la.foodblogging

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

By MaxMillion (see more of her posts). Max Million is the nom de 'net of Pauline Adamek. Born in Sydney, Australia, Pauline has lived in Los Angeles for the past thirteen years and finds it agrees with her. She has been reviewing films and filing celebrity-based interview articles since 1991, and has filed stories from various international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto and Sundance. She completed a family cookbook and has also written novels for 8-12 year olds. She is the creator and host of ArtsBeatLA.

On Sunday, I met up with friends to celebrate two of the ladies’ birthdays. We knew we wanted to do a Sunday brunch in the San Gabriel/South Pasadena area. I suggested Bistro de la Gare. It’s an adorable looking restaurant just literally steps away from the Metro stop on Mission (Gold Line). Bistro de la Gare has been there for about 3 years and is a local favorite.

I was extremely happy when we were seated right next to the window. Although it has been unbearably hot, if you’re sitting inside a nicely air-conditioned restaurant, it does seem like a nice day outside. We really liked the ambiance of the restaurant, and since we were right by the window, we enjoyed the natural brightness of the sunlight at our table. A server came over right away and greeted us and spoke a little French to me. I love him dearly for not laughing in my face as I completely butchered the French language. Since he was kind enough not do that, my friends were fairly impressed with me. Oh yes, he made me look good.

When it came to ordering, we were so hungry that everything looked good. We were also getting distracted by some of the other diners who were just served. We came really close to saying, “We want what she’s having.” I happened to remember that birthday girl #1 enjoys escargots ($7.50), so this became the first dish we decided on. The escargots here are really excellent. We all agreed that they were cooked just right, not rubbery which some restaurants make the mistake of doing. We also enjoyed all the garlic with the butter. Some French restaurants make escargots with a creamier sauce, which is fine. I believe, however, if you can cook escargots properly, you don’t need to create a sauce for it because diners will enjoy it with just butter, garlic, and perhaps a bit of parsley. The only thing we needed while enjoying this appetizer was some bread so soak up all that lovely garlic, which we got upon request at no additional charge. This really was a great way to start our meal.

For our entrees, we decided to order one dish we knew was a favorite here, the Quiche Lorraine ($8.50). I am incredibly picky about quiches. There is nothing worse than hard, dry quiches. The quiche at Bistro de la Gare is just the opposite. My friends and I kept saying how the Quiche Lorraine was surprisingly creamy and fluffy. At first bite, I thought it was going to be too salty for my liking. We suspect that my first bite had a huge chunk of ham and possibly some bacon because the rest of the quiche was absolutely perfect. Our other savory entree was the Panino au Poulet ($8.50). This sandwich caught me a little off-guard. When served, at first glance, I thought it was just chicken in a French roll. Upon closer inspection, I realized that I didn’t actually see the chicken or anything else for that matter because the French roll had no opening. Once you bite into it (or cut it into 4 parts the way my friends and I did it), all the great filling is indeed inside. The grilled chicken was moist, the onion was nicely caramelized, and the pesto was a lovely touch.

We also ordered the “Frenchy” Toast ($7.95). We wanted something to contrast the savory entrees. In addition, we definitely wanted to order something from the Petit Dejeuner menu, which is available only on Saturdays and Sundays between 10am and 2:30pm. The French toast was crisp on the outside and soft inside. It was sweet enough without the maple syrup, but how can one say no to maple syrup, especially when it’s staring at you in the little container on the side? Also, the fruit on the side makes you feel good that you’re having a balanced meal. Personally, I would have loved a little more pecan, but seeing how I was the only person at the table who felt that way, maybe Bistro de la Gare shouldn’t change a thing. We were pretty full at this point, and while the “Frenchy” Toast would have made a nice dessert for us… We had to have a peek at the real dessert menu.

Everything on the dessert menu looked tempting and was priced at either $5.95 or $6.95. I knew we would definitely be ordering the Creme Caramel (Flan), as that is one of the favorite desserts here. I couldn’t recall if it was the Chocolate Mousse or the Chocolate Tart that the locals loved. Our server quickly jumped in and said it was the tart. We were on the fence about the Profiteroles, which is basically cream puffs filled with vanilla ice cream instead of cream, topped with some chocolate sauce. Birthdays only come once a year, so we went for it. Our server also understood my really, really bad French and got the fact that we were celebrating two birthdays. He brought over candles for our guests of honor. After lots of photo taking, we finally dug in. The flan really was very well done. The texture was firm enough to retain the right shape, but overall very soft, which is my favorite consistency for flan. The chocolate tart was very fudgey, which explains why so many people enjoy it. It’s a very simple dessert, but a bite goes a long way. The profiteroles were also good, but truthfully, I’ve had better. The trick to profiteroles lies in the pasty puff. There was nothing wrong with how Bistro de la Gare made it, but it just lacked that “je ne sais quoi” that was present in everything else we ordered.

