Birthday Burger vs. Funeral Burger — Beacon vs. Grace
L Picture from Beacon restaurant
Last summer, I covered Beacon’s unlauded burger here. Early last January, Damon Gambuto files yet another self-contradictory LA burger review on AHT, this time covering Beacon’s “fusion” burger with half-enthusiasm. In May, I revisited Beacon for the burger as they celebrated their 6th year anniversary with a $6 burger special. (40% off).
And it was still good. This time around, I was smert enough to request less teriyaki sauce (let’s not call it anything else. It’s from a Japanese kitchen, it’s got soy sauce, it’s slightly sweet; that’s teriyaki as known to every American who’s ever had Yoshinoya).
The La Brea Bakery’s rustic roll still holds up great, without being too bready like Little Dom’s foccacia buns. It’s also not brioche, which allows the juices to stay near the patty as one ventures closer to the center of the burger. Eating Beacon’s burger is a sopping wet adventure, and the bacon provides a subtle smokey, salty contrast to the sweet caramelized onion – soy sauce reduction. At $6, this kills every Father’s Office burger I’ve ever had, which makes this particular evening a great celebration of Beacon’s presence in Culver City.
NB: The burger is now an “option” served at dinner, it is no longer merely a lunch menu item.
Grace’s final burger night.
Blah blah blah. Big expensive $16 boring burger. This burger is the burger meant to be made fun of by Carls Jr’s. Six Dollar Burger. It was cooked properly, the patty was moist (not juicy), the produce used had to have been fresh, but the patty itself lacked seasoning and pizzaz. A few twists of a pepper mill could’ve saved this bad boy. Instead, the night was rescued by the milk shake punched in the face by tequila. I’m going to make tons of this tequila milkshake at home to compliment the awesome oatmeal stout ice cream we churn.
The bun had a multisyllabic label, the ketchups and mayo churned in house, but the most savory of all this burger platter were the fresh pickles. Everything from the iceberg butter leaf (similar to Comme Ca – blech), to the tomato, to the gruyere, projected blandness. By default, most lettuce tastes like blanched leaves, but this insipid build-up will cost a pretty $18 if chosen with bleu cheese.
After several visits to Grace for these “special” events, ie, doughnut flight, burger night, ad nausea, it seems better to let this restaurant bounce gracefully from one’s dining destination list into a coffin (which will soon be situated at St. Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles). Grace’s final burger night at the Beverly Blvd space was on June 13th, 2010. The final day of operations was June 19th.
Grace Restaurant
(temporarily closed)
More Eating for Charity: Plate By Plate; “Freight Food” is Back.
LA Wine Fest is the beginning of this lovely city’s stuff-your-hole-for-a-good-cause season. While Project By Project’s “Plate By Plate” [I love a good meme] is relatively new after a few seasons of giving, the eighth iteration promises a better, bigger, and tastier event.
photo courtesy of Project by Project.
So far, confirmed participating restaurants as follows:
Bistro LQ
Cafe Pinot
Charlie Palmer
Craft
Foundry
Gonpachi
Hot Stuff Cafe
Jamaica’s Cakes
Jar
La Cachette Bistro
Maison Akira
Mo-Chica
Musha
Nobu
One World
Plush Puffs
Roy’s
Starry Kitchen
Susina Bakery
The Blvd
Thompson Hotel Bond St.
Valerie Confections
Yogurtland
LA blogosphere faves — Jar, Valerie Confections, Mo-Chica — are expected among a typical charity sponsorship list, but surprising attendees — Hot Stuff Cafe, Charlie Palmer, & Starry Kitchen — will also be present to serve up unexpected grub. Plate by Plate will be supporting Health Justice Network, and hence a slight Asian twist can be seen in the beverages available for tasting:
Activate Drinks
Derby Winery
DRY Soda
Go Girl
Limoncello
Momo Cosmo
Naja Tea
Nestle Water
Ozeki Sake
Peter Franus Winery
POM
Robert Oatley Vineyards
Rock Sake
Sapporo
Stone Brewing Co
Trinchero Winery
Vavo
Viader
The thought of Mo-Chica’s flavors paired with sake should be enough to lure one to California Science Center on August 14, 2010. If that’s not enough, PBP’s throwing a party just to get the party started. On July 7th, yes, that’s TOMORROW! Wednesday! Soi 7 will host a ticket kickoff and offer all visitors $89 event tickets, a $36 savings. Complimentary appetizers and live music will be served up, and drink specials will be on hand all evening long.
