Lazy Ox Canteen

I probably don't really need to introduce Lazy Ox Canteen. This new baby of Josef Centeno (formerly of Meson G and Opus) recently got a three-star review from SIV at La Times and parking around Little Tokyo has been harder to find than ever.

And if you're wondering right off the bat how I like this place, I'd like to point out that this review is based on 3 visits. Not that the place is perfect, but just how many places do I visit three times in two months? Not many, not many. The fact that they have a routinely rotating menu helps.

The place got packed following the LA Times review but you can still walk in and wait for spots at the bar or community table.
Cancha, a Peruvian corn, toasted and tossed with chili powder, salt, and lime. A good snack, although I've realized from my Peru trip that I don't like Peruvian big, starchy but bland corn as much as the sweet corn variety.

Lazy Ox carries a selection of sodas with sugar cane including Bundaberg ginger beer, etc. I've always loved root beer so I gave the Abita Root Beer a try.
The first soft drink made by a microbrewery, this root beer is produced by Abita Brewing company which specializes in microbrewed lager, the root beer is made from Lousiana sugar cane. A notable step up from your typical canned root beers at the grocery store.

Lazy Ox Canteen has a semi- permanent printed menu and a large rotating blackboard specials. If you don't pay attention to the blackboard, you're missing out.

New Zealand salmon crudo with Tabil
This salmon was fresh, meaty, and had a lot more flavor than most. The Tabil sauce was nice and added a nice richness but you really only needed a bit of it as the salmon itself gave you most of the flavor you'd need.

Creamy farro grain with sunchoke puree ($13)
A good, risotto-like creamy dish.

Hand-torn egg pasta with sunny-side up egg, brown butter, herbs ($11)
My first thought was that it was rather thin and thus mushy, but then I quickly started loving it. By the end, it was my favorite dish here (I also have a long standing love affair with eggs, which should explain my love of weekend brunches). The flavors are a more subdued and restrained here and I can imagine some people saying that it is bland, but I find it to be nicely balanced. The herbs provided the appropriate kick and neither that or the butter was overwhelming. If there is a dish to make me come back over and over, it's certainly this one.

Lamb Cheeks w/ Pickled Red Onions ($14)
Good flavors, pretty tender. A good combo with the mashed potato and greens.

Whole roasted quail, stuffed with golden raisins.
A bit on the small side of an "entree" and feels a little overpriced (over $20). I did like the quail but personally felt the stuffing to be a bit distracting.

Chilled Rice Pudding w/ caramel, hazelnut brittle ($7)
This was a recommended dessert that seemed to have made its way as a permanent addition to the blackboard. Denser and firmer than your typical rice pudding, but the caramel and hazelnut brittle are definitely a welcomed addition.

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My second visit to Lazy Ox was thank to LAist's Sam Kim coaxing me with their fried chicken dinner ... no, wait. I think it was the other way around.

The fried chicken dinner for two was a weekly special, and I believe it cost $28 or so?

I also had a Peche Lambic. They have a nice selection of beers although it's a bit pricey especially for the pour sizes.

The chicken dinner might or might not have come with salad ... Sam Kim arrived earlier and received a salad with his order but we did not until we had to ask for it (and the bartender we talked to wasn't sure if we were supposed to receive one).
The salad was actually on the bitter side, but seeing how rich our other dishes were, it was a necessary side on the table.

The Fried Chicken for two consisted of about 6-7 pieces total.
The chicken meat was undoubtedly moist, but the breading was a little too thick for my taste.

The dinner also came with a biscuit with gravy.
Buttery biscuit, creamy gravy with bacon, and I really love the combination of the collard greens soaked in the gravy.

Because I heard so many people talking about the pork trotters, I ordered some too.

It was a perfectly good dish, tender and flavorful and my friend thought it was his favorite dish of the night, but I suppose I was just a bit disappointed since the preparation is similar to the lamb cheeks I had on my last visit.

The three of us shared what we thought would be a fairly light dessert: Lemon Trifle ($7)
It didn't end up being light, but was instead pretty dense and rich. It did have a nice tart flavor.

