Gerry Furth-Sides Archives - Page 52 of 82

Must-Try! Panxa Cocina’s Hatch Green Chile Menu and Roast

September 3, 2018 Comments Off

Panxa Cocina translates to “kitchen of the belly” in Catalan Spanish and this month dedicated Chef Art Owner Arthur Gonzalez goes all out in the tummy-pleasing category as he celebrates the coveted Hatch chile with a special tasting menu offered through a month of the harvest, plus weekend “chile roast-out” event September 15-16.

The talented, affable Mexican-German Chef Art Gonzalez

This first (New Mexican) Hatch Chile Restaurant Celebration is a perfect fit for Panxa Cocina, an eclectic “modern southwestern” as proven by the Catalonian name. The Hatch chile represents the best of New Mexican classic state cuisine where Chili already reigns supreme, and the official “state question” is “Red or green?”, referring to a diner’s preference to the color of chilies. However, ironically, only green chiles are grown in the internationally renowned Hatch New Mexico – which are only told apart in terms of heat (mild, medium or hot) by their labeling when harvested!

Talented, versatile Bar Manager Greg Goin’s tequila-driven cocktail (and full mezcal) menu will also be featured in the event. A special Hatch Chile Bloody Mary is on the menu through September and all through the year now because of their popularity.

Fallon with the Mexcal cocktail September special

(photo courtesy of Panza Cocina)

Caution! The Hatch Chile salsas and sturdy housemade chips are enticing enough to finish. They are artfully set on tables thoughtfully set with rosemary stalks and zucchini blossoms, small candles and burlap runners that add texture and a southwestern hue.

Golden Cornbread arrives next, its aroma preceding it, wafting through the room. Studded with corn kernels and silky Hatch chile bits and oozing with melting butter, it is a challenge not to finish when it all. The cast iron skillets keep the bread warm. This is actually four portions.

The cornbread was delicious the following morning, topped with local honey and a cup of espresso flavored with Mexican cinnamon.

(plate courtesy of The Ivy Restaurant)

Chef Art spent time in Santa Fe and brings the best of it back with him. Another southwestern classic invokes the Hatch Chile twist. Here the Heirloom Blue Corn Quesadilla is accompanied by roasted Hatch chile jam, squash blossom, and house queso fresco. This is a beauty worthy of a Georgia O’Keefe painting.

Heirloom Blue Corn Quesadilla

Chef Art explained that he grew up in a culturally diverse culinary heritage both in his Asian neighborhood background and at home that included an Oaxacan grandmother on his dad’s side and a German mom. He often carefully and with confidence, combines the two using his background in French cooking techniques.

Wagyu Country Fried Steak with Hatch chile gravy is tender and juicy and filling in the Northern New Mexico way.

Wagyu Country Fried Steak with Hatch chile gravy

For dessert, the Pear & Hatch Green Chile Stuffed Sopapilla features smoked vanilla ice cream. Minced hatch chile is playfully stuffed inside a Sopapilla (sweet fried pastry) for dessert. Equally whimsical is Chef Art’s “smoked” vanilla ice cream, which he announced with a chuckle. On the plate, it almost looks like a stuffed acorn and just the right amount of sweet following the filling meal.

Pear & Hatch Green Chile Stuffed Sopapilla

The special menu for September is timed with the 6-week Hatch chile harvest season, Los Angeles’s only dedicated modern Southwestern restaurant, Panxa Cocina, is partnering with New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute (CPI) to launch the first-ever Hatch Chile Month in a restaurant.

On Saturday, September 15 and Sunday, September 16 from 12-5 PM, Chef Gonzalez and the team at Panxa will host their first Hatch Chile Roast and Fest. The chef is driving to Las Cruces to pick them up from the source.

The dedicated outdoor space across from the restaurant will be transformed into the ultimate roast-out. Guests can take home the beloved roasted Southwestern ingredient to enjoy in their own homes. The major roast-out in Hatch, New Mexico is the event of the year and the biggest in the world, where 50-pound bags of roasted chiles fly into waiting for SUV and trucks.

Panxa Cocina is located at 3937 E Broadway Long Beach, CA 90803

Farmhouse Builds “Field of Dreams” Must-Try Restaurant

September 3, 2018 Comments Off

(Gerry Furth-Sides) The FARMHOUSE boasts an Executive Farmer, Nathan Peitso in a partnering with remarkable Australian-bred Chef Craig Hopson to make farm-fresh ingredients into such instant classics. I have already been recommending everyone I know to this “new and improved” shopping center restaurant incarnation, the last of a merry-go-round of places on this corner.

But never in my wildest dreams did I image that FARMHOUSE Farmers Lunch could replace the void that Dominick’s Sunday dinners left on my culinary dream list. And they did (my dining partner just confirmed that the food is even better here). All except for our valet parker friend who made every visit memorable before you walked in the door.

Better than Dominick’s, the FARMHOUSE Farmers Lunch is available daily week-days so you can try every single appealing dish on Chef Hobson’s evolving seasonal menu. Executive Farmer, Nathan, works directly with his family and the regions top farmers to grow, harvest and create his “seed-to-plate” cuisine and showcase six ingredients each month. The current menu highlights eggplant, tomato, peppers, corn, and melons. All grain dishes are prepared from heirloom wheat from Nathan’s family farm.

Executive Farmer Nathan Peitso at the FARMHOUSE

Executive Chef Craig Hobson. The glimpse of a staffer in the back looks like he’s smiling, and he is.

Step into the door near the massive center’s corner and it feels as though you are actually in a big, beautiful farmhouse. FARMHOUSE, day or night, feels country fresh because of the whitewashed interior, high peaked ceilings; rustic common tables and the soft lighting shaded by wicker baskets. I am transported back to the gentleman’s Three Brother Farm of my uncles’ outside of Ann Arbor, missing only the smell of citronella candles. In fact, it seems like you are right outside of a field because of the innovative, subtle window lighting on a wall that actually leads to the parking area. This is the work of designer Olya Volkova and founder Laurent Halasz.

