San Francisco: Day 2 - The Ferry

I woke up around 10am eager to start my day exploring the city and especially the renovated Ferry Building. I successfully got Boy up to, opening up the curtains and luring him with our complementary morning coffee and tea left at our door. He had partied lightly the night before with our friends while I lay in deep sleep unable to move out of the cozy bed, exhausted from the long uphill haul with what felt like all of my life's belongings. I drank my hot complimentary tea and munched on a few Manner wafers I had gotten from Rosamunde the day before. The chocolate covered hazelnut one was good but the raspberry wafers were the right ones to start my day off with.



We hustled down to the Ferry with what had started as a nice walk and suddenly turned into sprinkles. But the rain never got that bad, thank goodness, and the sun was soon shining through the refreshing chilly air. The Ferry has a farmer's market every Saturday which was the other reason I really wanted to make it down there early.



cheese, cheese, and more cheese! a beautiful view of the internal store.

First stop was the Cowgirl Creamery's table from which we got Bellweather Farm's San Andreas cheese. This cheese went fast from my constant munching in the afternoon. My own way of having a nice appetizer before heading out for dinner. We also got naan and cilantro chutney from Sukhi's, which happens to be also available in Southern California in certain markets. These were also delicious but sorta expensive at $11.



A few tables down was Swanton's Berry Farm's Strawberry Jam. At my first taste on a itsy piece of bread I was hooked on this super fresh jam. The guy said it had to be eaten within two weeks because there are no preservatives in it. But that's why it tastes that much more delicious. Wow, this has kind of inspired me to try making jam. Sort of, maybe... next time. But if it's gonna taste this good why not?

After a few more photographs we headed in to the building. I knew that it had stores and restaurants and such but did not expect such a standout grouping of quality produce, baked goods, products, etc. The Ferry site states that "the Marketplace, organized along the central Nave, provides a distinctive space for bringing together the greater Bay Area's agricultural wealth and renowned specialty food purveyors under one roof." Yes indeed. I had a field day feeding myself, taking photographs, and shopping.



I was immediately drawn to Culinaire which specializes in antiques from nineteenth century France, England and America. There was a beautiful hundred-something piece set of French tableware. So beautiful! Lately I've been addicted to buying plates and tableware but always within my budget, scouring the shelves at discount retail stores. These were something else though. Such awesome craftsmanship. I guess I could have whipped out my credit card but I didn't even want to ask how much. Someday. Instead I got a set of vintage menu reproductions. Really cool but don't know if I'll every use it because it is too cute.



Next stop was Frog Hollow Farm. Their super cool label looked awfully familiar and then I realized that a family friend had gotten me a jar of their orange marmalade. The 120-acre organic certified Frog Hollow Farm is located in the agricultural town of Brentwood. Their freshly baked pastries smelled so warm and inviting, we could not resist getting one for a little snack. We gobbled up one of their Black Forest Ham and Gruyere Turnover. Super flaky and slight warm, it upstarted our appetites.


I love how these mushrooms, at Far West Funghi, looks so surreal.


Look at this kid working his oyster skills out.

There is no way I'm passing up $1 fresh oysters but Boy tried to resist by trying to save himself for our lunch at Canteen. But me, I was all over those oysters in no time. They were so delicious! Fresh, briny, and cold with a tiny dollop of horseradish and cocktail sauce. You can probably feel my happiness growing rapidly at this point. And Boy did end up eating more than the "one" that he requested.



And then came the shopping... I got a box of Fleur de Sel Caramel from Recchiuti Confections for $20. Yes, it was pretty expensive for very small 16 pieces but so worth it. It fleur de sel adds a delicate touch of saltiness as the caramel melts away in my mouth. When you bite down on the caramel you can feel the texture of the salt. This is my treasure that I am hoarding, hopefully to last me through the end of this month. This is something really special. Something to be savored, even in private for your own personal moment of bliss and happiness. Yeah I love those moments.



Next stop was Miette, an organic bakery. I know it seems like I've said that I loved everything, but I really liked this bakery right away. It was adorable with adorable cake stands, adorably packaged cookies, and adorable t-shirts. As soon as my eyes read "Lavender Shortbread" I knew I had to get it. I could only imagine, the beautiful floral lavendar in a delicate buttery shortbread cookie. Yumm.



We stopped for an american caviar sampler at Tsar Nicoulai Caviar Cafe with a glass of sparkling wine. Very pretty and pleasing endeavour except I really only liked our last caviar, the hackleback sturgeon. I'm not a huge caviar fan nor have a lot of experience of eating caviar but if you are going to consume any, do avoid the american ones at this cafe. Ginger, wasabi, beet & saffron, truffled? I don't know. I just wasn't down with these. Next time I will go for the premiums. But I do say sampling these beauties perched upon small and delicate blinis with a cold glass of sparkling wine during the afternoon was still pleasurable.