The selection of restaurants so far is extremely well curated: Jar is a constant Los Angeles fixture, Craft is one of the most underrated LA restaurants, and La Cachette has served classic French fare since the dinosaurs roamed near tar pits. Of course everyone should remember Bistro LQ is one of the 2 LA restaurants to carry monstrous dessert-centric degustations. At over 500 attendees in 2009, Plate by Plate offers a smaller, more intimate environ for festival attendees to mingle, and, naturally, the bites per visitor ratio is higher relative to the larger events such as Taste of the Nation. On a personal note, I’d like to mention Jimmy Tsai, the main actor from Ping Pong Playa, will be attending the event as a “sous chef”. This movie single-handedly salvaged a monotonous flight to Costa Rica. Thank you sir.
Plate by Plate
Saturday, August 14, 2010
7:00pm-10:00pm
California Science Center
For Tickets: click here
Ticket sales kickoff Party!
Soi 7
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
518 W 7th Street
LA, CA 90014
T: 213-537-0333
6:30-10:00pm
Also, the short lived but much loved Freight by Night is back for 1 evening only:
Freights Annual Summer BBQ Extravaganza
Please join us on July 17th for an afternoon of Food, Music, and Old Time Bourbon Cocktails in the beautiful garden.
The afternoon will begin at 4pm and proceed with passed appetizers, live music from RT n’ the 44$ and a Family Style Feast. Cost per person will be 35$. The address will be provided upon RSVP.
MENU
Refreshments:
- Blackberry Lemonade
- Old Fashioned
- Mint Julep
- Whiskey Daisy
Starters:
- Shrimp Po Boy Lollipops in Puff Pastry
- Barbacoa over Picadillos with Molcajete Salsa and Carrot Escabeche
- Pulled Pork Sliders on Brioche with Apple Slaw and Pequin Hot Sauce
Supper:
- Smokey Baby Back Ribs with Peach and Bourbon BBQ Sauce
- Black Eyed Peas and Hamhocks
- Braised Greens
- Buttermilk Cornbread with Roasted Shallot and Ancho
- Fried Okra
- Pickled Watermelon
Dessert:
- Blackberry Pie and Vanilla Ice Cream
Chowhound discussion can be found here.
seekingfood.blogspot.com provided excellent feedback in comments.
The best way to RSVP for this shindig is by email: info@freightfoods.com
The Olive Opens: West Hollywood
The Olive is the latest effort by restauranteur Greg Morris, operators of the well-received Oaks Gourmet as well as the effortlessly popular Oakfire Pizzerias. The restaurant, open since early June, located at Grafton, is offering traditional Italian fare, with a Cal twist, to replace the trenzoid steaky fare previously dished out by the “other” outlet of BOA. Instead, diners can now “eat in the chill balance of bamboo, marble, glass, and leather—an orchestra of rock star eats and throngs of chic.”
First course:
Various salumi & formaggi ($18). Subtract the crusty fennel salted flatbread and this would be one heck of a salumi plate down to the fig jam and spiced nuts. If it’s good enough for Lisa Cohen, it’s probably god enough for the rest of us. The staff is more than happy to denote the variety of all cheese and meats served.
Roasted beet & burrata salad. $15
It’s seemingly difficult to discombobulate a roasted beet & burrata salad, but often the burrata is manipulated and overdressed. Here, gold and red beets were both roasted til tendered and plated to only hug, but not molest, the burrata, an ingredient , regardless of intended cuisine. Sprinkled pistachios gave a great counter crunch to the milky burrata, and the sherry reduction gave the cheese depth.
