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What do you all think?

Over the Christmas holiday, I wandered into the biggest Whole Foods I’ve ever seen!

From the Whole Foods web page:
“The largest Whole Foods Market west of the Rockies has opened its doors in Pasadena. This 2 story, 76,770 square foot store blends the concept of in-store dining with a supermarket by adding innovative features like an extensive Seafood Bar, Wine and Tapas Lounge, Asian and Italian eateries, a fresh Juice Bar and a Nut Roaster; a Specialty department with more than 300 selections of cheeses; a Bakery department with custom cake decorating and fresh donuts made by the hour; eco-chic apparel, accessories, and home goods from Whole Body and a relaxing Take a Break Massage Room.”

Will the cliche change from “feeling like a kid in a candy store” to “an urban shopper in a Whole Foods?”

From a business point of view, will super sizing the stores be a good move in the long run?

465 South Arroyo Parkway
(South Arroyo Parkway and Bellevue Drive)
Pasadena, CA 91105
626.204.2266

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

My wife and I have a fun mission, in more ways than one. We’re expecting our first baby in April and among the adjustments we are sure to make is a little less fine dining. Before the baby comes, the mission is to hit up places that aren’t so kid friendly. A marathon of fine dining to mark celebrate this life transition, to anticipate the coming baby and to enjoy some nice dinners without barf on our shirts or hurrying back to the babysitter. Here are some of the ground rules:

• Sushi is out. There are some options for my wife to safely eat, like eel and cooked shrimp, but it’s a bit torturous for me to eat luscious tuna in front of her.
• Steak is in. Iron is good! Craft? Mastros? ….Cut? (sorry baby, no college for you)
• We’re trying to stay away from places that we have been, although Hatfield’s was our favorite meal from last year and we might cave on that one. Besides, their space is so small, we could never wheel a stroller in there.
• On that note, crowded, loud, pretentious spots preferred. It’s adult time!
• Our time is limited. April is coming sooner than you think and we have some there plans between now and then
• Wine lists aren’t important, but places that have creative non-alcoholic drinks are nice (like Luna Park’s drink list)

So then, if you could pick six restaurants to eat at before your baby comes, where would you go?

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.

When it’s pouring rain outside, and you have a gift card in your wallet with $$ still left on it, how can you resist the temptation of a cozy French bistro and onion soup? The other night Comme Ca was calling our names in a sexy French accent and the promise of hot comfort food. I’m going to get the important part of this review out of the way at the beginning. The warnings. If you are not daunted by them, then you can read the rest.

WARNING!

1. We were under the impression that there were a number of tables set aside for walk-ins. At least on the night we went, this was not so. The whole place was practically empty when we arrived, but we were told it was a “full house” and we could only sit at the bar. Luckily for us, the bar is our favorite place to sit! But if you need a chair with a back, and table space, make a reservation. Also, if you want to sit ANYWHERE, get there early. We went just after 6:00 and got the last two bar spots.

2. Do not expect actual French bistro prices. This place is EXPENSIVE (for what you are getting). Cocktails = $14. My butter lettuce salad with vinaigrette, carrots and radish was $9, as was the onion soup, pommes frites are $7, entrees are $25-$28. It helps if you have a gift card! The wine list is good though, in that it provides wines of all prices from the $20 range to the $100 range, so everyone can partake.

Do you still want to check it out? Think your pocketbook can handle it? Think you can get a reservation? Then read on …….

Read the rest of this entry »

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

Joe’s has a bit of a special place in my heart stomach. Joe’s was actually one of the first meals I ever blogged, back when I had a purely personal blog (now defunct). Joe’s was one of the first higher end spots I ate at after moving to LA and since then I have had some of my favorite meals at Joe’s. I had only had dinner there and after hearing so much about their other meals, I was ecstatic to make it there for brunch.

Like many of my meals at Joe’s, this was to celebrate a special occasion — my wife’s birthday with friends. There were seven of us and we scored a prime round table in the corner, excellent for conversation as well as to observe what everyone is eating! Our reservation was for 11:00, which we found out when we got there, is also what time Joe’s opens on Sundays. I was a bit surprised that they didn’t open an hour earlier, but for a lazy brunch, I suppose 11:00 is a decent time. I would note that the dining room filled fast, I highly suggest reservations.

The brunch menu focuses mainly on breakfasty items, with a couple of lunch options as well. Oops, almost forgot the drinks. I ordered a delicious cappuccino, however I was tempted by a terrific looking drink list which included a milk punch, hibiscus (champagne + cranberry), the “Best Bloody Mary ever” and a couple other cocktails that I can’t remember. A Bloody Mary was ordered at our table, the verdict? It was pretty damn good.