But even more pleasurable was our next stop, the Hog Island Oyster Company. Okay, so we had some oysters a few stores ago but why stop there? It was time for clams this time, one of my favorite seafoods. It was steamed in white wine and butter, pretty typical, but the extra little kick from the red chilis rounded out this dish nicely making the briny bread dipping broth even more sumptuous. I love spice. Then I, in complete glutton mode, ordered oysters casino. Oh my god, this was sooo good. A raw oyster is a gem in itself, but now I know an oyster casino can be too.

Somewhere between all the consumption, shopping, and browsing, we knew we couldn't make it to Canteen for lunch. Which made me sad but then leaving the Ferry without due exploration would have made me sad too. Even when we got to the other end of the Ferry to Slanted Door, we did not even have enough room for a drink. What a dilemma. Another SF trip has to be in the works soon. Just to make up for all the places I didn't get to... 1550 Hyde, Canteen, Citizen Cake, Golden Flower. :/ But at the same time the Ferry was so awesome. I can live there. Definitely.

San Francisco: Day 1 - Sausages, Beers... then Chez Panisse

I took the day off on Friday so that Boy and I could have a bit of extra time in SF to hang out. It was a great choice because I really needed the extra break from work and plus SF was awesome. Two weeks of pouring rain had ceased right before our arrival the the city was so clear and beautiful. Our hotel was in the middle of Nob Hill, and at the top of one of the hills. After getting off the BART we walked through the chilly cosmopolitan streets trying to get to our hotel. It wasn't as close as we thought and we ended up walking up a HUGE hill pulling our heavy ass luggage. I nearly died at that point. By the time we flagged down a taxi we were about two blocks away, down the hill of course. So we persevered and reached our destination which turned out to be a whole lot of great friendly service and a lot of "Mr. Smith" and "Ms. Smith." Hehe.



After collapsing on the bed and trying to get my heartrate back down to a normal, non-exercising person's pace, we hit the streets. We headed for Haight St. to grab lunch and always immensely pleasurable afternoon drinks. A SF friend had recommended a few restaurants, and included in one of them was Rosamunde, a sausage grill. Boy got the Beer Sausage, made of smoked spicy pork and beef, with chili and onions. That was delicious but mine, the Wild Boar with apple and spices and topped with onions, sweet and spicy peppers, just made me so happy! Sausage and hotdogs are one of my favorite casual foods. So when made with super quality ingredients and nestled in the best roll ever from a bakery down the block, the sausage dog such as the wild boar one takes me to another level of happiness.



how awesome is this dog?!

We took this next door to Toronado, a beer bar, which Boy insisted was a necessity to visit on our trip. The bar was awesome, with about fifty beers on draft, with some that are not even available in Southern California. A real casual comfortable feel with regulars including a dog who liked drinking beer! We started off with Russian River's Pliny the Elder, a double IPA full of delicious floral hoppiness, and Moonlight's Bombay by Boat IPA. But the one that really stood out for me was New Belgium's La Folie, a Flanders red. This will probably go in my top 10 beers ever, along with other sour and fruity beers such as Lambics. "Wow" is my best description for the beer. I found a bit more appetite for another sausage so I went back next door and got a Merguez with onions and spicy peppers. So delicious. Yeah, I am such a glutton sometimes. :) But a good one at that.

After a little bit of shopping we started to head back so we could get ready for our dinner at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. For some reason we could not see a bus nor a taxi coming our way. What weird bad luck considering it was around 4 when we would expect to see a lot more traffic and transportation activity. We finally got a bus for a short ride to the Union Square area. There was no way we would be able to go back to our hotel to change and make it back to BART for a ride to Berkeley. I called Chez Panisse to see what their dress code was -- "casual." So with a sigh of relief we ran to the station, got a ticket, caught our breath during our ride, and was spit out onto Berkeley square right on time.



When I landed my eyes on Chez Panisse the beauty of the place blew me away. My first words were "wow" as I took in its woody cabin-like presence between two building, shining warm light through its windows. I fell in love with the place right away, eating up its rustic elegance highlighted by a certain gentle atmosphere. I was extremely excited for our dinner, having been on their waiting list for a few weeks but determined to make it in for my SF trip. When we walked in were a little bit self-conscious because we were dressed so casually but soon got over it as our host seated us made us feel right at home.



The menu for Friday, January 06, 2006 reads:

An aperitif

Maine lobster and beet salad
with orange vinaigrette

Wild mushroom and green garlic risotto
with Parmesan

Grilled Paine Farm squab with Banyuls vinegar sauce, roasted turnips
and Brussel sprouts with pancetta

Poire belle Helene




We started off with lillet, a French Aperitif made from a blend of wine, brandy and herbs. It was served in small skinny glasses garnished with a peel of lemon. Delicious. With this delicious drink we munched on small roasted almonds and awesome bread from Acme Bakery. We got a half bottle of Billecart-Salmon Brut and very happily ate the wonderfully fresh lobster and beet salad, minus the fennel. I absolutely hate licorice flavor and could not get my self to continue eating the thin slices that lay within the salad. :( But the rest of it was beautiful.




