The Foodie Traveler: Pithy Comments from a Cynical but Passionate Foodie and Wine Lover

OMG Macarons from Boule are the Best Dessert Ever

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:36:55 GMT

Such a heavenly creation, the French Macaron. The first time I ever had them was about 15 years ago, in Switzerland. They were made by the confectionary Sprungli and called "Luxemburgli." They were tiny little "burgers" that would melt in your mouth with a buttery, creamy texture within a meringue like shell. Back then, there were only a few flavor options, but each one would burst in your mouth with incredible purity of flavor. I had to travel to Zurich a number of times on business back then, and I would make sure I always grabbed about $20 worth (which bought about a pound or so.) I had never had any dessert before or since that was so incredible.

I have been seeking out these little divine delights ever since. And I have found cheap copies in various patisseries and bakeries in different parts of the country. I was able to of course get them in France, and there are even a few places in CA that carry something that at least looks like them. The Ferry Market in SF, Jin Patisserie in Venice, the french cafe ( I forget the name) on Montana in SM. While the ones in France (Lyon) were superb, the ones I have had in this country were good, but fairly forgettable.

That is until I finally got to Boule. Backstory: We had an appointment for Thai massages at this great place in Hollywood. At least we thought we did until we found out they put us down for the wrong day. So there we were across town and suddenly had a lot of time on our hands. I remembered the last three times I had tried to go to Boule it was always closed. Not this time! Now I would finally get to try their famous macarons. Derek the store clerk was very helpful as he walked us through all the options. We actually decided to try 2 of almost every flavor. I decided to skip the rose and the coffee.

Pictured below is our treasure. Well, all but the coconut. We had those at the bakery. The other flavors below include mango, coconut, pistacio, chocolate, raspberry, fleur del sol, chocolate truffle (with truffle oil), and pecan praline. I wish I could tell you my favorite, but each one was truly as good as the last. THey possessed a purity of flavor, a mixture of smooth, flaky, creamy textures, and amazing mouth feel. The fruit flavors also had a layer of gel with an intense fruit infusion. The dark chocolate truffle had more truffle oil flavor than truffle courses I have had at restaurants. These little guys are like the best of pie and pastry combined. I would rather have these than any other dessert. BTW, I wasn't sure about the Meyer lemon and Derek comped us one. I did not care for it as I do not like Lemon Meringue pie. If you like lemon pie, you would love this flavor.

I passionately recommend these little delights. It's worth the trip to West Hollywood!! (Oh they have lots of other tasty breads, chocolates, gelato, pastry, etc. But get the Macrons! ($2-$2.50 each)

Boule, L.A.’s Modern Patisserie
Where style and (sweet) substance meet
408 N. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048

OPEN
Monday through Saturday: 9:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday: 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Tel: (310) 289-9977
Fax: (310) 289-3567

It's Spot Prawn Season! Let's Get Them Drunk and Have Our Way With Them

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 18:29:12 GMT

I love Santa Barbara spot prawns and am used to paying a premium for small tastes of them in restaurants. I also adore them in the form of ama ebi at the sushi places. But so expensive and hard to find. So when I saw a reference on Chowhound to getting live spot prawns at Ranch 99 Markets for a mere $16/lb. I know what we were doing on Friday! Bought 4 lbs of the little guys. They were nice about giving us a cooler and packing them in water so they could survive the trip home. Next time I will bring a container, as we got lucky this time that they could accommodate us.

Now the background is that while I certainly enjoy eating tasty animals, I am a bit squeamish about murdering my own food. Call me a hypocrite, it is what it is. So I was a bit apprehensive about the preparation of dinner. But then I found the recipe of my dreams. Drunken Spot Prawns. This called for "marinating" the live prawns in chinese cooking rice wine before cooking them whole. This was a win, as all the other recipes involve knife work with a kicking shrimp, not my thing. With this recipe, they would die (or at least passout) from drunkeness. You have to agree this is the perfect death. Much better than getting boiled alive.

I decided to kick up the recipe a few notches. Rather than using the $1.99 cooking wine, I wound up using about $20 worth of decent Japanese sake with a bit of Mirin mixed in. (foreshadowing: this turned out to be a very smart decision) Those were very happy shrimp. So I "marinated" the prawns in the sake, and they stopped kicking pretty quickly. Check out the video further down. By the time it took to get the fish broth/dashi boiling, they were pretty still. I did them in several batches; they cook in less than a minute.

Eating them was a similar experience to crawfish in New Orleans. Pop the head off. First eat the tail, which is very succulent and possesses incredibly fresh shrimpy flavor. Then suck the head. Now here was the surprise part. The marinade really infuses the prawns. Plus, immersing them in the fish broth for under a minute does nothing to boil off the alcohol. So it kinda happened by accident that Scot noticed he was getting completely wasted even though he was almost ignoring the nice 1er Cru Chablis I had paired with the prawns. I am so glad we went with the good sake and not the swill, that would have been unpleasant.

Boy was this a good meal. Spot prawns are only in season about 6 weeks, get them while you can. Oh, Ranch 99 also has main lobster at $11/lb. Lobsters are 2-3lbs and more! No, they won't murder them for you.

Continue reading below to see some images of the spot prawn dinner as well as a video of the prawns bathing in the sake.

I love LA. Could never do this stuff back East.

Ranch 99 Markets
http://www.99ranch.com/

we go to one of the flagship stores:

1340 W. Artesia Blvd.
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 323-3399
Hours: 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM

Santa Barbara Spot Prawns Getting Drunk in Sake Bath
http://foodandwineblog.thefoodietraveler.com/2008/05/02/its-spot-prawn-season.aspx

Before and After..."Marinating" Spot Prawns on the Left, Ready to Eat on the Right

Added some greens, mushrooms, sliced ginger, and gingko to the dashi, sake, and fish broth for a nice soup to accompany the spot prawns. Quail eggs added to bowl for extra creamy flavor.

Save the Taco Truck! (MMM Tongue Tacos)

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 18:34:15 GMT

I believe it would be a terrible thing to ever ignore the plight of a fellow foodie. And people who run taco trucks, well, I have seen the passion in those taco creations and they count. So when I heard of their plight, well, we had to come out and show our support. Apparently the powers that be are trying to make it so they are not allowed to park in the same spot more than 30 or 60 minutes depending on the part of town.

More on Save our Taco Trucks:

http://saveourtacotrucks.org/
http://tacohunt.blogspot.com/

So back to the story. Scot went along grumbling, as we had perfectly good leftover pasta bolognese (made from scratch) in the fridge and he really wanted that. But no, I haven't been to a taco truck in forever and insisted. It was for a good cause, after all. Scot begrudgingly agreed and off we were to Gardena. The place we chose looked like a converted car wash. They had an actual building on the lot that sold homemade juices and desserts. And the truck was parked on the actual lot. I have a feeling this truck is not at all affected by the ruling but whatever. We were there. Being it was 8:30 at night, and of course we were the only gringos, we did stick out a bit. Especially when I brought out my spanish/english dictionary. At that point people started asking us if they could help us. They knew nothing of Save Our Taco Truck Night, but they were very friendly evn though they thought we were insane. They attempted to steer us towards carne asada and carnitas. Feh, they have that at Chipotle. I wanted all the special parts. (Which is why I brought the dictionary; I needed to know which part of the creature I was ordering.) When I explained that lengua (tongue) was my favorite, they kinda stopped trying to help. One especially friendly girl did say that I had an especially strong positive aura and she wanted to do an astrology reading on me. I was very complimented and considered her offer, but we never quite got around to it.

Then we finally got around to ordering. The dictionary proved useless. Apparently I am going to have to find a dictionary specializing in animal parts, as none of the more select items on the menu were in the dictionary. The funny thing was we asked all the people in line and they did not know what any of them were either. They just made yukky noises.

So we decided to start with a few tacos: lengua, carnitas, and tripe. And two tostadas: octopus and shrimp, and a ceviche. Tons of food and it came to $9. While we waited, we went to the juice bar and I got a horchata and scot got a chocolate banana milkshake. All the food was quite fresh and had great flavor. There was an assortment of hot sauce available from various countries in South America. The tacos (soft) also came with a tender grilled onion, grilled pepper, and some carrots. THey came with a great homemade salsa and onions on top as well. The lengua was both of our favorites; very tender, mild flavor. Carnitas are always good, but the tripe was a bit to tripe-ey for me.

With the tostadas, my favorite was the octopus which was cooked until just tender, and had just the right amount of citrus accent.

