Padang Food 101(Sari Nusantara, Surabaya, Indonesia)

Padang is the capital of West Sumatra (which is mostly known for the earthquakes and tsunamis that happened nearby).
When you go to a Padang restaurant, an array of dishes will be placed on your table. Rendang (beef curry), curried vegetables, egg balado, and many more.

It's not all you can eat, though. You pay for what you take and eat, so if you don't think you really want to eat a particular dish don't touch it.

Padang cuisine is known for their spicy dishes and a variety of curries can always be found. Rendang is so popular everywhere now, including in LA. Simpang Asia's rendang actually won the curry competition a couple years back. Padang food is usually cooked once a day and mostly served at room temperature. That's why when you go to a Padang restaurant, they will display everything and let you do the pick and choosing at the table.

When Mattatouille and Glutster visited my home town, we went to Sari Nusantara, a Padang restaurant in Surabaya, for their first Padang meal.
That day the three of us plus my friend and my dad pretty much ate all the dishes. The tour de force: fish head curry
The body of the fish was grilled but in my opinion the fish head curry is superior with its much more tender meat.

When I was little and couldn't eat spicy food (still can't today but I'm getting way better) I used to eat ayam pop, chicken cooked with garlic and butter. I loved ayam pop but I'm not sure if it was because now I can eat spicier food or because the version at Sari Nusantara wasn't that good, but the one we had that day was pretty bland. I would have to try ayam pop at Rumah Sederhana again to see which it really is.

daun singkong (cassava leaves)

To calm my palate down, I had a glass of kopyor. Kopyor is actually a coconut with a genetic defect. Instead of the smooth, meaty flesh in a regular coconut, the flesh of kopyor is tender, easily peels off from the inner layer of the skin, and is crumbly. There usually isn't much water inside kopyor, and the flesh is made into a drink using syrup. Es kopyor is a very popular drink in Indonesia and costs more than regular coconut.

There's a folklore that says that when there is a lunar eclipse, the moon comes down to earth and eats coconuts. The leftovers of those eaten coconuts become kopyor.

If you are in LA and want to try Padang food, I'd suggest Raso Minang in West Covina.

Sari Nusantara
Jl. Gubernur Suryo No. 24
Surabaya
Jawa Timur (East Java)
Phone: 031-5348638

Taste of Santa Fe 2010: Gala Dinner

Returning to the Santa Fe trip that I took along with some bloggers for Taste of Santa Fe, the annual fundraising gastronomic event for the New Mexico History Museum...

The gala dinner was actually held inside the New Mexico History Museum. The wall facing the entrance bore a quote from Abraham Lincoln:

We cannot escape history. We ... will be remembered in spite of ourselves.

The cocktail reception was delayed a bit by a short thunder storm (the locals told us this happens pretty much every day around 5-6 pm. Wow!) but once that ends attendees mingled, ate, and drank on the damp grass.
A tequila cocktail made by mixologist Daniel Gonzales from Secreto Bar at Hotel St. Francis was garnished with a parmesan crisp.
Chef John Sedlar of Rivera Restaurant in LA was a guest chef at both the gala dinner and the main event the next day. As appetizers at the gala dinner, chef Sedlar prepared his famous tortillas florales. Here he infuses flavors from the other Indian cuisine. You know, the one with the dot. One of the tortillas were topped with cucumber raita.

Chef Mick Hug from Buffalo Thunder Resort started the night off well with some appetizers:
Seared scallops served alongside crispy goat cheese with dried cherries poached in a spice wine.
During the gala dinner they had chefs from four restaurants prepare a couple of dishes each, and attendees will vote for their favorite.


We grabbed food from the different stations and went to find a table. There were quite a few people in attendance, occupying both the first and second floor of the museum.

I loved the creative centerpieces they had made with celery stalks and red chile.

The highlight of the meal was the Chile Relleño del Cielo from Hotel St. Francis’ Tabla de Los Santos Restaurant. The green chiles were stuffed with mushrooms and served in a pinto bean-garlic sauce.

For desserts: chocolate cupcake with local wild cherries from Embudo Station was so good, I think I had three (what? they were small!). The flavors of the cherries really came through even among the chocolate and frosting.


More coverage of Taste of Santa Fe:
TravelLady Magazine (with a lot more on the history of New Mexico and Santa Fe)
FoodGPS

My post on the main event.

Tasting the Revamped Santa Monica Place: La Sandia and Zengo

Do you remember the old Santa Monica Place? The mall at the end of the Third Street Promenade used to be an afterthought. Now it has undergone a massive revamp and face lift that I didn't even recognize it anymore! I went there recently for a media dinner at the two new Richard Sandoval restaurants there, La Sandia and Zengo.

On my way to my first stop, La Sandia, I was so surprised. What used to be an old, dying mall is now a sleek, open-air center.
It's so fancy now!

I was impressed by La Sandia's dining room. The middle area was spacious and airy with a fountain at the center.
Since we're having our media dinner at Zengo, we only sampled some cocktails and tried some appetizers here: enchiladas, taquitos, ceviche. These are dishes you would expect from other Mexican restaurants, and they are done pretty well here.

We sampled four cocktails (sharing the flutes so we don't get too drunk) which were surprisingly well made and interesting.

The Dos Agaves was made with mezcal, agave and rimmed with chapuline salt. Another mezcal drink contained cucumber, pepino, and chile pequin. I enjoyed the passionfruit caipirinha and the hibiscus margarita which uses hibiscus syrup made in house.


La Sandia
395 Santa Monica Place
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 393-3300



We then moved to Zengo for dinner (and more cocktails).

Overall we liked the cocktails at Zengo better. I ordered the Prickly Pear Caipirinha ($9) and the Mekhong Pina Horchata made with Mekhong thai rum was an interesting creamy concoction. We also tasted the tamarind margarita and cucumber mojito - all of them were good.

The XO sauce edamame was quite addictive. Do give it a try, unless you're vegetarian since the XO sauce contains dried shrimp and scallops.

Many of the dishes are the familiar asian fusion dishes with a twist like beef and hamachi tiradito, sushi rolls, and a miso black cod with chipotle, but you can also find some unique ones worth trying:

Achiote-hoisin pork arepas (corn masa, avocado crema fresca) - $9
This dish combined the sweetness of hoisin pork with the great texture of fried arepas - chewy with a crunchy texture. The creamy avocado is icing on the cake.

Peking Duck-Daikon Tacos (duck confit, curried apple, orange-coriander sauce) - $12

This was another of my favorite.
It's a lighter and more refreshing take on both peking duck and taco. No tortilla or thin chinese pancake here, just the crisp freshness of daikon radish. Unfortunately the duck confit itself was a little on the dry side. Just a little more moist and juicy and it would be perfect.

Not knowing anything about La Sandia, Zengo, or the food of Richard Sandoval before, I was pleasantly surprised. There were a few dishes that I thought were creative combination of flavors I have not seen before. Now that the new Santa Monica Place definitely has some good food and cocktail options, I wouldn't mind the mall so much.

Zengo
395 Santa Monica Pl
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 899-1000
http://www.richardsandoval.com/zengosm/index.htm


Disclosure: This was an all-blogger dinner hosted by the restaurants' PR.