If we had ordered the entire menu it would have come to $101.  I know, I counted.  We came close - ordered all but two dishes.  The waitress did not believe us and kept insisting we did not order things ...

Last week at the farmer's market I picked up 2lbs of tomatillos for $1.  To date, my only experience with Tomatillos has been to occasionally add one to dressings or sauces.  I never worked with them in bulk.  I searched through all my favorite recipe websites for an interesting sauce to top some chicken breast and pasta, but was surprised to find I could not find anything appropriate.  

So I invented something.  And it came out so fabulous I had to share it.  Super simple, healthy, and incredible depth of flavor.

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2) Spread 1-2 T EVOO on a non-stick cookie sheet
3) Add the following to cookie sheet:
a. 2lbs Tomatillos (husk removed, rinsed)
b. 1 large or a few small heirlooms: remove core and tough parts of skin, no need to peel unless you really want to
c. 1 peeled onion, cut in 1" wedges
d. 3 peeled garlic cloves
3. ...

My biggest shock in moving out to LA was the complete lack of casual seafood shacks like one finds on the Jersey Shore, Cape Cod, Baltimore, etc.  Gladstones, with it's low quality, poorly prepared, overpriced fare never counted.  I read about this place some months ago and have been anxiously awaiting its opening, which occurred … Continue reading First Peak: New England Style Seafood Shack Finally Available in LA: BP Oysterette in Santa Monica

I was lucky enough to get to the Gourmet Warehouse's first time sale to the public over the weekend.  I had to drive out to Alhambra, fight a crazy crowd, and stand in a TWO AND A HALF HOUR LINE, but with the goodies I procured, all was worth it.  I finally got my hands … Continue reading First Foray Into Molecular Gastronomy at Home – Bloody Mary Pasta

I saw on Eater that Stefan Richter's (Top Chef) new restaurant was at their soft opening stage a few days ago.  We had to be in Santa Monica on another errand on Saturday so we decided to take the opportunity to check it out for Lunch.  I actually made reservations but that turned out to … Continue reading Stefan’s LA Farm – First Taste

Several months ago, I reviewed Niki Nakiyama's tasting menu at Inaka and declared it the best tasting menu I had since Bastide.  Sadly, Bastide is long gone but Niki is doing as splendid as ever.  We finally made the long journey back to Arcadia and got to experience her amazing cuisine one more time.  I … Continue reading Inaka Revisited – At least as good, maybe even better

Molecular gastronomy...fusion...modern styled food...Avante Guard...new Asian.  Terms like these are typically what get people excited about a new restaurant, especially in LA where this kind of cuisine is still, well, Nouveau versus other cities like NYC and Chicago.  So it was with great anticipation that I set off to hit two strangely similar yet quite … Continue reading Molecular Gastronomy Taste-off: Voltaggio @ Breadbar VS Bistro LQ

I had been meaning to get there for a while. Otafuku has a reputation as having some of the best homemade soba in town. We wanted a light dinner the other night, so we decided to finally give it a shot. Honestly, it was just meant to be a casual meal. I didn't bring the camera, and that was an egregious error in judgment!

Chef Sada is not only a great sushi chef, he is also a character.  He runs his restaurant with great charisma and genuinely loves what he does.  We loved it so much we went two nights in a row!  At the end of the evening, he cranks up the music and sings along with the Beatles' Octopus Garden ...

Vancouver has its own take on Pink's called "Japadog." It is a Japanese-owned chain of hotdog carts that appear at certain locations around the city on select days and times during the week. They have an absolute cult following and the lines to show it. Anthony Bourdain recently did a feature on them on No Reservations, making the lines even longer.

I got a lead on a very unique dining opportunity via Chowhound. 
Fuel, a top restaurant in town, does a spot prawn boil each Saturday night
only for a few weeks in May-June. 12 people, one seating.  I called weeks ahead
of time and was delighted to get a reservation.  The locals were quite
impressed that I even found out about it ...

I
went to Blue Water last night - sat at the Bar. THey only had 3 spot
prawns left, which were good. We got a poached spot prawn salad, the
prawns were a bit mealy and overcooked. Oysters (local only) were
fabulous. Yoshi did a couple of sashimi items for us, some were off
menu. The local sockeye salmon, sable, and halibut was all amazing. So
yes, we were able to achieve our goal of getting locally-sourced
excellent sashimi. We also ordered their famous scallop/red sea urchin
mousse which was a fun and tasty dish. ...

Quintessinal spring dish: Fresh Fava bean, Asparagus,and Arugula Salad with Shaved Cheese, Plus a secret source for great Spanish Ingredients ...

I spent weeks researching the perfect restaurants for our upcoming vacation in Miami Beach. It seemed I was having an especially hard time with the planning because every time I thought I found the perfect place, I would read all the reviews on Yelp or Chowhound and realized it was probably not as good as Gayot, etc. made it out to be. But I couldn't believe that the in the land of displaced New Yorkers I would have trouble finding great restaurants, so I persevered. Plus, I had been to the area about four years ago and remembered it having promise.

Even though it was just a simple shellfish lunch, for me it was the best meal of our entire Miami trip even compared to many of the pricey, wine-ladden dinners we later experienced.  But what do they say about pictures speaking louder than words? ...

If you regularly read my blog, you know my husband and I are REALLY into sushi above all other food options. We have been to dozens of sushi places big and small all over LA, and like most sushi-lovers, have come to be quite opinionated about our preferences.

This past Saturday I attended what I thought was going to be
a lot of fun…a clam chowder tasting/judging on Redondo Beach Pier. 
$6 for 5 tastes.  Split with my husband, that translated to 10 tastes for
9 available soups.  Participants were pretty much all South Bay local
restaurants, most of them from the pier or the immediate vicinity.  They gave
you a small Styrofoam cup and a plastic spoon, and the idea was to use the same
cup for each sample.  No spit bucket or new bowl.  You had to dump it
in the trash can and wipe out the “bowl” with a napkin.



...

I love Fraiche and was excited to go to Riva, Jason Trevi's new endeavor.  It took months, but finally got a together a group of eight of us to go.  I figured that we gave them time to work out the kinks, and was planning for an amazing meal.  I had seen in the reviews that they are best known for their Crudo and Pizza, and was prepared to make a meal on that. ...

I do apologize to my readers that I took a bit of a hiatus in my blog posts.  I have recently had the opportunity to meet many talented food bloggers at a few foodie socials and it has really inspired me to rethink my blog. ...

It was with much trepidation that we went to Shin Okinawa.  Lots of mixed reviews.  But as this restaurant is very close to where I live, it could easily be a place where we could hang out frequently.  ...