la.foodblogging

Continuing on the previous report on our Pre-Infant dining tour, here is Part II.

Sushi Karen
Yes, we did go to sushi during the pregnancy, although my wife stuck with mostly cooked stuff like the tempura rolls and some eel. I can say with 110% certainty that we will be going to Sushi Karen post-infant. In fact, my wife may divert our trip home from the hospital to go get some salmon there. Not only is Sushi Karen family friendly, but I believe that the owner, Toshi, has a couple of his daughter Karen’s old high chairs for people to use. These aren’t restaurant style wood or metal contraptions, they are fully pad home high chairs.

Previous Sushi Karen write ups here and here.

Baby Blues BBQ
Great pregnancy food, or anytime food that you need a meat boost in your life. I assume that when the baby gets here, we might have him try out their mashed sweet potatoes once he’s branching out from the breast milk. Baby Blues BBQ is pretty loud, which may comfort the baby or freak him out.

Previous Baby Blues BBQ write ups here and here.

3 Square
3 Square was a nice place to have a pre-infant meal. It’s pretty quite and the food is generally pretty heavy, but also very flavorful. They have revamped their menu a bit to include more vegetables, the first time we went was a bit overwhelming with the lack of greens on the plate. Also, one quick design note, replace the orange overhead lights with white lights. It’s not flattering to see everything on your plate look orange — orange pasta, orange tuna, orange potatoes, orange carrot soup (well, I guess that one is ok).

I would probably go back to 3 Square for brunch with the baby, but dinner is nice to enjoy without distraction and there isn’t a whole lot of room for baby accessories. Previous 3 Square address here.

John O’Groats
We had breakfast here just this past weekend. Still as good as ever with the Eggs Benedict over artichoke bottoms. Most breakfast spots are kid friendly, John O’Groats fits the bill and also has good room between the tables. If we do go here with the baby, it’s imperative to get here before 9:30 or risk waiting a long time for a table.

Minotaure
We should get double points for pre-infant dining here, since we went with another pregnant couple. Minotaure serves tasty tapas in an intimate setting, accompanied by live Spanish music. Minotaure is a spot to enjoy wine and sangria, I’m going to classify the space as not kid friendly. I’m sure that the friendly owner would accommodate babies, but this is another date night type place, particularly with friends.

Jinky’s
Another breakfast spot, already on heavy rotation. Like John O’Groats, very accommodating for families. Also, a place that can have a bit of a wait and not a very good waiting area, so going with a baby will require planning or preparation to stand around.

Odds that we will go with the baby? Nearly 100%.

Mao’s Kitchen
Mao’s Kitchen was a great spot to hit up to satisfy pregnancy cravings for wonton soup and tasty Chinese food. Space is pretty tight, so although I’m sure that we could bring an infant in, it is probably more comfortable to go without a baby. This can be a reasonably priced escape for dinner, or even for take out.

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.

In January, I told you about our plans to do some Pre-Infant dining before the birth of our first child. We are down to the final week or two B.C. (Before Child). According to our credit card bills, we have done pretty well. I haven’t done a good job of updating here, so I will give a quick run down.

La Botte
I did Write about this one. Dinner was fantastic, definitely not somewhere I would bring an infant. The tables are pretty close together, not uncomfortably, more intimately. Also, much diaper money was spent on the dinner, but it was definitely worth it.

Literati II
Also wrote about this dinner. The food was great, service was terrible. That being said, this actually is a place you could take an infant. The restaurant is loud and there were a number of kids there when we ate dinner. Odds are that we will be back eventually, I would like to give them another chance.

The Nook
I didn’t write about the dinners we had since being pregnant, but I have written about The Nook before. We had a couple dinners at The Nook, both of them fantastic. The soup at The Nook is the untold hero, I suggest ordering it everytime. For these two dinners I had a white bean chipotle soup and a creative summer squash soup with a hint of mint. unfortunately, The Nook is not a good place to take an infant. The space is small and not suited for a small baby carrier. That’s ok though, we will save The Nook for date nights with a babysitter.

Joe’s (for brunch)
Joe’s Brunch was not only a terrific place to go pre-infant, but will be a nice outing with the infant. We hit up Joe’s twice during the pregnancy. The last time we were there, we saw a little infant on the patio, sleeping soundly next to the sounds of the fountain. The write up for one of our brunches here.

