Truffle Dinner at La Terza

Last Wednesday Gino Angelini's La Terza bid farewell to summer truffles by holding a 7-course black truffle dinner. I thought for $75 this was a pretty good deal so of course I skipped class and went!

The server took quite a while taking our drink order and giving us the check at the end, but at least the dishes came promptly and smoothly - much much better than the 5x5. Of course they are not nearly as crowded. I guess Italians just like to take it slow ..

First course, we started with Scrambled eggs and black trufflesI don't know how he does it but his runny scrambled eggs are always so delicious. The intensity of the color also tells you how great the eggs themselves were as an ingredient - full of flavor.

Tuna tartar, assorted citrus, black truffles and Sicialian pistachio
An interesting flavor combination, with the citrus and the nuttiness (and slight crunchiness) from the pistachio. The truffles added to the nuttiness flavor.

Pan roasted whole quail, soft polenta and black truffles
The roasted quail was great. A pretty gamey bird that was flavorful and juicy. The skin is slightly crisped just the way I like it. The black truffles seem to be an afterthought here though since the quail already stands out so much and frankly needed nothing else.

Open ravioli, porcini mushrooms, black truffles and cream of parmigiano
I think the truffles worked the best in this dish. The combination of the truffles and the porcini mushrooms really make the flavors (and aroma!) stand out.

Veal Shank Agnolotti with Black Truffles
This may be my favorite dish of the night. The veal shank inside was just absolutely ... oh I'm at a loss for words. Basically I wanted them to put a pound of this stuff in front of me so I can eat it up! Not only was it flavorful and juicy, the tenderness was wonderful. The shank juice mingling with the black truffles also enhanced the truffle aroma, making the dish as a whole work so perfectly.

Beef filet, quail eggs, black truffles and port reduction
I was really stuffed at this point and trying to finish this filet was getting painful! :P
I liked the addition of the quail egg. Again here I felt the black truffles were just an excess addition - if it wasn't truffle night they could just serve this dish without them. Not that I am complaining about the abundance of truffles in this meal, it just would've been amazing if the dish and the truffles work together better.

The meal ended with Vanilla and Black Truffles Gelato
I was skeptical of this at first, but as it turned out, black truffles on gelato is an awesome idea. Second favorite dish of the night. Or maybe third after the quail, I don't know. The truffle aroma actually really enhanced the flavor of the vanilla gelato. It's hard for me to describe it, but I will say that I absolutely loved it.

And to think, this 7-course meal was cheaper than my one white truffle pasta dish at Angelini Osteria a year ago. I'll definitely be looking forward to more dinners like this one again! When I accept the fact that service at La Terza tends to be slow, I actually have a really enjoyable meal there.

La Terza
8384 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone: 323.782.8384

Play Trivia and End World Hunger!

FreeRice donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program for each trivia answer you get correct!

They have multiple trivia categories such as English Language, Art, Math, etc.

I am identifying the artists of paintings now - and I'm glad to discover that I still know my artists. Even after years of being a nerd ... :)

Some of you may be playing games on facebook right now, but instead of that, why not play this trivia and do some good in the meantime?



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Take a few courses through one of the many online accredited degrees and start marketing your restaurant today.

Neighborhood Nook

Nook was quite hard to find. Not only is it in an ordinary looking strip mall, it is also in the back corner of said mall. And while the website boasts a red arrow, the actual place is marked by a big blue arrow (that does not say Nook). After walking round and round I finally found the place.

The restaurant was not too crowded or loud - it is a good place to have a nice dinner and actually have conversation! Plus free parking.

Instead of bread or amuse bouche, Nook does something different: boiled peanuts. Not very friendly to the peanut-allergy folks out there, but this reminds me of my childhood when I used to buy boiled peanuts at the zoo (you're supposed to buy them and feed the elephants but I thought I deserved them more than the elephants!).

I ordered some "New Orleans style gumbo" and a portion of the proceed goes to the hurricane relief fund - good cause!
As far as the gumbo goes, though, I thought it was just okay. Good but I've had much better gumbo. Well, let me put it this way: It was a good soup - but if you ask me, it ain't gumbo! Can't compare to the one I had at Luke in NOLA.

Crispy Fried Calamari ($10)
Tossed with citrus-soy vinaigrette and wasabi dipping sauce.
This was a good calamari - not too greasy as it sometimes tends to be. The wasabi dipping sauce is interesting and is a delicious twist - it helps cut the grease of the fried calamari.

