http://www.davidbouley.com/
One of the loveliest restos I have yet to dine - in the middle of a Klimt painting. Excellent service - doesn't hurt that my kid sis and her BF know people in the know. Our two course a la carte excursion seemed to blossom into five extra courses! Let's see how I do.
Amuse - lobster cappuccino: not so much, but this was not an augury of bad tidings by any means.
1 - Foie gras with pomegranate - a generous portion and absolutely perfect. I slight bit of char on the perimiters to foil the buttery flavor with the tart tinge of the fruit reduction. Marvelous.
2 Lobster bisque with ginger (compliments of the chef) - one piece of lobster and a few pieces of soft fragrant ginger in a smooth creamy base. Thanks!
3. Goulash with spaetzle - the beef was way tender, but the sauce was amazing. Probably eating the pasta with the sauce eclipsed the actual meat.
4. Pan seared hallibut, with fava beans and ginger (compliments of the mutha-fucken' hoooooouse!)
5. Deserts! Real apple strudel with Tahitian vanilla ice cream. Quite nice, but...
Elderberry gelee with white chocolate mouse (compliments of the chef)- indescribable. We all wanted to have seconds.
AND chocolate creme brulee with banana ice cream (again, compliments of the chef)- brilliant as well.
Sis' BF had a desert with pumpkin seed ice cream that was really fun to boot.
AND each of us got a chocolate souffle with chocolate chip ice cream (dare I say, at the risk of sounding redundant: COMPLIMENTS OF THE OOOONLY CHEF!)
And a plate of tasty treats from the Bouley bakery that we could not consume and a take home bag of extra sweets for "the lady" - no, not me.
More to come about the Little Owl and Sbarro in Times Square (yes! The ironic, bitter funny part) - to follow soon.
The Little Owl
http://thelittleowlnyc.com/
What a charming little place. 20 seats and jam packed full of happy looking diners in the middle of the West Village.
Started with the boquerones salad - I could have had seconds. The waitress described this as a "deconstructed Cesar salad" but it wasn't that fancy. Perfectly large white anchovies with romaine and bread crumbs - exactly what a starter should be -- got me started. The pork chop was all that. Must be since it was called "The Pork Chop." I wonder how they get the flavor to permeate through all that thickness, and the dandelion greens underneath were a perfect foil. I found myself fool heartedly trying to consume the juices from the bottom of my plate with my fork to no avail. The funny thing is that the chop was "medium rare" (?!?!?!?) Could this be? I thought that the fear of various creepy crawly things were a genuine fear. Didn't seem to factor into the equation as the meat tasted perfectly cooked. The raspberry beingets were more like mini jelly filled donuts, but one order for three with the Nutella was just enough to end the meal. Big ups to the team for this one. Loved the cozy space and vibe throughout.
Teany
http://www.teany.com/index.html
Moby's tea room in the lower East side was an apropos apres culture trip after my jaunt through the Tenement Museum: http://tenement.org/vizinfo.html.
Yes, Moby, the bald headed techno hippy who has changed the face of TV commercial soundtracks forever. A simple order of grilled farmhouse cheddar toasts with ploughman’s pickle and sliced tomato and the de rigeur soy chai latte was a lovely afternoon snack in the middle of profound gentrification. One sight of note: the two ladies sitting at the window reading their books and not speaking to each other. Reminds me of that Sandra Bernhard routine where she is a child coming home for lunch, announcing to her mom that she will "have a side order, ma'am!) and ignores her!
Sbarro
http://www.sbarro.com/
OK, for people who have traveled to NYC and are not the sorts who think that waving cardboard signs in front of Al Roker's face is a good time, the 7th Ave/Sbarro combo might bring upon small shutters. But in the pouring rain awaiting my matinée of "Grey Gardens" http://greygardensthemusical.com/ , it was a somewhat welcome respite from the downpour. Shockingly, the pizza station had a man actually throwing the dough in the air, and not in that showy way that Lucy tried to master back in the day. So, I felt that perhaps I was going to be afforded something passable. I had a slice of white and indeed, it was just fine and not objectionable in any way. The supposed "best pie in NYC" is often a lot of hype and truth be told, the best pizza in New York, in by book, was at a little family owned joint in Carrol Gardens, Brooklyn, of which I cannot remember the locale. What made the Sbarro experience was the crowd: groups of junior high school students, German pensioners, people who had flashed their "Hot Grannies from Duluth" signs for the Today Show cameras. For people who are itching to get to New York because it is so damn hip, I invite them to spend some quality time in the 40s with a requisite slice in the basement dining hall of Sbarro. Even Hollywood and Highland ain't this good.
