Tidbits: A few recent food adventures

1. Minneapolis/St. Paul visit

Izzy's Ice Cream

The "Izzy Scoop" is a baby scoop of ice cream on top of a regular scoop, and to me it's kinda like an alien scoop. And not only that! Their flavors are modern and experimental, for example they had five types of strawberry the night we were there plus a few exotic chocolates, including Umeshu Chocolate made with Japanese plum wine. I couldn’t decide, so ordered a 5-Izzy scoop sampler of Mexican chocolate fiesta, cream cheese, coconut, graham cracker and the amaaazing salted caramel. When I was done with my 5 Izzy’s I did indeed want another scoop of salted caramel and my local friends (bless them for taking me here) talked me out of it. Balderdash! Not to torture you but here, take a look at the current flavor list and next time you're in the Minneapolis area run, don't walk, to Izzy's.

The Juicy Lucy

Another fantastic thing in St. Paul was the Juicy Lucy (a.k.a. Jucy Lucy) burger at Matt's bar. This discovery shared by a local friend made me pretty happy. It's basically two McDonald's-sized burgers sandwiched around a liquidy cheese sauce. No, not a gloppy Cheddar ooze as some photos suggest, but a nice mellow cheese sauce. The servers and the menus both warn to let the burger cool before chomping down, since that cheese sauce is molten and it wants to spurt all over your face! We waited a few and blew on our burgers then took a bite. Sure as heck if that cheese sauce wasn't dying to come out! It had a bonefide lava-like propulsion factor, and it was really yummy. Thank goodness the burgers weren't too big either, since too much meat-to-cheese ratio would have made the Juicy Lucy less humble, obnoxious even, in my opinion. This way was just right.

2. Carmine’s Chicken Scarpiello – cookbook vs. restaurant showdown

In my January 8, 2009 blog post “I heart Carmine's, and now you know,” I wrote about one of my favorite NYC restaurants and a fantastic dish there that I order all the time, chicken scarpiello. Many Italian restaurants make this but at Carmine's it is very unique and outrageously delicious. In my blog entry I described it as “heavenly, different from any other, with a sweet & sour brown lemon rosemary garlic sauce and caramelized garlic cloves.”

The reason this was written about in January 2010 is because my family and I had visited the Atlantic City Carmine's in December 2009, and there lo and behold I noticed the new Carmine's cookbook for sale. Celebration! Now the chance to make chicken scarpiello at home was mine!, especially necessary since Carmine's, for me, was no longer just a subway ride away.

A month later my friends came over for the recipe unveiling. Well it didn't turn out well at all :(, though my friends were pretty polite about it. The official planetmarly blog rating was, on a 1-3 scale: “1: bad recipe”. In the history of this blog, nothing's ever turned out THAT bad. Frustrated over wasted money – this was the main reason for my purchase of the cookbook – I slid my new Benedict Arnold hardcover onto the cookbook shelf and there is has remained. Until last week.

See my sister -- another fan of the chix scarpiello magic -- recently discovered an online recipe for the dish associated with the restaurant's chef. She made it and wanted to compare the recipe in my cookbook with hers to see if a match. Turns out my sister's version came out just fine, but that's only after she improvised. And when she sent me her online version of the recipe with notes, it became clear that the cookbook’s version was filled with errors:

1. Garlic – Cookbook said crushed garlic, which was awful on the finished dish and covered the chicken like little balls of soft tapioca. In the restaurant, the dish is known for its browned garlic cloves. No garlic cloves in the cookbook's recipe, a major faux pas which honestly I should have caught.
2. Recipe Liquid – This dish is also known for its lovely brown gravy. My cookbooked dish had none. My sister decided to up the wine quotient a little and also add a cup of chicken stock. Genius. There was only a 1/4 cup of wine in her recipe and no stock. This is why I’m more of a baker. I follow directions to a T and this recipe really needed some intuitive (and obvious) improvisation.
3. Laziness – My sister felt the recipe I emailed her from the cookbook was lazy. It often said to use the “remaining” of this and that (lemon, herbs and butter), without being clear of how much that would be, which would have helped out the home cook tremendously.

All in all, this episode reminded me that we shouldn’t automatically trust cookbooks just because they're published, since some of them are simply not good. I recently finished reading Julia Child’s “My Life in France,” and that chef took great pride and many years in the proofreading and testing of her recipes. I probably won’t make any other dish from the Carmine’s cookbook. But the Ghirardelli or Tom Douglas cookbooks? Oh yes indeed I will go to them over and over again.

By the way, the photo of the dish above is from “www.twofatbellies.com,” and the authors had a pre-theater dinner at Carmine’s. They wrote why this is a special version of the dish too, and I agree because it’s why I only order this dish at Carmine's and no where else. “The chicken is covered in a lemony, garlicky sauce that is flavored with rosemary. It’s different from other versions of scarpariello, which usually feature sausage and peppers, but I vastly prefer this version.” Exactly! So after my sister puts the final touches on her recipe redux, I’ll try again and also post it on the blog if everyone wants it.