Fraiche
Fraiche was high on our list to try and we made it over there last month for dinner after waiting I think a month to get our reservation. This is definitely not a place to take an infant for a number of reasons. The first being that I think the host might kick us right out the door. As it was, we were essentially rushed out after finishing our desserts. The host stood, glaring at us, while the bus boy cleared everything from in front of us, including water glasses that we were still drinking out of. Overall the service was pretty terrible all night, absent waiter, having to tackle the busboy for water and no offer of coffee with our desserts. Now the food was another story, very good, if a little over priced. For the money, I would probably go back to La Botte. The absolute star were the desserts though. We ordered four different desserts for four people and polished them all off — and not because they were small. My chocolate pavlova was divine.

The Counter
We have made a couple trips here for a burger and some sweet potato fries. This will definitely be a place to go with an infant, although we promise not to CHANGE A DIAPER ON THE BENCH SEAT like we saw one couple doing. We watched in horror while the baby’s naked buns were pointed at another diner.

Le Petit Cafe
Always solid food and good French food and sauces. Too cramped to bring an infant, but not really the right venue for a little one anyway.

Osteria Mozza
Glad that we made it to Mozza before starting in earnest to save for college and worry about testing my life insurance policy by clogging my arteries. Incredibly flavorful and creative dishes, tight space and lots of buzz around the restaurant. I have the feeling that they wouldn’t mind if you brought an infant, but this isn’t really the kind of place I would want to go — in case we have a screamer and have to trade off going outside. I would go here for a special occasion date night, with a baby sitter. Pizzeria Mozza might be more comfortable with an infant, but again, tight space and not much room to stash a baby seat.

Abode
We went here for the DineLA meal. The food was good and definitely worth the $34 price for the three courses. We were particularly impressed by the cheese plate and the study in chocolate. Looking at the normal menu, I can’t see us going back. The food was good, but normal prices were way high. Also, the atmosphere is a bit too stuffy for me. Along with the atmosphere, the service wasn’t too inviting.

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
Another of our DineLA meals. We were lucky that the DineLA event coincided with our pre-infant dining tour. Not that $34 is a low cost dinner, but it was a good way to try some places that we normally wouldn’t have. Ruth’s Chris is definitely a place you could take an infant. It’s fairly noisy, there is generally room at the tables, especially if you get a both. I’m not normally a patron of steakhouses, so I doubt that we would make a trip back here with the little guy, plus the normal prices are a bit high.

There are more restaurants, I will give a quick update when I think of them. I would also like to note, when I say I could bring an infant to a restaurant, I mean a little infant. I don’t mean bringing a teething baby or toddler to a nice restaurant, just one the sleeps the whole time. I’m certain that our dining routines will change, but I’m looking forward to a new era in our lives!

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.

I typically don’t post an entry here unless it’s relevant to restaurants in L.A. or home cooking, but seeing how I received a couple of emails from friends asking if I’m still writing for lafb since I’ve been MIA, I thought I’d drop a note here and say, “Yes, I’m still alive!” I have not abandoned lafb. I’ve just been out of the country for the past month and will be returning to L.A. in about a week. I will share a few observations about food in Taipei and ask for comments from our dear readers:

1. The best creme brulee - I had grown rather tired of this dessert, but I fell in love all over again with it at a bakery called Maison Kayser located at Breeze Shopping Center. The bread there is absolutely wonderful as well, but back to the creme brulee… It was so fragrant and flavorful. It was also a steal at approximately $3.33(US), which included the little ceramic ramekin it was prepared in. So I had to find out if there was a branch in L.A. I was pleased to discover that even though there wasn’t a Maison Kayser in L.A., owner Chef Eric Kayser does have a store in town. The one in L.A. is called Bread Bar (8717 W. 3rd St). I’m just wondering if any readers have been there, and if so what did you think?

2. The best chocolate fondant - I did some digging on the web and found a highly recommended French restaurant, Le Bistro de l’Olivier (No. 145, Sec 2, Ah-Ho Road, Taipei). This place was highly praised by visiting French tourists as being very authentic. The food really was excellent, but the pièce de résistance was the fondant du chocolat. This is better than any lava cake I’ve ever had, and way better than the chocolate fondant at Beard Papa! I asked the owner, Maggie Liu, where she picked up her recipe from. Basically, she kept modifying the recipe until it became the perfection that it is. All her effort was worth it. Unfortunately, to try this dessert you really do have to go to l’Olivier, as Ms. Liu has not opened any restaurants outside of Taipei (yet).

