la.foodblogging

So the 6th Annual Pellegrino Dine Out is about to come to an end. I thought it might be fun to go to one of the more high-profile restaurants participating in this event. That and the fact I owed somebody a really nice belated birthday dinner. We picked The Grill on the Alley and made our reservations… I had no idea I would be in for an interesting evening.

First of all, I got just the slightest bit lost. I called the restaurant to get my bearings, as well as to give them the heads up that I was now running late. When I got there, I understood why it’s called The Grill on the Alley. It really is located in alley. On the right side of the alley is a door. As I entered, I went from gray, questionable alley to a bustling, warm restaurant. The hostess introduced herself as Pamela and shook my hand. She thanked me for calling to let them know I was running late. My friend and I were then led to our table, and before our seats were even warm, our server came by to take our drink order.

I almost expected an attitude or some form of discontent when I mentioned the Pellegrino menu, but our server was fantastic. Per my request, he brought us both menus, so we could decide which we would rather have, as well as describing the evening’s specials, if we chose not to go with the Pellegrino menu. While we were reviewing the menu, one of the servers brought by a bread basket and a plate of bell peppers with onions. I loved this! I wish more restaurants would follow suit in providing something flavorful and non-starchy to snack on either with or in lieu of bread. In the end, we did decide to go with the Pellegrino menu, but our server also sold us on the lump crab cakes ($16), which became our first appetizer. The crab cakes were very light. Our server told us prior to ordering that they are baked instead of fried. What a huge difference. My only complaint about this dish is that I wish the portion could have been bigger, as I enjoyed it quite a bit. Then came the prix fixe menu items, and this is where my dining experience started to differ from my friend’s.

First Course

My friend went with the vine-ripened tomatoes. I noticed in the Pellegrino website, The Grill’s menu specified they would be served with mozzarella, but the menu we got at the restaurant changed the mozzarella to caramelized onions. He ate all the tomatoes, but he did not finish the onions. They were apparently too raw still for his taste. He thought they would be more caramelized. I have to admit, they certainly did not look very caramelized to me.

Things went better for me with the salad. It was a basic, simple salad with some lettuce, radicchio, carrots, mushrooms, etc. It was nothing to write home about, so why am I writing about it? The norm these days at restaurants is to serve salads with some fancy mixed greens and drown them in some greasy vinaigrette. Even though this salad wasn’t special, it was just refreshing to have a salad in which I can actually taste each item on the plate and not just the dressing and also recognize all the greens so I didn’t have to wonder what I was eating.

Main Course

My friend ordered the ground beef steak, which was not on the Pellegrino’s website menu. This replaced the veal chop that was originally advertised. I think my friend would have been much happier with the veal chop. I asked him how he liked the ground beef steak, and he responded that it was just okay and lacked flavor. His side dish was a generous portion of garlic mashed potatoes with spinach. On the plus side, the onions that topped the ground beef steak were much more to his liking than the onions that came with his first course.

I went with the New York Steak (12oz), which was topped with blue cheese and bacon. I was extremely happy with my steak. I thought it was cooked perfectly. I’ve had blue cheese with steak before, but this was so much more flavorful than I recalled it tasting. On top of that, I really liked the baked potato that accompanied the steak. I told my friend that for some reason, that baked potato was just really good. The texture was fluffy and soft. I didn’t even need the sour cream and chives that were served on the side. He didn’t believe me and dug his fork right into my baked potato and conceded that I was right. In fact, I think he liked my plain baked potato more than his mashed potatoes. (Side note: I mentioned this incident to someone, who suggested that the potato may have been coated with butter while it was baking. Some of the butter that was outside may have penetrated the skin while cooking, thus creating the soft texture. I don’t know if this is true, but I will definitely be experimenting with this idea the next time I bake a potato.)