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A week or two ago I felt like I needed a really good meal, but didn't want to drive too far. So we ended up at Lazy Ox Canteen again. We were seated outside this time, having called ahead 30 minutes before arriving.

We started our meal with the Hand-torn Egg Pasta again. Still as great as I remembered. Just this dish was worth our trip.

Farro w/ Beet Puree & Yogurt ($9)
Rich and creamy but that acidity of the yogurt cut the richness nicely. A great dish.

Suckling Pig Pork Rack ($18)
Tender, though small (I mean, it was a suckling pig ...). Was it that much better than, say, rack of lamb? Not particularly I suppose. That doesn't mean it wasn't great.

What ended being the next highlight was in fact the Lamb Roast.
Perfectly cooked for my taste. Medium rare, so tender. See for yourself:

If they can consistently produce a lamb like this, I would definitely be here all the time.

For dessert I got the Chocolate Pate w/ fleur de sel
A decadent chocolate dessert that's helped by both the brittleness of the candied seeds and the ice cream.

Lazy Ox Canteen provided overall good meals, with a few outstanding dishes that are enough to bring me back again. The rotating menu is always interesting and doesn't get old. Your meals here can easily tend towards the heavy side, though, so either order very carefully or ... just let go for a night.

Lazy Ox Canteen
241 S San Pedro St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-5299
www.lazyoxcanteen.com

My 2010 Book A Week Project (Or .. My Attempt)

**Updated list on 6/20/10, if anyone's actually keeping track or care :P
As you can see, I am way behind.

Oh, heck. Why not? Yes, sure I'll join the crazy aim of reading 52 weeks in 2010.

Well, let's just see how far this goes :P
And of course, I'm taking suggestions as to what to read next.



PS. My recommended books are highlighted in bold ;)

-----------------------------
READ:

1. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel (Haruki Murakami) - 01/10/2010
2. Heaven's Net is Wide (The Tales of the Otori) (Lian Hearn) - 01/19/2010
3. What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Malcolm Gladwell) - 02/14/2010. I finished the audiobook actually. Too much driving, as always.
4. Midnight's Children: A Novel (Salman Rushdie) - 02/15/2010. A bit slow going in the beginning, but an amazing book.
5.In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (Michael Pollan) -02/25/2010. Actually I listened to the audiobook. Maybe it's because the reader sounds like Reverend Lovejoy but the book seems a lot more judgmental and confrontational than Omnivore's Dilemma. Didn't enjoy it as much.
6. The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma (Marc Kirschner, John Gerhart) - 03/5/2010. Very interesting and insightful theory of how phenotypic variability can evolve, though the authors spend a tad too much time arguing against intelligent design.
7. A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel (Haruki Murakami) - finished the audiobook on 3/17/2010. The readers were ... okay. Some of the character's tone and accent bothered me a bit.
8. When We Were Orphans (Kazuo Ishiguro) - finished 4/2/2010. A really easy read. Not as "shocking" as Never Let Me Go, but still complex enough.
9. Love (Toni Morrison)
10. Women of the Brewster Place (Gloria Naylor)
11. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
12. Singularities: Landmarks on the Pathways of Life (Christian de Duve)
13. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
14. Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)
15. Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins)
16. Persuasian (Jane Austen)
17. The Duchess of Padua (Oscar Wilde)
18. Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease (Sharon Moalem)
19. Children of Hurin (J.R.R. Tolkien)
20. The Valley of Fear (Conan Doyle)
21. The Sign of the Four (Conan Doyle)

-----------------------------
READING(/LISTENING):

• On Intelligence (Jeff Hawkins)
• 
  

------------------------------
On the List:
Underworld: A Novel (Don DeLillo)

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (Seth Godin)

La Cachette Bistro: Salmon Sausages and Rum Brunch

La Cachette was a long-standing restaurant in Century City, where chef/owner Jean Francois Meteigner served California-influenced French dishes for fifteen years. Now the restaurant has found a new home as La Cachette Bistro on Ocean Avenue, where you can take in the ocean breeze on the patio.
They wanted to promote their lunch prix fixe deal, so they invited me over for lunch. It was impossible for me to make it there during the weekday, however, so I ended up coming in for a Saturday brunch instead.

