Friday Quickies #70: Endless Summer, Please?

Hot days of summer at the UC Davis quad from my summer NorCal mini-vacay/roadtrip

As my friend noted, "summer's ending? when did it START?!" Can't say I disagree, but this has been one of the best summers ever for me, however short it may feel. Despite taking only two actual vacays days off work during this season, with all the entertaining going-ons around town it just felt like one long continuous break (but I refuse to lend anymore credence to the word "staycation.") But all good things come to end some time, so soak up as much summer fun while it still lasts.

This weekend, there's a duo of celebratory meals for Julia Child's birthday (probably made a lot more prominent by the recent release of Julie & Julia) - Comme Ca will be doing a $65/person "Ode to Julia" five-course dinner today and tomorrow highlighting some classic dishes including lobster thermidor, beef wellington and crepes with berries & chantilly cream. Meanwhile, tomorrow Cezanne at Le Merigot will take be preparing 3 dishes from her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" that includes scallops and mushrooms in wine sauce, red wine-braised beef with vegetables and tart tatin w creme fraiche. Merci beaucoup!

Tomorrow also marks LA Sake Festival from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, where for $50/person guests can sample over 100 brands of sake, learn about its production process, taste some sake-based cocktails and even karaoke the night away! Kanpai to that!

Down at Monarch Beach, Michael Mina's Stonehill Tavern is introducing $39/person "Classic Tavern Suppers" every single night (save for Mon & Tues when they're closed) - the three-course prix-fixe affairs are largely upscaled re-imaginations of homestyle classics, from Thursdays' steak frites night w American Kobe and peppercorn jus to Fridays' cedar-plank salmon supper w a bacon vinaigrette and Sundays' seafood stew in a saffron-tomato broth. The starters and sweets are equally delightful, which include the likes of potato-corn chowder w smoky bacon and squash blossoms, frisee salad with pork belly and poached egg, root beer float with sassafras ice cream & chocolate chip cookies and butterscotch pudding w honeycomb. And to sweeten that pot, come between 5:30p to 7:30p, or all-day Thursdays, for their "social hour" with handcrafted cocktails at only $9.

Lastly, my fun foodie reads this week:

- cocktails in the morning? sure! CHOW.com has a nice piece featuring some daytime drinks asides from the ubiquitous mimosas, bellinis and bloody marys; and I'd personaly like to add Monk Buck to that list

- speaking of drinks, DineLA has a nice list of bars and eateries offering great noshes to go with your libations instead of the usual something-deep-fried

- local-seasonal is not only hot in restaurants but bars as well, as Gourmet highlights a farm-to-glass movement that's a-stirring witht mixologists and bartenders

- looking for some grub after a night on the town? Eat-LA has a nice list of opening-past-midnight eateries where you can get your nightly noshing on

- LA Times' food editor Russ Parsons offered a nugget of insight into Julie & Julia based on his conversations with the latter

P.S. despite what my blog title suggests, my surfing skills are dismal -- I really should take that up again though; would probably help my snowboarding skills too.

Mini Foodventure #133: A touch of sweets and bubbles at POP -- again (Pasadena)

seeking a sugary final note to a weeknight out, not having to worrying about DUIing since I Metro'd my way around town -- I revisited one of my favorite local sparkly-sweet stop: POP Champagne & Dessert Bar, where I'm no stranger of . . .

The menu has evolved a bit since its beginning days, but I still love the variety of desserts and bubblies (particularly the large selection of the latter available by the glass!) This time around I opted for a lighter sweet and a more eccentric glass of sparkling:

Strawberry crepes w rose petal ice cream ($7) - while not particularly photogenic, these certainly tasted refined and elegant - the freshly made crepes were still warm and surprisingly firm and toothy despite sitting in all that caramelly sauce. Round it off with some ripe strawberries and a wonderfully perfumed ice cream (topped with candied rose petals, classy!) and out comes a very sexy, romantic dessert.

