la.foodblogging

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

GOOD, a magazine founded and published here in Los Angeles, came out with their GOOD FOOD issue. I couldn’t agree more on their cheap eats feature, called America’s Tastiest Streets, when they say:

Every year, city magazines publish their “cheap eats” guides, gushing over $35 Kobe beef burgers, and enotecas with $15 paninis that pair nicely with $60 bottles of Barolo.

At GOOD, we’re a little more realistic (and a lot hungrier). So grab a twenty from the ATM and follow our road map to America’s seven best streets for exquisite food you can actually afford.

The article features a number of US cities. For Los Angeles, they recommend:

• AGRA CAFÉ
• ALEGRIA
• PHO CAFÉ
• JITLADA THAI
• ZANKOU CHICKEN

Also featured in the GOOD FOOD issue is a challenge to make a tasty brown bag lunch.

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 finally meandered over to Silver Lake to experience the much talked about coffee boutique, LAMILL (pronounced lah-mill). This is not, let me repeat NOT, your average, cater to the masses, grab your daily cup o’ Joe and go coffee shop. No ladies and gentlemen, LAMILL takes the art of coffee to a pristine new level. Their caffeinated concoctions have been carefully calculated, formulated and are ever so thoughtfully constructed right before your eyes. This is a place to visit when you want to indulge in a divine brunch and linger over ridiculously decadent coffee that you’ll crave for the rest of the week. If I lived in Silver Lake, this spot would become part of my lazy Sunday morning ritual.

At first I was curious … why didn’t this opulent coffee palace open somewhere chichi like Beverly Hills? Why boho-chic Silver Lake? This seems to be an ongoing blog debate. My 2 cents? I think it’s the distinctive artsy types, the gastronomic gurus, the “French palate� patrons who will truly recognize and appreciate the quirky artistry occurring daily at LAMILL … and those people are found in neighborhoods like Silver Lake. In BH, people would have given this fantastic establishment plenty of business without scoffing at the $5 latte, but I live in Beverly Hills and let me tell you, a restaurant does not have to serve high quality food to be a success in the 90210 area code. (Not always, but often, BH diners are far more concerned with who is eating at the restaurant than with how the food actually tastes i.e. the Farm of Beverly Hills, Il Pastaio, and Mr. Chow.) Silver Lake is unusual as is LAMILL and I think they compliment each other.

When you walk in, there’s a tempting pastry case filled with scones, muffins, croissants, etc. Before we even sat down my boyfriend ordered a canele to be sent to the table. The two room restaurant was bustling with people high on platinum caffeine. The eccentric décor almost out shines the coffee … almost.

Color scheme: gold brass, deep teal, robin egg blue, grey black and blood red. Picture custom French wall paper depicting mythological scenes and vintage chairs covered in exotic, vinyl animal skin such as ostrich and crocodile. It’s anything but boring and somehow sets the right mood for coffee chemistry. Sitting at our window-side table for two, we perused the bible of a beverage menu and munched on the incredible canele. The outside was terrifically crunchy with a soft, creamy center similar to vanilla bread pudding.

We wanted to try the coffee spheres, but were told they were still in the creation phase and not yet available. (I felt like I was in Willy Wonka’s Coffee Factory.) As alluring as the “Jelly Doughnut Coffee Drink� sounded, we both ordered our usual, café au lait with skim milk, just to test this $5 version against the hundreds we’ve had elsewhere. Derrek wanted to add house made chocolate sauce and real whipped cream to his au lait. Uh oh! Order something not listed on the menu? Confusion ensued. Our very patient, sweet waitress summoned a guy in charge of coffee creation and he kindly explained that their drinks are made from precise recipes with exact ratios of milk to coffee etc. (BTW there was no attitude while explaining why they are so particular about the drinks … each person was gracious and sincere.) Much to my surprise, he finally agreed to bring the chocolate sauce and whipped cream on the side. Both were devastatingly delicious and the chocolate sauce was far closer to a velvety ganache.

To achieve the perfect 50/50 ratio that makes up a café au lait (half drip coffee, half steamed milk) the coffee creator poured both the coffee and milk simultaneously, into the cup, table side. Necessary? Nope. Elaborate, indulgent, and fun? Absolutely! My café au lait was smooth and creamy with no trace of burnt beans whatsoever. At LAMILL, the coffee is not pre-made. Each cup is brewed as it is ordered. Can you say FRESH? My only qualm was that by the time everything was poured, admired, and sugared, the beverage had lost that piping hot quality.

Knowing the menu was created by the esteemed Chef Michael Cimarusti of Providence, I was equally excited for the food. I ordered baked eggs that arrive with a sinfully generous amount of fresh crab meat on top, accompanied by perfectly crisp, perfectly buttered, toast. (Perfection is the predominant theme if you’ve not noticed.) The dish was sprinkled with chives which I assumed were just a garnish, but they added a piquant flavor profile to my already heavenly breakfast.

Derrek opted for scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, asparagus, and chives … a sumptuous display of simplicity at it’s finest. I floated out of LAMILL feeling blissful and content, with a sheer appreciation for the effort put forth to create a superior coffee+food experience in Los Angeles. (I did return weeks later. The “kinda like crème brulee� banana dessert was average at best but the liquid center lollipops are luscious).

NEAT FACTS about LAMILL
La Marzocco espresso machine
$11,000 Clover coffee machine that brews single cups to order
Siphon tableside coffee service (popular in Japan)
Food as exquisite as the coffee
Similarities to Starbucks: ZERO … thankfully
Serves room temperature water (more easily absorbed)

LAMILL COFFEE BOUTIQUE
1636 Silver Lake Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
323-663-4441
Hours
Tuesday-Sunday
7:00AM-7:00PM
Closed Monday

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