For our second course and the main we got a half bottle of Navarro Pinot Noir 2003. It was a bit light but still good a good match with the risotto and the squab. The risotto was so perfect, making me realize right away that I had been over-cooking my risotto. With each bite the arborio rice grains presented its individual textures, making the consumption that much more interesting and engaging. The mushrooms used in the risotto were black trumpet, hedgehog, and chanterelle, adding a good earthiness to the dish but never overpowering the taste buds.



Then we experienced our first taste of squab. It was cooked so perfectly tender and carved beautifully. Served with delicious vegetables, including cabbage, turnips and brussel sprouts, which I went crazy for, the dish had a good balance of flavors. I nibbled on the remaining wings with my fingers. Sometimes eating food with fingers makes it so much more delicious. Boy was a bit apprehensive about using his fingers in the restaurant but my rationale was why would they give us the wing and the bony parts if they didn't expect us to eat all its delicious meat. And indeed when our server came by she asked us if we wanted to continue to nibble on the meat or if we were done. :)



The Poire belle Helene consisted of poached pears on top of creme anglaise drizzled with chocolate syrup, a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and a long sugar cookie dotted with sliced almonds. The pear was delicious but I thought the chocolate ice cream could be replaced with something more interesting. Maybe rosewater or even creme fraiche ice cream. And pinot noir reduction instead of the chocolate syrup. But don't get me wrong, it was delicious and beautiful.




And then they served us some membrillo and thumbprint cookies with lemon curd. Wow, the pleasure just never stopped coming. I ended this wonderful dinner with a Pearl Jasmine green tea. We initially entered Chez Panisse quite impressed with its beautiful restaurant, professional service, and reputable reputation, and left just so satisfied and happy with all the delicious food and great service. What an awesome dining experience. Definitely one of my tops.


the hardworking staff at chez panisse

www.chezpanisse.com

The New Year

The past year has gone by so incredibly fast. At first 2005 didn't seem very eventful but looking back now it's been filled with great food moments, including the inception of this humble blog.

A private cooking class with a tapas menu for my birthday, large lunch parties with friends, cooking at Coachella with my pre-roasted tomatoes and fixins, catering friends' birthdays on warm summer days, eating at Angelini Osteria for the first time and being completely being blown away, successful dinner parties for my family, starting my part-time internship at AOC...

Small moments have also made my year an enjoyable one... my first tastes of boudin blanc, spigarello, cavolo nero, brussel sprouts, and many cheeses. My cousin's peanut butter ball cookies that I devoured in seconds, my aunt's bindaeduks crisp on the edges from frying. Drinking Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate in these freezing LA winter mornings. First sips of champagne on special nights, or nights made special by drinking champage. And so many more...

I've found so many awesome food blogs. Beautiful in form and beautiful in writing. I love reading these all day, being inspired by the level of appreciation that people have for food. I also get extremely hungry too reading these scrumptious blogs.

So I guess now, at the end of my "reflection" I realize the past food year has been pretty awesome. As my interest in food has grown my daily life has become a bit more exciting and interesting. I hope the new year is filled with even more exciting readings, tastings, cookings, and food finding. And what better way to kick off the year than an extended weekend excursion to San Francisco, the city of great food, for indulgences in many things pleasurable. Woohoo!

Happy new year everyone and thank you so much for reading my humble little blog! ;D

Veal Saltimbocca Unaccomplished

At least once or twice a week I make a list of my perishables and decide what to eat for that week. I think I've gotten a little bit wiser with using groceries efficiently. Unlike my earlier days of cooking when I would buy a laundry list of ingredients for one recipe and never use them again. I do end up throwing away a few vegetables here and there, and an occasional non-fat yogurt, but always keeping an eye on my mental list of things-I-must-eat-NOW before indulging in a food shopping binge.

I guess it wouldn't have been a big loss if I tossed the small container of parmesan breadcrumbs, but veal saltimbocca with madeira reduction seemed like the perfect dish to utilize the breadcrumbs and some leftover sage. After I tasted AOC's breaded veal saltimbocca stuffed with prosciutto, mozzarella, and sage, and finished off with a dash of madeira reduced in seconds in the veal pan, I knew I had to make this at home.

Unfortunately Trader Joe's does not carry veal nor madeira, so I had to settle for boneless pork chops. :( A rapid change in plans. Wow, pounding these babies out took time. Maybe the pork needed to be sliced in half into thinner pieces for effective malloting. I put a slice of prosciutto and torn sage on one half of the chop and folded the other side over for a sandwiching effect. This was then breaded in the parmesan breadcrumbs and sauteed in a butter olive oil combo, to be finished off in the oven.

The crisp texture of the parmesan breading, juiciness of the pork, saltiness of the prosciutto, and the aromatic sage, all came together for a beautiful snacking with some leftover pinot noir. The sauteed baby broccoli with garlic and lemon provided just enough green to balance this protein meal out.