At the end of our meal, I looked over the bill and thought there might have been a mistake. Considering how much food we had and how good everything was, I expected our meal to cost more. It was very affordable, and each of us was happy with our dining experience. Birthday girl #2 told me that she still trusts me for now when it comes to trying new restaurants since I’m the foodblogger. Apparently, writing for lafb has given me some credibility. She says she will continue to take my word on restaurants until I lead her to a bad one. Thank you, Bistro de la Gare, for making me look good and helping me keep my title as foodie/foodblogger for another day.

Bistro de la Gare
921 Meridian Avenue
South Pasadena, CA 91030
Phone: (626) 799-8828

Hours:
Wed-Fri Lunch 11:30am – 2:30pm, Dinner 5pm – 10pm
Saturday Breakfast & Lunch 10am – 2:30pm, Dinner 5pm – 10:30pm
Sunday Breakfast & Lunch 10am – 2:30pm, Dinner 5pm – 9pm

By Pauline (see more of her posts).

It was Saturday night, a few weeks back, around 9:30, when I first visited Jingo to try their Japanese BBQ.  I’ll be blunt, by initial impression was mixed, at best.

Jingo is the new incarnation of Gochi, and my first thought was that the latest proprietors have taken the decor from “Mom and Pop” to casual and cool.   The black and red color scheme and sleek bar up front, combined with the house music playing and wall of windows that look out onto a Zen inspired patio, all say that this places has definitely been given a hip makeover.

My next thought was, “where’s the host?”  There was no one to greet us as we entered, not a host, a waiter, or bartender was in sight.  It was awkward to venture toward the back of the restaurant in hopes of finding someone to seat us.  At the very back, sat the hostess stand, helmed by a nice, if rather blase guy, who then, finally, did find us a table.  There is also a back entrance, perhaps they assume most will enter from there.  Either way, it’s something I feel, should be addressed.

My third and final initial impression was to notice that, although there were only about four tables full , there were about six tables sitting with dirty dishes on them.

Let’s just say we got off to a rocky start.  If my curiosity about the food hadn’t gotten the better of me, I may have walked out.  Luckily, things improved from there.

Our waiter greeted us with menus and took our drink order immediately. I asked him if we’d just missed a dinner rush, in hopes of explaining the dirty tables, but he just shrugged and said “I guess so.”  So much for that.    To their credit, the tables were all bussed within the next  5 to 10 minutes.

The set up at Jingo is like most Japanese or Korean BBQ places.  A large circular grill is built into the center of the table with wooden charcoals underneath.  You order bite size pieces of uncooked meat, fish and vegetables and then grill them yourself table-side.

After our drinks arrived, a Sake and Aloe Martini for me, which was surprisingly fresh and sweet, we ordered our appetizers.   We tried the Seaweed Salad and the Asparagus with Sesame Sauce. 

The salad was pretty and vibrant.  The seaweed was served on a bed of mixed greens and dressed with a light ponzu sauce.  The flavors were tasty blend of citrus and garlic and my only complaint was that the portion could have been bigger, I wanted more!  I guess that’s a good thing. 

The asparagus was cooked perfectly, but I’m not sure where the sesame in the sauce came in.  It was loaded with mayonnaise.  The flavor was bland and the consistency heavy in comparison to the crisp vegetables.  We ate all of the asparagus, but left the sauce alone.

The waiter brought things out quickly and efficiently, but never overloaded the table.  The service definitely warmed up as the evening went along.

Next, he brought out some items for us to grill, the Assorted Vegetables and the Harami - or skirt steak. 

The vegetables consisted of carrots, corn, mushrooms, onion and squash.  They were fresh, but again, I felt the portion was a bit on the skimpy side.  Also, they offer only one dipping sauce, as compared to three when the place still called itself Gochi.  I think they’d score some huge points by offering more choices.

The meat was tender and well seasoned.  We ordered it “Tare” or BBQ style, but you can also opt for it marinated in Miso.  I thought it was delicious, while Todd thought it was overly sweet.

From there we tried the shrimp.  It came dressed with lots of minced garlic, pepper and olive oil.  The shrimp and the dressing were all very fresh.  But I’m going to say it once more…more dipping sauces would be a plus.

We also tried out the Kalbi - or short ribs.  This time we went for it Miso style.  It was underwhelming.  The meat was flavorful and very tender but I am still not sure what, if anything, the Miso marinade added to it.

Let’s break it down…there are some really nice elements to Jingo.  The vibe and decor are great and the service is laid back but still efficient.  The food tastes good, but you are going to spend a pretty penny or two to leave feeling full.  If folks in the Valley are looking for a hip looking place to grab a drink and a small bite (and I know they are) then Jingo is definitely worth giving a try.

