Friday Pic: My City

Two thoughts, 1. I love the city I live in and 2. I wish I had a better camera.

So folks, another week has come and gone, and another Friday is upon us. Unfortunately, my work week doesn't end here as I head up to San Francisco to help out at the SF World Spirits Competition, work some events and then travel to New York to work more events. In total I will be gone from LA for well over a week. Phew.

I love my job? Happy weekending!

Firday Pics: Taste of Beverly Hills

We interrupt our regular programming to bring you a worldless recap of how I spent 9.02.10. - at a food & wine festival called Taste of Beverly Hills.

Geddit? Beverly Hills? 90201? 9.02.10? No? sigh.

And yes, I know this was over 2 months ago. But better late than never! Happy Friday!

 

Huckleberry Cafe & Bakery

I love when my friends come to visit. Only problem is, I end up eating out a lot more than usual. This not only screws with my monthly budget, but my diet too--I tend to overeat when I eat out. The clean plate clubber (or chubber ;D) in me cannot see anything go to waste!

Anyway, with friends in town last week, the fat kid in me was definitely overindulged. Oh well... It was worth it.

One of the places I took my friends to was Huckleberry Cafe & Bakery. Headed by Chef Zoe Nathan and Josh Loeb, the same husband and wife team behind Rustic Canyon and the newly opened Sweet Rose Creamery, Huckleberry features handcrafted breads and pastries, along with locally sourced farm-driven breakfast and lunch items.

Located in an airy, glass fronted space, Huckleberry's interior comes complete with red chairs, chalkboard menus and wooden tables. In my opinion, the menu and decor of Huckleberry aptly embodies the yoga-loving, upper middle class clientele that is Santa Monica.

Since this is one of my favorite brunch places in West LA, I've tried a lot of their breakfast menu. My favorite dish by far is their Quinoa with spinach and sprouting broccoli topped with two fried eggs. Dee-lightful. What can I say, this dish is simple and healthy, but does not lack in the taste department. The gooey runny egg yolks are the perfect compliment to the grainy texture of the quinoa, while the veggies just make you feel good about yourself. The term "simply scrumptious" does little justice to the dish.

Details:
Huckleberry Cafe & Bakery
1014 Wilshire Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310-451-2311

MILK-ing it at GRACE

Photo Credit: Dine LA

Another Friday night, another delicious meal.

Last Friday evening, I had the luxury of hanging out with my high school buddy for the second time in two weeks. Usually, we're lucky if we see each other every month. It was such a treat to see her again.

Armed with a coupon from the good folks at BloomSpot (gotta love those social media discount sites), we made our way across town to dine at Grace.

Grace is one of those rare LA dining establishments that have withstood the test of time, serving up great food even after the dreaded 5 year mark. At the helm of this stylish contemporary restaurant is chef Neal Fraser, who coincidentally backed out of our Beaver Creek event due to personal reasons that very day. Evoking my boss to entrust me to deliver the message "You are a doo doo head" to Chef Fraser. And yes, I did deliver it.

Designed by Michael Berman, the main dining room at Grace is pop modern, featuring tangerine banquettes, oversize porthole mirrors and an impressive library style wine cellar that hugs the room. For mood lighting, exaggerated cylindrical chandeliers hang from the ceiling like giant wind chimes, casting gentle light on diners below. Scattered skylights in the roof also allow for glimpses of moonlight to slip into the room, adding to the intimate atmosphere. In my opinion, the decor at Grace is, well, grace personified.

Ironically, while I sing the praises of the main dining room at Grace, we were seated in the private dining room portion of the restaurant, wa-ay in the back. Bummer. However, the back space filled up by the time our appetizers arrived and I didn't quite feel like the bad child that was left in the corner and forgotten. (Nobody puts Baby in the corner!)

For an appetizer, my friend and I split an order of Santa Barbara Prawns-- house made pasta, razor clams in a tomato sauce with fresh Garbanzos. My big complaint was that the pasta was just a tad too al dente. I mean it almost had a crunch to it! However,the accompanying tomato sauce was luscious and bright, highlighting the freshness of the prawns and clams.

For my main course, I decided to try their braised pork shank served in a cider sage sauce. The pork shank was served with sides of smoke shallot chorizo homefries and garlic rapini. Upon placing my order, our server politely forewarned me that the shank was massive and that it would take me at least 2 sittings to finish. The proud ex-swimmer in me brushed him off thinking "Ppfft! I can conquer anything you throw my way."

Yeah right, that pork shank showed me who's boss. I took home at least 80% of the shank (which, btw, was delicious in a sandwich the next day).

While the meat on the pork shank was tender, it was not exactly fall off the bone beautiful. However, the deep woodsy sage smell was heavenly and it gave the pork a nice smokiness to it. Furthermore, I enjoyed the bitterness of the rapini in contrast to the salty pork but it must be said that the homefries were a little dry.

For dessert, we ignored the famous Grace donuts that were calling to me and headed on over to Milk, which was just down the street. There, we shared 3 scoops of ice cream: Blueberry crumble pie, coffee toffee and blood orange sorbet.

The blueberry crumble pie tasted like well, blueberry crumble pie. The kind your mama would bake on a hot summer day--well your mama, not mine since mama t doesn't really bake. I couldn't get enough of the real bits of crumble mixed into the ice cream and appreciated that the ice cream was obviously made from fresh high-quality ingredients rather than pounds and pounds of artificial sugar.

While I am not usually a fan of coffee ice cream, Milk's coffee toffee was delightful. It had the perfect blend of the bitter coffee mixed with the ultimate indulgence of toffee. But as much as I enjoyed it, the coffee toffee did not make a convert out of me.