Okay, so the veal saltimbocca plan had to be thrown out the window but I still made it through the night allright munching on the crisp stuffed pork chops and sipping on the red wine.

If My Mom Never Had to Cook Again...

... she would be the happiest person. It's just too much hassle for her. She's always cooked out of duty and not from pleasure. When she was a kid she had to cook for her four siblings while my grandmother worked. When she got married she was living with her in-laws cooking again. And she always cooks for my dad, who can cook a lil bit but never does. So understandably she got sick of it at some point. If I didn't know how to cook I think she would be cooking a lot more in order to feed me.

She's a good cook though. Delicious korean kalbi, jjijae (small condensed stews), gook (soup), and banchans (sides). And she's a short-cut queen. Once when I was washing the dishes, I heard a loud *crack* behind me. I turned around slowly to find her with snapping a bundle of green onions in half because she thought it be too much trouble to cut it! Yip, that's my mom. But thank god for her, I like to cook. I'll have five minutes before I have to bolt out the door for work and cook up a prosciutto and aged cheddar bagel sandwich, make biscuits at 9 o'clock at night, and sometimes make Korean food too.





So even though she still has to cook she can be happy that I will be there to give her a sampling and a taste of everything I'm making. And for this dinner, I made Aged Ribeye Steak, Farro with Parsley and Butter, and Sauteed Cabbage.

Nakji Ma-eul: Octopus Village

Nakji bokkeum is a delicious Korean octopus dish made up of sliced octopus, veges and gochujang (Korean red pepper paste). When I was young my mom used to make this dish loaded with onions, carrots, green onion, garlic, red pepper, and squash. So fricking delicious with a major strike of spiciness that really locks into your taste buds.

At Nakji Ma-eul, they included the regular grouping of vegetable with the addition of cabbage, bean sprouts and vermicelli noodles. I wasn't too into the noodles because they easily got welded to the bottom of the hot pan. We got "bo-tong" spiciness, which means average. One of my friends who had gone there before and ordered "spicy" got a lil lickin from the pepper seasoning. "Bo-tong" spiciness was perfect for me, although a lil bit spicy for the others in my party.



The nakji bokkeum is brought out in a large pan that is placed over a burner in the middle of the table. It cooks up pretty quickly, then it's time to dive in with our chopsticks. With the leftover veges scraps and drippings bokkeumbap (fried rice) is made. So frickin good! Making fried rice with leftover scraps and drippings practically from anything, kalbi, stewed monkfish, and this spicy octopus, is heavenly. The dripping and the rice gets nutty and it browns up and the spiciness starts to penetrate the starch.


Nakji Ma-eul: Our Secret Recipe
Beverly & Hobart

Holiday Dinner With the Folks

When I first started "interning" at AOC over a month ago, I got myself the Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook, in order to familiarize myself with Chef Suzanne Goin's food and taste palette. The recipes are arranged by seasonal menus, highlighting beautiful in-season vegetables. I absolutely love this book and was very excited to cook one of the winter menus for myself and my parents.



I started off the dinner with a Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad with Arugula and Hazelnuts, minus the arugula. Wow. I loved the combination of flavors in this salad. The tart pomegranate seeds with the nutty freshly toasted hazelnuts over fresh baby spinach was awesome. My only complaint lies with the quality of the persimmons I got. Not even close to being the juicy ripe goodness that was supposed to be the star of this salad.

Well since I know how good this salad is with unripe persimmons, I can only expect greatness when I use beautiful juicy ones next time. The recipe calls for arugula as the lettuce of choice but I used baby spinach because I needed the spinach for the roasted sweet potatoes (which I completely forgot to use it for). I served Domaine Cherrier Et Fils Sancerre with this first course.





Then the main course: Cured Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes with Bacon [and Spinach], and Romesco. Wow again. It's all about the brine. The combination of the fennel, juniper, coriander, onion, and herbs packed so much flavor into the pork. This was my first time brining but I may get hooked. Instead of grilling them as the recipe instructed, I seared them in a pan then roasted them for a little bit in the oven. Topped with the smoky, nutty romesco, the juicy pork was further complemented.

The roasted sweet potatoes were carmelized, nutty, and sweet, and studded with smoky salty bacon lardons. I didn't know so much delicious comfort could fit onto the end of a fork. My mom has already asked me to make this dish again a few times. And served with these two delectable winter dishes was romesco, a Spanish sauce made of peppers, nuts, and bread. I think the piece of bread I added may have been too big. The recipe says to "drizzle" over the pork and sweet potatoes and there was no drizzling possible with my romesco. More like spooning but still delicious. For this main course I served Mark West Pinot Noir Vintage 2004.

We finished the meal with a cheese plate of a double creme brie (forgot the name), St. Agur triple creme blue cheese, and Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog goat cheese.

