Then comes the part where you write the list and set out to get your ingredients.

I am not a huge fan of supermarket chains. I understand their necessity for things like Kleenex and band-aids. But for other things - the important things, the food, their cold impersonal nature, their hermetically sealed meats and cheeses, their slicked up veggies and perfect fruits just leave me feeling, to put it mildly, underwhelmed.

What I love about visiting and shopping in New York City, Rome or Paris are the small neighborhood stores. They’re personal, the food is lovingly picked out and placed on the shelves. There are no glaring fluorescent lights, no sounds of “ping, pinging” as food is “scanned” through a computer system. Shopping in these kinds of places is a much more intimate affair.

The Valley, for the past 20 years has gotten a pretty bad rep. And I’m not saying some of it isn’t deserved. But there is a incredible ethnic diversity here, and some great mom and pop markets to to serve that population. Once I started paying attention, I found there were some such gems, right under my nose.
I’m definitely on a hunt for more, but for now, here are some of my favorites.

Valley Produce
18345 Vanowen St. Reseda, CA 91335

There is one in Reseda and one in Simi Valley. This is a place where you can find unusual fruits, nuts and veggies for unbelievably cheap prices. They had the not unusual russet potato on sale for 10 cents a pound not too long ago. Hello!?

Their ethnic offerings are also, as my boyfriend and cook Todd would say, off the chain! You want Indian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese? You will most likely find the ingredients you are looking for.

Their meat and fish counters are crazy (in a good way) with every part of every animal you might like. If you are into trying the more “unusual” bits and parts of a creature, you will be in heaven.

Cheeses are limited, but Feta is $3.99 a pound, about half what you’d pay at a major chain. Although, for my day to day cheese purchases I still think Trader Joe’s is a pretty good bargain.

A few caveats: it isn’t always as spotless as one might like (more of a Farmers Market kinda feel), there are no oiled up fruits and veggies at this place, a good thing in my estimation, so you’ll have to pick and choose amongst the piles and it’s beyond busy on the weekends - be prepared.

But if you are an adventurer in the kitchen - go for it!

Vallarta Supermarkets

This isn’t exactly a “mom and pop” place, it is a larger chain, but, you may have overlooked them, and that would be a shame.
I love some good Mexican food - grilling up a little Carne Asada con todo on the weekend is all good by me. I’ve driven by Vallarta’s Markets for years but finally stopped in a month or so ago. Mariachi music pumps from the speakers to accompany you while you shop.

Produce? Check! There are inexpensive peppers and chilies of every kind imaginable. Lemons, plantains, yucca and more are also there in all their glory. You want jalapenos? You’ve got about 10 brands to choose from. The meat and fish are of great quality as are their pre-made offerings - like pickled carrots (the spicy kind, yum!) several kinds of salsa and guacamole.

There there is the Taqueria - Oh yeah. So far we’ve only picked up a bag of their “hot off the presses” corn tortillas, but if you don’t want to cook you can buy a huge variety of hot food - carnitas, tortas, enchiladas, you name it.

It’s not a place I shop for coffee, dairy, paper products - but when I get the itch to cook Mexican it’s the only place I’ll go. Besides they offer shuttle service so the ladies can come and do their shopping - how stinkin’ cute is that?

Find A Vallarta Near You

Tarzana Armenian Grocery and Deli
18598 Ventura Blvd. Tarzana, CA 91356

If you are hankering for some dolmathes, a little kasseri cheese or maybe some hummus then look no further. This small market has a good variety of Middle Eastern ingredients but most people come here (some from OVER THE HILL) to try their freshly made sandwiches and salads.

Q Market
17259 Vanowen St. Van Nuys, 91406 Phone:
818.345.4251

Hankering for some Turkish Delight? This is an interesting little Middle Eastern Market. From my limited understanding of the regions represented in this market, there is a Kosher section and a Halal section. Halal is food that is “permissible” by strict Islamic standards and Kosher is the same for Jewish standards.
In any case, the market has some really interesting and unusual Middle Eastern ingredients. Don’t let the scruffy exterior scare you away - it’s well kept inside.