Well we probably didn't need it but being that we only spent $9 we wanted to try some more stuff off the menu. I think they were laughing at us at that point. So we threw caution to the wind and ordered more tacos: Cabeza (i think this was beef tendon) carne asada (duh) and pastor (pork? still not sure). And lengua quesadillas. And a shrimp cocktail. The shrimp cocktail was kinda overcooked and in a gazpacho that tasted of too much tomato juice. The cabeza was the best of the tacos..very tender. Great texture and flavor. The other two were forgettable. The lengua was immersed in gooey cheese in between two very fresh flour tortillas. I was too full to eat much of it but the few bites I had were very good.

All in all, the whole thing cost about $22. I love LA for these kinds of experiences.

Be sure to ask for lots of extra napkins.

El Antojito
Neighborhood: Harbor Gateway
Corner of 168th Street and Figueroa
Gardena, CA 90247

Ceviche Tostada
Lengua quesadilla
Pulpa and camarones tostada
lengua, tripe, and carnitas tacos

Citrus at Social: The Chef was so busy playing with the food he forgot about the flavor & quality

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:22:48 GMT

We went here for my birthday; it came highly recommended and Irene (LA Times) had very nice things to say. I wish I had read the recent not-so-nice review in LA Magazine that showed up on my doorstep the next day...perhaps I would have reconsidered.

I am fascinated with molecular gastronomy having been to Alinea and Moto for my birthday last year, and more recently to Coi in SF. Some places really pull off the fusion of technique and flavor, others do not. Citrus falls into the latter. Some examples of notable dishes: We ordered the mosaic, which was described as a carpaccio of "surf, turf & earth." The presentation was amazing; alternating matching circles of tuna, peppers, beef, and scallop each with its own garnish were artfully arranged like an Othello board. But none of us actually cared for the flavors. They were bland, and in the case of the scallop, fishy.

The tuna and beet salad was one of the better dishes because the beets were prepared and seasoned perfectly. But I don't think it really complemented the tuna that well. I liked the beet and tuna as separate tastes, not on the same fork.

The onion tart with smoked salmon was nice, but nothing to write home about. Esgargot "in the garden" was unnecessarily creamy and the granola was strange, but not an offensive topping. Frizzy frissee salad with lardons was lettuce and bacon bits with a poached egg on top. It was fine, but silly at $13. The 4 of us shared three entrees: Lobster burger, roasted chicken, and the famous 72 hour short ribs. Lobster burger was ok; I have had similar dishes that were much better at places like Catch and Hungry Cat. The short ribs had a strange rubbery texture, I guess from the sous vide. But I was just recently at Lucques, and their short ribs are also slow cooked but were amazing. We all agreed the "roast" chicken was the best, but it was actually breaded and tasted like it was fried, so that kind of ruined it.

Of course I have to make special mention of the french fries fried in butter, one of the main things that drove me to this restaurant. I don't care what the reviews say, this just doesn't work. The clarified butter they use actually took on a bit of a rancid odor/taste. One of my dining companions, a foodie who has worked as a chef, actually was sickened by the taste and could not continue eating after tasting them. They should have stuck with duck fat like they do at other bistros.

Overall, probably the best menu item was the tater tots. But these were definitely the most expensive tater tots I ever had.

I will say that service was exemplary, and they comped me the kit kat dessert for my bday. Wine service was also excellent, and only $15 corkage. But in the end, it is all scene and no substance. It is not a bistro, it is not fine dining. But it is very expensive. Foodies should skip it.

Citrus at Social Hollywood
6525 Sunset Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
323-337-9797

http://www.chinagrillmgt.com/social/main.cfm

Sunday Brunch: An Italian/Japanese Fusion Experience in Torrance

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:33:03 GMT

We've been to il Chianti before, being that it is only about a mile from our house. Dinner has always been interesting, but generally items are hit or miss. Not often you can get an uni pizza. But it is a cool place, great hidden tables, counter seating, outdoor seating, lots of options. Even a nice wine list with some good Italian options.

So it was just happenstance that we were driving out this past sunday looking for a quick meal not so out of the way, and we saw the open sign. What the heck. Our timing was good, they just started offering brunch in the last month.

You have three options ranging from $12-$18. The cheapest includes a salad, 3 appetizers, soup, rice or bread, beverage, dessert, and a pasta dish. The next highest has a meat instead of pasta, and for $18 you get the meat and pasta.

Now, you can't be that picky cause the menu is fixed. It changes each week. Here was ours:

Beverages included about 9 options. We went with a Kirin draft and a sparkling wine (house.)

1) Spring greens and veggies with a homemade ginger dressing that had a touch of anchovy (?) flavoring
2) An appetizer plate containing 4 items:
    -pure-tasting consomme containing a few pieces of lardon
    -small salad of salmon sashimi chunks, tomato, shiso (as a play on basil)
    -a few slices of smoked salmon twirled on some sweet onion and capers
    -hotate (scallop) sashimi with tobiko and a minced onion salsa
3)Pasta was served side by side with the meat:
    -Pasta was spaghetti with roasted japanese eggplant and ground chicken in a rustic marinara with garlic
    -Meat was a pork tenderloin and not-too-sweet demi-glaze. It was served on mound of mashed potatoes. The potatoes were the only item we did not care for. No problem, the serving of rice (perfectly glistening individual kernals) was more than plenty.
4) There were three dessert options: Chocolate mousse, Red bean cheesecake, panna cotta. We split the panna cotta and cheesecake. Both were small slices that in typical asian style were not too sweet and a great light ending to an incredibly surprisingly tasty brunch.

This is a great value. We sat at the counter and could see a lot of the action in the kitchen. What a great thing to do on a lazy sunday afternoon.

BTW, you can order of the rest of the menu as well. We saw a bowl of fire go by us, and we were told it was an octopus flambe of some sort. Would love to have tried that...

Il Chianti

www.il-chianti.com

24503 Narbonne Ave
Lomita, CA 90717
(310) 325-5000

Capo: This is much better than having to fly all the way to Italy

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:01:24 GMT

We were not expecting much. The reviews for this place are generally mediocre at best, plus it is very expensive. Although one of my foodie coworkers was recently there and he had nothing but good things to say about the place. I have to say, I am with my coworker on this one. We stopped by about an hour before our reservation and dropped off a special Brunello for them to decant. We then wandered off to Casa Del Mar for a great aperitif on some comfy leather chairs. Hangar One wasabi vodka bloody mary with ginger...ah but this is another review. Getting back to Capo...we were first impressed by the room. We had a nice corner table, very cozy. Our waitress was lovely and knowledgeable, not at all uppity like many of the reviews allude to. We supplemented our brunello ($25 corkage) with a half bottle of a 2002 Jadot Meursault.

Starters included a softshell crab (special for the evening) roasted in their famous oven. It was supplemented by a wagyu steak tartare and a vegetable burrata salad. Of the three, the veggies were most impressive. We really saw the love and care that went into choosing the perfect, seasonal vegetables from the farmers market, and then cooking them just so. If I could have vegetables like this everyday I would eat a lot less meat.

The tartare was just ok. The beautiful, delicate wagyu was overwhemed by too many capers. A shame. Softshell crab was very nice but unremarkable.

Next course was a rigatoni with a tomato-truffle bolognese sauce, their signature dish. This was stupendous. I usually do not associate truffles and tomato-based sauces, but this one blew us away. Again, the quality of the tomatoes, the meat, the perfectly cooked home-made pasta really came through.

Our main dish was a traditional bistecca - Steak Florentine. This was a HUGE porterhouse for 2. It was perfectly charred on the outside and perfectly rare on the inside. Really, really, great. We ordered a side of asparagus to accompany it, and they were the truly the best asparagus we have ever had, including the fancy white ones we recently had in europe.

For dessert we opted for a hazelnut and chocolate souffle. I love souffle. This made us both very happy inside. It was accompanied by a shared glass of Inniskillin Cab Franc - which they comped us for! (I had asked if it was a fresh bottle - I gather it wasn't but I couldn't tell from tasting it. Awesome. $55 value)

This was overall a great meal, and yes it was pricey but absolutely worth the money. All the people who complain about the cost just do not understand the quality of care that went into sourcing and obtaining the ingredients, as well as the flawless cooking technique.

Go here.