I plan on going back on a warm summer night just for a chance to sit out on their gorgeous patio.

Jingo:
17970 Ventura Blvd.
Encino, CA 91316
818.774.9621

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

Vin Loi Tofu sells a lot more than just plain old tofu. The small humble-looking restaurant has some of the best veggie pho I’ve ever had and that’s saying a lot coming from someone who grew up on the pho in the SGV.

On the counter were some of these strange looking dumplings wrapped in plastic. When I asked Kevin, the owner, what they were he was enthusiastic about them and suggested we try them after he warmed some up in the microwave. They seem to be mock-meat dumplings wrapped with tapioca-starch wrappers. The wrappers made them extremely sticky and they tended to stick to each other, but they were pretty good. It even came with vegetarian ngoc mam (fish sauce) which was a pretty good imitation of the real stuff.

The BF ordered their House Special Noodles, which comes with round rice noodles and an assortment of fake meat. He ordered it spicy, but the broth didn’t seem that spicy to me. The main complaint I have about a lot of vegetarian pho-style soups is that they’re too sweet. Vin Loi Tofu’s broth is sweet, but there’re also enough other spices in the broth to add depth and keep my taste-buds happy.

I ordered the House Special Seafood soup and asked for it to be spicy. Some how, my spicy soup was a lot spicier than the boyfriend’s spicy soup, but I wasn’t complaining. Despite it being over 95 degrees outside, drinking hot spicy soup that made your eyes water felt good. My noodles were the typical flat rice noodles that you get with Pho and the mock meats in my broth included shrimp, fish cakes, and some other unidentifiable soy meat. The noodles were firm and not clumped together or soggy, which was important.

The noodle soups at Vin Loi Tofu will never be as good as the pho at places like Golden Deli or Pho 79, but the soups definitely have the best vegan broth I’ve tasted out of all the other vegan/vegetarian pho places around. And their soymilk and tofu aren’t too shabby either. It’s just a shame that they’re all the way in Reseda and not closer to where I live.

The only caveat is that their mock meats may not be entirely vegan. According to the BF, there may be whey in some of the meats and while the owner doesn’t make all of them, he doesn’t seem to give a concrete answer about their ingredients.

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Vin Loi Tofu
18625 Sherman Way
Reseda, CA 91335
(818) 996-9779

Louise absolutely LOVES filthy, cheap places! (See more of her posts). You can also find more of Louise's writing at her own website NakedSushi.

Usually it is my wife who gives the somewhat regular reports on what is in season at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. One of the many benefits of my being on family leave is that now I get to accompany her on the market trips.

It’s a turning point at the market, summer fruits are just starting to pop up. This week was the first week where we saw Cherries, bought them from two different stands. It’s obviously early in the short season, but the cherries are sweet and delicious, and a bit expensive. One farmer tolda us that they were there from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day, so get them while you can!

Stone fruits are just starting to arrive. One stand had Nectarines, with signs advertising that the fruit was picked the evening before the market (I think they even had the times that the fruit were picked, something like 6-7pm). I think that peaches and nectarines are some of my favorite bounty from the market, looking forward to the next couple of months.

There are still citrus, we made our weekly trip to Garcia Farms’ stand for tangerines and mandarins, although things seem to be winding down. Apples are gone, but strawberries are abundant.

Some other goodies we picked up were sugar snap peas, cauliflower, and some grapefruit juice. We actually had some produce left over from last week, so it was a smaller purchasing trip. Plus, we have to save up for the coming onslaught of summer fruits!

It’s a great opportunity to be able to hit up the Wednesday Market, but if you can’t make it midweek, don’t forget that there are three markets in Santa Monica over the weekend. Two on Saturday (one at the Promenade and one at Virginia Park on Pico) and one Sunday on Main Street.

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.

Tucked away in an unassuming corner building on San Gabriel is a restaurant that anyone who is a fan of spicy food should try: Chung King. The restaurant’s signature dishes focus around the mouth numbing spiciness that comes from Szechwan peppercorn and chili peppers — which make those dishes delicious, but dangerous at the same time. It’s hard to gauge how spicy something is when your tongue is numb.

At the front of the restaurant is a small glass case with cold appetizers to choose from for immediate satisfaction. For the meat eaters at our table, we chose the slices of spicy beef and the smoked chicken. The slices of beef were flavorful, numbing, and they weren’t skimpy on the chili oil. The smoked chicken is a good choice for people who can’t handle spicy food because it’s not spicy, but still tasty. I don’t usually like cold chicken, but the smokiness made me keep eating it.

For the vegetarians and vegans, we also had a vegetable appetizer plate with spicy cabbage and bean sprout salad. The cabbage is different than kimchi because it’s not fermented and isn’t as sour. The bean sprout salad is deceptive because even though it’s not red, it still has a bit of that numbing mala taste from peppercorns.