I don't reallly care for the holidays too much... except for the food that is. Food is a great way to celebrate with friends and loved ones. But it's also an awesome reason to celebrate in itself. Cheers to delicious food!

Mario's Peruvian Seafood

My friend C recently moved to the Melrose and Rossmore, right across the street from Mario's. Yes, that Mario's. The Japanese run (Mario Tamashiro) Peruvian restaurant that gets rave reviews and has a regular following of drooling Peruvian food converts. Dropping by C's new place would be a perfect opportunity give this place a go, settle my curiosity and hunger, and at the same time cross another restaurant off my very long and dusty "To Eat" list.



We started off with the ceviche to quell our hunger pains that had grown while waiting outside for about 20 minutes for a table in this super bright, flourescently-lit restaurant. It was pretty blinding in there. This is not a place to come for mood or ambience. Just food, plain and simple. And judging from how packed the restaurant and its sidewalk was, I think we were in the right place. The ceviche was refreshingly citrusy with thin slivers of red onion that I was careful to include with each bite. The ceviche came with one big boiled potato that was hard to tackle. It would have been more eater friendly if cut into a few wedges.



After much perusing of the menu, I settled on #31, fried fish with a mixture of sauteed seafood. The portions at Mario's are huge! The fried fish with its golden crunchy crust was buried under a mountain of seafood medley. I ate about half of my plate and stopped myself before stepping over the food coma line. I still needed some of my consciousness for the movie that was to come after dinner.



I also got to try the Lomo Saltado, which seems to be a popular non-seafood dish there. Uh, it had fries in it! Wow, talk about indulgence. Fried potatoes, beef, and more oil. It was yummy. In a fried potato, beefy way.

Overall, all the dishes were delicious but I wasn't blow away by Mario's as I expected. When I think "seafood" I think fresh, delicate. Not fried. And more fried. And I didn't really get the interplay of sweet and savory that Peruvian food is known for. But I did utilize the bottle of aji liberally. I love that stuff! It's ground chili and garlic. Completely addicting.

A second visit is due soon and hopefully a sampling of less fried dishes is in order. Perhaps some mussels and shrimp ceviche would suit me more. Too bad this place closes at 8pm. The food would be a good midnight snack, or more like a feast if you're at Mario's.

5786 Melrose Ave
323.466.4181

"Christmas Extravaganza" at Work

As me and some of my co-workers agree, "extravaganza" is stretching it a bit, no a lot, when it refers to our Christmas work lunch/brunch. We were promised fajitas and accompanying fixins for lunch. But "brunch" would be up to the department to pull together and a sign-up sheet was passed around.

I noticed that on this particular sign-up sheet, whole names instead of the usual initals were used to sign up under the usual categories which included "drink/soda/juice" and "popcorn/pretzels/chips." I guess people had been flaking out or not signing up in the past few. Well our work brunches are not really anything to get excited about so I can understand the lack of participation and care. It's usually filled with ten different types of chips, ten bottles of soda, super-market made cookies, muffins, and baked things of those sort.

Well even I am pretty apathetic about this whole thing, especially since I don't desire to put most of the food into my body (and occasionally when I do and I feel like crap afterwards). With the exception of one time when I made mini-breakfast burritos with potatoes, eggs, and chicken sausage, and the one time I made raspberry pavlova, I've been pretty non-participant. For example, the last lunch we had, too lazy to cook I brought in some chicken tamales from the Salvadorean bakery located near Boy's residence. They turned out to be horrible! Bleh. It was soggy and there were bones left in the chicken!



So you can see why I needed to make something delicious at least once to make up for that incident. So I made Brioche French Toast flavored with Grand Marnier, orange zest, cinnamon, and vanilla. Before frying I dipped one side into some unsweetened shredded coconut. I served this with maple syrup and creme fraiche flavored with the delicious Pittaffo Raspberry Honey.





In addition I made Curried Sweet Potato Hash with spicy and mild Italian sausage, green bell pepper, chipotle, and of course curry powder. This turned out delicious and spicy.

I couldn't bear the thought of the french toast being eaten with a glass of soda and chips on the side. Nor the hash with supermarket muffins and fanta. So I made Mango Lassi. This went really well with the hash, balancing the spiciness from the chipotle and curry.

Now I'm sure that most people did not arrange their meals on the elegant styrofoam plates as I had put together the menu, but I am glad I made the dishes. Because at least I gave myself, and a few others, an option of having delicious, simple homemade food.

A Nice Send Off Love Kit

Boy and my friends, A & E, just got married recently and held their beautiful reception at a really cool art gallery/event center in Laguna Beach. Their wedding cake was beautiful and very elegant, not disrupted by a bunch of superfluous design as many wedding cakes are. The flowers look so radiant and dashing against the smooth milky white cake. Everyone had an awesome time, as we toasted to the bride and groom, the alcohol flowed freely, and house music got people's booty shakin.

