tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72845869124582903922024-03-13T10:50:17.339-07:00Infinite FressStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-46050801609759902852013-11-29T22:30:00.001-08:002013-11-30T16:33:38.718-08:00Butch Warren: In Memoriam<style>
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The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/arts/music/butch-warren-74-prominent-jazz-bassist-dies.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i></a> will tell you that bassist
Butch Warren (1939-2013) was once a promising young virtuoso who barely out of
his teen years played on Herbie Hancock’s debut album (which yes, includes <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx3vYIi41_U" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Watermelon Man</i></a>), then joined Monk’s band
in 1963, supposedly rebuffing Ellington in the process. But ever the Sixties jazz musician, heroin and
mental illness felled Warren, forcing him back home to the District where he
lived in obscurity and off whatever meager royalties his brief recording career
afforded him. </div>
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Warren did not vanish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was an occasional performer at the One Step Down jazz club at the corner of 25th
and Pennsylvania, which until it yielded to Washington’s inexorable
gentrification, was rumored to be the second longest continuously run jazz club
after the Vanguard--an amazing possible fact since the One Step’s ghastly wooden
booths, which were constructed at perfect right angles and offered views
perpendicular to the piano, were best suited for inducing neuralgia.</div>
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In the late 1990s, the One Step Down was one home for Washington’s jazz
community. It played host to scores of Washingtonians including a gnarled and
mustachioed <a href="http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/artists/steve_novosel.php">bassist</a>
once married to Roberta Flack; the zany and indefatigable saxophonist-polymath,
<a href="http://capitalbop.com/2011/03/07/musician-profile-andrew-white-keeper-of-the-trane-is-a-living-legend-unknown-to-many/">Andrew White</a>; a nonagenarian vibraphonist who found his bearings in jazz after a
youth spent in Hitler Youth; and a certain <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qweSlfP6BtI">Monk</a> alumnus who a friend
and I saw perform while working the occasional Thursday bartending shift in
1999. </div>
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Tall and wizened, Warren was then around 60 years old but looked much
older.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was playing in the band of a
middling local pianist, Peter Edelman, who peculiarly walked in with a second
bassist while Warren had a caregiver of his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Warren started the set and in a few short minutes demonstrated that he was a wizard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But after perhaps three songs,
he repaired himself to the bar where he smoked cigarette after cigarette,
chasing them with copious amounts of Diet Coke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Without Warren, the music bored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Warren
played no more than three sequences of five minutes over the course of the evening, swiftly ceasing
once he could not cope and returning to the bar and his cigarettes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After hearing all of the legends about Butch Warren
and a few commanding minutes of his bass play, it was both a tragedy and a
miracle that Edelman was attending to him and ensuring that he perform in some capacity. </div>
Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-13381751793496665952012-06-17T23:48:00.000-07:002012-07-06T19:39:15.811-07:00PapillesSo now what am I supposed to do? <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2010/04/lou_18.html">Amdur</a> realizes the inherent value in a <a href="http://www.yumyumdonuts.com/">Yum Yum</a>-adjacent location and opts to, as they say in certain <a href="http://www.crefc.org/">loosely regulated industries</a>, monetize. Good for him, but I’m totally fucked. What am I supposed to hang at BLD just because it’s on the corner and they sometimes <a href="http://bldrestaurant.com/pdfs/BLD_Wine.pdf">sell</a> Poulsard by the glass? (Well, perhaps.) But am I really supposed to drink said wine with a so-called <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/01/bad-lettuce-dinner.html">self-constructive dinner</a> (still <i>sic erat scriptum</i> after over half a decade)? Elsewhere in the neighborhood, there is <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/09/aoc-wine-bar-100-blog.html">A.O.C. Wine Bar</a>, but it is yoked to those seemingly immutable small dishes and downright senescent. It even serves brunch. <br />
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It is dumb luck then that <a href="http://www.papillesla.com/">Papilles</a> (French for papillae) opened in another dank elbow of a strip center, almost below a bridge in a notably Lynchian section of Hollywood. Papilles may not be in my neighborhood, but it is in one that I can embrace. The restaurant rather boldly claims inspiration from so-called <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8587950/Growth-of-bistronomy-as-French-chefs-fall-on-hard-times.html">bistronomy</a>, the Parisian trend that emphasizes intelligent, high quality food at affordable prices, frequently on <i>prix fixe</i> menus, and convivial, casual settings. Bistronomy has lured several modernist titans including Le Comptoir’s Yves Camdeborde into eschewing the chase for three Michelin stars with its attendant superfluous frills (and greater financial risk) which perhaps explains its allure to restaurateurs in Los Angeles. Papilles honors this new Parisian way: For $35, the customer gets two options in each of three courses and may choose from a shelf of wines that are reliably left-wing if not as recondite or enjoyable as those Messrs. <a href="http://www.morethanorganic.com/pierre-jancou">Jancou</a> and Amdur would pour. The interior matches the prices; 10 or so tables and an open kitchen squeeze into a tight space whose dark colors and assorted pictures of flowers offer traces of outer <i>arrondissement</i> charm. <br />
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The chef is Tim Carey, who despite an <a href="http://www.papillesla.com/about/">apprenticeship</a> with a local Ducasse alumnus, is a kid in a Dodger cap with a chef’s knack for profanity, or at least that is his schtick. With help from an assistant or two, Carey cooks his heart out on a nightly basis under what I imagine are serious financial and self-evident spatial constraints. Accordingly, the preparations are straightforward and, this being California and not Paris, more Chez Panisse than Le Comptoir.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
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<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Do not expect, as you can at Le Comptoir’s dinner service, a slim jewel of a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gougère</i> that demonstrates a virtuoso mastery of balance between bread and cheese or a fusiony <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Raviole de crevettes dans son bouillon, A La verveine et chanterelles</i>, a dumpling for all intents and purposes served in its own East Asiany broth with dried chanterelles and verbena, the flavorful shrimp inside cooked to a soft near-perfection. And while Papilles will not serve astoundingly delicious <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rognons de veau de lait</i>, the chef, I’m guessing, is under strict instructions not to serve said kidneys with deep-fried tuna fingers and broccoli, puréed</span><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Hatfield’s style, which Camdeborde strangely has no qualms about doing. </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></div>
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With the statewide ban on <i>foie gras</i> weeks away (which will affect only the few restaurants statewide that serve the luxury item), restaurant <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/dining/california-chefs-mount-a-repeal-of-foie-gras-ban-set-for-july-1.html">insouciance</a> is at a premium these days. Naturally Papilles added a genuine <i>torchon</i> to the appetizer list that is helped along by a syrup or <i>coulis</i> made from those ever famous Harry’s strawberries plus a few berry wedges for good measure. Forget any asinine comparison to foie gras in France, the foie was good, and any avian suffering, therefore, worthwhile. Let’s hope Papilles practices civil disobedience post-July 1. After all, the <i>de rigueur</i> distribution of ashtrays in K-town watering holes poses an irrefutably greater health risk (and thus deeper moral problem) than the alleged mistreatment of a few birds, and the L.A.P.D. does not seem so feared at <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/toe-bang-los-angeles">Toe Bang</a>. <br />
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The Wife loved her soft-shelled crab which was as fresh as can be. Deftly fried to emphasize the crab’s essential lightness and accompanied by piquant mustard greens, my delectable single bite was superior to the one served at Lucques a few weeks later. (Maybe the season had already changed?) At an unavoidable stop-and-chat at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, I learned that Papilles failed to sell what must have been a minuscule allotment of soft-shelled crabs. So don’t expect kidneys on the menu anytime soon. I will lodge no complaints against the roast tomato veloute soup, bright orange in color with a couple of whole, baby sun tomatoes sitting in the mix, but I should have ordered the crab. <br />
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My main course, sautéed local halibut served with fennel, olives, baby sun tomato, encapsulates what I love about Papilles. The chef has a knack with halibut, emphasizing the fish’s inherent flavor by cooking to a soft texture. The first time I had the halibut, a small part was slightly undercooked, a mistake not replicated a few weeks later when serving the halibut in a light <i>bourride</i> broth with perfectly tender baby squid and manila clams. <br />
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The desserts tend to be a cheese and a sweet. Accordingly, we bifurcated into a separate cheese course, sharing a plate of Brillat Savarin, the soft cow’s milk cheese that was delicious enough to offset the mild nausea I experienced from seeing raisins (the conservative variety!) served as an accompaniment. We ended with a classic strawberry tart that will ensure our return. Anyway, let’s hope Lou reopens soon. I miss the scallops, the Faugeres and even that platter of domestic cheeses.<br />
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Papilles<br />
6221 Franklin Ave.<br />
Hollywood<br />
(323) 871-2026<br />
<a href="http://www.papillesla.com/">http://www.papillesla.com/</a>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-33204631434083480642011-12-22T22:43:00.000-08:002011-12-22T22:50:33.315-08:00Daniel et DeniseAfter rushing across the planet to escape two screaming infants and the Messiah, we sat down to our first meal in the modern section of Lyon, which is fairly charmless and utilitarian. Think downtown Sacramento but with French people, and not the hot Parisian kind. The dumpy-we- love-butter-and-don’t-walk-much kind. (So basically, Americans who speak French.) Modern Lyon is not a tourist destination, unlike the picturesque Vieux Lyon, the Renaissance district, or the <em>Presqu'île</em>, the slender peninsula between the Rhone and Saone Rivers. <em>(Blah, blah, blah. Steve loves history. He read the guide book. Blah, blah. Blah, blah. Look at the train station. It’s soooo super ‘70s.)</em> A few blocks away from the train station, you’ll find Lyon’s primary food market, <a title="Les Halles de Paul Bocuse." href="http://halledelyon.free.fr/"><em>Les Halles de Lyon - Paul Bocuse</em></a>. The name almost seems invoked as a defense, as if to say: We, the Lyonnias, may be so paralyzed by our inferiority to the capital that we actually built a miniature <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/563/668/1024/Copie%20de%20IMG_0602.jpg">Eiffel Tower</a>, but when it comes to matters gastronomique, our fair city reigns supreme. Supporting evidence is available in this very building.<a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" title="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7284586912458290392#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">[1]</a>
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<br />Three blocks from Halles de Lyon is <a href="http://www.daniel-et-denise.fr/">Daniel et Denise</a>, a restaurant that may or may not be a genuine<em> bouchon</em>—its business card claims the status even if that douche tiger Bill Buford <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/feb/13/bill-buford-lyon-food-capital">demurs</a>. Owned since 2004 by Joseph Viola, a chef with a stellar pedigree and the narrowly defined ambition to refine and interpret – without deconstructing or otherwise destroying – the Lyonnais classics, Daniel et Denise would be the perfect place to test Bill Buford’s incendiary claim that Lyon is, in fact, the food capital of the world.<a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2" title="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7284586912458290392#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2">[2]</a>
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<br />After 18 hours of travel and grappling with the Wife’s concomitant jet lag, I was afraid disaster had quickly struck. <em>(What he means to say is that I was fucking pissed because I wanted a cute, dark, romantical ristorante, and instead the lighting was positively FLUORESCENT, so, upon entry, I wanted to punch Steve in the face. But that could have been because I thought he could have been more polite. But, yes, the rest of the stuff bugged me, too.)</em> My nonexistent “bonsoir” to the maître d' provoked her irritability <em>(See what I mean? Say “bonsoir.” It won’t kill you.)</em>, which quickly became acute when we were seated in the restaurant’s incandescent back dining room. <em>(Did you not hear what I said? Fluorescent, NOT INCANDESCENT. DON’T YOU READ THE NEW YORK TIMES?)</em> For all its traditional décor, the room was as bewitching as an operating room. On a Friday evening, the restaurant’s final service of the week, the restaurant was filled with ordinary people dressed ordinarily, in sweatshirts and the like. It dawned on me that Lyon was not Paris. <em>(Thanks, Genius.)</em>
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<br /></em>The Wife’s lingering displeasure proved fleeting once she was served a salad of greens on which the kitchen overlaid <em>haricot verts</em>, then a few creamy pieces of crayfish, and finally a thin wedge of <em>foie gras</em> terrine, all in a row. <em>(I’m easy like that.)</em> This salad and, let’s be honest, this preparation of foie gras still haunts Marisa’s dreams. <em>(Does it? Does it now? Like I fucking sleep long enough to dream? STOP BLOGGING ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK MY DREAMS ARE, STEVE, AND GO CHANGE A DIAPER.)</em> I stayed out of the way, but for a single, ethereal bite of foie gras that was unmatched the entire trip. At our waitress’s recommendation, I ordered the house terrine of God-knows-what; it was one of those sallow, jellied concoctions of different layers of animal parts, artisanal Mystery Meat for all intents and purposes, forced into the shape of a slice of Wonder Bread. I’ll confess that I enjoyed it, but there is no need to order it again. <em>(It was fucking gross. And I say that as someone who walked around covered in my younger daughter’s vomit for an hour today before realizing the smell that was bothering me was coming from my own damn shirt.)</em>
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<br /></em>Marisa then struck gold with a Lyonnais classic, <em>quenelles au brochet, sauce Nantua</em>. The sauce is a béchamel plus crayfish, a local staple which provided the requisite fluvial nuance – a grand, seemingly weightless soufflé of pike, molecular cuisine if there ever was one, in which Monsieur Viola tossed in a few mushrooms and yet more crayfish for good measure. <a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3" title="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7284586912458290392#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3">[3]</a> <em>(Oh my god, you’re verbose.) </em>
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<br /></em>I ordered a personal favorite, <em>Le Boudin noir fait Maison aux Pommes</em>, that is, black pudding with sautéed apples, a perfect autumn dish and accordingly a rara avis in the City of Angels. (Accordingly, this non-chef just had to master Bryan Miller’s straightforward <a href="http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/3115/1982/11/24/Boudin-Noir-aux-Pommes-Blood-sausage-with-apples/recipe.html">recipe</a>.) Daniel et Denise’s rendition uniquely served the pudding in two small casseroles, dispensing with the formality of encasing the meats. The sweet apples were of course the hoary, necessary counterpoint to the rich boudin noir, its globules of pork held together with delicious blood and fat. Ultimately, Viola’s goal was to prepare a Gallic standard to the best of his considerable abilities and with all due intelligence. I loved it. <em>(Not for me, says the wifely mouse.)</em>
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<br /></em>The kitchen brought out two side dishes. The first was a platter of fried discs of potatoes, seasoned just right with salt and torn little shards of basil – just perfect for sopping up the remainder of the Wife’s sauce Nantua. But the heavenly gratin of what amounted to macaroni and cheese stole our hearts. Think the best macaroni and cheese hails from some venerable Memphis soul food house in spitting distance of an old-timey juke joint? Guess again. Crazy Joe Viola is responsible for the best. Creamy and rich and made with cheese from, yes, France, this dish is the very reason that comfort food is so comforting.
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<br />Dessert, a “floating island of pink pralines” <em>(Ile flottante aux Pralines de Saint Genix)</em> was in actuality a giant cone of iridescent, pink sugar, the color provided by Lyon’s ubiquitous pink pralines. I remain bewildered by the dessert and frustrated that I didn’t have the presence of mind to order the poached pears au vin rouge. Oh well.
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<br />As for the matter of Lyon’s status as the world’s gastronomic capital, why not? <em>Lyonnais allez lyonnais allez lyonnais allez.</em> Even the Wife liked it.
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<br />Restaurant Daniel et Denise
<br />156 rue de Créqui
<br />Lyon
<br />Tél. 04 78 60 66 53
<br /><a href="http://www.daniel-et-denise.fr/">www.daniel-et-denise.fr/</a>
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<br /><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" title="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7284586912458290392#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> Les Halles is the home of the fantastic centenarian, <a href="http://www.maison-rousseau.com/"><em>Maison Rousseau</em></a>, a lunch counter <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/31/travel/a-meal-in-the-market.html">beloved</a> for bringing the best of the Atlantic coast and Mediterranean to the Rhône-Alpes region, including impeccable Belon and Papin-Poget oysters, subtle sea urchins which were much smaller than their Santa Barbara cousins, an absolutely epic fish soup—burgundy in color, smelling of the sea that, depending on one’s perspective and power of persuasion over the spouse, either moots or necessitates a visit to Marseilles—and plenty of personality and personalities, naturally.
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<br /><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2" title="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7284586912458290392#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2">[2]</a> Paul Bocuse may be a deity, but his eponymous restaurant, located nine kilometers north of Lyon in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, like any house of worship, involves too much entertainment and kitsch, and is prohibitively expensive. Seven years ago, we found Paul Bocuse to be a theme park of itself: Bocuse's image was emblazoned on every wall, plate, and mug. The preparations felt more like the nineteenth century than the mid-twentieth. One example, a plate of Bresse chicken in loads of cream epitomized blandness. Toward the end of that meal, Bocuse found his way to our table to greet us and receive our plaudits. For the Vegas-level mediocrity and showmanship, we had to oblige.
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<br /><a style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3" title="" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7284586912458290392#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3">[3]</a>As a matter of course, we’ll order the labor-intensive quenelles when appropriate, which is to say, whenever a restaurant will make them with pike. I ordered quenelles the following night at <a href="http://www.cafecomptoirabel.fr/1.aspx">Café Comptoir Abel</a>, whose chef, Alain Vigneron, is the only practitioner (and holder) of Eugenie Brazier’s original crayfish-less recipe. <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1998/mar/18/food/fo-29956">Ms. Brazier</a> was the first French woman to earn three Michelin stars, over 70 years ago. With such a noble provenance, quenelles would seem the very essence of fancy, fusty French food as stereotyped in both the States and increasingly in France itself. For example, <a href="http://la-grenouille.com/">La Grenouille</a>, the New York dinosaur that insists that its patrons wear jackets, sells quenelles to septuagenarians for $36.oo per serving. But in Lyon, the dish is standard fare for regular people. For all of his troubles and for such amazing quality, Joseph Viola charges a mere 15€.