Pancetta wrapped prawns.
Some restaurants get overzealous with their prawn descriptions. The Olive clearly forgot an adjective in front of theirs. While these prawns may not have been giants, they were definitely healthy. The judiciously applied pancetta wasn’t overwhelmingly salty, and served to merely add a trendy swiney flavor. Unfortunately, the prawn itself was a bit overcooked, and the polenta tad under seasoned.
Chocolate torte, panna cotta & blueberry bread pudding.
These were served all on the same plate. Service staff didn’t advise whether or not this presentation was the norm, but it worked. Start with the panna cotta, ramp up to the powerfully sweet torte, finish off by letting the blueberry bread pudding (texture close to a muffin) soak up the chocolaty exuberance.
Here at The Olive, the appetizers seemed to be the strong suit, with the popular lobster mac faltering that particular evening. This slant towards small(er) plates will probably suit the WeHo crowd just fine. If there can be a WeHo “neighborhood” spot on the screaming section of Sunset swatched in wall ads, The Olive will be it. On weekdays, the public (read: reasonably priced) parking structure is literally right across the street, and there is an excellent happy hour to liven up the sidewalk seating from 5pm to 7pm. On weekends, brunch is available at the hotel restaurant, and the choice seats would be on the patio overlooking the pool & the hill.
The Olive Kitchen & Bar
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Hollywood-CA/The-Olive-Kitchen-Bar/
8462 W Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
T: (323) 650-1250
Twitter: olivekitchenbar
NB: gratis dinner, thanks to PMG for hosting. At this dinner, I realized Elina S. is the only person who can drop F-bombs with such grace and aplomb.
Burmese Food (Nibban Zay) Festival Recap
As promised there were plenty of mohinga stalls, but thanks to the intrepid leadership of a Burmese speaker (Hi Aung! thanks for showing us around), we ate like kings (on a tour).
My fave thing was easily the Thai-influenced version of battered fried greens with shrimp mixed in, topped with pyoke, served with a side of turmeric yellowed sticky rice, all to be dipped in a sweet/spicy tamarind sauce. In Thai, this dish is “tam leung”. This dish, typically made with “Coccinia grandis”, aka gourd leaf, is named after the fried greens. At the Burmese festival, it seemed “cha-om”, another piquant plant associated with Thai cuisine, is utilized. Cha-om, often stringy if not well cooked, brings so much herbal funk to the dish, and the chickpea countered with a solid crunch. This dish is all kinds of exotic. Never seen it before on a Burmese menu, and it’d prove to be 1 of many firsts during this food fest.
Kulfi ice cream, made by the Dr. Swe family. $3. It’s not scooped, but each individually frozen. The technique by which the vendor forced the ice cream out of the cold shell reminds me a bit of Chikalicious. It’s a painful process, and well worth the price tag just to see them in action. Many South Asian shops have kulfi ice cream, but again, this is a rare treat as the only other “Burmese” restaurant to carry kulfi ice cream is Jasmine Market. This dish symbolized the entire Indian-Burma borderline, call it geography lesson on a plate, if you will. Per Dr. Julie Swe, they filled over 300 servings of kulfi ice cream, this is purely for charity, and they don’t sell commercially anywhere in Los Angeles.
Burmese Chinese style stir fry rice sticks. This was the BOMB. Really, it’s just a plate of stir fried rice stick noodles, commonly served in Taiwanese noodle soups and Fuzhou dishes as 麵線, but this had a sweet soy kicked up with a huge infusion of spiciness. The fact it was topped with various pork intestine and liver chunks brought this home for me.
Monhinga. (1) and (2). Look at the various mohinga lines to determine which one is better. One was watery, one had more chili powder, fish pulp, fish paste, turmeric, etc. The difference even in home-cooked goodness is apparently. Caveat emptor, booth number changes, and I don’t know which family is cooking what.