For A & E's wedding present, Boy and I decided to make them a nice gift basket, with of course some champagne. A cheese basket sounded like the best option, but since they were leaving at the end of the week for their honeymoon to Argentina I thought the cheese might goto waste. How about some sweets and treats to go with the bubbly?



marie belle chocolates... so adorable!

For the bubbly we got Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Rose Reserve 1999. Veuve Clicquot is delicious but I thought a rose may add a bit more celebratory and romantic tint to the night. The sweets included were Ferrero Rafaello, Little Flower Candy Company's Sea Salt Caramels, Marich Espresso Caramels, and the beautifully packaged Marie Belle Chocolate. I also baked some Wild Blueberry Jam Thumbprint cookies, packaged it in a skinny cellophane bag and tied it up with a beautiful muted green ribbon. Hopefully they got to enjoy the bubbly and a few of the cookies before they rushed off to have an amazing holiday in Argentina. :)

Antequera de Oaxaca to the Rescue

When I tried to grab a quick dinner at La Buca the other weekend, the server told me that they were overbooked through Monday. Well the place is the size of my cubicle, and with the surging popularity, I should have expected it. But no fear readers, because I walked east 30 seconds to Antequera de Oaxaca, also a unit of the same building.

Everytime I've eaten at Antequera de Oaxaca I've been happily satisfied... with the salty tasajo, the stringy Oaxacan cheese, and the dark sweet mole. But often I forget as a dining option. But this time it came to my rescue thank god. Boy and I ordered the delicious Botana Plate (Appetizer) for 2 and three horchatas. Two of em for me actually. :)


Tasajo is one of my favorite Mexican foods. It's salted and dried beef round that is sliced and grilled before serving. I love tearing the piece of meat into long strands with my fingers. Also included in this beautiful styrofoam box is a chile relleno (so fricking spicy. only ate a small bite.), thick memelas (corn cakes) grilled with pork fat, and chorizo. And also chicken enchiladas in red mole (not pictured).


Oaxacan string cheese... so delicious! Especially when one-half of a strand is lightly dipped in their searing smoky salsa.


I ordered these two extra chicken tacos in case the appetizer plate wasn't enough. It was definitely tasty but the chicken chunks were too big (therefore large chunks falling out with each bite) and the taco needed the support of an extra corn tortilla. A taco seems kind of hard to mess up but oh well.

Their guacamole is one of the best I've had, except for the homemade guacamole I had in Panama. A tortilla chip dipped into the guacamole and lightly grazed across the hot smoky salsa will definitely wet your appetite for all the goodness to come. Minus the chicken taco that is.

Antequera de Oaxaca
5200 Melrose Ave.
323.466.1101

What To Do About Those Beer-Induced Cravings

Boy and I have been taking a Beer Judge Certification Program at a valley beer brewing club/supply store for the last month and a half. This means driving out to the valley at about 6pm (prime traffic time), studying beer for 3+ hours, and tasting a variety of good and also bad beers. You can imagine that after three hours of going over style, malts, hops, and brewing temperatures, the tasters of the beers studied that day are more than welcomed. But what about the little tinge of hunger you get when your tummy has imbibed a delicious beverage?

It was hard to ignore our tummies this week and we gave into Cactus Taqueria late into the night. We got three carne asada tacos with our two dollars and some change dug up from the bottom of my wallet. So frickin delicious. We wanted to get more but was out of cash and left dreaming about those little tortillas filled with flavorful beef and refreshing salsa verde. I fell asleep daydreaming about them and even when I woke up the next morning I was still thinking about them!

Boy and I decided that a taco eating contest at Cactus should be in the works. I claimed I could eat 15 and may have spoken too fast. But those tacos are so small! Although I've never been in an eating contest, I am weirdly confident. I can say I've dreamed a few times of entering a burrito eating contest in Santa Barbara but never stepped up to it. Who wants to come out and cheer for me?

950 Vine St
Hollywood, CA 90038
323.464.5865

Table 8 for Table of 2

I took Boy out to birthday dinner at Table 8 (Govind Armstrong). We somehow managed to come through way back of the room where their porch area was, because I clobbered through their plastic walls like it was the front entrance. I think we may have scared some people in the back because we popped out of nowhere, and confused the hell out of the employees because we did not use the front entrance. And while I was trying to find a gap in the plastic walls, the parking person didn't even bother to correct me and show me the front door! Anyhow, when we were seated we got the table right next to the patio door where made our adventurous appearance.

Service was so slow at first as no one even came by for the first seven minutes. That's a long time to be without menu and water. Just twiddling thumbs time. However when our server finally showed up his amiable service made up for the beginning messup.

I was pretty excited to goto Table 8 for the first time, interested in their always changing seasonal menu. Before anything, we got a glass of Billecart-Salmon, Brut Reserve to start off this celebratory event. And a half bottle of the Altamura Sangiovese, Napa, for the rest of the meal.