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<br />Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-62767892633674803882011-07-25T20:22:00.000-07:002011-07-26T08:26:52.955-07:00The Olive Tree<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp/> <w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> <w:word11kerningpairs/> 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mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >Nearly half a billion people inhabit the Middle East, a region that sprawls from Morocco all the way to Iran and comprises nearly 19 countries, that is, because the Palestinians seem intent on taking their chances on statehood at the United Nations this fall. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>While portions of southern California share the same arid climate as the Middle East, the various cuisines of the vast Middle East are popularly conflated into something sunny and light.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Falafel and tabbouleh, both Levantine staples, have long been popular among the unusual breed of people who are acolytes of <a href="http://famous-vegans.blogspot.com/2005/06/congressman-dennis-kucinich-vegan.html">Dennis! Kucinich</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For carnivores, the smattering of kebabs and of course the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">shawarma</i>, or<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> </i></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gyro">jahy-roh</a></span><span class="pron" style="font-size:100%;"> as it is known in most parts of America, constitute the full breadth of the Middle Eastern diet. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >However, these items would not seem to provide the succor requisite by inhabitants of the Arab World--a narrow corner of which is today’s topic--and you may have heard is unstable politically, fraught with autocracy and theocracy, howbeit now under sustained challenge, riddled by poverty and war, but nothing if not gritty.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Amidst such strife, the Arab peoples would seem to prize comfort in their food and concomitantly soulfulness.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>While there is outstanding Middle Eastern </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2010/09/momed.html"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-">food</span></a></span><span style=" line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" > in Los Angeles, as a general matter, it tends to be, to adapt the embarrassing Angelenan coinage, Cal-Levantine in nature.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >To eat lustful, comforting Arab food, shorn of any sense of a <a href="http://www.steelydan.com/lyrgaucho.html#track1">Californian sensibility,</a> for example, what a Hamas fighter might crave after assassinating a few collaborators and then joining his friends in a game of whack-a-mole with the IDF, the intrepid Angeleno must venture down to the Olive Tree in Anaheim’s Little Gaza section.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>While the Olive Tree may be initially unsettling to the kafir, the restaurant’s lusty, heartfelt food assuages those anxieties with the ease that it soothes the locals’ craving for a taste of the old country or, as it were, the occupied territory</span><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >The Olive Tree occupies a drab dining room in an anonymous strip center, minimally decorated with Arab bric-a-brac, junk really, with the only noticeable color coming from the green and red in the small Jordanian and Palestinian flags, the so-called </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Arab_Revolt"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-">Flags of the Arab Revolt</span></a></span><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" > (designed of course by a </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Sykes"><span style=" line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-mso-bidi-">Brit</span></a></span><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" > who later supported the Balfour Declaration before reclaiming what I am sure was his deeply held anti-Semitism) that hang by the front door.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >At 7:30 or so, despite being moderately busy, not a single female customer was present, and the man who exited the restroom had an addled, malevolent gaze directed at no one in particular.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>My brother and I hoped his peculiar behavior was the product of nothing more than cocaine.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Did I mention that we were the only Jews, not that anyone would care or notice since we were without our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqyq3o3OJgg">Jew-caps</a>, and in Anaheim of all places, a “</span><span class="st" style="font-size:100%;">town somewhere between Buchenwald and Belsen” according to </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Book-Daniel-Novel-L-Doctorow/dp/081297817X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310338834&sr=8-1">Ed</a></span><span class="st" style="font-size:100%;">?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>That is now two distinct sets of anxieties with which we were forced to grapple.</span><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi-mso-bidi- font-size:100%;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >We ordered the two specials of the day, a lamb shank with rice and the meatballs in yogurt or,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> kibbe labneh</i> and then took in the scene.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The well-coiffed chef with movie star looks toiled assiduously in the open kitchen behind a deli counter of sorts.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We attempted to keep abreast of our intoxicated friend, but our eyes could only follow those massive portions of lamb being distributed to the tables and which could have been served in a mead hall feast.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I read the menu carefully, but saw no item described as a full-fledged Iftar.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>What could we have missed? </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Nothing as it turned out. An order of the lamb shank was a feast for one.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>After they brought our shank, two middle-aged gentlemen, who by their </span><span class="ital-inline"><span id="hotword"><span style="cursor: default; background-color:transparent;" id="hotword" name="hotword" >physiognomies </span></span></span><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >could have suffered at least a few scrapes at the hands of TSA, ordered by simply pointing at our shanks as if we were the experts, two Jews from Pepper Pike, Ohio.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> B</span>y this point, any lingering unease of ours was neutralized. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >Most importantly, the shank was so tender, so delicious that our server’s failure to provide us with knives could have been a stroke of the restaurant’s bravado or maybe mere server forgetfulness.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Regardless, only the four tines of our forks were needed to carve the shank up into bite-sized portions.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Accompanying the shank was the Olive Tree’s version of an Arabian peninsular rice dish called </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://arabic-food.blogspot.com/2008/12/kabsa.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-">kabsa</span></i></a></span><span style=" line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >, a fantastic and hearty agglomeration of innumerable spices, deftly balancing, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">inter alia,</i> cinnamon, cardamom, and saffron plus currants and almonds.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I asked our waitress what spices the chef used, but she declined to answer as if I might steal the recipe. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">kibbee labneh</i> was equally as satisfying.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The labneh yogurt was served like a tangy soup-sauce, with old-fashioned kibbee intermixed with bulgur wheat and spices.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I remain infatuated with what was for me a dish of first impression.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The thickly textured hummus also exuded hominess and careful preparation. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span style="line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-hansi- mso-bidi-font-size:100%;color:black;" >The Olive Tree’s traditional Arabic coffee was just as I like it: ugly and unsweetened.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Before making the trek back to antipodal Beverly-La Brea, we walked over to the <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/forn-al-hara-anaheim">Forn Al Hara</a> bakery and shared assorted baklava and other treats which in that late hour were fresh and restrained in their sweetness, a fitting finale to a surprisingly fun dinner. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span class="street-address" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Olive Tree</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;"><span class="street-address" style="font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height: 115%">512 South Brookhurst Street, Suite 3</span></span><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span class="locality">Anaheim</span> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 115%"><span style="font-family: times new roman;font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" class="tel" >(714) 535-2878</span><span style=" line-height:115%;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> 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mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">According to Husret Hoja of Erzurum,* “Coffeehouses are places where pleasure-seekers and wealthy gadabouts sit knee-to-knee, involving themselves in all sorts of vulgar behavior. . . Do the poor have enough money to drink coffee? Men frequent these places, become besotted with coffee and lose control of their mental faculties to the point that they actually listen to and believe what dogs and mongrels have to say.” While this may be an accurate portrayal of the scene at the Intelligentsia over on Sunset Boulevard, the Hoja would have overlooked Espresso Profeta.<span style=""> </span>He simply never would have found it. <span style=""> </span>I struggled to find it, concealed as it is in a jewel of a old brick building on a quiet stretch of Glendon Avenue, closer to Westwood’s office towers than to the UCLA campus. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">Espresso Profeta is a beacon of quality and independence among all the Starbucks and Coffee Beans in Westwood Village where there is an alarming scarcity of charming collegiate cafés serving our local branch of the University of California, that is, unless <a href="http://www.bobaloca.com/">Boba Loca</a> draws your fancy.<span style=""> </span>Drawing a crowd of actual intelligentsia -- graduate students and professors, and even a few undergrads -- Profeta is all UCLA has.<span style=""> </span>Profeta offers a serene courtyard with plenty of seats for reading and quiet discourse. Whoever designed Profeta’s sunny interior understood that an appropriate amount of table space is required to read the newspaper and enjoy a coffee. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">The Hoja might remonstrate that Profeta’s espresso is of such superior quality that men are sure to become besotted with coffee.<span style=""> </span>Profeta’s baristas draw short, thick espresso shots using the <i style="">dolce </i>beans from <a href="http://www.espressovivace.com/">Espresso Vivace</a>, the Seattle institution dating to the Queen City’s halcyon flannel-and-grunge era. (<i style="">Pace</i> Longfellow, there is nothing queenlike about Cincinnati or <a href="http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=144">Catawba wine</a>.) <span style=""> </span>The Vivace beans, as interpreted by Profeta’s baristas. have their own style: they are darker than most and taste on the chocolatey side with no residual bitterness or saccharine fruitiness. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">It may be a shame that UCLA undergrads lack a proper coffeehouse with the requisite clunky brown mugs, racks of local weeklies, and late hours, but my guess is that Bruins do not care.<span style=""> </span>After all, the UCLA campus is graced by a branch of a certain restaurant famed for its cheeseburgers and crossed palm trees which happens to be open very late. If their coffee sucks, who cares? </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">*Orhan Pamuk, <i style="">My Name is Red</i>, p. 12 (Translated by Erdag Goknar.) <i style=""><span style=""> </span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Espresso Profeta</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">1129 Glendon Avenue</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Westwood</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">(310) 208-3375</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.espressoprofetala.com/"><span style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">www.espressoprofetala.com</span></a><i> </i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"> </p>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-90108678918321831772011-01-10T21:55:00.000-08:002011-01-10T23:32:04.052-08:00San Francisco, Day Two: The 'cation 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mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">On Saturday morning, we followed the essential ritual, coffee at <a href="http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/locations/mint-cafe/">Blue Bottle</a>, and then a big breakfast at Tartine.<span style=""> </span>We devoured an orange bun, exquisite frangipane and ham and cheese croissants, and another order of brioche pudding.<span style=""> </span>If one has to discriminate, the brioche pudding was still fantastic with apples, but lacking the blackberries from <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2010/12/san-francisco-day-one.html">Day One</a>, it was not as gaspingly majestic.<span style=""> </span>The <i style="">de rigueur</i> quiche was cooked on this particular morning with swiss chard and chanterelles.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After the Incanto debacle, we decided not to fuck around.<span style=""> </span>Accordingly, we strolled down to perennial favorite, <a href="http://zunicafe.com/">Zuni Café</a><i style="">, </i>which opened in 1979 and, in a stroke of genius, lured Judy Rodgers to its kitchen in 1987.<span style=""> </span>Still reveling in San Francisco sunshine, we sat in a nook along Market Street, pondering the most logical way to approach Zuni’s indispensible roasted chicken, the one served atop a bread salad that soaks up all the fat and drippings. It also happens to be a dish that takes a good hour to cook. <span style=""> </span>Of course the key to avoiding table listlessness, especially at Zuni, is more eating.<span style=""> </span>So we ordered three antecedent courses, beginning with a plate of magnificent cured anchovies, accompanied by thin shavings of parmesan cheese; thinner, hyperbolic shavings of fresh green celery; and tiny black niçoise olives.<span style=""> </span>Celery, it should be remembered, is foul: Its peculiar bitterness and disturbing crunchiness suit the vegetable for diets.<span style=""> </span>It is probably the reason that kids hate vegetables.<span style=""> </span>So I submit that the knife work necessary to extract celery’s concealed sweetness, somehow a natural accompaniment to the cured anchovies, is a technical feat on par with whatever biochemical tricks those zany Catalan folks are attempting. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">After Incanto’s reckless evisceration of chanterelles from the night before, we required continued corrective action, which took the form of a slender cheese and chanterelle pizza, deftly executed and cooked to an enviable point on the crispiness-chewiness continuum. <span style=""> </span>Always offering one pasta dish during its lunch service, Zuni coaxes improbably rich flavors out of ingredients that would be humdrum at most other restaurants.<span style=""> </span>On this day, I happen to be talking about spaghetti <i style="">al farro</i>, a wheat <a href="http://articles.sfgate.com/2001-03-07/food/17591890_1_wheat-grain-cranberry-beans">trendy</a> during those halcyon days of the Roman Republic.<span style=""> </span>A decade ago in San Francisco, <i style="">farro </i>returned to prominence, according to the <i style="">Chronicle</i>, as “chefs like Judy Rodgers of Zuni … seem to be taken with farro's rusticity and its association with rural Italian peasant cooking.”<span style=""> </span>History aside, our spaghetti <i style="">al farro </i>was in a sense a pauper’s dish in that it contained no luxury ingredients — that is, other than the <i style="">farro </i>which I’ll guess cannot be found at Ralph’s, but is subject to a healthy mark-up at Whole Foods.<span style=""> </span>In other words, the spaghetti was prepared with julienned red and green peppers and onions in olive oil and was completely satisfying on this warm afternoon with the few sips of Bandol remaining in my glass.<span style=""> </span>Cooked to the tooth, the spaghetti and those delicious peppers epitomized clarity of flavor and purpose, giving the dish the aura of effortlessness just like so many other delicious items on the Zuni menu.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As for that roasted chicken, there are few dishes as classic yet consistently botched in kitchens beyond 1658 Market Street. For at least 24 hours, Zuni salts its chickens, which, according to the restaurant’s accompanying <a href="http://www.zunicafe.com/cookbook.html">cookbook</a>, should weigh 2.75 to 3.25 pounds, as such chickens “flourish at high heat, roasting quickly and evenly, and, with lots of skin per ounce of meat…are virtually designed to stay succulent.” <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But, arguably, it is the bread salad, the dish’s literal substratum, soaking up all the glorious chicken drippings, that has propelled the dish to great heights. A stuffing for all intents and purposes, Rodgers's euphemistic bread salad, is awesome proof that Zuni has earned its timelessness while yielding none of its modernity. Those hunks of bread, some chewy and some crispy, are moistened by wine vinaigrette and dripping fat. Emboldened by garlic, scallions, currants and pine nuts, the bread salad brings a necessary lustiness to the perfectly cooked chicken. <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We were just getting started.<span style=""> </span>Flaneuring up Valencia Street, we stopped for an espresso at <a href="http://www.fourbarrelcoffee.com/">Four Barrel</a>, a café whose odious poseurdom matched its grotesquely over extracted coffee.<span style=""> </span>Like Sight Glass, Four Barrel has a massive, industrial storefront, most of which is dedicated to roasting; only the front section is used for beverage preparation and seating.<span style=""> </span>Four Barrel is so affected that it conspicuously employs disc jockeys to spin vinyl, as if to say, <span style="font-style: italic;">We and our record collection are hipper than thou</span>. <span style=""> </span>Let’s be clear: Four Barrel is the Dave Eggers of coffeehouses. Its espresso is heartbreakingly overdone and its disc jockey is a pointless footnote.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>(I do concur that vinyl is superior; there is no other medium that does Bud Powell justice.<span style=""> </span>But Dave Eggers is loathsome, and <span style="font-style: italic;">A</span> <em><span style=";font-family:";" >Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius </span></em>could be the most grating literary work published in English.) On their own, Four Barrel coffee beans are of unimpeachable quality and are far better utilized by the skillful hands of Tartine Bakery’s baristas. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We wound up the afternoon at <a href="http://www.humphryslocombe.com/">Humphrey Slocombe</a> where we encountered a gaggle of nerds manipulating their DSLRs while their ice cream melted.<span style=""> </span>After a long meander up Harrison Street, I enjoyed my refreshing olive oil ice cream, which was much more lemony than <a href="http://www.ottopizzeria.com/">Otto</a>’s standard-bearer.<span style=""> But </span>the black sesame confounded me.<span style=""> </span>We all loved J-Wy’s tin roof sundae; the Tahitian vanilla was so pure and rich that the recipe could have been stolen from Guy Savoy, and hot fudge and the salty sweet genius of frosted peanuts only amplified its greatness.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Building to an appropriate crescendo, we and our already full stomachs, later made the 50-mile jaunt south to Los Gatos for a dinner at <a href="http://www.manresarestaurant.com/">Manresa</a>, a restaurant swiftly becoming the <a href="http://www.chezpanisse.com/">Chez Panisse</a> of its day. David Kinch, Manresa’s chef, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/30/FDG8OQ12761.DTL&type=printable">believes</a> that he builds on Alice Waters’s emphasis on quality local produce by insisting on vegetables that are “<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/30/FDG8OQ12761.DTL&type=printable">biodynamically</a>” grown at the <a href="http://www.growbetterveggies.com/">Love Apple Farm</a>, located in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a mere 20 miles away from the restaurant.<span style=""> </span>Biodynamics is little understood, but its proponents can be accused of lunacy — literally.<span style=""> </span>After all, biodynamics, the brainchild of <a href="http://www.rudolfsteinerweb.com/">Rudolf Steiner</a> in 1924, involves planting seeds based on lunar phases <a href="http://artoftea.com/wordpress/2007/09/01/what%E2%80%99s-so-dynamic-about-biodynamic-tea/#plan">because</a> of the “link between growth and the life force of the moon and sun.”<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Steiner actually favored “burying a cowhorn stuffed with manure at the time of the autumnal equinox,” because—and here is where the logic sputters—through the burial “we preserve in the horn the etheric and astral force that the horn was accustomed to reflect when it was on the cow. Because the cow horn is now outwardly surrounded by the Earth, all the Earth's etherizing and astralizing rays stream into its inner cavity. The manure inside the horn attracts these forces and is inwardly enlivened by them. If the horn is buried for the entire winter—the season when the Earth is most inwardly alive—all this life will be preserved in the manure, turning the contents of the horn into an extremely concentrated, enlivening and fertilizing force.” Jesus fucking Christ.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">To those of us philosophy grads overly steeped in Berkeley and Hume, biodynamics would seem to be the object of cacchination, not strict adherence. <span style="">But somehow </span>Steiner’s ravings captured Kinch’s attention. All that aside, my sensory experiences over three meals at Manresa entail a conclusion that Kinch’s vegetables are the finest I have eaten in recent memory, at least since lunch with Jim (and, oh yeah, our wives) at <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2006/jun/08/travelfoodanddrink.foodanddrink.restaurants">L’Astrance</a> in 2005, when it was a hungry Michelin two-star. <span style=""> </span>Biodynamics is also <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575560463995629960.html">employed</a> by Domaine Romanée Conti and Domaine Leroy, which “are widely acknowledged to be among the greatest wineries on the planet” according to J-Mc. <span style=""> </span>Where that leaves Steiner’s theory is another story.<span style=""> </span>But I’ll chalk up Steiner’s recent prominence to being at the goofy nexus between hippydom and hipsterdom and to the meticulous, intensive, and small-scale farming that goes on in such agriculturally advantaged locales as Santa Cruz and the <i style="">Cote D’Or</i>. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Kinch differs from the Panisse mafia in that he takes enormous conceptual and technical risks, exemplifying his <a href="http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/food/ci_14693083">apprenticeships</a> in Burgundy and San Sebastian, Spain, as well as in the Axis countries.<span style=""> </span>Meals at Manresa always begin most propitiously with a rendition of the <a href="http://www.alain-passard.com/">L’Arpege</a> egg, paying homage to his ideological comrade <a href="http://www.alain-passard.com/">Alain Passard</a>, the iconoclastic and vegetable-focused chef of L’Arpege who first concocted this <i style="">amuse bouche</i>.<span style=""> </span>This “hot-cold egg” contrasts a warm poached egg yolk served in its brown shell with cold cream and sherry vinegar as well as maple syrup with sea salt, plus some chives for good measure.<span style=""> </span>It would seem that only an alchemist could transform a poached egg and cream into such a sophisticated little jewel that still tastes downright homey, owing to the presence of maple syrup.<span style=""> But we have Kinch (and Passard) to thank for this treat.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Manresa’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/dining/11gard.html?_r=1&ref=dining"><i style="">gargouillou</i></a><i style="">,</i> its “Into the Vegetable Garden” salad, is another modern French showstopper that in the right hands and with pristine produce, is a composition “of vegetables, leaves and flowers, each prepared in a different way and set upon a black ‘dirt’ of roasted chicory root and dried potatoes” that “showcase[s] the farm’s daily offerings, from roots to leaves.”<span style=""> </span>Each vegetable is individually braised, and all of their collective juices are “combined to make the foamy emulsion that represents dew.”<span style=""> </span>Michel Bras, a chef from Laguiole, France, specializing in modern <i style="">haute </i>cuisine, originated the dish over thirty years ago, and it tends to be served only in the most rarefied restaurants. <span style=""> </span><a href="http://www.mugaritz.com/">Mugaritz</a> near San Sebastian, Spain, serves it, as does <a href="http://coirestaurant.com/">Coi</a> in San Francisco.<span style=""> </span><a href="http://www.cortonnyc.com/">Corton</a> in TriBeCa achieves admirable results despite being in an unfavorable location, agriculturally speaking. Manresa’s <i style="">gargouillou</i> manages to be even snobbier.<span style=""> </span>Kinch credits <a href="http://www.noma.dk/">NOMA</a><a href="http://www.noma.dk/">’s</a> René Redzepi, a Dane who is perhaps the most cutting edge chef in the world, for inspiring the <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2276475/">edible black dirt</a> that is supposed to approximate the dirt at the Love Apple Farm.<span style=""> </span>The dish is a perfect vehicle for testing Kinch’s thesis about a restaurant’s sense of place, and his work with vegetables that were grown 20 miles of the kitchen is electrifying. Perforce I examined each vegetable, considering and savoring every delicious bite.<span style=""><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">My favorite dish of the night, Kinch’s own creation, was the ingenious rice-less risotto of <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081124-giant-squid-magnapinna.html">big fin</a> squid and Vietnamese lemon balm, mushroom, and parmesan.<span style=""> </span>But I must first cavil before I kvell.