However, the occasional TED talk can really convince the hell out of me (into a 7 part long post no less):

As can the annual James Beard noms.

Early last year, we started obsessing with “Desserts by Ms. Schimenti” like we fussed over Mindy Segal’s hot chocolates and ice cream years ago in Chicago. The eternal tablemate couldn’t stop gushing about everything from Pastry Chef Schimenti’s oven at Craft. Early this spring, Craft came out with a Craftbar menu that digressed from the chained Crafty menu and people started to take a second look at Chef Accarrino (Schimenti’s faux-hawked beau). Thank goodness, because the desserts were desperately needing more affordable companions for mains.

Post Accarrino + Schimenti’s departure from Century City, we were a bit lost. LA’s pastry chefs are so absolutely hit and miss. Yes, everyone loves Church & State, but man, even Tavern & Mozza have turned out awful desserts. Late September, while lamenting Pastry Chef Schimenti’s decision to leave Craft after her man bounced, this Tweet was directed to me by BBPR:

@sinosoul No biggie– Go visit them up at SPQR. They’re actually taking reservations now!

Word. And we were off.

Unfortunately, F+W beckoned as a later dinner plan, so SPRQ was reserved for brunch. Unlike Bar Tartine and Canele, SPRQ didn’t smell like a buttered grease trap. The narrow space was refreshing, with 2 large sky lights, allowing one to observe the cooking at full tilt. That was a pleasure in of itself.

Apparently the stuffed quail (or a version there of) at brunch was used to assist Chef Accarrino in nabbin’ the vacant SPRQ position. Lightly seared, the small bird was finished perfectly tender, still full of jus. Farro was not over cooked and the cucumber salad wasn’t overpowering. There was no herbal trickery, but mere light salt accompanied by plenty of greens. At $17, there is no better quail to be found in Cali.

Even tho t’was barely noon, a dessert wanted me. Having never been a fan of rice pudding, sformatino beckoned gently with promises of soft fluffy center with no after maths of a chocolate overdose. It was perfect for this non-chocolate lover. And when it arrived, it pleased the senses: chilled mousse center, with a intriguing combinant texture of gelato, mousse, cold ganache, with a near flourless chocolate cake appearance. A bit spiced by “pepperocini” crisp, fun with coco nibs finished off the slightly bitter sformatino perfectly. Surely this isn’t a proper version of a tiny sformato (itself a flexible faux souffle), but no one cares. It is, only as a girl can say, “yum”.

SPRQ
http://www.spqrsf.com/

Post Script: the LA Weekly’s Squid Ink blog published a piece covering the exact same story on the 20th. Was not aware of the article until October 22nd, when Chef A retweeted the piece. There is no plagiarism on my side, tho there is a correction. Picture above? Not sure it’s Chef Schimenti along side Chef Accarrino.

Their old Craft PR picture is below:

Matt Accarrino, Catherine Schimenti at Craft by LA Magazine

And the fun cornmeal ricotta pancake is at the bottom:

Mr. Gold has some of the most disparate (note: not DESPERATE) following of perhaps all current restaurant critics in America. People worship him, people hate him, people love to hate him, people lust after him. The week his Essential 99 hit the newsstand, twitter-dom, blogspheres and Chowhounds were all on fire. Many a folks were ticking off entries from the list. Some went as high as the 50s.

Not wanting to get caught in the sycophantic hype, I waited a few weeks. And then I went for a Westside grand slam in one day.

Anisette Bistro – Brunch.
Lovely brunch. But it was really lunch. Mussels and grilled cheese + ham. Looked at the menu, saw the room (reminiscent of Bouchon in Yountville), saw mussels, wanted to re-create the illustrious 3 hour lunch-dinner we had under Napa rays, eschewed all brekkie items and dug into heavier protein instead.

I didn’t get molested by Chef Alain Giraud ala Daily Gluttony, but wish I had. Chef Giraud and Hubert Keller are the sexy mature Frenchmen personified. And they cook. That’s hot. Anisette is LA’s Balthazar, Santa Monica’s Church & State. Which reminds me, someone tell Church & State they should start brunch service on Saturday.

Nothing ground breaking to add, except I got some kickass photos of this place. Not as nice as Daily Gluttony’s… She actually has a creative bone, whereas I just have a creative gut. Next time, it’s the burger, for brunch, maybe with the eggs benedict. And then off to the Saturday Santa Monica’s Farmers Market, cuz neither stomach will be grumbling with hunger after an Anisette meal.