Capo

www.caporestaurant.com

1810 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 394-5550
Get directions

Sushi Ken: Good Quality at a Great Price in South Bay

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:33:43 GMT

How'd I miss this place? Ok it is on the end of a nondescript strip mall kinda stuck behind a Cost Plus World Market, but still, what a find. Tiny place, a bit too bright, but it's about the food. Here's what you do. Bring a bottle ($10 corkage) or order the Hakkaisan ($12 for a generous "waterfall" serving.) Then order the 14 piece Omakase for $32. Yes, that's right, $32. And no, it's not for pale, tired tuna and a California roll. THe chef picks 14 of the most premium fish in the shop. He starts with a nice piece of Toro, and other selections may include Aji, Kompachi, Japanese snapper, and yes, beautifully marinated ikura and very fresh uni. There are at least one or two obscure Japanese fishes that they cannot translate for me.

The quality is great. Certainly not the quality of a Shibucho or Mori, but very good. The quantity of food is also impressive. We usually supplement with a few extras of our favorites. Last time this included a unique marinated salmon with lots of fat bands. So tasty!

Their hot dishes are hit and miss. Chawan Mushi is perfect, tempura is from obviously frozen shrimp and awful. THey have a number of off-menu items, you need to ask. All of their soups are generally good.

Sushi Ken

22831 Hawthorne Blvd
Torrance, CA 90505
(310) 378-9595

Wow, Buffalo FROGS LEGS?!

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:20:02 GMT

No, it is not an April Fool's menu item. It's for real, and quite tasty. We were visiting Chez Melange in Redondo Beach the other night. We generally enjoy the "melange" of menu offerings, but this one was the "Melange-iest" one we have had in quite some time. The succulent little froggie thighs were deep fried and smothered in a wonderfully buttery and perfectly spicy buffalo sauce. Then there was a refreshing blue cheese/ranch dipping sauce. The whole combination was delightful. We actually ordered a 2nd order it was just that good. Check it out soon, they tend to switch out their menu items fairly frequently.

Chez Mélange
1716 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Phone (310) 540-1222
www.chezmelange.com

Fraiche - Wow, I am really impressed

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:10:21 GMT

The table, the room, Karl, our hot and yet attentive French waiter, and of course the food...all VERY impressive. They were even kind with corkage. If you have read any of my other posts, you know I do not impress easily. So this was a night to remember.

We had been to Fraiche when they first opened, and liked it then. Some of the items were hit and miss, and there was an issue with some of the pasta being oversalted.

This time around, it was all good. Between us and our dining companions, we ordered a significant chunk of the menu. The steak tar tare was one of the best I have had in a long time. Instead of mixing the meat with egg yolk or aoili, this was blended with a "sabayon" (egg yolks + butter) and it was not overly garnished in pickles or capers, it was JUST RIGHT. I hated having to share that one. Probably could have eaten another order all by myself. There was a memorable farro salad with blood oranges. And a pleasant lentil and black sausage dish. The Charcuterie/Salumi was also outstanding. We ordered a Chef's sampler: I loved the lardo, and the proscuitto was sublime. Mains included a lamb casserole with soft, juicy lamb chunks. There was a tasty lamb pasta dish, and both the boys got a great steak and perfectly crispy frites. We had to get an extra order of those..

Bottom line, I could come here often. What a shame it took a month to get a reservation. Stupid Frank Bruni promoting it in the New York Times messed it up for all us locals. www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/dining/05six.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

class="r">Fraiche

fraicherestaurantla.com
9411 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 839-6800

Akasha. Lots of Hype, Doesn't Deliver

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:18:43 GMT

We didn't have reservations but they agreed to let us hang out at the bar. Cool room, reminds me of Fraiche. Industrial look, lots of stone. Awesome drink list and tons of wine by the glass. Dinner is a motley assortment of small plates, salads, pizza, big plates, etc. Their thing is the whole local/sustainable/organic movement that has invaded LA. This place may look casual, but their prices say otherwise. On their lunch menu, burgers are priced in the teens. "Big Plates" on the dinner menu are well into the $20's.

I first ordered the house signature drink: The Akasha. 42 below, kiwi vodka, organic cucumber juice, homemade thai basil elixir. I had very high expectations for this drink as I generally like all these ingredients...separately. Together, they were so medicinal they were reminiscent of some herbal vitamin drinks I have endured in my past. I couldn't even get it down. They kindly agreed to take it back and I got a nice Dolcetto instead, afraid to try any more drinks.

Scot chose a glass of the 06 Pelerin St. Vincent's Pinot from Santa Lucia Highlands. He liked it ok, but he did not like it $17 worth which is what they charged. I checked, the retail on that bottle is ~$40 so that is some generous markup.

We also got one appetizer, the Cannelinni bean hummus, $8. The description said truffle salt, flatbread, marinated olives. The flat bread came covered in sauteed onions and tasted of cumin. There was no truffle salt that we could taste, but even if we could I don't think it would have mixed well with the cumin. It was also a very tiny portion; about 2 Tablespoons of humus and about 3-4 small wedges of flatbread. We continued to study the menu, looked at other people's plates, and found that nothing appealed to us. We decided to quietly pay for our $40 appetizer & drinks and go somewhere else.

Funny thing, we wound up at Versailles. Full dinner and drinks cost less than the Akasha "snack," and it tasted a lot better. But it was not local, organic, or sustainable. Or particularly cool.

http://www.akasharestaurant.com/
9543 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
Phone: (310) 845-1700

NYT: Foodie Bloggers & Health Issues

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:02:53 GMT

Interesting piece in the NYT today: The Fat Pack Wonders if the Party's Over

The gist of the article is that there are a bunch of foodies and especially foodie bloggers out there revelling in Pork Fat and are all finally getting to a point where they have to come to terms with the terrible things they are doing to their bodies. The article focuses on one of the original E-Gullet founders, but mentions various newspaper critics and other bloggers as well.

I think the piece took an unnecessarily negative approach to the foodie philosophy. A few excerpts:

"If 1960s Las Vegas had its Rat Pack and 1980s cinema its Brat Pack, early 21st century food has its Fat Pack...The journalists, bloggers, chefs and others who make up the Fat Pack combine an epicure’s appreciation for skillful cooking with a glutton’s bottomless-pit approach. Cramming more than three meals into a day, once the last resort of a food critic on deadline, has become a way of life. If the meals center on meat, so much the better."

“Most of us who are in this profession are here as an excuse to eat,” said Mimi Sheraton, the food writer and former New York Times restaurant critic who has chronicled her own battle with weight loss. Still, she said, “I’ve never seen such an outward, in-your-face celebration of eating fat.”

Personally, an ideal meal out for me is not one that embraces fat but one that embraces flavor, with simplicity and healthfulness being a bonus, not a detraction. IMHO, it is much harder to make a chicken breast taste good then shortribs. I am way more impressed with the chef that does the former (as long as it was not achieved using mass amounts of dairy or bacon!) rather than the latter. We actively seek out places that excel with fish and vegetable dishes. Of all the trendy things out there right now, I think Crudo is one of the best ways to assess a chef's creativity and skill, as it requires a careful balance of subtle ingredients. It is a category of food where too much fat ruins, rather than enhances, the end product.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/dining/19fat.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=dining

Oyster Shucking Adventure. Don't Try this at Home...

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:49:05 GMT

We love oysters. Such tasty little creatures. Ordering a dozen at a restaurant is such a tease. We want LOTS of oysters. I have happy memories of sitting at Felix's in New Orleans eating four or five dozen at one sitting. While I have bought two oyster shuckers, the few times I attempted to shuck an oyster or two has ended in disaster so it was something I never really pursued.

But this time, it was going to be different. This time, we would get the husband to do it. There was a high degree of motivation on both our parts, as Quality Seafood has dozens of varieties to sample, and doing it ourselves would be dramatically cheaper. (Quality Seafood will also shuck them for you if there are not too many and they are not too busy, but then you spill all the juice ("liquor") getting them home, so we didn't want to take that route.

So we invested $10 in a "top of the line" shucker as well as a good tool to scrub them. (Men like when you can buy tools for a job.)

Here is the selection of oysters and our comments:
Ease of Shucking: Scale of 1 to 5, 1 being easiest to shuck
Flavor: Scale of 1 to 5, 1 being most preferred taste (IMHO)

1) Kumomotos:
Cost: $1.95/ea
Length of shell: 2-3" the smallest of the group
Shucking: 2
Flavor: 3
Comments: mild, sweet, not briney at all. Also the least "oystery" of the oysters. Recommended for oyster neophytes.

