Harajuku Crepe: A Bit of Rolled Up Tokyo in Beverly Hills

A recent Groupon for 50% off at Harajuku Crepe piqued my interest to try this Tokyo-style creperie. Mochi in their batter? Green tea or Earl Grey flavored batter? As a tea and sweets lover, count me in.

Harajuku Crepe took over the small former Fulfilled space along the rows of high end shops of Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills. Street parking is hard to find but there is a metered parking lot behind the building one block over.

Harajuku Crepe offers organic crepes, sweet or savory. They add mochi powder in their crepe batter, giving it a more elastic and chewy consistency that I really liked.

Choose among four batter flavors: original, buckwheat, green tea, or earl grey tea. Fill it with fruits, red beans, nutella or chocolate sauce, and ice cream - or for the savories choose between tuna/ham/egg/turkey/etc.

I tried the green tea crepe with red bean, banana, whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream. All the crepes here are rolled up into a cone so you can just grab it with your hand and eat it that way. No need for forks and knives!
As I've said, the batter here is unique and worth a try.

Harajuku also has a small but good selection of teas which are all brewed at the right temperatures for the right amount of time. And the topper? Free wi-fi!


Harajuku Crepe
9405 S Santa Monica Blvd
Beverly Hills, California 90210
(310) 285-3946
http://www.harajukucrepe.us/

Brunch at Chez Panisse Cafe

Last year a trip to the Bay Area ended up being one of the best food weekends ever. As soon as I land we caravaned to Berkeley, kicking off the weekend with some Alice Waters brunch at Chez Panisse Cafe.

Located on the second floor of the building, the Chez Panisse Cafe was packed to the gills during this Saturday brunch.

Just looking at the menu will give you an idea of the style of food here. The ingredients high quality and enticing, the preparations relatively simple but bound to be excellent.

One friend ordered the Bob's cardoon and anchovy toast with grilled radicchio and parmesan ($9)
I tried a bite and it was quite good, a nice combination of flavors, though it was too weird for my friend. Though what's visible is mostly the cardoon, the anchovy flavor was quite strong.

Enticed by the word 'truffle' on the menu, I decided to go really simple with Scrambled eggs with black truffle, grilled garlic toast, and chervil salad.
Softly scrambled eggs, strong truffle aroma. As a truffle lover, no complaint.

But then I got cephalopod envy.
Monterey Bay squid roasted in the wood oven with frisee, artichokes, turnips, and romesco sauce ($19)
I loved the texture of the tender roasted squid along with this drier version of romesco sauce. Both worked very well with the frisee.

Grilled Wolfe Ranch quail with winter squash puree, broccoli, and black olives.
Another great dish. The butterflied quail was very moist and tender and you can tell the quality of ingredients used here at Chez Panisse with the broccoli and squash. Growing up I came to dislike the dried up store bought broccoli. None of that here, naturally, as expected of Alice Waters.

On the whole, the desserts were very good but rather expensive.
Meyer lemon cream puffs with caramel sauce and pistachio brittle ($9.50)
Good cream puffs, but better and bigger can be bought for over $3 apiece.

Blood orange sherbet with kumquat confit and langues de chat ($8.25)
This was actually our favorite of the desserts. An amazing sherbet with strong blood orange flavor, but over $8 for 3 scoops still seems very steep.

Pink Lady apple and quince tart with creme fraiche ($9.75)
This small and thin tart was possibly the most expensive tart I've paid for ... again, good, but not sure it was worth it.

Overall we were very happy with Chez Panisse Cafe, especially with all the savory dishes - all of which used amazing products and were excellently prepared. Given another chance to visit Berkeley, I would probably end up here or at the restaurant again, though next time I'll skip dessert and go around the corner to Gregoire's for dessert instead.



Chez Panisse Cafe
1517 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 548-5525
www.chezpanisse.com

The Menu: Christopher Kostow Guest Chef Dinner at Melisse

On Sunday June 27, Chef Christopher Kostow from The Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley will be preparing a special five course meal (+dessert) at Melisse, kicking their Summer Guest Chef Series.

Here's the menu Chef Kostow has prepared:

First Course
Foie Gras in Black Bread
Dark Chocolate, Apricot, Bacon

Second Course
Santa Barbara Spot Prawn, Hokkaido Scallop and Cuttlefish
Windrose Farm Tomatoes, Uni-Apple Emulsion

Third Course
California Halibut with Serrano "Skin"
Molten Corn, Porcini, Borage

Fourth Course
Liberty Duck Breast and Confit Leg
Murray's Lulu Berries, Japanese Turnips, Jus d' Epice

Fifth Course
Veal Breast "Vitello Tonnato"
Hamachi Collar Mayo, Pickled Cucumber, Sorrel

Dessert
Peach, Peach, Peach

The dinner is $150 per person (tax and gratuity not included)
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to The Special Olympics.

For reservation please call 310-395-0881 or visit OpenTable.