LA's Best Desserts

Desserts, if done very well, can be the climaxes of my meal. Below are my favorite desserts in Los Angeles, along with links to the original post. Enjoy!
(The orderings vary with mood ...)

1. Passion Fruit Parfait, from Melisse


2. Soy Custard with Tapioca and Mango, from Phoenix Inn Food Boutique


3. Spring Bouquet cake, from Jin Patisserie


4. Coconut Panna Cotta, guava soup, roasted pineapples from Scarpetta.

Brunch and Mochas at LA Mill

After hearing so much about LA Mill, I finally made an excuse to have brunch there. I was going to the German Beer Tasting at Loft218 that afternoon and LA Mill was only 6 miles away, so I convinced rumdood (pretty easily, I think) that this was the best bet for lunch.

I'm not a coffee connoisseur and do not even normally drink coffee, so my main attraction to LA Mill is the Cimarusti-designed menu. However, I thought I would order some sort of coffee based drink anyway and when I saw "Valrhona Mocha" on the menu, my choice was easily made. Put Valrhona in front of anything and I'll probably order it ...
Not a coffee connoisseur but I can say I did enjoy this cup of mocha. Not sweet, but smooth and very enjoyable. Not bitter and doesn't leave a bad lingering aftertaste either.

Eggs being my staple brunch food, I had to skip the paninis for today and went for the Soft Scramble with Dungeness Crab:
The eggs scramble preparation was absolutely perfect for me. Very soft and moist. The sprinklings of green onions gave great pizzazz to the flavor of the dish as a whole. The dungeness crab was nice and fresh although I would've liked a little more :)
The dish itself is relatively small. A nice, light breakfast. Which is probably good for me for a change, but at $14 was not entirely a bargain.

There was nothing particularly interesting on the dessert menu that day. Having had an enjoyable lunch, I definitely want to go back for dinner AND dessert on another day.


LA Mill Coffee Boutique
1636 Silver Lake Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Ph. 323.663.4441
www.lamillcoffee.com

Great Food in Nowhere-Land

Chef Nadav Bashan was an executive chef at Michael's for three years before moving over to work under Cimarusti at Providence. Not so long ago he finally opened his own restaurant, Bashan, in Glendale/Montrose area. Although Glendale might sound close to Pasadena, this restaurant is actually pretty out of the way ...

Bashan sits on a quiet street, with not much around it. In fact, at dinner time, as far as I could tell it was the only thing open.

From the outside it looks like a cozy, charming cottage, but as you step inside it is actually decorated in a pretty hip/modern and sophisticated style. Such a contrast (see picture).



They only had 1 waitress working and at 6.30 pm only had three tables filled with customers.

We placed our order and were served these watermelon amuse bouches.

I've heard great things about their Crispy Veal Sweetbreads so of course I had to get them for my appetizer!
Mmmazing. Crispy skin, smooth silky sweetbreads on the inside. The sundried tomato was a great complement to it all.

Also got some Scallops with beets:
The scallops were nice, big and juicy. I would've liked a little more beets though! After we had run out of beets, the scallops were getting boring to eat by themselves.

For my entree I got Maple Leaf Farm Duck Breast
Let's see. I love duck. I love figs. This dish was great. The duck was particularly tender and flavorful, you can say gamey, even. It was cooked perfectly and also paired very well with the broccolini and the figs.

My companion got the Scottish King Salmon, which was perhaps one of the best salmon dish we've had, as you can probably see why from the photo.
Nicely cooked and still raw in the middle. Tender tender, juicy piece of salmon!

They had a special dessert that night which was this peach napoleon:
It was a pretty light and small dessert, but refreshing even though subtle.

We also got theChocolate Bread Pudding, since I feel like I need to have chocolate.
Decadent would describe this well. Richer, denser, and more chocolatey than any other bread pudding I've had. Very rich and chocolatey, I don't know if I would even call this bread pudding ... more like a chocolate cake. But it was quite good and satisfied my chocolate craving for sure.

I really liked this restaurant. I wish it isn't so out of the way for me, as I would like to come back more frequently.

Bashan Restaurant
3459 N. Verdugo Road
Glendale, CA 91208
(818)541.1532
www.bashanrestaurant.com