A Tuesday Night Debauchery. Radio Room at The Edison.

Once a month on a Tuesday, The Edison brings in talented bartenders from around the nation for a one-night mayhem called The Radio Room.
Set in LA's first power plant, the speakeasy feel of The Edison comes naturally. I had been to their Tuesday "speakeasy" nights a long time ago, when it was small and only held in one of the rooms.

Now Radio Room goes big. Last month Radio Room returned to The Edison and featuring their new Director of Spirits Joe Brooke (formerly from Copa D'Oro), Brian Miller from Death & Co in New York, and Erick Castro from Rickhouse bar in San Francisco.

Probably thanks to the Tasting Table coverage of the event that morning, the place got packed as the night goes on, so for the next one either come early or come really late to avoid the lines!
We got there somewhat early and managed to score a side room to ourselves along with fellow bloggers I bumped into there.

Each of the three bartenders featured three special drinks each. I hit up Brian Miller's from Death & Co station first.

The first drink I had that night became my favorite: Hispaniola from Brian Miller featured rum, Summer Royale tea, lime, ginger, and syrup.
Not that I tried every single special drink that night. They did have 3x3=9 drinks to try!

I also enjoyed Sancho's Lady from Erick Castro.
The wait to order a drink did get really long later that night, what with people going up to these guest bartenders and asking for a gin and tonic and all.
Not to worry for next time, though, The Edison promises to bring even more bartenders and also "satellite bars" where their regular employees will man for those of you who want to just order a hi-ball, a beer or whatnot. That will certainly free up more of the time and hands of the renowned guest bartenders to make their own special, complicated drinks.

Joe Brooke from Copa D'Oro, new Director of Spirits at The Edison

They also had live music from The Vagabond Opera. I didn't pay much attention the them until I hear Scott Walker's Amsterdam playing (at which point I immediately rushed close to the stage).
All is great if I can hear some Scott Walker!

Somewhat hidden in the back are gems from the sea. Christophe Happillon was shucking away some Fanny Bay oysters. I tasted one and - wow - amazing oysters. I do hear they will be back for the next Radio Room and I'll definitely be on the lookout for them.
The next Radio Room promises to be crowded too but with more bartenders and satellite bars, the wait should be much less painful. March 4th Marching Band will be there to keep the beat up throughout the night, and perhaps Happillon's amazing oysters will make a show too, so mark Tuesday March 30th on your calendar!

The Nasi Bungkus Roundup: 5 Banana-leaf Wraps, 60 miles.

It all started with a line in Jonathan Gold's LA Weekly article on Indo Cafe. In the last paragraph, he wrote:

But you could probably scour every Indonesian restaurant in California without finding another nasi bungkus, a sort of TV dinner of sautéed green beans, beef rend[a]ng and curried chicken wrapped with rice and a fiery green chile paste inside a banana leaf. (The leaf’s green fragrance works its way into the rice even in the few minutes it will be in front of you in the restaurant but is heaven itself unwrapped for lunch the next day.)

A marvelous description, to be sure, yet that opening line bugged me. I remembered Linda Burum's LA Times article about that same dish - at Java Spice in Rowland Heights. Granted theirs is only available on Saturdays and Sundays. But what about the restaurant just across the street from Indo Cafe, Simpang Asia? I was pretty sure they had nasi bungkus.

In the end, I decided to do a round-up. Yep, a nasi bungkus round-up. Because if you do scour - forget California, let's just focus on LA County - you can find other nasi bungkus.

First thing's first. What in the world is nasi bungkus?
The name itself just translates to "wrapped rice" and the dish is just that. Rice wrapped in banana leaf along with whatever lauk - meat, vegetables, or other accompaniments you'd want to put in. It really refers more to the packaging and a way of getting some food to-go than what is inside and is as ubiquitous in Indonesia as bento boxes are in Japan.
While the idea was that the banana leaf (natural and ubiquitous) will hold the oil, moisutre, and sauces in, it certainly didn't hurt that its fragrances seeps into the warm rice.

These days and in LA in particular though, certain staple items are expected to be found inside. An egg. Some beef rendang. Some sort of chicken, and of course some sort of vegetable medley.