It is so opposite of its popular predecessor we frequented often, the deep and dark Grand Lux (operated by the Cheesecake Factory.) This time around, though, ingredients are sourced directly from the field as chosen by Chef Nathan rather than a long commissary menu with hopefully something for everyone.

A happy open kitchen. Each time we visited a different member of the staff who did not know us explained an item and told us how happy they are working at the FARMHOUSE.

Listing the dishes on the two-course Farmer Lunch ($18) best shows what’s in store. We added the generously portioned roasted vegetable side ($4!).

Perfectly Roasted Vegetables with ranch dressing on the side (A $4 side)

The Corn Soup is substantially studded with crunchy solid crab fritters; crisped basil and fresh-off-the-cobb corn. It is reminiscent of the wildly popular Upper West’s Corn Soup with black bean falafel and sumac oil swirl we never thought would see an equal.

Corn soup with basil, corn & crab fritters

Steak Salad (add $2) with fingerlings, is beautiful, naturally complemented by the tang of endive, radicchio, and blue cheese dressing. The portion is just right for this rich dish.

Generous with beef, the Steak Salad (add $2) endive, radicchio, fingerling, blue cheese dressing

At FARMHOUSE, Executive Farmer Nathan Peitso works directly with his family farm and the region’s top farmers to grow, harvest, and create seasonal and vibrant dishes. Grains from his family farm just taste different.

The Mushroom & Leek Pizza proves this as a light summer starter. The toppings are sourced from Fat Uncle & Kenter Canyon Farms. The pizza goes well with a medium-bodied Chardonnay so FARMHOUSE carefully pairs it with an Iron Horse Chardonnay “Green Valley of Russian River Valley” Sonoma County 2013.

Mushroom & Leek Pizza with taleggio, braised leeks, parmesan Wood burning ovens for the pizza

Iron Horse Vny, but “Green Valley of Russian River Valley” Sonoma Country 2013

Wood burning ovens for the pizza

“Silky” best describes the Peach & Burrata. Legendary Piero Selvaggio of Valentino Restaurant just mentioned on a panel this week that until recently burrata had to be imported from Italy. He now marvels at the local product here. This

Peach & Burrata, local burrata, almond, endive, watercress

Chef Craig makes The Zucchini Soup with a squirt of lemon, feta, and basil, more interesting by adding pepitas for texture and a pop.

Zucchini soup with lemon, feta, basil, pepitas

Perfectly cooked Roasted Local Halibut, charred & confit leeks,, lemon vinaigrette, sourced from Kong That Farms

Again the substantial but not heavy Sauvignon Blanc pairs with the halibut. Here a Rochioli from the Russian River Valley (2015)

Lamb Porterhouse with new potatoes, eggplant, mint, parsley mustard chutney paired with a Mourvedre & Syrah from Piedrasassi “Harrison Clarke Vineyard”, Lompac (2015)

Fruit from Regier farm starts in the Warm Peach Clafoutis and plate of Cherry, Pluot & Apricot Sorbet. Pluots and apricots accompany the sorbet for a touch of whimsy that completes the dish.

Warm Peach Clafoutis

Cherry, Pluot & Apricot Sorbet

FARMHOUSE, 8500 Beverly Boulevard, Unit 113, Los Angeles, CA 90048, (310) 818-4925. For more information and current menus, please see. //www.farmhousela.com. Parking upstairs over the restaurant is simple and inexpensive. Valet parking in the evening ($8).

Brilliant Rémi Lauvand: from Restaurant Chef to Store Culinary Director

August 31, 2018 Comments Off

We met Executive Chef Rémi Lauvand through his food at the now-shuttered Le Ka in downtown Los Angeles. I still dream about his food. Now there is an opportunity for him to reach grocery shoppers.

Chef Lauvand will be the Culinary Director at Vintage Grocers’ third location to open this September in Caruso’s Palisades Village. Joining other supermarkets, such as the upscale Bristol Farms and Gelson’s, as well as the upgraded Pavilions, the store will offer not only grocery shopping, culinary experiences, such as chef demonstrations, product tastings, holiday workshops. In this case, it will have the focus and depth of Chef Lauvand.

And what an experience this promises to be. Every refined, flavor-layered bite of the chef’s refreshingly meaty and mostly-French menu at Le Ka was memorable. And this included just about all of our favorites: pork short ribs, braised rabbit leg, glazed bone marrow with garlic flan, terrines and rillettes, and onion soup gratinée, with a few wild boar albondigas thrown in.

Sadly, this white tablecloth restaurant opened just as LA diners decided to go more casual and it was located in a former bank site with a strangely uninviting seating configuration. I also recall walking up the garage driveway as the only way to park and enter the place.

Born and raised in southwestern France, Lauvand began his culinary career in Germany (shades of Chef Bernard Guillas!). He then traveling Europe on the famed Orient Express before landing a role at Gerard Pangaud’s in Paris. Moving stateside in the mid-eighties, Lauvand held posts at New York’s La Grenouille, Le Cirque and Montrachet, during which he earned a nomination for the James Beard Foundation’s “Outstanding Restaurant Award” and a New York Times’ three-star review as executive chef.

After several ventures on the West Coast, including the opening of Miro as the signature fine dining restaurant at the Bacara Resort & Spa in Santa Barbara, Citrus at Social Hollywood, and Manhattan Beach’s Café Pierre after consulting on Rivera restaurant. Lauvand then took on more than 30 distinct culinary venues throughout Universal Studios Hollywood as director of culinary operations.

The chef has drawn accolades from publications such as Food & Wine, Wine Spectator, and Bon Appétit.