Unfortunately, above scenario won’t occur soon since this guy recently donated $50 to the Santa Monica general parking coffers, and Santa Monica can be a real biiiiiatch for (cheap) Angelenos who drive.

Anisette Brasserie
http://www.anisettebrasserie.com/

Border Grill – Happy hour
By happy hour, I meant prickly pear margarita. After 1, I was feeling pretty happy. Not because the margarita was spectacularly strong, but we’d been drinking all day at the Malibu Wine Classic. It was a simple margarita, but devoid of fake strawberry flavors. To think the cacti fruits in my yard can actually produce a drink this good titillates my pruning scissors.

Wishing to bond with Mr. Gold, we went for a (amarillo) ceviche. Wow. That ceviche was mighty good! Not Mo-Chica good, but… in Santa Monica, this is probably as good as ceviche gets. No surimi! With nearly raw fish! And some cute flourescent pink stuff! I dig.

What I don’t dig, is the pricing. With our tab, I could’ve fed a East Los Angeles family of 6 with the local seafood trucks. Compliance with the 99 suggestions got expensive right quick. Then again, the locals can have a field day with the happy hour so… next time after Copa, Border Grill’s HH it is.

Border Grill
http://bordergrill.com

Finally, Akasha – kinda sorta dinner
Akasha’s opening hoopla was easy to remember. A friend suggested a visit because her coworker apparently was a silent investor of some sorts. Never made it. Nothing popped out. Tried going for a burger once, but they didn’t serve it during dinner, or something. Don’t quote that. It’s not even important. The decent reviews are out there. The tweets are even out there. Chef Richmond endorses Silk. Hate Silk, love VP Tofu.

Once again, we tried to eat what Mr. Gold ate. What he liked happened to be the only 2 interesting things on the menu: lamb sliders, “awesome” (per waiter) onion rings. What a waste of lamb. Yes, tiny patties of ground red meat isn’t the most conducive to carrying flavors but this is just… Why bother? Why can’t the plural be amalgamated into a singular, thus producing a lamb burger? The sliders were dry, insipid even with the fancy cheese.

Rant: $12 cocktail devoid of “free radicals” does not sound appealing. A $12 cocktail should obviously tastes something akin to good, and fuck me up right quick. That’s all; this isn’t a marriage, let’s keep it simple. Cocktail should make girls want c**k, not make everyone think of wrinkles.

Don’t get this place. How is it any different from any “market driven” (a sorry, ugly restaurant PR cliche) restaurant in LA? How does it get away with charging $14 for “mung beans and rice”? $28 for braised short ribs? $25 for roasted chicken? This ain’t no Zuni Cafe !#@!#$

Akasha
http://www.akasharestaurant.com

Essential 99 round 4 was within sights that night, but the girl dining companion probably would’ve puked up some damn expensive lamb sliders. Finally, only 60+ of the Essential 104 have been stricken off the list. upm8hwse9v

The server told me people waited well over a year for this restaurant to open. I casually mentioned I wasn’t one the people. He smiled, then walked away.

Truth be told, Twitter is the only reason why Street was chosen for brunch that day. The other underlying reason may be I’m an uber cheap alcoholic. Observe the Tweet:

Now do a bit of analysis. That’s right, this is the cheapest AYCD brunch booze in all of LA right now, barring Overland Cafe’s proffering. You can have Susan Feniger’s Street, or you have can a sad Westside diner full of alchi’s. It ain’t a choice at all.

With zero chance of ever greeting the obscenely annoying dinner menu ( $18 for Chinese stir fry noodles? $16 for Thai “style” masamum curry? $16 for pho? surely you jest?), we had a feeling brunch would pleasantly surprise. And it did. If you remove every mentions of various foreign lands in the brunch menu, it’d read something like this: sugar-stuffed paranthas, homemade muesli and yogurt, spicy tapioca, donuts with cardamon rose syrup, kaya toast, roasted chilaquiles, bagel & deli, beet & apple salad, spinach egg pilaf, beef potato hash, etc. While prices are still rocket high, at least I’m less offended. This could easily join Ammo, Jar, or even Campanile as the Sunday brunch line up.

And then there are the limitless bloody marys and nectarine bellini. Say no more.

The lovely SO is a sucker for smoked fish + bagels. It’s the brekkie combo she always insists when visiting a new brunch joint with a Jewish head chef. I, myself, prefer eggs benedict, but this was nowhere to be found. Instead, I settled for a carb dish (fried donut holes, but with lamb sausage!), she ordered the bagel + deli platter AND the muesli + yogurt. $8 for granola + house made yogurt. F**kMyWallet.

