Los Angeles Beer Festival : Beer fest at Sony Studios! April 10 1pm-4pm or 5pm-8pm
Sony Studios 10202 Washington Blvd ($40 admit, unlimited 4oz beer pours)



See the new issue of
Savuer! Its all about Los Angeles and the cover story is Pizzeria Mozza!


Thursday, January 28, 2010

Larchmont Grill, oh how I love DineLA

Yes I understand that I said I had no money to go out and eat, and yes I understand that even if I did have a little bit of money Larchmont is not a $ it is a $$.  So I made a mistake.  Literally.  My dear friend Kara and I decided to out for dinner last night for dineLA and had decide on the ONE $ well reviewed Bld, unfortunately I was on the Larchmont website and made reservations there.  I know I'm an idiot, I reread the gchat conversation online and it clearly states:
Amanda: Lets go to bld
Kara: Okay, want me to make reservations?
Amanda: No no I can do it.

Apparently I can't.  Luckily in my head I thought we were going to Larchmont so I printed out the directions and just assumed this is where we were going until we arrive and Kara pointed out that we had decided on Bld.  Bah!  Oh well, we're here now, and for future reference Larchmont is VERY far away from my house, its off of Melrose past La Brea and the 10 was bad so we had to take surface streets.  Anyway enough back story, on to the food!

So to start it off Larchmont is adorable it looks like someones home that has been redone into a restaurant.  And not a restaurant with miss matched kitchen tables and silverware, everything was white linens and big comfy chairs.  We made reservation and the man seating us, Gary, was also the man who I had talked to on the phone.

So we sit down and the very first thing he says is that they were doing DineLa and that its a really good deal so we should look at that menu first, and that everything else is on the back of the menu a la carte.  I was so excited because too often I have been put off during dineLA when servers suggest NOT ordering the dineLA (hinting at us being cheap.)  If you don't want us ordering off the dineLA menu then WHY are you a part of dineLA?  Isn't it to showcase you're food in a cheap way so people fall in love with it and want to come back again?  Sorry for the rant but its something that really upsets me and always makes me feel awkward at the start of the evening.


So anyway, the bread was amazing.  It appeared to have been sliced, then toasted, but not toasted enough where you could see a color change but enough to where you had the slightest crunch when you bit into it. It also had this little dish of olive oil that had what I'm assuming it red pepper flakes, capers and some other tasty bits in the bottom. 

So I ordered the organic baby green salad, the pan seared white fish and the chocolate cake and Kara ordered the spinach salad, the braised lamb shank and the cobbler.  Yay six different bites!!



Our salads come out and although it was a very simple salad it was really good.  It had a creamy cucumber dressing which if I owned a bottle of it would be dancing on all of my salads.  It also had a hard boiled egg that was so cute and little I just gobbled it up.  Kara's spinach salad with blackberry dressing was really good too although it had a huge slice of shallot, which Kara loved, and I sort of avoided.

We also ordered wine.  Kara got really excited when she found that they had, by the glass, her favorite winery in Sonoma, Deerfield Ranch Winery Cab.  I on the other hand  was having fish and so I wanted a Chardonnay but there were three option and I do not have a favorite winery so I was at a loss.  So I told our dear friend Gary this, and he looks at me and says "Just wait a second and I think I know which one for you" disappears and returns with a bottle of Tom and Dave's Chardonnay for a little taste.  Actually it was really good, so I ordered a glass and was very happy!


The to make things more happy our food arrives.  My fish is COVERED in deep fried treats and Kara has a shank of lamb that I think Heath (my husband) would have a hard time finishing.  My fish was...good.  It tasted a lot like chicken.  The sear on it was crisp and I liked that but the flavor of the chicken fish was okay. Same with the ginger rice, I actually didn't get any flavor of ginger which was disappointing, but fine.  The fried green beans and shallot on top were of course the BEST.  Granted I am completely biased towards anything covered in batter and drop in a pot of boiling oil but these were actually really good, and when you got a bite of them with the fish and rice, it was really quite tasty.


Kara's on the other hand was a 180 from mine, it wasn't delicate, it had nothing fried and it sat a top a plate of mashed potatoes instead of rice.  It was good.  Can't go wrong with braised lamb shank.  It was however forgetable.  I have had this flavor profile before, I think I've even made it in my crockpot before.  It wasn't bad!!  I was good.  But not really good.  Or OMG thats amazing.  It was good (at least from the bite I had.) 


Then dessert, and man oh man do I like dessert.  To preface my chocolate cake decision I must inform you that earlier that afternoon I had to actively convinced myself NOT to bake a chocolate cake.  I don't really like chocolate cake.  I mean I like it, but I'm not gonna eat a whole cake, not even if its over a week or something I just do not enjoy chocolate that much.  But since I was craving it I decided I must order it.  And it was good.  It wasn't dry, it wasn't overly dark chocolate-y and it wasn't covered in a thick layer of frosting.  Nope, it was all actually pretty tasty.  But what was really tasty was when I took a bite with a little bit of the whipped cream.  I mean that whipped cream made the cake REALLY good.  So good, in fact I was tempted to ask for a little more because there just wasn't enough for the whole cake.  I restrained myself, but it really was super good.


Kara's cobbler I thought was awesome.  Granted it was covered in previously mentioned whipped cream and that could have been the reason I am partial to it, but I thought it was really good as well.  She disapprove of their choice of berries, and felt it should have been heavier in raspberry and lighter in strawberry (apparently there were big chunks of raspberry.)

All in all it was a pretty good meal.  Granted whenever I go to dinner with Kara its always fun because she is in fact one of my best friends in the entire world, but this was really fun.  I think I'll come back her with my husband and order the sweet potato Gnocchi with hazelnuts, sage and brown butter or the lobster macaroni and cheese.  They consider themselves one of the best kept secrets in LA and I would have to agree!