In one interview the chef attributed his work with Chef Daniel Boulud and Sotta Khunn as “having a major impact on the way I cook and think about food.”

He added, “I am not so much into reading new cookbooks anymore. There is so much to learn from old ones and reinterpret. I love getting back to my old Ali-Bab “Gastronomie Pratique: Etudes Culinaires Suivies du Traitement de l’Obésité,” and from time to time still Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking” is one of my favorites.

Apart from his work at Vintage Grocers, Louvain enjoys spending time outdoors an contributing to organizations including No Kid Hungry and Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

For more details, please see: //www.vintagegrocers.com///www.vintagegrocers.com/

Los Angeles Times’ The Taste 2018!

August 29, 2018 Comments Off

Ethnic food is a natural at the annual Los Angeles Times’ The Taste celebrating the flavors of the world. Hosted by The Times’ editorial staff and acclaimed L.A. chefs and bartenders, The Taste takes place on the Paramount Pictures Studios backlot over Labor Day weekend (August 31-September 2). Each ticket grants access to unlimited tastings citywide pop-ups, collaborations, plus pairings from chefs and restaurants.

One of the last summer evenings when it is still light outside on a Labor-Day weekend

FRIDAY, August 31 (7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.)

- - L.A.’s pop-up and underground restaurants will take the stage with a demo of Cajun-by-way-of-Compton cuisine from chef Michael Lawless (Shad’s New Cali Catering), hosted by Times food editor Jenn Harris
  - Ludo Lefebvre (Trois Mec, Ludo Bird)
  - Ricardo Zarate (Rosaliné) and Jonathan Yao (Kato) share secrets of creating classic dishes
  - Cari Hah (Big Bar) teaches how to make the ultimate martini

Chef Ricardo Zarate with his friend noted chef Kimmy Tang

White Wines of Italy will be discussed in great detail with Ira Norof of SCE, CWE and Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, Diane DeLuca of Frederick Wildman & Sons and Giancarlo Lauro of Southern Glazer’s

Chef Christy Vega of Casa Vega

The famous Casa Vega Churro sandwich

Vito Lacopelli of Prova Pizzeria will demo how to make the perfect pizza

Bone Kettle, the ultimate paleo

Samplings from restaurants include: Otium, The Bellwether, Hinoki & the Bird, Pacific Dining Car, Ocean Prime Beverly Hills, FARMHOUSE, Highly Likely Café, Nerano, Michael’s Santa Monica, Poppy & Rose, Paramount Coffee Project, Yarrow, Pearl’s BBQ, Woodley Proper, Bone Kettle, Mainland Poke, Mexicali Taco & Co., Wanderlust Creamery, Umu by Hamasku, Casa Vega, Baltaire, Chao Krung, Puesto, Pop’s Bagels, Amor y Tacos, Bar Garcia, Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill and more.

New Pearl’s BBQ brings their ribs and grandma’s recipe desserts

Chao Krung serves an enticing fish mousse dish

Mayura Restaurant serves up Southern Indian food

SATURDAY, September 1 (7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.)

Briana Valdez (HomeState) celebrates breakfast all day with a demo of her signature dishes with Jenn Harris, the Times food editor
Sommelier Ira Norof and J. Wilkes Winery’s Wes Hagen offers 101 reasons to drink wine
Adrienne Borlongan (Wanderlust Creamery) will have an ice cream social
Burt Bakman of Trudy’s Underground BBQ will showcase his BBQ with a cooking demonstration hosted by LA Times Food writer Andrea Chang

Chef Craig of the Farmhouse

Samplings from restaurants include: Granville, Coni’Seafood, The Exchange at Freehand LA, Herringbone Santa Monica, Kali Restaurant, Prawn Coastal, Gus’s World-Famous Fried Chicken, Jaffa, Cento Pasta Bar, Winston Pies, Trois Mec, Melody, Tumbi Craft Indian Kitchen, Rappahannock Oyster Bar, Sichuan Impression, Citizen Beverly Hills, Roe Seafood, Komodo, Maple Block Meat Co., Madre Oaxacan Restaurant and Mezcaleria and more.

The incomparable Coni’Seafood fish

SUNDAY, September 2 (7:30p.m. – 10:30p.m.)

Experience the diversity of flavors in our fair city when Sean Lowenthal (Little Beast Restaurant) and L.A. Times Test Kitchen Director Noelle Carter highlight Southern cooking
World-renowned chefs Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama (n/Naka) showcase their ethereal Japanese cuisine
Minh Phan (Porridge + Puffs) shares her technique for elevating porridge with KCRW Good Food’s Evan Kleiman
Charles Olalia (Rice Bar/Ma’am Sir) gives a master class on Filipino cuisine
Wine expert Christine Dalton will raise a glass to rosé and Kim Stodel (Providence) will share how to make a zero-waste cocktail

Samplings from restaurants include: Banh Oui, Luv2Eat Thai Bistro, Inko Nito, Holtville Chicken, Jitlada, Wolf, Guisados, Commerson, 71Above, Brack Shop Tavern, Faith & Flower, Bulgarini Gelato, The Arbour, Lao Tao, Manuela, Bourbon Steak, Avec Nous, Momed, The Arbour, WOOD, Lao Tao, Kobee Factory, Yardbird Southern Table & Bar, Meals by Genet and more.

Crustacean Restaurant featuring the food of founder Chef Helene An

The historic Pacific Dining Car, open since 1921 & still family owned and operated, will help keep alive the venerable tradition of the American steakhouse, in style at The TasteLA. Pacific Dining Car will offer tastes of several fan-favorite dishes formed over the many years – including a classic steakhouse plate, which fits perfectly into event’s Past & Present category this year.