<span style=""> </span>I doubt that Manresa was serving big fin squid, which would seem impossible to capture. (This squid, which can be up to 23 feet in length, lives at depths thousands of meters under sea level, safe from commercial fishing operations. <span style=""> </span>No adult specimen has ever been captured according to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfin_squid">Wikipedia</a>.<span style="">) </span>Regardless, Kinch and his staff, demonstrating tremendous physical stamina above all else, transform their squid into simulacra of grains of rice, possessing the same texture and color of an <i style="">al dente </i>risotto. <span style=""> </span>With mushrooms and lemon imparted into the mix, parmesan would seem not to jibe. <span style=""></span>Yet at Manresa, the parmesan worked wonders as if the risotto really were rice, and not a delectable creature from the deep.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Totally sated after a weekend of hedonism, a full dessert course was not in the cards. <span style=""></span>But we managed to sample a few cheeses from the traditional cheese cart.<span style=""> </span>Collectively we were most taken by a Portuguese cow’s milk cheese and an Oregon blue, and it is a shame that we—in our food-induced haze—never got their names.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Zuni Café</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">1658 Market Street<br />San Francisco<br />(415) 552-2522</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.zunicafe.com/">www.zunicafe.com</a> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Four Barrel Coffee</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">375 Valencia Street</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">San Francisco </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">(415) 252-0800</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.fourbarrelcoffee.com/">www.fourbarrelcoffee.com</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i> </i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Humphrey Slocombe<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style=""></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">2790 Harrison Street<br />San Francisco<br />(415) 550-6971</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.humphryslocombe.com/">www.<span style="">humphryslocombe</span>.com</a><cite><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></cite><cite><span style=";font-family:";" ></span></cite></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><cite><span style=";font-family:";" >Manresa Restaurant</span></cite><cite><span style=";font-family:";" ></span></cite></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><cite><span style=";font-family:";" >320 Village Lane</span></cite><cite><span style=";font-family:";" ></span></cite></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><cite><span style=";font-family:";" >Los Gatos</span></cite><cite><span style=";font-family:";" ></span></cite></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">(408) 354-4330</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.manresarestaurant.com/">www.manresarestaurant.com</a> </p> </div>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-85403759526193113762010-12-04T15:52:00.001-08:002011-01-06T15:36:29.877-08:00San Francisco, Day One<span xmlns=""><p>Are there two better American neighborhoods than the Tenderloin and the Mission? Are there three more choice words to utter to a cabbie than "Eighteenth and Guerrero?" I think not. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenderloin,_San_Francisco">Wikipedia</a> may allege, with its customary, solecistic élan, that "The Tenderloin is a high crime neighborhood, particularly violent street crime such as robbery and aggravated assault," but this charge is utter nonsense. The 'loin is the home of Blue Bottle Café, whose Italophilic espresso, unlike all the charred, overpriced Third Wave swill that is the true Starbucks legacy, is exquisite and can accommodate a macchiato so elegant and compelling that it is in itself a riposte to the sanctimonious black,-like-my-women purism that I am wont to espouse.<br /></p><p>With bags in hand, Jim, Justin and I raced from SFO to <a href="http://tartinebakery.com/">Tartine Bakery</a>, with collective eagerness to begin 48 hours of gluttony that we hoped might have a dash of refinement. We were greeted with a short line and plenty of Northern California sunshine, defying the laws of physics as much as that weird carom that <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=5740131">rebuffed</a> Ian Kinsler in Game 2 of the Fall Classic. Even as our luck seemed to turn, upon learning that the bakery was out of its stalwart <em>croque monsieur</em>, order was fast restored by the Jambon Royale & Gruyère, a pressed sandwich consisting of cured and smoked ham, the aforementioned (but now accent-less) gruyere, and Dijon mustard between Tartine's warm country bread. If nothing else, we presumed that the sandwich would make for a nice accompaniment to the ham and chard quiche and ham and cheese croissant. (Not to mention our appetizers: a gougère, the brilliant orange-zested morning bun, and brioche pudding.) Clearly we meant business.<br /></p><p>Among this array of textbook quality bakery items, the sandwich was the knee-buckler. Owners Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson understand how to create a perfectly proportioned sandwich -- just the right amount of mustard in every single bite, the bread sliced somehow to the right width to accommodate the most classic sandwich fillings of all, ham and cheese. Moreover, Tartine does not scrimp on the quality of these key ingredients. They use the good stuff, including ham from the venerable <a href="http://nimanranch.com/">Niman Ranch</a> and proper cheese. (Note to the world: There is no mayonnaise on this sandwich.) So, yes, once assembled, the sandwich is a model of precision, but we are not talking about something sterile and soulless. The masters at<a href="http://www.lcbparis.com/"> Le Cordon Bleu</a> in the 15th Arr. and the goons drinking beer in the late morning at Nick's Roast Beef at 20th and Passyunk would esteem this sandwich equally. That is, if the goons at Nick's would stop gambling and remove their attention from Philly Classic Sports broadcasts of keg tossing. The ham and chard quiche was just as flabbergasting, also in equal parts refined and guttural. And as simply delicious as the brioche pudding happened to be, it was a vehicle for the tart blackberries and plums that went into the oven inside it on that very morning. After solid espressos made with neighbor <a href="http://www.fourbarrelcoffee.com/">Four Barrel's</a> beans, we ambled down to the local BART stop, dropped our bags off at the hotel, and headed to the Ferry Building, tacitly understanding that we would be returning to Tartine on Saturday and Sunday mornings.<br /></p><p>At the Ferry Building, we first stopped at <a href="http://www.boccalone.com/">Boccalone</a>, Chris Cosentino's shop for cured pork and sausage, or what Cosentino's marketing specialists have tagged "tasty salted pig parts," which is a far cry from the Hot Doug's much wittier "There are no two finer words in the English language than 'encased meats', my friend." We went in<span><span> for a "<em>salumi</em> cone."</span></span> We should have been warded off by Boccalone's lame locution, which did not augur well for our Incanto dinner later. Still, the <em>mortadella</em>, <em>prosciutto cotto</em> and whatever other parts were thrown into the paper cup were tasty enough.<br /></p><p>We moved on to <a href="http://canerossosf.com/">Il Cane Rosso</a>, a meat-focused establishment owned by Daniel Patterson, David Chang's recent sparring partner in the recent Made-for-the-Internet "NYC vs. SF" <a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/le-fooding-fights-daniel-patterson-on-east-vs-west/">debate</a>. (If Patterson believes that New York follows San Francisco, then all of the Red Dog's pork and beef proves that San Francisco follows New York right back.) We split a braised pork sandwich with cracklings and a relish of sweet peppers and jalapeños along with a plate of meatballs, both of which were respectable, but underwhelming in the aftermath of our Tartine extravaganza. This criticism may be unfair, but that's tough luck. The most memorable item from the Dog was a side of <em>ciabatta, </em>i.e.,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciabatta"> carpet slipper bread</a>, with a garlic flavor so acute that Patterson must have pillaged half the garlic in Gilroy. </p><p>With our circulatory systems nearing rupture, we secured a table on the Bay over at<a href="http://www.hogislandoysters.com/bars/san-francisco"> </a><a href="http://www.hogislandoysters.com/bars/san-francisco">Hog Island Oysters</a>, which is known for its quality oyster production in Tomales Bay, an estuary 50 miles north of the City in Marin County. We shared a dozen oysters -- regrettably we only ordered a half dozen of the tiny and deliciously sweet Hog Island kumamotos, which take two to three years to grow to maturity, and two to three seconds to ingest. Even mollusk-phobic J-Wy could not resist. We washed the oysters down with a glass of muscadet and I am here to pronounce that, <em>pace </em>Mr. <a href="http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0374158460">Franzen</a><em>,</em> "comfortably dissipating . . . in coastal affluence" is sorely underrated.<br /></p><p>Before leaving Ferry Market, we queued up for caffeine at <a href="http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/locations/ferry-building/">Blue Bottle Café</a>'s north bar, which I later learned pulls single-origin espresso shots while the main bar pulls uses the mainstay Hayes Valley blend. Regardless of the blend, Blue Bottle makes a caramelly, Italian-style espresso, eschewing all the cloying efflorescence that I usually find in what is considered "American premium espresso." Indeed the macchiato was so delicious, its proportions so finely hewn that I found myself admiring the beauty in the otherwise preposterous form of expression known as "latte art." Don't people know that Arabica's perfectly segregated, layered cappuccino circa 1996—steamed milk on the bottom, espresso in the middle, and foam on top—will always be the <em>ne plus</em> <em>ultra </em>of coffee art even if those caps were a few notches short of potability? I trust that <a href="http://www.universitycircle.org/detail-location.aspx?type=location&id=216&cat=5&section=visit&address=11300+Juniper+Road++Cleveland+OH+44106">The Coffee House at University Circle</a> has maintained the tradition, even if it has abandoned the upstairs smoking section.<br /></p><p>Sauntering through the Tenderloin, our bodies demanding caffeine even though we just left Blue Bottle, we managed to admire all the aging, unkempt architectural gems on Howard and Mission Streets, plus the occasional steely dan manufacturer. We stepped over and around scores of homeless on our mission to overpay for the fancy coffee that we knew existed in the neighborhood, even if was less conspicuous than the local drug trade. We landed on quiet Seventh Street, home to the rehabilitated warehouse that is <a href="http://sightglasscoffee.com/">Sight Glass Coffee</a>. Sight Glass is the latest San Francisco roaster to hang a shingle and roast and brew coffee with any array of methodologies and technologies. Despite a large and attractive space, it was off limits to civilians; Sight Glass's retail operations are confined to a coffee cart and two seats at the front door. But in the middle of the afternoon on a dreary and seemingly out-of-the way block, Sight Glass drew a steady crowd, which was no surprise because the coffee was really good. The slow-brew technique, which all the cool <a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/ristretto-pour-over-coffee-drips-into-new-york/">kids</a> are doing these days, proved itself worthy and, if the espresso was not quite on par with Blue Bottle's, well it was nothing to scoff at either. Does any city anywhere have coffee this good?<br /></p><p>Disaster then struck at <a href="http://incanto.biz/">Incanto</a>, a farce of a restaurant possessing remarkable incompetence. (J-Wy questioned my decision to review the place because he figured it would be defunct by the time I got around to typing something.) During the afternoon, I attempted to move our 8:30 pm reservation up to 7 o'clock in deference to the two jet-lagged New Yorkers. But the restaurant claimed that it could not accommodate us. We nonetheless arrived at 7:30 and discovered a dining room as devoid of charm as it was people. Disconcerted by the deceit and solitude on what should have been a busy Friday night, we sat down at our choice of tables.<br /></p><p>The waiter recited the specials. The chef, Chris Cosentino, has struck fame as a votary of cooking extreme offal and on this night, he offered cow testicles. Our waiter chose the biological term over the euphemism "Rocky Mountain oysters." Why not just say "testes," which seems grossest of all? Now I consider myself an adventurous eater and was mesmerized by the tartare of <em>tête de veau </em>at <a href="http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/">Pierre Gagnaire</a> in 2004. But there is no way I would put a bull's balls in my mouth at Incanto or anywhere else.<br /></p><p>Incanto's path of destruction began with a dish of ill-sliced sardines with sunchokes and sunflowers utterly sodden from some unfortunate marinade. We were forced to push the dish to the far corner of the table to minimize the pain to our eyes. An inexplicable mistake on our part, we ordered poached oysters, which were removed from their shells, served on a bed of what turned out to be a Twinkie-like polenta cake and accompanied with a side of heated mussels. These oysters were so gargantuan and slimy that it took us several minutes to identify them. In no mood for diplomacy, there was no need to conceal them in our napkins or under bread. Our diffident waiter began to suspect that we did not like the food.<br /></p><p>By this point, it was clear that the meal would be an abject failure. In one dish, some beautiful chanterelles were denuded of all chanterelle flavor. Three half orders of pasta--handkerchief noodles with pork <em style="font-style: italic;">r</em><span style="font-style: italic;">agù</span>, <em>paccheri</em> with calamari in squid ink, and a macaroni <em>cacio e pepe</em>, were so hopelessly awful that we bellowed in laughter to the point of tears. I was afraid that I would choke. The ragù could have been Ragù, and the cacao e pepe was <em>sin</em> <em>pepe</em>. The ink was as bland as John Thune despite a potent appearance, and the calamari was downright quaggy. We quickly skedaddled. This meal was as indelible as it was inedible.</p><p>(More on the Gaycation to come.... Stay tuned, intrepid readers.)<br /></p><p>Tartine Bakery & Café<br /></p><p>600 Guerrero Street<br /></p><p>San Francisco<br /></p><p>(415) 487-2600<br /></p><p><a href="http://www.tartinebakery.com/">www.tartinebakery.com</a><br /><em><br /></em></p><p>Boccalone<br /></p><p>Ferry Building Marketplace, Shop 21<br /></p><p>San Francisco<br /></p><p>(415) 433-6500<br /></p><p><a href="http://www.boccalone.com/location-22.html">http://www.boccalone.com/location-22.html</a><br /></p><p><br />Il Cane Rosso<br /></p><p>Ferry Building Marketplace, Shop 41<br /></p><p>San Francisco<br /></p><p>(415) 391-7599<br /></p><p><a href="http://canerossosf.com/">http://canerossosf.com/</a><br /></p><p><br />Hog Island Oyster Bar<br /></p><p>Ferry Building Marketplace, Shop 11A<br />San Francisco<br />(415) 391-7117<br /></p><p><a href="http://www.hogislandoysters.com/bars/san-francisco">http://www.hogislandoysters.com/bars/san-francisco</a><br /></p><p><br />Blue Bottle Coffee<br /></p><p>Ferry Building Marketplace, Shop 7<br /></p><p>San Francisco<br /></p><p>(510) 653-3394 <br /></p><p><a href="http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/locations/ferry-building/">http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/locations/ferry-building/</a><br /></p><p>Sight Glass Coffee<br /></p><p>270 Seventh Street<br />San Francisco, CA<br />(415) 861–1313<br /></p><p><a href="http://sightglasscoffee.com/">http://sightglasscoffee.com</a><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Incanto<br /></p><p>1550 Church Street<br />San Francisco<br />(415) 641-4500<br /></p><p><a href="http://www.incanto.biz/">www.incanto.biz</a><br /></p></span>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-63775823899024959082010-09-03T21:12:00.001-07:002010-09-08T10:56:51.484-07:00Momed<span xmlns=""> <p>As Boris Yelnikoff conceded, "Sometimes a cliché is finally the best way to make one's point." So here goes: in Los Angeles, the Mediterranean cuisines with their similar climes have been adapted to California's cherished agricultural and piscatory products to salutary effect. While this practice has produced such cringeworthy locutions as "Cal-Ital" and the antipodean "Cal-French," I will trade their regular utterance for the work product of Suzanne Goin, chef-owner of <a href="http://www.lucques.com/">Lucques</a> and the city's foremost practitioner of Cal-French and for that matter Cal-Maghrebi. (She prepares an expert lamb tagine.)<br /></p><p>But until the advent of Momed, the great cuisines of the Eastern Mediterranean--from Turkey, Greece, and Lebanon--have never received their due Californication. Granted there is no shortage of falafel shops around, owing to Los Angeles's large population of persons of Middle Eastern lineage. I plead to an especial weakness for the lamb's tongue sandwich at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=falafel+arax&fb=1&gl=us&hq=falafel+arax&hnear=Buena+Park,+CA&cid=18015827274129566673">Falafel Arax</a> despite its dreary location. But Arax and its ilk are yoked to a specific Old World sense of tradition that nevertheless yields an everydayness well suited for Los Angeles, owing to their various foods' lightness of flavor and casual sensibilities.<br /></p><p>Momed was conceived when businessman Alex Sarkissian, an émigré from Iran by way of London and of Armenian lineage, somehow linked up with chef <a href="http://www.calendarlive.com/dining/cl-wk-critic27jul27,0,728791.story">Matthew Carpenter</a> over their shared interest in the cuisines of the Eastern Mediterranean and, to a lesser extent, the Maghreb. In thinking about menus and recipes, Sarkissian and Carpenter explored Athens, Beirut, and Istanbul, a city that is the dream that the otherwise trenchant <a href="http://www.webcity.com.au/keating/">Paul Keating</a> says it is. Along with GM Vasilis Tseros, they did not want to be serving basic <em>shawarma </em>and hummus a la Arax. Carpenter, it should be noted, is no <em>prima donna</em> and is prone to setting up Momed's patio tables and chairs in the morning hours.<br /></p><p>With Beverly Hills's many pedestrians and Semites, management settled on the suburb for its location, the very same Beverly Hills that is home to the original Cheesecake Factory; the opulent hook bar known as Cut; Crustacean, known for its soi-disant Secret Kitchen; and best of all Mr. Chow's whose popularity has endured despite being derided 28 years ago by the <a href="http://steelydan.com/lyrgaucho.html#track3">Stern Critic of the Contemporary Scene</a> as the spot where narcotics salesman Jive Miguel celebrated at midnight with "Szechuan dumplings / After the deal has been done." Accordingly, Momed's cultivated sense of style and charm, which is an extension of Mr. Sarkissian's personality, and the elegance of its informal service make the restaurant one of few in Beverly Hills where an unironic meal can be had. </p><p>Dips are a staple of the Levantine kitchen, and Momed has engineered several twists on the familiar that are as clever as they are agreeable to the palate. The avocado hummus tastes as creamy and green as its looks with a flavor that splits the difference between the chickpea and the avocado. A single bite overcomes any initial fear that the dip is as contrived and off-putting as a grocery store California roll, or for that matter, a Kogi taco. The balanced, spicy eggplant dip, which--it has been intoned--is not baba ghanoush, gradually reveals its flavor and gentle spice over a period of seconds. Momed does offer a standard hummus for the timorous and hidebound, but its overly thick texture yields one of Momed's few missteps.<br /></p><p>The salads, in constant variation, exemplify seasonality and an adaptation of the Mediterranean. The tabbouleh swaps parsley for fresh watercress, not that there is a shortage of parsley on the Left Coast. One constant salad is a showcase for samphire, a seaweed resembling baby asparagus that is tossed with green beans and actual asparagus. (I have only seen samphire used elsewhere in Casa Mono's <em>fideos</em>, where I used it to sweep away that dish's mayonnaise, a surefire emetic.) When in season, Momed serves roasted artichokes with fava beans and peas, a dish that appears much less oleaginous than the comparable version served at <a href="http://www.soukeltayeb.com/tawlet.php">Tawlet Restaurant el Tayeb</a>, a restaurant profiled in the recent "Back to Beirut" episode of <em>No Reservations</em>. My favorite salad is a simple helping of roast potatoes—sorry, <a href="http://www.weiserfamilyfarms.com/">Weiser</a> potatoes—served room temperature with a tapenade of the First Triumvirate, namely anchovies, capers, and olives. I can assure you that Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey would have concurred.<br /></p><p>Of course Momed offers an array of meats and seafood cooked on skewers. I am most taken by the pepper-laced lamb and beef koefte, which is always a model of <a href="http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/top-10-lists/worst-food-writing-words/">succulence</a> and spice. Accompanied by lightly grilled watercress, mint, and cherry tomatoes, the heat can be elevated with a helping of <em>muhammara</em>, the delicious red dip of roasted red pepper, walnut and pomegranate. Underneath the koefte lies one of Momed's toothsome and delightfully chewy <em>pide</em>, the pocketless Turkish flatbread that is a Momed specialty. Despite the considerable restraint required, one must allow the <em>pide </em>to soak up all the escaping juices and not devour all the muhammara at once. When the pide is all mucked up with koefte remnants and the piquant muhammara, the taste is irresistible. Patience is a virtue.<br /></p><p>For my tastes and proclivities, which have always favored seafood to meat, the Byblos seafood salad is the standout. Named after the ancient Phoenician seaport near Beirut, the plate overflows with tender marinated shrimp, octopodes of various stages of adolescent development, and calamari. Bolstered by fennel, herbs, and the occasional schmear of avocado hummus, the salad is dressed just lightly enough with an admixture of lemon and raki, the anise-flavored spirit popular in Turkey. At the suggestion (and compliments) of Mr. Tseros, I had a glass of the Domaine Spiropoulos, a Peloponnesian white wine made from the autochthonous moschofilero varietal which has a striking pink tint. The combination of wine and all that octopus and fennel instantly transported me back to Mr. Tserors's native and bustling Salonika, where I once spent two days drinking wine and eating olives along the Aegean. Reality only re-intruded when I finished a section of the Gray Lady, looked up, and found myself in Beverly Hills, California.<br /></p><p>Momed is so comprehensive with its coffee that it offers both mild and dark roasts of Turkish coffee which Momed has re-christened as "Mediterranean coffee" in the spirit of ecumenism. (In this vein, the wine list spans Greece and Turkey, Israel and Lebanon. If only it were that easy.) The mild roast, which is from <a href="http://www.ednascoffee.com/">Edna's</a> <a href="http://www.ednascoffee.com/">Coffee</a> in Glendale, is the best coffee in Los Angeles, that is, when the single barista trained to make it happens to be on duty. Momed's genius is to imbue every sip with physicality; the coffee has the thickness and color of the waters off the Louisiana coast, perfect for Turkish coffee if not life itself. The Four Seasons at Sultanahmet in Istanbul could not approximate such quality. For this luxury, I deem Momed's sin of using Intelligentsia beans for espresso expiated. When Edna's mild is coupled with a sweet, walnutty ma'amoul soirée cookie, any afternoon would be complete.<br /></p><p>Momed </p><p>233 South Beverly Drive<br /></p><p>Beverly Hills<br /></p><p>(310) 270-4444 </p><p><a href="http://atmomed.com/">http://atmomed.com/</a><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span></p></span>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-73540342653631731782010-06-01T23:41:00.001-07:002010-06-02T08:51:27.798-07:00Heinous Returns For One Last Taco On U.S. Soil<span xmlns=""><p>My favorite pop-up, guerilla gay bar is naturally in my adopted city's most fashionable neighborhood, home to what Our Hero has <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/2010-04-15/eat-drink/forage-the-found-and-the-farro/http:/www.laweekly.com/2010-04-15/eat-drink/forage-the-found-and-the-farro/">called</a> "the most evolved shopping area in Los Angeles." This bar boasts enormous street cred since it was borne as an unlicensed taco cart, stationed on a sidewalk across from a bus stop at Santa Monica Boulevard's eastern terminus. Eventually the cart's popularity and the need to avoid pervasive MTA effluvia prompted a move into the sizable garden of bric-a-brac that is part of the nearby Mi Alma Collective. This gay bar, which goes by the name Ricky's Fish Tacos happens to make the best Baja-style fish taco in Los Angeles, even if the competition is less than vigorous.<br /></p><p>The highly distinguished food blogger, <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/04/of-tacos-and-cupcakes.html">Heinous</a>—formerly of Brooklyn, currently of Sydney—was taken back when a promised <em>taqueria</em> greeted him not with urban grit, never mind a <em>narcocorrido</em> anthem, but with speakers blaring Madonna's "Like a Virgin." Through prior visits, Heinous became accustomed to the colorful shenanigans of East L.A.'s Tacos Baja Ensenada, which in a fit of immodesty, hung a sign proclaiming itself as the best restaurant in Los Angeles. He understood the mercurial ways of El Parian, with its prison cell-like, <em>trompe l'oeil </em>front door and a menu that expressly states that it "reserves the right to serve alcohol to anyone." (El Parian's decision to alter its <em>carne asada</em> recipe a few years ago remains a source of continuing frustration.)<br /></p><p>Instead the bonhomous Ricky, with his signature straw hat, gave us a warm welcome while he lorded over the deep fryer, ever eagled-eyed in his weekend pursuit of preparing only the most flavorful fish and shrimp tacos. A perfectionist, Ricky makes his own batter and salsas. He heats the tortillas on a small griddle which, if my dated investigative efforts remain accurate, he buys in the mornings from a North Hollywood <em>mercado</em>. I have no doubt that he would make his own tortillas if circumstances allowed him to do so. An assistant dresses the tacos with shredded cabbage and <em>pico de gallo</em>. Patrons are invited to complete the tacos at the salsa bar with its assortment of delicious offerings. However, the spicy chipotle salsa, if applied injudiciously, overwhelms the taco taste.<br /></p><p>Since the operation is unlicensed, Ricky and his friends quite justifiably see no reason not to offer visitors a glass of Tecate from the keg. If an invitee felt so obliged, he could donate a mere $3.00 to the kitty. Who is to say that these enterprising young capitalists are doing anything wrong? After all, a concern specializing in the distribution of a Schedule I substance flagrantly disregards the CSA from a Sunset Boulevard storefront within sight of Mi Alma. In fact, Ricky is probably smart to sell tacos within a stone's throw of all these potheads.<br /></p><p>Once ensconced into a nook away from the techno-dance cacophony pulsating out of the speakers, we were able to eat the tacos. I love both the shrimp and the fish, both of whose freshness is indisputable. Ricky is a lot more adept with a deep fryer that I was during my tenure as a Burger King fry guy. (To be sure, I made a mean Whopper.) My preference is for the <em>pescado</em> over the <em>camarón</em>. The light catfish filets are a better complement to the thick batter than the dense shrimp, though the Wife disagrees.