The Turkish donuts tasted like.. bad jalebi, but the cool sour cream + roasted jam accoutrement really lit up my tongue on that hot Sunday. What really attracted me to the dish was the “lamb sausage”. These turned out to be small minced lamb patties served in a separate metal saucer. Alternating bites of the spiced lamb burger and the refreshing sour cream with deep notes of cucumber really made my morning. It didn’t matter the sausage was unconventional and had no casing at all.

Muesli is muesli is muesli. It’s the steel cut granola of 2009. It’s fancy breakfast cereal. If you were to order this, please eat it before the main plats arrive. The donut + lamb patties just overwhelmed the yogurt/muesli combo.

Finally, there was the bagel with the deli. This platter, featuring half a dozen goodies, including smoked white fish, was downright affordable. Unfortunately, the bagel would make Infinite Fress cringe. It was straight baked, but much smaller than a bialy. The cornichon pickles were fantasic, as were the mixed greens with apples and the “new potato salad”. It all reminds me of the wonderful pickled onions we had at Zuni couple of months back.

But really, 1 more time. It was about the muddled fresh nectarines splashed with plenty of champagne. What they really should provide, are boba-compatible straws so one may suck up the nectarines with grace. It ain’t a real “B”ellini with white peaches, but Hollywood ain’t Venezia so we’re still all kosher.

Susan Feniger’s Street

Via inbox:

Yo, Tony, I think it’s time for “Crap I like, Part 2.” I’m
getting tired of opening your blog page every day, only to read about
Thang Long once again.

F ME. Twitter owns me. Sorry lah!

In the mean time, check out wtf we’re eating everyday, NOT that anyone cares.

Also check out Eating LA’s new list of LA Food Twitter’s blogspot post: here

To come in the next 2 weeks: Hot Mess Saturdays aka, Saturdays with Tony, the Monstrous W. San Gabriel March/April update, brunch @ Campanile, Birfday @ Zig, Birfday @ Katsu NOT KATSU-YA you fool!, the epic Church & State dinner from March, Thoughts on the 33 people, 15+ course Jitlada shenanigans, and finally, why Umami is total SHAT

Above was to be pix of myself + executive chef Chris Goossen but… we didn’t work out.

Per Angelenic’s twitter last nite, the place was bumpin’.

Angelenic has tracked Bottega’s build out extensively and whatever can be said so far, has been said. The architectural renderings do no justice. BL is separated into 4 spaces. Inner most “room” – if you can call it such, the joint is 10,000 square feet small – features, front and center, a digitally controlled built-in pizza oven. The space adjoining Grand Ave features deli/pastry counter/coffee bar, next space features the extremely open cold stations, followed by a dining space. Overall, the heavily marbled restaurant cum deli (not quite Dean and Delucca, but.. possibly… better!) screams: “LOVE ME! Downtown kiddies!” And we obeyed.

What we tasted, the pizza, perfectly cooked & singularly served rack of lamb, miniature crab cakes, portobello mushroom “fries” with aioli, the unloved foie gras with apple chutney, the shredded sirloin sliders, beef tenderloin, the SICKENINGLY GOOD macaroons (yo snooty chics from The Association, please spit your macaroons back out if you don’t plan on conversing?), the LA Mill special blend beans, etc. were all above par relative to what DTLA currently offers… with the exception of the pizza.

I was pizza-teased by this Urbandaddy shill noting the monstrous 800 degrees pizza oven, but even at 580 or so degrees, the outer crust was already turning black & still not bubbling. The center was way too soggy (much like the original Bollini pie) and the outer crust was nearly flat. Very odd thin pie, definitely NOT Neapolitan. However, the regular cheese pies use hand pieced fresh mozzarella and the ingredients/toppings were all simple, fresh, tasty.

This place is just going to be mind boggling. They have a NY style pastry bar for breakfast, they have a great looking pret a manger case and the kitchen seems to be in great hands. A huge thanks to Ms. Tilley for the invite.

Grand opening – 6:30am, Monday, April 6th. We wish you well.

Bottega Louie
700 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 802-1470

Angelenic’s Flickr feed here

Click below to enjoy the gallery:
[salbumthumbs=38,3,y,y,float,clear]

Brunching at Tiara Cafe makes me want to grow a pair. Of boobs. Also, I would like to trade in my wee wee for a vagina after whoring the entire blueberry cobbler.