Dessert

We pretty much split dessert - a bread pudding and an apple crisp. I liked the apple crisp more than the bread pudding, but I think by the time I got to the latter, my taste buds already had enough. It was supposed to be an apple and raisin bread pudding with Jack Daniels sauce, but because I started with the apple crisp, all I could tasted was apple. I saw raisins, and I saw the sauce, but my taste buds just could not recognize anything other than apples by that point. In other words, I can not objectively critique the bread pudding. I did enjoy the apple crisp. I agree with my friend that we would have liked this dish a lot more with a scoop of ice cream instead of the whipped cream they gave us, but it was probably a smidgeon healthier with the whipped cream.

In addition, over the course of dinner, my friend was convinced that Salma Hayek could not keep her eyes off of him. My back was facing that table, so I have no clue if it really was Ms. Hayek or not, but I reassured him that if the lady was indeed her, she would only be looking at him because he had not been able to stop staring at her all evening. Like I said, he and I had two very different dining experiences sitting at the same table. I was beyond satisfied with my meal, and he was beyond satisfied with my meal but not his own. He stared at a possible celebrity all night, I only got to stare at him. We got up to leave the restaurant, and as we were departing, our server stopped us to thank us, shake our hands goodbye, and wish us a good evening. I couldn’t help smiling and thinking, Yes, it was good evening.

Miscellaneous Notes:

1) If Ms. Hayek is by chance reading this - or anyone who knows her personally is reading this - my friend really would like to know if that was you/her he was staring at all night. He apologizes if he made you feel uncomfortable at any time for his staring.

2) Valet parking in front of the restaurant is available for $6. Alternatively, you can just get lucky like me and find metered parking, which is free after 6pm. If you don’t see any, there’s public parking on Brighton (between Dayton and Camden) that has a $2 flat fee.

3) As part of the Pellegrino Dine Out event, our meals were $35 per person (not including the crab cakes, tax, and tip). I did not see the ground beef steak on their regular menu, but the New York steak alone on the regular menu was $38. If you go to The Grill on the Alley - and it is absolutely worth a visit - save up your paychecks. This will cost you… unless you go today (8/30), the last day of the Dine Out.

The Grill on the Alley
9560 Dayton Way
Beverly Hills, CA 91306
(310) 276-0615
Hours: Monday - Thursday: 11:30 AM - 11:00 PM,
Friday - Saturday: 11:30 AM - Midnight
Sunday: 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

By Pauline (see more of her posts).

With the popularity of the Sawtelle Food Map, here is the next installment, the lafb Silverlake Food Map. To clear up any confusion, these maps certainly don’t list all of the places to eat in the area, just the ones that have been reviewed on la.foodblogging.

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.

We have reviewed a number of spots in the Sawtelle area. How many? This many:

Click on a fork to see the listing and a link to our review.

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.

It’s that time of year again… Pellegrino is doing its annual Dine Out event. For those who are unfamiliar with Dine Out, participating restaurants offer a 3-course meal for lunch at $25 and dinner at $35. I have to say, I think I get more out of this than the charity. The charity - Share Our Strength - receives $1 for ever Dine Out meal ordered. This event benefits me personally because it gives me a chance to try restaurants I normally don’t go to because of the cost. For instance, I had heard good things about Bistro 45 for years, and as a lunch and dinner participant of Dine Out, I thought this would be a great opportunity to try the place out.

The atmosphere at Bistro 45 was exactly what I expected. I found the ambiance pleasant and comfortable. The design is very art deco and cozy. The staff was very friendly, courteous, and professional. The only thing that surprised me was that there was no mention at all about the Dine Out event. A few years ago, when I went to a Dine Out restaurant, there were little table advertisements promoting the event. When asked what we wanted to drink, I mentioned that we were there for Dine Out, which in addition to a 3-course meal, includes a complimentary bottle of Pellegrino. Our host then took away our menu and came back with the prix fixe menu. In my opinion, the participating restaurants should give customers both sets of menus, giving the opportunity of which menu to order from.

First Course
You get a choice between the Soup du Jour or the House Salad. My guest and I each chose something different. The soup today was Cauliflower Parmesan. There were a few thin slices of cauliflower florets in the soup. There is no doubt that parmesan was a key ingredient in the soup. The overall flavor of the soup was good, but it was way too salty. I was very grateful for the bread basket and the Pellegrino that helped me through this first course.