<br /></p><p>We were in Silverlake, so a dose of irony is in order. When Ricky's cart was at the bus stop, it suffered from spatial constraints and those mephitic fumes. Yet the hipsters would queue up for a taco like tourists outside of Sprinkles or Pink's. But now that Ricky's Fish Tacos has moved into a lovely and festive oasis complete with a keg of beer, the crowds seem sparse.<br /></p><p>On our way out, Ricky informed us that a disc jockey appears on Sundays. I don't know if the jovial O-Bar in West Hollywood is still around. Touch Supper Club, my old spot in Ohio City where I enjoyed several raucous nights, used to have some interesting Latin food. But there is no way they made fish tacos this good. Neither does anyone else in this town.<br /></p><p>Ricky's Fish Tacos at Mi Alma Garden<br /></p><p>4016 Santa Monica Blvd.<br /></p><p>Silverlake<br /></p><p><a href="http://twitter.com/RickysFishTacos">http://twitter.com/RickysFishTacos</a><br /></p><p><br /></p></span>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-36554557004186583162010-04-18T21:50:00.001-07:002010-04-21T16:51:15.890-07:00Lou<span xmlns=""><p>Lou, a paradise of urban oenophilia, is hidden in the elbow of a wretched Hollywood strip center somewhere between an incandescent lunch counter called Flaming Patty's and a rub-and-tug joint that advertises itself as a "Thai massage parlor." Yet such a humble setting is not unbecoming, even though the proprietor, Lou Amdur, with his immense vinic erudition, has earned a more propitious location. For Lou, the restaurant and the man, are most approachable and democratic, and display not a trace of condescension or imperiousness. There are no special dispensations for celebrities, even for those persons with lead roles in Coen brothers' movies who were turned away a few months ago. You're darned tootin'! <em><br /></em></p><p>A fastidious curator of his wine list, Lou is, by definition, opinionated -- and he more than most -- so his knack for self-deprecation and clever, even nerdy wit come in handy. For example, after the oft scorned wine critic Robert Parker, a proponent of wines from Down Under and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/22/dining/22pour.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all">supposedly</a> of "power and concentration over subtlety and nuance," <a href="http://twitter.com/RobertMParkerJr/status/9064576388">commented</a> that "once very expensive Aussie shirazs [are] out of fashion among the anti-flavor wine elites," Lou <a href="http://twitter.com/lou_wine_bar/status/9065639930">countered</a> "that's us, just a bunch of snooty clueless assholes."<br /></p><p>The small bar is the best place to sit for a whole host of reasons. Lou stations himself there, and his idiosyncratic charms drive the restaurant's personality. As far as I am concerned, <em>l'état, c'est</em> Lou. Moreover, the bar ameliorates any lingering claustrophobia from what Lou has himself described as a "wallpapered shoebox." The chalkboard wall, which can best be studied from the bar, boasts a half-drawn map of the United States and demarcates the boundaries of only those states from which Lou sources cheeses and meats. He lists the purveyors' names on the map, as geographically appropriate. The rest of the country, we are left to deduce, is a vast nothingness. Naturally, Ann Arbor is at the center of the map and "Zingerman's" is displayed prominently. But directly south of the Michigan border and east of Indiana is an uncharted abyss. Could it be a forgotten vestige of the old Northwest Territory? A western nether region of DFW's toxic wasteland, the Great Concavity? No one knows for sure.<br /></p><p>The wine list consists of, in Lou's words, "wines that are grown with minimal or no dependence upon synthetics in the vineyard and winery, fermented using <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3488/is_n9_v78/ai_19900987?tag=rel.res1">natural (wild) yeasts</a>, and made without dependence upon <a href="http://www.vinovation.com/">fancy technologies</a> . . . and wines made from groovy <a href="http://northberkeleyimports.com/wines/index.php?partno=20258">indigenous grape varieties</a>, <a href="http://www.rarewineco.com/html/impo/spai/d-atau.htm">old vines</a>, sometimes, <a href="http://www.vinscela.com/page_ic.php?CatID=77&ArtID=154&them=2000">very, very old</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_wine">traditional winemaking techniques</a>." In short, obscure wines from France, Italy, and Spain predominate. Wines from other European countries and the Western Hemisphere complete a short list that is in a state of Hericlitean flux. There are few wines from the most famous and expensive regions; to sample rare wines from Bordeaux or La Côte-d'Or, a trip to <a href="http://bastidela.com/">Bastide</a> will have to suffice.<br /></p><p>I was especially taken with the Chamonard Morgon, a Beaujolais that Lou poured for me a month or so ago. Its various subtleties and complexities, and overall wonderful flavor, loom larger in my mind every day. This past week, I loved the Eric Chevalier Fié Gris, an old varietal from the Loire that is a predecessor of the sauvignon blanc grape, and the anagrammatic Causse Marine Rasdu, which is made from the duras grape in the Southwest. (I will leave the business of describing wine to Jay McInerney notwithstanding his comparing Dom Pérignon to a Porsche, and not for the purpose of disparagement, in his very first <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304017404575166353598540096.html">column</a> for Murdoch's <span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span>.) Ultimately, Lou is incapable of pouring an uninteresting wine; the common thread running through the list is that all of his selections have unmistakably distinct flavors and are steeped in regional histories and tales. But drinking Lou's wine is no academic exercise. The best of his selections, with their flavors and bouquets, transport me to the countrysides and villages where the wines come from.<br /></p><p>Lou is able to hover around the bar and go about his business as wine pontificator and dispenser of snarky witticisms, because of his good fortune to work alongside chef D.J. Olsen. Those hip-hoppy initials belie his actual b<a href="http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/chef-interviews/dj-olsen-lou-wine-bar-chef-int/">ackground</a>, a classical musician originally from Minnesota (like Lou) who decided to attend culinary school later in life. In light of the breadth of D.J.'s experience, his cooking is lucid and self-assured in a way that more prominent chefs in Los Angeles wielding more distinguished culinary résumés cannot match.<br /></p><p>D.J. makes the bacon for the pig candy, a delectable pre-appetizer whose balanced use of cayenne paper and brown sugar adds a complexity to the simple genius of bacon and offsets the gimmickry of the dish's name. D.J. also brings a light touch to a smoked trout salad with apple and endive. Purveyor <a href="http://temp.michelcordonbleucom.officelive.com/default.aspx">Michel Cordon Bleu</a> smokes an ethereal piece of fish using only hickory, salt, and sugar, plus a few green herbs for good measure. Somehow the trout somehow retains its fresh taste, yet is balanced by a light and subtle smokiness. Avoiding any conceptual flight of fancy, D.J. ensures that the trout is front and center, accentuating the filet with thin slices of apple, short endive leaves, farmer's market peppercress, and a few pecan halves for extra crunch. An unobtrusive champagne vinaigrette binds the components together and adds just the right touch of sweetness to prevent the endive from overpowering the dish. I could eat this dish every night.<br /></p><p>My favorite dish on Lou's menu is whatever iteration of scallops D.J. is serving. Lou has served four sautéed mollusks, circumscribed around a puree of celeriac, a slaw of julienned apples and fennel, and garnished with strips of the bacon cured onsite. D.J.'s dexterity with the scallops' texture makes them so appealing; he can coax different nuances of texture in various spots in a single scallop. The creamy, pureed celeriac and the apple-fennel slaw's sweetness emphasized the scallops' robust flavor. However, the bacon was superfluous and a potential threat to the delicate harmony of the other flavors. So I waited to finish off the scallops before I made a pre-dessert out of the bacon strips.<br /></p><p>The grilled flat iron steak is also an excellent choice. Served medium rare, the Niman Ranch cut of meat is topped with succulent grilled onions and a few stalks of asparagus and potatoes, both unadorned but of superior quality and obviously traceable to the farmer's market.<br /></p><p>A self-respecting wine bar, Lou offers up a proper cheese plate. Recent selections include Cowgirl Creamery's <a href="http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/cheeses.asp">Devil's Gulch</a>, a very rich and creamy cow's milk cheese amplified by spicy, dried red pepper flakes. The cheese received its fullest expression from Lou's proper attention to temperature, which allowed the Gulch to possess an exquisite balance of softness and sturdiness that we were unable to match at home. I also enjoyed the aged cheddar which swiftly disarmed my normal harrumphing over a cheese that can so often be pedestrian.<br /></p><p>This cheddar also finds its way to the desserts, where it accompanies a thin and very tasty apple tart. No mere garnishment, the dish is a bid to split the difference between dessert and a cheese course. On our last visit, we must have tried a dozen wines by the time we reached dessert, or so it felt. Now Lou was hauling out his Madeiras from the <a href="http://rarewineco.com/">Rare Wine Co.</a> to pair with the tart and cheese. By the end of the meal, when I looked around and saw that we were the ones closing Lou down, I realized that the following day would involve a lasting red wine haze.<br /></p><p>Lou feels like home the way the old Arabica Cafés at Coventry and Shaker Square did. The restaurant's wine pedigree aside, there may be something about Lou's personality--its sense of itself and humor--that appeals especially to refugees from the post-industrial Midwest. I submit that it is no coincidence that Lou and D.J. are from Minnesota, if only for the irony that the actor responsible for the Twin Cities' own <a href="http://www.reelfilm.com/images/fargo.jpg">Jerry Lundegaard</a> could not find a table. Regardless, I have Lou Amdur and his quiet sidekick D.J. Olsen to thank for building the <em>rara avis</em> of a genuine home-away-from-home.<br /></p><p>Lou</p><p> 724 Vine Street</p><p>Hollywood</p><p>323-962-6369 <a href="http://www.louonvine.com/"><br /></a></p><p><a href="http://www.louonvine.com/">http://www.louonvine.com</a><br /></p></span>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-17820896315009404802010-01-04T14:11:00.001-08:002010-01-04T16:24:59.914-08:00Fried Chicken at the Momofuku Noodle BarDavid Chang’s success in the East Village with his acclaimed <a href="http://www.momofuku.com/">Momofuku</a> restaurants is proof that any culinary rivalry between West Coast and East Coast, New York and Los Angeles, is at best a cliché and at worst a delusion. On the evening of our visit to the Noodle Bar, several employees were wearing t-shirts proclaiming affinities for the East Bay. Chang reveres Wolfgang Puck, the legendary <a href="http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/fine-dining/3635">Spago</a> chef famous for fusing Western technique and Eastern dishes and being among the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/18/travel/california-grows-her-own-cuisine.html?sec=travel&spon=&pagewanted=print">co-creators</a> of “California cuisine.” Indeed, Chang credits Puck as the source of the Momofuku mantra, which appears on the corporate <a href="http://www.momofuku.com/noodle/faq.asp">website</a>:<br /><br />"Ethnic crossovers also occur when distinct elements meet in a single recipe. This country is, after all, a huge melting pot. Why should its cooking not illustrate the American transformation of diversity into unity?"<br /><br />But let’s be clear: Chang is not about to hold hands in a circle and sing "We Are The World." In a 2008 <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/24/080324fa_fact_macfarquhar">New Yorker</a> profile of him entitled “Chef on the Edge,” he used the word “fuck” 59 times, and I am sure with great nuance and subtlety. His new cookbook, <span style="font-style: italic;">Momofuku</span>, has received publicity for its Murphian levels of profanity. The chef, in an interview with the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574471561810281526.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span></a>, explained that “There are so many more f-bombs and terrible things that happen in restaurants. It's an ugly, nasty business, the cooking world. It's hard, hot and grueling. Other books choose not to document this." This realism is praiseworthy and effective marketing based on its <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Momofuku-David-Chang/dp/030745195X">Amazon.com</a> ranking of 111 the last time I checked.<br /><br />Moreover, Chang is not some hippie chef serving compost or whatever it is that vegetarians eat. He is a stalwart proponent of cooking and eating pork. Fans of his original restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar, prize the steamed buns stuffed with lardaceous pork bellies and the bowl of pork belly, pork shoulder, and a poached egg that happen to be accompanied by ramen noodles and broth. At <a href="http://www.momofuku.com/ko/default.asp">Momofuku Ko</a>, Chang serves a so-called tasting menu of several courses that can include everything from fried pork rinds, to what Ruth Reichl, writing in <a href="http://www.gourmet.com/restaurants/2008/03/firsttaste_momofukuko"><span style="font-style: italic;">Gourmet</span></a>, described as “triangles of pork belly . . . nestled up to an oyster on the half shell with a swirl of cabbage in a kimchi-infused consommé.”<br /><br />The Noodle Bar on a Saturday night is a crazed event, since it does not accept reservations except for its special menus. Hordes of youthful East Village denizens bravely wait outside for tables, because diners inside appear to order anything the kitchen can produce. The restaurant is long and cramped, and has an open kitchen that is constantly swarmed with orders. There is no carpeting, and the wood floors and wall refuse to absorb a single conversation. Everyone thus has to shout to be heard, creating a perpetual frenzy in the dining room. The sheer volume of all this shouting inevitably leads to inter-table bonhomie and then exchanges of food followed by de rigueur expressions of gratitude, which always involve more and more beer and liquor and food. Finite gastrointestinal capacity breaks what would otherwise be a very vicious circle.<br /><br />We Foxes and Graineseseses had a reservation for Chang’s fried chicken dinner. (If I am going to wait outside for a meal, it will be at <a href="http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/bar-pitti/">Bar Pitti</a> or <a href="http://www.zingermans.com/">Zingerman’s</a>.) Momofuku serves two whole fried chickens, one Southern style and one Korean style. The Southern style was fried in a buttermilk batter and smothered in <a href="http://www.oldbay.com/">Old Bay</a> seasoning, that amalgamation of celery salt, mustard, cardamom, and paprika, just to name a few ingredients, that is another oddball Baltimore tradition. The fried chicken itself was very good. After all it was chicken, deep fried by the hands of a very capable kitchen. Still, all that Old Bay, which should be used in sparing quantities because it tastes like spiced dirt, overwhelmed the chicken. On top of that, the plate of Southern style contained very little dark meat, which is far more flavorful than its dietetic counterpart.<br /><br />I was more interested in the Korean version, as I love <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2008/10/kyochon.html">Kyochon</a>, the large South Korean chain with a convenient western K-town location. Kyochon carves up a whole chicken into tiny pieces and then fries the pieces twice in a manner that "renders out the fat in the skin" according to the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/dining/07fried.html?ex=1328504400&en=69267e357f603cce&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss"><span style="font-style: italic;">Gray Lady</span></a>. Somewhere in the process, Kyochon brush the pieces with a spicy red chili sauce. Everything is made to order at Kyochon, and the wait for a chicken is a minimum of 20 minutes.<br /><br />Momofuku goes one step further and fries its chicken three times. The platter of Korean fried chicken was primarily dark meat and of greater import placed right in front of me. It should be no surprise that Chang’s red chili sauce is superior to Kyochon’s, which has a medicinal aftertaste. Still I prefer Kyochon’s chicken. The chain’s central genius is its carving up the chicken, because all those little pieces with their bones have an ethereal crispiness. By comparison, Momofuku serves recognizable body parts, legs and thighs, which are larger and meatier but not susceptible to the Kyochon levels of crispiness. To be sure, Momofuku’s KFC is delicious and well worth a visit, but like a Spago hamburger, never quite as satisfying as an In-N-Out Double Double.<br /><br />Momofuku accompanied the chicken with several superfluities: mu shu pancakes, spicy peppers, baby carrots, red ball radishes, shiso leaves, bibb lettuce, four sauces and a bunch of herbs. What these items had in common with fried chicken is an enduring mystery. I would expect all this accoutering at P.F. Chang’s, not at a premier New York chef’s original restaurant.<br /><br />The small side order of standard kimchi warrants special mention. The cabbage had an excellent texture--sturdy enough that I had to bite into it, but not so thick that I felt like I was eating a wet notebook. But the kimchi’s red chili sauce was just outstanding. Its spicy, chili flavor revealed more and more complexities until I had to swallow it, regrettably. For all the kimchi I have sampled throughout Los Angeles’s expansive Koreatown, none has matched Momofuku’s tiny little batch.<br /><br />We did manage to try Chang’s esteemed little steamed buns with pork belly and pickles. I will take the word of others that they are the ne plus ultra of steamed buns and fat. This art form and the bourgeoisie’s fixation on pork belly are lost on me. Yes, I just used the word "bourgeoisie.”<br /><br />Momofuku Noodle Bar<br />171 First Ave.<br />New York<br />(212) 777-7773<br /><a href="http://www.momofuku.com/noodle/default.asp">http://www.momofuku.com/noodle/default.asp </a>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-84841717514651006542009-11-30T22:11:00.001-08:002009-11-30T22:19:10.164-08:00The Bar-B-Q Shop and the Beauty Shop<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><link rel="themeData" 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mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">After watching Michigan secure what proved to be its sole conference win of the year, Sossy and I celebrated by sampling some of Memphis’s finest comestibles. We began with a late lunch at the <a href="http://www.dancingpigs.com/">Bar-B-Q Shop</a>, a restaurant and bar located in a stubby old storefront, a few miles from downtown.<span style=""> </span>The Shop consists of a brown dining room with brown walls, brown carpeting, and brown tables and chairs. <span style=""> </span>Neon beer advertisements provide the sole evidence that there are other colors in the visible spectrum. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of course, design and charm are irrelevant when pork barbeque is involved. <span style=""> </span>But I was skeptical of this small urban outpost that appeared to lack the capacity for a genuine pit.<span style=""> </span>Barbeque is, at heart, a rural form of the culinary arts.<span style=""> </span>In the dusty towns and farmland circumscribing Austin, Texas, where barbeque is at its zenith, the form is austere and primitive, reliant on nurturing pits, post oak wood, and a languid, dreamlike pace of cooking. Venerable barbeques in Texas often trace their roots to the beginning of the 20th century when they opened as butcher shops, a function many still have. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Accordingly, I asked our haggard waitress if the Bar-B-Q Shop even had an honest-to-goodness pit, a question that could be construed as insolent considering that the Shop enjoys a stellar local reputation. <span style=""> </span>She assured me that the Shop is so equipped and steeped in Memphis staples like pork ribs and pulled pork.<span style=""> </span>So Sossy and I ordered the crispy burnt rib ends, a house specialty, and a pulled pork sandwich on Texas toast, which, at the Shop, involves some double-thick white bread fried in lard. <span style=""> </span>The burnt ends were attached to the pork ribs themselves and not served separately.<span style=""> </span>The ribs themselves were too fatty for me.<span style=""> </span>But the burnt ends—that charred, black-red crust that formed at the end of ribs—were delicious.<span style=""> </span>Underneath that crispy exterior was some tender rib meat.<span style=""> </span>The potency of that combination is a rejoinder to anyone wondering why people would travel across the country for barbeque. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I loved the smoky pulled pork sandwich and drizzled on some of the Shop’s piquant barbeque sauce. It was an expertly prepared sandwich in its own right, accentuated by the residual smokiness, and well-proportioned to bring out the flavors without overwhelming my mouth.<span style=""> </span>Memphis barbeque may not reach the ethereal realm of Texas’s finest, but it is solid. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">During our meal, the owner, Eric Vernon, came over to our table and introduced himself.<span style=""> </span>He possessed a salesman’s affability and was pleased that we had found the Bar-B-Q Shop, which has not found its way to the guidebooks.<span style=""> </span>Since the Shop does not offer dessert, we solicited some advice from Eric on where to go.<span style=""> </span>He directed us to an establishment called the <a href="http://www.thebeautyshoprestaurant.com/">Beauty Shop</a>, a place he said made an outstanding strawberry cake. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I expected to encounter a nearby, black-owned bakery that served heaping portions of moist red velvet cake made by cherished grandmothers hewing to ancient recipes long ago committed to memory.<span style=""> </span>But to my surprise, the Beauty Shop was an upscale, white-owned restaurant selling $25 entrées of wild striped bass in what amounted to Memphis’s progressive neighborhood – or, at least, corner.<span style=""> </span>(That is, the Beauty Shop was next to the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center, and the bicycle was the neighborhood’s preferred mode of transportation.<span style=""> </span>The locals were white, youthful and dressed like cheerful versions of Troy Dyer and Lelaini Pierce<a href="http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0015014/"><span style="text-decoration: none;color:#000000;" ></span></a>.<span style=""> </span>You will see all of them in Austin within five years’ time.) </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I asked the Beauty Shop’s manager why he thought the Bar-B-Q Shop recommended that we drive all the way across town for their cake.<span style=""> </span>My real question, which he intuited, was why did the black owner of a modest barbeque send me to a high end restaurant for dessert?<span style=""> </span>The manager answered matter-of-factly, “The Bar-B-Q Shop has the best barbeque in Memphis, and we have the best cakes. We send people to the Bar-B-Q Shop.” <span style=""></span>The cross-racial recommendations vindicated my sense of liberal hopefulness in the city of MLK’s murder. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In a chazerish mood, I ordered a slice of each of the six cakes: strawberry, chocolate, caramel, red velvet, coconut, and a Southern yellow cake.<span style=""> </span>They were all interesting, but the chocolate and caramel cakes were the standouts.<span style=""> </span>Both were rich and had alluring textures that somehow compelled another bite… and then another… and then another… until nothing remained.<span style=""> </span>Their flavors were restrained, but I was not.<span style="">
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{page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The Bar-B-Q Shop
<br />1782 Madison Avenue
<br />Memphis
<br />(901) 272-1277</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.dancingpigs.com/">http://www.dancingpigs.com</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.dancingpigs.com/">
