New Chef Shines at Ray's and Stark Bar (Mid City, Los Angeles, CA)

By: guest blogger @btsunoda

It’s been my experience that many museums don’t plan for the food and drink interests of their patrons. While visitors may be wowed by the fine art and sculptures, the food offered doesn’t quite match the experience. I recently visited Ray’s and Stark bar and I’m happy to say that I had a very different experience. Ray’s and Stark Bar is located at the LA County Museum of Art or LACMA.

They opened in 2011 and feature a Mediterranean-inspired menu includes dishes locally obtained ingredients and offerings from their wood-burning oven. They feature seasonal cocktails, a California-centric wine list, and artisan beers and spirits. While the original chef, Kris Morningstar, former sous chef Viet Pham has taken over and keeping the restaurant going strong.
 The restaurant is actually situated outdoors from LACMA, next to the BP Grand Entrance to the museum. It is well protected by the elements, covered to shield diners from direct sunlight and a glass partition to isolate noise from busy Wilshire boulevard. Eames-style chairs gave the interior a retro-styled look.
 Executive chef Viet Pham is a graduate of the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena. His mother helped him to become interested in cooking at an early age. Pham became passionate about the farm to table philosophy when he met Philip Tessier from Bouchon. He has worked at Ray’s and Stark Bar as their sous chef since they opened in 2011 and was promoted to executive chef in the spring of 2014.

Collaboration and teamwork are essential ingredients which make Ray’s and Stark and Bar successful. Viet Pham and “Dragon”, the forager, team up to decide what ultimately gets placed on the menu. Pham credited much of the success of the menu to Dragon because of the knack he has for finding the best fruits and vegetables.

The brainchild of Ray’s and Stark Bar’s water menu is Martin Riese, general manager and certified water sommelier. Flipping through the book, it read much like a wine list, only for water. The water menu included each water’s total dissolved solids, sodium, magnesium and calcium. Because water includes local minerals, it varies greatly, much like wine. Read more about the water menu.

First out of the kitchen was their housemade charcuterie which included duck rillette and truffle chicken liver.
  
I liberally spread the duck rillette and the truffle chicken liver over the toasted baguette slices and enjoyed both immensely.
 

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Architectural Tour of Downtown Los Angeles with LA Conservancy

Did you know that downtown Los Angeles actually has some cool architecture and historic buildings? And did you know that you can take a tour with LA Conservancy to see them?

I took this tour with a group of bloggers one Sunday morning. We had a very enthusiastic tour guide (who is obviously a Hapa as you can see from his t shirt).

Before we started walking he explained the two main architectural styles we will see. One is the Beaux Artes style which we could see with the Millennium Biltmore hotel nearby. The beaux artes style buildings feature three horizontal layers and typically pay tribute to the Greco Roman empire through their accents and decorations.

 

Not the Biltmore, but a typical beaux artes style nonetheless.

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Gourmet Dumpling House (Boston, MA)

When relatives come to visit, I inevitably end up at a Chinese restaurant. At least once. It happened twice this time, and one of the two was at Boston's popular Chinatown joint, Gourmet Dumpling House.

This place was named as having the best XLB aka xiao long bao aka juicy dumplings in Boston.

The dumplings were pretty good. They're on the bigger side and the skin is thicker and not as delicate as Din Tai Fung, but the inside is juicy. It's more of a rustic style, you can say.

During lobster season, you'll also find lobsters for pretty cheap here.

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Maine Lobster Roll #2: Bite Into Maine (Cape Elizabeth, ME)

When I was looking for lobster rolls near Portland, I had bypassed Bite Into Maine food truck because I thought it'd be harder to find. Little did I know I would come across it anyway, and so might most of you. It said that the truck parks at Fort Williams Park. I didn't know where or what that was, but apparently it's the park where Portland's most famous landmark resides: the Portland Head Light. You would've come across a photo of the lighthouse while reading about Maine.

