Friday, August 31, 2012

GIVEAWAY: Jamaican Coconut Water

Coconut water is not new, many countries including Jamaica have had them in retail stores for years, but it has only recently taken off in the US when US companies started marketing their electrolyte-packed, hydrating qualities (and overpricing them at Whole Foods ...). Coconut water's been said to be a great hangover cure, too! How about you try one of the OG : Grace Coconut Water from Jamaica, where the company has been in business since 1922? They also have a version with pulp, for those of you who (like me) also like their OJ better with pulp.

They are giving out a six-pack consisting their three different coconut water products to one of my readers. Here's how to enter:
1. Leave a comment below with your email address so we can contact you if you win.
2. Get an extra entry by tweeting "Try Jamaican Grace coconut water with this giveaway from @gourmetpigs: http://bit.ly/RZP9Vx"

Enter by the end of Saturday, September 8. Good luck!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Fun Pairings at Colonial Wine Bar (West Hollywood)

Colonial Wine Bar in West Hollywood is a new restaurant and wine bar co-owned by sommelier David Haskell, whose fun wine pairings I have always enjoyed in the past. The full experience here is not from just the individual food from chef de cuisine Ryan Otey (Patina, Tasting Kitchen) and drinks but having them paired for you.

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When we came in for dinner, Haskell brought out three dishes at once with a couple of wine, beer, or sake that would pair well with the three dishes.

The first round included: Deviled eggs, pickled jalapeno, smoked paprika, crispy bacon and greens ($5)
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This was my second visit to Colonial and these deviled eggs are becoming a favorite. I liked the deviled eggs paired with Hitachino White best, which is one of their beers on tap. Colonial is apparently one of about ten places in LA that has this beer on tap.

Burrata, heirloom tomatoes, sherry vinaigrette, balsamic gastrique ($12)
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The burrata was very creamy and the tomatoes sweet and fresh. The first three dishes were also paired with a wine called Kabaj from Slovenia, which is a pinot grigio but with the skin left on and thus unlike other pinot grigio. With this dish, the tomatoes are meant to lighten the Hitachino while with the wine it's meant to invoke sparkling tomato juice.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Industriel Urban Farm Cuisine (Downtown LA)

This new restaurant in downtown LA has a rather confusing tagline: "urban farm cuisine"? It doesn't prevent them from being completely packed during Dine LA Restaurant Week though. The tagline is supposed to embody the fact that they're in downtown but uses local farm-fresh ingredients (though many other downtown restaurants do these days, without the tagline).

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The decor is for the most part stark and minimalistic, but they have this cute installation of this "chandelier" made of honey bear jars over a bathtub!
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The menu was divided into different price levels: $11, $14, and $19 (and a couple of "market price" options). The restaurant's website says they serve Provencal French cuisine, but there were only a few Provencal specialties on the menu (like bouillabaise and barigoule) and many other influences from Italian to Russian.
We started with a Crispy soft poached egg, speck, asparagus, mustard truffle dressing ($14)
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The crispy poached egg was nice, though I wished the dish had an earthier, bolder flavor component. I also thought this should've been in the $11 section.

Quinoa, roasted mushrooms, pecan, kale, caramelized shallot vinaigrette ($11)
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