Tag Archives: Food

Quick Eats: Panini at Home

Location: The Villa Malka (home), Pacific Palisades, CA.

Date: Nov 02, 2010

My brother came over to whip up a quick batch of brunch panini, one of his specialties. All the actual cooking in this post is courtesy of “guest chef” Mitch Gavin. My related masterpiece are my home made pizzas, I’ll post about them sometime.

First the ingredients. This particular batch was vegetables and cheese. Red onions, farmers market tomatoes and baby bell peppers, fresh basil, two sorts of parmesan, sharp cheddar, and mixed greens.

We often use lavash bread — after all, we live in LA, home to about 1000 great Persian markets. The cheese goes on the bottom, thinly sliced, then some salad.

The salad is dosed with fresh squeezed Meyer Lemon (good on everything) and onion.

The peppers and tomatoes, then some various spices like pepper and oregano. Anything will work.
A little “really good” Olive Oil drizzled on goes a long way. Laudemio makes fantastic single orchard varietals.
You can find these Panini machines at any specialized cooking store these days.
Cook it down until the veggies really collapse, and the cheese goes all over.
Voila!
It’s like grilled cheese and a salad all in one.
And as a bonus you can scrape off the fried cheese (mostly parmasean). Even my two year old liked that.
You can throw just about anything in a panini and it will go great. In this particular one you could add yesterday’s left over steak (sliced), or turkey, or grilled chicken, or prosciutto, whatever.

Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern

Restaurant: Tavern [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 11648 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 806-6464

Date: Oct 31, 2010

Cuisine: Market driven Californian

Rating: Nice brunch spot.

 

Tavern is a welcome and tasty replacement for the Hamburger Hamlet in Brentwood. They have a bakery, and three rooms, including a lovely glass ceiling “patio.” It’s part of Susanne Goin’s restaurant group along with A.O.C. and Lucques.

Tavern eggs benedict. Brioche and Prosciutto. The hollandaise was perfect, with a nice citrus note. This was a very good version of the classic. My only complaint was that the frise stuck in my throat slightly.

These are other peoples, but they looked good.

The sausage I tasted. Delicious, like some kind of lamb/pig hybrid, with fried sage on top.

Tavern also has a yummy looking bakery all decked out in Halloween themed goodies:

I had one each of these macaroons. They were two of the best I’ve ever had, incredibly moist. The pumpkin one tasted like my mom’s fresh pumpkin pie, and the carmel one was soft and sweet with just a little dose of sea salt.

Tavern hold’s its own as a top example of the new new modern California style, similar to other great places like Gjelina and Rustic Canyon. Or more meals at Tavern HERE, HERE, or HERE.

Food as Art: The Bazaar

Restaurant: The Bazaar

Location: 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 310.246.5555

Date: Oct 30, 2010

Cuisine: Spanish influenced Molecular Gastronomy

Rating: Awesome, one of LA’s best places.

My first exposure to the genius of José Andrés was at Cafe Atlantico in Washington D.C. On an occasional Sunday I’d go with my parents for their Nuevo Latino Dim Sum, which was a ludicrously large prix fix brunch (30 some courses and several hours). I was thrilled when he opened a restaurant in LA. The spectacular result is The Bazaar in the SLS hotel. I’ve been five or six times and the scene alone is great. They  have a number of different rooms and restaurants  grouped together. There is the bar, with cool snacks and molecular cocktails, the scrumptious pataserie, two rooms of the main restaurant, and the secret prix fix only Saam. This meal  was in the main Bazaar. Everything is tapas style, small dishes (about 4 per person) shared by all.

They have all sorts of interesting cocktails, but the signature one is the nitro caprina. Dry ice is used to freeze the rum and lime concoction down without added ice or water.

The result is above. It tastes like a sherbet, with a highly unusual smooth texture, but it’s intensely potent (in terms of proof). Goes down all too easy.

Then I pulled out the first of my wines. The 2007 Laurel. Yum. As I mentioned in my review of Calima this is a fantastic Spanish wine buy. Parker gives it 94 and says, “The 2007 Laurel, a blend of 65% Garnacha and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, is deep purple-colored with a bouquet of wet stone, Asian spices, black cherry compote, and incense. Dense and sweet on the palate with tons of spice, it is super-concentrated, rich, and smooth-textured. Give this lengthy effort 2-3 years of additional cellaring and drink it from 2013 to 2027. Laurel is produced from the young vines of Clos Erasmus as well as from the results of a triage in the vineyard and cellar of the flagship wine.”

