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.
 

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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.

Read more »