The lunch prix fixe on Monday-Friday gets you Soup of the Day or House Salad, One of Three Entree Choices, and Dessert of The Day for just $15. Pretty good deal, no?

Soon after we were seated, Marc Danays, the bartender came over to greet us and offered some libations. I had brought 0ne of my roommates with me. She's originally from Cambridge and she and Marc noted their common accent and the two of them hit it off immediately (Marc worked at major clubs in London).

We decided to let him make whatever he wants and these are what we got:
"Bubbly Love" (gin, lime, pomegranate liqueur, topped with champagne) for me.
"Deep South" (rum, OJ) for my roommate (who told him she liked rum lots and lots).
Both drinks were sweet and refreshing, but I ended up liking my roommate's drink more. Mine was a little bitter, perhaps the combination of the herbal gin and the rosemary was a bit much for me. There's also that whole "drink OJ during brunch" habit hardwired into my brain.

Some eggy bread with a sweet crust to start.
We really wanted to sit outside and enjoy the sun and breeze, but since it ended up being a rather windy day, we both started with some soups.

My roommate got the Smoked Tomato and Shiitake Mushroom Soup ($6)
The chunks of shiitake were very good and brought the dish up a notch. The soup had a nice smokiness (in the words of my roommate, it reminds her of when she puts bacon in tomato sauce).

Lightly creamed Lobster Bisque, served with Rouille ($7)
No lobster chunks here, but you can definitely taste the lobster. A thin but flavorful bisque.

At first I went for a standard brunch fare:
Organic Egg Benedict on Brioche, with House Smoked Salmon (or Ham), served with Baby Mixed Greens ($18)
The smoked salmon used here was on the meatier side and had a good smoked flavor. The brioche was nicely flaky and the egg was poached well - runny without being too much so.

My roommate never had a croque before so that's what she ordered.
Croque Monsieur on House Baked Bun with Bechamel, Swiss Cheese, Organic Ham ($14 + $2 for egg). She got the egg- so technically she got a Croque Madame.
I tried a bite and it was a pretty good although a heavier version of the croque, given the thicker, richer buns used in it. Even so the bread was pretty air so the dish was not overly dense. The ham was also smoked in house and was great. My roommate loved it and it was her favorite entree from the table.

Chef Meteigner decided to send out another dish that he wanted us to try:
Scrambled Eggs Wrapped in House Smoked Salmon, with House Made Salmon Sausage, Capers, Onions, served with Mixed Greens ($17)
The wonderfully moist scrambled eggs are indeed wrapped inside the salmon:
I'm glad he sent out this dish as it turned out to be my favorite. The lemony frisee complemented the salmon very well. I loved the moist and runny scrambled eggs. Most notably though was the salmon sausages made from smoked salmon, fresh salmon, and a bit of white fish. The sausages were light yet flavorful.

Instead of a normal palate cleanser, Marc sent out one in alcoholic liquid shot form. A palate cleanser cocktail? I think Marc's on a mission ... to get us drunk :p
This was made with thyme, lemon, and a rather special vodka: Zubrowka, a bison grass flavored vodka from Poland. Sweet and smooth. Dangerous.

Then came desserts.

Floating Island w/ Caramel & Hazelnut Pistachio Almond Nougatine ($9)
This was a fluffy meringue sitting on top of a pool of Crème anglaise and topped with pralines. We both absolutely loved the praline.

Homemade Rum Baba with Pressed Pineapple and Creme Fraiche ($8)
After biting into just the rum baba, we thought it was definitely a good rum baba, but it wasn't until we found out what was in the little tin jug that this dessert become amazing. No, not maple syrup.
Rum.
Jamaican dark rum. Just a spoonful of dark rum ... and a little piece of baba. Oh yes.