My guest went with the House Salad. She loved the mushrooms and shaved parmesan that came with her salad. I took one look at the salad and said it looked quite oily. She agreed that this was the case. She also appreciated the bread basket, as she used the bread to help absorb the vinaigrette in her salad. She was less impressed with the roasted pearl onions.

Main Course
I ordered the Ravioli du Chef - which today was filled with duck confit. This was a dish that probably worked better in theory than in practice. Duck confit is actually one of my favorite dishes, though I do not order it often because I find most restaurants don’t make it right. Many restaurants wind up putting out either a really greasy duck confit or an extremely dry one. My lunch today fell in the latter category. I thought eating the duck with the sauce - I’m guessing some sort of red wine and balsamic vinegar reduction - would help, but it actually made the situation slightly worse for me. The sauce was saltier than my soup! On the plus side, the orange slices and fig that accompanied my ravioli tasted super sweet in contrast. I finished my ravioli - after dabbing off as much of the sauce as I can onto the sides of the plate - with the help, again, of the Pellegrino and picking out the fruit between bites.

My guest selected the Citrus Marinated Free Range Chicken Breast. The chicken was served on top of a bed of green lentils and chopped carrots. Next to the chicken was roasted garlic. I sampled a bite of the chicken and the citrus flavor was definitely there. I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect orange was the main base of the marinade. Unlike my duck confit, the chicken breast was not dry at all. The roasted garlic was sweet. The sauce that came with the chicken was unfortunately also too salty.

Dessert
If you go to the Dine Out site, the participating restaurants have their prix fixe menus listed. I noticed immediately when I was handed the menu that there was a slight change. The dessert - instead of choosing from the dessert tray as advertised on the website - is now an assortment of three desserts: chocolate opera cake, carrot cake, and lemon tart. This didn’t bother me at all. The chocolate opera cake was very very rich. This is a must for any chocolate lover. Order coffee with this one. I’m glad I did. The lemon tart was, well, tart. It was simple and delightful. I am admittedly biased against carrot cakes. They have never been one of my favorites. Despite that, I can say that the carrot cake in this dessert assortment was good. The cake was moist with a good flavor balance of carrots and cinnamon. I’m not quite sure which type of nut was used - I’m guessing pecan - but it created a nice texture contrast to the soft cake.

So I can’t say I was thrilled with the meal at Bistro 45. Still, let’s do some math. By trying this place out for Dine Out, my guest and I each paid $25 plus tax and tip. Here’s how much our meal would have cost had we ordered from the regular menu:

Bowl of Soup: $7.45
Ravioli du Chef: $18.45
Dessert: $8.45
Total: $34.35

House Salad: $11.45
Chicken: $20.45
Dessert: $8.45
Total: $40.35

Paying $50 plus tax and tip is a lot better than paying $74.70. Los Angeles Magazine says “the food [at Bistro 45] keeps everyone happy.” I don’t agree as I thought the food was pretty mediocre, but I’m happy I didn’t pay full price for it.

Dine Out Los Angeles is happening at participating restaurants Sunday through Thursday until August 30, 2007.

Bistro 45
45 Mentor Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 795-2478
Lunch: Tuesdays-Fridays, 11:30am-2pm
Dinner: Tuesdays-Thursdays, 6pm-9pm; Fridays-Saturdays, 6pm-9:30pm; Sundays, 5pm-9pm

View Larger Map

By Pauline (see more of her posts).

What’s happening in the LA Foodblogging scene? Our sister site, Digesty Los Angeles has the answer:

• Potatomato tries out Bar Hamaya, which took over Sasabune’s old Sawtelle location.
• Oishii Eats posts dispatches from Vietnam
• Mikey Hates Everything likes Rose Cafe
• Restaurant review World covers the Thai Restaurant Surrender Trend
• Taste-Buzz ambles through the Farmers Market
• What’s to Eat LA goes Old School World at Ca’Brea

mmmmmm…..Digesty….