Ordering here can involve a bit of planning — not to mention paper and pen.

This first dish is “Sweet potato chips, yogurt, tamarind, star anise.” The crisp chips are used to scoop up the fluffy cool yogurt, which has a pleasing fruit tang.

Then we have “Spanish olives, traditional.” Classic olives with pimentos and anchovy.

This is followed by “Spanish olives, modern.” Pureed olive has been “sphereized.” The flavor is basically the same, but these pop in your mouth to deliver a concentrated burst of olive.

“Embutidos platter, chorizo, lomo, salchichos.” A selection of pig, pig, and pig. The chorizo in particular is intense, although not nearly as much as some of the examples I had in Spain where each bite transported you magically to the barnyard sty.

Served with some grilled “tomato bread.”

“Bagel and lox cone,” is deconstructed and re-interpreted. Cream cheese is paired with Ikura (salmon eggs). Tasty.

“Bunuelos, codfish fritters, honey aioli,” these are specular (but hot, right out of the fryer). The sauce gives them an almost Chinese flavor. Fried fish always works.

“Baby beets, citrus, pistachio, goat cheese.” A nice variant on what has become an LA classic.

“Sea scallops, romesco sauce.”

“Brussel sprouts, lemon puree, apricots, grapes, lemon air.” This was a big hit, the sprouts aren’t bitter at all, and have a light cabbage-like texture. The lemon air is the best part, adding a nice zing.

“Jicama wrapped guacamole, micro cilantro, corn chips.” This was really good, vaguely like a caterpillar roll.

“Barramundi, black beans, garlic,” was an incredibly tasty fish. The skin was perfectly crisped, the meat moist.

“Not your everyday caprese, cherry tomatoes, liquid mozzarella.” This is a near perfect deconstruction of the caprese. The mozzarella balls explode in your mouth, and pair great with the pesto and the little crunchy crackers.

“Seared artichokes with pastrami Saul, La serena cheese with PX reduction.” This wasn’t my favorite. The artichokes seemed a little dry.

The deconstructed “Philly cheese steak” is one of my favorites. The bread is super crispy with liquid parmigiana. the beef is wagyu.

You can see the cheese oozing out.

The vegetarians got this “Hilly cheese steak” with mushroom instead of beef. Same cheese.

“Braised Waygu beef cheeks, California citrus.” This tastes like the best pastrami you’ve ever had, melts in your mouth.

“Catalan spinach, apple, pine-nuts, raisins.”

“Butifarra senator moynihan, Catalan pork sausage, white beans, mushrooms.” The beans were a little dry, but the sausage rocked. This dish reminded me of the equivalent Tuscan sausage and fava beans. I suspect in both cases it hearkens back to the traditional Roman combination of pork sausage served with lentils (over at new years, the lentils symbolizing coins and the wish for wealth in the new year).

At some point we switched up to the 2008 Flor de Pingus, which is even better than the Laurel, deep inky, but silky smooth. Parker gives it 96 saying, “The 2008 Flor de Pingus had been in bottle for 2 weeks when I tasted it. It offers up an enticing nose of smoke, Asian spices, incense, espresso, black cherry, and blackberry. On the palate it displays outstanding volume, intensity, and balance. Rich, dense, and succulent, it has enough structure to evolve for 4-5 years and will offer prime drinking from 2015 to 2028.”

“Lamb loin, Jacques Maximus pistou, trumpet mushrooms.”

My personal favorite along with the cheese steak, “Cotton candy fois lollypop.” The little cube of fois pairs with the sugar like a Sauternes. Oh so yummy.

If that little bit of fois didn’t stop the heart, take a “Fois gras, quince, toasted brioche.” A perfectly put together burger version of the classic pairing.

On Halloween eve, weird costumes abound.

Savory dishes complete, we transferred over to the patisserie for desert. I ordered a glass of this lovely 1927 Pedro Ximenez sherry. I love PX. This one was like sweet motor oil.

“Nitro coconut, floating island, passion-fruit, banana.” I don’t like bananas (had too many with half a bottle of whiskey in ’91), but the nitro island was delicious. Cold, refreshing coconut.

I’m a huge flan fan and this Spanish classic didn’t disappoint.

“Chocolate cupcake.”

“hot chocolate mouse, three layers.” This was good. You gets to inject it with the little syringe of chocolate and the little balls add great texture.