That's it for now blog peeps. Next week I'm off to Orlando for a conference and will be dining at the San Angel Inn in EPCOT Mexico. This beautiful "Mexican village at night" pavilion within an Aztec pyramid is one of my favorite places to visit, cheasy like a Juicy Lucy and oh so festive. I ate my first molé there during a college spring break road trip. Let's see if the restaurant stands up to the test of time.

Until we eat again,
Marly

Food Friend or Foe

Rather than Italian or Sushi, my favorite cuisine has long been New American. Ever since my first time at Gramercy Tavern (or maybe even earlier), enjoying simply prepared, homestyle food from local sources has become a dining priority for me. In my opinion, restaurant items prepared in this style simply sing brighter.

Several chefs adhere to this type of cooking, including the now TV-star Tom Colicchio (who was the original chef at Gramercy), my favorite Seattle chef Tom Douglas, and Chef Judy Rodgers of the Zuni Café in San Francisco. According to her website, Chef Judy “has been a pioneer of simple and casual American fare...” She once worked as lunch chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley (an excellent thing), and in 2004 she was named outstanding chef by the James Beard Foundation for her impressive Zuni Café cookbook. So it shouldn't be a surprise that Zuni was a place I wanted to dine at for ages, especially to try the chef’s acclaimed raison d'être, the roast chicken with bread salad (pictured above, oh and here's the recipe).

Probably around 2002, I visited San Francisco for a reason I can’t recall (oh well!). A few weeks before the trip I set up a night to see my pal Ed, formerly of Park Slope, Brooklyn. Ed and I met ten years earlier in NYC, where he was one of my clients during the Broadway days and we became friends. He’d recently moved to San Francisco so I looked him up.

Back in the day, Ed and I always had a grand time hanging around "the slope" and the city and going to parties with our mutual friends. He and his friend Dan were even the only two people to complete my last New York City clue hunt, “The Subway Hunt,” in its original form. These hunts usually took place above ground whenever I moved to a new neighborhood, but I hadn't moved in awhile so this one was in and around the subway system in two boroughs. Ed and Dan gave it a dry run for me on September 8th in 2001 since they’d be busy on the official hunt date of September 15th. The test went really well, they had fun, however since one quarter of The Subway Hunt was in the World Trade Center, the official hunt on September 15 was of course canceled; the route was reworked and occurred the following spring. But Ed and his friend Dan did run the hunt in the World Trade Center on September 8th three days before its demise, which we all thought was pretty interesting.

So when I flew out for a visit to San Fran about a year after Ed moved there he seemed quite happy to make a plan with me for dinner with his new California boyfriend. When we spoke I made one request: since they live in San Francisco, can we possibly have dinner at the Zuni Café because they have this chicken dish I really want to try….? Sure!, Ed said. Excellent, I replied.

We met at Zuni and had lots of long-lost hellos and hugs. The restaurant was lovely too, very inviting and open, modern yet homey. They sat us in one of the small rooms tucked away up some stairs so it felt like we were dining in someone’s House Beautiful beach house. The menus were dropped and there it was, the roast chicken with bread salad… for two? Oh. It’s a whole chicken for two people, hmm. And $45, woop! So I casually asked if Ed or his boyfriend would possibly be interested in splitting the dish with me, since it's for two, and since it’s amazing and the restaurant's signature dish and I’d heard about it forever, and I don’t live here and didn’t realize it was for two people. Ed looked at his boyfriend without missing a beat and said, “I’m going to have the halibut.” The boyfriend looked at Ed and said, “I’m going to have the halibut too!”

My incredulousness suppressed to a tic, I responded gently, “Really? If you both want halibut can’t you split one halibut entrée and then someone also share the chicken with me? I won’t have a chance to come to this restaurant again because I live in New York…” Ed's facial expression looked sort of like one of Cinderella's evil stepsisters when he said, “Why don’t you order the chicken for yourself and take home the leftovers? You can eat it on the plane tomorrow (chuckle).” “But I’m staying at a hotel. I don’t have a refrigerator.” He looked at the menu again and said regally, “Well I’M going to have the HALibut.” Ed’s boyfriend agreed.

This lead to some quick contemplation on etiquette and friendship and kindness. If the situation had been reversed, I would have automatically assumed that a friend of mine is also a food friend. However, if that friend turns out to be a food foe, doesn’t that mean that person isn’t your friend so much after all? I mean, without any explanation or attempts at trying for a middle ground. For instance, was the dish I wanted to share liver and onions, was it pickled pigs feet? No. Were these people vegetarians, vegans, pescetarians? Not at all. Did they just not like chicken, or me? Maybe all I needed was a little compassion or explanation, which did not come. Or could I have ordered that dish on my own for $45? I suppose, but I don't believe in egregious food wasting. Plus $45 for an entrée was a bit extravagant too.