<br /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The Beauty Shop</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="street-address">966 S. Cooper St.</span><span class="adr"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="locality">Memphis</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="tel">(901) 272-7111</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.thebeautyshoprestaurant.com/">http://www.thebeautyshoprestaurant.com</a><a href="http://www.thebeautyshoprestaurant.com/"> <span style=""> </span></a></p> Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-81477496140819672362009-10-29T07:25:00.001-07:002009-10-29T15:05:50.700-07:00Braving the BazaarIt is fitting that the <a href="http://www.thebazaar.com/">Bazaar</a> is among the best restaurants in Los Angeles. The Bazaar is evidence that the city has matured, yet remains garish. The Bazaar is located in Sammy Boy Entertainment’s SLS Hotel, the brainchild of one Sam Nazarian, the Horace Cook, Jr. of present-day Los Angeles for you <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/episode304">Mad Men</a> fans – though within the entertainment industry, Nazarian prefers promoting nightclubs and hospitality to Cook’s jai alai. Just as HoHo Cook recruited the legendary Patxi to play for his jai alai franchise, Nazarian recruited prominent stylists from supposedly more pedigreed cities to outfit his hotel. Parisian interior designer <a href="http://www.starck.com/">Phillipe Starck</a> decorated the sprawling SLS restaurant. <a href="http://www.mossonline.com/">Murray Moss</a>, a dealer of modernist home furnishings in lower Manhattan, exhibited his venal side when he agreed to sell sundry curios in the Bazaar.<br /><br />Nazarian engaged José Andrés, a Washington restaurateur and native Spaniard, to be the titular head of the Bazaar and make an occasional visit. Andrés is a protégé of <a href="http://www.elbulli.com/">Ferran Adrià</a>, the experimentalist Catalan chef who literally spends six months each year in a Barcelona laboratory concocting recipes based on principles of chemistry. (One example out of a myriad, Adrià created an olive oil spiral which “you loop around your index finger and drop in your mouth, where it dissolves into thin filaments” according to blogger <a href="http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2006/08/dinner_at_el_bulli.php">Clotilde Dusoulier</a>.)<br /><br />Despite all the class Nazarian threw at the Bazaar, the establishment confirms every New York and San Francisco snob’s worst conjuring of a fatuous City of Angels. Tall Eastern Bloc prostitutes run amok, attired in revealing dresses shimmering with rhinestones that serve their purpose of diverting attention from their weathered faces. The men, who could be tippling to repress thoughts of forbidding credit card balances, resetting mortgages, and personal dejection, ooze purported wealth, wearing the expensive suits that prove they concur with Sammy Boy’s business strategy.<br /><br />The shibboleth about Los Angeles restaurants or at least those in West L.A. is that the entertainment industry and its supporting cast of rubes have corrupted them. Accordingly, a perception (not necessarily my own) is that L.A. restaurants have viewed swankiness and a good scene as the means to a healthy profit, allowing food quality to languish and evidencing a flagrant disregard for California’s agricultural bounty. If there were any truth to this, the Bazaar is in the midst of shattering it, as the quality of Andrés’s high concept tapas are of paramount concern, even when they do not succeed. As it turns out, the elite Hollywood scene whose business and presence Sammy Boy craves never materialized; that business <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/business/04hotel.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=tower%20hotel%20hollywood&st=cse">goes</a> to the more subdued and tasteful surroundings, if lesser food, at the Sunset Tower. (Admittedly, we at the Fress do love us some Sunset Tower in the wintertime.) Maybe it is still old times in Los Angeles, tinged as ever with ethnic rivalries and subtle prejudices that have rendered the Bazaar "too Persian" for the city's social elite.<br /><br />In the 90’s José Andrés brought his aspirations and knowledge of Spanish cuisine to Washington, D.C., another city plagued by an inferiority complex and dearth of flavorful food. Back then, I was a semi-regular at Andrés’ first restaurant, <a href="http://www.jaleo.com/">Jaleo</a>, the tapas joint located on Seventh Street between Pennsylvania Avenue’s office corridor and the seedy Chinatown neighborhood just beginning gentrification. Jaleo had an enormous menu of orthodox Spanish tapas in those days, but could execute only three dishes with consistency: sautéed shrimp in garlic and olive oil, octopus with paprika, and a preparation of blood sausage. Everything else was a crapshoot. But lawyers and lobbyists crowded the joint during the happy hour, thirsty for the plentiful sangria and the spectacle of flamenco shows. My crew of fellow misanthropic law students and I would put up with this riff-raff, because Jaleo was among the best casual restaurants in town, and after dinner we could take the Green Line to U Street’s nightclubs, always concluding the evening with a half-smoke, that sausage of unknown composition, from the legendary <a href="http://www.benschilibowl.com/">Ben’s Chili Bowl</a>, the only establishment on the historic Black Broadway to survive the riots of 1968.<br /><br />Mired in law school at the time, I had never heard of Ferran Adrià or his cutting edge recipes. For a fledgling Jaleo, educating the public about Adrià’s cuisine would be an ultra vires act. Andrés, a shrewd businessman, knew not to unleash the results of a chemistry lab on conservative Washington eaters in a violence-prone neighborhood. The fact that he was serving Spanish food at all was challenging enough. After leaving Washington, I never thought too much about Jaleo, a good but not great restaurant. I knew that he had opened two more branches in the suburbs as well as the more formal <a href="http://www.cafeatlantico.com/">Café Atlántico</a> and a few restaurants with other themes, all in the same section of Washington. I had heard that he dedicated a modest six seats within Atlántico to the chemical cuisine he learned from Adrià.<br /><br />A decade later, José Andrés turned up in Los Angeles with a menu as ambitious as Nomi Malone in <span style="font-style: italic;">Showgirls</span>. There are scores of traditional tapas, as conceived by Andrés. Then there are the modern tapas, which involve unusual flavor combinations and rare ingredients as well as Señor Adrià’s recondite techniques. In Washington, Andrés serves these more intricate tapas to a mere six patrons at any given time. But in Nazarian’s domain, they are being served in a veritable banquet hall that Andrés spends little time in.<br /><br />Andrés may have developed his culinary skills, as a technician and a thinker, at Adrià’s almost mythical El Bulli, which is a few hours north of Barcelona near Roses, Spain, and open to only 50 customers a night in the six months when Adrià is not cloistered into his lab. But Andrés learned the art of operations, which is perhaps more difficult and important than cooking prowess, through years of trial and error in his busy Washington restaurants. He took that expertise to Bazaar its spacious kitchen, an efficient machine, preparing and dispensing a thorny menu to a crowd that could have been as indifferent as Washington’s could have been bewildered. Instead, Andrés has a runaway hit, though he owes <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Angeles Times</span> critic Irene Virbila a tithe of the gross for her exuberant <a href="http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/food/la-fo-review18-2009feb18,0,3671329.story">praise</a>.<br /><br />Marisa and I visited twice in recent months with varying experiences. On our first visit, with my visiting parents, the standout dishes spanned the entire menu. The traditional sea urchin pipirrana--a preparation of fresh, creamy urchin served on top of cucumber, onion, plum tomatoes, and red and green peppers, all diced to one eighth inch, in a mixture of olive oil and sherry vinegar--was so delicious that we quickly ordered another. The salmon-like arctic char with chick pea cake and the Greek tzatziki was as flavorful as any I have had. The lamb loin with potatoes and mushrooms was uncomplicated and delicious, as were the scallops in a spicy romesco which possessed the nuanced robustness in flavor that I prize when eating the mollusk.<br /><br />On the modern tapas front, I was taken by the twin juxtapository olives, which seem to be the work of a magician, but are an old Adrià specialty as I later learned from Dusoulier’s blog. Bazaar served each person two olives side-by-side in white ceramic soup spoons. The first was an olive containing a briny anchovy and a morsel of piquillo pepper and was plenty tasty. The second was a simulacrum of an olive that involved the trapping of olive oil inside a green sphere. The olive oil exploded into my mouth when I bit down, and yet it tasted like an olive, even superior to the real olive. Adrià devised these faux olives through a process of his own creation called process of “spherification” that involves hydrocolloids, which according to the Gray Lady’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/science/06food.html">Kenneth Chang</a> is “a suspension of particles in water where the particles are molecules that bind to water and to one another. The particles slow the flow of the liquid or stop it entirely, solidifying into a gel.” The science notwithstanding, I loved this derivative olive. It was more precise and tasted better than anything we had a few years ago at <a href="http://www.comerc24.com/">Comerc 24</a> in Barcelona, whose entire menu consisted of juxtaposing traditional dishes with reconstituted or deconstructed variations.<br /><br />There were a few misses, an inevitable occurrence on such a bold menu. The most obvious example was the <span style="font-style: italic;">ajo blanco</span>, a white garlic gazpacho garnished with a tiny salad of tomatoes, grapes, and raisins, the last of which I quickly noticed and brushed away before eating the soup. The soup’s gelatinous texture alienated me, and I cannot understand how the inclusion of an inedible, indigestible desiccated grape of all things would overcome that.<br /><br />My father, in his great haste to eat everything, did not see the raisin. But his tongue sensed it and alerted his brain, which understood that a crisis was afoot and that drastic action would be necessary to prevent any lasting damage. To my amazement, my father’s brain took over the controls from his stomach. The brain positioned his head over the plate, and then caused him to bow his head and open his maw. Alas, the offending raisin fell harmlessly onto his plate, saving all of us from untold amounts of future kvetching and perpetuating his napkin’s usefulness.<br /><br />Marisa and I returned a month later, still celebrating our fifth anniversary. While we lacked a reservation, we knew that each dining room has several counter seats that are available on a first-come, first-served basis, just like at a sushi bar. Not a single seat was occupied during the entire two hour period when we there with my parents.<br /><br />We checked in with the front desk, and its two hosts sized us up with a whiff of condescension, as if they had been just been culled from the ranks of Sammy Boy’s army of velvet rope minders. “Let me check if we have any availability,” the ingenue said and then scurried off to the dining room. Her counterpart, a young gentleman wearing a suit, observed our conversation, but quickly returned his attention to the computer screen, indifferent to our suspense. A few minutes later, the host returned. “We have two seats for you,” she said smiling. Of course every seat at our counter was vacant, which the host whose only responsibility is to greet and seat must have known beforehand, and we could see that only two seats were taken at the opposite bar. We faced two assistant chefs who were preparing plates of ham and cheese and assembling the cold seafood dishes. The large wait staff ignored us for some period of time, and finally one of the assistant chefs summoned a waiter for us.<br /><br />We ordered a series of modern tapas, a few repeats from the prior meal and several we had not tried, most of which were not Adrià-style chemistry experiments, but an amalgam of aspects of East Asian and Mexican cuisines. Within a period of 30 minutes, we received practically everything we ordered, and we felt like we were at our very own buffet table. All the intricacies of these dishes were lost on us. I longed for Hirozen’s <span style="font-style: italic;">unagi</span> after experiencing the cluttered Japanese “taco” of grilled eel, perilla leaf-- an herb more commonly known by its sexier, Japanese name, <span style="font-style: italic;">shiso</span>--cucumber, <span style="font-style: italic;">wasabi</span> and fried pork rind, i.e., <span style="font-style: italic;">chicharrones</span>. A pretty preparation of Japanese eggplant with yogurt, flakes of tuna, and a Japanese stock infused with honey could have been lifted straight from the recipes books of local schlockmeisters Café Sushi or Tengu. The worst offender, a banal serving of tuna ceviche, wrapped into a long sushi-style roll with shaven avocado replacing the seaweed, was sodden from a surfeit of coconut dressing.<br /><br />For Marisa, the Adrià-esque <span style="font-style: italic;">tortilla de patatas</span> “new way,” redeemed what proved to be an unsatisfying meal. A Spanish tortilla prepared the “old way” is “[i]n its most basic form . . . a potato and egg open-faced omelet that derives most of its flavor from olive oil” according to <a href="http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/recipe-of-the-day-spanish-tortilla/">Mark Bittman</a>. It is a ubiquitous comfort food in Spain and often delicious. At Bazaar, Andrés reconfigured the tortilla as an haute French egg, served as an amuse-bouche, albeit ordered <span style="font-style: italic;">a la carte</span>. Bazaar blends potato foam, egg yolk and caramelized onions and serves it cleverly in a trimmed egg shell. The combination was delicious, and its saline, comforting appeal captured the essence of the original. We will return, but not without a reservation.<br /><br />The Bazaar at SLS<br />465 S. La Cienega Blvd.<br />Los Angeles<br />(310) 246-5555<br /><a href="http://www.thebazaar.com/">http://www.thebazaar.com/ </a>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-35777808315645333532009-08-31T20:44:00.001-07:002009-08-31T20:47:35.021-07:00Church & State<span xmlns=""><p>In that God-forsaken cranny of the world between Skid Row and East L.A., just west of an abandoned outdoor sewer with the unfortunate appellation "Los Angeles River," there is a proper French bistro. <a href="http://www.churchandstatebistro.com/">Church & State</a>'s location is as unlikely as that flickering outpost of Gallicism in <em>Apocalypse Now Redux</em> where Captain Willard takes a surreal respite and a few hits of opium. Indeed, the provenance of the restaurant's curious name must lie in the lack of both Church and State in these parts.
<br /></p><p>Walter Manzke presides here, proving that his former employer, Joe Pytka – infamous for his <em>ad infinitum</em> overhauls of Bastide over on Melrose Place – is a complete <em>meshugeneh</em>. Manzke actually prefers to toil for another goof, Steven Arroyo, in this urban netherworld than in Pytka's stunning <a href="http://www.andreeputman.com/">Andrée Putman</a>-designed space. Manzke saves Arroyo from what could have been his worst idea yet, which is to say, even worse than Goat, the former restaurant on La Brea whose lifespan approximated that of a midge and which melted down like Joba Chamberlain on a hot night in Cleveland two summers ago.
<br /></p><p>To the hordes of self-anointed cognoscenti, attracted to what Jonathan Gold <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/2008-10-30/eat-drink/lofty-ideals-bistro-ambitions-at-steve-arroyo-39-s-church-amp-state/">calls</a> – without a whiff of sarcasm – an "art-world restaurant," Church & State's geographic isolation must be among its chief charms. So are the spacious room and its high, post-industrial ceilings, which ably approximate a French brasserie (though with enough hints of purported insouciance so as not to resemble a Keith McNally theme park).
<br /></p><p>Manzke's team executes with ease. On a recent visit, the Santa Barbara spot prawns were impeccably fresh, naturally sweet, and thoroughly irresistible. A light butter sauce brought out their flavor, and the prawns' own pink roe and a smattering of capers provided a modest counterpoint of salinity. The foie gras terrine with port wine gelée was as deliciously rich and creamy as I expected, though it was not lusty in the way that, say, <a href="http://www.bistrojeanty.com/">Bistro Jeanty</a>'s <em>foie blond</em> is. (I admit to bias. Outside of France, there is no better bistro in my book than <a href="http://www.bistrojeanty.com/ourchef.html">Philippe Jeanty</a>'s Yountville outpost.)
<br /></p><p>My lunchtime companions, to their detriment, lacked ample appetites; so per my custom, I took more than my fair share. I salivated over a beautiful <em>croque monsieur</em>, its melted gruyere glistening across the table. I worked an angle and devoured half of it, and while it was very good, the proportions were imperfect due to a surfeit of béchamel. I concluded with a delectable slice of mission fig tart, which had a nice buttery crust; it was a fitting coda to an enjoyable lunch. I intend to return soon, even though the neighborhood is ugly and depressing.</p><p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> 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mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Church & State</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">1850 Industrial Street</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Los Angeles</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">(213) 405-1434</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.churchandstatebistro.com/">www.churchandstatebistro.com</a></p><p></p></span>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-91381890857804073142009-07-15T23:04:00.001-07:002009-07-16T09:06:33.847-07:00Attari Sandwich Shop<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" 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1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Within “Tehrangeles,” the local Iranian diaspora of an estimated <a href="http://rawstory.com/exclusives/orr/tehrangeles_iran_capital_expatriates_812.htm">600,000</a> sprawled across Los Angeles, Westwood’s tiny Attari Sandwich Shop may be its most beloved restaurant.<span style=""> </span>Attari is a gourmand’s retreat that captures the unusual nuances of Persian cuisine and demonstrates that it is right at home in the warm California climes.<span style=""> </span>Moreover, Attari does not invite religious discord, as it is neither obviously halal nor kosher, though it does not offer pork.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >During a recent lunch, I loved their roasted eggplant – the unpronounceable <i style="">kashk-e-bademjan </i>– which was simple and sophisticated, yet utterly exotic. <span style=""> </span>Attari roasts their eggplant in grilled mint oil that, together with the addition of assorted fresh herbs, gives the dish a lush green appearance. <span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>This seemingly simple eggplant dish is unique in that its texture boasts a natural creaminess, and its flavor is pure aubergine, judiciously accentuated by the herbs.<span style=""> </span>Deliciously crispy caramelized onions and dollops of yogurt-like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashk"><i style="">kashk</i></a>, or fermented whey, provide the requisite balance.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >I also enjoyed the <i style="">sosis bandari</i>, essentially a cut-up hot dog sandwich studded with small chunks of potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce.<span style=""> </span>Based on its etymology, it would seem to have roots in the southern city of Bandar ʿAbbās, whose denizens speak the dialect <a href="http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/unicode/sup/Bandari.html">Bandari</a>.<span style=""> </span>The sosis bears a close resemblance to my Bubby’s weiner goulash, my favorite stew from childhood.<span style=""> </span>Since a lifelong Clevelander’s channeling of ancestral Vienna should have nothing in common with an Iranian standard, maybe there is a historical link between the two.<span style=""> </span>Or could the similarity be proof of the Jewish <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/271uktmd.asp?pg=1">conspiracy</a> to defeat the Islamic Republic by stealing its culinary heritage? <span style=""> </span>Shall I blame <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gahf_aIfDURFyBHNcvN69YxTD0nQ">Britain</a>? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >As much as I posture about not travelling west of Doheny, I freely confess that a lunch at Attari followed by an espresso at <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/02/euro-caff.html">Euro </a></span><a 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mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:";font-size:11;" >Caffé</span></a><span style=";font-family:";" ><a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/02/euro-caff.html"></a></span><span style=";font-family:";" >, which is a mere block from Rodeo Drive, makes for a perfectly pleasant afternoon. (Hypocrisy is underrated.) I’ll be back soon for the tongue and brain. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=";font-family:";" >Attari Sandwich Shop<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=";font-family:";" >1388 Westwood Blvd.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=";font-family:";" >Westwood<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=";font-family:";" >(310) 441-5488<o:p></o:p></span></p> Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-52663449721293261762009-06-24T22:54:00.000-07:002009-07-02T08:14:08.816-07:00LudoBitesFormer<span style="font-style: italic;"> enfant terrible</span> chef Ludovic “Ludo” Lefebre has set forth an extremely difficult endeavor: To forge a cuisine in the spirit of his mentor, the legendary avant gardist, <a href="http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/">Pierre Gagnaire</a>, whose deft blending of unlikely flavors and ingredients have elevated him to the zenith of Parisian culinary culture. Erratic execution bedevils <a href="http://www.ludolefebvre.com/ludo-bites/">LudoBites</a>, the restaurant Ludo has set up for the summer at Breadbar. Moreover, Ludo’s conceptual flights of fancy conceal his considerable technical abilities. As a consequence, our raucous party enjoyed some truly delicious Ludo “bites,” while also enduring a miasma of misfires.<br /><br />I became concerned when our first course—a poached egg served on toast with bacon and <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/search?query=mornay&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit">Mornay</a> sauce, i.e., béchamel and cheese—revealed itself as bland, closer in flavor to a special from Norm’s than to the <span style="font-style: italic;">oeuf</span> dishes served in Parisian temples of <span style="font-style: italic;">haute cuisine</span>. We progressed to an incoherent take on miso soup, which included chunks of foie gras, plus rhubarb, hibiscus, and beets. This dish seemed designed to present foie gras in the unlikely context of a soup, but it failed as a summation of all its components. While the foie’s pillowy texture was a clear benefit of its bath in the broth, the beets and hibiscus were indiscernible amidst the salinity, and the broth itself was pedestrian.<br /><br />The beef tartare posed a different set of problems. Texturally, the beef was rich and succulent and should have been the best dish of the night. But Ludo emasculated the beef with so much black pepper that I tasted little else. Then, to exacerbate matters, he topped the beef with a giant stalk of white asparagus that added one more layer of cacophony to the plate. He redeemed the dish with a single act of genius: He decorated it with large, briny anchovies that were luxuriously good, perhaps the best I have ever had. The anchovies transported me to the Mediterranean coast, if only for an instant, and I could have made a meal of them alone. To my great disappointment, the gregarious, transplanted Texan sitting next to me also liked them, so I could not steal her portion despite my furtive casing of her plate.<br /><br />Ludo also knows how to sauté a scallop. His divers were plump and delicious. I did not bother with the accompanying curry-yogurt sauce or spinach, because the scallops were too good to be adorned with anything. I also enjoyed the nuanced richness of Ludo’s creamy polenta with its cantal and tender tail of beef lurking at the bottom of the crock. In addition, L.A. blogdom’s consensus that Ludo can fry a chicken is, for once, correct.<br /><br />On the other hand, the shrimp in a “sweet and sour emulsion” was a disappointment. The unsightly emulsion resembled the nasal outpourings of a very sick Cyrano de Bergerac, and it did not taste much better. The veal sweetbreads with foie gras, pear, and a liquid choucroute could have been great—that is, if the sweetbreads had not been overcooked. (To be fair, Ludo was not far off the mark, and I am confident he usually does much better.) The cod, which had attractive red contours owing to its spicy butter, was slimy and utterly inedible. The kitchen simply phoned it in.<br /><br />All three desserts were bad; one of them, the odious combination of chocolate mousse and jalapeno, molested my tongue into submission, ending my night. (A simple cheese plate would have sufficed.) Although Ludo offers dessert, his heart and mind certainly lie elsewhere.<br /><br />Ludo attempts to navigate a lengthy menu, put his stamp on the entire meal, and befriend his customers in the process. Alas, he does not convince in a single course. At this point, the aspirations are too high, and Pierre Gagnaire remains <span style="font-style: italic;">sui generis</span>. (Our lunch at PG’s eponymous restaurant during our honeymoon remains a high point and one of my fondest memories.) For this type of restaurant, Ludo may find more success with a tightly edited menu with dishes that are demonstrable theorems, not hypotheses undergoing constant experimentation. As a devoted Francophile, I truly want Ludo to succeed. I appreciate his spirit of adventure, and I do like this style of food very much. But it is a high-wire act, and he is not there yet.<br /><br />LudoBites at Breadbar<br />8718 West Third Street<br />Los Angeles<br />(310) 205-0124<br />www.ludolefebvre.com/ludo-bites/Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-13364096333201936692009-06-19T15:45:00.000-07:002009-06-20T10:06:04.044-07:00Beverly Soon Tofu<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" 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Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">I am helpless against the addictive power of <i style="">gochujang</i> , that fiery, fermented <span style="">chili paste that is an essential element of Korean cuisine.<span style=""> </span>Accordingly, we recently visited </span>Beverly Soon Tofu, a local standard- bearer in the hitherto unknown (to us) world of <i style="">soondubu jigae,</i> the beloved red stew, catalyzed by the chili paste and filled with uncurdled tofu and sundry other tasty vittles.<span style=""> </span><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Located in the <i style="">de rigueur</i> anonymous strip mall in K-town, BST’s English signage curiously reads Beverly Tofu House.<span style=""> </span>Once inside, BST charmingly attempts to conceal its Olympic and Vermont location by decorating its walls with wood-like cut-outs that attempt to evoke some mythical, tropical Korean idyll. (Instead, they just reconfirm the awesomeness that is the Town of K.)<span style=""> </span>The tables take the form of bisected tree trunks, and the backless seats are ersatz stumps. The illusion is broken only by the massive posters advertising Bokbunjajoo Raspberry Wine and what I will only assume is the deliciousness of its fashionably Alize-esque flavors.<span style=""> </span><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The food, unlike the design, is serious business, as is the demeanor of its presiding grandmotherly practitioner. <span style=""> </span>(Miss Bird took a particularly liking to her, giggling gleefully in her Graco as the old woman loudly tore sheets of plastic bags from a giant roll.<span style=""> </span>Was it the sound that tickled our baby’s fancy?<span style=""> </span>Or was it little Miss Bird’s knowledge that this woman knew the score?) <span style=""> </span>Our meal began with an assortment of carefully prepared and delicious small plates, the <i style="">banchan</i>.<span style=""> </span>I enjoyed all of them, but two were standouts.<span style=""> </span>The kitchen gave each of us an amuse-bouche of silky, sliced coins of white tofu perched in a bowl of delicate soy/sesame oil sauce, and strewn with finely chopped green onions and grated dry seaweed. <span style=""> </span>This beautiful and sophisticated creation, neither spicy nor sweet, had an airy effect that set the stage for the more vivid flavors to come.<span style=""> </span>Texturally, it was a little slice of heaven, the tofu melting softly on our tongues.<span style=""> </span>I also was quite taken with the <span style="">kimchi of </span>cubed daikon radish and its sweet, tangy chili sauce; the complexity of the spicy sauce’s flavors elevated this tiny dish of kimchi beyond the realm of simple comfort food. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But we were here for the stew, and I am pleased to report that this majestically red and hearty creation had an addictively robust flavor.<span style=""> </span>I especially liked the iteration with kimchi and beef (though I did not care for the oysters, which were slimy and vile).<span style=""> </span>It’s hard to ignore that the mild-mannered, but dependable tofu it is a worthy counterpoint to its friend, the <i style="">soondubu</i> – the Ackroyd to the stew’s Belushi, if you will.<span style=""> </span>Upon serving the sizzling bowls of stew, the server cracks a raw egg into the teeming melange; however, I found that the additional fat slightly undermined the dish’s austere appeal.<span style=""> </span>Marisa, befitting her sagacity, was grossed out by it, and therefore smartly declined the egg.<span style=""> </span>I also enjoyed our accompanying platter of sautéed spicy squid, which, lo and behold, was served in a spicy chili sauce with some onions.<span style=""> </span>The dinner was such a hit that we visited BST twice in three days – once on “date night” and again a few days later with Miss Bird.<span style=""> </span>We can’t wait to go back.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Beverly Soon Tofu Restaurant</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">2717 W. Olympic Blvd.