Each brunch dish comes with the choice of granola, fresh fruit, salad, or soup! Joe’s is hands down my favorite place to eat soup, always made with farmer’s market ingredients, always smooth and silky and always dairy free. Even if it wasn’t The Year of the Soup, I would have ordered the soup of the day, which was parsnip.

The soup was predictably tasty. Parsnip makes a great ingredient with a very subtle first flavor followed by a bit of root vegetable punctuation.

My neighbor had the granola, served with a mini-jug of milk and fresh blueberries. Most of the rest of the table ordered the fresh fruit plate (no melon filler) and I had one partner in soup.

A short time after we finished our starters, the main event arrived. As the server told us when we ordered, you wont leave Joe’s Brunch hungry. The portions were sizable (and rich).

Going around the table were a couple breakfast burritos. The burrito is stuffed with green chili and turkey chorizo, then topped with guacamole, sour cream and ranchero sauce ($13).

A couple people ordered the two egg, three buttermilk pancake and three pieces of applewood smoked bacon ($12). As you can see, the pancakes are incredibly fluffy and the picture shows scrambled egg whites, which followed the fluffy theme. The bacon, while not fluffy, is also a hit.

This picture is from across the table, weaving through glasses and table settings to find The Finger’s Huevos Rancheros. The dish is served with chilies & caramelized onions, black beans, jack and cheddar cheese, topped with ranchero sauce ($11)

I mulled over a few different menu items before settling on two finalists. It was down to the two poached egg dishes, either the House Smoked Red Trout with Poached Eggs, Dill & Onion Toast, Dill Hollandaise & Trout Caviar or the Maine Peeky-Toe Crab Hash with Poached Egg, Red and Yellow Peppers, Potatoes, Mustard Rosemary Sauce. We had a table debate about just what is a Peeky-Toe Crab, the common theory being that it was the toe of a crab who only sticks its feet out of the rock, where after the hunter chops the toe and sells it to restaurants. We were wrong, and I ultimately chose the trout ($14) over the crab ($15).

I couldn’t have been happier with my choice. Served atop thick toasted brioche and topped with just the right amount of subtle hollandaise, it was my perfect breakfast. The trout was very lightly smoked, not overpowering, and it is a supreme luxury to eat an entire serving of trout with no bones! From the color, I’m assuming that it is golden trout, which I like to cook myself, but simply can’t stand trying to remove all of the sub-toothpick sized bones, and I always miss a few.

Being that it was a birthday, we did have a couple of desserts. The chocolate ginger cookies with caramel and hot fudge with a small (very small) scoop of ice cream. We also had a trio of home made sorbets: lemon, strawberry and cranberry (my favorite), each spooned into a slice of strawberry. No pictures, because we devoured it. Dessert were $5 each and were very small portions.

Compared with a normal breakfast spot, Joe’s is a complete steal. Ranging from $11-$16 you get an amazing choice of brunch dishes, along with the “first course”. There are weekly specials, in today’s case a shrimp scampi, and the ingredients are all first rate. Service is friendly and somewhat casual, our food was served at a good pace without us feeling rushed.

Joe’s Restaurant
1023 Abbot Kinney Boulevard
Venice, California 90291
310.399.5811

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 had driven by this tucked-away Thai place a hundred times, down S. Robertson, on my way to the 10 freeway. Late one night I was craving a new, close-to-home (BH) Thai experience so I meandered into Naraya and was pleasantly surprised. The tiny space possessed a casual, Zen elegance and the food was both unique and good. I soon returned with my camera to write a blog. Here are my findings. They have a great happy hour everyday from 4-7pm. The fancy but inexpensive cocktails are half price as are starters. We missed “el cheapo hour” but nonetheless indulged in a Water Melon Martini (2 actually) and a Blue Mojito. There is not a completely full bar but they serve wine, beer and made our drinks with Han, and Asian vodka that I liked. My melon-tini was smooth and the mojito perfectly minty but not overly sweet.

We began our adventure with the Naraya Radish Crowns. The texture was intriguing; both crunchy and soft. The sweet, nutty flavor was a smart contrast with the crispy garlic garnish. Each crown perched on one pristine spinach leaf, and surrounded a cabbage slaw dressed with creamy chili sauce.

We devoured a second appetizer (and over ate just to give our fellow foodies a better blog report.) Golden Pouches arrived, artistically presented on circular banana leaves. The crispy wontons enveloped succulent rock shrimp and were tied together with ribbons of green onion; pure pleasure for the mouth.