I saw Ed with new eyes that night while eating some other entrée I don't remember. He must have stopped being my friend somewhere along the line, perhaps before that night--then why meet at all?--and I’ll never know why.

Even a year or so later back on Broadway at the end of the the Patti LuPone "Sweeney Todd" revival, guess who filtered out onto the street behind me: Ed and his boyfriend! How weird is that? In a happy sort of shock I introduced my friend to them, chatted away and oh no it took too long to realize that both Ed and his boyfriend wanted nothing to do with me. They seemed almost offended I talked to them at all! Once the new truth became obvious I said bye (which was ignored) and left promptly, promising myself to never make the same error in judgment again.

A few months after that I moved to Los Angeles, where I started working at USC. Four years after that, or last month in April, I flew up to San Mateo, CA to attend a conference with a colleague. We decided to take an evening train trip north to San Francisco one night. During the conference my colleague said, “I don’t know what you had in mind for dinner in San Francisco, but there’s a place you might like called Zuni Café…” Do you know I hadn’t thought about Zuni since; probably blocked it out to keep some internal peace. I was thrilled to hear the suggestion, said as much to my colleague and set the record straight! “If we go, there’s this menu item I need to try, but it’s for two, the roast chicken and bread salad. Would you be open to splitting that with me?” He said yes. We booked a reservation.

At the restaurant, the official menu item is written as thus: “Chicken for two roasted in the brick oven; warm bread salad with red mustard greens, scallions, currants, and pine nuts 48.00 (approximately 1 hour).”

Bring it ON! We ordered the moment we sat down in that lovely space on Market Street, you know because it takes an hour. What to do while awaiting our masterpiece? Eat. Yes I ordered some oysters and we each had a salad. And what a big and filling salad! My scrumptious Caesar was much bulkier than my colleague’s delicate micro-greens since several long and garlicy crouton planks were not included in his.

I’m mentioning this only because when the chicken came, I was full. It was a lot of food yet, no surprise, it turned out to be better than I could have hoped for. This famous restaurant dish not only looked great, it tasted like your Mom's best chicken in a Thomas Kinkade painting on a cloud-train express to where all food dreams come true. The chicken was extra flavorful and tender due to brining, and the skin was crisp and sprinkled with herbs. The warm bread salad soaked up all the chicken’s savory juices, and tasting that soft artisanal bread with chicken gravy and greens mingled with the other accoutrements, I can’t tell you how good it was. Let’s just say it was definitely worth the wait.

Now at first when the dish arrived I believe my colleague took a chicken thigh, and I started with a piece of breast and a leg. Me already full does not compute! But post-chicken thigh and a bite of bread salad later my colleague announced HE was full! Ok see I am the Energizer Bunny of food-in-front-of-me-deliciousness-cannot-be-denied and can keep on going. But to him, full means full. Done! Done? With "the chicken”?! Hey dude that just means more for me, so I forged on, eating more chicken and more bread salad on and on. I wished my little glass of white wine would have magically broken down the proteins in my stomach quicker, but it didn’t do that, it just tasted good and lent a nice tough of acidity to the meal.

Ok, ok after a few more pieces I was done too. We sat, we smiled. There were two small pieces of chicken left, along with a big dab of sultry bread salad. We sighed. I felt guilty looking at the leftover chicken. I encouraged my counterpart to eat more, but he wouldn’t. Then the flashback came, the burning memory of my first visit to Zuni with Ed, that OTHER visit. It moved me to feel a bit petulant, that I had to wait all that time for this grand fabulous wunderbar chicken meal. All this time, all this travel. Well I couldn't stand it and refused to leave a piece of chicken, especially not two pieces of chicken, behind. And with that, I finished it. Every bite. We confirmed later that my colleague really did only enjoy one piece of that bird, which means I in effect ate the whole chicken (and warm bread salad, and a Caesar salad, and oysters, ok and a little bit of chocolate pots de creme). And I would do it again, damn it!

Second chances are interesting things. The weird part? The colleague who dined with me at Zuni last month was named Ed too. So I went to this restaurant twice with two different Ed’s, and with two very different results. This year the universe gave me a replay. It’s funny how life works out sometimes.

Until we eat again,

Marly

Two Fab Asian Dining Experiences in LA

여보세요, 안녕하세요

According to Babelfish, the above characters mean “Hello, how are you?” in Korean. I say this half kidding but I think we should all start learning some basic Korean if we want to continue going out for a meal in Koreatown. Especially deep in the soul of Koreatown...

Asian Place #1

…like when visiting a place called B.C.D. Tofu House.

There was a little bit of a language barrier when this pop tofu temple on Wilshire was recently visited after a USC Basketball game (Go Trojans!). Neil and I were hungry and he suggested going out to find hot soup, but what decent local place was still open at 10:30 p.m.?

