Akasha "Bollywood Monday" sneak peek tonight!

For those looking to get rid of their "case of the Mondays" tonight, Akasha (on my DineLA to try list) is doing a sneak peek event with chef Akasha Richmond cooking up some of her favorite Indian dishes, some with a slightly modern twist, with small plates like northern Indian daal with Punjabi flatbread and baby spinach pakoras with a chutney duo (mint and tamarind-date), complex entrees such as chicken tikka masala served with black cardamom and ginger infused basmati rice and seared okra with tomato chutney, raita and black mustard and spicy sweets like chocolate-cardamom molten cake with chai ice cream and pistachio brittle. Definitely a great way to liven up the palate for the rest of the week.

But even the cocktails alone are worth a stop, since the restaurant has crafted several specialty cocktails ($11-13 each) inspired from flavors of that subcontinent, such as a spiked mango lassi with TRU vanilla vodka blended with mango puree, yogurt, cardmom and sugar, and mint chutney with TRU organic vodka alongside organic mint, jalapeno pepper and lime juice. Of course, the floral and fragrant gewurztraminer is a natural wine pairing for spicy Indian dishes, and Akasha will be serving a 2005 Domaine schlumberger gewurz from Alsace for the occasion too.

The event starts tonight at 5:30 p.m., hopefully this will be the first many successful "Bollywood Mondays" there (considering the lack of Indian food presence in the Culver City area.)

Akasha
9543 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 845-1700

Friday Quickies #43: Recovery from the Flu edition

Clam Chowder from last year's DineLA lunch at Ford's Filling Station

As my tweets this past week indicated, I've fallen ill to the flu for about a week. Lots of fatigue, rampant fevers (felt like I was holding a fireball in each hand on Monday!) alternating with chills, and a throat sore enough for me to favor texting and miming over speaking. And of course, missing out on delicious foods, from the first of the Silverlake Wine tastings to Kogi stopping in downtown to serve its Korean barbecue tacos during the ArtWalk. But at least mid-week I felt well enough to grab some pho and wonton noodles, as opposed to staying home with chicken noodle, steamed veggies and oatmeal.

Oh well, I take it as nature's way of telling me to save my calories and dollars till the DineLA meals, which I have four I already lined up (as well as two from the Newport Beach restaurant week.)

But moving to interesting tidbits of the week:

I've just noticed how dramatically improved the LA Times Daily Dish foodblog is. The layout could still use a little work, but the content is much better than a year ago, when the blogposts were way too wordy, not particularly engaging and pretty infrequent for a newspaper blog. In fact, it looked like the dumping ground for articles that didn't make it to hardcopy (and while they're still very well-written pieces, they're simply not bloggy.)

Now there's the sampler platter with considerable linkage to interesting food articles; impromptu local food-scene gossip (though Eater LA still clearly has the corner on that); delightful musings musings on local in-season ingredients, favorite recipes and food events; quirky features like the 1,001 things to do with bacon and; now, a new series of simple how-to videos for cooking a fresh, tasty everyday entreé stat. But most importantly, the writing is just livelier, simpler, shorter and easier for monitor-watching eye to grasp on to.

If you're glanced by and passed up on the Daily Dish months ago, now's a great time to give it a second try. I, for one, check it out almost every day now (on top of my usual Wednesday ritual of reading the section itself). Definitely worth the kudos, especially given LATimes' staff (Food Section being no exception) becoming leaner in the recent years. Keep up the good work!

Speaking of interesting food articles, New York Times had a pretty fun piece this week, essentially mythbusting some food folklores -- you know, the tips your friends, family and other cooks and chefs have passed on and you're not quite sure if they work but too afraid to deviate. Well, the NYT science and food crew isn't scared of asking questions and they've confirmed and debunked quite a few of those tricks of the cooking trade -- such as whether browning meat help seal in the juices, if adding a little sugar to veggies help them keep their color and shape and what's the point of adding vodka in a sauce if it's just going to boil away while cooking? Check out the article and find out, and you'll even get some new trivia knowledge to dish out at your foodie friends.

If you're looking for more -- there's also Chow.com's ongoing "Nagging Question" column, where staffers tackle one weird question a week, from whether running cheap vodka through a home water filter will improve its quality to if eating Luna Bars will make a guy grow boobs.