*this titles are not accuarate as i forgot to ask for a copy of the menu. and sorry for the horrible photos! i promise i did my best!*


tagiatelle


calamari

For appetizers we ordered Tagiatelle with Oxtail Ragu and Calamari with Chorizo, Beans & Clams. The tagiatelle was cooked perfectly al dente and the oxtail ragu rich and deep in flavor. There was a little bit of greens involved, kale I think. It was delicious but on the salty side and could have used some herbs to brighten it up. Perhaps lemon thyme and chives. The calamari dish was delicious but pretty basic. A toasted piece of bread is essential for this slightly brothy briney dishes so you can sop up all the goodness. They did that right, toasted the bread that is.


duck leg

For my entree I got Duck Leg with Apples, Cabbage & Chestnuts. Really good combination of flavors. The best duck leg I've ever had was at La Terza so I was pretty biased when I tasted Table 8's. It was delicious and the duck leg was super tender, but there was something missing in the texture. I really loved the cabbage and chestnuts in this but more would have been better.


kobe style beef

Boy got Kobe Style Beef, Mushroom & Scalloped Potato. I think this was the best this of the night. The beef was hinted with smokiness and so tender. Although I rarely like shitaaki mushrooms because it can be overpowering at times, they were mellow and complimented the dish nicely. The scalloped potatoes were sliced paper thin and fried I think for a nice addition of delicate crunchiness.

We skipped on the cheese plate and went straight to dessert for the Marscapone Peanut Brownie and Meyer Lemon Tart with Pomegranates with another glass of Billecart-Salmon for myself. I wasn't too impressed with these. The tart was good but the crust part was so crunchy you really had to put some weight into your fork to break off a piece. Then "clunk!" Visually the plate could have been more clean cut instead of having the latticed syrup. I liked the addition of pomegranates. The brownie also good but nothing special.

Overall the food was good but I wasn't wowed. I don't think I would go back for any of the dishes, even though they were good, just because they weren't great. Maybe next season I'll give it another try. And oh yeah, they have a really bad beer selection. Amtel Light?!! C'mon now, don't kid around like that and scare me.

7661 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323.782.8258

Turkey Meatballs with Yogurt Sauce

After this Thanksgiving I've made up my mind that turkey really is at the bottom of my meat list. Bleh. I can't see myself cooking turkey ever again for the holidays. I mean it was moist and delicious with herbs and butter, and dipped and bathed in a bit of gorgonzola sauce, pretty heavenly. But there are always better substitutions for turkey.

However in the case of these turkey meatballs, whose recipe I picked off of Molly's beautiful blog Orangette, I am still down with turkey! These came out so moist, smoky from the cumin, sweet from the golden raisans, and nutty from the toasted pinenuts. And the yogurt sauce was super simple to make. Just add garlic, lemon juice, and a few spices. I would cut back on the pine nuts though. A lot fell out while cooking and plus I like pine nuts in small quantities.

Cafe du Village, Larchmont

What a waste of time Cafe du Village was. And also money for that matter. I flagged down four different employees so that they could take our order only to be shrugged off without the tiniest bit of care. Damn, this got me so pissed. Just as I was about to leave a server, just as nonchalant, came by. Arg! Food was whatever except for the fries which were golden and crispy, although insufficiently salted when taken out of their oil bath. Why did I ever come here?! Oh yeah I now, 'cause I was young and stupid and didn't know any better. Larchmont needs better dining.

139 1/2 N Larchmont Blvd
LA, CA 90004
323.466.3996

Chowhound's 2005 Ultimate Los Angeles Restaurants Poll

Go AOC! It came out on top of the list. Among many many other restaurants I've never been too. I'm glad to see absolutely delicious Angelini Osteria came out on top too. I am a very proud and obsessive list maker but now all the work is done! All I have to do is *check!* Now where to get all the money? [especially for crazy Urasawa].

Top 10...
A.O.C.
Spago
Providence
Sona
Angelini Osteria
Urasawa
Langer’s Deli
Melisse
Josie
Grace

"In just three short years, A.O.C. has emerged as Los Angeles’s destination restaurant of choice among food-obsessed LA chowhounds. With 123 points accumulated on 32 ballots including 11 first-choice votes, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne’s nouveau wine and tapas bar easily outpolled the champion from the prior two years, Spago Beverly Hills."

Chowhound's 2005 Ultimate LA Restaurant Poll

Leftover Creations Again!... Buttermilk Biscuits with Black Forest Ham & Morbier

Yip it's the morbier again. Plus some remainders of black forest ham. When combined with the fluffly, buttery homemade buttermilk biscuits, does this look like leftovers?

Leftover Creations... Crostini with Carmelized Onion, Morbier & Pancetta Lardons

I had a lot of cheese leftover from a dinner party because maybe I bought too much. No wait, people didn't eat enough cheese! Boogaloo to them. I also had a small chunk of pancetta. I sliced a La Brea Pain Rustique thinly and toasted them with olive oil brushed on both sides til they were crispy. I forgot to rub garlic on them when they came out. Oops. I layered carmelized onion doused with a little balsamic, thinly slice morbier, and topped each crostini with pancetta lardons which I crisped up slightly in a pan. Popped these babies in the oven til the cheese melted. So good. Yumm. The sweetness of the onion, the crispiness of the crostini, saltiness of the pancetta, and of course the melted cheese. [drool!]