The passion-fruit “Pate des fruits” packed a wonderful wallop of fruit flavor.

Assorted bonbons.

No other restaurant in LA has the combination of ultra modern chic and whimsical playfulness that The Bazaar does — plus everything tastes great and you get to experience an great melange of flavors in one meal. One of these days I need to try Saam and let the chef throw his best at us. I never plan far enough ahead. One note, I ‘ve done The Bazaar’s “set menu” twice, and ordered myself four times. If you know what you are doing doing it yourself is the better way to go, particularly because they don’t mix up their set menu enough. However, if it’s your first visit, letting them handle serves as a fine introduction.

Food as Art: Urwasawa

Restaurant: Urasawa

Location: 218 N Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, 310-247-8939

Date: Feb 16, 2010

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Mind blowing, but a hefty blow below the money-belt.

I’ve been here four or five times over the years, both in it’s older incarnation as Ginza Sushi-Ko under the supervision of chef Masa Takayama and in recent years when helmed by his disciple Hiroyuki Urasawa. To tell the truth, given my limited sampling, I think the student has surpassed the teacher. This is no strip mall sushi joint, but a deliberate effort to maximize the impact of flavor and presentation to the nth degree. This includes an almost gratuitous use of exotic and luxurious ingredients — not to mention gold foil. There are no menus here, no choices, just an expensive parade of delectables the chef selects. The place is tiny, only about 8 sushi bar seats and two little private rooms (one table each). This time we had a room as there were five of us celebrating a birthday.

It’s been a little while so forgive me if I miss-remember some ingredients.

We start with some Toro (ultra rich tuna belly) wrapping a special kind of tofu, banded by daikon, topped with scallions and the omnipresent gold fold, and dosed with ponzu. Yum. Notice the shabby presentation.

I can’t even remember what this was. But it had gold foil too.

Sashimi. Look at this presentation. Ice has been carved into a form of sculpture. Flowers and little rocks adorn. The fish was melt in your mouth.

Caviar with a few other bits on the spoon. Might have been Uni. Everything was delicious here, although if you’re some kind of land-lubber, stay home, pretty much 95% seafood.

Gold foil again. This dish had that kind of subtle Unami flavor profile that is unique to asian cuisines. I happen to love this kind of salty/savory flavor. I think there was a traditional egg custard underneath.

Tempura, very traditional style with the little mound of Daikon radish one can add. I can’t remember what was fried up, but I’m sure it was something rich like lobster. Or it might even have been Fugu (blow fish).

I bet this spider crab didn’t think its body would end up being the cooking pot for its own meat. But it did, with a little Uni (Sea Urchin) to add some extra zest. Again very subtle flavors, and very juicy crab.

This was sort of the ultimate shabu-shabu. Below is a peice of kobe beef, some Akimo (Monfish liver), some japanese scallop and something else I can’t remember. They are cooked in the heated broth in the upper left (very briefly, by swish swishing them — that is what shabu-shabu means), and then dipped in the tangy ponzu. The resulting broth, rich from the fats of the beef and liver you drink as a soup.

I think this is the above broth after it was served to eat.

Some of the sushi got eaten before I got my camera aimed. The sushi here is incredibly good. Even the ginger is all hand made.

More sushi, classics such as Maguro, Hamachi, and Ika (squid), but spectacularly tasty.

More sushi. I think you can technically keep on getting it as long as you have room (for the same high high price), but one fills quickly.

This is the big slab of Kobe beef that is the source of the bits we were eating.

 

Toro, Uni, and some kind of clam.

Three different grades of Toro. A rare treat.

I think a mackerel, or maybe more than one type, and some thing else.

I of course, being a dedicated gourmand (i.e. glutton) kept on letting them bring me more and more rounds.

The very best sort of grilled sea eel.

It is traditional to judge a sushi chef by the quality of his Tomago, or sweet omelet. Urwasawa passed muster.

A refreshing course of various plums and pressed fruit things. Much more sour than American taste would normally allow.

Red bean paste — which I’m not normally a fan of, but this one was great. Not pasty, but smooth with a nice crunch from the topping, not only the signature gold foil, but crumbled nuts of some sort, adding a pleasant richness. This was accompanied by very special green tea, frothed to a foamy consistency, but with a nice bitterness.

And then a VERY high end “tea ceremony” brown tea.

The overall meal was exquisite, blending fully food, ambiance and style. I forgot to photo my wine but I brought a number of high end whites including my last bottle of the 1986 Chateau Y, which is the almost dry secret wine of Château d’Yquem.