2) Hamma Hammas
Cost: $1.60/ea
Length of shell: 4-6" the largest of the group
Shucking: 5
Flavor: 2
Comments: Very sweet, briney without being bitter, meaty, fleshy. Best bang for buck

3) Bajas
Cost: $1.29/ea
Length of shell: 4/5" the smallest of the group
Shucking: 4
Flavor: 5
Comments: Yuk. After tasting them, we deep fried the rest. Stupid seafood guy said "these are a great value." Just awful.

4) Sammish Bay
Cost: $1.60/ea
Length of shell: Round: diameter of 1-2". The oyster itself is larger than kumomoto
Shucking: 4
Flavor: 2
Comments: A bit sweeter than hamma hammas, nice and briney. Our second favorite.

5) Malpeque
Cost: $1.89/ea
Length of shell: 3" diameter. Also round
Shucking: 1.5 Easiest to shuck
Flavor: 4
Comments: We expected to like these more. Sharper brineyness with a tinge of bitterness. Not as sweet. Strong flavor, but more of brine than oyster. Nice texture.

6) Miyagis
Cost: $1.70/ea
Length of shell: 2-3"
Shucking: 2.5
Flavor: 3.5
Comments: Underlying flavor excellent, but too briney/salty. These would be better cooked in something.

Conclusions: While Scot did get pretty good at shucking by the end of the night, it came at a cost. There was at least one blood-causing injury, a huge mess, and annoying little shell shards in many of the oysters. I also wasn't counting on the occasional tiny little worms. (On the outside of the shell, but still, Ew.) Being that we were paying $1.60-$1.90 an oyster anyway, we might as well pay $2.50-$3.00 restaurant charges next time. Oh, and I still say that East Coast/Gulf Coast oysters are best.

Organic Sushi Bistro...Now this is LA

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:21:36 GMT

It's called Kula Sushi Bistro. A Sushi "Bistro" in Century City? This was going to be an adventure. From reading all the reviews and descriptions, I was expecting a fairly authentic Japanese dining experience but with some "dumbing down" for the American palette, all in a funky, modern setting.

Yes, I was right.

Great space, contemporary decor. Very open, nice accoustics. They could have easily packed a lot more tables in, but instead there is a generous amount of open space and it is very comfortable. Great date setting, as there are many tables/booths that are fairly private. Funny thing...there is no actual sushi bar, only tables.

Happy hour was in the lounge off to the side of the restaurant. They offered Free Toro for Happy Hour! Ok, just one piece, but a nice touch. They also comped us for some black edamame, fried lotus slices and a crispy rice with a crab and avocado topping. We supplemented that with their homemade chawan mushi, and their crispy rice with spicy tuna. We also tried an order of their homemade cold tofu. A few premium sakes (as well as some wine, beer, and well drinks) are half price. We took advantage of this as well. Sake was served in a traditional style, the overflowing glass in the wooden box. Chawan Mushi was a well-constructed egg custard with a few non-traditional ingredients, including a few pieces of unagi (eel) and some black edamame. The tofu was also of high quality. It was exceptionally creamy and lush, and was garnished with shaved bonito. The texture was like a custard. Again, very traditional. As for the crispy rice with the toppings, this is not traditional of course, but it is cut in small pieces and makes a great finger food and accompaniment to alcohol. I found the crispy rice slightly overcooked and chewy, but scot really liked it.

After happy hour ended we went over to the restaurant for dinner. We kinda ate a lot at happy hour, but figured we would at least try some sushi. And we had to get one more order of the tofu and chawan mushi. They comped us each another piece of toro. (woohoo) I had brought a bottle of burgundy to open, but their Sake selections were so interesting and nicely priced, we kept with that.

All in all, we found the portions of fish on the large side and very well-priced. The owner came by to chat later on. We were asking about some of the flavors and methods used, and she explained that the chefs prepare the food in an Osaka style, versus a Tokyo style. A specific difference is that the sushi rice has a slightly sweeter profile than what we were expecting. Not sweet like that awful mix they use in fast-food or supermarket sushi rice, but not like the stuff you get in premium sushi bars either. Most of the sushi bars and Izakayas we typically go to are apparently much more Tokyo-styled.

Also, Kula Sushi Bistro is very focused on organic, high quality ingredients. It shows. I would definitely like to go back and try their hot entrees.

Kula Sushi Bistro
http://www.KULAsushi.com
Sushi, small plates, organic "when possible"
10351 Santa Monica Blvd, Century City, 310.282.8870 Valet: $5
Dinner nightly
corkage $20

Coi - Molecular Gastronomy in San Francisco

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:55:30 GMT

We loved Alinea in Chicago, and since that experience have been questing other great Molecular Gastronomic experiences. I had heard that Coi (pronounced "kwa") is the best (only) experience SF has to offer in Molecular Gastromony...(meaning they have exactly one more option than LA...) so of course this was at the top of my list. There were five of us. #5 just got his pilot's license that day so we were also celebrating his triumph. The wine was inadvertently themed...they were all from the 2000 vintage. First a Vietti Barbaresco, then a Altesino Brunello, then an Arrowood Cab. We brought 2 bottles and purchased the Altesino was from the wine list. I had prearranged the purchase a few days before so they could decant it for 3 hours. It was a great value at $130 and I think the favorite of the table, but it was a really tough call vs the vietti...oh well, on to the food!

We all agreed that we would do the 11 course tasting menu. One really nice aspect of the menu was that for about 4 of the courses you had a choice of two items. THis worked out brilliantly as my husband and I each agreed to try one of each, meaning we had more like a 15 course tasting. ANother guest is not a fan of fish so she was quite satisfied with her many alternatives.

One of the most intriguing dishes was the first one, which is standard every night. For the "pink grapefruit" course you had to first apply some grapefruit oil to your wrists like perfume and the instructions were to smell your wrist while consuming the course. This was very cool and similar to the kind of thing at Alinea.

http://foodandwineblog.thefoodietraveler.com/2007/12/22/pilgrimage-to-alinea.aspx

The rest of the courses were most impressive in the strategic yet subtle use of contrasting flavors and textures to create unique experiences in your mouth. (Ok, it was not nearly as sexual as this sounds, but it was REALLY good) I go to fusion this and eclectic that all the time and in my experience they typically don't work more than they do. Coi not only made it work, but did it without the effusive use of butter, cream, animal fat, and all the wonderful goodies that always make chefs seem better than they really are. Most of the dishes were light and possessed delicate flavor, but were highly complex. Kinda like the way you might describe a great older burgundy or bordeaux...which probably would have paired better than what we brought...oh well, maybe next time.

This menu is very close to what we had. Sadly, I have been trying to get them to email me our actual menu for over a week, they keep promising but no menu. THe show must go on. Note a few pix on the bottom.

PINK GRAPEFRUIT ginger, tarragon, black pepper

ROASTED BEETS smoked salt, Bellwether sheep's milk yogurt,cilantrp
or
KAMPACHI SASHIMI white soy, yuzu, shichimi togorashi

CARAMELIZED ENDIVE TART black olive vinaigrette, herbs

WILD NETTLE SOUP ricotta enrobed in lemon gelee, oxalis flowers

WARM ARTICHOKE AND PUNTARELLA SALAD green garlic, spring onions, farro, mcevoy olio nuovo
or
MONTEREY BAY ABALONE GRILLED ON THE PLANCHA fennel, radish, pan di zucchero, dickson ranch olio nuovo

YUBA 'PAPARDELLE' mushroom dashi, winter vegetables

LOCAL WILD MUSHROOM RAVIOLO celery root, perigord truffles, hazelnuts, chervil
or
MONKFISH ROASTED ON THE BONE vadouvan, manilla clams, pea shoots, lime

SLOW-COOKED SOUL FOOD FARM EGG chard, wheatberries,
brown butter-parmesan sauce
or
POACHED AND SEARED GUINEA HEN bloomsdale spinach, turnips, bacon, sage

COI Restaurant - San Francisco, CA

Cav - Great Wine Bar in Castro. Innovative wines, food

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:54:55 GMT

Cav Wine Bar

www.cavwinebar.com

1666 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 437-1770

Bar Crudo - I really was expecting something much better

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:54:24 GMT

We stopped for a drink and just to try the signature dish - the crudo. They were very nice about accommodating us at the bar, where we could watch them shuck oysters and prepare the dishes. Pictured was the house variety; there were three of us and they offered a combo of 3 pieces each. It took us 4 tries to find a bottle of European white wine from the list that they had in stock. Finally went with an obscure Italian varietal that was just ok at $45. Pictured below are the salmon, scallop, tombu tuna, and I think a kompachi. As we tasted them, they went from ok to not so great. The sauces overpowered the fish, the fish not that impressive. It was also sliced unevenly. Not pictured was the ono, which we got ala carte. I tasted it and the fish was actually bad. My friends were grateful I was able to save them from the yuckiness.