Chickpea tofu. We didn’t try this. But the tofu is formed in blocks, and hand sliced into the salad. People love this stuff. Good luck finding it in Los Angeles.
Overall, there are awesome food festivals, then there is this Burmese celebration. Duarte Inn’s weekend Indonesian feast is great, but you only get the Burmese festival twice a year(ish).
Other interesting food items: fried sweet pastries, oyster pancake!!!! (looked iffy, the cook didn’t know what he was doing, butchered most of pancake), sour leaf salad, noodle salad, etc.
Myanmar Progressive Buddhist Association
Nibban Zay Festival Details (in Burmese)
Extravaganza for the Senses benefiting Saban Free Clinic
And now, a PSA:
The 13th Annual Extravaganza for the Senses food and wine event benefitting The Saban Free Clinic (formerly The Los Angeles Free Clinic), is not only a fun night out, but it benefits a truly wonderful cause.
The event will take place on Saturday, July 17 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Sunset Gower Studios. Considered “one of Southern California’s top 100 events,” there will be over 1,500 attendees who will be treated to unlimited samples from more than 35 of LA’s top restaurants and 80+ wineries, as well as several entertainment options, including: music by DJ Scott Silva, fortune readings by mystics, photo booth and a lively silent auction. Year after year, guests enjoy a fun night out at Extravaganza for the Senses while supporting a great cause, The Saban Free Clinic.
The Saban Free Clinic provides free quality health care, dental and social services to the most vulnerable members in the Los Angeles community. With 100% of Extravaganza proceeds benefitting the Clinic, the Clinic will be able to continue to provide services to thousands of men, women and children in need.
For additional details, please visit www.thesabanfreeclinic.org/extravaganza.
To Purchase Ticket, click here.
via LA.foodblogging
Blog coverage of the previous Extravaganza by: Duo Dishes, Food Fashionista, In a Lather, LA.Foodblogging, by Hollywood Today.
via In a Lather
Extravaganza for the Senses benefiting Saban Free Clinic
July 17th, 6:00pm to 10:00pm
Presale tickets are $80 until June 30th
Sunset Gower Studios
1438 North Gower Street
Hollywood, CA 90028
on Facebook
@sabanfc
Mi-Rak: Battle for Korea Town Goat Supremacy
Twenty Years.
That’s how long Mirak has been battling Chin Go Gae (or however the Romanization goes ) to be the goaty best in Los Angeles’ Koreatown.
Why is Mi-Rak of interest at this particular moment? Cuz Americans have decided it’s cool to goat it up all the sudden — check out The Atlantic’s coverage of goat flesh last week. What better time to root for the underdog?
Chin Go Gae is the more well know option thanks to Yelp. It’s more spacious, in a bigger plaza, with more parking and a positively visible sign.
Mirak, OTOH, has less than a dozen tables. From the parking to the actual seating, everything screams claustrophobia, though the food & drink routine here is nearly the same as Chin Go Gae. Mirak, a mom & pop shop, only betters Chin Go Gae with its affable service & with equally affable affordable $5.99 soju.
Is there any depth to this spicy stew of tender shredded goat, thickened by boiled down cartilage & fat, topped with perilla seeds & piles of perilla leaves ? Uhm, is there any sophistication in AYCE KBBQ? Despite all the published Korean literature (which I have obviously NOT read) stating the omnipotency of this dark odoriferous meat, deep down inside, every man knows eating a cute goat won’t make the pen0r bigger or provide more stamina during bedroom tangos. Nevertheless, a casual survey of the strip mall dining room yields a healthy 9:1 man:woman ratio. Out of the 9, 8 are shitfaced on $6 soju. Out of the 8, 7 are trying to prove goat’s shamanistic powers true. Out of the 7, I am one.
Evidence of Coreanas with red faces:
Though the goat may be powerless beyond providing tasty proteins, the deulkkae & kaenip, “wild sesame” and “shiso leaves” are proven medicinal herbs. The Chinese have used perilla seed oil to fight off colds, the leaves to stop nosebleeds, for hundreds of years.
