Sunday, May 13, 2012

Little Cave Reborn as La Cuevita (Highland Park)

What used to be a divey gothic bar called Little Cave is now La Cuevita, a tequila and mezcal-focused bar modeled after a "Mexican Grotto", making Highland Park a little more interesting. The dimly lit interior is adorned with various artifacts the owners of the 1933 group found in Mexico, along with bat papier-maches and paintings made by a local artist. For a quieter evening, some seats are available outdoors by the entrance.

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One wall featured shelves of their mezcal collection, which may not be as extensive as La Guelaguetza or Las Perlas but impressive nonetheless. There are of course, a line of Del Maguey mezcals (from the lower end to the $40-a-shot-Pechuga), which I'm more or less familiar with, but there also Los Nuhuales, Don Amado, and other names I wasn't familiar with.

The cocktail menu is devised by Jared Mort from Oldfield's Liquor Room, another 1933 Group bar.
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My favorite of the cocktails was the Mole Manhattan ($12) made with Old Overholt Rye, Carpano Antica, Cointreau, Creme de Cacao, Chocolate Chili bitters and Hellfire bitters. It's a tad sweet and chocolatey, but don't be fooled, this drink can knock you down.

The Jalapeno Margarita ($10) is my next favorite with Tanteo Jalapeno tequila, honey, grapefruit juice, lime, and cilantro.

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The Mezcalada ($8) is an interesting take on the Michelada with roasted poblano peppers, clamato, Del Maguey Vida mezcal, Corona, lime, and house smoked salt rim. Despite the peppers and the mezcal, this didn't have as strong a flavor as the Micheladas I've had before, though. The Glutster told them so and he's hoping they would use a smokier mezcal (or just more mezcal) later.

There's usually no food here, but on Tuesday nights they bring in a taquero to whip up some carne asada, carnitas, and chicken tacos - and they're actually pretty good.
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La Cuevita 
5922 North Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90024 (Highland Park)
323-255-6871
http://www.lacuevitabar.com/

Disclosure: this visit was a hosted media preview 

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Spring at Sadie: New Chef, New Menu, New Cocktails (Hollywood)

I had pretty recently blogged about Sadie, which opened in the former Les Deux space, but after that visit the then-executive-chef had left and Mark Gold from Eva Restaurant had taken over as a consulting chef. That means a repeat visit was in order and Chef Gold's new spring menu was the perfect reason for it.

While waiting for others to arrive for a media tasting, we explored the new cocktails from bartender Giovanni Martinez. Some of the cocktails remain the same but there were plenty of new ones.
If you like frothy cocktails with egg whites you will love the Pantera Rosa ($12) with Aperol, Beefeater 24 Gin, homemade vanilla syrup, lemon juice and egg whites.


IMG_8304 After we were seated, we started the dinner with another cocktail, the Temperado: cachaca, Avion Silver tequila, lime juice, cilantro, and jalapeno. If you are one of those who are averse to cilantro, you may think this drink "tastes like a spa", but the little hint of cilantro with the spicy jalapeno made this cocktail just a tad savory, enough to open the way to our dinner.

Our courses were paired with either cocktail or beer, and all of the pairings were done by Gio.
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To start our meal, a small portion of the Little Gem salad with a wonderfully creamy green garlic dressing topped with a piece of crispy ham
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Then, an Organic (duck) Egg, representing "spring"
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You may think it's strange that I'm raving about an egg but this was unbelievably good. It had such a strong flavor that the stalk of spring onion helped restrain. This egg is on the menu for $6 and I would be perfectly happy to sit at the bar and eat this with a cocktail any day. Maybe even today!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Ra Pour, Take Two: Brunch (Rancho Cucamonga)

After our dinner at Ra Pour, we stayed at a nearby hotel and came back for brunch.

IMG_8021Since seeing it on the menu the night before, I had been eyeing the Chicken and Waffles: fried tenders, malted waffle, tabasco reduction, candied jalapeno, maple ($14). This was no doubt everyone's favorite. The chicken, despite being breast meat, was tender and the tabasco reduction gave the dish a nice little kick.

I liked how they did this as an appetizer. I'm always tempted to get chicken and waffles yet still want to try other things. With these small bites, I can happily eat them and still order an entree.

Overall, the prices at brunch are lower, although a couple dishes still seemed expensive, like the Fresh fruit of the season: melons, pineapple, papaya, mango, "local favorites", champagne, mint ($9)

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Fresh fruits aren't cheap, they were good and the use of mint gave me ideas, but it still seems steep to be paying $9 for a plate of fruits.