Feeling drinkventurous, I simply chose a bubbly that's on the sweeter side to complement the crepes, and my selection was way better than I imagined; the Dezzani Brachetto d'Acqui ($10) an Italian late-harvest sparkling red that had a kiss of sugar but bursting with berry aromas w a tinge of flowers, totally complementing my dessert. Definitely love at first taste.

Even as I stepped out from this session of bites and sips, I'm already looking forward to my return visit here; knowing how often my sweet tooth jaws act up, I have a feeling it won't be too long. And maybe get a group to come along too so we can take advantage of their Thursday special (33% off all bottles.)

POP Champagne & Dessert Bar
33 E. Union St.
Pasadena
(626) 795-1295
Website

Mini Foodventure #132: Tacos, Strawberry Shortcake and Coffee in Silver Lake

This past Sunday was just one of those afternoons where I wanted simple, good eats; taking a cue from the double-blog-rave-within-24-hours from Dylan of Eat Drink n Be Merry and Pat of Eating L.A., I hauled myself to Sunset Junction to pay a visit to Ricky's Fish Tacos cart.

For better or for worse, him prepping the taco was the only photo I snagged during the whole time (they were simply too tasty for me to pause, even for pic-snapping!) Freshly battered and fried, the delicately flaky, crispy pieces of basa were wonderfully paired with the fresh pico de gallo, crunchy cabbage and zesty salsas and crema (EDnBM has a great play-by-play, in photos and words, of the whole process.)

Two of these at a very reasonable $2.50 each made for an absolutely satisfying brunch on the corner of Sunset & Hyperion; it's right across from Intelligentsia, but my sweet jaws took me and my brunch companion to LA Mill -- where we followed up with an equally simple-yet-divine strawberry (and mango) shortcake and their signature blanco y negro, a chilly, intense layered parfait of coffee granita and vanilla bean ice cream -- reminds me of a chillier version of the iced French-style coffee that Vietnamese eateries serve. Purely delightful for a warm August day.

Per Pat (whose blogpost is taped to the front of his cart!), Ricky's fish tacos cart will be across from Intelligentsia Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. (look for a rainbow-colored umbrella), though he hinted that he may be moving locations within the neighborhood in the next few weeks. To get the latest deets, follow his twitter account.

Friday Quickies #69: August Awesomeness Edition

Gazpacho Blanco paired with Eagle Rock Brewery's Witbier at Citysearch's Eat.Drink.Play event with Verdugo Bar & Hot Knives.

Summer wind-down, lack of national holidays; yep folks, it's officially August -- but rather than pining and whining (or calling for the month's abolishment altogether), why not enjoy and savor the rest of the season and go out with a bang? Here's a few events that'll help you do just that!

For every August Fri-Sat starting tonight, Rush Street is doing a series of themed feasts with assorted food specials to please every fancy - from a cowboy cookout with chicken-fried-steak sliders (today-tomorrow) to Havana nights on Aug. 21-22 w arrozo con pollo (chicken & rice) with fried plantains and a cajun shrimp and crawdad boil on Aug. 28-29. And of course, feel free to celebrate with a cocktail or a few.

Tomorrow, the Korean American Coalition and Yelp are throwing the first L.A. Korean BBQ cookoff from noon to 8 p.m.; with 10 Korean restaurants (including Beverly Soon Tofu, Park's BBQ, Ham Ji park) showing off what they've got and competing for the inaugural title of L.A.'s best, as judged by LA Times Food section editor Russ Parsons, LA Weekly's J Gold, Evan Kleiman of KCRW-FM's good food and more. Other events include cooking demonstrations, a eating contest with "mystery ingredient" and of course, a beer garden. Admission is free but you'll have to pay for food (approx. $10-15/plate) so be sure to have some cash handy.

