Monday, December 22, 2008

Kiriko: Fresh Sushi and More

Someone suggested Kiriko on Sawtelle to us for great sushi. Actually, it was (one of) my hairdresser(s), who is Japanese and know a lot of places and Japanese chefs - including Totoraku!

When we went Kiriko was fairly empty with only two other patrons there. They actually had quite a nice selection of cooked items both on their regular and their specials menu.

We browsed through the specials menu for the night and got the blue crab sunomonoNice flavor and refreshing, although it did mask the flavor of the blue crab a little, which is kind of a shame. I did like the flavor and texture combination with the cucumbers though.

As for the sushi, I started with pretty much my standard, including salmon and hamachi (below)
The sushi here is fresh and they gave me pretty fatty hamachi pieces, which made me happy :)
Good fish/rice ratio too.

I also got some hamachi kama (yellowtail collar)
Delicious. Tender fatty kama - very flavorful. I especially loved the parts near the bones, as usual :)

I also ordered a sushi from the specials menu and .... since I don't take notes, and this is a backpost (I need to start taking notes! Seriously!)
WHO CAN IDENTIFY THIS MYSTERY FISH??
Anyone? Anyone?

For some reason I was craving a kani maki, so I finished off my meal with one.
The crab roll was quite nice! Overflowing with sweet crab with a nice texture. A nice way to end the meal.

The sushi at Kiriko was pretty good and they also have some great cooked items. Definitely one of the gems on Sawtelle blvd. I wonder why they are not as busy as I think they should be! But I'll be back to give them more business.

Kiriko
11301 Olympic Blvd #102
West Los Angeles, CA
(310) 478-7769
http://www.kirikosushi.com

Kiriko on Urbanspoon

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Christmas Dinner?

Eating out on Christmas? Where will you go?

Providence restaurant is again hosting La Vigilia - The Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. The dinner costs $115 per person ($165 with wine pairing).

Crudo di Ricciola
Amber Jack

Capesante al Tartufo Nero
Sea Scallops and Black Truffles

Triglia alla Griglia (Rouget)
Olio di Oliva, Carciofi, Finocchio, Limone

Una Don Strazza
Risotto with Japanese Eel, Truffle and Nori

Tai Snapper all’Acqua Pazza
Calamari, Octopus and Mussels

Panpepato
Spiced Chocolate Bread, Gianduja Ice Cream

Struffoli


Not sure yet if I will go to this, but for Christmas day itself, I am opting for one of the cheaper options. Gino Angelini's La Terza is offering a 3-course menu for $40 from 3pm-8pm.
Here's the menu:
First Course
Mixed baby green salad with grapes,celery,
pecorino cheese and saba dressing
or
Lentil soup
~~~~~~~
Second Course
Cappelletti in brodo
Chicken cappelleti in capon broth
or
Grilled salmon with sauteed spinach
or
Brasato al Barolo
Braised beef short ribs marinated in barolo wine with polenta
~~~~~~~
Dessert
Ricotta Frittelline
Ricotta fritters with chocolate sauce and pears
or
Torta della Nonna
Pinenut tart with vanilla bean gelato
Coffee, tea and soda included

Friday, December 19, 2008

Mondays after 10PM : Where to Eat?

Half of LA pretty much shuts down on Mondays, and the other half seems to shut down at 10 PM.

Here are a list of the places I've found (so far) that are open past 10 pm on Mondays - on the westside (ish)

1. The Bazaar
465 S. La Cienega Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA
310.246.5555
http://www.thebazaar.com/

Open until midnight.




2. Riva
312 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA
310.451.7482

Open until midnight.




3. Wakasan
1929 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 446-5241

Open until 11 pm.



4. XIV
8117 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 656-1414
http://www.sbe.com/xiv/

Open until 11 pm.


5. Gjelina
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd.,Venice, CA 90291
(310) 450-1429


Open until midnight


6. BCD Tofu House
3575 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 382-6677
www.bcdtofu.com

Open 24 hours.

7. Loteria! Grill
6627 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 465-2500
http://www.loteriagrill.com/loteriahollywood

Open until 11 pm


8. Father's Office II
3229 Helms Ave.,
Los Angeles 90034
(310) 736-2224
http://fathersoffice.com

Kitchen open until 11 pm (bar until 1 am).


9. Simpang Asia
10433 National Blvd #2
Los Angeles, CA 9003

Open until midnight daily.




10. Cecconi's
8764 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 432-2000
www.cecconiswesthollywood.com

Open until midnight M-W, 1 am Th-Sat, 11pm Sun.



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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Riva: Travi's New Baby

Jason Travi's (of Fraiche) new restaurant, Riva, sits near the Third Street Promenade and is open all-day, probably to accomodate the shoppers. In addition, though, they are also open until at least midnight every day, Mondays included. So there you go, one of my late Monday night dinners!