IMG_8022The fruit plate and items like Yogurt Parfait with blueberry compote, fresh mixed berries, yogurt, granola ($7) make up the lighter options.

Entrees included things like eggs benedict and fried chicken, but I went with one of the more interesting options.

Duck Confit Hash: duck confit, beets, potato, bacon, soft herbs, poached eggs ($16)
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The waiter described this as "like a confetti" and when it came, I can certainly see where he was coming from, especially with the thinly shredded, crispy beets adorning the top. This was the best out of the entrees I tried with interesting flavor combinations, although there were parts of the duck confit that were a little tough.

Ra Pour
7900 Kew Avenue
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739
(909) 899-7999
rapourrestaurant.com
Ra Pour on Urbanspoon

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Ra Pour: Elevating Rancho Cucamonga

I wouldn't normally consider going to Rancho Cucamonga to dine, but the promise of a free hotel stay sounded like a nice getaway and convinced me to go check out this new restaurant headed by Executive Chef Greg Stillman, a French Laundry and Patina alum. On the drive to the restaurant, we saw what other places were in Rancho Cucamonga and it was pretty much restaurant chain capital.

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Ra Pour is located inside the Victoria Gardens outdoor mall. The restaurant is large and a divider separates a large table facing the kitchen - a semi-private "chef's table"
The other side of the restaurant was the lounge area - even the lighting was different. Apparently after regular dinner hours the place turns into a club with DJs - not really my kind of scene.
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The table started with a glass of sparkling wine, a 2007 Brut Taittinger Domaine Carneros, and shared some appetizers including tempura mushrooms and my favorite: lobster pops with lemongrass coconut sauce
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The pops had actual chunks of lobster inside, not shredded and mixed. I tried the tempura mushrooms but didn't realize it had a dipping sauce which didn't make it to my side of the table at the same time, so it was incomplete.

The cocktail list contains five "signature cocktails" at $14 each and five "vintage cocktails" at $12 each. I went with one from the vintage list, the Highlander with Famous Grouse blended scotch whiskey, fresh grapefruit juice, house made grenadine, clover honey, orange bitters. I tried my friends' "signature cocktails" which lean towards the sweeter side.
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Inland Empire Reviews

Ashirwad (Upland)
Ra Pour | Brunch (Rancho Cucamonga)

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Sweet Endings of Foie: Foie Gras Desserts in LA

As July 1 is looming ahead, what better way to say farewell to foie than with ... desserts? OK, so you can partake in a couple hundred dollar five-six course foie gras menu, but if that's too much for you, here are some places in LA who had been serving up foie gras desserts.

1. Foie Gras Ice Cream Sandwich at Petrossian

Foie Gras Ice Cream
Imagine eating a cold, sweet foie gras terrine with brioche and jelly. That's almost what this super-decadent was like. This was originally a special for DineLA week, but it was popular enough that Chef Giselle Wellman wanted to make it regularly available.

2. Hazelnut-foie gras ice cream sandwich at Father's Office
At Father's Office, Sang Yoon combines the hazelnut foie ice cream with oatmeal cookies.

3. Foie Gras Cheesecake at Haven Gastropub
Foie Gras Cheesecake
The taste of foie gras is not as strong here as with the foie gras ice cream at Petrossian, but it's a wonderfully smooth cheesecake and the light foie flavor does come out at the end.


4. Foie Gras Jelly Donut at Umamicatessen
Foie gras mousse elevates this jelly doughnut at Umamicatessen, and the combination with the peanut dust made J Gold call this "the most luxurious peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the world."

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Brunch at Lazy Dog Cafe (Torrance)

Usually my trips down to Torrance only involves Japanese restaurants and bakeries, but I broke the pattern on my latest trip with brunch at the Lazy Dog Cafe.

Here is what you need to get at brunch:
Sunny Side Up Pizza: white pizza with Spinach, Sundried Tomatoes, Bacon, topped with three fresh Eggs, baked until golden brown ($9.25)

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Fellow blogger LA OC Foodie ordered this, but luckily he was generous enough to share. It was my favorite thing I had at Lazy Dog, especially the slices with the egg yolk on them. It's breakfast on a pie! Hmm, maybe they should put six eggs instead?