3. Unusual fruits - I encountered a fruit I’ve never seen on this trip. The literal translation is Fire Dragon Fruit. It reminds me of a pomegranate merged with a kiwi. I hear it was quite the rage back in 2000, but it wasn’t very sweet. For whatever reason, every one of the fire dragon fruit I’ve tasted is extremely sweet. This is my new favorite fruit. My sister told me that Whole Foods actually sells this but for $8 per fruit. I’m getting it for $1-2 here. I’m just curious if anyone has purchased this fruit from Whole Foods, and if so, what you thought of the fruit.

4. Vegetarian is in - I’m a bit shocked to find that the type of cuisine (if you can call it that) I’ve eaten the most frequently since I’ve been here is healthy and vegetarian. Purple rice is currently very trendy these days, as well as vegetarian buffets. Now, I love vegetables and fruits, but I never thought they could be turned into meals as filling as the ones I’ve been having. I’ve only been to 2 buffets and 1 standard veggie restaurant here, but from what I can see, the variety in food is really amazing. The restaurant is very unique. For those really, really curious, take a look at their site. You can see their menu, photos, etc. I’ve never been to a restaurant quite like this one. As for the buffets, I was really surprised by how big they were. They are larger than many regular buffets I’ve been to in L.A. I know there are tons of vegetarian restaurants in L.A., but I don’t remember seeing any vegetarian buffets. Can anyone help me out here?

So I realize that there have been some bloggers here who have posted from out of L.A. and shared recommendations that are slightly out of the way. I think I’ve got them all beat in distance. Thanks for indulging me in going on about food in Taipei, and if anyone can answer my questions about Bread Bar, fire dragon fruits, and vegetarian buffet in L.A., I would really appreciate it!

By Pauline (see more of her posts).

Thanks to BoingBoing and the Washington Post, I came across two articles today of particular interest to Locavores, Slow Foodies, and hedonists like myself. Putting these two next to each other seems to highlight also the inherent conflict of interest in which we seem to have found ourselves amidst aggressive marketing campaigns-of-the-moment.

The first is a rather cunning insight on the ironies of Carlo Petrini’s Slow Food Movement:

For the foodstuff artisan (commonly dirt poor and neglected somewhere in the planet’s backwoods), Slow Food has a strong value proposal. It is, among its many other roles, a potent promotion machine. Transforming local rarities into fodder for global gourmets is, of course, profitable. And although he’s no capitalist, the much honored Petrini is more justly described as a major cultural figure; he was among the first to realize that as an economic system globalization destroys certain valuable goods and services that rich people very much want to buy. In a globalized “flat world,” the remaining peaks soar in value and become natural clusters for a planetary elite.

The second, and perhaps more important article, alerts us to the fact that the fast-food chain Chipotle, among others, has started to move towards local producers like Joel Salatin of PolyFace Farms:

There was no fanfare or official announcement. Even when the pork turned up in the first carnitas burrito last summer, no change was made to the menu or the $5.75 price. It wasn’t until last fall, two months after Polyface Farm’s pork made its debut, that a sign was posted on the days it was available. “We wanted to start slow, for us and for them,” says Phil Petrilli, Chipotle’s operations director for the northeast region. “This is a farm that’s used to dropping off 12 chickens at the local restaurant.” One of the fastest-growing chains in the nation, Chipotle serves about 350 pounds of pork per week in Charlottesville alone and more than 5 million pounds annually at its 700 restaurants.

This month, Chipotle hopes to serve 100 percent Polyface pork in Charlottesville. But that success comes after 17 months of complex negotiations and logistics, including buying extra cooking equipment, developing new recipes, adjusting work schedules and investing in temperature-monitoring technology for Polyface’s delivery van. In recent months, Petrilli has visited the Charlottesville outlet about every two weeks, four times as often as he visits other restaurants in the region.

I’ll be welcoming changes like this with open arms, because, in the words of George Orwell, “you see statues everywhere to politicians, poets, bishops, but none to cooks or bacon-curers or market-gardeners.” Isn’t it about time?

sneakypeteiii is a doctoral student in Chemistry at Caltech. He has been eating since he was a child, and reckons himself quite good at it. (see more of his posts).

As I have said before, I get a lot of PR emails for restaurants and events around town. I’m not special, most foodbloggers are on the same lists I am.

One email did catch my eye this week. From a PR company, I got a cleverly titled email, “Recession Concessions at Table 8″. Hm, sounds enticing, Table 8 is certainly one of the more talked about restaurants in Los Angeles. The “Recession Concession” is priced at $38 and looking at the options, it is a reduction of Table 8’s normal prices, but is it prudent financial advice to go drop $100 for two (after tax and tip) if you are facing tough financial times? Isn’t this what got us into financial trouble in the first place? Spending more than we should?