The restaurant was big but at late Monday night was fairly empty - 3 or 4 tables filled.

We started with some salmon belly crudo with homemade mustard
The salmon belly was smooth and delicious. I have to say I really, really enjoyed this dish. I didn't see it on the online menu afterwards and was pretty bummed :/ I definitely would've ordered it again if I see it!

Next we had the hachiya persimmon with speck ham and arugula
This was again another dish that would make me come back! The persimmon was sweet and ripe - some of the best persimmons I've ever had. They pair very well with the slight saltiness of the speck ham and the arugula provided a nice texture contrast. I think I would come back to Riva even if just for this dish (I'm very partial to persimmons though).

Since the portions thus far were fairly small, we also got the roasted quail with farro and fall squash and pistachio pesto
The quail was decent, but not the best I've ever had. Not as meaty or gamey as I normally like.
I'm also uncertain about the farro combination.

The other main thing Riva offers that Fraiche does not is pizza. The pizzas here are around $15 - not cheap and actually about the same price as Pizzeria Mozza. So how were they?

We had the pignoli pizza (pine nuts, tomato, smoked pancetta, reggiano)
I liked the thin crust and thought that the whole tomatoes were great. The sage leaves added a very nice aroma and flavor. Overall I enjoyed this pizza (although it's expensive).

We also had the eggplant parmesan pizza.
Literally an eggplant parmesan, baked on top of a pizza crust. Quite an interesting dish - hard to eat as a pizza though since the 'topping' was very heavy. This filled us up quite a bit and was pretty enjoyable.

For dessert we went with the sweet potato cheesecake.
An extremely rich cheesecake, especially so since it is sweet potato and also topped with melted marshmallows!
This was actually too rich for my taste - once the ice cream to cut it is gone I couldn't eat any more of it.

Overall I thought Riva was pretty good with a couple dishes that really highlighted the meal and that I would go back for (the salmon belly and the persimmons with ham!).

Riva
312 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA
310.451.7482
http://rivarestaurant.wordpress.com

Riva on Urbanspoon

Friday, December 12, 2008

Whole Suckling Pigs and Foodbloggers at Ford's

Two whole suckling pigs and a bunch of foodbloggers.
I'm probably the last of the foodbloggers to write my report up, but at least most of you would've read it on everyone else's blog!

Sometime ago, right after all of us drooled over the Los Angeles Bizarre Foods episode where Andrew Zimmern eats suckling pig at Ford's Filling Station in Culver City, Fooddigger invited some of us foodbloggers for that very same meal at Ford's!!
LA&OC Foodie, iNOMthings, Teenage Glutster, Mattatouille, Matt from Diglounge, Food Destination, KevinEats and Tastespotting were all there, along with our hosts from Fooddigger.Link
Chef Ben Ford personally came bearing our platter of suckling porky goodness - head and all - which have been prepared for the past two days, just for us (feeling special!).
The platter consisted of different preparations including porchetta, confit of pork shoulder, pork loin, etc ...
(photo courtesy of Mattatouille)
The head is not there just to scare you - you're supposed to eat the cheeks which are supposed to be the best part of the pig :)

We also had a variety of side dishes including brussel sprouts with bacon and cavalo nero (kale):
Another side was the kabocha squash risotto:
The other side was roasted carrots with pomegranates.

I didn't think the sides worked too well with the main entree. Both the risotto and the brussel sprouts were pretty good individually, but very heavy, and so were the other vegetables. Too heavy to accompany an already-heavy suckling pig dinner! That was why my favorite were actually the pomegranate ...

Since we were eating whole suckling pigs, we of course had to have some offals (or close to it!).
One was the tongue salad with crispy pig's ears
This was one of the highlights of the meal for me. Loved the crispy pig's ears and the texture of the tongue. Having the salad was a nice refreshing change from all the ... well, pork.

As far as "offals" go we didn't stop there. We also had deep fried PIG'S EYES.
There were only 6 eyes (4 + a couple extra he took from other piggies), so we had to share .... All I can say was that the texture was ... interesting :)

For desserts each section of the table shared two desserts:
1. Hawaiian bread pudding with vanilla bean ice cream
Moist and refreshing - the sourness of the kumquats and the fruitiness of the bread pudding itself was great after this heavy meal!

2. Chocolate Walnut Torte
The chocolate torte is unfortunately a little dry. Despite my completely biased preference for chocolate, I have to say the hawaiian bread pudding wins hands down that night.

Somehow I ended up with half of the leftovers. The pork loin made for great lunch/dinner along with the pork confit sandwich :P
This was a very special treat, since chef Ford does not normally make this unless by special request, and we all had a blast! Dining with other foodbloggers is a completely different experience - thanks to Fooddigger for getting us together for this special


Ford's Filling Station

9531 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
Phone: (310) 202-1470
http://www.fordsfillingstation.net/

Ford's Filling Station on Urbanspoon

Monday, December 8, 2008

Chow Down at Baby Blues BBQ

I've been trying to actually use my Cozmo cards, so when I had to go to LAX I decided to try out Baby Blues BBQ in Venice.The place was crowded and loud - typical small BBQ joint. I was excited that they had sweet tea!!! It's hard enough for me to find ppl in LA who even KNEW what sweet tea is.