Many times I’d driven past the brightly lit mecca “TOFU HOUSE” and remembered the sign "open 24 hours." So we ventured into the rainy night in search of soup, hoping this place would be okay.

Oh it was packed! A school bus or two worth of teenagers was just exiting the premises. While waiting, we viewed a framed articled on the wall from when this spot was included in Saveur's LA Koreatown issue (#46, Nov. '00). We learned there are branches of B.C.D. Tofu House in other parts of the world too, including Tokyo! And I will tell you now that I felt like I was in Tokyo or Korea while dining here because to me the place was real crazy different.

The menus were in Korean, with sparse English translations. We ordered #13 and #14: BBQ short rib & premium tofu combo + Beef bulgogi (sautéed beef) & premium tofu combo, about $17 or $18 per combo. (Note: #15 pork and #16 chicken sounded really good too.)

The waitress asked "How spicy?", and I confidently answered "Medium" (my standard buffalo wing response), and then quickly, “Is medium spicy here really medium, or is it hot?” and the lady said “Medium is medium.” Okey doke.

She walked away with our order and immediately came back with the myriad little dishes typical of a Korean restaurant, which covered our tiny table with scant room to spare. The dishes included kimchi, cold marinated tofu slices, two hard-boiled eggs, seasoned pickle, etc., and just when we thought that was it, they squeezed in two whole fried mackerel (each on its own plate).

In the next wave came the tofu soup. It was bright gorgeous red! It was filled with soft tofu and fresh seafood and maybe even some pork sausage. Our soup bowls were placed before us in full rolling boil. If I may admit, this shocked the hell out of me. I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie, probably the 2nd one. "How is the soup boiling??" I exclaimed to Neil, "What’s in there??" He'd already figured out that there was a hot plate under the soup, so in the end, alas, it was not crazy magic soup! We quickly learned too that the spice request was not for the main dishes, it was for the soup. And it was not medium hot... Nay, it was what I like to call “ow ow ow ow ow” hot soup. Don’t say you weren’t warned...

Along with the tofu soup came two metal crocks of white rice. The waitress scooped each of our rice crocks out and into small bowls, leaving some rice caked in the bottom of the crocks. Then she swiftly poured water into the rice crocks. Okay. Maybe because they're busy they do some pre-dish-soaking Korean thingy, but nope, they left the water in the rice crocks on our very crowded table and walked away. And then... a few moments later... the water started boiling! Ah, more magic! Oh oh, see there's a hot plate under that crock too. Damn this is a crazy place. (Or maybe it's just me being crazy, getting all riled up over boiling things.)

Finally (after oh 7 minutes?) our entrées arrived. They looked and tasted delicious. Happily we ate and chatted, and it seemed like a good time to douse my rice with some spicy tofu soup, then chopstick up some of that with sautéed beef for a sumptuous, tasty bite. That’s when my taste buds wanted more fabulousness, so I figured some hard-boiled egg would be a nice addition. I grabbed one of the eggs and cracked it over my plate of beef and immediately discovered the egg was raw. Yes, it was unarguably raw. That's also when I discovered that the boiling water in that metal empty rice crock was there to boil my egg. Ah. I get it now.

At the time, though, I thought this was all delightfully silly! Until my raw egg in the water didn’t really cook because I’d waited way too long for this stage of the game… you’re supposed to drop the egg in pretty much right away. Ten minutes later I had a somewhat cooked egg, and was able to scoop the yolk out and half throw/half flump it over the beef dish. It was worth it. And for a total of like $40 all in, we had a crazy, tasty, adventurous feast that I do recommend for everyone, even if you don’t love tofu.

Asian place #2

Hello, how are you?

According to Babelfish, the above characters mean “Hello, how are you?” in English. Oh I see you already got that. The words are in English this time because even though the next place is an Asian-fusion restaurant, it's quite American, so learning another language will not behoove an easier dining experience. Yes it is quite easy to dine at Red Pearl Kitchen, if not damn enjoyable.

My-Lien and I met there to have a bite to eat, shared some appetizers, and sure maybe I had a tad bit of non-entrée-ordering guilt. Turns out at Red Pearl Kitchen, with its red and black lacquered walls and non-deafening sound system, everyone comes in to chat over shared small plates, or even one large one.

We had:
- chicken & garlic roll $8
- crispy Japanese eggplant with shrimp $9
- miso salmon satay $11
- chicken pine nut, iceberg lettuce wraps $9

and

We smelled heaven when other people were served:
- caramel chicken, cashews
- fillet mignon, ginger, scallion
- Peking duck with pancakes (offered as a weekend special)
- s&p shishito peppers

Lucky for us the nice table next to us noticed our craning necks and offered a taste of their s&p shishito peppers. They were great! I later realized these ladies were TV character actresses (one from Everybody Loves Raymond), and what an actress she is because her TV characters are usually harsh and in real life this actress was friendly, generous and quite delightful.