IMG_8435For sweet potato lovers, get the sweet potato tater tots with roasted jalapeno-lime aioli ($4.75)

The bacon lovers should try the Bacon Bloody Mary (Vodka, housemade crispy bacon infused bloody mary mix, pepperoncini, pickled cherry pepper,olive, bacon-corn nut salt, $7.50). I'm not a huge fan of savory cocktails and bloody marys so I didn't order one. I tried a sip of someone else's and it's got quite a kick to it! Bloody Mary lovers should enjoy this one.
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Lazy Dog Cafe has their own house brews, made by the brewery Firestone Walker and you can get a taster of six for $6.95. The taster includes the Lazy Dog Honey Blonde, Lazy Dog American Hefe, Lazy Dog Bavarian Hefe, Lazy Dog Pale Ale, Lazy Dog Red and a seasonal beer (which happened to be the Firestone Velvet Merlin the day we went).
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Out of the Lazy Dog beers, we liked the red ale the best, and I also liked the Bavarian Hefeweizen.

You can also get a sampler of their three house-made Sangrias: White Peach, Black-Currant Rose, and Pomegranate Red ($8.25)
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The three have pretty distinct flavors. I liked the white peach and black-currant rose, but if you've never had them, the sampler trio is definitely the way to go.

It's rare to see fried rice on a brunch menu, especially at a western restaurant, so I was intrigued enough to order the Hawaiian Fried Rice: Stir-fried steamed rice with hickory-smoked bacon, pork sausage, cabbage, veggies and eggs ($7.95)
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I wished they had put a sunny side up egg with runny yolk with this instead of the frittata-like egg. It's an enormous amount of food for the price-I could barely eat a third of it - but I much preferred the breakfast pizza.

We had to try the pancakes for dessert, especially one with a bacon butter, no?
Wild blueberry pancakes and maple bacon butter: Three large buttermilk blueberry pancakes, topped with blueberry compote, housemade maple bacon butter and syrup on the side ($7.75)
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The maple bacon butter actually had chunks of bacon in them! This made me be picky when I spread the butter, as I had to look for the parts with the chunks. The small, wild blueberries are sweeter than the big supermarket kind and thus worked better as a pancake topping.

When you live far from Torrance, it's hard to go there without stopping at at least one Japanese restaurant or bakery, but Lazy Dog Cafe should certainly be a spot for the locals. The menu is a good value, they have their own brews plus a few more local craft beers on tap, and that addictive sunny side up pizza!

Lazy Dog Cafe
3525 W Carson St
Torrance, CA 90503
(310) 921-6080
lazydogcafe.com
 The Lazy Dog Cafe on Urbanspoon

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Spring Shrubs and Bacon at Villains Tavern

You would never stumble upon Villains Tavern just walking around downtown LA, as it's hidden in a pretty desolate part of downtown near the arts district. You'd likely come across signs of a shoot or taping as you get close, but when I found it I loved the ambiance. The indoor bar is fairly small with little seating, but this is LA and outdoor seating is where it's at, especially when there's live music (as there frequently is here).

The spring menu is divided into two section: The Garden and The Shrubbery. The Shrubbery contains all the drinks made with shrub (aged liqueur made with vinegar). I noted it was now a thing and popping up all over, but this was the first bar I encountered that had a whole section dedicated to shrubs.
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The Venus Flytrap ($12) is made with Milagro Reposado, apricot orange muscat shrub, fresh lime juice, sea salt, and orange oils. The shrub was made using orange muscat vinegar and cane sugar.

The head bartender said that he would suggest this cocktail for those who like margaritas but wanted to venture out.
The Garden section also has the Autumn crocus ($12), what the bar calls "the ultimate spicy Margarita" with reposado tequila, agave, muddled mango, chili (Tapatio), lime, and salt. The Autumn Crocus had suck a kick to it, though, that I personally thought it was more adventurous than the Flytrap.

I also liked the White Snakeroot ($13) made with Black Bush, Cardamaro, Rosemary and strawberry aged balsamic shrub

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Aged strawberry balsamic is apparently the easiest shrub to make, but making the cocktail is hard because of balance. Just an excess drop of the balsamic shrub would throw the whole thing off.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Kiyokawa's New Sashimi-centric Omakase

Kiyokawa had been on my to-try list for some time since Jonathan Gold loved it so much, but I had sort of forgotten about this little place in Beverly Hills and stored it in the back of my mind. I recently dug it out and made it a point to finally go.

There are two omakase options at Kiyokawa, a full omakase (kaiseki) for $78 or a sushi-only omakase for $48. As I sat down and read the omakase menu there were things like miso black cod and other cooked items, but then they told me to ignore the menu. They had just started a new omakase menu and it was completely different than what was written. They recently changed the omakase menu to be more sashimi-focused rather than cooked dishes. Sounds even better to me.

