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Since I go to Lindy Grundy at least once a week, I had had the pleasure of tasting their addictive sausages, delectable pork chops, tender steaks, and wonderful lamb (see my previous post here). Today I picked up a rabbit and I will be making it into a gumbo with some of their andouille sausage (using Emeril’s recipe) and my friend Robin picked up some short ribs. For those of you who have only eaten short ribs but never cooked them, Lindy & Grundy is teaching a small group of 40 how to they butcher, how to make short ribs, and how to pair wine with them for only $40 (instead of $75) if you reserve in advance here. They will be at the Century City Westfield Mall this Monday, October 24 at 6:30pm in Bloomingdale’s, so get your tickets and get some short ribs!
For those of you who have never seen the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, this Christmas might be the time to go with a 30% TravelZoo discount for the show. Just put code TZ001 into the promotion code box at this link and get your discount. The best prices are available Nov. 11-23 and Nov. 28-Dec. 2 with Orchestra and 1st Mezzanine seats going for $52.50 instead of $75 and an additional $13.75-$17.60 per ticket, please note that full-price tickets are subject to the same additional fees. With the Travelzoo deal you can print your tickets immediately for no extra charge with the “Ticketfast” option.
Warning: Today’s post is not for raw food eaters, vegans, vegetarians, or pescatarians.
Do you love pork and all pork products, especially bacon? Would you like a chance to taste five heritage pigs prepared by five chefs and judge who does the best job from head to hoof? Then Cochon 555 is a must go to event for you.
For $125 general admission or $175 VIP admission (you get to enter earlier, have access to a butchering demonstration from Lindy & Grundy, and access to an oyster station and cheese station), you can spend the afternoon and evening in the beautiful Vibiana space downtown.
Your opinion will count towards determining the winner of the competition, so while eating the efforts of chefs Octavio Becerra – Palate Food & Wine, Chad Colby – Mozza, Suzanne Tracht – Jar, Ben Ford – Ford’s Filling Station, and Joshua Whigham – The Bazaar, and drinking wines from The Scholium Project Alysian, Arnot-Roberts, Copain Wines, and Red Car Wine, keep in mind that you must decide who will win the competition.
This event is meant to raise awareness for heritage pigs and to promote breed diversity in local and national communities; your participation will help keep the agribusiness factories at bay by showing that there are people who care about where their pork comes from and how it is raised.
>Yesterday was International Women’s Day, but the appreciation of women needs to continue everyday and one of the ways you can show your support for women is to attend the PPLA (Planned Parenthood Los Angeles) Food Fare in Santa Monica tomorrow; for $150* you can spend the morning (10:30-2:00pm) feasting on food choices from 150 restaurants, including the venerable Michael’s, Portia Via (see my recent blog post), Church & State, Joe’s, Westside Tavern, and even a few trucks will be there like the Border Grill truck and the Grilled Cheese truck.
If you are a late riser, go to the evening portion from 6:30-9:30pm for $225* per person, and enjoy the food, demonstrations, silent auction, and festivities all to benefit women’s health services. If you are busy all day and evening, you can also make a donation to PPLA at any time and support the health of the women in your life and your community.
Just as you make the choice of whether or not to attend this event, remember that every woman has the right to make choices for her own life.
*Advance purchase prices, at the door prices will be an additional $25 per person.
Paul is a baker and pastry maker in France has sprouted into a chain reaching from the wealthy arrondissements to busy metro stations; Paul is about as omnipresent in Paris as Starbucks is in the US, but offering bread and pastries instead of coffee. Their breads range from classic baguettes to more substantial whole grain loaves, and their pastries encompass perennial favorites from lemon tarts to mini macarons. I bought two boxes of the 12 pack variety for 12 Euros each ($15) for a dinner party and two boxes back for a friend in Los Angeles; at half the price of La Duree macarons, these are just as delicate and delicious with flavors ranging from lychee and caramel to strawberry and chocolate.
Berthillon is renowned as the best place for ice cream in all of Paris. No, it is not an ice cream parlor (although they do have one Salon de Thé on L’Ile St. Louis), it is a specialty store which has branches all over the city offering the finest ice cream in France. The flavors shown here are a coconut ice cream and a raspberry and lychee sorbet, both sold in packages of 3/4 liter for 15 Euros ($20).
Desserts are always an indulgence, and indulging in the best once in awhile reminds us all why we all work so hard while not indulging 
Sorry for the missing post yesterday, it was due to technical difficulties; Time Warner decided to black out both my cable and internet service for more than 14 hours!
But I’m back and I have two great “gifts” for you courtesy of Joie de Vivre Hotels and Grom Gelateria.
Joie de Vivre (literally the Joy of Life) Hotels is helping you celebrate your birthday no matter when it is this year by giving you a $100 credit for any stay of two nights or more that you book by January 31, 2011 for a stay through January 2012 within 7 days (before or after) your birthday at any of their hotels. You can use the credit for a celebratory dinner or spa treatment and revel in one of their luxurious rooms in San Francisco, like the Petit Auberge (rates start at $109), The Ventana Inn at Big Sur, or the more local Shorebreak Hotel (rates start at $269) in Huntington Beach.