NY Deli in San Francisco?

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:03:58 GMT

Since the Sunday brunch we were originally going to go to at Nikko looked awful and un-Japanesed, we decided to let our friends take us to to their new-found treasure, an authentic NY Deli called Miller's East Coast West Delicatessen. We HAD to go, as they professed to have awesome Nova and bagels flown in daily, which is my husband's favorite.

There was a short line (not bad for prime sunday brunch hours) and we were seated in about 15-20 min or so. They have everything you would expect: knishes, ny egg creams, kishka, chopped liver, matzah ball soup, half-done pickles, giant stacked meat sandwiches, and more and more. So hard to choose...We ordered a ridiculous amount of food. Scot of course got the lox, which he seemed to really enjoy. I tasted a bit of the nova, which was smooth and mild. I ordered a tongue and cornbeef special (NY people will know special means coleslaw and russian dressing) and we also supplemented it all with onion rings, fries, and kishka. The friends advised us not to get the knishes or latkes based on prior visits, so we went with their advice.

The kishka had a nice flavor, but it lacked authenticity for me as I like it when it actually has the skin on the outside and tastes meaty. This was not quite right. The onion rings were one of the highlights of the meal...perfectly fried; very crispy on the outside, not too much breading, and the onion was very tender. As for the fries, we had ordered the ones with turkey gravy. They brought out the garlic fries, which we sent back, but then decided later we should have kept them and got the side of gravy to dip them in. Once we added salt to the fries though, all was good again. My sandwich was mixed for me. The tongue was succulent and moist, great flavor and texture. THe cornbeef was slightly dry, which was because it was very lean, so this might be desirable for others. All in all, it was a tasty meal, and at least as authentic if not more so than Junior's here in LA. Scot likes Junior's lox better; I like Miller's tongue better.

East Coast West Delicatessen

www.millersdelisf.com

1725 Polk St
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 563-3542

La Paulée de San Francisco - Amazing Burgundy Tasting

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:57:02 GMT

This event was the primary impetus that prompted our recent SF visit. Having visited the Burgundy region last year and being completely blown away, we were excited to be able to try so much wonderful burgundy in one place. We only attended the luncheon, which at $300/pp we thought it to be quite extravagant. Clearly money was no object to most of the attendees, and/or they were industry people. I definitely spotted many familiar faces from Wine Spectator and other publications. It seemed most people were also attending the dinner event, which was $1500 AND you were expected to bring some special wine to share. We decided to skip that event, lol.

The luncheon was quite an experience. The producers themselves were pouring. We tasted about 85 wines, many of which were 1er Cru and Grand Cru. For the most part, it was all about 2005, but there were also some 2006 and 2004 available. A couple producers offered a mini-vertical of some of their wines from certain vineyards.

Also accompanying the wines were small plates from 12 top restaurants in the city. Coi was most impressive. Their dish was served inside a chicken egg shell. The top was cracked off soft-boiled style. The description was Soft Cooked Soul Food Farm Egg Yolk with Bacon, Spicy Onion Relish & Parmesan.

One of my favorite moments of the day was when one of the producers recognized me from our recent trip to her winery in Burgundy. She said it was something about my accent, lol.

The wine was amazing. Now I just have to see if I can still find any of my favorites for sale.

Hog Island Oyster Company in the Ferry Building

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:33:04 GMT

I thought it would be better. Kind of a tourist trap. The oysters were way overpriced at $2.50 or more a piece. Oyster stew had way too much cream. Baked oysters were nice. Probably the dish to get, ironically enough, is a wonderful grilled cheese sandwich, described as Cow Girls' Mezzo Secco, cave-aged Gruyere and Fromage Blanc served with house made pickled vegetables.

1 Ferry Plz
San Francisco, CA 94111
Phone: (415) 391-7117
http://www.hogislandoysters.com

Quince. Strange Rules, Great Dining

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:56:21 GMT

The Quince people really think a lot of themselves. I had to make the reservation EXACTLY 30 days from the time I wanted the reservation. No more, no less. They wanted a $100 deposit (cancellation fee) on the credit card for four people. You can only bring up to two bottles of wine per table, at $35 corkage for each one. And when I tried to take a picture of one of the courses, the hostess quickly ran up and said that there were to be no pictures of the food. I thought I was on a Seinfeld episode, the one with the Soup Nazi. That said, it really was a great meal. We opted for the tasting menu as it offered both a great value as well as a good opportunity to really experience the chef's talents. One side note: a member of our dining party is pregnant and the server offered her a rather sophisticated beverage option: non-alcoholic gewurztraminer juice and later pinot noir juice. They were actually fairly tasty. The gewurztraminer especially almost tasted like the real thing.

The tasting menu included the following:

Maine lobster salad, asparagus, trumpet mushrooms - Great start. Perfectly cooked lobster, delicate sauce.

Dover Sole, spinach and truffled hollandaise sauce - The best Dover Sole I ever had. Lightly coated in flour and perfectly sauteeed. Truffled Sauce was brilliant.

Caramelle, celery root and black truffle - Unexpectedly good. The pasta looked like little tootsie rolls and had fantastic texture and depth of flavor

Agnolotti dal plin - Lovely meat-filled tiny raviolis, traditional Piedmonte style. Solid, but the table agreed they were not as good as the Caramelle.

Marin Sun Farms Ribeye, fried spring onions, creamed nettles, spinach - Only disappointment of the night. None of us cared for the dish. Texture of the ribeye was not tender enough. Sauce overpowered.

Chocolate Hazelnut bombe, olive oil gelato - So rich, so decadent. Olive oil gelato did not taste of strong olive oil flavor, which pleased me, is this is typically why I do not care for olive oil gelato. I want more.

$110 PP

1701 Octavia Street
(between Austin St & Bush St)
San Francisco, CA 94109 (415) 775-8500
http://www.quincerestaurant.com

Recommended!!

Foodie Traveler Hits San Francisco. First Stop: Lobster Shack

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:33:27 GMT

My husband has been craving an authentic New England Lobster Roll, and I had heard this could be procured in SF. After much research, I decided we would try the Lobster Shack, a tiny little place that is located in the in-between area between China Town and Little Italy. The people there were very nice, and the owner even stopped by to chat. We got the double ($33), which came with home-style cole slaw and thick cape-cod chips. The sandwiches consisted of two wonderful "hot dog" buns that were grilled and basted with butter. The five oz of lobster tail and claw meat nice and chunky with just the right amount of hellman's mayo mixed in. (We loved the way they made a point of mentioning they use Hellman's and not the nasty cheap no-name or miracle-whip stuff.) They also offer a "naked" option for those mayo-haters out there. More butter was drizzled on top of the lobster. Now, I haven't been to Cape Cod in a while but I don't remember all that butter. No matter, it was quite tasty. We skipped the chowder, but I heard from others it is good. All their other fish items are fried. They also offer interesting beverages like root beer on tap.

The Lobster Shack
Neighborhood: North Beach/Telegraph Hill
532 Green St
(between Bannam Pl & Jasper Pl)
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 829-3634
www.lobshack.com 
BYOB, No Corkage Fee

The Bestest Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels EVER

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:50:33 GMT

We recently have discovered the joy that is sea-salt caramels. But not until this past valentine's day have we had any this amazing. I purchased them from Bristol Farms; the company that makes them is called Moonstruck Chocolates out of Portland, OR. There was an assortment, but by far our favorite was called a Cajeta Caramel. I had to look this up, as I never had heard of it before. I learned that caramel is made by cooking sugar very slowly and cajeta is made by cooking sweetened milk very slowly. The end result was incredible. These little gems came enrobed in a rich, dark chocolate. Inside was a liquid caramel that was at once creamy, molten, and milky, with just the right touch of sea-saltiness. It had a viscosity similar to the liquid around a cherry cordial, but yet possessed the "goo-iness" inherent in a well-made caramel. Overall, it was a delightful experience and I recommend you try them the next time you want a tasty treat.

www.moonstruckchocolate.com

Experiments with Fish

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:06:30 GMT

I was in Marukai last night looking for dinner inspiration. I usually tend to go for the raw fish for some kind of sushi concoction, but then my eye caught some shiny pink-tinged Dover Sole Filets. I have never cooked Dover Sole. Hell, I am not sure I ever even had it in a restaurant. THe closest thing I had was the overcooked frozen flounder fillets baked on a cookie sheet that my mother used to make. *shiver* But they just looked so succulent, i figured I would give it a shot. I took them home, sprinked them with some flaked sea salt, lightly floured them, then sauteed them in butter with some saffron until a just a little bit brown with a tad of crisp. THen I made a kinda modified beurre blanc with more butter, more saffron, meyer lemon juice, and a bit of mirin instead of white wine. That was because I was pairing it with a 2001 J Pinot and did not want to open a white just for the sauce. I served the fish along side some snow pea leaves and asparagus stir fried in ginger, garlic, and olive oil. Well, in the end I was very proud of how it came out. And now I can add another fish to my repertoire.