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.

It isn’t the most well publicized event around town. I’ve been to it twice in the last few years. Some years, it sneaks by without me noticing it.

Anyway, if you have got some time on your hands and an interest for the cultural flavor of Los Angeles, be sure to check out the 22nd Annual African Marketplace and Cultural Fair.

Neat craft vendors, music, evening films and many food booths all highlight the African and American black cultures.

Gala African Ball and Opening Reception
Friday, August 17
Cultural Faire (10AM to 9PM)
August 18, 19, 25, 26
September 1, 2, 3

RANCHO CIENEGA RECREATION COMPLEX
5001 Rodeo Road
located one block east of La Brea Avenue on Rodeo Road.

By Rene (see more of his posts). You can find more of Rene's writing at his own website Rene's Ramblings

This is going to be my most obscure entry, but believe me - this little take out place is worth seeking out. About 5 years ago or so, I was at a party. The hostess didn’t want to deal with the food issue much, so she ordered “train box meals” for all the guests. Basically, the idea came from the meals people who buy to eat on trains in Taiwan. The packed meals were good, but nothing special. I hadn’t really given the train box meals a second thought since the party, until… I had a craving for some Chinese snack foods - scallion pancakes, wontons, etc. Imagine my surprise when I heard that the little shop that makes the train box meals also makes a lot of Taiwanese food for you to cook or just reheat at home.

The place that makes the boxed meals is called å?¯æ¨‚美 (pronounced Ka Le May). I have no clue what the English name is, if there even is one. It does say “TAIWAN GOURMET DELI” in front of the store though. I was surprised by just how tiny the store is. There is a menu posted on the wall that lists the regular items - such as the vegetable baos, sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves (zong ze), and scallion pancakes, just to name a few. At the counter, there are a number of additional things to buy - such as the shredded daikon pastries and stir-fried sticky rice (mee gaw), though these can only be purchased on Saturdays. In addition, the train box meal varies every day.

Each day, �樂美 makes two types of boxed meals ($5 each). What varies is usually the meat dish and how the egg is prepared. This time, the box on the left is curry and scrambled egg with chives. The box on the right is BBQ pork and a half a marinated hard-boiled egg. The only things constant are the greens, glass noodles, and the rice at the bottom of the box.

So here’s a mental picture of a Saturday visit to å?¯æ¨‚美 - walk in empty handed; walk out with 2 train box meals, a Ziploc bag of 50 frozen pork and vegetable wontons, 1 container of mee gaw, 6 zong ze, 1 pack of frozen scallion pancakes (which is actually tastes better than the ones I make from scratch and requires less of my time), and 4 shredded daikon radish pastries. In addition, with the Chinese Moon Festival coming up, å?¯æ¨‚美 is currently making some green bean moon cakes. These are extremely fresh and much better than the ones you buy in cases at the Chinese supermarkets. The moon cakes at å?¯æ¨‚美 are so good that between August 27th and October 4th, they will make nothing but moon cakes. So, if you want to try any of the Taiwanese foods I’ve described, you’ve got to go soon, or else you’ll have to wait until October.

Miscellaneous Notes:

1) �樂美 is located in a plaza, and there is plenty of underground parking.

2) If you have your heart set on something in particular, I recommend calling ahead first to find out what they are carrying that day - e.g., what the two train box meals are for the day, what pastries are available, etc.

3) å?¯æ¨‚美 is really a take out place. There is no place to eat right there on the spot, so if you’re driving far to give this place a try, you might want to bring a cooler for the frozen foods while we’re in this summer heat wave.

4) If you get the baos - pass on the meat ones. Get the vegetable ones instead.

�樂美 - TAIWAN GOURMET DELI
1300 E. Main Street, #102
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 282-5436

By Pauline (see more of her posts).

Am going to continue to stretch the geographical boundaries of LAFB by reporting on a recent trip to Palm Springs. KT set the precedent with a wonderful report on a Central Coast trip.