We decided to share the Blue Devil plate which gives you 4 meats (although Texas and baby back will cost you extra :/), corn bread, and 2 sides. We got the Texas beef ribs, Memphis ribs, baby back ribs, and shrimps - with sweet potato and corn on the cob for the sides.

The corn on the cob was sweet and moist.
I initially enjoyed the blue cheese they put on the corn, but after a while it was too much for me and I really just wanted to taste the sweetness of the corn itself.

The ribs were all great. Pretty tender with beef < memphis < baby back in tenderness.

Now, to show you the differences between the ribs, here are the bones, from top to bottom, of the Texas style beef ribs, then the baby back ribs, followed by the Memphis style long bone ribs.
See the size differences? And the curved bone of the baby back!

In an attempt to hit $50 so we can use our cozmo card, we ordered two desserts: the banana pudding and pumpkin-sweet potato pie.
I think there's too much starch in this pudding and I didn't really like the texture - too sticky.

The pumpkin sweet potato pie was good, although very rich.

This was a good BBQ place (next time I will probably get the baby back ribs, although they were all good), although it was relatively expensive (I want to go back before the end of the year to use my other cozmo card :D). Still, overall a much better experience than that LA BBQ Fest ....
The ribs here are tender and had great flavor, and the ambiance was pretty cool.

Baby Blues BBQ

444 Lincoln Bl.
Venice CA 90291
310-396-7675
www.babybluesvenice.com

Baby Blues Bar-B-Q on Urbanspoon

Friday, December 5, 2008

NYC: Loving Chicken Parts at Yakitori Totto

I've been wanting to go to Yakitori Totto for ... 2 years now? A friend of mine told me of a Japanese place in NYC that was supposed to change my life, and he gave me the address. Not the name though ... and it turns out there's a different restaurant on the first floor at the same address and I ended up there, 2 years ago ... (it was good - a kaiseki restaurant).

This year I had to go. With a week full of restaurant reservations though the only time I could go was my last night, right before my 8:30PM flight. Totto opens at 5:30 PM but having nothing else to do/buy (post-shopping) I walked there at 5:00. They wouldn't let us in but while we were debating whether to wander around and come back or not the line started to form ... by 5:20PM the stairway was full of people waiting in line. Good thing I didn't leave!

The yakitoris were about $3.50 a piece and there was a minimum order of I-can't-remember-how-much-bcs-it-didn't-matter. At least the min order can include non-yakitori items, unlike certain LA yakitori places!

My dinner started off with what ended up being my favorite - seseri (chicken neck)
Great flavor and texture - they are bits of chicken neck wrapped around the skewer, chewier and firmer than usual meat. Maybe even a wee bit cartilagenous, but not much. Loved it, loved it.

Next we had the chicken oyster (this is from the backbone near the thigh)
This was also very good. Delicious, tender little things. Although I was still in heaven from my chicken neck ... mmmm.

I also had some chicken thigh with scallions but apparently I didn't take a photo of it :( If you don't normally eat prawn/shrimps with their shells on this will prove to be a bit of a hassle to eat since grilling it makes the shell stick to the meat and hard to remove. I usually try to just eat them tho. The yummy seasoning is all on the shell's surface anyway :P

We also had some tamago, made with free range Jidori chicken eggs.
Amazing. One of the best I've ever had - very flavorful eggs This wasn' t exactly to my taste. It was crisp but had the stickiness that didn't really agree with me.

We also had some miso eggplant.
Good. Pretty standard grilled eggplant with miso. The chicken parts are definitely the highlights at this place, so get the other stuff for fillers only.

We also tried their daiginjyo tofu.
The tofu was steaming in front of us for a while. The server comes and serves it to you when he/she thinks it's ready. Soft, smooth tofu and nothing else. Very simple and delicious.

For dessert we ordered the yawaraka annin tofu ("creamy apricot kernel tofu")
Compared to your usual "tofu" this has a stickier texture - maybe even more like a pudding. Just the right amount of sweetness and quite refreshing, I really liked this dessert!

I absolutely loved Totto. It's the best yakitori I've ever had (although I never got to try Bincho before they closed the yakitori part down - but I highly doubt it can beat Totto). I plan to come back and try the rest of the menu!

Yakitori Totto
251 W. 55th St (btw 8th and Broadway)
New York, NY 10019
(212) 245-4555
http://www.torysnyc.com/totto.htm

Yakitori Totto on Urbanspoon
Yakitori Totto in New York
See all my NYC posts here.

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