Most of you will visit this lighthouse, and when you do, be sure to try Bite Into Maine. So far (and I know I have many left to go, but still), it is my favorite lobster roll in Maine!

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Maine Restaurant Reviews

Kennebunkport 

The Clam Shack

Portland

Bite Into Maine (Cape Elizabeth)

Eventide Oyster

Hugo's

Wiscasset
Red's Eats

Omakase at Q Sushi (Downtown Los Angeles)

One of the latest high end sushi restaurants to open in Los Angeles is Q Sushi in downtown. It's a quiet dining experience: he interior is stark, but certainly well thought out and elegant. The man behind the operation is Chef Hiroyuki Naruke who ran a small sushi bar in Tokyo but moved to Los Angeles after the tsunami in 2011.

When you arrive, the only menu you'll be given is the drink menu of wines and sake. Your dinner will be the chef's choice omakase.

Q has been called the most traditional, "real edomae" sushi in LA, which focuses on the flavors of the fish rather than the rice or condiments (says the J Gold). I suppose it's true that LA has had a fascination with sushi rice since the days of the Sushi Nazi.

Waiting for my perpetually late LA friend, my sushi chef (not Naruke) entertains me by showing me their wasabi from Shizuoka. Just like the restaurant, chef Naruke is a quiet man and he oversees everything even when he's not making the sushi.

Finally my friend arrives and our meal starts with a light, bright sashimi of Fluke

 Followed by a fattier Baja California Swordfish with caramelized onion dressing and soy sauce

The touch of the dressing and sauces here are delicate, not a drizzle more that might overpower the fish.

Next: Japanese red snapper in homemade black sesame paste, garnished with gold flake

The first time I've had sashimi with black sesame, and I certainly enjoyed the unusual combination.

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Chocolate and Wine Pairing at Chocolate Therapy (Framingham, MA)

I recently joined a group of bloggers at Chocolate Therapy in Framingham. Chocolate Therapy is a husband and wife-owned specialty handmade chocolate shop just outside of Boston. Just like the name suggest, Chocolate Therapy tries to add therapeutic ingredients in the chocolate, like lavender, bay leaf, ginger, etc.

They use primarily Belgian chocolate and make a lot of European style dark chocolates with no additive. They also do customized chocolate orders. Perhaps you want to outdo this giant chocolate goat they made for a goat dairy farm?

Anyway, I was there for a chocolate and wine pairing event. Before the wine pairing, the husband walked us through the chocolate making process. Cocoa pods (pictured below, bigger than you'd imagine!) are fermented, then the beans are squeezed so that the cocoa butter is squeezed out. The rest is ground and eventually made into what is called chocolate liquor.

The main differences between chocolate types is the ratio between the two. Swiss chocolate is creamier and has more cocoa butter compared to chocolate liquor. Belgian chocolate has a little less cocoa butter. It takes the pods from 2 cocoa trees to make 1 pound of chocolate! No wonder it's expensive. 

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Opening Alert: Mac-o-licious in Valley Village

by: guest blogger @iam_robot

The wait is over! Mac-n-cheese extraordinaire Kelly Chapman is finally doling out cheesy, gooey pans of gourmet macaroni and cheese from her humble little store in Valley Village. Riding the success of recent television appearance on CNBC’s Restaurant Start Up, Kelly is one of the very few food truck entrepreneurs who are able to turn profits of the food truck into a brick and mortar establishment. As a fellow entrepreneur, I admire her dedication.

The Trinity (Left to Right): Original Southern Mac, American Mac with Asparagus & Bacon, Frous Frous Crab Mac

While I love Kelly’s traditional mac-n-cheese, I am amazed how much customization can go into the bowl. In a way, Kelly’s Mac and Cheese offering is genre bending – inspired by culture, tradition, grandma recipe, and boundless imagination. To begin, you can have her 5 cheese Mac, which is topped with Asiago, Fontina, Gruyere, Parmesan and Cheddar. Then you can add on premium ingredients like black truffle, hot dog, or applewood-smoked bacon. Or if you’re a seafood lover, definitely try their new menu called as the Frous Frous, filled generously with blue crab claw or lobster meat. I had mine customized with Middle Eastern 7 spice and tons of Ghost Pepper. I also thought the American Mac was a firework of taste and sensation – crispy top cheese adorned with salty bits of bacon and crunchy asparagus.