If you are looking for truly authentic gelato, Grom has 33 locations in Italy and only four locations outside of Italy (including this one), so make sure you stop by Sunday in Malibu for their Grand Opening because they will be giving away free gelato all day to introduce their newest location with special January flavors like the Torta Caprese, made with Venezuelan Ocumare chocolate, Sicilian almond chips and biscuits, and Tiramisu, made with espresso coffee, biscuits, and Teyuna chocolate chips.
L’Epicerie recently opened only a block away from the Culver Plaza Theater, so I went in for lunch. There are a few shelves of culinary goodies in the center of the space, along with a long communal table/bar area that would be very cozy for drinks.
The cafe and take out section is to the right and the restaurant section is the to left as you enter, but since I didn’t know the system, I walked up to the cafe section and placed my order for a grilled vegetable crepe. They handed me a number and told me the seating area was only the small space to the right of the door. If I had known, I would have sat in the restaurant section (which also has a larger menu) for table service.
The grilled vegetable crepe ($10.50)came with a small side of arugula lightly dressed in a vinaigrette.
The inside of the crepe was stuffed with grilled red and yellow peppers, onions, tomatoes, and various earthly mushrooms, including shittakes. I was pleasantly surprised by the filling, which had a nice ratatouille flavor, but I was less impressed with the crepe itself. The crepe was bland and a bit too thin and soft to provide anything other act as a tissue paper holder for the aromatic medley interior.
Since I was off to see a movie, I had no time for coffee or dessert, but perhaps that would be a better food experience here. The breakfast choices of steel cut oatmeal and morning pastries also looked enticing. They do serve wine, so for anyone working in the area (Sony is across the street), this would be a good place to come after work for their 4-6pm Happy Hour.
Greeks love their coffee and instead of Ouzo, they drink coffee all day long; coffee bars have replaced Ouzerias. My favorite coffee bar in Kamari was Anna’s, which has both indoor and outdoor sections (like all restaurants and cafes along the beachfront).
In the summer, the coffee drink of choice if the Cafe Frappe, which is basically instant coffee, with sugar and milk poured over ice. They serve complimentary marble cake with all their coffee drinks and snacks with all their alcoholic drinks (some people were drinking beer as their breakfast beverage).
I asked for my coffee with no sugar or milk, but received it with a bit of both, albeit I’m sure less than the full dose. The coffee was not bad, but not something I would drink as often as I saw all the Greeks drinking it.
One of my favorite Greek foods is spanokopita, or spinach pastry, and they sell them in every bakery in Santorini for 3 Euros ($5 USD), so I bought one to taste an authentic one. I was surprised at the shape and size; they are about 8″ in diameter and round coils filled with spinach and feta.
They heat them before giving them to you, so they are warm, delicious, and very filling; one pastry lasted me for two lunches!
Lucky’s is so popular, they even have a Facebook fan page! They are located right on the main square of Fira, one block above the bus station, so they get plenty of foot traffic. The staff all speak excellent English and Veronica, the cashier, has relatives in California!
The gyro here was unlike any I have ever eaten; I think my tourists think the same thing about hamburgers when all they have ever tasted are fast food versions. This pita was fluffy (!!!!) and toasted (!!!!!) and the pork was grilled with a nice crust and spice(!!!!!). The pita I ate here made me redefine gyros. Yes, they put french fries in the gyro, and there was fresh lettuce, tomatoes and tzatziki in the meal that included a drink (soda or beer) for a grand total of 3,20 Euros ($5 USD). I think I smiled after every bite!
When I asked Vaggelis, the manager of Oceanis Studios for his favorite gyro place, he said there were two that were good, but one souvlaki place that was great in Kamari named Minas. I opted for Minas, located on the corner of Appollonas and an unnamed street between the beach and the outdoor cinema (more on that later). It opens at 5pm and most customers are locals (always a good sign); I was the only non-Greek in the crowd.
There is a self-serve salad bar for only 3 Euros ($5 USD) where I created my version of a Greek salad.
Since pork seems to be so juicy and tasty in the gyros, I ordered it as a skewer for only 1.20 Euro ($1.50 USD); this was one of the tastiest skewers of roast pork I have ever had. Everything in the place is immaculate, and they grill your order as soon as you hand your paid ticket to the cook. Some people ordered food to go and their plates were stacked 20 high with these skewers as they headed out for their large families or parties (there was no way I could eat more than 2 skewers).
I came back another night and tried the chicken skewer, which was good, but I preferred the pork from the first night. Vaggelis also recommended the cheese stuffed sausage, but when I ordered it and found a cheese stuffed hot dog, I simply chalked it up everyone liking something foreign in their meals.