One more thing to mention: Beyond the scenic ambiance of Red Pearl Kitchen, they have a pretty unique and refreshing wine & beer list, serving one of my favorite imported beers that a few years ago became ubiquitous on the NYC dining scene: Hitachino Nest White Ale from Japan. Oh it’s good… sorta like a non-sweet dessert beer, featuring a thick, apricot-y bouquet.

I will be going back to these places and soon. They're too enjoyable to ignore.

Until we eat again (and yes probably in Ktown),
Marly

The Fried Chicken Report (LA)

And now my little chickadees, what you've all been waiting for...the outrageous, crispy, crunchy and sometimes spicy

Fried Chicken Report
(also known as the not-too-thorough list of my top fried chicken spots in Los Angeles, because a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do)

But wait! Before we dive into the Los Angeles chicken scene, you should know about my earliest treks into fried chicken land, started when I was a wee girl back in the N.J. then taken over the river to the big city (and Harlem and Raleigh/Durham)...

Early Life
1. Honey Bee Chicken in Somerville, NJ on the Somerville Circle (think they are now closed) was the favorite of my family. Honey was put into the batter for a touch of sweetness, and it was really good, probably my sister's favorite to this day.
2. Roy Rogers Fried Chicken - Sadly this chain is in a few locations back East. Too bad too, because this chicken is super awesome. Since we can't get it out here I think it's only fair to provide a copycat recipe for y'all to try at your leisure.

Adulthood East Coast
1. Sylvia's of Harlem, famous for their Sunday Gospel Brunch with an order of fried chicken and grits. (Best to arrive before the busses.)
2. Mama Dip's in Raleigh/Durham has to be one of the best ever. If you are in this area, RUN DO NOT WALK.
3. Jacques Imo in New Orleans still reigns as my ultimate favorite today, even tho I've only been to the NYC location (I've got a date with them in December, don't even think about talking me out of it!) Note: Subsequent to this post, NYC location now closed :(.

Los Angeles
Ok it was a bit of a challenge to find the best fried chicken in Tinseltown, probably due to all those skinny people suppressing the demand. That is why this Report has been so delayed. And because I didn't want to gain too much weight. So without further ado, here is the list, in order of my least favorite to the best:

8. The Prince - Written up in food blogs and given a big OK by my chiropractor Dr. Lee, Prince is a dark, atmospheric Ktown bar that serves standard cocktails and Korean snack food. Tried 2 times, the 1st = cut-up whole fried chicken and the 2nd = deep fried spicy chicken, both with a big fat ruling of "eh". Sorry Dr. Lee. And to everyone else, you can totally skip this one.
7. Pollo Campero - An important part of the Guatemalan culture and located right on Olympic Blvd. and Union, I blissfully skipped to Pollo Campero and ate the chicken and really wanted to love it but it was just ok.
6. Dinah's Fried Chicken - On San Fernando Rd. in Glendale, this place is a favorite of many and reminded me of the Honey Bee a little, however it's lower on this list simply because I'm a fan of the crunchy 3-D style of bird skin and Dinah's boasts a thin, shellacked sweeter skin. Great biscuits though Dinah!
5. Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits - Call me Jersey white trash but there's something about this chicken, especially the spicy fried variety, that is pretty awesome. When I couldn't find places good enough for this list, I ended up resorting to Popeye's.
4. Pioneer Chicken - Neil took me to the Pioneer on Sunset, and there isn't a lot to write because perhaps I was a little distracted by the company? ;) Ok though when I did try the chicken it was fairly tasty, with a point on for good slaw and two off for stale biscuits.
3. Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles - Also tried 2 times (the Hollywood location is better) and the 1st time not so good because the chicken sat in the car on top of a waffle for 30 minutes before I sunk my teeth into it. Alas, on the 2nd try, eating chicken with red beans and rice, cornbread and hot sauce at the restaurant, I was in Roscoe heaven.
2. Zeke's Smokehouse - This down-to-earth BBQ place by the La Brea Target should be on people's radar more than it is. The discovery here is surprisingly awesome fried chicken. Does it matter that it's boneless? You know at one time I thought it did but it does not matter, it's awesome chicken, and n.b. the sides and atmosphere also rock. Note: Subsequent to this post, La Brea location closed and the only location in Montrose changed the chicken recipe not for the better.
1. Louisiana Fried Chicken - Zeke's had the #1 spot for a long time but I couldn't shake that guilt about the #1 chicken needing to be on the bone. Then just last week the Lousiana Fried Chicken on Adams crossed my car Kenny's path and lo and behold... No they don't have any good sides and you may take your life into your hands if you arrive on this doorstep late at night. What's important is the fried chicken, which is hot, moist, and flavorful with a hint of spice. It really is that good, in fact great, and that's why it's my #1.

Note: The findings of this report are final, until other fried chicken places are discovered and taste-tested. Challenge me if you dare!

