Atticus Creamery & Pies (West LA)

by guest blogger @btsunoda

If you haven’t noticed, pies have made a comeback. Doing a simple search on pies in the LA area yields a lot more than simple coffee shops. Many bakeries are featuring pies in a big way and I found that many pie shops now exist. Atticus Creamery & Pies is a new dessert shop in West LA. What is unique about their operation is that they are first and foremost a pie shop.

Each day, they painstakingly hand roll their crust and slowly assemble their pies by hand using natural ingredients. Unlike traditional pies that only have a crust and a filling, Atticus makes unique four-layered pies. They begin with their hand rolled crust, then add a filling such as fresh fruit jam, then layer another filling such as mousse or custard. It is then topped with light cream with additions such as caramelized popcorn or toasted pieces of coconut.

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Revisiting Picca with Gojuchang Lamb Chops and Avocado Cocktail

I never got around to writing about Picca when they first opened, so with the newly decorated upper level mezzanine (I love the warm lights) and new menu items come my opportunity to write about it.

They did not change the entire menu but there are plenty of new items, my favorite of which is the Anticucho de Cordero (lamb chops, gojuchang marinade, aji amarillo miso, $28)

It's a bit pricey for two lamb chops but I just can't get enough of that gojuchang marinade! The lamb was tender but even after the meat was gone I wanted to keep sucking on the bone ...

There are a couple of new cocktails as well, but one of my favorites remained from the old menu, which is the green one pictured below: The Avocado Project (5 Island white rum, fresh avocado, vitamin C (orange juice perhaps?), fresh lime juice, agave nectar, salt, $12)

When I first ordered this drink I was expecting a creamier drink, instead the citrus cuts it nicely, making it a beautifully balanced drink with a hint of avocado flavor.

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Tasting Menu at Shunji (West LA)

Shunji is one of the hot recent restaurant openings, with Chef Shunji Nakao's serving his "contemporary" omakase in an inconspicuous stand-alone building on Pico Blvd. There are only a handful of tables and a few seats at the sushi bar, and the chef prepared most of the dishes personally (some get fired in the kitchen).

His printed menu looks like the standard Japanese restaurant, but we had read about his omakase (the omakase was not printed on the menu) and just asked for that.

As an amuse bouche, a small bowl of jelly with cucumber and vinegar sauce

Next is a plate of small bites of vegetables, ankimo topped with caviar, a ball of purple potato with blue cheese and persimmon, and sweet potato with feta and truffle

Unsure if we were supposed to eat these in a particular order, we moved in one direction and it moves from rich (ankimo) to the palate cleansing, crisp, unadorned vegetables to the creamy potatoes

The scallop sashimi, topped with arugula flower, was so fresh

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Sotto: Beyond the Test Kitchen

Chefs Steve Samson and Zach Pollack (formerly of Pizzeria Ortica in Costa Mesa) recently opened up Sotto on the first floor of the old Test Kitchen space. Sotto focuses its menu on Southern Italian cuisine with a wood-burning Neapolitan pizza oven.

After hearing great reviews, I finally made my visit. The Test Kitchen space looks quite different now, but it was just as packed (and a little loud).

We started the meal with tomato-braised octopus ai ferri, chickpeas, preserved lemon, chard, bottarga ($14)

Sorry, David Chang, I like my "rustic Italian shit" including this one. There's just something about a hearty tomato-based dish, especially with this tender octopus and the chard.

Casarecce, braised lamb ragu, egg, pecorino ($15)

Casarecce, which means "homemade", is basically a short, partially rolled pappardelle. They're rolled loosely and look like scrolls. Al dente and almost chewy, it's hard to imagine what would go better with these pasta than chunky lamb ragu.

Grilled lamb ribs in agrodolce, sesame seeds, mustard green salad ($22)

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Serving Up Kamado and More

I haven't been back to Torafuku in a while, but when I did a few days ago I wondered why. Torafuku serves some good solid food! I guess their dishes are not something you normally crave for ... and I've been into trying new things. But we wanted tofu one night and I wasn't up for spicy soon tofu, so we went back to Torafuku. I'm glad we did!

We started with the seaweed salad. This was a good starter, with some nice texture from the seaweed.

Torafuku serves their own homemade tofu and we've always loved it. It has an amazingly smooth texture.
This time we also got one of my favorite standards: grilled eggplant with miso.
They had the kin me dai (japanese big eye fish) sashimi. I was surprised to see this on the menu, I never thought of Torafuku as a place that would have 'rare' fishes. I've never had this before so I had to get it. They served each slice with a thin slice of lemon.
I thought this was really good and the fish was fresh. I also liked the lemon touch, although I also liked it without it. The fish was slightly chewier than say, salmon or hamachi, but otherwise had similar texture. More like halibut, perhaps?

Torafuku also prides themselves on serving free range chicken and eggs. We got the free range eggs tamagoyaki, which was excellent! It had more color and flavor than normal tamago.
We also got the grilled free range chicken thigh.
It was a very, very juicy chicken! Without all the excess fat too. And served with yuzu, which was a very nice touch.

I got the salmon touban yaki, which is their kamado rice with salmon and an egg - served on a sizzling hot plate. The server will bring it and mix it for you on your table.
Then they top it with seaweed and salmon roe.

For dessert, get the mango kuzu! It is mango mousse served with cream.

It is my favorite dessert there, but then again I am /very/ partial to mangoes.
















We also got the custard pudding (flan). I am also partial to flan ;) This was a good one, though I've had better.
I had forgotten how good the food at Torafuku is. I will definitely be back for more pretty soon.

Torafuku
10914 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
(310) 470-0014‎