<br />Koreatown</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">(213) 380-1113 </p> Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07947794628084060042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-41303269524457407292009-05-28T22:25:00.000-07:002009-07-02T08:17:13.582-07:00Hey, Umami Burger, I want my calories back.<span style="font-style: italic;">Marisa, a little over one month ago:</span><br /><br />Getting ready for our first trip east with the Belle, we decided that Steve would pick up a quick lunch for us. For the last two weeks, I've been feeding the family a steady diet (as Steve would say, emphasis on "diet") of fresh fish and very, very fresh farmers market produce. (N.B., if you live in Southern California, get thee to a farm stand tout de suite and stock up IMMEDIATELY on fresh asparagus, Harry's Berries strawberries, and some purple ass potatoes. They're all, like, negligible points and beaucoup de delish.) Anyway, we keep hearing about this damn Umami Burger -- from such varied sources as people on Facebook and noted Brentwood potheads. If those bastards know a burger joint in our 'hood before we do, then clearly something strange is afoot at the Circle K. So I dispatched my man-servant to South La Brea while I changed the bird's fifteenth soiled diaper of the day. He returned with burgers, fries, onion rings, and sweet potato chips. The minute they hit the counter in our kitchen, I felt the need to reach for a mop and a bucket o' Lipitor. The waxed paper containing these items could not contain the oil slick within.<br /><br />Steve and I bit into our burgers with the glee of exhausted new parents who forgot to eat breakfast (oh, wait, that's exactly what we are). I had the So Cal burger (Umami Burger's riff on a basic cheeseburger), while Steve smacked down on a Port Stilton. As we recoiled from our first bites, we looked at each other, perplexed. "Do we like this?" we kept asking ourselves as we ate our lunch, occasionally swapping burgers in the interest of science. Hours later, with the overwhelming fifth taste haunting me with a shimmer of nausea, I think it's safe to say the answer is no.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Steve, present day:</span><br /><br />The Umami experience was so traumatic for the Primipara that she cannot countenance eating another hamburger, let alone finishing this blog. Now Marisa is a burger girl at heart and has always loved herself some In-N- Out and Carney’s. So for her to desist from eating burgers, for more than a month after the Umami debacle, is a testament to how bad the place is. Of course, this has made my life difficult, because I do enjoy a burger and have been really into<a href="http://www.8ozburgerbar.com/"> 8 Oz. </a>lately. But the Umami burger was so repugnant that Marisa’s seemingly rash response is, in fact, quite reasonable.<br /><br />Umami Burger wants to impart the so-called fifth taste into its hamburgers. The question of what “umami” actually is remains outstanding and perplexing. Harris Salat, writing in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/dining/15dashi.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=umami&st=cse"><span style="font-style: italic;">Times</span></a>, tersely defined umami as “the taste of mouthwatering savoriness.” But this definition is less than helpful, since savoriness, even intense, “mouthwatering” savoriness, would seem to have a home in one of the four other “tastes.” (This taste classification system feels as crude as the five Classical elements.) The umami inquiry veers off into peculiarity because of the <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.umamiinfo.com/what_is_umami?/what_is_umami?/the_discovery_of_umami/">allegation</a> that the fifth taste was somehow discovered in 1908 by Japanese scientist Dr. Kikunae Ikeda. I would not expect a particular sensory experience to be a candidate for discovery, like some rare species on the Galapagos or an esoteric element with a minuscule half-life on the frontier of the periodic table.<br /><br />Perhaps Dr. Ikeda actually identified the chemical composition of the so-called umami flavor such that when a given food consists of at least these chemicals, it has the umami flavor. Along these lines, the <a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="http://www.umamiinfo.com/">Umami Information Center</a>, a marketing group, <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.umamiinfo.com/what_exactly_is_umami?/">defines</a> the fifth taste as a “pleasant savoury taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products.” I’ll concede that salty foods include NaCl, just as--I have long (and geekily) joked-- organic foods contain carbon. But the Center’s description of umami as having glutamate (such as MSG, which Dr. Ikeda <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.jpo.go.jp/seido_e/rekishi_e/kikunae_ikeda.htm">invented</a>) and ribonucleotides is too clinical for me. (I’ll concede that a technical definition of umami may be warranted, but it vitiates the romance associated with food.) As a result, describing umami to non-chemists may be akin to Potter Stewart’s famous legal <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=378&invol=184">definition</a> of pornography: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . [b]ut I know it when I see it . . .”<br /><br />If umami can naturally occur in meat, it certainly does not do so in the Umami burger. Accordingly, the chef <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/2009-03-12/eat-drink/the-fifth-element">saw</a> fit to use <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/entry?id=4873">tamari</a> sauce, which is a thicker version of soy sauce (itself a flavor-emasculating grotesquerie) and anchovies, normally one my favorite fishes to eat. But it is a mystery, on a <a href="http://www.lynchnet.com/lh/lhpremiere.html">Lynchian</a> scale, why anyone would mix a very astringent soy sauce and loads of anchovies with quality ground <a href="http://www.gourmet.com/restaurants/2009/04/restaurants-now-umami-burger">flap meat</a>, as if it were some perverse East-Meets-West version of Hamburger Helper. Thanks to Umami Burger, my wife may never want to go out for burgers again.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Note:</span><br /><br />The wife was so totally disgusted by Umami Burger that she refused to finish her blog AND took forever to edit my own portion of this entry. As a result, we were scooped by our homie TC at <a style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" href="http://sinosoul.com/?p=2223">Sinosoul</a>. Not only did Umami Burger ruin our lunch, its mere existence silenced our blog for far too long. Umami Burger, you can suck it.<br /><br />Umami Burger<br />850 S. La Brea Ave.<br />Los Angeles<br />(323) 931-3000<br /><a href="http://www.umamiburger.com/">www.umamiburger.com</a>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-30427094079759742162009-05-07T11:07:00.000-07:002009-05-07T15:19:56.089-07:00Don't Hock at Lu Gi: A Tyro’s Guide to Hot PotI have long struggled with Chinese food, the only national cuisine to which I took a visceral disliking. My opinion changed after experiencing the spicy complexities of <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/06/real-chung-king-j-golds-redemption.html">Chung King</a>, but I’ve never been taken by any other Chinese restaurant. So I cannot dismiss Chinese food altogether, and the San Gabriel Valley’s rich dining scene is just too alluring. Still, it can be so inaccessible, and virtually every one of our adventures in the SGV has been met with failure. (Thanks, J Gold.) As it turns out, all I need is a guide. (Not J Gold.)<br /><br />Ergo, we met <a href="http://sinosoul.com/">SinoSoul</a> and his fiancée, Hayon, at Lu Gi, a Taiwanese hot pot joint in San Gabriel. When we sat down at our cramped booth, I was totally overwhelmed. There was a bifurcated cauldron of two broths cooking on the table-top burner, one glowering with all of its dark redness and another more docile looking one, tranquil and clear. Lu Gi, according to SinoSoul’s footnotes, does not have a “ma la” pot, which I understand is <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/hotpot">exceedingly</a> spicy. Lu Gi offers only a “la” pot. The white broth, the <span style="font-style: italic;">yuānyāng</span>, was decidedly un-medicinal relative to Sichuan hot pot.<br /><br />There was an array of ingredients on the table: platters of thin slices of raw beef and raw lamb; a tower of quivering tripe; assorted mushrooms, tofu, and taro; various dumplings made of squid, shrimp, and K-crab; squid noodles which somehow replicated the shape and texture of calamari; long, grassy noodles; leafy greens, including those from a <a href="http://eatingla.blogspot.com/2009/03/alhambra-farmers-market-stands-in-for.html">chrysanthemum</a>; and finally, a fish cake, a supposed specialty of the house. After surveying the table, I realized that these items would be going into the broths. There was also a delightfully garlicky seaweed salad with a spicy kick for everyone to nosh on.<br /><br />As for the hot-potting procedure, Tony C. explained that we were to take our small bowls over to the salsa bar of debatable hygiene, mix in a few sauces, add a pinch of some satay sauce, sesame oil and soy sauce and then start loading up on all the good stuff boiling in the broths. If there is an art to the hot pot, I did not master it. But I did manage to make quite a mess. We ate for over two hours and had a great time doing it. But with my inelegant blending of all the sauces and inability to maintain the segregation of the two broths, I couldn’t really discern anything from any other, with one exception. I really liked the fish cake, which pre-boiling was a gray shapeless mass of fish paste with corn starch and whatever else. The only thing it resembled, if remotely, was truly gelatinous gefilte fish. Tony C. broke the mass into smaller pieces and boiled them in the two broths. I was taken with its inherent fishiness; underneath the multiple layers of clashing sauces and broths, I could somehow still taste the sea in it. Granted the volumes of MSG in the spicy broth helped elicit this effect. But maybe what I tasted was that <span style="font-style: italic;">umami</span> thing that is <a href="http://umamiburger.com/">infecting</a> hamburgers on La Brea. In any event, two hours of chazering this stuff kept us up all night, chugging from the large, cold bottles of water the ESP had the foresight to place at our bedside. While Lu Gi was absolutely terrific in the moment, I’m not sure I’ll return soon. But I will absolutely return to the SGV with SinoSoul for some more fressing.<br /><br />Lu Gi<br />539 W. Valley Blvd.<br />San Gabriel<br />(626) 457-5111Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-72692170905236457362009-05-02T09:41:00.001-07:002009-05-02T14:34:58.126-07:00The Tricky Subject of American Pizza<span xmlns=""><p>A case can be made that the best pizza in Los Angeles is the unlikely creation of a Jewish woman dedicated to Italian cuisine. Her restaurant is located on a stretch of Melrose Avenue best known for its retail shops specializing in teeny-bopper fashion, drug paraphernalia, and second-hand apparel. I'm talking, of course, about Evan Kleiman's 25 year-old <a href="http://www.angelicaffe.com/">Angeli Caffe</a>. Kleiman is a pioneer in what was once known as "Cal-Ital" cuisine, which is essentially the marriage of Italian food and California produce. In Angeli's case, the "Ital" is both traditional Italian and Red Sauce cuisine, and the "Cal" includes a penchant both for great, locally sourced produce and a sliver – just a tiny, tiny sliver – of the California loopiness ridiculed in <span style="font-style: italic;">Annie Hall</span>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHRBLvSq3qE"></a>
<br /></p><p>Angeli Caffe reminds me of Donald Fagen's uber-Eighties <a href="http://donaldfagen.com/disc_nightfly.php"><em>Nightfly</em></a> album: at first, the menu and the room feel dated, but upon reflection, it is evident that Angeli is a gem. For example, the menu includes dishes such as fried calamari, spaghetti <em>aglio e olio</em>, spaghetti <em>burro e parmigiana</em> – all classics, but currently (and unjustly) unfashionable in Los Angeles. Then there's the dilemma of the ridiculous, <a href="http://www.seinology.com/scripts/script-88.shtml">Benes-esque</a> "Insalata Californiana" in which <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" >Woody would get his sprouts</span> (though not any <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHRBLvSq3qE">mashed yeast</a>). Nevertheless, Angeli exudes hominess in part due to its genuine, hospitable staff, but also because it possesses a muted stylishness that recalls the Italian trattorias of New York, if not Italy itself. Thus, Angeli has aged gracefully. I was only mildly surprised to learn that Thom Mayne's inimitable architecture firm <a href="http://www.morphosis.com/">Morphosis</a> designed the <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/great-american-architecture/">place</a>.
<br /></p><p>Angeli's particular genius is its bread. The small spherical loaf has a soft interior and crusty exterior that is at once rich-tasting and austere. When sliced horizontally, the loaf is put to good use with the <em>panino grosso</em>;<em> </em>with its Italian meats, cheeses, marinated onions and roasted peppers, this artery-clogging boat of deliciousness is an excellent riff on the Italian sub. But the dough, with all of its taste and texture, is put to much more productive use in Angeli's pizza. Lately I've been alternating between the workaday <em>margherita</em>, the basic mozzarella cheese pizza, and the spicier and more interesting <em>puttanesca</em>, which is tomato sauce-driven, gently accentuated by shards of black olives, red pepper, anchovy, garlic, and capers, though no cheese. On a few recent occasions, we've also ordered their utterly delicious pizza with pepperoni and caramelized onion. With its basic tomato sauce, Angeli has the chops to be a great Red Sauce joint. This sauce has a pleasant sweetness and textural plumpness that makes it a joy to eat with ravioli or even vegetarian lasagna. (If I had to be vegetarian, but wasn't allowed to kill myself, I could survive well on a diet of Angeli's vegetarian offerings. I'll go so far as to say their meatless Lasagna Angeli is superior to their Bolognese version.) At this moment in time, I'm compelled to order dinner from there at least once a week, so it's a good thing that prices are quite reasonable. The wife wants me to point out that they also make a decidedly solid Caesar salad, thereby disproving my theory that such a salad should not be ordered in an <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/02/osteria-la-buca-2-electric-boogaloo.html">L.A. Italian restaurant</a>. <span style="color:yellow;"></span>This week, I was especially delighted to learn that Angeli also makes a mean chocolate chip cookie. (To our devoted Tribeca readership, I apologize. I started going to Angeli a few weeks after your visit. A certain small red-headed Red Sox fan and his parents may have enjoyed Angeli more than a La Brea Avenue competitor.)
<br /></p><p>Invigorated by my discovery of great local pizza, I decided to take my show on the road and revisit some old favorites in the Cleve. (If nothing else, our recent Passover visit to the Cleve provided me with an excellent opportunity to throw my people's daffy dietary dogma about dough to the wind.) So for a pre-Seder nosh (oh, suck it, my fellow Jews), I ordered a large pepperoni pizza from Geraci's, the beloved University Heights institution, which opened in 1955. (For you investment bankers out there, Geraci's is in its 54th year of operations.)
<br /></p><p>Geraci's is an old-school red sauce joint, famous for the thickly sliced, charred pepperoni that adorn its pizza. This type of food, basic and sentimental, never truly found a home in L.A., which is all more the reason that it was my first stop in Cleveland. What I found was tasty, but hardly a revelation. Those pepperoni were as good as ever, but the surfeit of melted cheese and oily, spongy dough overwhelmed the sauce, diminishing the pie's overall quality. (Still, I ate half of it before Seder and snuck into the kitchen for another few slices during Seder.)
<br /></p><p>H-Bomb and J-Wy of the West Village, who graciously flew to the Cleve to meet the Fress's most recent collaboration, accompanied us to Justin's and my longtime favorite, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.prestisbakery.com">Presti's Bakery</a>, in caricatural Little Italy – "on the Hill," as they say. Presti's is famous for its pizza. They also used to be famous for late-night doughnuts, but they went out of business shortly after I left Cleveland. (Connect the dots as you will.)
<br /></p><p>As the legend goes, Rose and Charles Presti Sr. opened Presti's Bakery in 1903 using recipes that were codified on the family's journey by boat from Sicily to America. The bakery moved around and, by 1943, settled into a tiny storefront on Mayfield Road on the east side of Cleveland. In 1999, Presti's moved out of the old storefront and into a modern, antiseptic café on the same block. All of a sudden, Presti's had this expansive space with a massive kitchen and plentiful seating. With a lot more money at stake, the dictatrix who ran the joint was relegated to the back, and customer service became the province of middle-aged moms and even a nose-ringed <a href="http://cia.edu/">CIA</a> student or two. Presti's offerings naturally expanded, though without the benefit of those mythical Sicilian recipes. For example, on this particular visit, I observed a croissant, sliced horizontally, with a slice of desiccating melted American cheese inserted in the middle. Somehow I don't think this creation is central to the Sicilian tradition.