For a detailed description of each event and a full lineup of participating chefs and restaurants, visit//extras.latimes.com/taste/

Friday, August 31^st, Saturday, September 1st, Sunday, September 2^ndGeneral Admission (7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) – $115. Tickets are available at //extras.latimes.com/taste/

SOCIAL MEDIA: Support The Taste via social media by connecting on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @TheTasteLA (#TasteLA)

Celebrate Hatch Chile Month 2018 with Panxa Cocina’s Menus & Roastings

August 28, 2018 Comments Off

GREEN CHILE PANXA BURGER 8 oz. Hatch green chile burger

Panxa Cocina celebrates the coveted Hatch chile with a special Hatch chile tasting menu and a weekend “chile roast-out” during the entire month of September. A portion of the proceeds going to New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute. GREEN HATCH CHILE PANXA BURGER (8 oz. beef patty, hatch green chile, queso Oaxaca, lettuce, tomato, pickled onion) above tells the popular version of this inviting story.

Panxa Cocina’s smothered burrito with red and green chile sauce below also tells the colorful story. Throughout the entire month of September, timed with the 6-week Hatch chile harvest season, Los Angeles’s only dedicated modern Southwestern restaurant, Panxa Cocina, is partnering with New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute (CPI) to launch the first-ever Hatch Chile Month in a restaurant.

The month-long culinary event led and inspired by Panxa’s Executive Chef/Co-Owner Arthur Gonzalez in collaboration with the Chile Pepper Institute’s Co-Founder, Director, and world-renowned chile pepper breeder Dr. Paul Bosland features food, facts and a real chili roasting. Devoted Chef Art will drive to New Mexico to get a batch of chiles for the event.

The enticing Panxa Cocina’s Hatch Chile Month menu will feature authentic Southwestern favorites with highlights including Heirloom Blue Corn Quesadilla with roasted Hatch chile jam, squash blossom, and house queso fresco; and Wagyu Country Fried Steak with Hatch chile gravy.

Bar Manager Greg Goin’s mezcal- and a tequila-driven cocktail menu will also be featured in the event. A special Hatch Chile Bloody Mary is on the menu through September.

On Saturday, September 15 and Sunday, September 16 from 12-5 p.m., Chef Gonzalez and the team at Panxa will transform a dedicated outdoor space across from the restaurant to serve as the ultimate roast-out so guests can take home the beloved Southwestern ingredient to enjoy in their own homes.

Guests will be able to take home roasted Hatch Chiles at the Panxa Cocina week-end event

The Chile Pepper Institute is the only international, non-profit organization dedicated entirely to the education and research related to chile peppers.

“We are honored to be able to partner with New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute and Dr. Bosland to celebrate an ingredient that I have been enamored with for my entire career. We hope that guests will have a newfound love for Hatch chiles after celebrating with us all month long here at Panxa Cocina,” said Chef Arthur Gonzalez.

For more information on New Mexico State University’s Chile Pepper Institute please visit //cpi.nmsu.edu, or follow the Chile Pepper Institute on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Chef Gonzalez. learned his skills creating Modern New Mexican dishes in the kitchen of Chef Eric DiStefano at Geronimo, New Mexico’s James Beard Award-winning chef. Chef Art’s restaurant itself has become an homage to New Mexic0 and southwestern cuisine, reflected in the striking organic decor filled custom Southwestern art and artifacts.

Panxa Cocina, 3937 E. Broadway, Long Beach, (562) 433-7999; www.panxacocina.com. Open Mon.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Dinner for two, $40-$60, food only. Full bar. Follow Panxa Cocina on Instagram and Facebook. For more information, please visit PanxaCocina.com

Meet the Hatch Chile “On Fire” at Market Events (Schedule Here!)

August 28, 2018 Comments Off

(Gerry Furth-Sides) HATCH CHILE is here, and only for six weeks. And they MUST be from Hatch, NM. It is the altitude in this southern New Mexican area that infuses the unique characteristic, cold at night and hot in the daytime. Like mesquite in the 80’s, New Mexican cooks have known about them for years. In fact, the Hatch Chile festival is the biggest in the world, even bigger than the Gilroy garlic festival.

Hatch Chile roasting – schedule below!

What makes them so special is that they taste and feel like the sun’s rays in New Mexico – with a little bit of the “Sangre de Cristo” (Blood of Christ” Mountain light at sundown thrown in.) The heat but tingly, well after you eat them, but not prickly at all. Perfection in both savory and sweet bites. The sweetness comes from roasting the thick skins, which peel right off. The sweet onions grown in Hatch are also sweeter, more delicate and more refined than any other on earth.

HATCH sweet onion& sausage, fennel, Melissa’s champagne grapes, chopped apricot and Roquefort salad.

This six-week season, they are as “hot” as the temperatures of the grills they are roasted in thee days. Thousands of people pile into their SUV’s or at least a car with a trunk big enough to bring 25-pound roasted bags – bags- back for the year, to the annual Labor Day roasting festival in Hatch, New Mexico attracts thousands of people to the roastings – and to the shops which feature everything “Hatch chile”. And Southern California markets are not far behind. Costco even carries the sausage so you know the item has gone mainstream.

Bristol Farms imaginative HATCH CHILE 2018 bites

Robert Schueller of Melissa’s Produce enthuses, the first few years we delivered a couple of cases day, now up to 100 cases. Melissa’s Hatch Chile cookbook remains their most popular seller.

2018 Southern California Hatch Chile Roasting Schedule

Friday 8/31/2018

Gelson’s #16, 4520 Van Nuys Blvd Sherman Oaks, Ca 91403, 3 pm – 7 pm

Watch for the signs announcement HATCH CHILE events!

This is a BIG deal – everyone in the store has a HATCH shirt on!

