock up on baguettes and specialty loaves. Sourdough boules—the large round loaves—are probably the most popular, but 12 grain and Asiago cheese are also worth a try. A French friend recommends the boule and the brioche, wishing, “If only they would make a great croissant.”Cooked-to-order breakfasts can take a while to make, but the wait is worth it for creations like Brian’s Special (above), combining a potato leek cake, tomato, spinach, parmesan cheese, eggs and bacon crumbles ($9).

 It's a muffin...it's a donut...it's a donut muffin!

A cup of good coffee with a prudently-sized cinnamon roll or even better, a bacon-maple scone makes the perfect quick breakfast. Village Bakery is a nice surprise in a neighborhood that can always use more neighborly places for regular folks.
Village Bakery and Cafe
3119 Los Feliz Blvd.
323-662-8600

Boule Atelier preview

The new Boule Atelier held a preview last night, and it's much bigger and more fabulous than the old Boule, which apparently suffered from trying to turn out baked goods in a microscopic-sized kitchen. The new one, which will open in a few days or whenever they get a sink in the bathroom, has several huge stainless steel-shrouded workspaces with windows open to the front bakery. Boule's excellent macaroons were on display in all their finest colors, although one stylish mom of a chocolate-munching toddler mused that the lavender macaroon has become almost startingly purple of late. The viennnoiserie are back, with almond croissants, pain au chocolat, etc. joining the beautiful cigar-shaped eclairs and a selection of bread including a new Earl Grey loaf. Everything in the store is like a precious jewel, with faceted chocolates sparkling with gold dust and chocolate pastries at approximately the price of rubies. Down the line, Boule Atelier may offer cooking classes in the enlarged kitchen. Things are buzzing along for David and Michelle Myers, with the new Beverly Hills Boule opening soon as well as Comme Ca on Melrose which will offer traditional French bistro fare but in a modern setting. Here's EaterLA's report on all the upcoming openings.

Eater's Digest

On occasional feature in which I talk about places I've been that don't add up to a full review, or other food-related items.

• I took one of the steps in my food resolutions and ordered a bento-like lunchbox on the Internet from Laptop Lunches. I guess they're meant for kids to take their lunch to school, but it looked more practical than some of the Japanese boxes that don't close tightly.
• Eating L.A. finally stopped by La Maison du Pain on Pico to try the croissants. I had a decadent almond croissant and a rich raisin bun...both were quite wonderful and hard to put down, although there's something just a bit too greasy about them. I couldn't eat these every day, but boy, what an indulgence with a cup of coffee on a rainy, busy day. I didn't get to try the bread, but the whole wheat baguette looked intriguing.
• On Kathy's birthday, we stopped by Thai Patio for dinner with her son. This time the food was spicier than the first time, and it was all quite good, not to mention accompanied by a quietly kitschy Thai pop band. The steamed whole trout in lime broth is a winner, and even the plainer dishes liked the fried tofu with cashews were nice and zesty. So many good choices in that mini-mall now!