Domingoes Italian Grocery
17548 Ventura Blvd. Encino, CA 91316
818.981.4466

Pancetta from Domingoes…Yum.

This is one of those places I’ve driven by, literally, hundreds of times. When I first walked in the other day, I almost kicked myself for having missed this hidden gem for so long. I just returned from my first trip to NYC. One of our favorite things about the city, was among other things, the little markets we lingered in while in Little Italy. Tucked away, with goodies galore, they seem to be waiting for you to find them. Domingoes, for me, had a little bit of that vibe, right here in the big ‘ol Valley. I picked up some pancetta, some great Italian cookies, and then spent a half an hour drooling over their spices, oils, wines, and yes, freshly baked bread. They have a full service deli making sandwiches and other goodies, definitely on my list of “things to do.”
I may have missed this placed before, but I’ve found it now, and I’ll be back!

It excites me to discover my part of the world in a whole new way, looking for those places that, sadly, may go unnoticed. I’m done doing my shopping at some big, cold chain store. For me, the independently own shops are the way to go.

In a rather savvy cross-promotion (actually, a no-brainer, when you think about it…) the delightful ice-cream parlor and café on Beverly, Milk, teamed up with the Got Milk? people (namely, the Cali Milk Processor Board) to host an open house last night.

I spotted a handful of fellow bloggers, including the gorgeous Kristy of Best of LA and met Javier the teenage glutster who is going to have to change his blog name any day now, once he ‘comes of age’ - lol

I met the gal who writes Mikey Hates Everything and she even came with two - uh - robot dudes in biz suits…

I also got to catch up with the dashing and daring Eddie Lin of Deep End Dining fame.

A few people asked after you, Jonah, but the words ‘new baby’ and ‘Westside’ seemed to explain your absence (!)

Over the past year, Bret Thompson (former Corporate Executive Chef of the Patina Restaurant Group, Michelin trained, and now owner and executive chef of Milk,) has been tantalising the palates of Angelinos with his delectable treats at Milk. Through this unique partnership with the Got Milk? campaigners, Thompson has adapted and now shares the secret recipes to some of Milk’s most divine sweet desserts – from the ever-so-popular Milky Way Melt (which I did not sample) to the pan-Latin-inspired Berry Tres Leches, which was out of this world!

Bret’s recipes can now be found on their really cool little site.

Other yummy desserts that were being passed around were:
mini ice-cream cones with a fantastic banana & dulce de leche filling and dipped in crisp caramel;
a petite meringue ice cream sandwich;
malted milk shake with teeny choc-covered malted balls within;
a feather-light cornbread cake with raspberry filling and kernels of corn that was truly sensational
also an elegant plastic goblet of a creamy, dreamy and lightly spiced pumpkin squash soup with smoky toasted pepitas on top;
and of course the Berry Tres Leches, which has to be hands down the best version of this classic Mexican dessert I’ve ever tried.

The cake is infused with berries until it is purple-blue and then layered with white cake. The custard parts are not too sickly sweet at all (as is sometimes the case) - it’s simply perfect. Topped with fresh berries and you have a winner. I got to chat with Bret about his Berry Tres Leches dessert, by the way. He explained that it was tough to perfect the genoise or French-style sponge cake part of this delectable dessert so that it doesn’t collapse under the weight of all the three milky ingredients, namely evaporated, condensed and fresh milk.

I also talked to Steve James, the head honcho of the (actually two-person) Got Milk? team and learned how the Got Milk? campaign was created, about fifteen years ago. Legend has it that apparently some creative minds from the advertising firm Goodby, Silverstein and Partners – who they’ve been with ever since – were waiting outside the conference room door, ready to make their pitch. They’d surreptitiously filmed people in their own office reacting, with varying degrees of frustration and anger, to deliberately minuscule amounts of milk left in almost empty containers. They had the campaign and strategy all worked out but no punchy, hooky catch phrase. The team were brainstorming right outside the door, saying, ‘But we need something really simple, like, I dunno, ‘Got Milk?’

Such goes the legend of one of the most enduring food-related ad campaigns you can name.