Shiitake and Gruyere Bread Pudding ($7)
Quite a flavorful and aromatic bread pudding! Liked this dish a lot (although it could use more shiitake for better texture) - it was better the next day when the bread has soaked up all the flavors :P

New Zealand green lip mussel pan roast ($12)
with linguisa sausage, oven-dried tomato, garlic, herbs and white wine saffron brot
Really loved the broth for this dish. The mussels are also big, plump and juicy. Probably my favorite dish of the night, and not bad for $12 (there were more mussels, this was half eaten)

Sauteed Brown Rice Bowl ($12)
With tofu, carrots, broccoli, and egg white this is a very healthy dish. And tastes kinda healthy too :P It is much better the day after as a leftover, just like fried rice is much better when made with day-old rice. Pretty basic dish, nothing special.

For dessert we got the chocolate pot de creme, as it was recommended to us ($7)
It's a pretty small pot but definitely a delicious dessert. The current menu online lists chocolate pot de creme with fresh strawberries, but I believe the one we had were blueberries.

The prices are Nook Bistro were pretty reasonable and the food is delicious (even if they can't do gumbo, IMHO) with good quality ingredients. An excellent neighborhood bistro and a pretty casual dining place. Nothing mindblowing but definitely good comfort food. I'll definitely be back.

Nook Bistro
11628 Santa Monica Blvd #9
Los Angeles, CA 90025
T 310.207.5160
http://www.nookbistro.com

Hits and Misses:OC's Sushi Murasaki

Usually I'm at a loss on where to eat in Orange County, and wouldn't even consider sushi. I mean, LA sushi is soo good and I was skeptical of OC sushi. Nonetheless, my friend convinced me a while ago to try out Sushi Murasaki, which had rave reviews (this is a backpost from long, long time ago).

The place was practically empty at lunch and we sat at the sushi bar in front of the owner.
We started off with some cucumber sunomono, then started ordering our sushi.
We started with some hamachi and the chef suggested some hamachi belly also (which obviously we took!)
The fish was pretty fresh, and the hamachi belly melts in your mouth. I was pleasantly surprised.

We also got some kanpachi
I thought he had put a little too much rice for my taste, but again, the fish was good and fresh.
I don't know how it would be when his apprentice is making it, but we had a great experience with the owner as the sushi chef.

There was a list of specials of cooked items, so we tried a couple of them. First we got the seafood croquette.
Pretty big croquette, and the filling and the crunchiness is great, but I wanted more seafood - or more flavorful seafood. Still, not bad, Iwould eat it again.

We also got some Black Cod with Wild Mushrooms and Daikon
This was ... meh ... bland. The fish is overcooked and tough, the sauce and the wild mushrooms added nothing. A waste of a cod, really.

My final impression was that this place has good sushi - good quality fish and all, but the cooked dishes were all ... meh, not worth it. I would recommend going to this place, but for the sushi only, although their fish choices are limited compared to a lot of LA places. But there's no need to get the cooked dishes - in fact, please don't (except the croquette).

Sushi Murasaki
2901 W MacArthur Blvd
Ste 108
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 241-1000
www.sushi-murasaki.com

Addictive Scones at the Gordon Ramsay

I went to have afternoon at the Gordon Ramsay at the London Hotel in West Hollywood with a bunch of other foodies, including LA&OC Foodie - we've been looking forward to it all week!

In the daylight the interior of the Gordon is classy and gorgeous. White walls with some gilded decorations. Pastel colored chairs contrast with the dark tables. It also has a great view of LA.The afternoon tea menu is fixed (at $28 per person) and all you have to do is choose the tea. Compared to Jin Patisserie or the tea rooms, the choices are fairly limited with Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Green tea, Darjeeling, etc. There were a couple of interesting choices such as Tangerine and Cassis. I opted for some fresh mint tea.

The fresh mint tea is made with real fresh mint leaves - not the dried stuff! I absolutely love the aroma of fresh mint (hence my fave cocktail is mojito).

Everything were brought out at once but T forwarded us a little article about proper afternoon tea etiquette, and you were supposed to start with the scones, so ... first up! Plain and raisin scones (one of each per person), served with blueberry jam and chantilly cream:
These scones were amazingly delicious and addicting. Very buttery, and with the wonderful blueberry jam and cream they gave us, each bite was just absolutely divine. The scones were definitely the highlight of our whole experience. We had to keep asking for more blueberry jam since it was soo good - they really should've just given each one of us our own dish of jam :P

We also had some spinach mini quiches that were oustanding!
The center of the quiche is very moist and gooey - a cheesy wonderful texture.