Decent Chinese Food in South Bay...Continued

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:05:12 GMT

It's still Chinese New Year time for a couple more weeks, and we wanted to get some authentic goodies. But it was late, there were just two of us, options were limited. You may recall I already rejected a number of local options in previous posts. So I hit the Internet and decided to try Shanghai Palace Garden as it sounded most authentic, and I like Shanghai style Chinese. I called first. Yes, they had some fresh lobster specials. Yes, I could bring wine.

We were a bit nervous when we found it was part of the Ramada Inn in Torrance. Parking was limited, we had to go behind the hotel. But the restaurant itself was nice enough, brightly lit, much bigger than it looked from the outside. It was completely filled with Chinese Patrons, always a good sign. And they had signage that proudly boasted "all natural ingredients" with a circle and slash over a picture of MSG.

THey were very friendly and helpful with navigating us through the menu. Lots of unusual options. We settled on two soups to start: 1) Bamboo "marrow" and greens, and 2) abalone and chicken broth and bamboo marrow. Each "cup" easily served both of us one large bowl each. The bamboo marrow and greens, at $2.50, was amazingly full of flavor and light. I had never had bamboo marrow before; it was spongy, maybe sort of similar to braised daikon in texture, but a delicate flavor. The second soup was a bit disappointing; the abalone was a bit tough and the chicken flavor was lacking (here is where some MSG may have helped, lol)

Next came the mains, described as: seasonal snow pea leaves with garlic, juicy shanghai dumplings, special "lobster," and fish fillet with garlic and pepper.

When we asked about the juicy dumplings, we mentioned the well-known Taiwanese dumpling house, Din Tai Fung. They nodded enthusiastically and agreed that they were similar. We then commented on the "shanghai" focus of the restaurant in context of this Taiwanese specialty, and they then joked that the dumplings were "Shanghai-nese" dumplings. They were quite nice; thin skinned and bursting with a juicy broth and flavorful meat. They told me these are also available, along with a few select other dumplings, for lunch.

The snowpea leaves were fresh, full of great garlicy goodness, not oily at all. The fish fillet, to my horror, turned out to be fried. I guess I should have asked. Still not sure what kind of fish it was, but the breading was very light and it was not greasy at all. It was smothered in crispy sauted chopped garlic sprinkled with some chili peppers. For me the taste was ok, kinda like chinese fish and chips vs tempura. The whole "lobster" dish, $23, was the biggest surprise of the night, as it turned out to be a dungeness crab. This was amusing. It came disassembled, in a nice brown sauce infused with crab juices. In the sauce were rice cakes and a bean similar to edamame. The carapace was the best part, very rich and crabby.

In regards to wine, we are not of the opinion that Asian only goes with Riesling and other similar whites. We enjoy experimenting pairing Asian food with red wine. It is worth mentioning that we brought an inexpensive Barbera with us that paired brilliantly with this meal. A 2005 Vietti Barbera Tre Vigne. It was a nice dry wine with light acid and tannins, great fruit, but not all that heaviness/high sugar you frequently get with similar CA varietals in that price range these days. It really paired well with the light sauces and garlic flavors without overpowering them. LA Wine Co has it for just $14.95. I recommend you get some before we buy them out.

Shanghai Palace Garden
2880 Pacific Coast Hwy
Torrance, CA 90505

(310) 539-1838

Random Thought: Fast Food Nation

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:06:56 GMT

I am in the middle of listening to the audio version of Fast Food Nation. I am sure I will get to the outrage part soon enough, but at the moment all of this talk about burgers is really making me crave a Big Mac and fries. And a shake. And I never eat that stuff. Sigh.

R23 - Love the Cardboard Chairs. The Sushi? Not What I Was Expecting

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:35:11 GMT

So I keep this database of LA restaurants that includes those I want to get to at some point. Part of it consists of all the so-called "premium" sushi places in LA. I have been to many of them with different degrees of success. My favorite is probably Shibucho off Beverly, but that is for another review. For my husband's birthday, we decided to finally hit R23. Scary valet parking, Really cool decor, great art, funky cardboard chairs. But who called this place premium? Maybe the prices. A lot of the fish is not even from Japan, they serve stuff like Ama ebi (sweet shrimp) that was clearly not from a tank, they do "round-eye" rolls with avocado and mayo, and I saw them making spicy tuna with Korean hot sauce. Was I in one of the many non-descript strip-mall sushi places around town, or a premium Japanese establishment? You couldn't tell one from the other just from the fish. I have since heard that the cooked items are supposed to be better than the sushi, but we were trying to get premium sushi, not go to an izakaya. We did not really try any hot items with two exceptions: one was a roasted oyster topped with uni. It was a roasted whole pacific oyster topped with a non-premium uni slice. $8. It was drizzled with an ordinary ponzu-like sauce and had some grated carrot on it. At least if they used a kumomoto or miyagi or something it would have had better flavor and texture. Oh well. As for the sushi, it was ok. No complaints, but nothing to write home about, either. Actually, my favorite item was the other hot item: roasted gingko nuts, which came cracked on a bed of sea salt. We had two orders of those. There are plenty of local strip-mall places in Torrance and other parts of LA that have sushi at least as good for much less money. I think we will try Nishimura next time.

R-23
923 E 2nd St Ste 109
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 687-7178
http://www.r23.com/

Ok, We Were Totally High Maintenance Customers, but still...3rd Strike for Providence.

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:35:52 GMT

The background is that we were huge Michael fans - loved him at WaterGrill. Yet we have been to Providence twice before now, did the tasting menu, and were underwhelmed each visit. This time we went for my husband's birthday with three others. We all agreed to order off the menu and not do the tasting, in hopes of a better experience. Admittedly, we were terrible customers. One person in the party arrived 30 min after we were seated. We brought 4 bottles of our own (very good) wine and only ordered a few cocktails. We were kinda loud. And when they overheard me complaining about the tasteless Ahi/Black Truffle dish ($55) they came by and offered to take it back. I took them up on it and replaced it with the SpotPrawns, a complex dish that was prepared tableside. I think they were already closed by the time it came out. Plus, when one of my friends saw how I sent mine back, she jumped on the opportunity and sent hers back as well, even though she had finished more than 75% of it. (But she hated it also)

But I am getting ahead of myself. We knew we were probably in trouble when we all disliked the amuse. It consisted of a piece of raw trout/salmon adorned with a drop of "sauce" they called citrus gelee that I think was basically corn syrup. It was accompanied by a "shot" of liquid that tasted strongly of saffron and fennel. The fennel overpowered it. After trying mine, i quickly advised my husband to avoid the corn syrup sauce and instead added some sea salt flakes from the table to it, and that was passable. The appetizers should have been amazing. My husband and I both got a dish described as scrambled eggs, uni, and black truffles. ($35) It really lacked the intense flavor I was expecting. There was a grillled octopus dish that had a sauce on it that was too sweet. A "raviolio" underwhelmed with a lobster(?) filling. THe best appetizer (and the best dish of the night) was ordered by one of my friends: an uni risotto with lobster. It included 3-4 generous pieces of lobster and a nice piece of uni. It was dressed with a nice foam. Great flavor.

Mains included a ahi tuna with black truffle crust, spot prawns roasted in rosemary salt and prepared tableside, and a few fresh fish items. (Grouper and Snapper.) The tuna, as mentioned earlier, was just awful in that it has no flavor. The truffles were not particularly truffley. The spot prawns, served with both heads and tails. were quite salty. I liked this aspect, my friend did not. They were very fresh and flavorful, but at $55 quite costly. The fresh fish preparations were not memorable.

All in all, we had a great time, drank some great wine, but were terribly disappointed with the food. Michael must not have thought much of us either, he did not come out at all to see how we liked the meal. (We observed him visiting other tables.) The sommelier, Drew, was excellent and very patient with us. THey did cut the corkage from $25 to $20 (we did not ask for this) and that was appreciated. Here are some pictures:
scrambled egg, truffle, uni
Spot Prawns
Grilled Octopus
ahi tuna in black truffle crust. Note how it is overcooked, as there is a 1/4" border around the red area. It needed to have a better sear. That is what caused the lack of intense tuna flavor. Truffles were generous but very weak in flavor as well.