Joy of "Cooking"

Easy, tasty and mostly made-from-scratch adolescent, half-baked mac 'n cheese

alternate blog title: Time for the dead Rombauers to roll over in their graves.

Ed Note: Would upload a picture of Joy personified here, but alas -- legal jumbo mumbo on part of Bellisino Foods, so check out their Web site at www.letjoyin.com for some laughs and then some tears...

I never knew there was Joy behind Joy of Cooking in my decade of owning this now well-dog-earred book (yes, the '97 edition that raised much stink with "original Joy" loyalists); and for a name whose biggest scandal for its last 75+ years of existence was having an edition being ghostwritten by expert chefs (but was still nonetheless very accessible and straightforward), I thought it'd be immune Gustav-style name selling and licensing to mass-market products.

Oh how wrong was I, for now we have another personified, stereotyped, consumer-friendly American image to join the ranks of Betty Crocker, Brawny Man, Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth (though I found it hilarious when the last few got parodied on SNL and wound up in car insurance commercials... oh, even corporate images have their A to D-Lists too.) Of course, no big surprise that "Joy" resembled a circa mid-20th-century housewife with perfect hair, flawless makeup and, the biggest shocker, clean apron (with a monogrammed J).

So yes, the bestselling cookbook and brand that encouraged and empowered home cooks everywhere that they can do it all, from everyday meals to elegant entertaining, in their very own kitchens is now telling now tweaking their message for the fast-paced, nostalgic-hungry 21st century demographic: forget about it and take a shortcut with our freezer products. Or, as they coined it, "Let Joy In." (Sidenote: so now that Bellisino Foods, who got the "Joy" license, has a grandmotherly figure in Michelina's and is cornering the 30s-40s market with Joy -- who are they aiming for next? the kids with 5-year-old Chef Julian products?)

If you thought Semi-Homemade or 30-Minute Meals were awful in their way of shortcutting their food, wait till you see the "Make It Your Own!" ideas from these people: you can make "Fresh Tomato Florentine" by using their creamy chicken florentine entree and throwing in an extra half cup of cherry tomatoes or "Easy Chicken Pot Pie" by using their roasted herb chicken entree thickened with a little cornstarch and cover it with a store-bought pie crust. Amazing!

I guess what I find most abhorrent of all is that this flies in the face of everything joyful about cooking. Who really takes pride in preparing a meal straight from a freezer to skillet/oven with just a few fresh touches as an illusion garnish? And who are the marketers fooling by claiming that these foods are wholesome and healthy? (compared to other frozen entrees they're not as bad, but a cup of that florentine will still weigh in a hefty 35% of daily requirement in sodium AND saturated fat... and that's on the lofty presumption that a person will eat only one cup of pasta and nothing else for that meal.)

I understand the brand's stand-point of trying to bridge an unhealthy fast or frozen meal and a wholesome but potentially-time-consuming one, but I don't see the Joy of Cooking frozen line as a good middle ground -- it wreaks of Sandra Lee minus the tablescapes and "cocktails." Heck, I'd even advocate following Rachael Ray's show -- at least she makes more use out of fresh ingredients and you'll be whipping out the meal in about the same amount of time. Or, better yet, read up on a few cookbooks, even the now-tarnished Joy of Cooking, watch a few online videos, surf some sites, experiment in the kitchen and rediscover meals that are truly healthy, easy and, dare I say, joyful.

Ed Note 2: Thanks to Eat Me Daily blog (and LATimes Daily Dish for linking to it) for bringing this to my attention.

My picks for upcoming DineLA restaurant weeks

Mushroom Vacherin and Michel's Chocolate Bar from Appetite Stimulus Dinner at Citrus @ Social

Mark those calendars, folks. DineLA's restaurant weeks are coming back! From Jan. 25 - 30 and Feb. 1 - 6, a good number of LA and OC restaurants will be offering special prix-fixe menus at a discount (compared to ordering the items a la carte). Quite a few of them are doing a repeat of the recent Opentable Appetite Stimulus Plan menu (Citrus @ Social for example, has one nearly identical to appetite stimulus.)

As my foodblogging friend Binary Tastebuds pointed out, with the DineLA menu one's probably not going to get the authentic experience of the restaurant since they'll mass-producing these pre-set meals, but it's good for at least getting a taste and an idea of how that restaurant's food is going to be without a big a hole in the wallet.