I started my acquisitions with the easiest and closest:

Simpang Asia

10433 National Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90034

I ordered a nasi bungkus to go (because that's what nasi bungkus was meant to be in the first place). They wrapped the rice and further put it in a styrofoam box - a little redundant? - with a side of shrimp chips.
In this nasi bungkus ($6.99) they put white rice, chicken, beef rendang, vegetable curry (lodeh), potatoes with chicken gizzard, Balinese egg.

Their chicken was surprisingly tender, but unfortunately the rendang wasn't as tender as it could've been. My favorite part was the morsels of delicious chicken gizzard chunks. The lodeh was also flavorful without being too spicy. Since lodeh is a coconut-based vegetable curry, it adds a richness to the dish and the part of the rice that has soaked up this curry sauce was incredibly delicious. The rice itself is for the most part fragrant after having been wrapped inside the banana leaf.

Next was the restaurant across the street that J Gold had visited:

Indo Cafe

10430 National Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90034-4664

Indo Cafe's nasi bungkus contained white rice, beef rendang, green beans, hard boiled egg, chicken curry, tofu/tempeh curry.

This was served with a dollop of green chile, which is traditionally from the Padang region in Sumatra. The rice did receive some fragrance from the banana leaf, but it wasn't as moist as Simpang Asia's. The beef rendang was more tender, however, and more than makes up for it. Surprisingly, my favorite part of the dish was the curried tofu and tempeh. The tempeh here was one of the better ones in the city, chewier and not as dry as others.

Java Spice

1743 Fullerton Road

Rowland Heights, CA 91748-2614

At one point I managed to enlist Wandering Chopsticks and Sinosoul and dragged them all the way to Rowland Heights for the LA Times-mentioned nasi bungkus at Java Spice.

Since it received such a great write-up and is only available on the weekends, Java Spice was packed on a Saturday night and service was painfully slow.

All that aside, let's focus on the dish we came for.
Inside: rice, marinated fried chicken (ayam kalasan), tofu, tempeh, telur kecap (egg boiled in soy sauce), and of course, beef rendang, jackfruit curry.

The rice was particularly fragrant and brought this dish to a whole new level. It was much more fragrant and rich I was suspecting that it might've been coconut rice, but it might've just been the results of the curry and sauces seeping through. The ayam kalasan was disappointing as it was too sweet, a little tough and didn't really go with the rest of the dish (so I thought - chicken curry in my nasi bungkus please). Putting the chicken aside, everything else was great. The rendang was very tender and so was the jackfruit curry - usually a rare sight unless you're eating nasi gudeg.

They also serve this with a side of green chili, which was also particularly good. Sinosoul had to ask for more chili even if he had to face the possibility of them spitting in it (we've been giving them a hard time for their service ...)

I thought I was almost done but just to check I called other Indonesian places that I knew and found yet another one that serves nasi bungkus!

Sate House

812 Nogales Avenue

Walnut, CA 91789-4170


Like Java Spice, the nasi bungkus at Sate House is also only available on Saturdays and Sundays. I had to make this trek twice because the first Saturday I went they had already run out. I was on a mission, however, and thus made the 23 mile drive again the next weekend.

A little different this time. The beef rendang was there, with fried chicken and egg, but the green beans with tofu and tempeh were not curried but just boiled, and the whole thing was topped with some stir fried vermicelli.

I'm sure you all understand why everything is piled on top of the rice right? So that their sauces and juices will trickle down and douse the rice moist with spicy, flavorful sauce ...
Probably the least spicy of the five, I enjoyed this one quite a bit with the fork-tender beef and moist and tender chicken. The vermicelli was quite a nice touch as well, adding another dimension of texture.

I saved the furthest restaurant for last but finally made my way down to the 562 area, Bellflower.

Toko Rame

17155 Bellflower Blvd

Bellflower, CA 90706

The nasi bungkus from Toko Rame had gotten a write-up a few years ago from Elmo Monster, a fellow foodblogger from Indonesia whom I unfortunately have not met.

