May 17, 2010
vanilla and valhrona chocolate lattes
fruit plate with warm baguette
If you know me you know how much I adore my little sister. She is living with me for the summer and we celebrated the beginning of this by partaking in one of our favorite rituals: lattes at Lamill and a leisurely morning. We needed it that morning. I woke up to my car being towed and a parking ticket. It was notably miserable. So much money wasted! But sometimes when things are bristly you have to tuck it away and treat yourself to overpriced sweet coffee among, sit in pretentious red leather chairs, and imagine that you are fancy and unphased by all the unpleasantries of being a person in the world.
May 7, 2010
saeyoung & eli
yay!
rotisserie jidori chicken
turkey sandwich with grapes and aioli
trio of salads: curried garbanzo beans, roasted kale, carrot salad
chocolate chip cookie
blueberry cornmeal cake
Saeyoung came home today! Seeing her today, I have to say…I was so completely happy. Things feel so unwieldy lately and being with my sister is so incredibly familiar, relaxing. Being happy with her is the easiest thing in the world, and that’s amazing.
Right after the airport we went to Huckleberry Cafe because if Saeyoung was a restaurant she’d be this one. The pastry case was ridiculous. Do you ever want to smash your hands into a cake and eat it full-fisted? That is what that pastry case does to me. It must be said though, the chocolate chip cookie was a bit disappointing.
Welcome home Cho Cho. It will be an amazing summer!
April 3, 2010
clam boyfriend
oysters, prawns, scallops, abalone, clams, bigger clams, baby octopus
Korean mixed rice with clam juice on a shell! mixed table side
koreans love grilling everything! steamed egg, dduk bok ee, seafood
korean pancake, sweet potato tempura, creamy corn stuff
abalone porridge
hand-cut flour noodles
Sometimes I question the logic of how much food served in a Korean meal. The general pattern is banchan (small plates), a substantial meat course (most reasonable stomachs would stop here), a starch course (usually a noodle or rice dish), and then something sweet. A great many places only serve things by fixed menus and you just order the small, medium, or large course and so you don’t even have the choice of eating lightly.
Marcus and I walked to Koreatown yesterday. It was a rigorous 1.8 miles and I’m not going to lie, I was a little grumpy about it. Hunger does not bring out the best in me. In fact I’m pretty sure I’m fairly monstrous when I’m hungry. But in the end I’m glad Marcus insisted that we walk because:
1) it was nice to walk through MacArthur park into dramatically different territory after crossing Vermont. This is the amazing thing about Los Angeles. In less than a mile you’re all of a sudden in a different country. Walking makes me feel like I really do live in a city.
2) I love walking but have generally considered it something I like to do alone with headphones. Also I like to do this at night. In my neighborhood. Apparently this is unwise. But walking with Marcus felt perfect and sweet and will now be my preferred method of city wandering.
3) We desperately needed some form of exercise after our gluttonous (also, glutinous. ha!)meal
We went to the Flaming Clam Grill on 6th and ordered the smallest portion, which could easily serve 3. The meal started with abalone porridge, cucumbers and carrots, a salad, a korean pancake, sweet potato tempura, and some sort of mysterious creamy corn thing. Then the waiter(s) stacked clams, scallops, steamed egg, and dduk bok ee on the grill. Dduk bok ee has rice noodles with vegetables in a red pepper sauce. Marcus kept calling them rice babies which I found hilarious. They also put cheese on the dduk bok ee. Highly unorthodox and unexpectedly delicious. After all those things had been cooked the waiter poured the grilled clam juice into a bowl of rice with seaweed and sesame seeds and red peppers and grilled that on a shell. And after that, oysters and prawns and abalone were added to the grill. At this point we thought we were done and felt quite round and full. But no, the waiter then brought out a pot of flour noodles. I think we were almost angry at the amount of food that we were intaking. Marcus actually made me stop eating at some point, scared that my stomach might burst.
This morning I woke up, still full.