The cold noodles we ordered was under the menu as “Cold Szechuan Noodles” or something similar. They’re not that spicy and the noodles have an odd starchy texture almost like they were overcooked. The sauce it came with was sweeter than we expected. The weren’t bad but I don’t think I would be ordering them again.

My favorite dish on their menu is their house spicy chicken bits. It’s bite-sized pieces of chicken that are battered and fried like popcorn chicken. Unlike popcorn chicken, they are then tossed with chili peppers, peppercorn and green onion. The dish is salty and tasty but so spicy it’s painful, but I can’t stop eating it. They should just rename this dish “Exquisite Torture”.

A signature dish when it comes to spicy Chinese food is Mapo Tofu. We ordered the vegan version, Mala Tofu which is pretty much Mapo Tofu without the ground meat. Yes, the dish was every bit as spicy as it is red. It’s the same type of numbing spicy that’s used for almost every spicy dish at Chung King, but I still haven’t gotten tired of it.

To give our tastebuds a break from the pain, we also ordered the claypot eggplant (Szechuan Eggplant on the menu) and asked them to omit the meat to make it vegan. The sauce is cloyingly sweet and the eggplant is tender, but it tastes like your usual claypot eggplant that you can get at any Chinese restaurant in the SGV.

Finally, for people who definitely can’t eat anything spicy, we ordered the crispy rice with fish. The waitress brought us a plate of crispy rice (think un-sweetened rice crispy treats) and a bowl of slices of fish with vegetables and mushroom in sauce, and then poured the bowl on top of the plate of crispy rice with a sizzle. The fish tasted like your generic white fish, and the entire dish wasn’t amazing, but with the crispy rice, it was great. I had many bites of this dish to cool off my mouth.

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Chung King
1000 S San Gabriel Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Louise absolutely LOVES filthy, cheap places! (See more of her posts). You can also find more of Louise's writing at her own website NakedSushi.

Monland Hot Pot City

251 W. Bencamp Street
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 289-4889
Roughly $20 per person to gorge yourself

It’s all about the condiments. A trio of fish paste, peanut sauce, and red berry glaze stand guard at each table, the only things other than porcelain and bamboo that hold prominence. The boisterous sounds of Mandarin, Cantonese, and even, occasionally, English permeate the room while a witches’ brew of stock and spices starts to simmer away.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble
Read the rest of this entry »

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).

I had dinner at Musha, an izakaya in Santa Monica, recently and wanted to highlight some or our favorites on the menu. The place is small and gets pretty crowded at night so we made a reservation a day or so beforehand just so we didn’t have to wait thirty to sixty minutes for a table. Some of the food is definitely worth the wait, but they have a very small waiting area so it’s nice just getting there and getting seated right away.

The pure tofu (vegan if you don’t put in bonito flakes) is something we always order. Its their home made tofu, which has a cottage cheese-like texture with some seasoning on the side: chives, sea salt, fresh grated ginger, and their special soy sauce. It’s rich, creamy, and the vegan boyfriend says that it reminds him of cottage cheese.

I also had the Butakim, which was pork belly sauteed with kim chi. The pork belly was tender, flavorful thanks to the kimchi, and delicious. This was the first time I had it and I’ll definitely order it again. The dallop of kewpie mayonaise on the side was a nice touch and added even more richness to the dish.

As a carb dish, I ordered the spicy fried rice. I forgot what it was called on the menu, but it’s in the rice section and the description said something about ground pork. It was decent, but I make better fried rice at home.

One of their specials was the rapini (vegan), which I think is under their menu as “rape blossoms”. They’re tasty and tender, but I think the price is a bit high for the portion you get.

Something we order everytime we go there is their stone pot rice (vegan). It’s rice mixed with preserved salty vegetables and some mountain vegetables all cooked in a stone pot. The stone pot makes the rice crunchy if you leave some in it for a few minutes after they bring it. Protip: ask for a cup of hot tea after you empty the pot and then pour the hot tea into the stone pot and drink it. Delicious!

Lastly, I have my favorite dish: aburi saba. It’s marinated mackerel that the server will scorch with a blow torch right at your table. Despite the cool-factor of a small hand-held blow torch, the marinated mackerel makes my mouth water just thinking about it. I think this time, it was even served with a side of real wasabi.

Musha’s a great place to go as long as you don’t have to wait too long for a table. They have some decent sake and the usual Japanese beers and even though it’s loud in there, I wouldn’t mind it if a date brought me there.

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Musha
424 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 576-6330

Louise absolutely LOVES filthy, cheap places! (See more of her posts). You can also find more of Louise's writing at her own website NakedSushi.