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OK, so my short term memory is shot! But I will do the best I can to recount the lovely meal that I had at what is often touted as being LA's best restaurant du jour:
Amuse Bouche: Tiny mug of carrot soup with curry foam and a little side of seafood salad - muy yummy.
1. Kanpachi with lime foam and gel - also way tasty.
2. Uni sabayon with black truffle - I dreamed about this twice last night, for reals.
3.Scallops that were to die for - can't remember the exact preparation for the life of me.
4. Pea soup with eggless flan - the weakest link in the chain I thought, but really quite impressive nonetheless.
5. John Dory with rhubarb and cinnamon foam - the cinnamon worked extraordinarily well with the fish.
6.Salmon with squash and black truffle sauce - quite a large fillet for a tasting menu with a really decadent sauce. And a bit of squash puree on the side with the salmon skin, like a fishy chicharon.
7.Cheese - a goat, a sheep and a blue with walnut bread, toasted walnuts, and a fig. The blue was off the chain.
8. Kalamansi soda with vanilla ice cream - amazing desert. Very fun and a great blend of tastes. Perfect after the cheese.
Apricot Tube thing with white chocolate and olives - I like how the olives worked into the sweet dish, but it was a bit peculiar to eat for me. Still very very good, but I wanted chocolate.
Behold! A plate with chocolates (looked and tasted like they were from Boule - yum!) and a raspberry French macaroon for each of us.
Impeccable service that was also quite playful. In the midst of it all, I was very impressed, but maybe overwhelmed to the extent that there were a few "is that all there is?" moments during the three hours. Thank God for food blogging - writing it all down now in hindsight helps me to recognize what a singularly exceptional dining experience this was. Certainly not every week, but a good celebratory splurge fo' sho'.
- Quinn
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and raise you some rocks.
I was in Sweden last summer for the Singlespeed World Championships. It was a disaster from the word go, but one good thing came out of it. We were in Gamla Stan (Old Town) and we were doing some late night wandering and bar hopping, when I came across these.
Talk about going all-out retro. Forget Titanium go-fasters, Caveman is where it's at. Drop these in the freezer for a day, then use them to keep your drink ice cold, without diluting said beverage. They are a booze-hounds dream.
The box reads:
"Hot and Cold Stone.
The purpose of these stones are
to keep your drink cool and heat.
Just cool them down in the freezer
and use them in your whiskey
or heat them up in the oven
and use them in your the or glühwein.
After use, clean the stones in water."
(I assume they mean Tea.)
In any case, since it was St. Patty's last night, I decided to give them a proper go. I cooled them, and dropped a few in my glass. Ice cold scotch was my reward, with no dilution as one would expect.
The biggest gripe if I have to have one, is that if you are caught unawares, you could easily chip a tooth when it slides down to your lips as you finish your beverage. That and I'm a consummate ice-chewer.
A nice way to start off St. Patty's.
All in all a great idea that can give you the 'Coolest Host' award in your tiny circle of drinking buddies. And, yes, they are by no means restricted to just booze. Drop a few in your carbonated leisure beverage of choice, juice, whatever. Heat them up and drop them in your morning coffee to keep it warm. Whatever.
—Christian
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Growing up, my parents always had those cool retro bottles of seltzer in the fridge. There's a local company that delivers them right to your door. I tried that too, but I'd always forget to re-order or I wouldn't be ready for a pre-scheduled delivery.
When Bob moved in, we started buying 2 liters of club soda on a regular basis. Lemme tell you, the shit adds up. At $1.25 to $1.50 a bottle for plain old bubbly water, we were paying a mint.
That's when I hatched my dream plan. I wanted a permanent bar-style soda nozzle in my kitchen. You shoulda seen my eyes bulge when I started doing research and learned that it'd cost me around $1500 for the privelege. I settled on Soda Club, and I've been really happy with it. In fact, it's probably my favorite kitchen purchase of 2006. For less than a hundred bucks, you get a nice little starter package, that essentially pays for itself in a few months.
I bought the Edition One Home Soda Maker with two reusable bottles, one C02 canister, and a 12-pack of flavors (those went right in the trash). You fill the bottles with filtered water, screw them into the machine and depress a large button at the top. You control the amount of fizz by how many times you press. Easy peasy.
My only complaint is that the store I purchased it at, just down the street from me, has since closed. The nearest authorized dealer is now about 30 miles away, though we can order online.
If you're a fan of bubbly water, you could do much worse than to invest in Soda Club. I, for one, am a big fan.
-steen
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I am a sucker for:
1) Ethnic grocery stores
2) Eye-catching packaging
3) Eye-catching packaging found in ethnic grocery stores
So, I've created a new category here on Ham. Calling it "Grocery Gamble".