SATURDAY 9/1/2018

Pavilions, 1101 Pacific Coast Hwy, Seal Beach, Ca 90740 8 am – 5 pm

Northgate #9, 230 N. Harbor Blvd Santa Ana, Ca 92703 7 am – 2 pm

Pavilions, 1101 Pacific Coast Hwy, Seal Beach, Ca 90740 8 am- 5 pm

Gelson’s #21, 6255 E. 2nd St Long Beach, Ca 90803 11 am- 3 pm

Gelson’s #22 2725 Hyperion Ave Silverlake, Ca 90027 11 am -3 pm

Gelson’s #33 30922 Pacific Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, Ca 92651 11 am- 3 pm

Gelson’s # 30731 Gateway Place Rancho Mission Viejo, Ca 92694 11 am- 3 pm

Bristol Farms #7, 810 Avocado Ave Newport Beach, Ca 92660, 8 am- 2 pm

Bristol Farms, 606 Fair Oaks Ave, So. Pasadena, Ca 91030, 8 am- 2pm

Signage is the only way to tell how “hot” a chile is!

The colors of MILD to HOT are the same!

FRIDAY 9/7/2018

Gelson’s #29, 2627 Lincoln Blvd Santa Monica, Ca 90405, 3 pm – 7 pm

Melissa’s HATCH CHILE tamale kits and cookbooks are usually on sale near the chiles

SATURDAY 9/8/2018

Gelson’s #1924 Monarch Bay Plaza Dana Point, Ca 92629, 11 am – 3 pm

Gelson’s #27, 2707 Via de la Valle Del Mar, Ca 92629, 11 am – 3 pm

Gelson’s #267660 El Camino Real Carlsbad, Ca 92009, 11 am – 3 pm

Gelson’s #30730 Turquoise St San Diego, Ca 92109, 11 am – 3 pm

Bristol Farms #1973101 Country Club Dr. Palm Desert, Ca 92260, 8 am – 2 pm

Bristol Farms #213105 Wilshire Blvd Santa Monica, Ca 90403, 8 am – 2 pm

Zapien’s Salsa Grill6702 Rosemead Blvd Pico Rivera, Ca 90660, 8 am – 2 pm

SATURDAY 9/15/18

Smart & Final #388, 1401 E Katella Ave, Orange, Ca 92867, 10 am – 2 pm

Laura Basher’s New Inside-Out “Camp & Cabin” Cookbook

August 12, 2018 Comments Off

Chef-author Laura Bashar is certainly glam enough to fit the new high-end cabin mode of outdoor camping, now known as “glamping”, or high-end cabin camping, with her refined-yet-rustic aesthetic.

At the same time, she’s down to earth and rugged enough to take on the elements and heavy equipment for outdoor cooking – some of cast iron skillets weigh in at 10 pounds. She says, “you get used to it!” Here she demonstrated how the cast iron Dutch ovens can interlock, and how the cover can also be used as a grill.

Laura is joined by her equally energetic family who has taken up this pastime with a vengeance. She and her family are avid campers and love spending time in the great outdoors. Husband Reza watched from the sidelines as his cub scout son learned the basics of outdoor cooking. Once he became scoutmaster, with his wife, he elevated the outdoor cooking concept to a whole new level.

The Bashar family who helped put the book together with more than just tasting dishes!

Chef Laura Bashar’s “inside out” The Camp & Cabin Cookbook, in fact, is filled to the brim with 100 motivating recipes to cook in cast iron skillets and dutch ovens that can be prepared either inside the kitchen or, best yet, outdoors. ( The Camp and Cabin Cookbook Countryman Press, May 8, 2018, $24.95). A popular blogger with many national media appearances, Laura’s “official approach” to creating recipes is to “appeal to all of your senses” and she does that in each dish.

So, true, what sets the book apart is the way recipe-tester/blogger Laura presents her complete information on equipment, directions, an array of dishes and the heart with which she, and her family, put together the book. But what really makes these dishes shine is Laura’s exceptional seasoning — perhaps her Persian background has something (a lot) to do with her colorful dishes being lick-your-plate delicious. And the California lighter, healthier ingredients make it a welcome pairing.

Grilled shrimp with cocktail sauce – horseradish, Worcestershire, Roma tomato provide the soft kick to this addictive dish

The cookbook includes a complete and thorough guide to the required equipment and methods of campfire cooking and a minimal equipment list designed for a sparsely equipped cabin with recipes requiring little more than a knife, a bowl, and a skillet. Recipe utilizes a cast-iron skillet, Dutch oven, foil packet, and other conventional cooking methods with clear, encouraging instructions.

Laura explains how an oil pan, a chimney and a shovel work in outdoor cooking

Recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus snacks and desserts are in the book, along with detailed tips and instructions on preparing elements of each recipe at home for easier on-site cooking and over a campfire.

Recipes include:

Artichoke and Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms. The filling is crisped on top. Chef Laura presents alternative cooking methods for cooking over the campfire and in an oven.

Artichoke and Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms. The filling is crisped on top.

Corn on the Cob from around the world, including Mexico, Morocco, and Thailand. Mexican corn features finely crumbled cotija cheese, cilantro, lime and sea salt. Sriracha, actually from the area of Sriracha in Thailand, plus garlic, cilantro, and sea salt enhances the flavors of the Thai corn.

Mexican corn on the cob

Photographs are large and clear, and matte finished – not the coffee table slick version. All the recipes have been tested and retested by Laura and her family.

The Chorizo Meat Loaf takes on a classic with a “South of the Border” flavoring using bell paper, corn kernels, cilantro, cumin and chili powder.

Made in a skillet, and cut in a thoroughly novel way, the dense, maple-syrup-sweetened Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookies are a crowd pleaser. There were NONE of these cookies left at the gathering we went to where they were served.

Made in a skillet! Dense, maple-syrup-sweetened Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookies

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler with Chai Topping

Laura Bashar is the voice and photographer of the popular blog, FamilySpice.com, a recipe blog that is inspired by her family and nature. Her motto: make it simple, make it pretty, make it delicious! Laura’s photography and recipes have been featured by Country Living, Parade Magazine, Huffington Post, NBC Today Food, and many others. She lives with her family in San Diego, CA.