Friends of mine have claimed that Milk has the best ice cream in LA, but I will have to beg to disagree. The ice cream, while thoroughly delicious, was just a tad too creamy to me. My opinion is that if you subscribe to the the old fashioned, churned at home, full cream kind of ice cream, then Milk is the place for you. However, if, like me, you prefer something a little less rich and less creamy, then Milk may not be the place for you.

Stuffed to the brim with delicious food, my friend and I spent the rest of the night chatting and catching up.

The next morning I awoke with the realization that we had severely under tipped the waiter at Grace. That coupled with the fact that we utilized a dining coupon, I guess you could say we really Milked it at Grace.

Details:
Grace
7360 Beverly Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-934-4400
Note: Grace just closed the doors of their Beverly Blvd place and are relocating to downtown LA.

Milk
7290 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323- 939-6455

Campanile

Dine LA week(s) just wrapped up in LA this past friday. While I usually try to hit at least 3-4 restaurants during the promotional period, I only managed to try the Dine LA Menu at Campanile this time around.

Campanile has been a longtime fixture in LA's dining scene. Opened in 1989 by Executive Chef Mark Peel, former Pastry Chef Nancy Silverton and former Wine Director Manfred Krankl, the kitchen at Campanile has had its share of LA chefs come through its doors over the years (Suzanne Goin, Ben Ford, Suzzane Tracht and Govind Armstrong).

Set in a faux-Tuscan style building that was initially built for Charlie Chaplin, Campanile has a rustic feel to it and a crowd that cares more about food than about fashion. With a distinctive bell tower that rises above the building (and gives the restaurant its name), Campanile is divided into three dining spaces- the airy front courtyard which boasts a small tuscan-style tiered bird bath, the middle dining area that has an american bistro feel to it and a view of the kitchen action, and the back room which is quieter, darker and therefore more romantic.

For my appetizer, I ordered the herbed goat cheese ravioli with pancetta, spinach, currants and pine nuts. The pasta of the ravioli was over-cooked and limp but the spinach, currant and pine nuts were a lovely combination with the tangy goat cheese. Oh! And let me not forget the walnut bread from the La Brea Bakery that is housed in the same building as the restaurant space. Earthy and nutty, I felt like the artisan bread reflected the authentic quality of the restaurant.

For my main course, I had the pan roasted tai-snapper with sauteed escarole and rosemary aiolli. My fish was cooked perfectly with a lovely seared crust on the skin side, each bite just melted in my mouth. The rosemary aiolli was not overpowering and provided the perfect sauce on the plate. Meanwhile, the crunchy and slightly bitter escarole was a great compliment, tying the whole dish together.

My friend order the duck dish (grilled duck breast with fennel, lemon-thyme potatoes and crisp leeks) for her main course and let me try a bite of her food. I have to be honest here and say that I was horridly let down by the duck. It was just... well... not ducky enough (for lack of a better term). My friend even commented that her duck almost tasted like pork and while I didn't quite taste pork, I definitely did not taste duck! The whole point of eating duck is for that gamey and rich duckiness! Needless to say, I'm glad I did not get the duck.

Since there were only 2 options on the dine LA menu for desserts, my friend and I did it right and each ordered one. We shared the chocolate pudding with whipped cream and chocolate chip cookies, and the apple cobbler with vanilla ice-cream. When the desserts arrived, I was underwhelmed not by the small portions (I was not complaining b.c I was already stuffed from the meal) but by the lack of anything special. The chocolate pudding was just okay and the chocolate chip cookies tasted like something I could make out of my oven. The apple cobbler was a notch better with fresh crispy apples.

Details:

Campanile

623 South La Brea Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90036

323 938 1447

Brunch At Tavern

I've been dying to dine at Caroline Styne and Suzanne Goin's Tavern since it first opened its doors to the public last May. Last weekend, I finally managed to make my way down there for a brunch date with a friend.

The interior of Tavern, designed by Jeffery Allan Marks, conjures a sophisticated and sleek updated English watering hole. I could not decide which I loved more, the subdued sage green walls of the elegant foyer, papered in patterns of birds and branches, or the exposed brick in the glass-roofed main dining area (complete with olive trees and leather chesterfield sofas). Definitely a photo-op waiting to happen.

To begin our meal, my friend and I split the Cornmeal Berry Shortcake which was light, tender and perfectly tart. My favorite part of the shortcake was the cornmeal, which provided just the right amount of crunch.

For our main course, my dining companion and I both got the Tavern "Benedict" with Prosciutto and lemon (I know, I know, we should have ordered something different so we'd get to taste more but neither one of us would waver on our choices!). The meaty prosciutto mixed with hot shots of perfectly poached eggs topped with a sprinkling of paprika was heaven in a bite. The addition of the meyer lemon was a delightful twist on this dish and the frizze lettuce provided a nice texture in contast to the runny eggs.

For dessert, we ordered the Asian Pear Coupe pomegranate sherbet and ginger verjus granita. In theory this dessert would have been the perfect ending to my meal because it promised to be light and refreshing. Presented in a glass, the sherbet was already melting to the point of watery and the ginger granita lacked that oomph that I've come to expect from anything made from ginger. The addition of fresh pomegranate seeds and asian pear was a nice thought but did not add much to the dessert.

Before leaving Tavern, I had to check out the Larder, the more casual deli style portion of Tavern. Too stuffed to get anything substantial, I settled on a Chocolate Salted Caramel Macaron. The last macaron I had was from Bouchon Bakery in Napa Valley and I foolishly expected Tavern's macaron to hold a flame to it. Alas! I was severely let down. The cookie shell of the macaron was soft and lacked the crispy bite I was expecting. Moreover, the inside was more runny that chewy. Needless to say, I won't be going to Tavern for my macaron fix any time soon.

Details:

Tavern

11648 San Vicente Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90049

310 806 6464