Grouper
Lobster Uni Risotto (best dish of the night)

Providence
5955 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 460-4170

Shoulda Stuck with Soon Tofu. Ryo Zan Paku Review

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:16:12 GMT

9:15 on a weeknight...we just worked out. Hungry. Where to go to get a light dinner? We just weren't in the mood for Soon Tofu. Drove over to Rolling Hills Plaza on Crenshaw. THey always have new Asian places opening up in there. We were in luck! A new Izakaya called Ryo Zan Paku was open till 1 AM. Nice place, but empty. Great menu. Huge selection of all of our faves ...lots of yakitori/teppanyaki, great rice and noodle dishes, lots and lots of veggie items. We saw a small sushi bar. So we got a bit of Sake and decided to graze. We ordered a nice assortment of yakitori items. I love the hearts and gizzards, he likes the cartilage and "rump." They even had lambchops, a rare find. They also had some nice winter dishes: Oden (veggies and fishcakes in broth) and Chasuke (salmon, rice, dashi) We asked what was good at the sushi bar. Alarms should have sounded when they said "we only have rolls." We didn't order the sushi, but also didn't pick up on the foreboding assessment of the entire experience. (The fish wasn't fresh enough for pieces, and neither was anything else in place.) Basically, everything we got was decent quality at some point, but I think it was all premade earlier that day and then reheated to order. And poorly reheated at that. Everything was not warm enough and in the case of the lambchops and chicken liver, dried out. A shame. We actually complained, and they apologized and continued to bring out more lukewarm food. Hard to effectively complain when you don't speak the language. $90 for this. There are a bzillion better izakaya places in town. In the end, shoulda stuck with the Soon Tofu.

Even More Trendier than Crudo...They are doing WHAT with Raw Fish?

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:14:53 GMT

Sushi is a happy food. All that tasty raw fish goodness AND it is good for you. Sure we quest out Edo Sushi and go to the most authentically Japanese places in town, but we also love finding places that really add a unique twist to the raw fish experience. There used to be a great place in West LA that did this..Sushi Anju, but the chef moved back to Tokyo. You'd never think Salmon Sashimi would work in a curry sauce, but they made it really shine. And sure LA is famous for the Nobu Matsuhisa thing where the addition of jalapenos to a piece of fish can blow the minds of people. And more recently, Crudo (Italian Sashimi) and Ceviche have become quite trendy as well. I was recently in South Beach and South American fusion sushi was all over town. But not until my experience with the new Sushi Chef at Chez Melange have I experienced...Tropical Sushi!

Jesse hails from the Ritz Carlton in St. Thomas. He learned a lot there, but sometimes the student transcends the teacher. Jesse shared an anecdote where he was inspired to use kiwi as part of a konpachi carpaccio dressing. His boss turned his nose up at it. Well, I have to tell you, the boss was wrong. Mirin is a common sweetener used in Japanese sauces. Substitute a dash of kiwi and add some soy and other Japanese seasoning, and you have an intriguing flavor profile that has just the right amount of sweet-tart accent with that tropical flair, yet still honors its Japanese heritage. You really need to try this.

But that is just the beginning of our taste revolution with Jesse. Another creative dish was the Nantucket Bay Scallop Seviche. He butterflied the scallops so they wound up with a similar texture to Hotate. The dressing included yuzu, citrus, and tomatoes, and it had a killer kick from some unusual peppers. We also experienced another bay scallop preparation, this one involving truffle salt and some citrus. Sadly, he was pretty much out of bay scallops at this point so it was just a tiny morsel, but a memorable one at that. The truffle salt really brought out the creaminess of the scallop and the flavor of the sea. I will look for this next time to place a full order.

Later on, we challenged Jesse to do something clever with oysters. Sushi bars usually do something with Ponzu. Jesse's interpretation also incorporated red onion and mint. It was a refreshing flavor with a gentle saltiness without being overly briny.

One of my favorite items was the Marugai, the giant clam. This time he dressed it with a bit of olive oil in addition to the soy, citrus, and mint.

Another thing worth mentioning is the rice. Good rice is not a simple undertaking. We often struggle with non-authentic Japanese sushi bar rice as a result. It is typically too sweet or too vinegary or too mushy. But Jesse gets rice. Each kernel was distinct and well-flavored. The rice was a great accompaniment for the lovely pieces of yellowtail draped over it. The YT was torch-seared and adorned with small jalapeno slices and subtley seasoned.

One of our favorite dishes was something I found quite unique - the Ahi Crisp. This is a great dish to share with a few other people, or just fight over it with one other person as I did. The base is a crispy (baked) flour tortilla, and it is topped with rich, red pieces of ahi, cilantro, mild red onion, shiso, and togorashi. This is tropical/fusion raw fish at its finest. It is a dish with simple ingredients that elicits complex flavor. The crispy tortilla with the bright seasoning and the smooth, subtle fattiness of the tuna is addicting.

There were plenty of other tastes too numerous to mention here. All I can suggest is for you to stop by Chez Melange one night, sit at the sushi bar (just 6 seats, so lots of personal attention) and tell Jesse to go for it. Oh, and don't forget to offer him a taste of your wine. He likes that. Almost forgot, there is one more benefit to Chez Melange not being a traditional Japanese sushi bar...on Tuesday no corkage night, they let you bring your own bottle of Sake. Now this is good eating.

Chez Melange
1716 S Pacific Coast Hwy
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 540-1222

Check out some images, below. More Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrea_hoffman/sets/72157603879452163

It was a tease for a month, and now its gone. (Good DimSum in SouthBay)

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:37:30 GMT

We love good dim sum but Alhambra/Monterey park is such a long drive we don't go that often unless we just want to kill most of the day. But sometimes we really get a craving, and are too busy for the trip. For those circumstances, South Bay had two options: Sea Empress in Gardena, and Regal Palace in Lomita. The last several times we went to Sea Empress it completely deteriorated, so we actually haven't been there in six months. Regal Palace was the standby. It was generally hit or miss, but there were always a few decent items for not that much money. So we were quite surprised this past September when we stopped by and it all seemed quite different. Many of the staff had suddenly been replaced by people we knew from PCH, another Chinese restaurant in Lomita that used to be good. They had a new menu, and a great chef who focused on Hong Kong specialties. The quality was at least as good if not better than the big names on the East Side. We came back a couple more times, and then all of a sudden there was a big sign announcing that they were to be closed for a month. Well, they reopened in December as PV Palace and today was the first day we came back. This time, there were even more staff members from PCH, there was a new manager/owner, and the menu was completely different again. But sadly, the dim sum was mediocre at best. Everything was doughy, they were really pushing the deep fried stuff, there was not a lot of variety, and worst of all, the prices were insane. The bill for the two of us was over $50, and the only "D" we had was the Chinese broccoli. A's started at $2.50. Potstickers (4) were a special order and were $4. The service was great, everyone was very accommodating, and they speak very good English. But sadly, I can no longer recommend this place. Does anyone else know of a better dim sum place in South Bay?

Rain: New Restaurant in Torrance. "It was raining french fries and good wine..."

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:41:53 GMT

A friend sent me an email asking if I had been to a new place in Torrance called Rain. 40 wines by the glass, small plates, organic/sustainable, even a waterfall. All of this AND in Torrance. OMG how could I have missed it? I was terribly embarrassed. So I couldn't even wait until tonight (fri) to go. I had to check it out that very night (thurs). I called, and found out they were open for 8 months (?!) and serve dinner until mignight. It is in the Marriott near the mall. So we grabbed two of our foodie friends and headed out. We didn't even get there until 9:30.

The first sign something was wrong was when all the cool interesting things on the online menu were missing. No kobe hotdog with blue cheese. No honeycomb with the cheese platter. No butter-roasted nuts. But at least they still had the yukon gold truffle fries!

None of us really wanted big dinners, so we thought we would graze. Tried a number of bar items, such as fish and chips, sliders, and, well, a plain hot dog. Oh, and a lobster pot pie. And we ordered a bottle of wine, a moderately price Turley Zin, "Juvenile" for about $60. The wine took forever to arrive, but when it did, we were pleased to see that when the waitress fetched it she looked for brands and did not pay much attention to the label. The Turley that arrived was the Estate, a far more expensive wine that was on their list for $105.