In fairness to Table 8, here is what they are offering (Monday through Friday only)

Appetizers
(choose one)

local baby oak lettuces with feta, roasted beets, sweet onions and black olive oil
pan-roasted baby broccoli with confit potatoes, flaked salt cod and parsley hollandaise
kobe beef carpaccio with celery root salad, treviso and truffle aioli

Entrees
(choose one)

grilled baby chicken on short rib hash and cipollini onion jus
olive oil poached sea trout with shaved artichoke salad and caramelized onion mash
estancia grass fed rib eye with pea tendrils, potato puree, roasted baby carrots and pearl onions

Desserts
(choose one)

vanilla panna cotta with honeyed blueberries
dulce de leche chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream

Note that this doesn’t include wine, cocktails or sparkling water (maybe cut those out in order to pay your mortgage?)

Here is my la.foodblogging Recession Concession advice. Rather than dropping $100 for lettuce and beet salad, grilled baby chicken and vanilla panna cotta, head over to Zankou. Split a half chicken with pickled turnips, hummous and pita for under $10 then go splurge on dessert for another $5 at Scoops. (That’s a dinner for two!)

Money “saved”? $85!

So where would your Recession Concession meal be? How much would you spend? Are you cutting back on eating out?

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.

So I haven’t actually had a full meal at this place yet, but based on my first short experience with it, I think it looks very promising, and I want to spread the word to help these people out.

I was going to Kay n’ Dave’s with a couple of friends tonight, and we parked in front of this bright red, neatly-fonted, bright little building that pronounced itself “Food” and indeed looked to be full of the same. The place was closed, but the staff was inside cleaning up, and when they saw us peeping in, a woman came to the door and waved us in.

“Oh, we’re just looking,” we said shyly, “we’re actually going to dinner down the street.” Nonetheless, she continued to wave us in, saying that they were closed, but were new in the neighborhood so she’d love to have us come look.

The woman’s name is Judy Ornstein, and she’s a longtime resident of the neighborhood, a 30-year veteran of the restaurant industry, and co-owner of Food. She said that previously there was a cramped, dingy and dusty convenience store in the location and she had always wished that they could have a place kind of like Joan’s on Third in her neighborhood. So when her oldest child left for college, and the space became available, she and some friends decided to go for it.

The space is indeed reminiscent of Joan’s, although on a smaller scale. Near the entrance are spices and packaged candies and nuts. Across from that is a refrigerated case with soups and prepared foods. Then spanning the length of the place is a deli counter with prepared foods that looked really good. There was a beef tenderloin that was soooo pink that it made me want to grab it and go NOM right there in the store. There were artichoke halves sprinkled with nasturtium, and some pretty vegetable salads: grilled seasonal vegetables and a julienned beet and apple salad.

Near the back is a small wine section, and refrigerated drink cases. The menu also contains breakfast and lunch items like granola, eggs, tofu scramble, and soups, sandwiches and salads. A neatly handwritten paper lists daily specials on the deli. I could easily see myself coming here when I need a bottle of wine, or some milk, or perhaps some soup to refrigerate for weekday meals, and then grabbing a lunch along with my necessaries.

And Ms. Ornstein was incredibly friendly. She talked to us about the place, but didn’t keep us trapped there for too long, and she sent us on our way with some free homemade chocolate chip cookies that were really delicious and packed full of chocolate.

My husband and I agreed that if we lived in the neighborhood, we would definitely be popping in often, and my friends were 100% certain that they would be back in the near future for a breakfast or lunch.

So if you’re on the Westside, check it out and report back. If this place is as good as it looks, I would love to see it do well. It’s not exactly in a prime location, but it is on many people’s way to and from work.

FOOD
10571 Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
http://www.food-la.com

By KT (see more of her posts). You can find more of KT's writing at her own website Gastronomy 101.

As a frequent moviewatcher at the Arclight, and shopper at Amoeba, I am always interested in new options for food to eat in the area that are not too expensive. A place where you can get breakfast/lunch is especially ideal, since there are only so many times you can sit outside of Roscoe’s for an hour. So when the Waffle opened, it was only a matter of time before I was going to try it.

The reviews on this place has been mixed, and from my pre-reading on this place, I was already armed with the knowledge of complaints of long waits and less than stellar food.

I went on a weekday morning, so I had no wait for a table and problem with service. As one of only three tables that were filled that morning, we actually had multiple people paying attention to us. Reviews on user sites like Yelp and Chowhound indicate that the kitchen still hasn’t established how to ramp up for busy times and if you go at a popular time you may find yourself waiting hours to eat at this point.

