Showing posts with label cafe pinot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cafe pinot. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

How to Make Duck Rillette. Recipe from Cafe Pinot's Art of Charcuterie Class

Patina's Cafe Pinot is holding a monthly Art of Charcuterie class with Chef Joe Vasiloff. Each month's class is different, and last month we learned how to make duck breast prosciutto and duck rillette. Here's the recipe for the duck rillette!

INGREDIENTS
4 duck legs to make confit
1 cup green salt:

Ingredients for green salt (makes approximately 2 cups)
1 ½ cups kosher salt
1 cup picked parsley (packed)
¼ cup picked thyme leaves
3 fresh bay leaf
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
3 cloves of garlic (sliced)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse to a super fine consistency, so it resembles the texture of white sand.
Art of Charcuterie
4 cups duck fat for confit 3/4-1 cup duck fat for rillette Freshly ground pepper MATERIALS
1 medium size glass dish, such as Pyrex for curing duck legs 1 high-sided saucepan for melting duck fat for confit 1 high-sided, oven-proof baking pan or dish 1 boning knife 1 pair of scissors (optional)

DIRECTIONS FOR DUCK CONFIT
Step 1: Trim the duck legs of any excess fat that that extends beyond the flesh. Optional and as learned in class: around the base of the shank, cut around the shank, through the skin and tendons until you reach the bone.
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Monday, February 23, 2015

The Art of Charcuterie Class at Cafe Pinot

Ever wonder how to make prosciutto? Or what exactly a rillette is? Wonder no more, because Patina's Cafe Pinot in downtown Los Angeles is holding a monthly charcuterie class with their chef, Joe Vasiloff. Every month's class is different and I attended the one in February where we made duck breast prosciutto and duck rillette.

Making charcuterie means curing meat. And curing means you need curing salt. Vasiloff uses this salt recipe full of herbs that he learned from Chef Thomas Keller when he worked at Bouchon in Las Vegas and Beverly Hills.

Art of Charcuterie
Duck legs are cured in the salt for hours then confit-ed for the duck rillette. This is a hands-on class where you'd have to trim duck fat and learn how to wrap meats for hanging.
Art of Charcuterie

Sunday, August 24, 2014

New Chef Heralds Summer at Cafe Pinot (Downtown LA)

Downtown's Cafe Pinot has announced Joe Vasiloff as their new head chef. Chef Vasiloff has worked with the Patina Group since 2011, most recently opening the Wine Bar at the Hollywood Bowl. Before that, he's also worked at Bouchon and Animal.

I recently went to a lunch tasting, sampling some of his menu offerings.
Soup du Jour: Chilled heirloom tomato soup, bluefin crab salad, old bay and cheddar crackers

IMG_7785

Burrata salad, mixed stone fruits, honeycomb, mint, smoked sea salt, mache, marcona almonds, candied lime
Burrata salad
There are quite a lot going on in this burrata salad! I particularly loved the addition of the honeycomb, and the almonds provided a nice texture contrast. I think I might start putting honeycomb on my salads ...

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Cafe Pinot: A Refuge from Bustling Downtown LA

The outdoor dining area at Cafe Pinot transports you out of the busy, loud, crowded downtown LA. Next to the Maguire garden, their patio escapes the busy foot traffic and gives you a more tranquil setting for your meals.

This Patina group restaurant offers a pretty good prix fixe deal during lunch time. Their Lunch Spa Menu offers a changing two courses (where you'd typically get two choices for each course) for $24.

We tried this place at the beginning of summer and ordered the Tomato Gazpacho to start our lunch prix fixe.
A solid gazpacho. Nice flavors and cooling for a warm summer day.

For the entree, we ordered the Grilled Arctic Char with miso-based sauce.
The fish was quite nicely prepared. The skin was cripsy while the fish meat remains moist and juicy. We also really enjoyed the sweet miso based sauce pairing.

The lunch spa menu didn't come with dessert but Mattatouille convinced me that the peach crumble here is definitely worth getting, so we ordered one to share.

Warm Peach Crumble, vanilla ice cream, star anise essence ($8)
Absolutely worth ordering. This is one of the best peach crumble I've ever tasted. The focus here is definitely the peach, which was deliciously sweet and is not overwhelmed by the syrup. The crunchy crumble adds a nice contrast to both the flavor and texture. This is something worth coming back for.

I was pleasantly surprised by Cafe Pinot. The al fresco garden patio dining was very enjoyable, the prix fixe quite reasonable and the food well prepared. But as you can imagine, the peach crumble clinched the deal for me. As long as that stays on the menu, I'd come back for sure.

Cafe Pinot
700 W 5th St
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 239-6500
www.patinagroup.com/cafePinot/
Cafe Pinot on Urbanspoon
Cafe Pinot in Los Angeles

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