Me, I’m crazy. Its broiling hot in LA so where do I go? Where it is even hotter!

Anyway, all these years in LA , I’ve never been a tourist in this little oasis a mere 2 hours drive away. Thus, I had no idea where to eat and on this occasion, I did not research food options in preparation for the trip.

Thus, my question for our dear gentle LAFB readers is this: how do you decide where to have a meal in a town where you don’t know anything about the options?

Ask a local

Was in the mood for fish and there are plenty of swanky upscale places that would have fish on the menu but what about something more affordable?

I was told to check out Fisherman’s Market and Grill.

The quality of food to price ratio was very good. As you can see the setting isn’t fancy but it was cool which is what you are looking for when it is 90F+ outside!

One can order any number of fresh fish on the chalkboard and have it grilled. I asked the lady at the counter to suggest something and she liked the fish tacos and that is what I ordered.

Fisherman’s Market and Grill
235 S. Indian Canyon Drive
Palm Springs, CA 92262
Phone: (760) 327-1766
Fax: (760) 416-8641
Mon-Sat 11:00 am-9:00 pm
Sunday 12:00 pm-8:00 pm

After dinner, I walked up Palm Canyon Drive to check out the downtown Villagefest. It was their weekly street fair which occurs every Thursday night. There were many arts and craft vendors, food carts and musicians.

If I hadn’t had the delicious fish tacos, I would have had some of the grilled meat from this vendor below …

The crowd wasn’t very large as the sun was still out. I went back to walk by all the booths again when the sun went down and the crowd was much larger. All the tourists ventured out from their air conditioned hotels and lot of the local kids were buzzing about in packs of their friends.

What to have for breakfast?

Ask a local

Plenty of hotel dining options but why not get out and away from the main hotel and restaurant row? The local recommendation I got was Rock Garden Cafe.

I bet this locale with ample outdoor seating is really packed when it isn’t broiling out! But even with the misters going, most people went inside for breakfast/bunch that morning.

I enjoyed the omelette!

And reasonable prices too.

Rock Garden Cafe
777 S Palm Canyon Dr
Palm Springs, CA 92264-8126
(760) 327-8840

Unfortunately, for the next two other places, I didn’t bring the camera.

Where to go?

One can go where there is a huge crowd… they must know something!

Had a wonderful burger from Hamburger Mary’s. It is more expensive (variable up to $10) than your typical fast food burger but it was really good and good sized (bigger than your typical fast food burger) with all the fixings. Also, the fries were terrific!

Hamburger Marys Bar & Grille
415 N. Palm Canyon Drive
Palm Springs, CA 92262
Phone: 760-778-MARY
Fax 760-322-7466

Go where there is a modest sized crowd

It was a Friday night and some of the restaurants had people spilling out into the streets. Didn’t want to wait forever for dinner. Some restaurants looked way too swanky inside for my budget. Came across Backstage Bistro which was somewhere between overflowing and empty. I suppose everyone was inside the showroom for the evening event so the streetside dining was not too crowded. The prices on the display menu showed most entrees in the teens as far as price. Go for it.

Olive oil and balsamic vinegar was provided for dipping the pre-main course bread. Bread was good. Good sign! Bread is often a good indicator of things to come in my experience. I had a delicious salad with cheese and fruit. But, I must say though that the slices of beef layered on top were a tad overcooked.

Backstage Bistro
200 S. Palm Canyon Drive
Palm Springs, CA 92262
(760) 864-9293

One observation I have to make about all the restaurants I visited was that I found the customer service to be a bit under-whelming. It was not the most attentive nor friendly. But I wonder if the fact that it was 90F+ at 9pm and 100F+ the rest of the time had anything to do with it? With that in mind, all us diners should cut them some slack?

For those who know Palm Springs well, what are your recommendations?

To see a post that includes tourism aspects of my Palm Springs trip, go here.

By Rene (see more of his posts). You can find more of Rene's writing at his own website Rene's Ramblings