$16 was all it took to convince me being a woman is the right way to roar through life.

Many e-gourmands detest Mr. J. Gold with a passion. Infinitite Fress once tried butcher JGold’s tongue off advised the Pulitzer holder to “suck it”, I, myself, apparently come across as a JG-hater.

Nonetheless, hating gets tiring. JG’s description of the omnipresent Fred Eric last summer was lasered into my memory. Several attempts were made to visit this fleshy looking restaurant applied with too much rouge, but it was Tiara’s DineLA lunch menu at $16 that cemented the trip.

Dollar for dollar, Tiara’s lunch menu was a giant amongst DineLA menus. It presented the least amount of wallet hurt while offering cheap Fatwallet/Slickdeals-reading bastards the most amount of thrills by saving upwards of $10 (yes, I did the math).

With 4 people in the party, the DineLA menu was slain. The house special bubble bread (butchered, crispified naan) was included, as well as the normally prohibitively expensive fish enchilada and chicken breast katch, and 3 fantastic desserts. Somehow, we ended up with a 4th freeeeee dessert which was not on the DineLA menu. Out of all, the overcooked berry (clearly there were blueberry/blackberry) cobbler, a closer cousin of the crumble than an actual cobbler, was the fave. Nothing like lightly burnt, crunchy, crumbly, sugary carbs scraped off the ramekin.

Entree wise, the Pizette really outdid itself. The outer crust was very bubbly, with fine flour dust creating a beautiful mouth feel and enough pull + texture. While I’m not sure prosciutto is actually used (vs finely sliced ham), the cured pork was a perfect topping over fresh burrata which was beyond dissolved tho there was abundant pork providing ample coverage against direct Baker’s Pride deck oven’s heat. This was a fine personal pie, and it was the cheapest DineLA proffering from the regular menu. Surprisingly, the panko topped chicken-katsu, obviously a breast filet, was surprisingly similar to goods pushed out of Japanese home-style restaurants in nearby Little Tokyo. That is a good thing. Rice had fluffy, less glutinous texture I vehemently despite (think: Uncle Ben), but hey, no one goes to Tiara Cafe for good rice. Totally excused.

Beyond DineLA, one of the brunchers ordered The Bearded pancake. Beared: (adj) encrusted in corn flakes, concocted by Mr. Fred Eric. We like. Actual Maple syrup? We like. Other bloggers complained of lousy service and the ‘08 DineLA weekend menu bait-n-switch. We had no problems. It was Sunday, they offered a killer bargain, there was FREE street parking, and tho there was a huge estrogen party slash baby shower on the first day of DineLA, the hostess herself stepped up HUGE and hustled to refill our coffee, bus the ceramics, change the silverware, etc.

Nothing like a 2 hour brunch in a pink room to make you wanna get a consultation on that transgender op. Bon vivant indeed.

Go 2nd Street Cafe!

We needed Sunday brunch and dangit I don’t wanna go back to Nickel Cafe again (see my previous rant here: http://sinosoul.com/?p=459 )

Saturday nite, on the way back to my “uber secret Lil Tokyo parking spot” after doing a quick omakase @ Toshi’s (previous discussion here: http://sinosoul.com/?p=642 ), we walked by 2nd street Cafe and read about the house baked breads and house smoked bacon/ham, etc. I was already thinking: man, this sounds like a perfect brunch joint!

Winners: the smorgasbord omelette with EVERYTHING. Think kitchen sink, ala bi bim bap of omelettes (2nd Street Cafe is Korean owned); my oddly concocted eggs benedict with extra hollandaise (as well as a smidget of house made hash between foccacia + ham) was beyond excellent, with a perfectly poached egg; french pressed LA Mill carafe of coffee at only $4.

We’ll be back, for brunch, in the PSEUDO outdoor seating, to bask the sun. Btw, once again, why I love LA: you have a Korean mother+son team, with a hapa waiter, operating a mid-scale American resto serving Chicken Masala, etc., in the middle of Little Tokyo ? O wait, Blue Dahlia was already doing that, except I like 2nd Street Cafe better, because it’s NOT a one dish wonder.

PS: 3rd weekend of ops. FoodGPS.com advised opening date of Nov 19 which is incorrect. Think… Nov 12/13 or so. Mrs. Jang didn’t quite remember…

2nd St Cafe
442 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 617-1745