Food as Art: Sasabune

Restaurant: Sasabune [1, 2]

Location: 12400 Wilshire Blvd Ste 150 (South Carmelina Avenue) Los Angeles, CA 90025, (310) 820-3596

Date: October 29, 2010

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Excellent as always.

Today I went to one of my usual lunch spots, Sasabune. This is one of LA’s many top sushi joints. It’s an culinary descendant of the Nozawa school of “warm rice” sushi making. The best way to enjoy these places is with Omakase. I opted for the “Japanese Omakase” which means more “squirmy creatures,” and hence more fun for me.

The appetizer here is some kind of giant mollusk. It was served with pepper/yuzu relish and 10,000 year old sea salt. The clam has a taste similar to scallop, but with a firmer texture. Although salty (no duh) it’s very nice with the yuzu and salt.

Big-eye tuna (Maguro) and Toro. As is typical at this school of sushi place many of pieces already have sauces, and do not need soy sauce. If you are a sushi neophyte you should know that Toro is the fatty belly of the tuna, which means it tastes better. The Japanese rank Toro into different grades of honorability. This is fairly normal Toro (some get almost white with fat), but it melted in the mouth like butter.

I believe this was Tai (red snapper) and another white fish. The little bits of seasoning are customized to each fish and add a nice zing.

Oyster done two ways: raw with vinegar and spicy radish, the other baked dynamite. The later is richer, but the first has the pleasant briny taste of fine oysters.

Salmon with the traditional sesame and the sheet of seaweed stuff (which I love). A very nice Hamachi (yellowtail), with a little yuzu for kick. Giant clam, and sweet shrimp (raw). This last is sweet and soft and melts in the mouth.

Orange clam and two kinds of mackerel, Spanish and Japanese.

After a brief trip to the fryer, the sweet shrimp head makes a return appearance, tempura style. You eat the whole thing, the heat has denatured the chiton in the shell into a softer more sugary form (chiton is a quad sugar organic construct like cellulose).

Waste not, want not. The shrimp roe returns too, marinated in a nice tart vinegary ponzu.

My brother groaned at this from across the table, but I love both. Very sweet Ikura (salmon eggs), which pop in the mouth to release their sweet/salty flavor, and a very nice sweet Uni (sea urchin) — from the taste I would assume from Santa Barbara.

Ankimo (Monk fish liver) and sea eel. Yum! The liver was in a miso sauce. The eel of course is BBQ, with the sweet sauce.

Probably red snapper again? and maybe another cut of yellowtail.

Japanese sea scallop, with salt and yuzu. This is SO good.

This is actually an eel roll my brother ate. But we each got the blue crab hand roll before it. However, the Sasabune blue crab rolls are SO GOOD that we gobbled it down before I remembered to grab the camera and snap a picture. If I hadn’t been full I would have ordred another.

Don’t miss my detailed post comparing the American and Japanese Omakases. CLICK HERE.

Food as Art: Calima

Restaurant: Calima

Location: Marbella Spain

Date: June 10, 2010

Cuisine: Molecular Spanish Gastronomy

Rating: Mind blowing.

 

Okay, I’m a ridiculous foodie. But I believe passionately in food as a Fine Art, which has been practiced by mankind since the dawn of time in parallel to other cultural and artistic traditions. Sometime maybe I’ll blog about Apicus as an example of the high development of ancient culinary traditions. But today is about Calima, a fantastic Molecular Gastro place in Spain that shows off cuisine at its most modern and technical — but also extremely tasty.

Not too shabby a location, right on the south coast of Spain. If it had been a clear evening we could’ve seen Africa straight ahead. Like many high end restaurants Calima only has fixed menus. Here was ours.

Note that all the dishes below are individual portions. Each person received their own. We begin with the series of Amuse-Bouche, small bites to amuse the mouth.

The first one came in this neat little container.

Inside was revealed “Olive oil and Raf tomato nitro popcorn.” More or less pure Spanish olive oil frozen in liquid nitrogen to create this thing that looks like popcorn but tastes like olive oil and tomato. It’s very cold too. This is a neat example of trends in Avant Garde cuisine where things look like something they aren’t and also have unexpected textures and/or temperatures. It was good — but everything here was great so I won’t keep saying it.

This is “Crystallized transparent shrimp fritter ‘Tortillita de Camarones’.” It had a cellophane consistency and reminded me of certain japanese snacks.