It was a really fun event.

TIP:

Feast on superb Italian fare at Angelini Osteria across the road, then walk to Milk for dessert.

Milk
7290 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 939-6455

Why do I love asparagus? Nothing else tastes quite like it, for starters. It’s sweet, it’s tangy, it’s pungent, it’s fresh, it’s savory, all in one vegetable! It’s like a complete food that way, needing little more than salt and pepper to enliven the senses. Sure, it has its classic pairings, such as hollandaise sauce, morels, or bacon, but for this grad-student epicure, usually just a quick steam, boil, or saute is enough to bring out their full glory.

This season I have been eating a lot of Zuckerman Farms’ jumbo asparagus (South Pasadena farmer’s market, Hollywood farmer’s market) — I would recommend buying the thickest stalks you can afford, and maximize that volume-to-surface area ratio. Here’s why: skins just don’t have that much flavor. So while the thin asparagus may be more tender, resulting in less trim loss, there is no way they can compare with the jumbos in flavor. Jumbos are also a lot more convenient to clean and prep, because there are fewer of them in a batch, and because they keep well in some water. Avoid being suckered into paying more for asparagus “tips”? too — usually they are just old tips trimmed off of woody stems (you can tell by examining the tips for dried out “leaves”), and not at all a premium product.

So here I offer you my modular technique for making boiled asparagus, sauteed asparagus, and asparagus soup. I love this method because each technique builds on the last, so they’re easier to remember. You only need a couple things, though to enjoy this spring bounty: a knife, a cutting board, a fruit/vegetable peeler, some pots and pans, kitchen tongs, and a blender if you’re making soup. As for other ingredients, this calls only for salt, pepper, olive oil, butter, cream and vegetable/chicken stock — homemade is best, but try to get the no-sodium stuff so you can adjust the seasoning to your taste.

To prep: Wash and dry the asparagus. Take one stalk into both your hands, and, starting at the rigid base end, feel where the stalk just starts to become more flexible. Move up the stalk about another ¼” and slice the asparagus with a sharp knife. The ease of the cut should be an indication of how well you gauged the transition point. I prefer this method to the oft-used bend-and-snap because this way you don’t end up throwing away 50% of your ingredient, most of which is perfectly fine! The only step left is to peel the skin around the asparagus from about three inches from the tip to the base. It’s entirely optional, but it certainly helps cover up any trimming mistakes!

To boil/blanche: Put a medium-sized pot of salted water to an uproarious boil. You want the water to be as hot as you can get it, because anything less will rob you of that precious green color. Drop the tip-ends in first and let the water come back up to a full-boil for 1 or 2 minutes. The muted green color of the raw asparagus should now be a vibrant, sun-shining-through-the-clouds-onto-a-baseball-field green. Now use a set of tongs to turn the whole lot over so that the bases are now soaking. Let the water come up to a full boil for another minute (the stalks generally take less time to cook). Next, liberate them from their hot spring, plate, season with salt, pepper, and a touch of olive oil, and serve.

To saute: While your asparagus are blanching, gently melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan. When blanching is complete, place the asparagus into the pan and saute gently (a very light sizzle) for 5-8 minutes, flipping them once during the process. During this time the tips should soften considerably, and their color will dip towards a deeper, forest green. Season and serve.

To make soup: Heat some vegetable/chicken stock (1.5 cups per “package” of asparagus) to a gentle boil. After the saute step, remove the asparagus from the pan and slice off some tips for garnish. Slice up the rest of the stalk and place into the boiling stock. Using an immersion blender (or standard blender), puree the soup together until smooth. Blend in some heavy cream (start with ¼ cup) to enrich the flavor and the texture, and season well with salt. To serve, place some asparagus tips in the center of a soup bowl and ladle soup around them. Garnish with some olive oil, truffle oil, or some pepper.

P.S. using thinner, unpeeled asparagus will result in a greener, grittier soup.

I love cheese. No, wait - I adore cheese. I don’t mean that rubbery, bland molten and stringy stuff you generally find on pizzas, nor that weird orange stuff you find melted inside a quesadilla. Don’t offer me a highly processed slice of square, plastic-wrapped plastic ‘cheese’ unless you want to wear it.