Author & Photographer: The Camp and Cabin Cookbook and Cooking Techniques and Recipes with Olive Oil
Website: familyspice.com
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube & Pinterest & Laura’s photo gallery here

“Snap, Crackle & Pop” Indian Street Snacks

August 12, 2018 Comments Off

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Who doesn’t love eating by texture? And both savory South Indian street snacks and Bangladeshi sweets are perfect for this. Crackly, sensuous, intensely seasoned, whimsically shaped, gloriously colorful, Indian snacks are irresistible. They provide the same “snap, crackle and pop” as the iconic American cold cereal, crispy fried chicken, potato chips and onion rings but with a healthy twist on top of it.

Vegetable Pakoras look like festive holiday wreaths in brilliant hues of sunrise-sunset orange. And an array of vegetables is added to the crunchy cousin of the American onion ring.

Vegetable Pakoras

Thinly sliced red onion, matchstick carrots, potatoes, fennel seed powder, and cilantro are mixed with garbanzo flour (Besan) and water and dropped by random hands full into boiling vegetable oil until golden and crispy. Served with mint chutney for dipping.

Puffy, cloud-like “Puri” at Annapurna’s Southern Indian Vegetarian Restaurant is also atop of the “crunch” list. These clouds of fried unleavened Indian bread could be a “kissing cousin” to an American southern popover.

Crumbly, southern Indian, Idly, (on the left and Vada on the right below) savory little flat cakes, are eaten for breakfast. The spongy cakes are equally as satisfying as savory snacks and are eaten for every meal and snack by Indian college students. Idly are prepared from a rice and urad batter, poured into molds and steamed.

Vada

Diners “in the know” prefer Idly soaked in sambar. It lends the little cakes a completely different taste by infusing them with an earthy, hearty, subtle flavor. Sambar is a stewed dish made with toovar (pigeon pea) dal, tamarind, vegetables, and spices.

Another healthy snack, Vada, a savory cousin of the American doughnut, is here soaked in the sambar.

The Rava Dosa crepe adds an unexpected texture to its western counterpart. The crepes, shown above, actually precede the western favorite by centuries.

The crepe, when folded rather than rolled, leads to a softer, less crunchy consistency. For us, as with western crepes, the wonderful taste and purity of the crepe alone are more than enough for a pleasing bite.

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Dosas, yet another Indian counterpart to the American “doughnuts” and “crepes” and “popovers” originated in the Udupi subcuisine of South India. The Mysore Masala Dosa adds red hot chutney, affectionately called “gunpowder,” in with the bhaji or spiced potato amalgam). It is named in honor of the second largest city in the Indian state of Karnataka. They provide the perfect bite, somewhere between a snap and a crunch.

Pair the dosas with a contrasting stuffing of cooked spiced onions and peas, or the creamy, herbed mashed potato and green chili mint chutney shown here at Annapurna.

Halwa is a rich dessert prepared with condensed milk and ghee (a sort of clarified butter), which makes it rich, sugary and dense. This dense dessert made of grated carrots cooked in condensed milk and ghee (butter), results in a luxurious, pudding-like confection. So rich and intensely sugary, one dessert can be shared by four. Carrot, beet, white pumpkin and wheat with a garnish of pistachios are popular flavors, shown below.

Bengali Sweets from a sweet boy back from a trip to Bangladesh

Bangladeshi sweets from a sweet boy in the Shah family

Balushahi is a traditional dessert made with ghee, sugar and maida flour. This sweet was made famous in Harnaut of South Bihar in northern India just west of Bangladesh and south of Nepal.

Sandesh is a Bengali dessert created with milk and sugar. A softer kind of Sandesh is prepared with mawa and the essence of curd and has an emotional hold on diners. People in the region of Dhaka actually call it pranahara (literally, heart ‘stealer’) – a well-deserved name for the dense, just sweet enough snack.

Five Outdoor Asian Winners California-ize the German “Biergarten”

August 6, 2018 Comments Off

Chaya in DTLA has long offered a cool, refined Japanese beer garden (photo Courtesy of CHAYA)

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Leave it to fun-loving Bavarians in Germany to solve a problem with a precise, practical party solution. Munich breweries early in the 19th century added to open-air dining and beer-drinking with “Biergartens” as a way to use planted gardens above cellars to keep their lagers cool enough to ferment underground – this after 400 years of legal wrangling for brewers’ rights.

Once allowed, the festive concept spread ’round the world, with wine and even entertainment added to the mix. Late in the century after the Civil War, when Germans were the dominant ethnic group in America, they happily added “beer garden” to the hospitality vocabulary.

This summer Los Angelenos have a choice of five cutting-edge Asian winners. They cross town from Chaya in DTLA to WEHO’s Akuma Ramen & Sushi, and Hannah An’s District, as well as the An Family’s Crustacean and Tiato on the westside.

Light Japanese lanterns in a lush garden setting even look cool (photo courtesy of CHAYA)

Lantern-lit Japanese Beer Garden on the CHAYA Downtown patio offers rare Japanese Whisky and a special cold Shiso Sapporo star in a festival during the month of August. DJ Ces adds to the festivities by spinning outdoors every Thursday.

Handcrafted Mojitos are prepared in three thirst-quenching flavors: Strawberry, Passionfruit, and Cucumber.

CHAYA Downtown Corporate Executive Chef Yukou Kajino and Chef de Cuisine Oscar Cuaya fire up the Yakitori Grill for their version of classic Yakitori Skewers, including Chicken and Spring Onion with house-made tartar sauce; Beef Tongue with shishito peppers and salsa verde; Tandoori Spiced Shrimp with spicy aioli ($4), and Tomato & Summer Squash with Indian raita sauce.

Chefs also grill up succulent Grilled Lobster Tails plus snappy summer snacks like Elote Loco grilled corn dressed in aioli, tajin and cotija cheese.