There were 4 types of sandwiches for everyone: Smoked salmon, prawn cocktail, prosciutto and mozzarella with pesto butter, and goat's cheese with sundried tomato and watercress.
Our favorite of the sandwiches were the Prawn Cocktail - fresh raw prawns with nice texture.
But I will show you a close up of the prosciutto instead just because I thought it looked nice :P
The rest of the sandwiches were also good. Great quality, solid taste, although they do not stand out.

Each person gets half of each type of pastry (one for every 2 people). The different pastries, from the left, are: Coffee&Walnut Cake, Lemon Tart with pistachio, Chocolate&Lavender cake, Fruit tart with lychee cream, and Lemon Pound cake.
I thought they were good but not outstanding - the chocolate lavender cake was my favorite, but overall cannot compare to cakes at, say, Jin Patisserie, or the ones at Ritz Carlton's afternoon tea. Lemon pound cake was pretty good, though.

I would come back for afternoon tea here just for the scones alone, even if nothing else. Knowing they have fresh mint tea will also make me come back though. It was a nice pleasant afternoon with nice views, good food (great scones), good fresh mint tea, and excellent company!

Gordon Ramsay
1020 N San Vicente Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 358-7788
http://www.gordonramsay.com/gratthelondonwh/

WineMaking 101: The Harvest and Crush

Okay, kids, let's learn how to make one of the most important fluids in the world: wine!
We're talking red wine here specifically.

I started making wine 3 years ago, when my professor at UCLA asked his students if we were interested. We bought 100 pounds of Sangiovese grapes from the Home Wine, Beer, and Cheesemaking Shop which is also a great resource on equipments and brewing nutrients.

That was the last time we bought though. That year and the years following, my prof's grape vines have started to bear fruits and we've been getting grapes from those vines.
So. First step - you harvest. Before the harvest, test your grapes regularly for its brix/sugar content. High sugar content will make much better wine (higher alcohol content)- if it is too low you have to add sugar but the natural sugar is always better. The later the harvest, the sweeter the grapes will be, but you may lose quantity.

Get the grapes in bunches and throw them in a barrel. We use the big gallon trash cans - new/clean of course! Don't worry about the stems/leaves at this point - we will get rid of those later, just get as much as you can.No, you don't have to wear funny outfits like we did. The only reason for the masks was that we were having bee problems.

Next, you destem and CRUSH.
The Home Wine, Beer, and Cheese Shop has a destemmer that will do the work for you, but in our low volume backyard process, I just crush them with my feet :)
It's been a tradition!

So destem the grapes, get rid of the leaves, throw them into a big, shallow bucket. Then CLEAN FEET in, and crush crush crush.

Once everything is crushed, measure the specific density - this will tell you the sugar content. 22 brix will give you 11% alcohol - Aim for 24 brix or so. The Shop's website also has a great list for charts etc on how much sugar/water to add to correct your sugar level.

Next you add the sulfite, tartaric acid, malo-lactic, super super food (nutrients for the yeast), and also water and some yeast. Grapes will have a white coating on its skin (see photo above) which will be covered with yeast. It is better to use natural yeast, but if there is not enough yeast you will end up with vinegar, so to be safe add some yeast.
Again, there's a chart/recipe on how much to add. People will tend to modify this based on experience, but of course I cannot disclose our secret recipe :P

We put everything in our big clean trash can. After these nutrient addition, cover the top of your crushed grapes with plastic - very important to make sure everything is covered and airtight! Air will promote the growth of bacteria and give you vinegar!

Then put on the cover for your trash can and leave it to brew for a week or so. Check the specific density every day. It should go down as the yeast is brewing, and you'd want to wait until you get as close as possible to zero.

When you hit that point .... we'll talk about it next time: PRESSING!

In the meantime, you have to get on to the most important part of the harvest .... The Feast :D
Always have a feast, with wine of course, when you're done harvesting ;)

Anniversaries, Giveaways, Fat, and Pungentness

My one year blogiversary is coming up! Is that a real word or did I just make it up?
Anyways, I decided to do not one, but TWO special things to celebrate!! (celebrating is just an excuse, I just want to do it)
I need your input and I'm turning this into my one-year-anniversary-blog-giveaway-contest.

So the background: I am planning: 1) a foie gras crawl, and 2) a durian crawl.
Am I kidding? Am I /ever/ kidding? I am totally serious. Not on the same day of course.
Well, maybe.