I’m talking about Real Cheese.

Pungent cave-aged Gruyere and the blue-veined Roquefort from France. Dreamy, creamy brie-like cheeses such as Fromage d’Affinois or stinky Reblochon (also from France). Pungent blue cheeses such as Gorgonzola or the semi-hard and flavourful cow’s milk Provolone from Italy. I adore fresh chevre from Redwood Hill Farms, in northern California, or from local cheese maker Laura Cheney. “Blessed are the cheese makers” indeed.

So, you can see I was thrilled when a specialty cheese shop opened in my ‘hood last year, The Artisan Cheese Gallery

Their close proximity, here in Studio City, saves me the pilgrimage to the other notable cheese specialists in town, namely The Cheese Store of Silver Lake and - my absolute favourite - The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.

Owner Melody Dosch is similarly enamoured with cheesy comestibles. She cultivates relationships with (and devotes a large section of her display cases to) the wares of quite a number of artisanal and boutique cheese makers, dealing personally with a dozen or so on an ongoing basis. These include Californian dairies such as Andante Dairy in Tomales Bay, Winchester Cheese Company, Rinconata Dairy, Santa Margharita and Fiscalini Dairy in Modesto; farms such as Donnay Farms, Minnesota and Capriole Farms in Indiana; also Oregon Gourmet in Albany, Bobolink Dairy, New Jersey and Haystack Mountain Dairy, in Longmont, Colorado.

In fact, Melody purchases cheeses from over fifty American artisans and cheese specialists.

I went over to the Artisan Cheese Gallery for a special event recently where Melody had invited Paula Lambert, a cheese maker from Dallas, to do an in-store presentation, provide samples of her most excellent and unusual cheeses and sign her two glossy cookbooks, The Cheese Lovers Guide and Cheese, Glorious Cheese.

Melody carries a number of Paula’s cheeses, including:

Hoja Santa, a goat’s milk cheese wrapped in Hoja Santa leaves; Blanca Bianca, a raw washed rind cow’s milk cheese (she says it’s one of her favorites); Scamorza, a smoked mozzarella made from cow’s milk; a stunningly creamy yet tart Goat’s milk Mozzarella; Queso Oaxaca, a traditional Mexican cow’s milk cheese; Montasio Festivo, a goat’s milk cheese with a unusual and flavourful chipotle chili rind and Caciotta, a plain cow’s milk infused with Mexican mint.

Melody says she first had the pleasure of meeting Paula and tasting her marvellous cheeses at an American Cheese Society conference in Louisville, Kentucky, about three years ago. Says Melody of the stylish southern dame, “She is one of the most elegant women you will ever meet.” She’s right.

A selected range of Paula Lambert’s excellent cheeses, as well as boutique cheese from all over the country, can be found at The Artisan Cheese Gallery

Also available are salads and sandwiches made daily to order (available 11am-4pm), such as Duck Confit paired with fig spread and Le Marechal cheese or AGC Muffaleta (approx $10) or the classic Grilled Cheese sandwich, made with Ballard Family Dairy cheddar on BreadBar pain de mie and with or without organic heirloom tomatoes ($8.25 or $9.25).

12023 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604
Phone: 818-505-0207
Fax: 818-505-0282

Paula Lambert’s cheeses - The Mozzarella Company

As part of our Learn About Wine promotion, la.foodblogging was given two entries to review the event. Our resident south-of-the-equator writer, MaxMillion was on the scene - Jonah

Last night we swanned over to the gorgeously refurbished Roosevelt Hotel – an historic site smack bang in the heart of Hollywood – to attend the New Zealand Wine Fair, staged by LA-based LearnAboutWine and a collective of New Zealand Winegrowers.
Our mission? To savor the unique wines of New Zealand from their diverse countryside. Indeed, New Zealand does boast some of the most beautiful, remote and inhospitable landscapes in the southern hemisphere. You just need to watch The Lord of the Rings or The Piano to get a sense of the terrain.