Corporate Executive Chef Yukou Kajino and Chef de Cuisine Oscar Cuaya fire up the Yakitori Grill (photo courtesy of Chaya)

Briny Grilled Oysters with garlic butter and soy sauce ($4 each), are a welcome contrast to the Grilled Yellow Peaches served with chili honey and vanilla ice cream ($9).

The CHAYA Downtown Summer Festival 2018, Monday through Friday from 4:00 pm to close from Thursday, August 2^nd, 2018 through Thursday, August 30^{th, 2018} on the patio at CHAYA Downtown. For details, please visit www.TheChaya.com or call CHAYA Downtown directly at 213.236.9577.

Akuma

Happy Hour, Biergarten style, takes place all day, every day here. The private little patio is off the street right behind a (free) parking lot in front. Happy hour specials include $3 Seaweed Salads, Cucumber Salads, Edamame and Cucumber Rolls. Bring a friend for Ramen and buy one, get one free.

Akuma brings updated high spirits of the “German beer garden” with sake and beer plus food

The fresh, Asian summer dishes at Akuma Ramen & Sushi accompany craft beers, sake

Hakutsuru Draft Sake, best served chilled, is known for its light, slightly dry, smooth taste. Its fresh, refined taste comes from being brewed and aged for 1 month in a cool state at about 41 F before bottling.

Akuma Ramen & Sushi, 8267 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046, Phone: (323) 745-0533. For more information on Akuma Ramen & Sushi, please see akumaramen.com.

Crustacean

Chef Helene An, best known for creating the first Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco (Thanh Long, 1971), is well-known for the family’s Euro-Vietnamese Crustacean in Beverly Hills (1990). Daughter and partner, Elizabeth An, recently remodeled the splashy Beverly Hills restaurant to feature a bar open at one side with extravagant drinks, complete with herbs and flowers.

Crustacean partner-owners, Designer, Elizabeth An and mom, Helene An of House of An.

Crustacean Restaurant, 468 N. Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 205-8990. For details, please see //www.crustaceanbh.com.

District

The District by Hannah An, 8722 W 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048. The District is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, with brunch and dinner service on Saturdays and Sundays. Happy hour is 5-8 PM. For more information on the restaurant, please visit their website: //thedistrictbyha.com/

The 320-seat formal restaurant is minus white tablecloths and serves a modern take on Vietnamese food incorporating a global twist and California’s local and sustainable fresh ingredients.

Tiato

On the westside, daughter Catherine An heads up Tiato, the second generation wing of the House of An restaurant group. Sister Hannah’s District sits tall in West Hollywood). www.anfamily.com.

Tiato Kitchen + Garden Venue tucked into a tree-filled Santa Monica neighborhood has no rival as the city’s prettiest, largest garden indoor-outdoor space to relax in for Happy Hour, smack in the Santa Monica current. Soaring ceilings and polished concrete floors, reclaimed wood furniture, and eco-friendly materials lend an organic sensibility and a contemporary sense of grandeur at the same time.

Fresh Pressed Juice ($6.50) becomes a welcome summertime meal in itself, starting with the Royal Detox (beet, carrot and green apple). My companion ordered the Green Goddess (broccoli, celery, green apple, honeydew, and spinach). The cafe offers draft and bottled beers, organic wines and a sake bar.

The menu designed for health-conscious west-siders has icons to clearly mark nutritional categories. Many of the herbs used in the healthy drinks are grown in TIATO’s on-site garden. In fact, Tiato is named after the “tia to” Vietnamese perilla plant, which has a fresh flavor similar to the Japanese herb shiso.

Catherine An in the Tiato patio

Walk in and the huge bar is right in front of you For ordering Happy Hour drinks at Tiato at Sunset, mid-Week, 5 Pm to 8 PM, Tuesday through Thursday.

Happy Hour tacos at Tiato (photo courtesy of Tiato Kitchen + Garden Venue)

PIGS IN A BAO feature crispy pork belly, spiced aioli, sweet pickles in a steamed Chinese bun with hoisen sauce.

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Tiato Market Garden Café, 2700 Colorado Avenue, Suite 190, Santa Monica, CA, 310.866.5228 to leave a message. For hours and more information, please see, www.tiato.com

Ten New Historical Outdoor Dining Spots

August 2, 2018 Comments Off

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Food tastes so much better when enjoyed in the fresh air, so it is natural that different cultures over the centuries have fashioned and adapted their own fascinating ways of dining al fresco. This summer, Angelenos can experience ten new outdoor spots, worthy of “destination dining” featuring an updated version of each one.

Weeping fig trees overhead, solid Southern hospitality, an updated historic burger and natural ground underfoot at Gulfstream, Newport Beach

Gulfstream Restaurant, Corona Del Mar Plaza, 850 Avocado Ave, Newport Beach, CA 92660, Phone: (949) 718-0188. For details, please see: gulfstreamrestaurant.com

Taking meals outdoors takes on many forms, whether at new sidewalk cafes, outdoor BBQ grounds or new versions of the “beer garden.” Even select Gelson’s Markets now invite shoppers into outside dining areas with special food and wine menus. For locations, please see: //gelsons.com/Gelsons-Wine-Bar-Locations

The new Gelson’s outdoor eateries with special food and wine menu, a version of the German beer garden

Outside eating goes all the way back to the Mongolian Empire. Armies would store beef under their saddles and actually eat during a rest or even “on the run”. The Mongols (or Tartars) are credited with inventing the first “outdoor” foods that became universal favorites – steak tartare, hamburgers and kabobs.

