Planned Parenthood's Cocktail Pairing at The Corner Door

Planned Parenthood is one of the more controversial nonprofit organizations, sadly. Each year, PPLA Food Fare receives their share of anti-abortion protesters in front of their event, even though the majority of PPLA's services (97%) include cancer screenings, STD treatments and testings, and contraceptive services.

PPLA Food Fare is the organization's biggest fundraiser of the year. It started 34 years ago with a simple cooking demo from Julia Child but now draws 1500 attendees to partake in good food and wine from over 100 vendors (see my recap of the 2011 Food Fare). The Food Fare is returning to Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Thursday March 7th. There are two sessions. The daytime session rungs from 10:30am-2pm ($150) and the evening session, which usually have more restaurants participating than the daytime one, runs from 6:30-9:30pm ($225). You can buy tickets on their website or by calling (213) 284-3200x3700.

There are many great restaurants participating including Angelini Osteria, Drago Centro, the new Hart and The Hunter, Joe's Restaurant, and The Corner Door. Libations will be offered by The Beer Chicks, La Fenetre Winery, and more. To promote the PPLA Food Fare, I was invited to a cocktail paired meal at The Corner Door in Culver City. This new restaurant has become a very popular destination in Culver City, with waits up to an hour for a table at dinner time.

The chef at The Corner Door is Luke Reyes, who moved from from Massachussetts to work for Ludo Lefebvre. Since then he had been Chef de Cuisine at Gorbals, then Michael Mina, and most recently, Tasting Kitchen.

Behind the bar program is Beau du Bois. Beau has opened a few bars in the LA area, including MB Post.

The restaurant doesn't want to call itself gastropub because the term has been misused in LA lately. Instead, they emphasize that they offer a "laid back", ingredient driven menu.

olives and rosemary

Bread is made in house, including the foccacia with olive, red onion, rosemary

We started our pairing with Lettuces and Avocado, Bayley Hazen blue cheese, watermelon radish, peppercorn.

The salad has a citrus dressing and was paired with King's Assassin (gin, blanc sweet vermouth, Salers, Cocchi Americano, Cointreau).

The King's Assassin is a play on Negroni with a light, bright, vegetal quality from the Salers, which pairs well with the citrus in the salad. This cocktail is nicely balanced, strong but easy to drink.

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Caulfield's Bar and Dining Room Moves In To The Thompson Hotel (Beverly Hills)

Time flies and apparently it's been over three years since I went to BondSt at The Thompson Hotel for the first time. Now, the restaurant has been replaced with an entirely new concept, Caulfield's Bar and Dining Room. I hardly even recognized the space, which now has an enclosed patio area.Gone are the sushi and Japanese dishes, although Caulfield's "American" concept also encompasses crudo, pasta dishes, and bincho charcoal grilled meats.

Here's what I tried:
Pacific yellowtail crudo, pear, radish, coconut milk, finger lime, ginger ($16).

I like the flavor combination and the crunchiness of the fresh pear, but I did think the pear slices were a bit too big compared to the yellowtail and it covered up the flavor of the fish.

Burrata, butternut squash, dried figs and capers, balsamic vinegar, basil ($12)

This appetizer combined some nice ingredients with the creamy burrata and the sweet roasted squash.


Little angel pasta filled with artichoke, arugula and peas with butter, poppy seeds, Montasio cheese ($24)

From the binchotan grill: Marinated skirt steak, fingerling yams, soy, ginger, anticucho sauce ($31)

I love a skirt steak done right and this was one. Cooked just right so that it's still juicy and tender, this steak had a really nice flavor.


Cocktails here are the products of Jeremy Back, formerly of City Tavern, and are a definite improvement over what was offered at this hotel before. Expect different shrubs, like the one used in the Kentucky Kiwi (Pure Kentucky XO whisky, kiwi shrub, Bitter Truth Boston bitters, $13).

The most interesting one is perhaps the Bar & Dining Room (Maestro Dobel, fig shrub, cracked black pepper foam, finished with prosciutto dust, $15)

Don't be scared away by the pepper and prosciutto. While they gave a subtle savoriness, they don't overwhelm the drink.

For desserts, we decided to go light with the fruit-based desserts. We tried the roasted pear with ginger gelato, which I really enjoyed. Especially the ginger gelato part!

Strawberry Pistachio is a popular one that was recommended by our server and it was certainly a good pairing.

Caulfield's brings a breath of fresh air to The Thompson Hotel. I liked what Brian Redzikowski was trying to do at Bond St previously but he was still restricted by what the hotel chain wanted Bond St to serve. Caulfield's is a much livelier and "hip" spot with a more relevant menu. If street parking was easier to find or valet parking was cheaper, I would even come here for Jeremy Back's cocktails.

Caulfield's Bar and Dining Room
9360 Wilshire Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 388-6860
caulfieldsbeverlyhills.com


Disclosure: this meal was hosted

Trivia Nights And a Piece of History: Tam O'Shanter

There are many notable things about Tam O'Shanter in Atwater Village. It's one of the very few Scottish restaurants in town (although some restaurant guide sites will list it under "Irish") and it is also the oldest restaurant in LA that's been constantly owned by a single family (established in 1922 by Lawry's). They were there when Atwater Village had nothing.

Now it no longer functions as an inn, but the restaurant maintains its old world charm.

 On Tuesdays and Thursdays they also hold Trivia Nights at the bar area hosted by Geeks Who Drink, so I came in to try my hand at trivia while trying out Tam's for the first time. While waiting for the trivia to start, we had some drinks. The Moscow Mule is quite popular here, served in these cool mugs with Cock & Bull ginger beer, and a deal at $7.

The beer list at Tam's is actually quite good as well, with the recently revamped bar. There are 11 beers on draft featuring Brouwerij West, Stone, Great Divide, etc, and quite a few bottled beers.

So, the trivia is done by filling out your answers in these papers each round. Eating LA and I had such a hard time with just the two of us on our team. I didn't get any of the sports questions right! Pat did much better with the music and film questions, but I was jut pretty much useless.

There are two teams who apparently go every week and they tend to take first and second place each time. Next time I'll bring a bigger and more well rounded team!

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