Even though I am Australian, I have to admit my knowledge of New Zealand wines is fairly limited. I was first introduced to a delightfully crisp elixir known as ‘sauvignon blanc’ several years ago when wines from Cloudy Bay vineyards burst on to the scene. Sadly, Cloudy Bay was not represented at the fair. Like many boutique vineyards, they have their range and finite output and their profile is probably well enough established by now.

Not so of many of the represented vineyards. Wines featured were from a bunch of places I had never heard of before now: Babich Wines, Brancott, Cable Bay, Clifford Bay, Crossroads, Crown Range Wines Lt, Fernleaf, Hunter’s Wines, Isabel Estate, Jackson Estate, Kim Crawford, Lindauer, Matua Valley, Monkey Bay, Nevis Bluff, Nobilo, Omaka Springs Estate, Oyster Bay Wines, Saint Clair Estate Wines, Seifried, Seresin Vineyards and Winery, Spy Valley, Stoneleigh, Te Kairanga, The Crossings, The Jibe, Waitiri Creek and Whitehaven Wine Company.

All up, about 100 wines were on offer. Uh, no, I didn’t sample them all.

In fact, I stuck to a strict policy of only sampling Sauvignon Blancs, Rieslings and several Pinot Gris. I figured white wines are what the Kiwis do best, and I was not wrong.

My partner in crime proclaimed, with a discernable shudder, one pinot noir “the most hideous pinot noir I’ve ever had in my life!� That was from St Claire in Marlborough. So glad he took a bullet for me!

There was one pinot noir which he felt had none of the characteristics of a pinot noir – “More like a heavy shiraz,� was his assessment. Basically, their red wines have a long way to go.

I was impressed with several fine whites from Cable Bay Vineyards, located in Marlborough (which is at the north-east top of the South Island) and also on Wiaheke Island, which is north of Auckland, on the more populated North Island. General Manager Anthony Mills explained how their best wines are produced from the juice of the ‘free run’ of the hand harvested and pressed grapes, similar to a virgin press of olive oil; the first, finest pass of the fruit. This achieves a wine that is complex yet lighter in flavor, with a softer and more delicate palate. They follow with a 3% aging in old French oak barrels to add “texture – this makes the wine fleshier and bigger.� Nice work, boys.

Over at Seifried, featuring wines from Nelson (on the north western top of the South Island) I was surprised to find the riesling to taste so much sweeter than their sauvignon blanc. Was my inexperience showing? Apparently it’s all in the grape.

Clifford Bay Estate had an almost effervescent sauvignon blanc that was fruity with grapefruit notes. Delicious.

We noticed a lot of couples and several gangs of women, but few single men. It didn’t seem like an especially good venue for meeting people; everyone seemed hell-bent on obtaining their next tasting or grabbing a small plate of cheese and fruit.

In addition to the cheeses, the food on offer was limited to various snacks being passed around featuring Cervena Venison as well as freshly shucked oysters by Hog Island Oyster Company. In fact, the scrum at the oyster station was quite the feeding frenzy. Too bad I loathe oysters, because I could tell these petite and briny bay oysters looked like exceptional ones. More for my partner in crime.

We were lucky to be guided away from the masses towards the picturesque outdoors, thanks to our charming host Ian Blackburn. We headed over to the edge of the hotel’s pool where a few more wines from Hunter’s, also from Marlborough, were being showcased and the venison was plentiful.

LearnAboutWine has established itself as a prime source for wine classes, adventures and tastings in Southern California. Founder Ian Blackburn maintains that wine appreciation does not have to be paired with a snotty attitude. The Los Angeles-based LearnAboutWine exists to make wine enjoyment and education accessible to everyone, minus the pretentiousness.

For more information go to:
LearnAboutWine and New Zealand Wine.

The answer is obvious: it is at the dumbest time you could imagine.

“How,” ask the managers who plan the farmer’s market, “should we choose a time to ensure the least amount of foot traffic and exposure?”

“How about the mitigating hours between lunch and the time everyone gets out of work…say, 2pm to 7pm.”

“Brilliant idea! Someone could potentially work years in Culver City, and never actually see us.”