I think the biggest area where The Waffle suffers from a user-review standpoint is that they need to be careful in how they market themselves. It seems that many internet-denizens went here expecting someplace like Square One based on their menu and some of their marketing, but The Waffle is closer to a diner than the type of boutique breakfast establishment represented by square one.

An example of where the restaurant’s language runs away from them into misleading territory is the dish that I ordered while I was there. I order the “multi-grain waffle with low-fat organic vanilla yogurt and seasonal fruit.” From that one might expect something that looks homey and artisanal - a thick grainy waffle with a thick tangy yogurt and fruit fresh from the farmer’s market. What you get is … not that. I was perfectly happy with my breakfast, but it was also standard diner fare. The waffle tasted healthy but good, the yogurt, I am guessing was grocery-store organic. Most noticably, the fruit was not seasonal. It was your standard restaurant fruit salad - a pile of melons with some overripe pineapple and a few berries drenched in sugar water.

My breakfast was good, just not comparable to the more upscale breakfasts that people seem to be expecting. It was satisfying diner fare and probably a bit healthier than what may be available in just any old diner. My husband ordered the pancake breakfast (which was GIGANTIC - a hint for those reviewers who complained of small portions). His meal took up half of the table and he said the pancakes were excellent. They looked very good - more golden than brown and they looked like they had that slight bit of crunch on the edge that I love. I have no beef with the portion size - if J. is pushing his bacon on me, and I am actually refusing, then you KNOW that we are not lacking for food.

In fact, my biggest complaint on my trip was actually the unwelcoming exterior. The Waffle is located in an office building and the outside wall is made up of tinted windows. When we arrived, they had their doors closed and … we couldn’t find them. We first walked into the lobby of the building only to discover we had to go back outside and examine the outside for doors. When we found them, we weren’t sure which one we were supposed to use so we just picked one. If they would keep open one door for customers to enter it would be so much more welcoming.

Other than that, I thought it was fine. If I’m going to weekday matinee or movie and want a breakfast or late dinner, will I stop here again? Yes. If it’s a weekend morning, will I head over to this place while it’s packed and wait an hour for my breakfast? Probably not. I would rate this restaurant as worth going if you’re in the area, but not worth an enormous effort.

The Waffle
6255 W. Sunset Blvd.
http://www.thewaffle.us

By KT (see more of her posts). You can find more of KT's writing at her own website Gastronomy 101.

It’s important to give restaurants a second and possibly third chance, just as it is with people. I tried Coupa Cafe twice when they first opened in Beverly Hills and wasn’t impressed. Early this week, my boyfriend and I were lamenting over how Beverly Hills needs a few better breakfast spots. Since he’d never been, we walked into Coupa Cafe and were so deliciously satisfied by the time we left, we returned the next morning!

They have these addicting Arepas and phenomenal coffee from Venezuela. Arepas (for those who don’t know, I didn’t) are a very popular Venezuelan snack food, especially for the late night party crowd. We go for pizza, or possibly “street meat” (aka hot dogs on a cart) at 2am. Venezuelans eat Arepas. They are little corn cakes that remind me of a Pita/English Muffin hybrid. When sliced in half, they are very thin, a little crispy, and you can fill them with anything you’d like. They become a perfect little sandwich, about the size of our Egg McMuffins, but much tastier!
On visit #2, Derrek ordered the Breakfast Special Arepa, eggs with bacon and Gouda, as well as one with turkey, goat cheese and spinach.

I customized mine with egg whites, sun dried tomatoes, and light Gouda cheese. All three were wonderful, but the Breakfast Special is great if you’re hungover!

Now let’s talk coffee. Among my favorite places in BH to get my morning ritual Cafe au Lait are Frittelli’s, Ingrid’s, and Le Provence. COUPA CAFE is now my coffee obsession of the moment. I always knew my heart would be stolen my someone or something in South America … I guess it’s the latter :). I asked if they had a mild coffee and our waiter suggested the Caracas. Not only did the Au Lait arrive looking red carpet ready, but also had velvet-like mircofoam, the tell tail sign of a fine barista. The coffee was rich, decadent, and smooth, as promised. Coupa Cafe also has free WiFi, beer and wine, a cute outdoor patio area and a warm fireplace inside. What’s not to love?

Coupa Cafe
419 N Canon Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210-4819
Phone: (310) 385-0420

Cross Street: Brighton Way
Hours: Daily 7:30am-11pm
Happy Hour M-F, 5-7pm, 2 for 1

By foodflirt90210 (see more of her posts). You can find more of foodflirt90210's writing at her own website foodflirt90210