Monday, September 23, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Casual and Healthy Lunch at Twist Eatery
Twist Eatery recently opened in La Brea, serving breakfast, lunch and baked goods along with coffee.
The salmon was nicely cooked, still moist, and the sauce and dressing were flavorful yet still light. I really liked this for a healthy yet still filling lunch.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:55 AM 0 comments
Labels: bakery, bowl, free wifi, handsome coffee, healthy, la brea, lunch, mid city, quinoa, salad, salmon, sandwich, Twist eatery
Thursday, September 19, 2013
September 28: Trattoria Neapolis One Year Anniversary Celebration (Pasadena, CA)
Trattoria Neapolis is one of my favorite places in Pasadena, both for food and drinks, and they're celebrating their one year anniversary next week! On Saturday September 28, starting at 7pm, the different rooms and balcony will turn into different tasting areas with food from Chef Bryant Wigger, wine, beers, distilleries, and Stumptown coffee. Since the menu is not posted on their website, I wanted to share it with you here!
Tickets are only $60 (advance purchase) and looks like it will be a great value! Plus $10 of each ticket purchase will be donated to Foothill Family Service. You can purchase the tickets in advance by calling (626) 792-3000.
Here's the menu and the list of wineries/breweries/distilleries!
Posted by gourmetpigs at 2:54 PM 0 comments
Labels: bryant wigger, food event, italian, lake ave, one year anniversary, pasadena, stumptown coffee, tasting event, trattoria Neapolis
Monday, September 16, 2013
Fishing With Dynamite: The Bomb in Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach dining scene is blowing up. Following his success at M. B. Post, Chef David Lefevre opened up Fishing with Dynamite just a few doors down, this time focusing on seafood.
Not to miss at Fishing with Dynamite is their raw bar selection, including (of course) a great selection of eight different oysters. My recent favorite is the Sweet Petite (Cape Cod, MA). Like the name suggests, it's one of the sweetest oysters out there!
We also had Littleneck clams ($26/dozen) and Atlantic Lobster ($20 for half), both excellent.
Uni lovers (that would be me) shouldn't miss the special and aptly named Bomb.com: hand harvested Santa Barbara sea urchin ($15)
You can choose two of these sauces: mignonette, cocktail, ponzu, pico de gallo, yuzu kosho mayo, saffron aioli, remoulade. Which one you should get depends on what raw items you're getting!
Cocktails are also great here and designed to go with the seafood dishes and there are options for all palates from martini lovers to those who like richer, sweeter cocktails like flips. If you want something spicier, try the Regalo de Dios (Hacienda de Chihuahua sotol, Combier, strawberry-rhubarb puree, serrano, rhubarb bitters).
Those who prefer more aromatic drinks should opt for Through the Looking Glass (No. 3 gin, Tio Pepe fino sherry, Cocchi Americano, orange bitters, Dolin dry vermouth rinse).
There were also a couple of specials on the menu that day:
Hamachi, avocado, ponzu, radish, serrano, shiso ($16)
Posted by gourmetpigs at 5:35 PM 0 comments
Labels: clam chowder, cocktail, david lefevre, fishing with dynamite, manhattan beach, raw bar, raw seafood, seafood, south bay, uni
Saturday, September 14, 2013
"Naanstrami" And Comfort Food at The Belmont (West Hollywood)
The Belmont on La Cienega has a long history but now there's a new ownership and a new chef in charge, and things are looking pretty fun. Sports fans can sit inside with the large screen TV and enjoy some beers, or you can sit outside for a quieter dinner. Either way, these days the beer selections are getting more interesting and so is the food.
They now have items like the Naanstrami (pastrami, swiss cheese, spicy chipotle slaw, naan bread - $14) - yes, that is a pastrami sandwich on naan bread!
The naan makes a pretty good vehicle, as you can taste more of the pastrami, but there's still that nice char. I liked the little kick from the spicy slaw here also.
It's not all new menu items here, they kept the popular Original Belmont Mac n Cheese (crab, scallion, bacon, tomato, cheese - $13)
I mean, it's crab mac and cheese with crispy, crumbly top. I don't think I have to say too much about it, do I? It's rich but so good!
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:00 AM 1 comments
Labels: beer, crab mac n cheese, fries, la cienega, los angeles, naan sandwich, naanstrami, naanwich, pastrami, sports bar, the belmont, west hollywood
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Patina Toasts 10th Anniversary With Build-Your-Own Tastings For $10/Dish
On October 10th, Patina Restaurant in downtown LA will be celebrating their tenth anniversary in a big way. On that day only, guests can design their own tasting menu for just $10 per dish. For Patina, that's an amazing deal!
What a decadent start to a weekday lunch! The scallop "sandwich" was a unique combination.
