Snowiest Cities and Sam Adams' Summer Ale

The past winter, Columbia, Missouri had 51.6 inches of snow, making it the snowiest city in the US. Boston brewery Sam Adams decided to help by hosting a "Summer in a Bottle" party, hosted by brewer Dean Gianocostas. The party will be held on May 3 (that's tomorrow!), complete with grilling and beach photo backdrop. Lucky Columbia residents can win tickets through local promotions. They will also send summer ales to the 2nd through 10th snowiest cities.

Los Angeles certainly was not one of the snowiest city, but I received a special Summer Ale delivery anyway. According to Sam Adams, the Summer Ale was "brewed with lemon zest and grains of paradise, a centuries-old exotic African pepper." I was curious and googled it. Wikipedia says the pepper is a native West African plant, also commonly known as melegueta pepper, not to be confused with the South American malagueta pepper.

It wasn't as peppery as I had expected, just a hint below the citrus flavor. The golden-colored beer was crisp with a richer aftertaste, and only a touch hoppy which made it very drinkable for me. I'm sure I'm completely biased here since I drank one after a 7-hour bartending gig, but it was quite refreshing! Nothing like a glass of cold, crisp ale to revive you, right?

Hell's Kitchen Winner Nona Sivley Heads LA Market at LA Live

Kerry Simon's LA Market at the LA Live recently welcomed Chef de Cuisine Nona Sivley, the winner of Hell's Kitchen Season 8, to infuse the menu with her own creations. Some signature items from Chef Simon will remain, of course, but you can already see some of Chef Sivley's contributions to the menu.

With her Southern background (she hails from Texas) in tow, she's blending classic southern comfort dishes with the modern space that is LA Live, surrounded by glass panes.

Try the tender Grilled Ribeye, served with roasted garlic polenta, mache, pea shoot salad, molasses glazed bacon.

Read more »

Westwood Brunching at The Glendon

This space was first known to me as Moustache Cafe, which supposedly had good crepes but was closed when I heard of it, then it was a random Japanese restaurant (wasn't that good). Now it seems to have found the right occupants in The Glendon, with happy hour, late night food (open til 2 am!), and now brunch.

I was invited to try out the brunch 2 weekends ago, on the first day they were serving it.

The brunch menu covers the typical brunch fare (eggs, french toast, pancakes) plus sandwiches and a few interesting items. Oh, it also says you get free mimosa with purchase of an entree from 11am-2pm. We weren't really offered this when we were there, so you might have to ask them for it.

We started with The Ballerina Omelette (egg whites, avocado, tomato, mozzarella, roasted turkey, topped with tomato puree - $12)

For the side, we asked for sweet potato tater tots (never knew they existed!). Despite being the healthiest sounding omelette on the menu (egg whites only), it turned out to be one good omelette. The roasted turkey was moist, the avocado gave it a silky mouth feel, and the tomato puree was flavorful without being too salty. Surprisingly, I didn't miss the yolk.

Among the more interesting offerings was the Salmon Quiche Pizza (smoked salmon, baked eggs, spinach, arugula pesto, balsamic reduction - $14)

Read more »