<br /></p><p>During my formative years, Presti's sold loaves of bread, slices of pizza, and little else of note out of this storefront. The presiding figure was a short, slender elderly woman with Mussolini's temperament. She brooked no dissent and wasn't exactly giving the customers a hearty welcome. I once saw her threaten a rowdy toddler with a rolling pin. This utter charmlessness was her charm, and she neither noticed nor cared that we found her antics entertaining. We'd order a few slices, perhaps a stromboli, and when weather permitted, sit on the rough-hewn wooden bench out front. Then we'd enjoy our pizza while watching the neighborhood drama. The stage was set by the large storefront across the street whose unavoidable sign read "Brotherhood Loan Company." Such a blatant disregard for contemporary mores and laws against loansharking was just priceless. J-Wy and I would watch the locals do their best to act like Scorsesean wiseguys. My favorite was the gentleman wearing the black satin baseball jacket emblazoned with <em>Giorno Di Paga</em> on the back. I also particularly enjoyed a debate between two goombas about whether Phoenix was in Colorado or Arizona. (In my mind, the argument has yet to be resolved.)
<br /></p><p>During our Passover visit, J-Wy and I returned with our ladies for our beloved pizza. Presti's sells a handful of varieties, but I'd be unable to name a single one other than the cheese. (Though I will admit to a dalliance with the artichoke pizza around 15 years ago, and would place a small wager that that artichoke pizza is still served daily.) For the record, the pizza is kept at room temperature in large rectangular sheets and is cut into rectangular slices. The pizza is better when it is still hot from the oven, but I never mastered the timing necessary to get it. Suffice it to say, it's well before lunch time. Presti's sadly dispensed with its fascistic tendencies when it moved, and now it even asks customers if they want their pizza warmed in a microwave. Not only is this practice pathetic, but the staff never warns that a microwave would only vitiate the dough's texture. They might as well ask people if they want mayonnaise on their pizza (or anything else for that matter.)
<br /></p><p>Presti's cheese pizza is of historical interest because it provides a link, however legendary, to 19th century Sicily. But its enduring greatness owes to its kaleidoscopic unpredictability. The thin-crusted dough is delicious, but it varies in taste depending on what section of the sheet it is coming from. On the rectangle's periphery, the dough is crusty and has a more pronounced crunch, while the interior slices are much softer. The tomato sauce varies along the spectrum of sweetness and spiciness, but it is always delicious. It could be cigarette ashes that provide the occasional bite. The quantity and configuration of the mozzarella cheese also varies; it can cover most a given slice, or sometimes just a small portion of it. The most flavorful slices are always the middle slices, which have no crust whatsoever. Somehow they have a little more sauce and absorb a little more olive oil. They're definitely heavier than the peripheral slices and infinitely more delicious.<sub>
<br /> </sub></p><p>Presti's pizza represents a Spartan style, suitable only as cheese pizza for a tiny bakery. No restaurant could serve it and hope to pay the rent for more than a few months, which is why today's Presti's offers such a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/magazine/26wwln-safire-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=gallimaufry&st=cse">gallimaufry</a> of comestibles. That said, it's easy to see how Geraci's with its pizza pies became popular when I was growing up. Geraci's pizza is much more accessible and can adapt to any number of toppings, which is what most people want. It's like Domino's, except that it's good. Still, as I contemplate the evolution of American pizza, it seems as though something was lost in pizza's journey from a traditional Italian staple to an American ubiquity. Thankfully, Evan Kleiman reinvigorated the genre back in 1984. Her pizzas share a lineage with Presti's because of their mutual emphasis on quality dough, and the purity and simplicity of traditional flavors. But Kleiman is not tethered to the distant past. Twenty-five years after opening, Angeli Caffe continues to make a consistently revelatory pie. In a neighborhood that boasts Nancy Silverton's über-hyped – and admittedly delicious – Pizzeria Mozza, Angeli makes the only LA pizza that I actually crave.</p><p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:relyonvml/> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> 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font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-unhide:no; color:blue; mso-themecolor:hyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} span.body12 {mso-style-name:body12; mso-style-unhide:no;} span.street-address {mso-style-name:street-address; mso-style-unhide:no;} span.locality {mso-style-name:locality; mso-style-unhide:no;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12">Angeli Caffe<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12">7274 Melrose Ave.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12">Los Angeles<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12">(323) 936-9086<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.angelicaffe.com/">www.angelicaffe.com</a><span class="body12"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12">Geraci’s Restaurant<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="street-address">2266 Warrensville Center Rd.</span>
<br /><span class="locality">University Heights</span><span class="body12"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">(216) 371-5643</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12">Presti’s Bakery<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12">12101 Mayfield Rd.
<br />Little Italy<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span class="body12">(216) 421-3060<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.prestisbakery.com/">www.prestisbakery.com</a><span class="body12"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p></p>
<br /></span>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-41547968004147969062009-03-29T20:49:00.001-07:002009-03-30T10:05:57.799-07:00Chicago: Gregg's Barnyard TourVisiting family in Chicago, I gave my savvy brother marching orders to plot a day of eating in his adopted city. He wanted to tour the south side and eat every animal found in a Midwestern barnyard. But living in a hot dog-deprived portion of the country, I insisted on returning first to Hot Doug’s, the kitschy hot dog joint famous for defying Chicago’s now discarded ban on foie gras. However, the <a href="http://www.hotdougs.com/">Hot Doug’s</a> that I encountered was effectively closed until further notice while it attempted to feed Chicago’s massive population of hipsters who became acquainted with Doug Sohn’s hot dog funhouse only after watching the recent Tony Bourdain <a href="http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/ci.No_Reservations_in_Chicago.show?vgnextfmt=show">excursion</a> to Chicago. (In the Department of Irony, I find it hugely entertaining that a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker had to instruct the Second City hipsters about where to get a quality Chicago hot dog.) Despite my two pre-noon attempts to go to Hot Doug’s, the hordes of mustachioed, bespectacled Caucasians waiting for hours in single-digit weather for a hot dog prevented a visit.<br /><br />On the bright side, I was spared the indignity of paying $7.50 for such a Wonka-esque creation as “a mandarin orange and teriyaki chicken sausage with chili-garlic mustard and <a href="http://elegantfoods.net/brands/1304-valfrais">valfrais</a> chili-paprika cheese.” Or $4.50 for the so-called “Cinci Dog,” which consists of a quarter-pound hot dog with yellow mustard, Cincinnati Skyline Chili, and what I can only imagine must be a blizzard of grated cheddar cheese. As any Clevelander knows, it is an absolute blasphemy to spread yellow mustard on a hot dog, which is nearly as revolting as putting ketchup on a frankfurter. (A hot dog, preferably from <a href="http://www.milesfarmersmarket.com/">Miles Farmers Market</a>, is perfected by <a href="http://www.mustardmuseum.com/product/185/26">Bertman’s Ball Park Mustard</a> and sauerkraut.) Speaking of Anthony Bourdain’s <a href="http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/ci.Cleveland.show?vgnextfmt=show">No Reservations</a>, there is a reason that <a href="http://blog.ruhlman.com/">Ruhlman</a> turned up his nose at the doubly repulsive outpost of Skyline Chili on Mayfield Road in the Cleveland episode. (Skyline never caught on in the Cleve, as Clevelanders have extremely refined palates, for Ohioans. Perhaps this is one reason why my very wise former supervisor at the <a href="http://prosecutor.cuyahogacounty.us/">CCPO</a> used to say he lived in the State of Cuyahoga, which tactic has the added benefit of shielding the personal shame of being otherwise associated with the dullardry formally known as Ohio State University.) How Cincinnati “chili” turned up at Hot Doug’s cannot be explained on culinary grounds and remains an enduring mystery. As it were, my quest for a hot dog would be postponed until a visit to the <a href="http://chicago.citysearch.com/profile/3677757/chicago_il/the_wiener_s_circle.html">Weiner Circle</a> the following afternoon where I enjoyed a most succulent chardog in the company of a few noisome men lacking adequate shelter, yet preternaturally skilled at the art of self-conversation. That is why Weiner Circle might be the most solid place in Chicago. Ok, onward.<br /><br />So we began our day with some appetizings at <a href="http://www.calumetfisheries.com/">Calumet Fisheries</a>, another Bourdain selection that is so deep in the Chicago sprawl that it is somehow closer to Gary, Indiana, than it is to Wrigley Field, such is the size of the City of Chicago. Located in a dreary shack on top of the Calumet River, Calumet Fisheries is a traditional smokehouse no different than those famed temples of barbeque in Texas, except that Calumet focuses on shrimp, salmon, and trout; and it has no seating. The smoked fish and shrimp, which were served in their shells, were a revelation for their rusticity and the history they represent. In the bygone era of U.S. supremacy in the steel industry, Calumet’s customer base consisted of local mill workers of Eastern European stock who had an affinity for smoked fish. Decades later, it is self-evident how Calumet’s straight-ahead style of smoked fish would be hearty enough to satisfy even a non-unionized steel worker on lunch break. The fish and shrimp have a robust smokiness and an appealing rugged texture. This is food that should be eaten with the hands, just like the beef and pork at <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2008/07/hill-country-day-two.html">Kreuz’s Market</a>. Russ’s daughters would find Calumet completely foreign. The dozen or so deep fried offerings should be avoided, however.<br /><br />We moved on to another traditionalist, Birrieria Zaragoza, an establishment that shows how much Chicago has changed in recent decades. (It is located on Pulaski Road, a major thoroughfare; if the road were to be renamed today, my hunch is that any new name’s ending vowel would be an “a” or an “o.”) Zaragoza is a lunch counter that serves only <span style="font-style: italic;">birria tatemada</span>, a specialty from the owner’s hometown of La Barca in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The Zaragoza family’s warmth and painstaking devotion to the preparation of (and for the gringos, an education on) <span style="font-style: italic;">birria</span> make the counter a perfect place to watch and converse. <span style="font-style: italic;">Birria tatemada</span>, as conceived by Juan Zaragoza, is young goat slowly steamed for up to six hours. (According to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Chicago Reader’s</span> <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/restaurants/080717/">Mike Sula</a>, Mr. Zaragoza is searching for a wood-burning oven for this stage of the process, which will allow him to incorporate red oak and agave leaves and thus remain more closely yoked to tradition.) Then Zaragoza applies a <span style="font-style: italic;">mole</span> sauce that he makes from ancho chiles, which are effectively dried poblanos. Finally, the goat is roasted in the oven. The Zaragozas serve the goat with a tomato-based consommé that is made <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/restaurants/080717/">without</a> goat drippings and, of course, with the <span style="font-style: italic;">de rigueur</span> homemade tortillas and salsa, as well as toasted chiles for anyone desiring extra heat.<br /><br />Despite my brother’s noble efforts, I’ll never be a convert to the pleasures of eating goat. But I will admit that Zaragoza’s <span style="font-style: italic;">tatemada</span> was enjoyable and much less gamy than the goat platter served at fellow Jalisciense <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/04/of-tacos-and-cupcakes.html">El Parian</a>, whose once legendary <span style="font-style: italic;">tacos de carne asada</span> have faded into mediocrity in recent years. In fact, it could be argued that Zaragoza’s <span style="font-style: italic;">birria</span> was downright mild and needed the toasted chiles, especially since the <span style="font-style: italic;">mole</span> rub was imperceptible. Nevertheless, Birrieria Zaragoza is a local gem because of the lovely family that runs it and their unwavering dedication to the traditional preparation of one item from the small town of La Barca. While authenticity as a culinary concept is either bereft of meaning or unhelpful in light of its strict constructionist overtones, integrity is crucial, and Birrieria Zaragoza is certainly its winsome votary.<br /><br />We eventually found our way to central Chicago, the home of restaurateur Paul Kahan’s ambitious project, <a href="http://www.thepublicanrestaurant.com/">The Publican</a>. Kahan developed his reputation in Chicago with <span style="font-style: italic;">haute</span> Blackbird and, later on, <span style="font-style: italic;">avec</span> Avec, which offers a hodgepodge of small plates inspired by several northern Mediterranean nations. Kahan is a ballsy and shameless fellow, very clever and a terrific operator. With Publican, he opened up the equivalent of a tragically hip banquet hall, appropriating dominant trends circulating through West Coast and East Coast restaurant circles in the process. Kahan understands what well-heeled Chicago diners want, which is either to be legitimately challenged, or, I speculate, to be in a restaurant that has all the trappings of sophistication. Famed New York chef <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/02/separate-at-birth-2-mario-batali-and.html">Mario Batali</a> has of course popularized the consumption of offal, and it is can be seen in some, albeit geeky, circles as a badge of honor to eat, e.g., <span style="font-style: italic;">guanciale</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">cabeza,</span> or sweetbreads. Kahan understands this trend, almost flauntingly so; on his menu’s list of cooked meats, veal brain, beef heart, and pork belly appear first. If you’re wondering, the chicken is the list’s penultimate item.<br /><br />Kahan also steals from the best restaurant on the West Coast (and the country), namely <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2008/08/kindred-spirits-four-decades-of-chez.html">Chez Panisse</a>. Accordingly, Kahan understands that restaurant patrons today want to know the source of dishes’ primary ingredients with the understanding that they are farm-fresh, so to speak -- even in the depths of a nasty, brutish, but not-so-short Chicago winter. As a consequence, Publican’s menu is littered with footnotes and citations, including farm name and location. If I wanted to re-read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jest-David-Foster-Wallace/dp/0316921173">Infinite Jest</a>, I would have stayed home, for four months. Of course Publican succumbs, like <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2009/03/gjelina-los-angeless-hottest.html">Gjelina</a> before it, to the bizarrely irresistible temptation to employ communal seating.<br /><br />But what of the food? As in any restaurant with a large menu of small plates, there were a few hits and a few misses. Overall the execution was solid, if sterile. I adored the Monterey sardines, which were roasted in olive oil and served with kumquats and celery. The sardines were plump and delicious, and I could tell that that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zuni-Cafe-Cookbook-Compendium-Franciscos/dp/0393020436">Judy Rodgers's</a> cookbook was somewhere in the building. The fried veal brains had a pleasingly creamy texture, though they never should have been served in a glop of mayonnaise. Much less successful was the grilled octopus in a viscid fava bean puree. It was obvious that the fava beans were not in season in mid-February because the puree’s shade of green was algal, not vernal. (I wasn't responsible for ordering the dish.) The grilled octopus was adequate at best.<br /><br />The Publican had much greater success with its pork dishes, most of which were from—watch it Chicagoans, for a <a href="http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103216">Smug Alert</a> may now be in your forecast—“Becker Lane Organic Farm, Dyersville, Iowa,” including the pork in the <a href="http://www.saveur.com/article/Cooking/To-Make-an-Authentic-Potee">potee</a>, which technically may not have been a potée. According to <a href="http://www.saveur.com/article/Cooking/To-Make-an-Authentic-Potee"><span style="font-style: italic;">Saveur</span></a>, <span style="font-style: italic;">potée</span> is a “French meat and vegetable stew” and “two essential ingredients for most authentic potées are salted pigs' ears and tails.” (Yes, I know.) <span style="font-style: italic;">Potée</span> can be thought of as the pork <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=wwa_n1T6-6AC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=Choucroute+garni+potee&source=bl&ots=sOrMvUeg3V&sig=Mom8TL-gMcK8K-dml-M4F8vrY8Q&hl=en&ei=7bjJSdnHH6CSsQPPgsmACA&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA132,M1">companion</a> to <span style="font-style: italic;">pot-au-feu</span>, and the famous Alsatian dish, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://books.google.com/books?id=wwa_n1T6-6AC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=Choucroute+garni+potee&source=bl&ots=sOrMvUeg3V&sig=Mom8TL-gMcK8K-dml-M4F8vrY8Q&hl=en&ei=7bjJSdnHH6CSsQPPgsmACA&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA134,M1">choucroute garni</a>, is a typical potée. The Publican’s “version” consisted of pork tenderloin, boar, and <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/entry?id=2159">crepinette</a>, a sausage made of minced pork, lamb, and veal and wrapped in pig’s caul, which is the fat covering a pig’s intestine. With all this pork on a single plate, the dish was perforce good. But the “ham chop” was even better. It was a grand cut of pork that was brined and then smoked in <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/restaurants/reviews/1278340,WKP-News-brunoPublican14.restaurantreviews">hay</a>, and GSG totally and justifiably buried it. I was lucky to snag a slice. The chop was the most flavorful and original item of the evening, and the hay preparation added an element of humor. It was obvious that Kahan’s staff was happiest and most comfortable serving Midwestern pork to its Midwestern clientele.<br /><br />Calumet Fisheries<br />3259 East 95th Street<br />Chicago<br />(773) 933-9855<br /><a href="http://www.calumetfisheries.com/">www.calumetfisheries.com </a> <br /><br />Birrieria Zaragoza<br />4852 South Pulaski Road<br />Chicago<br />(773) 523-3700<br /><br />The Publican<br />837 W. Fulton Market<br />Chicago<br />(312) 733-9555<br /><a href="http://www.thepublicanrestaurant.com/">www.thepublicanrestaurant.com </a>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-80917671921350710492009-03-04T18:02:00.000-08:002009-03-07T07:36:13.078-08:00Gjelina: Los Angeles's Hottest Mediterranean and Locavore Fusion restaurant<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CPICKGR%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" 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{size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Let’s cut to the chase. Gjelina is a perversion of a restaurant.<span style=""> </span>It is insidious and offends me.<span style=""> </span>It is a trite scenesters’ parlor masquerading as a genuine restaurant, which is why its rank misappropriation of the voguish “Farmer’s Market cuisine” label is so bothersome.<span style=""> </span>Los Angeles, on the strengths of its endless demographic diversity and access to California’s agricultural bounty, is clawing its way to culinary self-respect.<span style=""> </span>(The automobile is also a crucial factor; by comparison only the most intrepid and dedicated New Yorkers are going to take a 70-minute ride on two subways to try some esoteric restaurant.)<span style=""> </span>But this growth cannot rest solely on the shoulders of <a href="http://www.lucques.com/">Suzanne Goin</a>, <a href="http://casitamex.com/">Jaime Martin Del Campo</a> and <a href="http://casitamex.com/">Ramiro Arvizu</a>, and <a href="http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2008/07/jitlada-thai-review">Sarintip Singsanong</a> and <a href="http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2008/07/jitlada-thai-review">Suthiporn Sungkamee</a>.<span style=""> </span>There must be some depth, and Gjelina fails to provide it, that is, assuming it even cares. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Graciously invited to a dinner by <a href="http://sinosoul.com/">SinoSoul</a>, the affable, frenetic, prolific, fearless and droll trencherman, and accompanied by the <a href="http://gastronomyblog.com/">Gastronomyblog.com</a> duo and <a href="http://www.linfo.com/people/blackbook/56">Miss Insider</a>, we (or at least I) relished ridiculing Gjelina’s lack of identity throughout the evening.<span style=""> </span>The restaurant’s main dining room is rife with communal seating, a practice which should have been retired after New York’s <a href="http://www.mercerhotel.com/">Mercer Kitchen</a> tried it over a decade ago. <span style=""> </span>The restaurant’s spacious rear patio is festooned with a silly architectural scheme that is intended to signify stylish intelligence, but just irritates the eyes. <span style=""> </span>Specializing in the cuisine of at least three large European nations, the menu sprawls over 30 dishes, excluding charcuterie, cheese, and oysters. <span style=""> </span><a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/09/aoc-wine-bar-100-blog.html">A.O.C</a> offers a similar number, and even with the illustrious Ms. Goin at the helm and its philosophically more concise menu, it also fails to achieve a high degree of consistency. <span style=""> </span>(Still, A.O.C., unlike Gjelina, would not deign to serve both pizza and <i style="">cassoulet</i> and is capable of greatness, though not at our dinner there last Tuesday.)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The party split several dishes, including the grilled eggplant with roasted peppers, white anchovy, and pecorino.<span style=""> </span>There was no evidence of any anchovy in the dish, which was just as well, because the combination of white anchovy and any form of cheese is incoherent.<span style=""> </span>Pizzeria Mozza, the local standard bearer on such issues, currently <a href="http://mozza-la.com/pizzeria/menu.cfm">offers</a> two pizzas and one sandwich with anchovies, and none includes cheese. <span style=""> </span>This technicality aside, the eggplant was tasteless and perfunctory.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Gjelina, following yet another local trend, fancies itself as a pizzeria and allegedly possesses a wood-burning oven left over from a former tenant.<span style=""> </span>(Where have we <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/dining/09mozz.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ei=5070&en=0fcc22683c67b635&ex=1179374400&emc=eta1">heard</a> this before?)<span style=""> </span>We settled on the <i style="">margherita</i>, which is the only way to test a pizzaiolo’s chops.<span style=""> </span>Since a margherita consists only of the pizza dough, mozzarella, tomato, and basil, the ingredients and preparation must be pristine.<span style=""> </span>There is no margin for error.<span style=""> </span>Gjelina’s manager, who dropped by the table to check on us, agreed that the margherita is the benchmark for pizza, although he probably regretted it after C told him that Gjelina had no business serving pizza.<span style=""> </span>The manager put up a lame defense, asking whether we had the mushroom pizza, his favorite.<span style=""> </span>(He actually asked if we had the <i style="">funghi</i> pizza, as Italian is pretentiously spoken in this Venice.)<span style=""> </span>The manager’s query was moot, however, because Gjelina’s dough had more in common with Arabian Joe’s pita bread from Trader Joe’s than good pizza dough. Moreover, the sauce reminded me of gussied up <a href="http://www.hunts.com/product_detail.jsp?product=puree">Hunt’s Tomato Puree</a>.<span style=""> </span>Like a slice joint catering to 2am inebriates, Gjelina’s pizza was so flaccid that when holding a slice by the <a href="http://slice.seriouseats.com/glossary">cornicione</a>, it drooped anemically. <span style=""> </span>At this point in the meal, I stopped caring. <span style=""> </span>Gjelina had devolved into a joke. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">We labored on with the grilled Peruvian octopus with white beans, arugula and smoked paprika. I don’t know why Gjelina sought fit to tell us that its cephalopod is of Peruvian descent, but I do recall seeing Peruvian octopus on Craft’s menu a year or so ago. I guess if Gjelina is going to steal unabashedly, Tom Colicchio and Nancy Silverton are not bad places to start.<span style=""> </span>(After the weak conclusion of Top Chef 5, I’m not sure I’d steal from Colicchio any more.)<span style=""> </span>Gjelina’s contribution to the dish was overwhelming blandness, a distinction it also brought to the Prince Edward Island mussels in a white wine broth, emasculating the chorizo in its midst.<span style=""> </span>So much for the restaurant’s <a href="http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-restaurant31-2008dec31,0,7476989.story">exhortation</a> to “eat local.”<span style=""> </span>Surely there must be some quality mussels and octopus somewhere along the West Coast. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The dinner culminated in a feckless insult to <i style="">cassoulet</i>, a Gallic classic and one of my favorites that when prepared correctly, such as at Yountville’s <a href="http://bistrojeanty.com/">Bistro Jeanty</a>, captures French cuisine’s nonpareil lustiness.<span style=""> </span>(While the San Francisco Chronicle last December documented Jeanty’s purported <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/23/FDQH14K2HB.DTL">decline</a>, the Ever Sagacious Primipara pointed out that we have never had a non-sublime meal at Jeanty and were there as recently as last summer.)<span style=""> </span>Gjelina barely followed the basic contours of the dish: crispy duck leg (though not <i style="">confit de canard</i>), lamb sausage (foolishly, instead of pork), braised greens (irresponsibly), and <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/search?query=flageolet&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit">flageole</a>t beans.<span style=""> </span>Whatever chef Travis Lett’s intentions were, there was no trace of guttural, carnal pleasure here. <span style=""> </span>This cassoulet was unobtrusive and polite. <span style=""> </span>My only conclusion is that Lett, a veteran of hackneyed <a href="http://www.tengu.com/">Tengu</a>, the self-proclaimed “hottest Asian fusion and sushi restaurant” in Los Angeles, should not be permitted to cook in a restaurant east of Doheny. <span style=""> </span>I suppose what he does on the West Side is his business. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="">Gjelina<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
<br />Venice</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">(310) 450-1429</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-7923225198805757282009-02-16T16:54:00.001-08:002009-02-17T15:46:54.149-08:00Clyde Common<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> 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<w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><span xmlns=""><p>SW Stark Street between 10th and 11th Avenues is further evidence of Portland's evolution as a budding culinary center, though with traces of excessive youthful naiveté. The affordable and modish <a href="http://www.acehotel.com/portland">Ace Hotel</a> anchors the block and is sandwiched by today's subject, <a href="http://www.clydecommon.com/">Clyde Common</a>, and a <a href="http://www.stumptowncoffee.com/locations/ace">branch</a> of acclaimed roaster Stumptown Coffee. (Stumptown's espresso was, if not watery, too thin and overly precious. <a href="http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/2007/07/coffeehouse-northwest-portland.html">Coffeehouse Northwest</a>, with its characteristic fastidiousness, achieved greater results with the very same Stumptown beans.)<br /></p><p>A brasserie, Clyde Common has a spacious and airy dining room with an open kitchen, a very long zinc bar, and an even longer list of whiskeys. The menu changes frequently, and unlike Los Angeles analogue <a href="http://www.bldrestaurant.com/">BLD</a>, Clyde Common avails itself of high quality local produce and challenges its customers, such as with the inclusion of a tongue sandwich on its lunch menu. With limited time before a business meeting, I solicited a recommendation from our sprightly server. He counseled the sole pasta dish on the menu: a fresh egg pasta, basically spaghetti, with arugula pesto and walnuts, topped with shaved pecorino romano. While I normally eschew pasta from non-pasta specialists or chefs of unproven technical soundness, the server's advice and the $11 price tag for the larger portion were all the wheedling I needed.<br /></p><p>The dish proved to be inventive and delicious. The arugula pesto was, at least for me, a new idea, and the kitchen succeeded in capturing the leaf's peppery bitterness. The pasta itself was toothsome, and the walnuts and cheese provided the requisite nuance. All in all, the dish was quite nourishing on a sleepy and snowy day.<br /></p><p>Frustratingly <em>de rigueur</em> in several modern Portland restaurants, communal dining is also the practice at Clyde Common. Though the Portland everyman is a shade under 30 and has defaced his epidermis with depictions of girlfriends past and kitchen utensils, there is no social compact that requires everyone to sit together. Portland is a vibrant and compelling city and does not need to act like a living, breathing Obama rally. (We already won.) Besides, communal dining is always available at the bar, and Clyde Common has a good one. But I'll forgive the Portland pioneers for this conceit. It may be a necessary evil supporting Portland's rewarding dining scene.</p><p><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-priority:1; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-unhide:no; color:blue; mso-themecolor:hyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;">Clyde Common</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;">1014 SW Stark Street<br />Portland</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;">(503) 228-3333 </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.clydecommon.com/">www.clydecommon.com</a> </p><p></p></span>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-20109839865124967852009-01-24T17:20:00.000-08:002009-01-25T15:01:56.566-08:00Agra Cafe (or, A Brief History of Balti)<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></span>Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are infamous for their lawlessness and poverty, and for hosting the Taliban and Al Qaeda (whether wittingly or not). The FATA’s remoteness and impenetrability have left the region beyond the meaningful reach of the U.S. military and the writ of the Pakistani state; instead, it remains in the hands of the local inhabitants, the disagreeable and dysfunctional Pashtun tribes.