Dine in or outside of the Reagan Library Cafe. The full, rugged view is spectacular and unexpected

The Genghis Khan Burger on the special menu at the Reagan Library’s indoor-outdoor cafe

For more information and tickets, please see: //www.reaganfoundation.org/library-museum/special-exhibits/genghis-khan/

Centuries later, in the late 1800s, American cowboys would cook their meat over fires during long cattle drives, and the barbeque was born. Australians on the other side of the world took the British concept of the outdoor picnic and introduced BBQ to the mix, bringing the “picnic” home – an idea also adopted by Americans after WWII when suburban life came into full swing.

Texas Rib at Pearl’s BBQ

New Pearl BBQ translates this concept into a “half an acre” country picnic site in DTLA, serving up sumptuous meals of brisket, ribs, and chicken on parchment paper-lined country-cardboard trays from a shiny Airstream trailer. Individual containers hold generous portions of Cowboy Roy’s Handmade Baked Beans and from scratch Coleslaw or beautifully seasoned Potato Salad. You know this BBQ is the “real deal” when the slices of white bread peek through that parchment paper holder.

Big as a football field, open at the top, the site is ready for small or large groups plus stage entertainment at one end, and a bar at the other.

Head Cowboy & Pearl’s BBQ Pitmaster, Dana Blanchard, smokes some of the best barbecue using only C.A.B. Certified Angus Beef. (I dream about his Texas Rib) in a handcrafted Texas smoker with plenty of white oak wood.

Pearl’s BBQ is open daily from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm ‘or’ until sold out. For more information please visit www.PearlsBBQLA.com.

On the more formal side, the fierce Mongolians are credited with spreading the popularity of the fork, once thought to be to feminine by European men, elevating indoor table manners. So kabob meat was then slid off the skewer onto a plate.

Mongolians spread the outdoor kabobs to North India, then the world.

And, the fork also went back outside when hunting parties would fortify themselves with a huge feast before setting off for the day. Cooked meats, pastries and huge quantities of alcohol were on the menu – with male life expectancy at the time being 35.

The folks left at home eventually had the bright idea to turn their own version of the feast into a full-blown rural “picnic”, with hampers filled with favorite foods to be enjoyed while appreciating the landscape. The English passed the tradition on to Americans, who took the picnic to the urban parks and the countryside. Southerners also thought it an entertaining idea to picnic while watching Civil War battles from the hills.

Americans being more entrepreneurial, developed this concept into the “pleasure garden” geared more formal, urban life in the 18^thcentury. For a fee, families could stroll landscaped city gardens, kids could play and light snacks were available, usually, drinks and ice cream for warm weather, think The Grove. Matcha Tea also has it all in their tiny Venice store backyard (below).

For more information and a menu of the SHUHARI Matcha Café, visit www.shuharicafe.com.

Late in the century, after the Civil War, German communities added the “beer garden”. When Prohibition put an end to public drinking in the early 20^thcentury, these temporarily turned into tea gardens.

Akuma Ramen and Sushi in WEHO brings the unbridled liveliness of the southern German beer garden, pouring craft beer on tap, popular beers, and sake. Practically priced topnotch casual food gives it neighborhood appeal.

Akuma brings updated high spirits of the “German beer garden” with sake and beer plus topnotch casual food

The fresh, Asian summer dishes at Akuma Ramen & Sushi

Akuma Ramen & Sushi, 8267 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046, Phone: (323) 745-0533. For more information on Akuma Ramen & Sushi, please see akumaramen.com.

Public transport and the motor car in America continued to make formal outdoor picnics even more popular in the 20^thcentury, as evidenced by the popularity of picnic hampers, complete with flatware, silverware, and linens.

Meanwhile to Europeans, al fresco dining means sidewalk cafes under a brightly-colored awning, or at little tables set up in the middle of huge walking streets in the center of the city, started during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and continuing magnificently in the heart of Budapest and Vienna – a pastry and a cafe in the afternoons or a light meal with wine in the evenings goes perfectly with people watching and socializing on a grand scale.

Dining al fresco slowly made its way to America in the mid-20th century when rooftop restaurants and sidewalk cafes began to appear in cosmopolitan cities like New York. Outdoor dining appeared in Los Angeles hotels, like the star-studded Beverly Hills Polo Lounge, at the same time, but LA dining outdoor became commonplace only recently.

The newly remodeled Crustacean offers up a combination of both the sidewalk cafe and outdoor bar made popular poolside at posh hotels.

Owner-founder Helene An and Chef Nguyen on the outdoor patio of the newly remodeled Crustacean in Beverly Hills

Crustacean’s performance bar is visible from the street.

Crustacean Restaurant, 468 N. Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 205-8990. For details, please see //www.crustaceanbh.com.

//localfoodeater.com/new-vietnamese-inspired-cocktails-at-new-crustacean/

New The Henry Restaurant’s on Robertson Boulevard beckons with an outside wrap-around veranda as inviting as any country house and more comfortable than a patio. It fronts the chic, high-ceiling, 100,000 sq.ft, multi-level “neighborhood” space for people watching inside.

Nestled in the leafy, interior designer-row section of West Hollywood, it’s also as visible to drivers passing by as the celebrity-driven Ivy Porch, with outdoor-indoor Southern-style dining across the way. Cecconi reigns at the north end of the street with their own wild La Dolce Vita version of an outdoor patio and fabulous happy hour menu, more hidden behind its mile-high green hedge.

Go “ethnic” with a The Almost Naked Margarita, featuring Casamigos Blanco line, Cointreau, passoã liqueur and bar spoon honey.

The Henry Restaurant,120 N Robertson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048, (424) 204-1595, open 11:30 – 10 PM //thehenryrestaurant.com

//localfoodeater.com/wily-fox-captures-weho-henry/

Last, but not least, the small but so special patio and the windows along the newly opened second floor of the flat-iron shaped Preux & Proper in DTLA qualify it as a patio. Partners, Josh Koppel and Chef Sam Monsour make every evening a party with southern hospitality, grand “from scratch” food and even their own Maker’s Mark Private Select bourbon.