Bread service: olive bread |
I thought this tuna and avocado combination would be like any other tuna tartar-like dish, but I was wrong. The flavors here were surprising and delightful and the tuna was fresh and almost melted in my mouth. The Albariño was a great wine, crisp, lightly sweet. This was my favorite pairing and wine of the day.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 8:49 AM 0 comments
Labels: 10th anniversary, downtown, dtla, joachim splichal, la, patina, patina toasts ten, tasting menu
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Giveaway! Tickets to LA County Fair
As you may know from my post last week, the LA County Fair in Pomona is going on until September 30. Fun fried food, Star Trek exhibit, circus performers, beer and wine tasting ...
Because I attended the preview they gave me 4 admission tickets and a parking pass. Unfortunately for me, this month is crazy busy and I can't go so instead I'm giving away the tickets to you guys! I'll be splitting the prize into two so each winner will get two tickets and one will also get a parking pass :) Just follow the instructions on the entry form below and good luck!Posted by gourmetpigs at 11:43 AM 3 comments
Labels: contest, giveaway, la county fair, ticket giveaway, tickets
Sunday, September 8, 2013
G&B Coffee Elevates Coffee Experience at Grand Central Market(DowntownLA)
The Grand Central Market in downtown LA is experiencing a revival with the opening of some great destinations, including G & B Coffee, which used to be located inside Sqirl. The coffee bar is also visible from the street and pedestrians can just walk up to it without going through the market itself first.
By the way, I came here for a preview tasting so for some, the pictured portions are much smaller than the full size that you'll get when you purchase.
G & B doesn't roast their own coffee, instead you'll find a rotating selection of their current favorite coffees from other roasters. Right now they seem to be liking Heart from Portland, but they'll have 6-10 different varieties each day so there will always be something for everyone.
The most popular item may be the almond latte. Kyle Glanville, one of the co-founders, thinks that soy tastes weird with coffee, so instead they have almond milk made in house which is only slightly sweet and is quite good. It has a nice subtle flavor that goes well with coffee.
The coffee shop sells pastries from Pete the Baker, who used to do pastry for Storefront Deli in Los Feliz.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 3:34 PM 0 comments
Labels: almond milk latte, coffee, downtown, dtla, espresso milkshake, G and b coffee, grand central market, los angeles, toast
Saturday, September 7, 2013
San Fernando Valley Reviews
**** SAN FERNANDO VALLEY ****
Bow and Truss (North Hollywood)
Casa Vega (Sherman Oaks)
Firenze Osteria (Toluca Lake)
Idle Hour (North Hollywood)
Mac-O-Licious (Valley Village)
Mariscos El Teto's (Sun Valley)
Ombra Ristorante (Studio City)
Pedalers Fork (Calabasas)
PizzaRev (Studio City)
Public School 818 (Sherman Oaks)
Saddle Peak Lodge (Calabasas) *
Sushi | Bar (Encino)
Sushi Katsu-ya (Encino)
The Tasting Room and Lobby Lounge at Four Seasons Hotel (Westlake Village)
Tipple and Brine (Sherman Oaks)
Tee's on the Green (Tujunga)
Vitello's (Studio City)
Posted by gourmetpigs at 12:20 AM 0 comments
Labels: calabasas, encino, restaurant, restaurant review, san fernando valley, Sherman oaks, studio city, the valley, toluca lake, tujunga
Friday, September 6, 2013
Pedalers Fork (Calabasas, CA): Where Bikers Meet Food and Cocktails
Pedalers Fork in Calabasas is where a restaurant meets a bike shop, opened by two good friends who combined their respective passions (one loves food, one loves biking). It's a bit of a drive but I finally managed to come here on my way to taking my mom to the outlet mall. The restaurant is spacious, with high ceilings and more seats on the second floor. On a good day, head outside to sit next to the creek and watch people get to work on the bike shop - you'll get the feeling this is what California is all about.
View of the bike shop |
The menu's probably changed by now (I know, I'm slow!), but I enjoyed the Second Gear (rye, coffee infused Punt e Mes, Maraschino, and coffee bean float) and Rye Hummingbird Down (Chartreuse, rye, honey and lemon). It's a solid cocktail menu - probably the best one in the Calabasas area - you can hardly go wrong.
My mom and aunt don't eat much, so we decided to share two dishes and a dessert between the three of us.
Seared Albacore Tuna sandwich with avocado, chili vinaigrette, savoy cabbage, cucumber kimchi, rainbow carrot ($15). I chose the mixed greens as a side.