“Stealth, sir. Its the new marketing trend.”

Everyone was wrong where I work. It doesn’t start at 2pm, that is the setup time. It starts at 3pm. I promise to dig deeper into this. There must be some archaic Culver City ordinance that prohibits religious ceremonies from occurring before 3pm on a weekday, and because some bread vendor bakes his pretzels in the shape of a cross they were legally prohibited from calling themselves a secular farmer’s market. I don’t know.

Yet, I went there for the first time yesterday, and for its tiny size there is a dense offering of good food. Certainly, it is dwarfed by the Hollywood and Santa Monica juggernauts, but I could see it being a great convenience market for all the studio drones to pick up a few things while on late, late, late lunch…or happy hour.

One thing I like about this farmer’s market is that it is not just relegated to strictly produce, there is a Hawaiian grilled chicken stand where the smoke curls around and tugs you by the nostrils. At the very end is a cheese purveyor with a fine variety of artisan cheese that, granted, I could get at Whole Foods…but sometimes the venue adds mytique and richness to food. There is a meat and sausage maker, a seafood monger, and a couple of nut guys.

There are also the requisite hippie products like natural soaps, cleansers and candles. Normally I don’t go for the woodstock contingent, but I like the offbeat scents that local providers can come up with.

Comprising the remaining 50% are the produce farmers, bringing their seasonal best to the table. Colors look vibrant, lettuce appears crisp. Fruits are waxed to perfection. There were some great heirloom tomatoes, with their fantastic character. It reinforces my belief that heirlooms are poised to make a huge splash on the culinary landscape…despite their cretinous and loathsome deformities.

One unique item, the only thing I bought, was a pretzel baguette. I didn’t have the sense of forethought to actually remember the guy’s name because I would like to give him mention (when I’m eating, it never occurs to me I might be writing about it later). He has all manner of snacky breads, cakey cakes, sugar balls and cheesy dings. There were some great pretzel rolls that were erupting with cheddar cheese.

I bought the batard, and I had never seen a pretzel as large as a body pillow. Like a car driving on a Vermont highway in winter, it was liberally covered in rock salt. Fantastic! I love salt. He had a great variety of other baked goods, but I was trying to eat light.

Despite its awkward timing, it is so small you can really compress what would normally be a meandering hour long Sunday tour into fifteen minutes. You can eat [late] lunch and do some shopping all in one stroke. The other benefit to the farmer’s market is the vibrancy it brings to Main Street. All the shops spring to life, antique shops put out their furniture, shop owners stand outside to smoke and bitch…it really brings this sleepy stretch of road to life. If you need an asymmetrical haircut or misconceived dye job, the Beauty College right there. You can wait for your perm to set while gnawing on a fresh carrot or something.

Culver City Farmer’s Market
Main Street between Venice and Culver
Tuesdays, 3pm-7pm

I have a fig tree that still has fruit on the branches. They’re smaller figs than the respectable ones that were harvested late this summer, and they’re not brown.

I know that avocados keep best (and don’t ripen fully) while on the tree. But what to do with these figgy delights? The birds haven’t touched them and since the leaves fell from the tree last week, it’s pretty obvious that they’re turning up their beaks. Does that mean that they’ll never ripen, just shrivel up and fall off?

Because Mitsuwa caters to new arrivals, temporarily relocated families, and semi-permanent Japanese with work-visas, the quality of this particular store is unsurpassed in its expansiveness and quality. There is no other grocery store I have been to that the sushi counter is so cheap for the quality sushi…and it is restaurant quality. The fish used is shipped in fresh each day to the seafood department in back, so the fish you buy in the grocery store, and the fish you buy in the food court (although the Sushi counter isn’t really part of the food court) is superb.

Overall, Mitsuwa is the perfect destination for the Nippophile. When I worked in Torrance up until three months ago, I went to Mitsuwa at least twice a week. Because of the complexity of offering, I can only talk about each department in generalities. There is a bakery, Italian restaurant, curry house, sushi bar, dessert counter with bean pastries, fish section, and standard Japanese/American groceries.