<br />
<br />Within the FATA is Landi Kotal, a small and ancient frontier town, located five <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landi_Kotal">kilometers</a> east of Afghanistan at the top of the Khyber Pass, the mountainous and ancient trade route that connects Afghanistan to Pakistan. It is hardly a surprise that Landi Kotal is an infamous center of smuggling, drug dealing, and weapons sales. But it is also a center of commerce for the Shinwari and Afridi tribes, which are ethnically Pashtun, and most of NATO’s supplies in Afghanistan come through Landi Kotal and the Khyber Pass. NATO’s supplies have recently come under Taliban <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/03/pakistan.khyber/">attack</a>, just as the British struggled with the Afridi <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=vWLRxJEU49EC&pg=PA476&lpg=PA476&dq=Landi+Kotal++british+army&source=bl&ots=RE7utp9gmZ&sig=M73yIDOuGIi--bbl1lGIGw2LKZg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result">uprising</a> in the frontier town in the late nineteenth century.
<br />
<br />According to Khaled Ahmad, a prominent Pakistani journalist, Landi Kotal may be the original <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-7-2003_pg3_7">home</a> of the deliciously spicy balti stew. Not being a historian of the Pashtun and being a denizen of the ‘wood, I could not discover what the balti stew’s original composition was or when it may have been concocted, especially since the Pashtun are known to eat little other than meat.
<br />We do <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-7-2003_pg3_7">know</a>, courtesy of Mr. Ahmad, that the balti stew is named for the round, open, double-handled pot in which it is prepared, i.e., the balti. In an unusual fit of linguistic cross-pollination, the Urdu word “balti” is actually a transliterated Portuguese word, introduced into India and meaning a “cylindrical pail.” (Apparently Vasco de Gama brought with him a lot of pails. Yes, I just made a Vasco de Gama joke.) However, in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province, the word "balti" bizarrely took on the definition of the double-handed pot, which in southern Pakistan is known as a karahi. (The Portuguese word is actually spelled “balde,” but the revised "balti" is a more convenient spelling according to Ahmad.)
<br />
<br />Since Landi Kotal is essentially a small and ancient transit point, the balti dish would have to travel to find a larger audience. It <a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_27-7-2003_pg3_7">found</a> its way into Punjab, the heavily populated region that sprawls across India and Pakistan, where it rose in popularity. It subsequently found its way into the Western world when South Asians, including many Kashmiris who have <a href="http://www.birminghamuk.com/balti.htm">claimed</a> it as their own, immigrated into Britain in the late Seventies and early Eighties and served the dish in their new restaurants. A cottage industry of balti specialists, the so-called <a href="http://www.birminghamuk.com/balti.htm">Balti Triangle</a>, famously took root in Birmingham, Britain’s second largest city and the home of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Birmingham#Asian">200,000</a> “British Asians.” The <a href="http://www.birminghamuk.com/balti.htm">composition</a> of the dish is now much better known in the English-speaking world:
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mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 10pt;"><span style=";font-family:";" >It is a type of curry. The food is cooked quickly in some ways akin to a stir fry. The ingredients are generally fresh meat and/or vegetables which are first marinated and then cooked with spices. The meal is served piping hot as soon as it has been cooked . . . The dish contains spices such as coriander, ginger, cumin, cloves, cassia bark amongst others. It is best sampled with naan bread or chapattis.<o:p></o:p></span></p> Indeed, the dish has proved so popular in Britain that there has been a <a href="http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2008/05/20/birmingham-balti-could-get-special-eu-status-65233-20934025/">movement</a> to give balti a protected status under EU law as a food that originated in a particular area, in this case Birmingham. Yet some Birmingham restaurateurs have been <a href="http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2008/05/20/birmingham-balti-could-get-special-eu-status-65233-20934025/">dismayed</a> by these efforts, citing the Pakistani origin of the dish.
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<br />Balti’s elusive origins of the dish and its popularity in Britain have provoked deeper questions on the issue of “British Asian” identity, providing succor to British social critics such as Ziauddin Sardar, who recently wrote <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=balti%20britain&sourceid=Mozilla-search"><span style="font-style: italic;">Balti Britain</span></a>. Peter Barber, reviewing Sarder’s book in the <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/94daf1ac-d515-11dd-b967-000077b07658.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Financial Times</span></a>, argues that “The ‘traditional’ Punjabi cuisine known as Balti turns out to be an invention of Birmingham’s Asian communities. It is . . . a product of the UK’s long entanglement with the subcontinent. It shows how Asian immigrants have repackaged tradition and mixed it with modernity to create something new, and how the rest of the UK still insists on reducing them to an undifferentiated mass.” Put more crassly, Sarfraz Manzoor argued in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/21/society.books"><span style="font-style: italic;">Observer</span></a> that “balti (which means 'bucket' in Urdu) is a generic term, in this case one that was basically cooked up by enterprising restaurateurs to fool whites into believing they were eating something significantly different from regular curry.” As for Sardar himself, he <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/21/society.books">writes</a> that “By attaching a different label to what is basically the same food . . . the Indian restaurant reframed its image,” such that “British Asians can be authentic to themselves, reclaim their history, in a number of different and innovative ways.”
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<br />We’re a long way from Landi Kotal, and much of the story is incomplete. But to the Fress, these writers’ assertions have some validity. One of the foremost balti restaurants in Birmingham is Muhammed Arif’s <a href="http://www.adilbalti.co.uk/">Adil</a>, which has been in existence since 1977. Adil has such a staggering number of balti dishes on its menu -- well over 100 -- that the word is either devoid of any meaning and really is a marketing tool, or so expansive that it means any food cooked in, say, that round, open, double-handled pot described by Ahmad. We could then refer to much of Chinese food as “wok.” (Which we probably should do, regardless.) At the very least, there would be a link back to the original Pakistani hinterlands.
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<br />The complexities of the British Asian experience and the elusive roots of the balti dish have, of course, found their way to Los Angeles. Pursuant to local custom, they have been condensed into a nondescript-looking restaurant -- in this case <a href="http://www.agracafela.com/">Agra Cafe</a> -- which is located in the elbow of a shabby strip center, beneath a tae kwon do studio and adjacent to a seedy liquor store (the sign would indicate that it is simply called “Liquor”). Agra is in Silver Lake, which would seem unlikely relative to, say, Artesia which boasts a large Indian population. But if balti is a food for unsuspecting Caucasians like the Birmingham natives, then Silver Lake with its ironically dressed hipster population ("dot-nose" belt buckles, Members Only jackets, etc, etc.) is the perfect home. Nevertheless, I love this place.
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<br />Other than its 10 or so distinguishing balti dishes, Agra offers the same standards seen at virtually every Indian restaurant in the city, though the menu is significantly more comprehensive than the ones that so often litter our doorstep. Moreover, Agra executes these Indian favorites with consistency and notable quality. (The smoky and sublime baigan bhartha, or roasted eggplant with spices, is one of my favorites.) The service is efficient if curt, and well-deserved compliments on the food (particularly the excellent lamb balti) are met with silence. According to Agra’s menu, the stew is made with chopped onions, green peppers, turmeric, cumin, garlic, ginger, and crushed tomatoes. Not having been to Birmingham or the Punjab, I cannot make any determination as to the authenticity of Agra’s balti. But I can confirm the accuracy of the restaurant’s description of the dish as “rich and hearty” with a nice balance of “hot & sweet spicing.” The lamb is unfailingly tender; it may be the rare example when take-out is superior to dining in, for the lamb soaks up the sauces for greater lengths of time.
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<br />I attempted to interview the proprietor about balti stews, but he seemed to know as little as I did. (Well, he knew how to make them.) He seemed to believe that balti is a Bengali dish, popularized in England. I attempted to inquire further, but he grew annoyed with me and finally just asked if I was going to order something.
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<br />Growing up amidst Cleveland’s gray winters and Iron Curtain demographics, this Jewish boy was raised on schnitzel, spätzle, pierogis, wurst, and other Central and Eastern European staples -- the food of classic Jew-haters. A native-born Angeleno, my infant daughter should grow up to love the classic stews and dishes that come from another region of the world not known for being on the Bar Mitzvah circuit.
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<br />Agra Cafe
<br />4325 W. Sunset Blvd.
<br />Silver Lake
<br />(323) 665-7818
<br /><a href="http://www.agracafela.com/">www.agracafela.com</a>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7284586912458290392.post-17364946733079635552008-12-18T21:12:00.000-08:002008-12-19T15:05:58.429-08:00The Enigmatic Comme ÇaRobert Louis Stevenson would have loved the strange case of David Myers’ <a href="http://www.commecarestaurant.com/">Comme Ça</a>. During the day, when Dr. Jekyll inhabits the restaurant, it is a convivial brasserie with quality French standards, adjusted to the Los Angeles diet, with few discernible sacrifices aside from the Restoration Hardware aesthetic. Plentiful sunlight enlivens the main dining room’s dark colors and creates a leisurely atmosphere. The usual crowd of failed Queer Eye auditioners and ladies all gussied up with collagen and faux sophistication is more amusing than grating.<br /><br />The food is very good during lunch service. The parentals and the now Ever Sagacious Primipara delighted in the lemony smoked salmon tartare. Served on a thin, crispy potato <em>galette</em>, i.e., a <em>latke</em>, the salmon had a bright taste and a subtle smokiness that compelled my parents to order a second helping. My father and I split the mustardy, caper-laden steak tartare, a particular treat because of the beef’s rich texture.<br /><br />I ordered the <em>moules frites</em> as a main. The mussels and frites were satisfying if less than masterful. The broth revealed David Myers’ sophistication, or perhaps my idiosyncrasies. The kitchen spiked the light, creamy broth with a dose of pastis, specifically Pernod, which provided a welcome nuance. Pernod seems to be the only pastis seen stateside, and it is drunk less as an aperitif than used as a cooking additive, and then with such infrequency that it must be listed defensively, like an adequate warning of anise flavor to unwitting diners under a product liability standard. (For what it is worth, its manufacturer, Pernod Ricard SA, <a href="http://www.pernod-ricard.com/en/pages/291/pernod/Brands/Anis-based-spirits.html">claims</a> that Pernod is not a pastis because it is does not contain natural licorice extracts like Ricard. Pernod has a milder or at least less strident flavor, which may account for its greater prevalence in recipes relative to other anis-based spirits.) For example, on the menu’s <a href="http://www.commecarestaurant.com/files/menus/comme_Ca_dejeuner_menu.pdf">description</a> of the dish, “Pernod” appears even before “<em>pomme frites</em>,” when the only question concerning the broth that warrants an answer in print is whether the broth is based in cream, butter, or some other substance. We finished with a delectable <em>tarte tatin</em> from Comme Ça’s sibling and neighbor, <a href="http://www.boulela.com/">Boule Bakery</a>.<br /><br />Mr. Hyde stalks the restaurant during dinner service when Comme Ça transmogrifies into an echo chamber-cum-nightclub. The half-hearted welcome at the front desk is as gracious as the greeting from the burly doormen at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/fashion/07boite.html">Bardot’s</a> shrine to meretricious phoniness. The sound system broadcasts the pulsating noise euphemized as “techno music,” which irritates regardless of the decibel level. (There must be some middle ground between hearing “La Vie en Rose” on an endless loop and ripping off the soundtrack from O-Bar.) Worse, the restaurant succumbs to the great plague afflicting restaurants popular among Los Angeles Caucasians wherein management’s attention to the food is subordinated to its attention to the scene.<br /><br />The kitchen demonstrated a perplexing lack of confidence in its <em>brandade de morue gratinée</em>, the timeless purée of salt cod, olive oil and milk. Served in a casserole, the brandade itself was delicious. The cod’s creaminess and salinity were in perfect equipoise, and the zesty, gratin crust was well executed. So why would David Myers, in his infinite wisdom, choose to smother the brandade in a superfluous, scarlet purée of piquillo peppers that seeped its way into the cod, imperiling its consistency? I was forced to use our bread to scrape the piquillo purée off the cod and then conceal the detritus from my vision in the breadbasket’s cloth folds. However, once I finished off the brandade, my own disgusting indiscipline forced me to scarf down the bread, replete with that cloying piquillo gunk.<br /><br />The Primipara, then still gravid, wanted the aforementioned salmon tartare, which was the impetus for our quick return for dinner. But after dark, the salmon was insipid, its natural richness muted. Marisa’s incisions into the potato galette required the use of a steak knife, as the regular knife simply wouldn’t cut it. To exacerbate matters, Marisa’s “crispy” skate <em>grenobloise</em> was a wholesale disappointment. Sautéed for well beyond the filet’s level of resistance, the skate, like Burger King’s old Whaler sandwich, was ugly, brown and desiccated. At the very least, the kitchen displayed consistency, as the dish was just as bad as when I ordered it several months ago.<br /><br />My <em>loup de mer</em>, literally the wolf of the sea, or as I later <a href="http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/raised-on-the-farm-big-in-the-city">learned</a>, the farm, is a Mediterranean sea bass prized by restaurateurs for the stability of its pricing and the yield of its usable meat. Italian restaurants refer to the same fish as “branzino.” Roasted with lemon and tarragon and served alone, the fish was as dry as the Mojave and was so compact that it could have been the victim of an unattended sandwich press. In fact, the only moisture on the table was from the non-Gallic side of mostly pureed white corn, prepared simply in butter.<br /><br />We eschewed the desserts in favor of Comme Ça’s most serious endeavor, the cheese course. David Myers dedicates an entire station to its cheese counter and gives it a prominent location—opposite the bar and behind the front desk. Comme Ça may be the only restaurant in Los Angeles that employs a full-time <em>fromagier</em>, effectively a cheese sommelier. After we informed our actor that we wanted the cheese course, the <em>fromagier</em> took over service. She introduced herself and surveyed our tastes. We advised her of our obsession with <em>Epoisses</em>, the runny and deeply pungent proof of continued French culinary preeminence, and entrusted her with the rest.<br /><br />At least for the cheese, Comme Ça’s perfectionism and sensibilities yield wonderful results. The <em>fromagier</em> brought out five cheeses, each from a different region, and astutely paired four of them with balancing flavors. The cheeses were served in order of ascending astringency and at the appropriate temperature which brought out each cheese’s essential qualities. Indeed, the plate was so intriguing that I finally managed to block out all the cacophony. For the record, we had the Norman brillat-savarin, a triple-cream brie with a flavorful rind, brought out by dried mission figs; the Abbaye de Belloc, a sheep’s milk cheese from the Pyrenees with marcona almonds; the Pico, a goat from the Ardeche and Drome regions in the Alps, accompanied by sun-dried tomato (the most harmonious of the pairings); the Burgundian Epoisses, wisely served unadorned; and at last a raw Roquefort, the famous blue made from Lacaune ewes’ milk in the caves of the mountainous Aveyron region, served with sweet honeycomb.<br /><br />After the cheese course, the dining room’s unsettling acoustics returned. The waiter by now had switched tacks on the loup de mer, blandly describing the beleaguered farmed fish to incoming patrons with unintentional aptness, as “a Mediterranean whitefish.”<br /><br />Comme Ça<br />8479 Melrose Ave.,<br />West Hollywood<br />(323) 782-1178<br /><a href="http://www.commecarestaurant.com/">http://www.commecarestaurant.com/</a>Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295990574792149703noreply@blogger.com1