Upon picking up my order I immediately thought "Wow, this is the heaviest one yet!" and upon opening it and seeing the red pile of rice, thought "Uh oh, this is gonna be the spiciest one .."
White rice topped with egg balado, beef rendang, fried chicken drumstick, lodeh (vegetable curry)

I sat a big bottle of water next to me and I was ready. Some people complain that the beef rendang found in this part of the world is just not as spicy as back home. Well, Toko Rame's is still not as spicy but it sure does pack a heat. The beef was earthy and tender, the chicken a little dry but had a nice turmeric flavor. The boiled cabbage on top was contrastingly unspiced which helped me tone down the spiciness but on the other hand could be detracting.

Toko Rame already mixed the rice with the chili paste for you, you see, instead of putting a dollop in a corner. The end result is an amazingly spicy and flavorful rice that you won't be able to stop eating even after you've finished all the meat and vegetables. If you can't, don't worry, just rewrap the rice for the next day... back in the banana leaf, of course.

The "Legendary" Oxtail Soup at Hotel Borobudur (Jakarta, Indonesia)

Who's calling this ox tail soup legendary? I didn't start it, for sure. By the time I was enjoying food, Hotel Borobudur was already known for their "legendary oxtail soup."

The claim makes sense historically, as Hotel Borobudur is the first five star hotel in Indonesia. Being a 5-star hotel and all, the ox tail soup costs a ridiculous Rp. 150,000, which is a whopping $15. Well, putting it that way it seems affordable to try, so we went.

We had a super early dinner because my parents had to fly back to Surabaya around 6 pm. When we got there we realized we're missing both the lunch and dinner buffet! The dinner buffet would've cost $25 and came with all the ox tail soup you want, along with crab and other goodies. Dammit.

Besides your typical soft drinks, Hotel Borobudur also offers a couple of traditional drinks, one of them being a jamu which is said to be the favorite of an old king from Jogjakarta. Jamu is the medicinal herbal drink of Indonesia and its variety spans as many as the herbs you might think of to put in it.
This jamu is actually sweet and refreshing, without that medicinal funk at all.

We all got, of course, the ox tail soup. But Hotel Borobudur offers three types of sop buntut: the original, fried, or bbq.

The verdict of the day: get the original.

The oxtail meat in the original soup is much more tender and the soup as a whole retains more of the meat flavor.

For the fried and the barbequed, the meat is served dry, separated from the broth.

The oxtail meat is tougher in this case and having them fried or with bbq sauce on top didn't add much for me and did not compensate for the loss of the meat's tenderness.
Everything is of course served with a side of appropriate condiments - in this case lime to squeeze into the soup, pickled vegetables, and a dollop of chili sauce. Add to taste.

The questions "was it worth $15?" and "was it worth Rp. 150,000?" are completely different, even if the two monetary values are equivalent. In the latter case, probably not. If you're curious in trying this legendary oxtail soup, though, you should probably go for the buffet. That seemed worth the money.

Bogor Café at Hotel Borobudur
Jalan Lapangan Banteng Selatan
P.O.Box 1329
Jakarta 10710
Indonesia
Tel: (62-21) 3805555
http://www.hotelborobudur.com/

Indonesia: Jakarta/Bogor

JAKARTA
Restaurants:
Bogor Café Hotel Borobudur
Paradise Dynasty

Street Carts:
Popiah Tiong Sim

------------------------------
BOGOR
Warung Doyong

Xanh Bistro: A Dessert Stop for the Slightly Adventurous

I've gone to Xanh Bistro almost everytime I'm down in the area, thanks to Wandering Chopsticks taking me and inomthings here. That said, I've never had any of their savory food. At all. It's always been a dessert stop for us.

The dessert menu is small yet offers an interesting, asian take on the "classics." Some of them just involves an unsurprising flavor infusion such as the coconut crème brulée, or a chocolate molten cake served with ginger ice cream.
The coconut crème brulée, albeit the simplest, has now turned out to be our favorite.
The molten cake is also good and goes well with the ginger ice cream, but the shot of sweet hibiscus "tea" that comes with it doesn't complement the dish and was too sweet and wholly unnecessary.