February 22, 2010
nitro coconut ice cream
cippolini onions with clementines and passion fruit
cotton candy foie gras
mushroom rice
chicken with dates and mustard caviar
nitrogen frozen caprinhini
sweet potato chips with yogurt, anise, and tamarind dip
goat cheese stuffed piquillo peppers
scallops with romesco sauce
tuna ceviche with avocado and coconut milk
crab steamed buns
pa’amb tomaquet
jamon
olives
braised wagyu beef cheeks
liquid olives
Escalivada
Fancy for my fancy mama! The Bazaar has some of the most theatrical food ever. Since opening it seems like The Bazaar has become the molecular gastronomy go-to in Los Angeles with their rotating list of semi-celebrity sous chefs (they all seem to have been on Top Chef) and of course, Jose Andres. The decor is dizzyingly impressive, if not a little cold but that might just be a things of personal taste. I like to feel cuddled by restaurant ambiance.
I think Doc wanted to take my mom here to remind her of their recent trip to Spain and in particular, their visit to Arzak in San Sebastian (ahem…upon my recommendation). I thought the idea was very sweet.
The meal, like the decor, was impressive but it’s hard to separate taste from the general showmanship, but maybe that’s the point. A memorable meal.
The Bazaar
465 La Cienega Blvd
Beverly Hills
note~ this place is ridiculously hard to find.
February 4, 2010
Marcus and I had a date night! Doesn’t that sound exciting? I can confirm this for you. It was exciting. We went to Little Dom’s on Hillhurst. Marcus made the comment that it looked like a seaside East coast Italian restaurant. It reminded him of Providence. We sat at the bar because they had reservations booked through 10 pm but I think we both enjoyed the casualness of the seating arrangement so that worked out just fine. Marcus made friendly loose chat with the people on both sides of us. His aptness for social situations never fails to amaze me. While my reaction to overly cozy seating arrangements would be to keep more contained, to be even more conscious of the barriers of personal space, Marcus sees it as polite to create a more communal environment. I think it is safe to say that Marcus is a much warmer person than me.
We shared a bottle of wine.
Appetizer: Fish Crudo with lemon and rosemary
My Entree: Salmon with fennel
Marcus’ Entree: Pappardelle with peas and ricotta
I’m sorry for the terrible photo. It doesn’t do the food justice.
It was an enormously enjoyable evening, partially for the meal and partially for the company.
January 25, 2010
Because a tub growing among trees and alfredo flavored gelato is not amazing enough, Marcus took me to an adorable Italian deli. With the sort of bravado that I can’t even begin to approach, Marcus requested two sandwiches, the filling choices deferred to the expert discretion and taste of the man pictured above. This man knew his Italian meats. I wouldn’t have been surprised if someone told me that he never leaves his deli counter, that he sleeps there and when they turn the lights off in the store he leans his head against the glass case and uses a log a salami as a pillow. When I asked to take his picture he responded, “Yes, people take my picture all the time” in an almost tired tone, as if he finds his meat celebrity boring at this point.
What was confidently handed off to us were two sandwiches absolutely dripping with spicy meats, olive oil, and provolone cheese. These we consumed happily with soup and a bitter Italian soda.
Roma Italian Deli
918 N Lake Ave
Pasadena, CA 91104
626.797.7748
yes, our gelato cups are kissing
Today I helped Marcus and his friend Christine take photographs of a tub prop that Marcus will be using in the next two performances. It was kind of amazing to see a tub choreographed in a designated space. It looked so other worldly and it occurred to me that the tub looked like a portal somehow when set up in that way. Christine envisioned the whole thing beautifully–a rusted tub set against lush green and brittle twigs. Without seeing the prints I already know they are gorgeous.
I’ve used this word entirely too much today but the process felt vaguely magical and when things are magical one should partake in the eating of something indulgent, something like gelato. Marcus took me to Bulgarini where we proceeded to systematically sample all the flavors, our fists full of tasting spoons. Like my other ice cream favorite Scoops, Bulgarini has exciting flavors. The most exciting was a ricotta and parsley flavored savory gelato which Marcus likened to alfredo sauce. In the end we settled on more conventional but nevertheless exciting flavors of blood orange, pomegranate, lemon crema, mango, and cantaloupe. Later in the evening Candice mentioned that they also make a red pepper strawberry which sounds equally enticing.
