la.foodblogging

We love cooking with friends. There’s something about crowding our galley kitchen with chatting people that makes a small apartment feel great. Last night was no exception.

A: I started with our favorite meatball recipe from Cuisine at Home. (My mom gave me a subscription a few years back, and everything that we’ve made from the magazine has been great!) The meat is mixed with fresh parsley, cheese, a few eggs, herbs, and breadcrumbs, then the meatballs are placed on a cookie sheet and go into the over to bake in about a ½ inch of beef broth. These meatballs really stand out with their own flavor instead of getting bowled-over by the tomato sauce. Plus, they freeze well!

K: To pair with Alison’s meatballs, I made a great tomato sauce, Alton Brown’s Pantry Friendly Tomato Sauce which uses a mire poix base to which you add tomatos, red pepper, and other herbs. The flavors are heavenly—sweet, hot, and tangy! Plus, you get to use a lot of the wonderful fresh produce that’s available locally right now. For about the same price as store-bought sauce, you can make fantastic home-made sauce.

A: We followed up our wonderful dinner with desserts at Dolores Restaurant on Santa Monica. It’s open 24 hours, it’s not Denny’s or Norm’s, and it has great ambience. (Seriously, where else can you get stained-glass windows of galloping horses?) The clientele is very mixed, and we felt right at home in a big oval booth at the front of the place. Their specials for the night were “Half Baked Chicken� and “Trout,� which makes me oddly curious about having dinner there in the future. I ordered a cherry strudel and their signature drink: a Cherry-Lime Rickey—a classic soda fountain phosphate. Both were the right combination of sweet and tart. The strudel dough was flaky and buttery in just the right amounts. I like really sweet drinks, so the Rickey was up my alley, but next time, I might ask for the syrup to be cut back just a little!

K: Dolores’ is bizarre. It’s hard to believe it’s actually in Los Angeles, and not tucked away in a corner of David Lynch’s mind. Entering the restaurant at 11:30pm, it felt as if every eye in the place was on us—we certainly weren’t regulars. However, after a few awkward moments, we settled in to a table and ordered dessert. I was torn between a slice of classic cheesecake and a hot fudge sundae. The Call of the Sundae turned out to be irresistible however. When it arrived, I was somewhat disappointed. The fudge wasn’t really hot, and it lacked a thick layer of peanuts that I associate with the best sundaes. The “whipped topping� was great though, and the ice cream was amazingly smooth and delicious. Next time though, I’m going to get cheesecake—or maybe one of the cinnamon buns the size of Alison’s head…. Speaking of Alison, I tried her strudel. I wasn’t crazy about it. I expect strudel to be flaky and tender—this was a little too buttery, and not sufficiently flaky or tender. The cherry filling was great though—as was the cherry lime phosphate!

A: Overall, I’d say it’s a good place to go for late-night grub and coffee. Its ambience is much better than the crowded late-night diners in Santa Monica—much more laid back and quiet. Plus, there’s a parking lot right on the side of the building.

K: This morning, I started my day with a trip with a friend to the Saturday morning farmers’ market in Santa Monica. This was my first visit to the Saturday market, although I’ve been to the Wednesday one several times. I was a bit surprised at how small it was, compared to the Wednesday market. That said, the produce was great. We picked up fresh Hass avocados for $1/ea, Bing cherries for $5/lb., as well as flavored pistachios and organic cilantro. As we were leaving, I got drawn into the olive stand by the sign advertising “blue cheese stuffed olives� from Adam’s Ranch in Strathmore, CA. After eyeing the olives and olive oil for a few minutes, I began talking with the proprietor. He got out his tasting set, and served up a few rounds of his fresh olive oil. He had three varieties of olive oil, including Mission and Manzanillo oils. I ended up picking up a bottle of the Manzanillo oil with its rich olive flavor and a delicious olive-infused balsamic vinegar to pair with it for dipping.

A: This afternoon, we finished off the leftovers from our spaghetti and meatballs with the addition of olive oil and balsamic vinegar that Kevin had picked up at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market that morning. The meatballs were still soft and flavorful reheated in the microwave. The olive oil was great, even with the day-old bread we had on hand. The balsamic vinegar really tasted fruity, tangy, and was a perfect contrast to the rich taste of the olive oil!

Dolores Restaurant
11407 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025-3009

A: We're a newly-married couple that lives in West Los Angeles. We're both graduate students at UCLA. Alison is a medievalist-in-training and Kevin is working on his Ph.D. in Computer Science. We both have developed a love for cooking and exploring the amazing culinary landscape of Los Angeles.