On the more interesting and unexpected side was a sticky rice dessert topped with mocha mousse and spicy chocolate sauce.
This dessert had quite an interesting texture which I enjoyed. The chewy sticky rice with the light mocha mousse worked better than I expected.

Go a step beyond people's comfort zone and you can get their Durian "Parfait" (I put that in quotation mark because it really isn't in any way "parfait"). The strong durian aroma is definitely there, though not all that "bad"/overwhelming. If you're unitiated, I advise you to avoid this dessert. If you love durian, then definitely go for it.
A bit of cake is topped with a light and airy durian mousse, served with passionfruit sauce on the bottom. The dominant flavor and aroma is of course the durian though. You've been warned.

The best part of eating dessert there?
Any of them can be enjoyed with a cup of hot lemongrass tea. Distinctly fragrant and warming, it's the best accompaniment to these desserts.





Xanh Bistro
16161 Brookhurst St
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
(714) 531-2030
www.xanhbistro.com

Border Grill Truck: Curbside Ceviche

Food trucks and taco trucks especially are filling up the streets of LA ever since Kogi's success story. But the Border Grill truck rolled out bringing the food of Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger that had already stood the test of customers in the Border Grill restaurants into the streets.

When I approached Ciudad for a donation for Bid and Eat for Haiti, they asked me if I had checked out the Border Grill truck. Why, no, I hadn't. I promised I would so per their invitation I stopped by for lunch en route to work. The truck was parked in front of LA Mart for the day.
I asked them to just give me whatever they want/think is best and ended up with a lot of food for one!

Peruvian ceviche ($5.00) - mahi mahi, lime, ginger, aji amarillo chile, pickled onion, corn, tortilla cone
Ceviche for $5? Nice. This was a good lightly spicy ceviche rendition with generous amount fresh and meaty mahi mahi. Also, being a corn-whore I really liked that extra touch. It was a bit too acidic for me to finish the whole thing though. In the end, I prefer my ceviche with leche de tigre sauce as the one I had at La Mar Cebicheria (in Lima - I thought the SF one was not as great) - a subtle tang and more focus on the fish instead.

Next I had two of their favorite tacos:
Yucatan pork taco ($2.50) - roasted achiote pork, pickled onion, orange salsa
crispy Baja fish taco ($3.00) - chipotle honey, creamy salsa fresca
Both of these tacos were great. The price point for tacos here are higher than other "taco trucks" and the portion smaller yet that higher price is worth it. These tacos weren't simply "put together." The ingredients are fresher, leaner, higher quality and you won't feel like as much as a grease pit as you usually might after a taco run. The condiments are well thought out and complement the main ingredient. I particularly liked the fish taco. The crispy breading held a meaty and juicy piece of fish. With the creamy salsa fresca? It's like fish n chips with a kick.

Dessert options here are still limited. I tried their Churro bites ($3.00) dulce de leche infused churros, cinnamon sugar, whipped cream
Unlike your usual crunchy churro, these infused churro bites are doughy. I liked the dulce de leche infusion but still preferred it crunchy outside like a typical churro.

I'm now a bit bummed about going to the truck before the Gold standard event though, since apparently there they served an amazing avocado and fried quinoa taco that both vegetarians and carnivores alike rave about.

Border Grill Truck
http://www.bordergrill.com/bg_t/bg_twel.htm
Twitter: @BorderGrill

Dassai Sake Pairing at Sushi Central.

Hamachi sushi paired with Dassai 23 was a revelation.

Dassai 23

For this pairing we owe master sake sommelier Yuji Matsumoto.

Yuji-san invited us to a sake and sushi pairing dinner was held at Sushi Central, a strip-mall spot in Palms. This pairing featured Dassai sake from Asahi Shuzo brewery in Honshu, which only makes junmai daiginjo sake.

I haven't heard of this place until I received the invitation from Yuji-san although now I wondered why that is. Our conversation revealed that the sushi chef, Phillip Yi, was formerly director and instructor of the California Sushi Academy.

"Wait, the one in the Trevor Corson book? The Zen of Fish?"
"Yes. He interviewed my wife for that book, she was one of the first female sushi chefs."