We enjoyed that while we, um, experienced the food. Each dish we ordered came with its own order of frenchfries. And of course we had also ordered truffle fries so that arrived as well. The entire table was covered in french fries. The fish was fairly moist within a nice crunchy batter. Not particularly british-tasting. The sliders were a half-step better than white castle. The hotdog was, well, a hot dog. Not much to report there. The "truffle" part of the fries eluded me. All of the fries on the table tasted the same to me, although some of them tasted a bit of cumin. And then there was the lobster pot pie. It basically was a brown bowl of flour-thickened goo that tasted of cheap cooking sherry. There were about three chunks of lobster kind of oozing around in the bowl, with a few small potatoes bopping about. Two pastry sticks laid across the top. (Presumably, this was the pot-pie part.) We all declared it inedible.

But we were enjoying the fries, and wanted to try our luck again with another bottle of Turley. Was it a mistake the first time? We reordered the same bottle, being careful to point it out on the menu. This time, I think we got the Dragon, a very hard wine to even find, and it was much more expensive, about $130 on their list. We ate more fries, shared gambling analogies, and I pointed out to my friends that there sure were a lot of William Selyem labels on the menu. So we decided to roll the dice. Ordered the cheapest one (Central Coast) at $85, and waited to see what we got. Well, we were dealt a full house because what arrived was the Westside Coast Road Neighbors at about $140. Amazing. At that point, we were filled with fries. But this was so much fun. We both told the waitress that we were staying at the hotel and we wanted to order bottles for the room. They got another William Seleym and we ordered another Turley. (imagine some suspenseful music about now) Another jackpot! They got the Sonoma Coast at around $95, and we got the Old Vines which went for about $90. We quickly paid the bill and ran out to the car, relishing our treasures. I checked the retail price of the Turley when I got home, and it cost less at the restaurant.

What a night. I can only wonder what their inventory database looks like.

Wine Spectator Top 100. Is it really tops?

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:07:46 GMT

Went to a top 100 party the other night. Attendees were required to each bring a bottle from the top 100 list from any year. No top 10's showed up at the party, but there was a generous assortment from recent years. I had seen the 2007 list when it first came out and wasn't particularly enthused when I saw it contained such gems as Yellowtail Shiraz and Rombauer Chard, both horribly over-oaked and over-extracted high-alcohol fruit bombs (IMHO). It seems that Wine Spectator is really going for the big juicy stuff. The list had very few wines I would describe as "elegant." THe few whites that were present on the list were huge. The one wine I did pick up from the list, a Latour Volnay, could have passed for new world it was so big. The disappointment of the night for me was the Alban Reba. I have always loved Alban's wines. This one was such a giant wine it practically burned when I swallowed. Probably the best wine for me that night was a Bordeaux, Château Pontet-Canet (Pauillac). I think it stood out because of its noticable refinement versus the others, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Santa Barbara CHP grant targets drunken driver 'Sideways' effect

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:09:45 GMT

Have you heard?

Santa Barbara CHP grant targets drunken driver 'Sideways' effect

By Associated Press Article Launched: 02/01/2008 08:37:20 AM PST

SANTA BARBARA - The California Highway Patrol blames an increase in wine country drunken driving arrests and crashes on the "Sideways" effect.

The 2004 hit movie "Sideways" set in the San Ynez Valley vineyards led to a stampede to the area's 90 wine tasting rooms, and there was suddenly a rise in drunken driving incidents.

The Santa Barbara Area CHP just got $658,000 grant to crack down on drinking and driving in the wine country.

CHP Officer Donald Clotworthy says the popularity of "Sideways" led to a burst of wine-related activities. He says "Santa Barbara County has become wine country for Southern California."

__________________________
I really loved that movie, but it really decimated Santa Barbara for those of us who go wine tasting, to, you know, actually taste wine in order to evaluate it for purchase. Now it is so touristy that it is getting like Napa. No more refined, quiet tasting experiences. No more "I am not sure if I want to buy A or B. Can I have one more taste?" Now if you go on a weekend, you will be confronted with huge crowds of oft-low-class people reveling in their obnoxious drunkeness. They have inexperienced people pouring the wines who can't answer questions, and even pricey tasting fees. Plus, I have seen wineries put limits on how many tastes you can have on the premise that you are there to get bombed and are not spitting/dumping any of it. Resistance is futile. I was in Kalyra recently when a tour bus pulled up. We overheard a woman tell the wine pourer that she did not want to taste the wine, she was just there for the signature glass.

The irony is that the Santa Barbara they showed in Sideways is no more. Except maybe that spit bucket scene at Fess Parker.

If only Temecula wasn't mostly swill. At least Paso is still nice. But for how long?

Lucques - Solid Comfort Food, Gourmet Touch

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:09:12 GMT

Lucques is simply a great place to go with friends to have a relaxing, uncomplicated dinner. They have a small but thoughtful menu that offers enough variety for even your most picky companions. Suzanne did a great Crudo; kompachi with an authentic basil pesto dressing. Main dishes feature comfortable options but with a gourmet twist...such as perfectly braised shortribs resting on a squash puree with pumpkin pie seasoning. Another table favorite was an extraordinarily tender grouper served on a layer on onion-ey sauteed fennel. Veal cheeks were a bit disappointing; the wine sauce overpowered them a bit. The nutty farro accompaniment did pair nicely. A pork dish was a bit dry for my taste. For dessert, the table chose to share a plate of mixed confections (candy) for just $10. But the highlight of the dessert...and possibly the entire meal...was the hot chocolate. Four of us shared one small glass of ultra rich valrhona chocolate in cream with home made marshmallows. What a delectable treat. I would go back just for that. Corkage was $15, which they waived as we also purchased a nice Hitching Post Pinot from the reasonably-priced options.

Paperfish - Impress Your Date, but not a Foodie

andrea.hoffman@gmail.com (Foodie Traveler) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:38:44 GMT

Five of us visited on Day 3. Ultramodern, open/high-ceiling, strikingly decorated with a white and red-orange motif, nicely contrasted with black linen napkins. Unlike other restaurants in the area, tables are not too close together, acoustics lend themselves nicely to private conversation. JD, our waiter, was a pleasure. Incredibly enthusiastic, he carefully pushed and pulled us to order the "right" items. So we were optimistic at first.

JD sold us on the night's appetizer, a very special grilled octopus. Then he came back to give us the sad news that they ran out. We joked that the chef should come out and personally apologize. He did, lol. Unfortunately, as great as the service was the food turned out to be typical of other Patina establishments. It looked pretty to the eyes but just did not deliver in quality and flavor. The five of us ordered five appetizers, five dinners, and all 7 desserts. We all wanted to taste each other's dishes. But since the portion sizes were microscopic (Hey JD, next time upsell on ordering extra) we went ahead and each took 1-2 bites of each dish and passed it to the next person. The plates barely made it once around the table.

Appetizers included the maryland crabcake, crusted (fried) oysters with a thai peanut sauce, peekytoe crab on tempura potato, blackcod in a miso sauce with a fried quail egg (pictured), and a carpaccio of bigeye tuna with macadamia nuts and coconut milk. The portions on all were microscopic despite prices into the teens on each. The miso cod was the best of the group; very flavorful sauce without it being too sweet as often occurs with miso sauces.

Mains were Sauteed Skate (Pictured: greasy, way too salty), Steamed turbot (nice flavor, too salty), seared scallops with shortrib ravioli, (scallops were slightly overcooked, ravioli was too salty and did not pair well) flatiron steak, (tasteless, not a good sear) and the signature snapper (wrapped in "paper," pictured) that tasted of ginger and not much else.

At that point, with every drop of food gone we were all quite hungry and were debating on going out to another place for dinner or just ordering all the desserts. We went for the desserts. We ordered all seven, and none were particularly memorable or that good.

The punchline was the bill. They actually overcharged us by $170. The overcharge was comprised of two orders of octopus that we never received, a mischarge for a much more expensive bottle of champagne versus the one we ordered, plus they charged us corkage on 4 bottles of wine at $20 each. We had actually only brought 2 bottles of wine, and I had gotten a phone quote of $10 corkage with it waived for each bottle purchased. And doesn't the Patina group have a no-corkage policy in general? On the champagne, they told us they brought us the more expensive bottle but would honor the lower charge since we ordered the cheaper one. Actually, they really did bring the cheaper one. That kind of put us off.

Sadly, I am looking at the itemized bill one more time as I write this blog, and it appears they did not remove the two charges for the octopus ($18) and there is still a $20 corkage. Not cool.