Girls, Grub, Gossip, & Booze

One of my friends E is getting married next weekend so to send her off the girls put together a little fem gathering. For this quaint event I made sun-dried tomato polenta w/marinara and thyme breadcrumbs. This time I used a metal mold to cut out pretty little oval shapes rather than cutting em up into squares. Much more refined for my ladies, isn't it? And something a little bit sweet... brownie cupcakes with nutella icing. I completely fucked up the icing by trying to take shortcuts instead of following a recipe. Then I remembered my jar of nutella! I sprinkled some marigold color sugar crystals on top for festivity. Who woulda ever thunk my non-baking ass would ever get a jar of sugar crystals?



So the girls filled up on cute polenta bites, brownies, wine and tequila while we jibber jabbered throughout the night. And hopefully sent off E with happy thoughts and happy tummy!

Little Treasures from La Brea Bakery

I had to once again drop my car off at the service department for minor problems. Sigh, car problems. Never ending aren't they? However, on my chilly and dark walk home I stopped by La Brea Bakery to peruse and look for some goodies that I may fancy. I don't frequent the Bakery too much but I should really rethink that considering I can get a unique treat for myself everytime I go.

This time a jar of peppers caught my eye: Matiz Vasco Piparras. "Piparras are a traditional Basque pepper with a mild sweet flavor and a fine texture." I have a small fascination with the Basques and love peppers, so there was nothing to hold me back. I also got a 4 inch cacciatorini. They even sliced it for me into thin rounds while I waited browsing and noshing on a complimentary piece of their heavenly chocolate cupcake. Friendly customer service, definitely something to appreciate.

So I brought these jewels home for a little tasting. I drizzled a bit of good olive oil over the peppers and sprinkled a teenie pinch of kosher salt. I guess some fancy salt would have been better but I still haven't delved into them fancy stuffs. Yet. The peppers tasted like pepperoncini but sweeter and mellower, with a softer texture. It was delicious especially with the accompanying salami and chunks of the Bakery's Pain Rustic dipped in the olive oil mixed with some of the brine.

Here is a bit I found on cacciatorini...

A dry Italian salami, which generally consists of equal parts of pork and beef, however it can be produced with all pork meat. It is seasoned with black pepper, garlic, spices, dry white wine, and packed into a small natural casing measuring approximately 4 to 8 inches in length (10 to 18 cm) and 1 inch (3 to 4 cm) in diameter. It is then dry aged for one month or longer. When served, it is sliced thin for use in sandwiches, as an appetizer with cheese, or as a topping for foods.
Dry sausages such as Italian cacciatorini are commonly thought of as hunter style salami, since it is made as a small rustic salami to be carried in hunter's pockets and eaten as a lunch meal. This product may also be referred to as cacciatore, cacciatoro, or salame milanese. [Hormel.com]


La Brea Bakery
624 South La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.939.6813
www.labreabakery.com

Stuff I Be Eating Lately...

Short post of stuff I be eating lately...
NO MORE non-fat yogurts w/granola, cold tofu, and salads. Well, probably more tofu and salads to come but definitely NO MORE non-fat yogurt. Although I am far from being in shape I decided to be a bit more adventurous and integrate more variety into my daily meals. And also not be lazy about cooking just because I hate doing the dishes. I changed my shift at work to 730am to 4pm, and now take night showers, therefore have 30 minutes to pack lunch and/or make breakfast in the morning. I like the change. And by the way, doesn't cooking count as exercise? After all it's all manual labor + a lot of standing. See? A well balanced lifestyle. ;)

Trader Joe's Punjab Spinach Sauce
**with my addition of potatoes and brown basmati with lemon & cashews.

La Brea Bakery croissant w/Nutella
**wanted to put chopped cashews and pomegranate in but forgot the nuts and pomegranate had already passed away.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Mocha Hot Chocolate
**with Silk Vanilla Soymilk

Arrowhead Mills Multigrain Pancake & Waffle Mix
**with Grand Marnier soaked dried blueberries, buttermilk, and pure maple syrup.

Roasted Cauliflower with Curry and Paprika
**somewhat replicated dish from AOC. it was delicious! i've never liked cauliflower but now i'm a changed gal.

Linguini w/Red Pepper Flakes, Lemon & Parmesan
**simple pasta dish for simple me. next time i will add some crispy thyme bread crumbs on top for texture and delicious yumminess.

Bluejay Farm Satsumas
**from the korean market which always has high quality fruits.

365 Organic Green Tea
**nice and warm start to longs days at work.

Beautiful Mountain of Cheese

beautiful. yumm.