Other area spots I didn't get to that are worthy of checking out
Honey's Kettle - The place for fried chicken & pancakes in Culver City
The Ivy - Heard they serve fab fried chicken with a side of paparazzi
Stonehill Tavern - Popular west coast chef Michael Mina's ritzy spot in Orange County features an apparently wonderful whole-fried organic chicken for two

And with that dear readers, I lay down the greasy gauntlet to take the higher path of cholesterol-resistance. The real reason being, of course, to save some of my arteries for Germany.

:) Marly

Where I've been foodie-ing about

Happpppy October!

A few days ago as I reviewed my calendar, and my waistline, it seemed to be that lately I've been trying new tastes at new-to-me restaurants. Ok so yes Zankou has been visited many times; otherwise, here is the list of places, mostly in order of appearance and each with a link to more information, including what I devoured in the last 10 days that was so darn good:

Barn Burner in Pasadena - A big ole Texas-themed BBQ place that's a real hoot... and it's in a barn! Great big menu, like Texas itself, with lots of smoked meats to try, tempting sides and a pretty unique microbrew selection. Neil ordered the KT Rancher and I had the Stubby Clarksdale. No I don't remember exactly what those entailed -- see the link to view the exact components -- though I do remember the tri-tip and corn bread were quite tasty. Oh and see that photo below, this is probably the only BBQ joint around with a real grill stepping in for a sink in the men's bathroom! Crazy Texans.



BJ's Brewery in Burbank - The Pizookie, their warm chocolate chip cookie in a skillet with vanilla ice cream pretty much rocked my world. The buffalo wings weren't so fantastic, but now that I know how to order them at this establishment (well done and tossed) I will venture to try them again.

Hot Wings on Melrose - However, I can't imagine any wings would be as good as the ones found at Hot Wings. Thanks Tim for the tip and for bringing an LA place that serves east-coast-worthy wings to my attention. They rock! (I ordered them "hot".) BTW they serve Philly cheesesteaks too, and don't listen to the bad review from 7/11 at the Citysearch link, I completely disagree. This place is a definite keeper.

Albano's Brooklyn Pizzeria on Melrose - We ordered the pepperoni which was great but it's actually their "lasagna" pizza that was so original and so good! Basically it's a regular slice of pizza with both a tomato and ricotta base (so a red and white pizza all in one) topped with crumbled meatballs and basil. How good is their pizza? Why I believe it made Neil's top 10, so it's probably worth the $2.75 per slice price.

Zankou Chicken in Burbank - Mark, Lily and I each ordered the 1/4 chicken white, which comes with a succulent roast chicken quarter, hummus, garlic dip, 2 warm pitas and a salad of tomatoes and pickled beets. For $6.95 it really doesn't get better than that. Though try to stick to the Burbank location, it's way cleaner and friendlier than the one on Sunset.

Village Idiot on Melrose - Not the low-down Irish pub one would think, this is more of a gastro-pub right by Albano's and Hot Wings (I see a food crawl in my future). Erin and I ordered the catfish with a side of Brussels sprouts with bacon. The sprouts were halved and roasted, which is the best way. Will go back to try their grilled chicken with warm bread salad and peach shortcake for dessert. A great beer selection too, with my hefeweizen microbrew actually smelling and tasting of bananas. This spot feels cool and New Yorky, and is a winner even if the pints seem a little too small.

Milk on Beverly Blvd. - This place at the corner of Beverly and Poinsettia was recently written up in Gourmet magazine and the photo of the Milkie Way Malt got me revved. This particular shake is made with the shop's homemade vanilla ice cream, malted milk, chocolate chips and a caramel-chocolate swirl. Yum. Yes I said yum. Oh and with tax this baby cost $5.95, meaning it's a once-in-a-blue-moon sort of indulgence in a world where you can get a great shake at fast food places for less.

Food is great, isn't it?
Until we eat again,
Marly

Steak Frites of My Dreams?

Hello,

This week my weekly ritual of looking at the NY Times Wednesday Dining section came a day late, as it is Thursday.

Turns out this week's section is a special Restaurant Preview, covering the of-course-bajillion restaurant openings in NY this fall by all the star chefs and wanna-be star chefs, flooding the city's eaters with too many food options once again in an autumnal mass frenzy of new dining establishments in my old town.

I gingerly reviewed the goings on and clicked on another article in there about restaurants in other cities but somehow when my brain saw this photo, I forgot what I read and cursed the fact that I live in Los Angeles for the very first time! Expecting this stupendous and gloriously caramelized steak & frites to be down some sultry back alley back east where I'd be lucky to taste it this December if the mobs clear out enough to give me a seat, I read the caption and was OVERJOYED to read that this photo is of a steak frites in...West Hollywood?? Oh Carnivoric Joy!

David Myers, the chef/owner of LA's Sona--a restaurant quite worthy of my attention but far beyond my humble Liz Claiborne wallet--has thankfully graced WeHo with a new brasserie called Comme Ça, meaning "Like That," meaning it will be affordable, meaning I can have it! We all can!! As soon as it opens.