So here's what I've come up with for #1) foie gras w/ eggplant at Orris, and foie gras with mac&cheese and black truffles at Chaya Brasserie. What other particular foie gras dish should I include? The rule is that it has to be on their regular menu - otherwise the whole plan will go down the drain!

For #2) durian smoothie from Simpang Asia, sticky rice with durian --> where?
Fresh durian from the Ranch 99 in SGV area. Any other durian foodstuff and where can I get them?

So
THE RULES:
You guys post what dish I should get for either #1 or #2 and where.
Post your suggestions in the comments section and include your email address so I can contact the winner.
You have until the date of my first post - Oct 23rd.

THE PRIZE: Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations DVD

Tonight, Black Truffle Dinner

This is a last minute announcement, but if you haven't decided where to go for dinner, why not say Farewell to Black Truffles with La Terza?

A 7-course meal, all with black truffles for $75!

Menu
Scrambled eggs and black truffles
Tuna tartar, assorted citrus, black truffles and Sicialian pistachio
Pan roasted whole quail, soft polenta and black truffles
Open ravioli, porcini mushrooms, black truffles and cream of parmigiano
Veal shank agnolotti and black truffles
Beef filet, quail eggs, black truffles and port reduction
Vanilla and black truffles gelato

$ 75 excluding tax, gratuity and beverage.
***full menu also available***
Please call La Terza for reservations (323) 782-8384

Go To Noodle House for Bao

After reading exilekiss' rave review on the generically named "Noodle House" aka Mian Hsiang Yuan in Monterey Park (not to be confused with the Noodle House in Arcadia), I suggested it to a bunch of friends for dinner.

We wanted to try everything and ended up ordering a little too much, but it was cheap enough that it didn't really matter that much.
We started with some green onion pancakes (we wanted leeks but then were getting the leek dumplings so ....):As exilekiss noted, it is much less greasy than what you would normally get at other places. These are nicely crisp. Delicious. Great start to our meal.

As far as the noodles, we ordered the beef stew noodle.
The one at Arcadia's Noodle House is better for actual noodle dishes. This one is less flavorful, the noodles too soft, the meat less tender, and also has less character. It's not a bad dish - it just doesn't quite compare.

exilekiss raved about the jiao zi (dumplings) and the handmade dumpling skins, so of course we ordered some of those. We got the pork and leek one (we love leek, what can i say):
Nice juicy filling, and the freshly made dumpling skin is great. But personally I like my dumpling skin thinner, and thus I like Din Tai Fung's dumplings better. Don't get me wrong though, these are still very yummy. These are jiao zi, and very good ones at that, but I like my jiao zi pan fried and I like my steamed dumplings to be xiao long baos :P

We also got the shrimp and pumpkin dumplings, because it sounded so interesting.
Definitely unique, and the flavors work pretty well, but it's too sweet a dumpling for me, and I probably won't get them a second time. I would recommend that people try it though, just for a taste. It's pretty good just not to my taste.

The one that takes the cake for me though, is actually the Bao Zi (buns). The dough for the baos are also rolled fresh to order, and is filled with juicy juicy pork.
I expect juiciness from a dumpling/xiao long bao, but this is the first time I bit into a bao and delicious juices started spurting out! Possibly the best bao zi I've ever had - and definitely the best one I can remember having recently! The dough is thin - enough to hold it together. It was fresh and so moist and absolutely delicious!
Again, the filling is tasty and so juicy.

The main contributor to the deliciousness of this meal was the freshness of everything. The skins of dumplings and buns dries up and hardens quite quickly - by the end of the meal, and so it is imperative to eat everything IMMEDIATELY. Otherwise you won't know what you're missing.

Noodle House (Mian Hsiang Yuan)
958 E. Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91755
Tel: (626) 280-0831

Meet Me at The Edison

A few weeks ago we LA-based bloggers had a nice little get together organized by CarolineOnCrack. The setting was The Edison Bar in downtown, during one of their Tuesday Speakeasy nights. Everyone else was already there by the time I got there, and were sitting on a long table. The people I managed to talk to on my end of the table included LA&OC Foodie, Joz, travalex, javajunkee, and estarla.

I saw their menu online and decided to eat dinner there, but since they are not normally open on Tuesdays they had a limited menu. Fortunately though, they still had enough for a real dinner.

While waiting for the food I started with their Golden Lillet Martini, a strong, yellow, buttery concoction. Their cocktails are served in these gorgeous vintage glasses. They're so pretty that I want to put them in my purse, but luckily I was sober enough not to.