Maybe it was the overflowing libations we had but we both really enjoyed our experience here. The patio had a classic French bistro look with the added bonus of So Cal sun and sea breeze. Chef Meteigner's food was good, especially the delectable house made salmon sausages, as well as their house smoked salmon and ham. Both of the classic desserts we had were more than solid. Give me some eggs, salmon sausages, and a rum-soaked baba, and I'm good. If only I can make it here during the week for their $15 three course lunches.

La Cachette Bistro
1733 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 434-9509
www.lacachettebistro.com

Sneak Preview of Radio Room #2: Tonight at The Edison!

Radio Room at The Edison is back on tonight (Tuesday, March 30).

Last night we got a sneak preview of the drinks, seafood, and talk to the bartender (the night wasn't just for Radio Room, it was also for The Edison to announce that they are opening another Edison - in New York City!)

Before you head over there at 8 PM, here's what you can look forward to:

1. Cocktails from some of the best bartenders.

"Wild Orchid" - Giuseppe Gonzalez
(gin, almond, elderflower, red wine)

"Infante" - Giuseppe Gonzalez
(tequila, lime, orgeat, orange blossom water, nutmeg)
I think this was my favorite

Don Lee (Momofuku, NY) & Zane Harris (Rob Roy, Seattle)

Giuseppe Gonzalez (Dutch Kills/Painkiller, NY)

Simon Ford of Pernod Ricard (London/NY)

2. Fruity absinthe shots and "martinis" from the Green Fairy.

Mini "potion" bottles of absinthe-pineapple and absinthe-pom shots.
(Yes, I kept the bottle. She said I can and it was so cute!)

3. And last but not least, treats fresh from the sea from Maitre Ecailler, Chef Christophe Happillon. Last Radio Room had oysters, this time he's also adding crab claws!

Crab Claws

Fanny Bay Oysters from British Columbia
(with an awesome cocktail sauce!)

Radio Room at The Edison
Tuesday, March 30
8 PM
108 W 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
www.edisondowntown.com

Saturday, SNL, Sam Adams Spring Brew.

What do you do when you get a six-pack in the mail? You bring it over to your friend's house with the big TV on a Saturday, of course!

That's exactly what I did with the 6-pack of Samuel Adams Noble Pils - their new spring seasonal beer that's brewed with all five of their Noble Hop varieties. This Pilsner replaces the White Ale as Sam Adams' spring beer. We kicked back with some korean omelet rice that my friend's roommate made and watched SNL.
The beer: a pale yellow/straw pour. Citrusy aroma. Crisp and light but still has a malty character. Hoppy finish - but not too bitter. Very easy to drink. Definitely a good inexpensive beer to drink with friends in front of a TV.

I also thought my friends can give me some input about the beer that I can incorporate into the review. Alas, I miscalculated.

These statements were the extent of their contribution:

"It's good."

"It's ... uh ... citrusy?" (me: Stop reading the label!")

"It reminds me of something. But I don't know what."

Good job, guys. Good job.

-- update 3/30/10 --

One of my friends actually came up with a great review after all! It was a bit late but I decided to append it here since it was a well-written and thorough review:

"Sam Adams' Noble Pils, brewed in time for Spring, can make for a pleasant seasonal alternative to the more mainstream beers.

A first sip and you notice that the beer is not as carbonated as expected. Another sip and you realise that this allows you to taste the hops that much better. The beer has a surprisingly watery feel in the mouth, which can be a nice change from some of the 'drier' beers.

Taking a look at the green colours on the label, you might think of citrus, and you'd be right - in theory that is. Whilst the blurb on the label mentions the 'lively, citrus hop character', the taste of the citrus is barely noticeable. This is a pity, as it would have made a positive contribution to the flavour of the beer, particularly given that it seems to be intended as a spring beer. However, there's plenty of taste there - the 'Noble Pils' is so-named because, as the label informs us, it was made with all five Noble hops.

Whilst those accustomed to heavier lagers may not be so interested in Sam Adams' latest offer, it makes for a welcome alternative to those who are used to lighter beers and are looking to try something with a little extra taste to it."