This and next Sunday, phenom vegan (+ the occasional cheese) cooks Hot Knives will be doing a "Gnosh Pit" vegan BBQ at Verdugo Bar 2 - 7 p.m.with specialties like pulled "pork" sandwiches, curry seitan banh mi and, because it is at the Verdugo afterall, beer popsicles. Be prepared to be pleasantly surprised, especially if you don't think you're into vegan food -- I certainly am when I attended their cheese course & beer paired event (hosted by Citysearch) a few weeks back with Esther, Tony and others. Oh yeah, also cash only for the food, though you can use plastic to buy your beers at the bar.

Ok, so I've had cheese paired with wines, beers and even vodka, but this Thursday Colorado Wine Company is going to push the envelope a little further East with a sake & cheese pairing event from 7 to 9 p.m. Sake specialist Joel Porter will show you how, with some wonderful chilled specimens matched against cheese from Auntie Em's. They claim "it works even better than sushi" since "both are created through mold and fermentation," only one way to find out. $18/person and RSVP required.

And closer to the O.C., La Mirada's Cabo Taco Baja Grill will having an Angel City Thirsty Thursday with $3 pints from local brewery Angel City (with owner/brewer Michael Bowe in attendance) along with beer-inspired menu creations such as dunkel enchiladas with a beer-enhanced mole sauce, beer cheese nachos with a pale ale and cheese sauce, vitzen salmon salad with a citrus vinaigrette, and vanilla-stout float.

Finally, once again, my fave summer reads this week:

A SeriousEats writer went on a corn-free diet for a week (that includes animals fed/finished on corn, which is pretty much 99% of them) showing how ubiquitous and prevalent this vegetable/grain is.

In the NY Times, Michael Pollan ponders on the increasing popularity of cooking shows and its inverted relationship without our reduced time actually cooking in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Slate.com holds a best chain coffee contest between Starbucks, McCafe and Dunkin -- you may be surprised by the results.

Being no stranger to food festivals and tasting events, I found LA Weekly Squid Ink's guide to surviving at one quite helpful (I'd also throw in a tip to arrive REALLY early and/or linger late to maximize enjoyability of these events, the middle times tend to be a lotta clusterfreakage.)

And finally, another NY Times piece on how professional foodies (including Top Chef's Padma) get and stay fit; I can say from personal experience that it's no easy task.

Mini Foodventure #131: La Grande Orange (Pasadena)

Given my infamous sweet jaws, with weekend brunches it's no shocker that I usually lean towards the more sugary fare of pancakes, waffles and French toasts (maybe with a side of breakfast meat if I'm feeling particularly carnivorous), so it's definitely a surprise when I decide to bat for the savory team when I went to La Grande Orange this past Sunday. The seducer . . .

. . . tuna burger ($12), something I don't remember having (or at least, enjoying) since Malibu Seafood Co. Thankfully, this version was just as tasty; cooked medium-rare, it was moist, juicy, possessing all that fatty-fishiness I absolutely adore and the patty was nicely accented with just a little bit of oniony-ness and spices. The generous avocado slices and the southwestern-style sauce/dip were just delightful icing on the cake.

Thankfully for my sweet jaws, my brunching companion got sold on their recently-debutted French toast ($11) and I got to indulge in more than a few bites. The French toast here is more like a bread pudding, light and fluffy; my personal preference leans towards a crisper, denser version but this is not too bad, would be better if the cinnamon got toned down a notch. Nonetheless, next time we're definitely going for the lemon ricotta pancakes.

As if there weren't enough carbs on the table, we also shared an order of their famous housemade English muffin for $1.50 (OK, I convinced B.C. to go in on it with me, since I had recently read the Tasting Table rave.) Definitely nice toasted up, chewier and more substantial than most English muffins, this was delicious with the accompanying orange butter and berry jam.

But I definitely feel lucky finding a nosh-worthy fish burger that's way closer to where I work/live, and since it's offered for lunch and dinner too -- that frees up my brunch time once more to discover other sweet treats at LGO. Olive oil cake for AM meal? Why certainly...

La Grande Orange
260 S. Raymond Ave.
Pasadena, CA
626.356.4444
Website