Food Court: It does constantly change, and I was overcome with grief when Panda shut down, because I always got a huge bowl of #1 spicy. Don’t ask me what it was, I called it #1 spicy. It was seafood soup with noodles. There is a disgusting looking, yet delicious Okonomiyaki joint. This is fried batter with savory toppings that looks like the result of Suge Knight throwing Vanilla Ice off the 15th floor balcony. It tastes better than that, I can assure you. And the sushi, yeah the sushi. Eight pices of sushi and six rolls…$7.95. The most expensive sushi combo is $14, and that is all nigiri including eel, salmon roe and urchin. Great value! Finally, even I got caught up in the rapture of seeing Musashimaru Koyo in one of his later matches, because they broadcast major Sumo championships on the 9 screen diamondvision in the courtyard.

Grocery Store: All the staples are here, Japanese curries, dried noodle bowls (you don’t know that intricacies and elaboration of pre-packaged food until you’ve had an assemble-youreself Japanese noodle bowl), soy, sesame oil, bonito, candy, pop-ball sodas, anime adorned mayonnaise, pickled everything…it is like stepping into Osaka. They even get Matsutake mushrooms, which cost more than heroin or saffron, at certain times of the year. Something that expensive is directly related virility, dontcha know.

But the allure, the main attraction, the gravitas Mitsuwa has with me is the fish section. You can’t find fish of this sushi grade quality, this reasonably priced, anywhere. I can’t get Geoduck Clam anywhere else, can you? Bulk Salmon roe? Pre-marinated mackrel? Whole eel? Are you crazy? No, if you NEED Japanese food, don’t waste your time going anywhere else (Nijaya market doesn’t have the cleanliness or quality, sorry). This is THE place to be. Even the other locations in Costa Mesa or Centinela don’t have the sheer quality and expanse the flagship does.

A quick note related to the other postings about dessert. I’m not into bean filled pastries, but the counter at Mitsuwa has the Godiva equivalent. Tastefully wrapped and crafted, just looking at them makes me wish I were a fan. And I’ve choked one down and it wasnt half bad. Expect to pay a HUGE premium, some of these are $25 for three pieces..and I assume its worth it. There is also a small tea hut for traditional tea servings. Additionally, there are a few gift shops, complete with an automated toilet for $400 that automatically heats on a timer, raises, lowers, flushes and rinses. Sounds wierd here, it’s the norm there.

This week’s haul included:

–Red Bell Peppers (I’ve found that the ones I pick up at the Farmer’s Market are so much juicier than the ones at the store.)
–Red, Orange, and Yellow Carrots
–Japanese Cucumbers (6 for $3!) (We made a side dish with these tonight, and they were crisp, flavorful, and had hardly any seeds.)
–Jona Gold Apples
–Cauliflower
–Heirloom Tomatoes (Yes, these are still available from one or two stands. The one we visited had 5 or 6 different varieties.)

Only a few years ago, this cocktail of Cuban origin was relatively unknown in these parts, but exploded onto the scene as the “it” drink. (Sayonara, cosmo!) Like many a cocktail, the mojito has a little bit of history, starting in the 1800s as a slave’s refreshment of sugar cane, water, and unrefined rum that they were producing. Somehow, it made its way around Cuba, stepping up in class at each stop, until finally it became the hipster’s drink of choice for Ernest Hemingway during his life there.

As hipster and classy as the mojito is nowadays, it’s quite a barbaric route you must take to make the stuff. A proper mojito requires a tiny little billy club, a “muddler,” to bludgeon the flavorful life out of mint leaves, sugar, and a splash of soda water. If you’re fancy, then you could even do it with sugarcane. A single cocktail gets the juice from one whole lime, leaving one half of the squozen fruit in the glass. Add crystal clear light rum, and if you spill a little more than intended, well, then pass that one my way! Give it a stir, add ice, soda water for fizz, and sip like the sexy cat you are. Just make sure to check your teeth every once in a while so you’re not flashing an herbaceous smile! ;)

Of course, if you’re just too hot to make your own, then head over to Ciudad in downtown la la land, for what I hear (but have not tested myself) is the best in town.