I've read and own this book. How did I miss this place?

Sushi Central also has no alcohol license. You know what that means. Yep, BYOB. Throughout our dinner, local regulars fill the small place and taking out various bottles/cans from a brown bag. Mostly beers and that lovely Charles Shaw two-buck-chucks (I urge you not to ... bring some good stuff instead, this sushi is worth it).

While we were waiting for someone to bring the sake, we got to try some ono sushi - somewhat considered a "signature" dish here at Sushi Central and what his regulars affectionately call the "crack sushi." This ono sushi was also the subject of a Bobby Flay throwdown episode.
Amazing. The ono was meaty and had a light smoky flavor. Yi served very well-prepared sushi with a nice ratio of fish:rice.

Soon our bottles of sake was delivered. The man we need to thank for this was Kazuhiro Sakurai from the Dassai factory in Japan who flew in for three days. He probably didn't fly just to meet us, but we felt special all the same.

"Dassai 23." What does the "23" refer to? I know what rum "151" refers to, but nope. Not it. The numbers on sake bottles actually refer to how fine the rice has been polished. The junmai dai ginjo sake type is the finest and has to be polished at least 50% or lower. Dassai only makes dai ginjo sake.
Not sure you can really tell from that photo but there is visible difference in size between the three samples. Dassai "23" means that the rice has been polished until it only retains 23% of its original size. It also takes 3 days and 3 nights to do this, as opposed to 10 hours to get to 70%.

What happens to that other 77% of the rice? Who knows ... I should've asked but did I really want to know ... ?

Yuji san started our sushi/sake pairing with the climax: the hamachi and Dassai 23 pairing.
This hamachi is a pretty lean cut.

Upon first tasting the Dassai 23, I noted that it smells very fruity. It had a clean, crisp and smooth taste with hints of lychee - perhaps pineapple.

With the yellowtail? The sake transformed into a "rounder", smoother sake. This pairing really brought out the sake.

As we move on to some fattier cuts of fish, we also move on to richer sake.
The salmon belly was paired with the Dassai 50. The sake was richer and had a fuller body than the 23. This was heavier while the 23 had a much cleaner taste. Paired with the salmon belly ,the sake developed a fruitier and mellower taste.

Next we had some house-cured saba (mackerel) with yuzu.
The saba is not a common sushi as it had the reputation of being too salty and fishy. The house-cured version at Sushi Central is a little salty, but not overpowering. It was tender and had a great texture. This was paired with the Dassai 39 (polished to 39%) which is only available in Japan. Neither the sake nor the fish overpowered each other.

Spicy tuna roll came next, paired with an unfiltered daiginjo sake (Daiginjo Nigori).
The Dassai Daiginjo Nigori is a dryer nigori than what you're probably used to. The fermented smell reminded me of the nanchy drink I had in Tijuana. While the previous pairing focused more on the sake, the nigori sake cuts through the spiciness of the tuna and enhances the flavor of the sushi.

The classic near-end of a sushi meal: kani (crab) roll.
This was a great crab roll. We moved back to the Dassai 50 sake, which worked well with the butteriness of the crab.

We also had an ankimo roll. I enjoyed this as the ponzu sauce isn't as acidic as many - it had a subtler acidity that works nicely with the ankimo without overpowering it.

I've had the Dassai 50 before while dining at Hachi and while I already liked it quite a bit there, this tasting brought me beyond.

On top of that, I discovered a gem of a sushi place.

Thank you Yuji san, chef Phillip Yi, and of course Sakurai san from Dassai for bringing six bottles of sake ;)Sake sommelier Yuji Matsumoto and Chef Phillip Yi of Sushi Central

PS. Chef Phillip Yi also holds a sushi class every last Sunday of the month.
Yuji Matsumoto will be giving a seminar during the LA Sake Festival on March 27. He's also planning a sake/cheese tasting event, so stay tuned.

Read Shop Eat Sleep's post here and e*starLA's post here.


Sushi Central
3500 Overland ave. #100
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 202-6866
http://sushi-central.net/



Disclaimer: This meal was hosted and the sake provided by Dassai.