The pricing plan for this year's resto week is a bit different too--instead of a $15/25 lunch and $22/34 dinner; it's a three-tiered system of $16/22/28 for lunch and $26/34/44 for dinner with most of the better-known places on the $28/$44 end.

As for me, there are literally a dozen of restaurants that look interesting -- if I had to pick a few to check out this year, it'd be these four:

Water Grill - well-known for its fresh seafood, I've yet to dine at this downtown institution of a restaurant. The fish-dominated menu here includes some creative items such as cucumber rolled spicy big eye tuna with hearts of palm puree, ruby grapefruit and tobiko and grilled Columbia River white sturgeon with coriander spiced yam, rapini, baby roasted beets, pearled barley and oregano, so definitely looking forward to it.

The Bazaar by Jose Andres at SLS - I've only been here for drinks so far (nicely made, for most part) so it'll be nice to check out some of the creative small plates this place has to offer. No menu posted up yet but it looks promising based on previous reviews.

Akasha - Like nearby Beacon, I love the east-west influences of their menu, including Big Tree Farms wild pepper scallops with forbidden black rice risotto, edamame puree and baby bok choy and Masala spiced wild shrimp with local greens, pistachios pickled onions and yogurt-tomato chutney. And of course, it's great knowing that Akasha tries to buy locally and organic whenever possible.

Angeli Caffe - the only restaurant of the "cheap" tier that popped out at me, it has a pretty basic but interesting-sounding menu including their famous lemon-garlic-rosemary roasted chicken, butternut squash-fontina cheese lasagna, and beet ricotta gnocchi tossed with melted butter and sage.

Others that pique my interest, but not necesarily a "must go" include: Cube, Valentino, Dining Room at the Langham, Bashan, Royal/T and Comme Ca. But hey, check out the list and menus yourself -- maybe there are others that you've been waiting to try. Here's to a tasty and less expensive epicurean experimentation! Or, click here to check out my last year's DineLA foodventures at Grace, Circa 55, Ford's Filling Station, etc.

Friday Quickies #42: Wrapping Up 2008 and Early 2009 Deals

Given the events that took place over the last 12 months, 2008 is definitely a year I have mixed feelings about; but foodwise I am definitely thankful and blessed to be able to taste so many more places, meet and reconnect with wonderful faces, and learn a whole lot more about all that I consume.

And of course, what is a new year without some resolutions? I won't bore you with the entire list and explanation since it's pretty typical list (eat healthier, be more explorative and open-minded with foods and drinks, improve my photo/writing skills, etc.) but it's definitely stuff I'll try to work on. And hopefully, this year I can overcome the summer blogging lags/fatigues that I've had in the previous two years.

Year in Eater series: After all is said and done, what are the local eats that are in everyone's minds? From the most memorable meal to biggest dining surprises and neighborhoody trends, Eater LA has a nice little series with responses from big timers like LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold to chefs like the Animal's co-owners Vinny and Jon to even humble bloggers like me. A nice reflection on the year that was.

Early 2009 Deals: With everyone's purses and wallets still cinched tight, eateries and bars are still strong on the specials -- a few that are on my radar include:

--- blue on blue's New Year Special: from now till January 9, pop in with their facebook page print-out (or display on your phone/PDA) and you'll get drink specials with pricetag corresponding to that day (example, $2 today for Jan. 2nd, $3 tomorrow, and so forth...) from 3 to 7 p.m. Oddly enough, everyone has to order at least 2 (and at most 4) drinks for this special but hey, sounds like a steal esp. early on given their regular prices are more in the $12-16 range. Thanks to LATime's Daily Dish blog for dropping the word on this one. (Update, Caroline on Crack posted the original release -- you may have to prove yourself be a facebook fan to land the deal; but nothing really prevents you from de-fanning afterwards...)

-- Newport Beach Restaurant Week: from January 18-22, prix-fixe menus with $15/20 lunches or $20/35 dinners. Though menus have yet to be posted, there are few places on the participating list that interests me include Bluewater Grill and the Palm Terrace restaurant, or maybe even a revisit to Sage or Tradition by Pascal.

And of course, DineLA Restaurant Weeks during last week of January and first week of February. I'll have a more extensive post on my planned course of attack soon; some posts on last year's DineLA meals here and if any of you is interested in joining me, feel free to drop a word :)