No, I don't think Comme Ça is open (since there's no phone number yet one would assume not), but believe me, when that time comes, due to the reputation of this chef and the fact that they received national exposure with a photo that could drive vegetarians to repent for a day if not forever, this place will indeed be busy.

So keep an eye out for Comme Ça, and if you are so inclined, read about what's going on in the NY restaurant world, then check out the new places in other US cities too. Who knows, maybe you will find the dish of your dreams just around the corner too.

Comme Ça
8479 Melrose Ave (@ La Cienega)
Los Angeles, CA 90069-5305

(photo by Fran Collin, NY Times)

Until we eat again,
Marly

Vietnamese Food a Go-Go

Dear Peeps of this here Fobloog,
I bet you didn't know this, but since moving to LA I've denied myself a great pleasure... the joys of Vietnamese food. No worries, though. I'm happy to say that all changed last Friday, when my friend Joe and I ventured to San Gabriel for some Golden Deli action.

Golden Deli, per Chowhound.com, is a great spot to get all kinds of Vietnamese food. Joe wanted to try their Pho (traditional Vietnamese soup) and I wanted to try their Bun Bo Nuong--most people order this cold vermicelli noodle dish with grilled pork (as Bun Thit Nuong), but I got it with grilled beef like I've had it at University Pl. & 13th St. in NYC. Uh huh, that's a picture of my fave dish up there!

People who haven't tried Vietnamese food may assume it's similar to other Asian cuisines, ie. Thai or Korean. The wikipedia listing for Vietnamese food is: "A cuisine known for its common use of fish sauce, soy sauce and hoisin sauce. Recipes use many vegetables, herbs and spices, including lemon grass, lime, and kaffir lime leaves. Throughout all regions the emphasis is always on serving fresh vegetables and/or fresh herbs as side dishes along with dipping sauce."

Anywho, we got there at 8pm and had to wait 15-20 minutes. It was crowded! Once inside we saw the vast menu and stuck to our plans: Joe ordered a beef Pho and I ordered my beef and noodle dish. Each item cost under $5!! So that's why we also ordered the shrimp and pork summer roll appetizer (Goi Cuon) and a Banh Mi, the famous Vietnamese sandwich (French bread with paté, Vietnamese mayo, pork, pickled daikon, carrot, and cucumber slices) because I'd always wanted to try that and especially since here it only cost ...hello $3!

How did everything taste? Well Joe said the Pho was tops, compared to other places, and it came with fresh basil and bean sprouts to mix in. My Bun Bo Nuong rated a T for Tasty, though the beef was cut thinner than I prefer in this dish (I'm telling you the best place for thin cut beef is in a greazy Philly cheesesteak in this person's humble opinion). The pork sandwich and spring rolls were tasty too, and all that plus an iced tea came to $17! Wow no wonder this place is crowded.

One thing I love about Vietnamese food is its simple fresh ingredients and deliciousness. Another thing is the various options for adding heat on the table, so if you don't like spicy food like my Mom it's perfect because everything arrives "spicy" free. These sauces were: hoisin sauce, red chili sauce (a.k.a. sambal olek) and a lovely chili flake-infused brown oil. Mmmmmmmm happy stuff!

Now this was all well and good, and I do recommend you make a trip to the Golden Deli soon. Note, however, that when you are there, I'll likely be next door trying something else. In the same strip mall is an awesome-looking Chinese seafood spot (with other Asian influences) called Newport Seafood Tan Cang Restaurant.

From what we could see through the window, they apparently serve a close relative to the famous (say it with me now) "Shanghai Chili Crab," AND they make the dish with lobster too! Shiver me crab legs! On the menu it's called New Port Special Crab (and New Port Special Lobster), stir-fried with chopped green onions, various colored chiles and onions. Watching tables dine on these platters of delectable chopped up crustacean blew my food-lovin' mind. No price is listed on the menu for these items, but come on, does it really matter??

See you in San Gabriel soon!
Marly

I Heart Seattle

So I am begrudgingly back from Seattle, the city that I feel still serves the best food in the land.

To commemorate the impetus behind the visit I purchased this artisan's plate of "the salmon." Ah yes, copper river salmon, you were mine. *sigh*

And it was cold, and cloudy, and one day rainy, and just to tease me on my departure day it was bright and sunny...but no matter; it was great to be back!

Instead of going back to old haunts per usual, this creature-of-habit tried some new stuff, and rediscovered some old. While all this news now appears on the City List at right, there are still a few more bits to share about why I Heart Seattle:

1) Visiting Queen Anne -- a tiny neighborhood on a hill overlooking Elliott Bay near Seattle Center that is filled with greenery and charm.

2) Discovering Black Bottle -- a newish wine bar/small plates restaurant that has the coolest industrial Brooklyn decor and vibe.

3) Trying Dry Soda -- lemongrass was good but lavender was the best! What a great thing to use as a cocktail mixer if it hasn't already been discovered.