In ‘06, I wrote this of deulkkae :
is full omega3, improves memory, and is good for joints as well as vision.
Perhaps the medicinal property of this dish is simply misinterpreted by the Koreans, perhaps ancient Koreans were simply awed by goat sex. Who knows.
Finally, it behooves Angelenos to understand how fortunate we all are. Maangchi herself said she’s never had black goat stew as of summer of ‘08! I didn’t discover this particular dish until June of ‘06, per this post on LTHforum.com. Since then, we’ve eaten it all over Los Angeles. LA grubbers are lucky to not only have 1, or 2, but half a dozen restaurants serving this homely yet potent dish.
Mirak
1134 S Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90006
(323) 732-7577
PS: Lest I forget, some will say the fried rice made with remainder goat stock is the best of the meal. For me, it’s simply signifies the end of the meal, so here it is, at the bottom. Don’t touch the rice before the bottom crisps, you will be berated by the ajuma:
Burmese Food “Nibban Zay Festival” June 27, S. El Monte
Have I mentioned how much I’m loving all this stuff right now? No? Well I do. Because Burma, despite being ravaged by civil war, and perpetually being in the news for murderous juntas, jailing dissenters, possible nuclear proliferation, etc, apparently has really good food. It’s not difficult to see why solely based on its geography. Let’s see: India to the left, China to the North, Thailand to the right. Yes, that’s 3 of the heaviest heaviest users of spices (and spiciness) in the world. Everyone should get in on this festival; it’s the cheapest (no tip, no tax!), easiest (pointing OK!) way to enjoy the food from this difficult to reach land.
all pix courtesy of maian
Details of this event http://www.myanmar-pba.org/events.php
Nibban Zay Festival 06/27/2010 We would like to invite you and your family to the annual Nibban Zay Festival to be held on Sunday, Jun 27. 2010. Location: Meadows (Lot D), Legg Lake Group Picnic Area, Whittier Narrows Recreation Area. S. El Monte.
http://www.myanmar-pba.org/pdfs/40.pdf (flyer)
Sign up for Groupon!
Worst Dish of the Week: Shrimp “Papillote”
It is only Thursday, but it is my deepest belief this one single plate of 4 shrimps will be the worst thing I’ll eat this week, even with 6 (or 8 ) meals to go. Behold:
Despite being a Franco ignoramus, save for the casual following of www.frogsmoke.com, even this person, despite barely able to pronounce and spell the word, knows papillote, translates loosely to parchment, ie, parchment paper, ie, cooking in paper bag. With that, it’s not difficult to see the pun which the chef/menu writer wished to thrust onto the diner: shrimp wrapped in wonton paper. Except this dish wasn’t baked nor steam. It was wrapped in wonton wrapper, freakin’ deep fried, then drizzled with a sugary reduction the color of Cantonese duck sauce.
A better play on the cooking method (albeit shown in between quotes on menu) would’ve been to encase the shrimp in banana leaf (ala cuisine Vietnam, hello! a French colony!), then perhaps steam with French tarragon and/or other Euro-centric herbs .
What came out instead, was something fit for PF Chang’s menu, and plated like it belonged at TGI Friday (tablemate’s simile, not mine). The sauce, marketed as passion fruit, chili & ginger, registered like gooey sweet & sour syrup, with a hint of ginger, on my tongue.
Petrossian needs to purge this atrocious French (in name only) Chinese dish ASAP. It undermines everything else they do on the menu; champagne & caviar – natch – foie, burrata salad, caviar pizzas, chicken “paillard” – unless that’s euphemism for chicken “terriyaki”, then this entry should just simply self-destruct.
Ruined my night this did. In reality, I should’ve asked, I should take 100% responsibility. Who else is stupid enough to order shrimp wontons at a French-Armenian bistro?
[NB: checked exactly 2 blog posts before leaving for dinner, Food, she Thought's here, and Refined Palate's here. Hey! They're both written by Lizzies!]