They give you a pretty thick cut of tuna. The cucumber kimchi is not very spicy or pungent but added a nice flavor regardless.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:26 AM 0 comments
Labels: 10 speed coffee, bike shop, cafe, calabasas, cocktail, pedalers fork, woodland hills
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Eating Around LA County Fair
The annual LA County Fair started this past weekend at the Fairplex in Pomona and will go on until September 29. Yes, there's petting zoo (and milking demonstration), Esmeralda's Traveling Circus, magic show, safari show, sharks, and all that, but you know I'm all about the food. As usual, there are tons of fun food around. Fair food!
Deep fried twinkie |
Posted by gourmetpigs at 6:50 PM 0 comments
Labels: bacon wrapped pickle, blooming onion, brisket sundae, cajun, chicken Charlie, county fair, crawfish, deep fried Twinkie, fairplex, Harold and Belle's, Krispy Kreme burger, la county fair, pomona
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Recipe: Evan Kleiman's Chicken Pot Pie With Duck-Butter Dough
Remember when I took that pie making class with Evan Kleiman and Sherry Yard as a fundraiser for KCRW? Well, here's Evan's amazing chicken pot pie recipe. I get hungry thinking about this pie!
Evan Kleiman's Duck-Butter Dough
Ingredients:
12 oz flour
pinch of salt
5 oz high fat butter (Plugra, Kerrygold) cut into 5 pieces, chilled
3 oz rendered duck fat, pulled into 3 pieces, chilled
4 to 5 oz ice cold water
Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Toss the butter and duck fat lumps around until they are coated with flour. Use a pastry cutter or your fingers to mix the fats and flour together until you have a mixture with uneven crumbles, some as big as almonds and some as small as peas.
Add the water a tablespoon at a time, fluffing up the mixture after each addition with a fork. Once you can create a clump by squeezing the dough in your fist it has enough water. Don't worry if it's a little shaggy, as long as it sticks together.
Divide the dough in half and form into flat discs.
Dump the crumbly mixture onto your work surface and bring the mass together by first pushing it away from you with the heel of your hand then gathering it up with a bench scraper. Repeat if necessary. Here's a video of Evan's instructions on rolling the dough:
Posted by gourmetpigs at 4:20 PM 0 comments
Labels: chicken pot pie, duck butter, duck fat, evan kleiman, good food, kcrw, new school of cooking, pie, pie dough recipe, recipe
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Help Beat Childhood Cancer at LA Loves Alex's Lemonade on Sept 28
Summer isn't over yet and there are still more great food events coming up! One of my favorites is LA Loves Alex's Lemonade (see my recap from the 2011 event) which raises funds to fight childhood cancer and it all started from a little girl called Alex and her lemonade stand ... The LA event last year raised half a million dollars!
This year's event will take place on September 28 and is hosted by Chef Suzanne Goin and business partner Caroline Styne (AOC, Lucques, Tavern), and Chef David Lentz (The Hungry Cat) and brings in LA's superstars like Providence, Bestia, Animal, Trois Mec, Rustic Canyon and more. Mixologists, sommeliers, and wineries will also be there including Eric Alperin from Varnish, Silverlake Wine, Hitching Post and many more.
Oh, as a bonus, Neil Patrick Harris is an honorary committee member. He was there in 2011 so you might catch a glimpse of him again.
Here are the details of the event:
When: Saturday, September 28, 2013, 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Where: Culver Studios, Culver City, CA 90232
Tickets are $175 each and can be purchased here, or if you have the funds you can get the $1200 Meet and Greet tickets (includes ticket to chefs dinner on Sept. 27, access to a Top Sponsors reception prior to the event, and early admission including a behind the scenes tour of the event to watch the chefs prepping)
Children 12 and under get in for free with accompanying adults.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 8:39 AM 0 comments
Labels: alex's lemonade, charity, childhood cancer, culver city, food event, food festival, fundraiser, la loves alex's lemonade
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Learning Pie Making with Sherry Yard and Evan Kleiman
Evan Kleiman started "Pie a Day" on the KCRW Good Food blog a few years ago by making a pie a day for 100 days. That took off and culminated in an annual Pie Contest where home cooks compete. Sherry Yard is one of the best pastry chefs in LA. She's put in years at Spago but is now set to open her own bakery in Culver City. The two came together to give a pie making class at Culver City's New School of Cooking recently to raise funds for KCRW.
To be precise, they're raising funds for the 5th Annual Good Food Pie Contest, which will take place on Saturday, September 7 from 2-4pm at LACMA. If you want to enter, you can sign up before September 1 on the website, and the fee is $10 per entry! There's also a Kids and Vegan category.
I don't know a thing about making pie, but I can tell you what tips I learnt from the pie class! First off, the set up is pretty nice. A glass of sparkling wine greeted us as we were seated at the tables. There's a full table setting because we're not just watching a cooking demo, but will soon be eating three delicious pies while drinking more wine!
First up is Evan Kleiman making her chicken pot pie (I will post the recipe tomorrow!)