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Sushi Chef Satoshi Kiyokawa
Our first course came in an orange sitting on ice. Inside the orange was some halibut sashimi with cucumber sunomono and tomato
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Albacore salad topped w crispy green onion
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This was a rather big plate for a second course with plenty of albacore. As the ponzu sauce that normally comes with albacore tends to be too astringent for me at times, I preferred this.

Live sweet shrimp and Hama Hama oyster topped with uni
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Did I mention the amaebi was a live? The legs attached to the head were still moving on the ice! (Sorry PETA)
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Still, the oyster with the creamy uni stole the show for me.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Revisiting Asia de Cuba (West Hollywood)

I remembered Asia de Cuba as an early date place, with its view of West Hollywood and its lobster mashed potatoes and plantain fried rice. Eons ago. I haven't been back, what's with all the new restaurants in town to try, and the restaurant is pretty expensive (especially with $12 valet). It's one of those "seen and be seen" places. I was recently invited for a tasting, as the menu had changed quite a bit with the arrival of the new chef, though signature dishes still remain.

There is now a whole ceviche section, served with plantain chips and toasted sesame tapioca chips:
Black grouper, sevilla orange, aji amarillo, yuzu and horseradish

Photo courtesy of Asia de Cuba
Wild salmon and salted avocado helado, spicy coconut milk, bird's eye pepper and black lava salt ($7)
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The avocado helado (that's ice cream for you) was a cool addition to the dish in both sense of the word.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Roti Tissue and More Goodness at Kedai Sabindo (Surabaya, Indonesia)

In Indonesia, you don't have to hang out at upscale cafes and bars after dinner. Desserts at a dive works just as well for many people, and Kedai Sabindo is always packed. As with other dives in this country, there's no air conditioning and you sit on plastic stools, yet people clamor to this place for its roti tissu ("tissue bread", also known as tissue prata).

Roti Tissue is a Malaysian Mamak (Tamil Muslim) food and is basically a wide, round-shaped, thinner version of roti canai, grilled until crispy on the spot...
.. rolled up on the grill
.. until you get this cone of very thin, crispy "tissue", doused in toppings on the inside (chocolate sauce, condensed milk, or cheese - or whatever sounds good to you).
It's a very simple yet very addictive dessert. Large enough to share but good enough to not share with too many people. It costs less than $1 anyway, so splurge ahead.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Perfect Croissants and More for Brunch at Luca on Sunset

About a month ago, e*starLA blogged that Luca on Sunset has the best pastries in West Hollywood, so when I got invited for a brunch tasting, I was quite excited. Little did I know I would be in for an eight-course brunch!

Our brunch started with a spread of the pastries we couldn't get enough of:
croissant, almond croissant, chocolate brioche, scone, apple danish, blueberry muffin, sweet potato speck biscuit, citrus poppy seed muffin

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The pastry chef at Luca, Rebecca West, apparently was a runway model in France, where she lived off of coffee and croissants. When that career had to end, she thought making croissants was the logical next step!
Well, it's true. The croissants are definitely some of the best I've had from the buttery plain croissant to the flaky chocolate brioche. I had been looking for a good pain du chocolat or something similar ever since Bite Bar closed, now I've found one.
If I didn't have the menu of the other seven courses in front of me as a reminder, I would eat all of them. ALL.

Unlike the muffins at most bakeries where they drop a few blueberries at the top so they're visible but there's nothing inside, Luca's muffin is chock full of blueberries inside!
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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Candy and Fire: Spring at 1886 Bar

Cocktails on fire, beer cocktail, a flight of barrel aged cocktails, Chartreuse candies, and spiked sodas. You can find all those and more on 1886 Bar's new spring cocktail menu. The food side boasts lamb neck, shrimp toast, and "onsen" egg. In other words, there are plenty of reasons to visit 1886 this season, even if you hav
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The Cinnablossom ($12) by Lacey Murillo is a table-side show, where the server will light up Lemonhart 151 on fire in the glass, then the cocktail itself (made with gin, lemon and homemade cinnamon bark syrup) is poured into the glass and extinguishes the flame.

The Bittersweet Farewell from Marcos Tello also gets fired up. The cocktail is made of gin, homemade passion fruit syrup, lemon juice, Campari, then the lemon garnish is doused with Lemonhart 151 and set on fire.

The Barrel Roll ($15, also by Lacey) is made with Bols barrel aged Genever, Carpano Antica, green chartreuse and garnished with a Campari "glass" candy. It's not just a garnish gimmick, the cocktail actually does taste better with the Campari candy.
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