I know I'm not alone. One of the best things about living in LA is the wealth of restaurants and specialty stores, the product of our melting-pot culture. I hoof it over to these stores from time to time and travel up and down each and every aisle. The ingredients are so enticing, as are the convenience foods and novelty items. I can barely contain myself....
Sometimes I am overcome and I end up buying stuff that's a complete mystery. Sure, the photos on the packaging can provide hints, but sometimes they don't. I love when they paste English ingredients stickers on the back because they'll often have a translation of the item description. Other times, I look to the store's shelf tag. When that fails, I throw caution to the wind and buy blind. LOL
So, now I've got a place to post about it, and hopefully my friends will too. That remains to be seen. And, now, without further ado...
Bob and I grabbed these at Nijiya Market in the Japanese Village Plaza located in Little Tokyo. They were last-minute impluse buys while we were checking out. The only Romanji on the package is the url of the manufacturer. Shigekix
What the hell are they? We tore open the packages for a taste-test today. The green one has an image of a glass with a straw in it, so Bob decided to try dropping the pellets into some water to see what would happen. In a word: nothing. They're candies. The aforementioned green package shows a cherry, and the gold one a bunch of lemons. Basically, you're looking a jujubees covered in super sour powder. I ate one of the lemon ones and liked the flavor, though it was really difficult to chew. Bob liked the sour component but spit out the candy due to the texture.
Kudos to their graphic designers. They earned their dough on this one!
Nijiya Market
(213) 680-3280
124 Japanese Village Plaza Mall
Los Angeles, CA 90012
-steen
tags: Japanese+candies, sweets, eating
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The so-busy-how-do-they-find-the-time folks over at 5 Minutes for Mom are throwing a big ol' party and all us food-lovin' blogger types are invited! Weeee!
Head on over and check it out. And, sign their Mr. Linky to enroll in their prize drawing.
Here's the skinny, but all the details, list of prizes, and good times can be found at 5 Minutes for Mom.
March 2-9
The party is all about meeting and mingling, so if you've come here from 5MFM, or another blog, be sure to post a comment and say "Hi".
SideOrderofHam.com is made up of a small group of friends with a common interest in food and blogging. I'm one of them.
My name's Steen.
I'm self-employed.
I have two miniature Dachshunds, Belly and Peanut.
Bob's my boyfriend.
He's got two dogs, Marvin (a sheltie) and Barry (a whippet).
We live in Los Angeles.
We have a lot of visitors to our backyard (2 squirrels, 2 scrub jays, 9 mourning doves, a TON of goldfinches, several hummingbirds), and we keep them coming back with peanuts, nectar, flowers, and bird seed.
Ummm...
What else?
I love to cook.
We both love to eat.
I have the raddest kitchen ever.
That's enough for now! There are a bunch of posts to help you get to know us better.
I do hope you'll stick around and come visit again!
-steen
tags: Blog+Party, food+blog, meet+and+greet
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I <3 Tastespotting. Interesting choice of title, since it (for me at least) undoubtedly conjurs up images of junkies and filthy toilets, but...
Such a simple site, but it really grabs you by the eyeballs. Talk about a feast for your eyes! People submit lovely, appetizing photos - their own or others' - and they post them with a link to the originating website. A simple concept, but so right on the money. Go check it out. I dare you to resist the photos.
-steen
tags: tastespotting, food+photography
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I love cheese! I can nibble away at ungodly amounts of cheese- let's just say I'm contributing to the bovine methane emissions problem one cow at a time. Yesterday, I got a vampire-like craving for cheese so I head over to Trader Joe's. They have a great selection, but I was on the prowl for "English Coastal Cheddar" and thank GOD they had some or my whole day would have been ruined. It's a white cheddar from the Dorset Coast of England that's aged for a minimum of 15 months.
It's probably one of my favourite cheeses.. Well, next to a well-aged Parmigiano Reggiano. The texture of the coastal cheddar is firm yet creamy. To top it off, each nibble is peppered with little crunchy bits of bursting flavour crystals that are typical of a harder, well-aged cheese. It has a subtle, nutty, smooth taste that totally coats your palate in that creamy cheesy goodness sorta way. I usually slice and platter it because it's sooo good just eating out of hand, but it works well in anything a sharp cheddar would compliment. The subtle sharpness is balanced well with the creaminess of it.
Currently it's selling for $6.99 a pound at TJ's. I think it pairs really well with wines that are on the lighter, fruitier side. Something light and crisp enough to cleanse the palate because this cheese just melts on your tongue like Belgian chocolate. A Pinot Grigio, Gewurztraminer or even a CA sparkling wine like Mumm's Cuvee M pair quite well with this cheese.