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Maine Lobster Roll #1: Eventide Oyster Co. (Portland, ME)

A lobster roll tour of Maine is never ending. There are so many famous spots to hit up. I've made two trips to Maine and I've only hit a few of them!

My first stop in Maine was Eventide Oyster Co. in Portland, Maine. The lobster roll at Eventide is non-traditional. You can choose between Hollandaise, housemade mayo, or brown butter, but the bun they use is similar to a Chinese bao.

The lobster was fresh and the house mayo excellent, to be sure, what I didn't quite dig the soft Chinese-bun like roll with the lobster meat. I preferred the contrast of a toasted bun with my lobster.

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Morning in the Mission (San Francisco, CA)

During my last trip to San Francisco, I stayed at an AirBnB in the Mission. We spent the first morning wandering around the Mission district, starting with breakfast at Craftsman and Wolves.

What we came here for is the famous "Rebel Within". At first glance this looks just like any other cheesy muffin. The Rebel Within is made with Asiago cheese, green onion, and Easton sausage.

But how special this muffin is is only apparent when you cut into it ... a perfectly poached egg inside with runny yolk!

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Alden and Harlow (Cambridge, MA)

As a UCLA and Caltech alum, I'm jealous of the Harvard students. They have so many great restaurants right outside of their campus! One of the hottest restaurants right now is Alden & Harlow, named one of Bon Appetit's Best New Restaurants in America.

This restaurant under a movie theatre looks deceptively small from the outside and when you first walk in, but it actually has a large dining area in the back.

Menus are divided between snacks that are $8 each, including Pistachio crusted halloumi cheese, roasted cherry tomatoes, warm bread

Pickled green beans are served at every table to start

My favorite dish from that night: Oil cured tuna belly, buttermilk creamed corn, lemon, cherry tomato ($17)

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Opening Alert: The Nice Guy (West Hollywood)

Taking over the former Mezze space in West Hollywood is a mafia-inspired hangout called as The Nice Guy. Taking cues from late 70’s and early 80’s interior, the H.Wood execs (the brain behind hotspots such as Bootsy Bellows, Hooray Henry’s, and Shorebar) never seemed shy about being upfront with their upbringing.

The vibe here feels like your favorite supper club with its intimate candles setting, piano play, white-marble bar tops, floral-patterned booths, large couches, and dark wood walls. Also, the reservation-only concept breaths hospitality - they want to make sure they know who you are, what you like to drink, what time of the night you’d like to eat and where you like to be seated every night. I imagine in an upscale lounge like this, they expect a sense of intimacy, familiarity, and camaraderie within the regulars. But fret not…to score a reservation, all you have to do is call the hostess and answer her questions.

John-Carlos Kuramoto, formerly of Michael’s in Santa Monica, has put together Italian-inspired bites, ranging from healthy to comfort fare. My favorites are the Duck Banh Mi Pizza, Chicken Parm Wings, and the 8 oz Dry Aged New York Steak.  And for the healthier items, I thought the Black Tuscan Kale Chips, Blue Crab Arancini, and Charred Baby Sprouting Broccoli were excellent. Other than those, of course, they have the classic Margherita or Prosciutto Pizza, Meatballs with tomato sauce, and the Burger with candied bacon. Even if you decided to go with the more conventional dishes, rest assured the dishes will be carefully executed and taste much better than the typical bar food.

Other than the food, The Nice Guy is also a craft cocktail destination. Helmed by master mixologist Brian Stewart (of SoHo House) in collaboration with h.wood Group's Adam Koral, this place boasts a large selection of spirits, fresh juices, and top shelf Liquor. 