Eating like a local is one of the greatest pleasures of traveling as a tourist!
Two Rodeo Road is the only new street built in Beverly Hills in decades. It is not big, but full of big name stores like Versace, Jimmy Choo, Porsche Design, and Vertu. It looks like a European cobblestone street, complete with old fashioned street lamps and winds uphill to an apex which ends with steps going down to busy Wilshire Blvd.
The street will be transformed into a Simply Divine party for the senses this Saturday (that’s tomorrow for everyone who doesn’t know what day it is today), between 8pm-10:30pm. It will be the place to be if you want to sip some wines from Mueller, Cabot, Thomas George, and Coquelicot while tasting treats from restaurants like Josie, A.O.C., Tavern, The Bazaar, Lucques, and Street.
There will be live and silent auctions for everything from business class travel to Italy for two for a stay at an Italian winery that has been converted into a bed and breakfast or jet travel to wine country for a 3 night stay at a winery, to dinners, spa treatments, cookware, and even a raffle to win a bottle of every wine being poured during the event.
You must be 21 or older to attend, the $150 ticket can be purchased online here and proceeds go to benefit the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, so get dressed up (it is a party after all), wear comfortable shoes (you will be walking on cobblestones), and valet your car ($15 before 6pm, $7 after 6pm) so you can treat your senses to a warm summer night in Beverly Hills for a good cause.
What is better than a free baguette from Wally’s Cheese Box (just because they appreciate your business)?
How about some cheese to go with it?
And maybe some chocolate as a treat later?
You can get all of these at the newly opened Wally’s Cheese Box, next door to Wally’s Wine Shop, where you can pick up the perfect drink to go along with your provisions. The former Wally’s Cigar Box has been transformed into a welcoming little stop full of cheese choices from Roqueforts to Camemberts, pates, at least 5 kinds of proscuitto, crackers, chocolate, and they will even make you sandwiches like the Fresh Mozzarella on Ciabatta Roll with sun dried tomatoes, pesto, fresh basil, balsamic vinegar and olive oil ($7.99), or a Wally’s Hero on Ciabatta Roll with capicola, salami, mortadella, prosciutto, provolone, sun dried tomato, field greens, pepperoncini, mayonaise, mustard, oregano, olive oil and balsamic vinegar ($8.99). There are even a few tables outside next to the small parking lot if you can’t wait and want to eat there.
Walking into the store reminded me of the small epiceries in France where good things come in small packages, with all you could want for a picnic lunch served up by a knowledgeable shopkeeper who obviously knows her wares and provides only top notch products. The baguette had the best interior texture of a baguette I have had here in the US; the yeasty, artisanal body of the center of the loaf made me forgive the far less impressive very chewy and very flour covered crust.
This is a must stop by shop if you live nearby or are in the area, the only warning is you must feed your meter if you park on Westwood Blvd. because the meter police literally patrol the area every five minutes and I don’t think they take food as bribes to get out of a ticket.
Several of my friends have food allergies, ranging from gluten to scallops, so finding things they can enjoy can be challenging. Most commercially available drinks and desserts are loaded with things that are triggers for people sensitive to pesticides, dairy, wheat, or chemicals, but I found two coconut based treats which are delightfully free of all those pesky problems.
Usually the purest forms of most foods is also the safest when buying anything packaged, so it makes sense that O.N.E. Coconut water is 100% natural, has five essential electrolytes (calcium, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium and sodium), more potassium than a banana (15 times the amount of potassium as most sports drinks, without the artificial chemicals found in sports drinks.), no added sugars, no fat, no cholesterol, and no preservatives. The way it is manufactured ensures that the coconut water never comes into contact with light or oxygen, and it is packed in a tetra pak so it is recyclable and light. With only 14 grams of sugar it has less than half the sugar of a soda or sports drink, and all of it is from the coconut water itself, none of it added chemically or otherwise. If you want other drink flavors, they also offer an Amazon Acai, Coffee Fruit, Cashew Fruit, and ONE Water (100% of ONE Water proceeds goes towards nonprofit organizations). You can buy these drinks in major chains like Whole Foods, Ralphs, and Trader Joes, as well as small convenience stores and markets for about $1.50 each.
Another pure coconut milk based treat is Coconut Bliss, a frozen treat for all those who crave a creamy dessert. If you love the sensuous mouth feel of cream, you will love this even if you are not allergic to dairy products or soy products. Made with organic coconut milk and agave syrup, this luscious dessert comes in ten flavors, ranging from naked coconut and pineapple coconut to the more decadent chocolate hazelnut fudge and cappuccino. All except one of their flavors (the Mint Galactica) is safe for Diabetics and those who eat Kosher, and their code of ethics regarding fair trade, ensuring that their containers are recyclable, and keeping their equipment as clean as possible to avoid cross contamination from nuts is truly commendable. All this attention to detail and quality means that even though a pint costs about $7, you are getting value for your money, and that is priceless.
