Upcoming Events + Help Haiti!

Saturday, January 16
I'm sure you've all heard about the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Haitian restaurant TiGeorges' Chicken held a well-attended fundraising dinner yesterday (raising $14,000!), but if you missed that one, they're holding another fundraiser tomorrow 2-6 pm.
309 Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90026. (213) 944-1515

Can't make it? There are so many ways to help!
The easiest and most popular way is to text 'HAITI' to 90999 and $10 will be given to Red Cross and charged to your cell phone bill.
Or, just go to the nonprofit website of your choice and donate. I donated to Partners In Health.

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All through the weekend you can also Drink to Help Haiti! Starting tonight 20% of proceeds from sales of Revolution Ale in the taproom will be donated to Haiti relief efforts. Reservations are available on Friday, Saturday, Sunday 4p-10p. Email ting@eaglerockbrewery.com for a reservation.
3056 Roswell Street, Los Angeles, CA 90065. (323) 257-7866

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Sat, Jan 16 is also Kiss My Bundt's Cake Tasting Event. All you can eat bundt cakes from 8pm-10:30pm, wine tasting, and coffee for only $10? It's the perfect time for after dinner dessert, too.
8104 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048. (323) 655-0559

Kiss My Bundt also has an ongoing series of hands-on baking classes ($50 on the weekdays, $55 on weekends -- or you can also get the baking class tickets for cheaper ($30-32) from Goldstar here). There are also kids' baking classes, intro to frosting, etc. Check website for full calendar.

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Tuesday, January 19
Five finalists for Coral Tree Cafe's "Panini-Off" will compete from 8-10:30 PM at the westside location. This panini-off is open to the public and proceeds from that night will benefit LA Firemen's Relief Association.
11645 San Vicente Boulevard, Brentwood, CA 90049.

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Also on Tues, Jan 19:
25% off all sales at Pourtal from 7pm-on benefit Red Cross Haiti efforts!
104 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401.

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Sunday, January 24
LA's last remaining winery, San Antonio Winery, is holding Wine 101: Introduction to Wine Tasting and Food Pairing. Attendants will be tasting the whole gamut from Louis Perdrier Rose Champagne to San Felice “Il Grigio” Chianti Classico Riserva 2005 to Maddalena Vineyard Muscat Canelli 2008 from Paso Robles.
The wines will be paired with the following menu: puma goat cheese/orange and roasted eggplant salad with French vanilla glaze, basil oil and microgreens/broiled Miso Alaskan black cod on a potato and chive pancake with Miso glaze/roasted Ancho pepper crusted rack of lamb on roasted wild mushroom risotto with pinot noir coriander sauce/Island mango mousse with candied macadamia nuts and toasted coconut shavings.

This class/lunch costs $55.00 per person. If you can't make it to this one, you might want to check out their other upcoming events including their sparklies and their chocolate+red wine pairing.

San Antonio Winery, 737 Lamar Street, Los Angeles. (323) 330- 8771

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Also on Sunday, Jan 24:
From 5pm to closing, 10% of all sales at Barbrix will go to Doctors Without Borders for their Haiti Relief efforts.
2442 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027.

Campari Cocktails: Negronis, Punches, and More

Most people think of Negroni when they hear Campari, a classic that you can't really go wrong with.

Negroni
1 oz gin
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Campari

But any liqueur deserves more than one cocktail to be made from them, so various mixologists have played around with this red spirit.


Nicaraguan Negroni Punch
Created by mixologist Jon Gasparini of Rye on the Road


15 ounces Campari
10 ounces Flor de Cana 7 year
7.5 ounces Cinzano Rosso
10 ounces Grapefruit Juice
2.5 ounces Honey

Combine juice of ten lemons and 30 cloves in a tupperware container or cake mold and freeze. Combine all ingredients in a large punch bowl with flavored iced block.

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Since I didn't have Flor de Cana and it was New Year's day, I tried substituting Appleton rum. After trying the above recipe, we kind of decided that grapefruit + campari is just too bitter overall, so we topped it off with Sparkling Cider and more rum for good measure.

The Butchered Negroni Punch went something like this:
2.5 oz honey
7.5 oz sweet vermouth
10 oz grapefruit juice, fresh squeezed
15 oz Appleton Rum
7.5 oz Campari
7.5 oz Sparkling Cider (or to taste - some like it more bitter than others)


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They also sent over a Valentine-themed Campari cocktail that sounded good, I'll be trying to replicate this soon :)
(PS. Don't get confused by "Small Hand Grenadine" - it's not a typo, this is just grenadine made by Small Hands Food and is actually made of - gasp! - pomegranates as opposed to food coloring!)

Love Letter
Created by Adam Wilson of Beretta


1 oz Campari
1 oz Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice
0.75 oz Cointreau
0.25 oz Maple Syrup (should be 1:1 with water)
0.25 oz Small Hand Grenadine
3 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters

Shake. Add Soda. Pour over ice in highball. Garnish with a lime zest.

Hot and Soupy #5: Mariscos Chente's New Winter Menu

Mariscos Chente made a big wave in the past year in the Los Angeles low-brow dining scene with their much lauded Sinaloan seafood cuisine. Recently they rolled out a Winter Menu and Street Gourmet LA, a long time Chente supporter, set up a small blogger tasting. Throughout the dinner, Street Gourmet LA guided us each dish, and where they come from , etc.

To get authentic Sinaloan seafood, the owner Maddalena routinely buses down to her hometown of Nayarit to procure some fresh seafood!

Tortilla chips and salsa while you wait. Watch out for the green salsa - it was way spicier than the red!

Our first soup was the Albondigas de camaron(shrimp albondigas), a common Sinaloan dish. Albondigas is meat/shrimp balls and is in fact a national dish that varies throughout Mexico. Seafood albondigas are typically found on the coasts. The broth consisted of shrimp stock, tomatoes, oregano, jalapeno, cilantro, and vegetables.

The albondigas were firm and chewy. The broth has quite a kick to it, and on that foggy night near the ocean, this hot soup was quite a treat.

There are three other seafood soups they're offering, which uses a common broth (made of fish stock, tomato, jalapeno, vegetables) but just varies in the seafood proteins they put in them.

The fish soup contains moist and tender pieces of seabass, including the skin and jowl.

The 'mixto' contains shrimp, fish (seabass, same as above), and octopus.
The octopus in this soup was so chewy and delicious I would highly recommend getting the mixto over either the fish or the shrimp (which they also offer). The broth here is not as spicy as the albondigas but I personally prefer it because it was richer and flavorful (though the rest did prefer the albondigas' broth).

Mariscos Chente is also offering a series of seafood tacos this winter.:
The deep fried fish(halibut) and shrimp tacos are topped with cabbage, tomato, onion, and homemade Thousand Island.
The batter here isn't as crispy as I would like, but the thousand island dressing is a really nice touch.

The highlight among the tacos was the Gobernador, a specialty of Mazatlan which consisted of sauteed shrimp with Monterey jack cheese, peppers, and onions in a flour tortilla finished on the grill.

Sweet and rich, these nicely grilled tacos packed a punch.

To wash it all down, we had Maddalena's special jarritos (also known as Palomas) which is typically made with Squirt, salt, and tequila but she squeezes in some orange in there for a flavor boost! Served in these clay vessels, the drink was quite refreshing and addictive. Mariscos Chente doesn't have a full liquor license so you can order this as a "virgin drink", but if you want to sneak your own tequila into the jar, I'll keep mum ;).

Who knows how long they would keep the winter menu up, so you might want to hurry and taste the Gobernador and their soups for yourself.


Mariscos Chente
4532 S. Centinela Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 391-9887