4) Remembering why I love the restaurants of Tom Douglas -- one bite into a mushroom appetizer speaks volumes on Pacific Northwest Cuisine and why it rocks my world.

5) Sitting in an oasis of a coffee shop -- with 20 clean armchairs each with a street view, where the music is soothing, people of all ages have enough room to each get a seat, and the coffee is perfect.

6) Witnessing restaurant originality again -- the restaurants of Seattle have more creativity than restaurants in other great cities, yet you don't pay the same high price for it. To experience this level of freshness in New York in these days of the super chef, you would pay 3-4 times as much. Here it's just how restaurants are.

7) Delighting over a new kind of condiment table-setting at Steelhead Diner -- sure they had ketchup at this "diner that isn't really a diner," and Crystal hot sauce. Add to this a bottle of pepper vinegar. But the coolest was, while eating a fantastic salad with pine nut vinaigrette, what appeared to be salt & pepper shakers. One contained a house-made Cajun seasoning, and the other contained... smoked sea salt? This is expensive! So to have all that on every table, such a unique and generous selection, made me smile.

8) Copper River Sockeye Salmon -- and we've come full circle to the reason behind this visit. It turns out that I'm not a huge fan of the king variety; the sockeye is the kind I find transcendental, sooo deeply orange/pink in color (like a salmon-colored shirt, that color salmon), and so rich with flavor you can't imagine.

Til next time Seattle!
Marly

New - Marly's City Must Lists

Ok fellow food explorers, it's time to introduce the list I've been compiling for ages, my tried-and-true city favorites, each item sampled personally at least one time -- ok probably more like two, three or ten times! (*blush*)

If you've known me awhile you may have heard some of this before, though this is just the beginning. The list is going to be BIG, it's going to grow baby, and new things will be added as my beloved food adventures continue onward.

You'll notice, unlike other reviews or lists, that this one is short & sweet (& salty too! lol). Expositional verbiage has been left out so you can get right to the need-to-know: where to go and why. Do you have time to read through pages of text to get to the pearl? I didn't think so. Do I have time to provide links for every pearl you find? I knew you'd understand that I don't :).

So on the right side of this blog, click on the link at City Lists. There you will find a short list of cities in alphabetical order. Each city lists up to five categories:
1. Eats (sit-down places)
2. Drinks (sometimes including food)
3. Markets & Shops (farmer's, gourmet & unique)
4. Hotels
5. Other

The destinations on each list feature the places I like to breathe in while visiting a particular place (like the photo above, Dahlia Lounge in Seattle). This is followed by a neighborhood, if relevant, and then the nugget -- the item you should order to achieve some level of nirvana. See if you don't order what I recommend I won't be held responsible for your "just OK" experience. Got it? And this doesn't mean the item I include is the only great thing on the menu; no it probably means I never tried anything else because I liked this thing soooo much.

Planet Marly reader, let me be the first to humbly say these lists are by no means complete. Some listings may seem redundant or even the opposite of trendy, but don't you fret -- this is an ongoing project, viewable from the blog's righthand column. So don't forget to check back for updates or when you're about to take a trip! Have faith that if it's on the list it means it's damn good, and here's hoping you'll agree.

Where I've been, where I'm going 5/10/07

Where I've been:
A few weeks ago Dan K from NYC came to town and we went to Soot Bull Jeep, the best Korean BBQ place I know of. Since I am known for ordering redundancies, we had the steak and the spicy pork (3rd time). Dan of course went back to New York singing a new song that went something like this... "When I need a spicy kick, Ktown Q to my ribs does stick. It's good to try new spicy things; sometimes even I tire of buffalo wings."

Then last Friday Sussy took me for my first visit to Cobras & Matadors, Hollywood Blvd. location. It so happens I haven't had the big food O in a long time, and this place did it. Can't live without items: almond & cabrales-stuffed bacon-wrapped dates in a port reduction, cheese plate, churros. Can live without: the socca, which I'd hoped would be like the famous chickpea pancakes of Nice (only seen photos) but these were thick and covered in a curry-spiced honey. Why, why?

Where I'm going:
San Francisco! Back to the Ferry Building with Pina for Recchiuti's fleur-de-sel caramels (Mr. R himself just replied to my email inquiry and sadly they will be making passion fruit caramels no more), then venturing into Berkeley for the first time to gain foodie glory by simply walking past the apparent birthplace of California cuisine, Chez Panisse.

Seattle! It's copper river salmon season mid-May to mid-June, and I'll be there right in the middle. Trying all new places this time...already have a dinner rez at the tried-and-true Cascadia (will I try their Douglas Fir cocktail? Think I must), and on my list as almost definites are Restaurant Zoe, Tom Douglas's new pizza spot Serious Pie, and Flying Fish. Not to mention I'll be hopping on a stool at the fabulously retro Cyclops Bar for another swig of the best mojito in the continental United States.