I thought the Bobby Soxer (Casamigos Reposado, blackberries, fresh lemon juice, honey, Campari, and fresno chili peppers), the Chairman (Gentleman Jack, Aperol, cacao, salted cola reduction, and cider vinegar), and the Daddy’s Little Angel (Silencio Mezcal, pineapple juice, organic agave nectar, fresh lemon juice, and Angostura bitters halo) were some of the tastiest cocktails I’ve tasted. 

Cocktail I didn’t like as much - Mother’s Milk (Tito’s Vodka, house made chocolate milk, soda water)…tasted too sweet, it felt like a 50-50 mixture of Yoohoo and Vodka. Additionally, if you really want to impress your date or group of friends, you should go big – order your cocktail in a large punch bowl for $350.

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Darren's in Manhattan Beach, CA

Chef/owner Darren Weiss from Darren's Restaurant in Manhattan Beach may be one of the very few hearing-impaired chefs out there, but he never let that stop him. His restaurant is an institution in Manhattan Beach, making a mark since 2007 and has recently reopened after a renovation.

The new menu is divided into snacks, salads, small plates, large plates, and sides. Under snacks you'll find finger foods and breads like these Emmenthal cheese rolls with fleur de sel Tellicherry black, pepper whipped butter ($4)

Either because Chef Weiss started his career at restaurants in Hawaii or because Darren's is in Manhattan Beach, but there are plenty of seafood dishes on the menu.
Small plates: Crab cake (jumbo lump crab, daikon sprouts, soy dry mustard sauce, sriracha, sweet soy sauce, $22)

To say this crab cake has a generous amount of lump crab meat is an understatement. This crab cake was pretty much all crab meat and I loved it.

Darren's has a small but interesting beers on draft, featuring breweries like Ninkasi (OR), Ommegang, St. Feuillien, and more.

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Brazilian Stews at Muqueca (Cambridge, MA)

Boston may not have as much diversity as Los Angeles, but when it comes to Brazilian food, Boston has more. Just three blocks away from my new place is Muqueca, a Brazilian restaurants specializing in the namesake seafood stew. Muqueca is a Brazilian style seafood stew from Espirito Santo or Bahia, cooked in clay pots.

The ones at Muqueca are typically the Espirito Santo style, made with cilantro, tomato, onion and served with rice and pirao. But they will also do the Bahian style which uses coconut milk.

We tried both styles in the Moqueca Completa (fish, shrimp, mussel. $25.95)

The only other time I've had moqueca was at a similarly named restaurant in Oxnard, California: Moqueca. I still like the Oxnard one better, though that one contained lobster and was more expensive. These are still quite good, and I'm still happy to find a good rendition of this rare dish. They're pretty generous with the seafood and they're cooked properly with the fish soaking up the stew broth.

What I ended up loving at this place was actually the Dobradinha (tripe stew with white beans, bacon, sausage, $13.95)

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Roy Choi's Commissary at The Line Hotel (Koreatown)

First of all, the new Commissary is beautiful. Situated in a green house complete with hanging pots of greenery next to the pool at The Line Hotel in Koreatown, diners can enjoy the LA sunshine all year long. You already kind of feel like you're on vacation when you step in.

The menu at Commissary can be a tad confusing at first. You get two pieces of paper. One is the picture menu that shows you the price and main ingredients. The little numbers lead you to the second piece, the "cheat sheet" which tells you how it's prepared ("grilled") and what sauces go on that dish ("lemon, green sauce" - for example).

Now, the setting is a green house, and there are a lot of vegetable and produce-focused items, but it's not a vegetarian restaurant. There are a number of vegetable-focused and vegetarian dishes, though.

There's grilled corn with red sauce, chili, garlic, onion

This is Roy Choi after all, so don't expect bland vegetable dishes. Just like the things he's known for, these are full of spices and flavors.

The original cocktails were created with the help of Matthew Biancaniello, although he won't be behind the bar. Served in deli cups, you'll find cocktails made with seasonal produce and unusual ingredients like pisco, white peach and anise hyssop; or mojito with zebra tomatoes.