Bulgarini Gelato
749 E Altadena
Altadena, CA 91001
626.791.6147
December 15, 2009
Today I had lunch with Katie, Andrea, and Sam at Say Cheese Cafe in Silverlake. I’ve been wanting to try their sandwiches for sometime now. Every time I’m at Trader Joe’s (which I think averages out to every other day) I think I should stop and get something to eat, but I never do.
I really want to take Saeyoung here when she comes back to California this Saturday. It’s precisely the kind of thing she would love. We’ve had many discussions about how and why sandwiches are the perfect food. They really are.
November 15, 2009
preface: sorry about the quality of these photographs.
persian cucumber salad
oxtail with fried tripe
bacon wrapped matzo balls
whun with a discerning face
My cousin Min Hee has been visiting for a few weeks but all good things must come to an end and so we had a farewell dinner today at The Gorbals in downtown. The Gorbals is a new restaurant headed by Ilan Hall. You may know Ilan Hall as a former Top Chef winner. Yes, I am an unabashed reality show watcher. Does it make it better that I’ve limited my television intake to food-related reality shows? Probably not.
I kind of liked the spare decor, the unvarnished floors. The bar and the tables reminded me a bit of Wurstkuche, but with better lighting. And an open kitchen space is always nice. The restaurant front was lined with antique (genuine or faux antique?) stained glass windows, which I thought was quite pretty. Half way through the meal, a woman leaned against the window and I thought it made for a lovely image.
Okay, so the important part, the food: We ordered nearly everything on the menu…because well, that’s what we do. More importantly everything was very good. The food was decidedly heavy–pork belly, fried tripe, creamy melty sauces liberally doused here and there. But happily, we didn’t feel heavy after our meal. Whun claimed the braised pork belly as his favorite. Min Hee concurred. I had a difficult time picking between the pork belly or the cucumber salad or the Welsh rarebit with chicken egg. The oxtail tasted vaguely Korean to us and was sitting on top of a creamy oatmeal-y type thing that tasted quite excellent but we just couldn’t decide what it was. Polenta? Probably not. Oatmeal? That would be interesting. In any case we ate all of it. Our plates were embarrassingly clean. Also, we need to talk about the bacon wrapped matzo balls. I don’t claim to be an authority on matzo balls but those were the softest most pillowy matzo balls I have ever had. And wrapping it in bacon–there’s something very interestingly brash about that.
Overall a very enjoyable meal. I regret not ordering a beer with that meal. It seems like beer food. Next time I will order a beer.
The Gorbals
501 S Spring St,
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.thegorbalsla.com
October 1, 2009
intelligentsia iced coffee
garlic thyme chicken omelet with corn grits and 5-grain toast
fruit bowl
 steel cut oatmeal with bourbon pecans and maple syrup
There’s something really novel about going out for breakfast. I feel like it should be special because it takes a special kind of effort to choose breakfast when faced with the choice between a nice meal or an extra hour and a half of sleep.
It felt really wonderful to get breakfast with Grace this morning. It feels like I haven’t had very many quiet moments with her lately, or any quiet moments at all really. I hope she comes to visit me more often.
We went to Square One Dining because I’ve heard so many amazing things about their French toast. Oddly enough, neither of us ordered it so I suppose I can’t confirm all the raves. Grace ordered a garlic thyme chicken omelet with a side of grits. The omelet was good but Grace and I both agreed that the grits needed a little extra something. I ordered steel cut oatmeal with bourbon pecans and maple syrup as well as a seasonal fruit bowl. The oatmeal was fantastic. I would eat steel cut oatmeal every morning if it didn’t take 45 minutes to make.
Okay, so here’s the negative: way too expensive. $7.50 for a bowl of oatmeal? Yes, excellent oatmeal, but let’s be honest, oatmeal is dirt cheap. I mean, it’s used for horse feed. And $7.50 for a fruit bowl?! Excellent delicious fruit, certainly. But for $7.50 I want a fruit platter.
Despite my whining about the prices, I’ll probably come here again, if only to try the French Toast. This is my problem–I just don’t know how to budget myself around food.
Square One Dining
4854 Fountain Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90029
323.661.1109
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