We started with some heirloom tomato salad.
A simple dish that focuses on the nice, fresh tomatoes. Nice flavor combination with the burrata, baby arugula, and olive oil.

We also had the 20th Century sliders: Kobe beef, arugula, onion marmalade, and blue cheese.
There are two sliders in each order. I really liked them - juicy, flavorful patties between delicious buns. They use good ingredients here and it really shows.

Also, we all had an order of sweet potato fries to share.

I can't remember what else they had food-wise, everyone seemed to order the same things.

So. Speakeasy Night. I had heard that there would be cabaret, and the entertainment we got was a pleasant surprise. First there was a lady strutting around in tight leather outfit singing and making jokes in a Russian accent.

She also went UP ON our table and danced there!

(I tried cropping the photo so as not to show us bloggers' faces)

Then they also had a Japanese belly dancer who did a couple of great acts. I thought she was pretty good, and it was quite unique from other belly dancings I've seen (in Moroccan restaurants).
There was also a magician who performed some fun tricks involving an audience.


Towards the end of the night, I scored a sip of the Pisco Punch from a FoodDigger.

This drink contains Pisco, pineapple juice, and a bit of the green fairy (absinthe).
Amazing drink. I wish I had ordered this earlier on. Not overly sweet but goes smoothly and was just delicioussss.

Drinks were $14 so not cheap, but I was really happy with my experience there. I am scared of the weekend crowd, but I will definitely be back for some food and drinks, and perhaps even some unique entertainment!

The Edison
108 W 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 613-0000

www.edisondowntown.com

ISO: Heart Attack Grill?

So I got one of those forwarded emails from a friend in Aussie, titled "Only in America" - it turned out to be hilarious.

Inside were these series of photos of a place called "Heart Attack Grill" !!

And the menus were burgers called "Single Bypass", "Double Bypass" or "Triple Bypass."
The servers were all dressed in nurse costumes.

Oh and they also sell cigarettes.


Is this real??

I have never ever seen this in real life before, but it sure is a hilarious gimmick!

The burgers in their photos are definitely no joke:

If you know of one of these places, gimme a holler :)

Mini Bar Hop in K Town

Somewhat recently I had the good fortune of meeting Mattatouille and friends, who then introduced me to Tai, the owner of Scoops.

I will leave our conversation with Tai for another post. What I wanted to blog about today is what happened after :) Mattatouille's friend (don't want to put her real name here, especially when I may misspell it :P ) suggested we go bar-food hopping in K-town. Being a non-Korean-speaker or reader, this was untested waters for me, and I like these new people I just met, so I took them up on it!

First Stop:
Dansungsa
3317 W 6th St
Los Angeles, CA 90005 (213) 487-9110

This place a complete Korean dive. Well, not that I would know. But with the dark interior, smoky haze from the bbq in the middle, and old movie posters, it sure seemed like it to me.

The menu is completely in Korean, so I wasn't sure what we ordered. All I know is that we got these spicy kalbi which were delicious, and were #52 on the menu! Don't know what it's called, but it's #52 my friends!Not that spicy, and extremely addicting.

We also got some scallion pancakes (pa jeon? I tried googling it).
Somewhat thick, with tons of scallions, and a nice crispy exterior!

This segment, with some Hite beer, was ~$10/person total.
I wanted some more ribs, but we gotta move on to the next one!



On to stop #2: The Hite Bar
Hite Kwang-Jang
3839 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90010 (213) 384-7999
In direct contrast to the previous place, this place looks like a little western cafe you might find in Asia, probably selling spaghetti. It might've even been called Bear House. But no, it's actually Hite cafe (supposedly used to be Hite factory) serving up (in addition to some western style dishes) blood sausages, and - what we came there for - chicken wings in sweet & spicy korean sauce.I think this was called "yang nyum chicken" ? Not completely sure ...
This was ... spicy! The sauce was deliciously sweet and sticky but also spicy, spicier than the kal bi from dansungsa. I was having trouble eating this and ended up gobbling tons of the marinated turnips.

Oh, and drinking a lot of Hite.

They had a dark, light, and "special" Hite which is just a mix of the two. Sounded interesting enough, so we went with a pitcher of that.

Not much difference than the regular Hite - still light.



We also got some scallion pancake here, which was served there for free. Thinner and crispier than the previous one, which in a way is better, but I did like the fact that the previous one was more loaded with scallions!
I had to stop here for the night, unfortunately. I had a great time and hopefully will get another chance to hang out with these people! I'll be training to eat spicy food beforehand ...