LA gets shut out by James Beard, and again, will be heckled by rest of the nation for having shitty food rest of the year.

MikeSula of Chicago Reader tweets results live with a Chicago slant, makes James Beard Awards more interesting than last nite’s LA Lakers game.

Providence rolls its prices back to 2005 and yet still remains out of reach for most.

Four Years of Providence

It’s a paradox, really. At every turn, our wallets are squeezed in every way imaginable, just when budgetary relief is what we all need most. But life’s special moments still need to be celebrated! In honor of our 4th year in business, Providence is providing some incentive for a night on the town. Just as we offered in 2008, the tradition continues. Our ever-popular tasting menus are now available at 2005 prices until the commencement of our 4th year anniversary on June 17th. It’s our birthday, but the reward is all yours!

five-course tasting menu $75/ $110 with wine pairing
nine-course tasting menu $95/$150 with wine pairing

From Providence

Y’all read about the 15 course, 30+ people dinner @ Jitada on twitter, and now you can see the pix on all the blogs.

By B-Side Blog
By Food, She Thought.
By Starchy Marie
By Weezer Monkey

And finally, BACK to grubbin’.

Last nite, thinking about Infinite Fress’ better half’s discourse on froyo and tempted by a huge banner touting GRAND OPENING, we ended up at yet another froyo store on Valley. I believe I’ve had every single froyo store on Valley Blvd, yes, INCLUDING Snow B inside San Gabriel Super Plaza, INCLUDING Pingo, the froyo/soft serve at some random bakery shop, Peach House, etc. Even after swearing off froyo due to the lousy product from Snow B, Luscious Yogurt lured me in with 30% off self-serve froyo soft serve.

From pineapple to mango, tart (don’t – flavored with lemony citric acid, all sorts of bad), pineapple (not nearly as good as Nubi’s Dole), green tea, taro, etc., nothing stood out as “froyo”. But at $.23/oz until May 30, the green tea soft serve ice cream with Made in China rainbow mochi ball is the cheapest cold dessert on Valley Blvd. Couple the severe discount with fresh crepes made by Vietnamese (whom.. you know.. are ALMOST French) owners, maybe this place will survive. Their strawberry nutella crepe at $4 puts them under Crepe Luv’s price point as well. Can someone say crepes ala mode with green tea ice cream soft-serve??

Luscious Yogurt
1402 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 300-3933
Grand Opening, April 18th.

On Sunday December 21st, 15 people invaded Providence for a late nite assault on what some considers to be the finest desserts in all of LA. The end result: 6 cameras, 2 hours of dessert gorging, 2 3 neutral posts from bloggers (including myself), 9 courses, 1 attendee who had to quit Yelp after she received flame mail for her negative Providence reviews.

All I can say is.. WOW. Y’all rock. Providence? Thank you for the effort, it was my pleasure shaking Chef Vasquez’s hand (he usually doesn’t work on Sundays); Mr. John Parker of Providence Special Events: I’m sorry I was such a CHEAP BASTARD by not booking the whole back room at a minimum exspenditure of $65 per person, nor reserving the reservation with a $300 deposit.

Otherwise, I have no comment on the desserts. Had a GREAT fun sitting across a cute new couple (Kevin/Jenni *waves*), all of us attended something that’ll never happen again in the history of the restaurant (Chef Cimarusti himself called and advised this has NOT happened before), I’ve now finally tasted EVERYTHING from the 2 of the 3 restauranteurs featured in the banner picture of my site.

Food Destination’s post here.

LA OC Foodie’s report on same meal here.

Dessert courses:

1. mojito

2. kalamansi gelee

3. sous-vide jonalicious apple

4. burnt caramel ice cream

5. chocolate granache

dessert for dessert tasting: white chocolate crimson berry tea lollipop

petit fous: buncha choclates and candy (mignardises of barley caramels, espresso truffles, and olive oil gelee)

Because Michael Cimarusti is a genius (see his hot mug profiled in the SinoSoul banner? yes I am a groupie), not much else needs to be said about him/his restaurant/his food but… I know y’all are into p0rn, even if it’s just food pr0n.

Just one contrarian note tho: that infamous bread basket? meh, over rated. Give me better butter ala Palate.