One of their specialties, Duck Salad, truly lived up to its simple name. Elsewhere when I’ve ordered duck salad, there has been a miniscule portion of duck. At first glance, we were worried but then discovered a plentiful amount of smoky, peppery duck layered beneath mixed greens, which were perfectly coated with chili-lime dressing. Candied walnuts (menu reads pistachios) mingled with grape tomatoes and I enjoyed le canard (the duck) in almost every bite!

Last, we tried steamed Chilean Sea Bass. Now, maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t of true Chilean ilk, but I haven’t seen Chilean Bass for $18.00 in a long, long time. In any case, Chilean Sea Bass is really just Patagonian toothfish, but that name didn’t go over well commercially. (It’s known as Mero in Japan and Merluza Negra in South America.) The white fish was tender, but slightly undercooked and we were pulling bones. The emerald city of vegetables built around the fish however, was a delicate garden of freshness. Chinese celery, Japanese shitakes and baby bok choy were perfectly cooked with a touch of fresh ginger; simple but satisfying.

I look forward to another meal at Naraya. The menu is creative and priced fairly for the quality of food, ranging from $4-$21 for Australian Lamb Chop with Thai panang curry sauce, kaffir lime leaf, and green tea rice. The service is excellent and very personal. On my first visit, I inquired about their Pad Thai and was told they use real tamarind which is expensive and most restaurants replace it with sugar and peanut sauce. My server actually brought out some tamarind to show me. Maybe that’s why their Pad Thai a little more expensive. You get what you pay for. I love restaurants like this; Small, family run, with a focus on high quality food and friendly customer service. Naraya also offers great lunch specials.

THE BOTTOM LINE: A creative fusion of traditional Thai food and modern flavors, served in a casual, but stylish atmosphere. See my rating for Naraya on my blog, Foodflirt90210.

NARAYA

310-858-7738
1128 S. Robertson Blvd. LA, Ca 90035

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

Digesty Los Angeles (and the rest of the Digesty sites) is getting a bit of a face lift and rejiggering. As part of the process, I always try to add active blogs and take out inactive blogs, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

For those of you not familiar with Digesty, it serves up links to the latest blog posts for a particular niche. That way you can keep up on new posts and information as soon as they are published.

A couple more updates coming, including some additional niches and the ability to search the sites listed on 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.

I haven’t ever really “live blogged” a meal before, but I am here at the Bergamot Cafe with my laptop and a meal, so why not?

The Bergamot Cafe is in Bergamot Station, at the end of Michigan Avenue in Santa Monica. I was tipped off to the cafe by my mom who ate here one one of her trips to an art exhibit.

I got here just before the lunch rush, before noon and didn’t have to wait in line. It’s counter service, you order at the register and get a table number for them to bring out the food. I’m a big fan of this format for casual lunches. I don’t always like to have full waiter service and also don’t like to have to wait at a window for my number to be called. Yes, I know that this style of service exists all over, isn’t new and is not really special, but I though I would mention it.

I ordered a turkey meatloaf sandwich and a cup of winter squash soup (of course). The food actually got here before I had time to boot up my laptop, so I’m sipping soup between keystrokes. I’m also a chronic eavesdropper on conversations around me, and there are some good ones in an environment like this. Not only are there professional artists and office workers from the studios around the neighborhood, but the cafe has a large patio where I think people are comfortable projecting their conversations across the space.

The soup is gone, I finished it. The winter squash wash clearly butternut. It is spiced with a little cinnamon and maybe some clove? It was delicious and great on a rainy day, although butternut squash seems to by the default soup around this time of year. It used to seem so decadent and now everyone, myself included, whips up a batch when the temperature drops below 70 in southern California. The other option was a lentil soup, which I generally like, but is also rather pedestrian.

On to my turkey meatloaf sandwich, which I am a good eight bites in to. The sandwich is sizable, good thing I only had some yogurt for breakfast. Wow, this is some good turkey meatloaf. Moist and thick in the sandwich with a nice aoli spread. What the heck is this? Why bother with a tomato if it’s mostly green and crunchy, there’s already lettuce in the sandwich to take care of that end of things. Tomatoes are so far out of season, I would understand if they aren’t on the menu. Oh well, easy problem to fix and the sandwich is great, one of the better turkey meatloafs I have had. Yum, red onions too, I like those.

The sandwich comes with a side salad with a slightly creamy balsamic dressing. There are lots of “yuppie greens” as my wife calls them. I must be a yuppie because they agree with me, even the bitter red stuff. I’m a cup of soup and half a sandwich in, debating if I should pretend to be on a New Year’s diet, of just push through and stuff myself and go home and nap. It’s turkey, thats like eating vitamins, right? I just dropped a piece of lettuce into the napkin on my lap and picked it up and ate it, how’s that for some mundane detail?