Because a truly fine restaurant never half asses anything. The homemade bread options weren’t anything to snicker at.

And there was a second shelf.

This amuse is “‘Mollete de Antequera’ cooked in aluminum foil and stuffed with braised Tuna.” The foil was edible.

This was one of my favorite items. A devine “Nougat of Foie and Yuzu.” I’m pretty sure there was peanut butter in there too, or at least it tasted like it. Both incredibly rich, sweet, and tangy at the same time.

“Cold almond soup from Malaga ‘Ajoblanco’ thickened with red pepper caramelized and lichis” is served inside an egg. Ajoblanco is a very traditional Spanish soup made from garlic and olive oil, and this is a riff on that note.

This is a cold cherry Gazpacho.  The menu says “Manzanilla,” which translates to “Little Apple.”

No fine meal is complete without the wine. We had three. A nice Spanish Cava (Champagne equivalent that I failed to get a picture of) this tasty white and a fine red, below.

The “Laurel” is worth mentioning as it’s the the “second wine” of one of Spain’s greatest wines, the Priorato “Clos Erasmus.” The “first wine” costs upwards of $700 a bottle, but the Laurel, if you could possibly find it, is often $45-50! This for a 95-96 point wine! Priorato is a fantastic Spanish wine region. We consumed the Cava, at least two whites, and three or more reds.

“Cold ‘Puchero’ broth scented with mint; hummus flowers and soft boiled quail egg.” Very Japanese flavor profile to this dish. Light and refreshing.

“False Raf tomato stuffed with ‘pipirrana,’ cold avocado soup with ‘Quisquilla’ shrimp from Motril.” This was spectacular. The tomato, which tasted like one, is in fact some kind of reconstructed creation of the chef’s art. It was filled with a type of tomato mouse.

To illustrate the flexibility of kitchens at this level, the above is the “vegetarian” version of the False Tomato that they whipped up for one of our vegetarian dinner mates (notice no shrimp).

“Caviar ‘Per-se’ from RioFrio; a Calima surprise.” The custard underneath the fine Iranian caviar is vanilla with a bit of oyster juice. The contrast with the salty roe was fantastic.

This wasn’t on the menu, but it came nonetheless. Some kind of mushroom in a custardy broth.

“Citrus Oyster.”

“Sardines in a Moroccan flavored something (the menu cut off the sentence).

‘Olla Gitana’ of green beans, pumpkin and chickpeas, slow-cooked Foie and red curry. This was really good too, with a very fresh vegetable flavor to the “soup.”

“Roasted Sea bass with beans and citrics.”

A rich cut of pork in a fruity sauce that I couldn’t find on the menu, but it came.

An anonymous fish dish that came instead of the pork for a non meat eater at our table.

“Braised Iberian Pork tail dumpling with scarlet shrimp.” This was one of my favorites. The “dumpling” tasted like pork shumai, and the prawn was spectacular. The butter sauce held it all together, because “never too much butter.”

This measly collection of mostly Spanish cheeses confronted us, in both a visual and olfactory wallop.

This was the Spanish greatest hits we ended up with for the table, plus a tray of accompaniments.

“Caramelized Apple Hearts, acid yogurt, honey and eucalyptus thyme ice-cream.” Sort of a fancy take on Apple Pie al-la-mode.

“A piece of Sierra Nevada; pineapple iceberg with passion fruit, fennel and ginger.” This was amazing.

“Chocolate with caramelized pecan nuts, cacao, coffee and 16 year-old Lagavulin whiskey.”

“Nitro ‘Coconut’ with honey rum.” Yum.

The bonbon cart, because four deserts is just getting started.

Each person got one of these.

And one of these, which includes nitro frozen berries and chocolate truffles.

At three in the morning (the meal was 5 and a half hours long) the staff debriefs in the kitchen.

This meal was so good we had to come back two weeks later and try it again (mostly different dishes). While not priced like “In and Out” this gigantic 25 course extravaganza was no more than you’d spend at a pricey LA sushi place (I’m not talking Urasawa either — I’ll have to post one of my meals there too). In Spain wine prices are very reasonable too. This new form of Spanish cuisine is hard to find in the states. In LA we only have Bazaar, which is very good but not nearly as elaborate. I hope you can appreciate the artistry and effort that goes into these dishes and they tasted as good as they looked.

If you are interested in this kind of cuisine, also check out my reviews of La Terraza or The Bazaar.