So Evan uses part butter and part duck fat for her pie dough, genius! She passed it around so we can smell it.
Posted by gourmetpigs at 8:06 PM 0 comments
Labels: cooking class, culver city, evan kleiman, good food pie contest, kcrw, kcrw good food, new school of cooking, pie, pie making, sherry yard
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
LA Picnic on Sept 7, Benefiting St. Vincent Meals on Wheels + GIVEAWAY!
In my opinion, one of the best charities to support is St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, which provides hot meals to homebound seniors, and they do a lot of great fundraisers. St. Vincent MoW delivers over 4000 meals a day and only receive about $1 per meal in donation, which costs them $7 to deliver with current gas prices. That's why the fundraisers are so important!
This year, they're doing their first LA Picnic on Saturday, September 7. The event is presented by Lexus and co-hosted by LA Kitchen. Starting at 10:30 am, guest chefs will join attendees at the table for a picnic style brunch on the grass lawn of a historic hacienda at the Original Farmers Market.
Michael Voltaggio Photo courtesy of StVMoW |
Tickets are $95 each or $150 for VIP tickets and can be purchased here. The VIP tickets get you the same thing as the general admission tickets, but the difference goes to feeding more seniors (20!). It's more about the good deed!
Now, to spread the word about this wonderful event, St. Vincent's Meals on Wheels has offered up a pair of tickets to one of lucky readers! To enter the event, just use the entry form below and help us spread the word!
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:02 AM 8 comments
Labels: charity, contest, food festival, fundraiser, giveaway, la picnic, st vincent's meals on wheels, tickets
Monday, August 26, 2013
Giveaway! Tickets to California Beer Festival in San Dimas
Now. They've generously offered two pairs of general admission tickets ("Craft Beer Heaven ticket", $45 value per ticket) to give away to my readers. That could be you! And it's easy to enter. You can enter using the form below and following the instructions, and I will be drawing two winners on Sunday!
The general admission ticket ($45 online or $55 at the door) will get you admission with souvenir cup and all the beer samples, live music, and (apparently) bikini bocce ball.
Food is not included but will be available for purchase. The $70 VIP tickets will allow you to go in an hour early with a souvenir pint glass and access to reserve and specialty beers, along with a taco bar from 11:30am-1pm.
Proceeds will benefit the Gen Giammanco Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial support to student athletes to assist in their pursuit of both scholastic and athletic success in the city of San Dimas.
Good luck!
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:12 AM 9 comments
Labels: beer, beer fest, california beer festival, contest, giveaway, san dimas, tickets
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Gorge on Labor Day Weekend with LA Times' The Taste
The Los Angeles Times once again takes over labor day weekend with The Taste with 5 different food and drinks events throughout the weekend. It's not just going around tasting food and drinking, though. The Taste has cooking demos and various panels (last year I got to taste pinot noir while listening go a guy rap about wine). Tickets for each event are $65 (or $85 after August 29), with the exception of the $125 opening night. Here are the schedule of events and what to expect:
LA Times' Noelle Carter served up brisket sliders at the preview |
Saturday, August 31, 11am: Field to Fork
There will be cooking demos with Ari Taymor from Alma (named Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurant this year!) at noon, Michael Cimarusti, and Sherry Yard.
Saturday, August 31, 7:30pm: Flavors of LA
There will be a Power of Pop-up panel with Jonathan Gold, Starry Kitchen, etc
Sunday, Sept 1, 11am: Labor Day Block Party.
There will be cooking demo with Nancy Silverton, Evan Kleiman. Noelle Carter (responsible for LA Times' Test Kitchen) will also be hosting a Competition BBQ panel.
I had a preview of some of the things served at this event, including Dog Haus who will either be serving their spicy Thai dog or the Pastrami Dog. Coni Seafood's seafood tostada with sea snails and that amazing smoked marlin pate was one of the highlights of the night. Creme Caramel infuses custard desserts with Asian flavors with their pandan flan and Chinese sausage bread pudding (move over, bacon!)
There will be plenty of drinks, too, including Mionetto prosecco. Circa in Manhattan Beach will showcase one of their bottled cocktails. The Richard Pryor is made with Demerara rum and a cherry wood-smoked house made cola (with lime, of course)
Sunday, Sept 1, 7:30pm: Cocktail Confidential
The more drink-focused event will feature a craft cocktail demo with the famed co-hose Matthew Biancaniello, Serena Herrick (Allumette), Christiaan Rollich (AOC), and Brady Weise (1886). There will also be cooking demo with Michael Voltaggio.
Sucka Punch from Sunny Spot at last year's Cocktail Confidential |
Posted by gourmetpigs at 9:05 AM 0 comments
Labels: cocktail confidential, food event, food festival, la times, Labor Day, labor day weekend, taste la, the taste
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