Sounds like some Yahoo folks are here. OK, I just started the second half and I was wrong, the tomatoes aren’t totally green, they are pretty white in places too. Still doesn’t ruin the sandwich. This would be a great place to come on a sunny day, the patio is huge and there is lots of seating. They have some awnings to shield the rain, although one just dumped a waterfall on the uncovered seats.

So, how was your New Year’s? Mine was good, fairly mellow with a trip to LACMA to see the Dali exhibit before it shuts down this weekend. This is what you and I would be talking about if you were sitting here.

The meal is winding down, I don’t think I’m going to finish, there will be a few bites of the sandwich left behind. For about $10.50 I would say that it’s a good value. Good ingredients, great meatloaf and I like that they have some home made soups available. One more thing to mention, the soup wasn’t too salty, big plus. I hate salty soup for salty soup’s sake.

I took a picture of my sandwich, but don’t have the card reader to upload it. Photographic evidence later.

Bergamot Cafe
2525 Michigan A3
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310.828.4001

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 am making a declaration. 2008 will be the Year of the Soup.

It is my belief that soup is the most overlooked dish in the kitchen, and even more so on a restaurant’s menu. For 2008, it is my mission to bring soup to the forefront of your palate. I love soup, I love to make it and to eat it, if I was running for office, it would be for King of Soup (or King of Breakfast).

I admit, I do not always order soup when it’s on the menu, but this next year, I will make it my mission. Simple vegetable soups, both creamy and hearty; stews and comfortable broths loaded with meat. Various Asian soups - Thai, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese…

I look forward to the creamless vegetable soups at Joe’s in Venice, the tomato soup at Urth Caffe and their gazpacho too, even if it is over blended.

Chinese restaurants, bring me your War Wontons (yes you, Mao’s and Chang’s) and your spiciest Hot and Sours. If you can’t clear my sinuses, you are no good to me. In a pinch, I will have your sizzling rice and if the mood strikes me, your egg drop.

For seafood stews, I’m fishing for Bouillabaisse in France and Cioppino in Italy. French for flavor and Italian for spice.

While we’re in France, let’s go on the hunt for French Onion. Le Petit serves a piping hot earthenware bowl with topped with melted chewy cheese.

Seasonal soups are a delicious way to taste what is in season. Autumn and winter squash, summer vegetable with fresh corn. We can slurp our way through the farmer’s market.

I am encouraged by the changing soup selections at Bistro style spots like The Nook, where I recently had a flavorful chicken chipotle soup. There’s nothing like soup of the day. Just ask Mr. Lloyd Christmas:

Lloyd: Uh, what is the Soup Du Jour?
Waitress: It’s the Soup of the Day.
Lloyd: Mmmm. That sounds good. I’ll have that.

So there is my declaration. This year, I will have soup. I will make it at home and I will order it when offered. 2008, The Year of the Soup.

To get you started, here is my very basic recipe for Creamy Creamless Cauliflower Soup:

1 Head Cauliflower, somewhat chopped
1 Yellow Onion, roughly chopped
2 Celery Stalks, sort of chopped
1 Large Carrot, kind of chopped
1 Bay Leaf
1 Medium-Large Russet Potato, imprecisely chopped
2 Tsp White Pepper
2 Tsp Rice Vinegar
Stock
Olive Oil

Directions: Pour a good amount of olive oil into a stock pot or dutch oven. Saute the onions, celery and carrots over medium heat. Add the potato, stir and saute. Add the cauliflower, stir and saute. Now, add enough stock (chicken or vegetable) to cover the ingredients in the pot. Also add the bay leaf and any other herbs you like in your soup.

Allow the stock to just come to a simmer and reduce the heat to keep the simmer going without boil. Allow the soup to simmer for about 45 minute or until the cauliflower is very tender and can be mashed easily with a fork.

Fish out the bay leaf. Turn off the heat and use an immersion blender to puree the vegetables. This can also be done with a blender or food processor, but the immersion blender is much easier and less messy. Make sure that you blend up all of the chunks.

Pass the soup through a fine strainer to get out any chunks and make the soup very smooth. Turn the heat back on medium low and add the white pepper and rice vinegar. The white pepper will add a mild spice and the rice vinegar will brighten the flavors. Depending on how salty your stock was, add some more salt to taste. Use the immersion blender to mix in the ingredients. Simmer for another 20 minutes or so and serve.

Tastes best the next day.

This is the easiest soup to make. You can substitute the cauliflower for almost any other vegetable.

(photo via sonicwalker)

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.