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Coppa (Boston, MA)

Among the Boston restaurant that my LA friends recommended to me was Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette's Coppa. Chef Jamie Bissonnette won the James Beard award for Best Chef in the Northeast region this year. I was pretty excited to try this place and it didn't disappoint.

Coppa was smaller and more casual than I had expected; a cozy enoteca in the South End with reasonable prices.

I started with the Sea urchin panino with lonza and mustard seeds

Even though the uni flavor wasn't that strong here, I loved it nonetheless since it worked nicely with the lonza (cured pork tenderloin, also known as lomo) sandwiched between thin, crunchy bread.

This was followed up by the Beef heart pastrami crostini

It did not taste as offal-y or gamy as I had expected, but it was tender and flavorful.

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Seasons and Transitions: Kaiseki Dinner at Ishikawa (Tokyo, Japan)

When I had an overnight layover in Tokyo, I asked drtomostyle to take me to have kaiseki, the traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. We headed to the 3 Michelin-starred Ishikawa in Kagurazaka, along with two of her friends.

We started with a course of pike eel. This was the last of the season of pike eel, which requires a lot of knife skills to prepare. The delicate eel was served with a pickled plum sauce (a classic pairing for pike eel), shiso, wood ear mushroom, and wasabi. 

It's a wonderful start that really increases our anticipation. 

The next dish marks the transitions of the seasons. There are deep fried ayu (river fish) which at the time of the meal was at the end of its season. It was served with an ingredient just beginning its season: ginkgo. They're all served atop of daikon radish jelly.

In other words, this was probably about the only time each year where you can have both ingredients together, and Ishikawa pairs them beautifully.

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The Tasting Room at Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village

by: guest blogger @iam_robot

Considering how interest in all things food related has soared in recent years, many hotels have added chef-driven foods, French cooking class, wine tasting, botanical garden tour, and other culinary activities to entice younger epicureans. Surprisingly the Conejo Valley hasn’t caught on to this idea. If you’re like me, I’m sure you have noticed that Westlake Village is not exactly a hotbed for fine wines and farm to table cuisine. Having spent a chunk of my time there, I dreaded the days I can’t find good place where I can sip, nosh and disappear for a few hours.
A couple of weeks ago, I was very fortunate to attend the grand opening of The Tasting Room, located within the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village. Partnering with Malibu Family Wines, The Tasting Room will pour a variety of award-winning Semler and Saddlerock wines. Other notable Malibu Coast and California wineries will also be featured on a rotating basis. I thought the addition of The Tasting Room is brilliant not only because nearby hotels do not have high-end wine shops (let alone tasting space) in their lobby, but also because they have esteemed assortment and probably the best wine flight in the area, with surprisingly fair prices to boot. Wine flight ranges from $15 to $50.
 

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A Pavan Liqueur Fueled Lunch at Ming Tsai's Blue Dragon (Boston, MA)

This was the time I got to start my week with a toast of sparkling Pavan cocktails at Blue Dragon. Yep, a boozy lunch on a Monday. Ssh, don't tell. It's summer.

Pavan is a vin de liqueur made in France using muscat grapes accented with orange blossom water. It's a lovely liqueur with a relatively low sugar content, but still naturally sweet from the grapes. It's great to use in cocktails, or just to drink with soda water or sparkling wine!

Blue Dragon is one of Ming Tsai's Boston restaurants and is his more casual restaurant - an Asian gastropub, if you will. The decor is mostly one of gastropub with some Asian touches here and there.

The lunch menu is quite different from dinner. The lunch features many more sandwiches and banh mi options while dinner offers more larger entree items.

We all liked the spicy chicken dumplings ($8). The skin is thin and had a nice texture, the sauce has just enough heat.

Pavan is part of the Suntory portfolio, who also carries Lejay, a creme de cassis, and Mozart, a chocolate liqueur. I tasted these too, so read on!

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