My newest *find* at Trader Joe's is yet another otherworldly white English cheddar with caramelized onions in it!! Oh my god, tell me that's not crying to be an ingredient in garlic roasted mashed potatoes or a warm spinach artichoke dip. It has one of the most interesting mouth feels of any cheese I've had in a long time. It's not nearly as firm as the coastal cheddar and it's darker in colour slightly.
Currently it is selling for $8.99 a pound at TJ's.
If I had to put my finger on it, I would say once you take a bite of it, you'll notice it has more of a slighty firmer than stiff cream cheese bite to it. It's really hard to describe it, but it's very good, and it doesn't coat the palate as much as the English Coastal Cheddar. As soon as you wrestle off the protective covering, you immediately get a whiff of this sweet caramelized onion smell. I just wanted to chew through the cellophane.
I envision a leisurely Sunday of sparkling wine, amazing cheese, hard salami, a box of Carr's assorted table crackers and crapload of Brothers Quay flicks.
Aaah.. the cheesy life is good on a lazy Los Feliz Sunday afternoon.
-tara
tags: eating, cheese, cheddar, Trader+Joe's
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Ok, so, posting about my love of Japanese merch reminded me of a little shopping trip Christian and I took in Munich last year.
I was visiting C and his wife and they were just wonderful hosts. Christian poured me a soda one day and, knowing how much I love iced beverages, he plunked this baseball of an ice cube into my glass. I was totally dazzled. (I'm a cheap date, folks...)
The ice ball was made by pouring water into an ingenious silicone mold and then freezing the bad boy. Once it's solid, you just slip the two parts of the mold apart and peel the bottom from the ice ball. Because of its size, it melts more slowly than small cubes, and looks super sexy while it's doing it.
I oohed and ahhed and interrogated him about where he acquired such a fancy product and he gave up the intel pretty immediately. The next day, we were off to Muji where I purchased two of the molds.
They now reside in my freezer, ready to wow whomever needs impressing.
In keeping with the theme, Bob and I had a lovely lunch in Little Tokyo today. I stopped in a cute little discount store and bought a few things, including some origami paper that made the perfect addition to my photo styling. If this site somehow becomes a money maker, I've kept my receipt so I can deduct the buck fitty.
-steen
tags: kitchen+tools
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I mean, not the spice (although my burn sensitive taste buds are notoriously sensitive), but the country. What do we know, really? I know of the brilliant poet Pablo Neruda and the author Isabel Allende. Oh yeah, there's that Pinochet guy too. So, I go to Wikipedia to hunt down more Chilean references past the ubiquitous sea bass. The only two on this very comprehensive list are guapo Christian De La Fuente and Horatio Sanz from SNL. We, the American People, are culturally deprived, Chilean-style.
So, off we go to the acclaimed Rincon Chileno in East Hollywood for a little taste of Santiago. First things off the bat: we are the only customers, the wait staff is standoffish at best, and there is this curio stand with all kinds of artifacts for us to peruse while we dine.
Oh, and there are two dining rooms, each with their own distinct set of furniture and things.
According to the foodies online, there are two things one must have.
The first being the pastel de choclo:
And the congrio:
The pastel is sort of a pot pie of chicken and various other nibbly things, such as hard cooked egg and olives. It looks more like one of those fierce tamale pies that my grandmother used to make for me in the 70s, and that is a very good thing indeed. The problem was that poor Steen kept finding little bits of eggshell in subsequent bites. Perhaps this is part of the charm, but I tend to think not.
The congrio, a Chilean fish, was quite nice, but nothing to trumpet about. It was a nice-sized fillet cooked perfectly with a light batter coating the entire piece. But aside from the squeezed lemon juice, it had no distinct qualities about it. Again, not offensive, but not mind blowing either.
And Steen's friend had some chicken dish:
I was warned from the beginning that she would have nothing subjective or objective to say about her meal, and nothing was offered. It was quite simply, chicken.
Oh, and there was this lovely dish of spicy salsa at at the table too:
So, again, a lovely meal with Steen, but nothing that makes me want to go back and try other things nor recommend it to my peeps. It does pique my interest in other South American cuisines that I have yet to try, like Columbian. Not much else to say, so Pablo Neruda, take us home!
En un beso, sabrás todo lo que he callado.
In one kiss, you'll know all I haven't said.
Rincon Chileno
4354 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 666-6075
-Quinn
** Notes from Steen: That pot pie dish was odd. It consisted of mostly corn, as far as I can recall. Not much chicken it it either. The flavor, overall, was a bit sweet and kind of odd. It was interesting at first but I quickly tired of it. I spent the meal lamenting my choice and wishing I'd ordered either Quinn's or Julie's meals instead.
tags: dining, restaurants, Los+Angeles, Chile, Chilean+food
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