Over all I would have to say 4 points.  Based on food alone (not the wine, the service the atmosphere) 3.5

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

No money to eat out, pulled chicken sandwiches at home

So just one day after starting this blog my laptop computer decided to lay down and die.  So for the next couple of week my husband and I decided we need to stay home and save money so I can get an awesome new computer that wont die on me during grad school. 


So lunch time for me mean tasty sandwiches at home after school.

So I used the CookingLight pulled chicken recipe.  Its a good recipe to make one day and then keep it in the fridge for a few days, to eat when there's nothing else in the apartment.


3  tablespoons  ketchup
1  tablespoon  cider vinegar
1  tablespoon  prepared mustard
1  tablespoon  molasses
3/4  teaspoon  chili powder
1/2  teaspoon  ground cumin
1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
1/8  teaspoon  ground ginger
12  ounces  skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
4  (2-ounce) sandwich rolls, cut in half horizontally
12  dill pickle chips


1. Combine first 9 ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, 23 minutes or until chicken is done and tender. Remove from heat; shred with 2 forks to measure 2 cups meat. Place 1/2 cup chicken on bottom half of each roll. Top each with 3 pickles and top half of roll.
Nutritional Information*



Now the calorie count for this is 294 calories and I think that a little high for 3 oz of chicken and some ketchup especially since we used this super low calorie buns.  What this recipe is missing is the tangy creamy cole slaw on top.  I hate coleslaw but man do I like it on top of pulled pork (alright chicken).  So to make up for this minor oversight and because I have room to spare in the calorie department I added a tablespoon of Runny Ranch Dressing (though I didnt water it down as much so it didnt run all over my plate.)  With a side of sea salt and vinegar potato chips this is a pretty dang good substitute for a meal out!


*
Calories: 294
Fat: 6.5g (sat 1.5g,mono 2.6g,poly 1.4g)
Protein: 22g
Carbohydrate: 35.6g
Fiber: 1.8g
Cholesterol: 71mg
Iron: 3.1mg
Sodium: 698mg
Calcium: 105mg

Monday, January 25, 2010

Who says you shouldn't drink and fry?


So on Saturday night we had a few friends over for game night.  Unfortunately for our livers the game of choice quickly became beer pong.  For those of you unfamiliar with beer pong please refer to the bottom of the post*.

 So after umpteen games of beer pong it appears to be 3 in the morning and we are hungry for some gooey cheesy delivery pizza.  Apparently pizza delivery companies do not deliver at 3 in the morning.  So what is the appropriate alternative?  Deep fried string cheese of course! 


Amanda's Amazing Beer Pong Fried Cheese

Half a package of string cheese (or as many string cheeses that are left over in your fridge)
Panko bread crumbs
1-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons of corn starch
1/2 cup of milk
4 tablespoons of flour (just keep about a cup around I'm not really sure how much I used)
Paprika
kosher salk
Cooking oil (like canola)

Fill a medium sauce pan about half way with the cooking oil to about 400oF on a candy thermometer or until things really bubble when they get dropped in.

In a bowl whisk the cornstarch, 2 tbsp's of flour and  milk together.  Add more flour by the tablespoon until you get a batter thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, I would say a little runnier than pancake batter.  Add a a couple of dashes of paprika and a good pinch of kosher salt.  In another bowl combine the panko bread crumbs, the Italian seasoning and another good 1-2 pinches of kosher salt.

Unwrap the cheese sticks and cut them in half.  Dip the cheese first in the batter and then in the bread crumbs making sure to cover up as much of the cheese as you can.  Bare cheese will ooze out in the frier.  If the batter isnt thick enough to coat the cheese add a little more flour, if its too thick at a little more milk.  Once coated in the bread crumbs drop them into the oil.  Watch the first batch closely.  I typically only drop in 1-2 cheese sticks at a time to avoid them sticking together.  When they turn a golden brown color they are ready to be removed and drained on paper towels.  Don't let them set on the towels too long, sometimes the cheese will ooze out and stick to the paper which no one wants to eat.  Repeat with the rest of your cheese sticks.

Serve immediately with ketchup and runny ranch dressing.

Runny Ranch Dressing

My husband LOVES his ranch kinda runny like you get at restaurants thick enough to coat a french fry but not so thick to have stiff peaks.

1 Hidden Valley Ranch BUTTERMILK packet
2 cups of mayonaise
water

Mix the mayo and the ranch packet in a jar, attach the lid and shake.  Add small amounts of water until you get the consistancy he likes...serve with fried mozzerella sticks

Note: We used reduced fat mozzarella sticks and I think those work better because I think they are stringy-er.  And the reducded fat makes it .... less horrible for you?


*Beer pong is played on a folding table with ten red plastic cups lined up on each side of the table in triangle formations. 2-3 cans of cheap beer is distributed amongst the 10 cups (20 cups and 4-6 beer total for the table).  Each set of 10 cups belongs to a team of two , and each team member gets on shot per turn.  The object of the game is to throw a ping pong ball from yourside into your opponents cups.  The first team to clear the other teams cup wins!  The losers also have to drink the remaining cups on the winners side.  There are more rules and stratagies that I don't want to go into, sorry.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Home Made Fried Treats!

Can't call it deep fried du jour without a little deep fried thrown in.  Well not deep fried, but oven baked!!  Sorry for the lag in posting, our laptop decided it no longer wanted to be part of the family and I've been avoiding using the desktop, c'est la vie!

On Friday night I was having a rough day and my dear sweet husband decided he wanted to make me dinner, chicken cordon bleu.  If you havent made this tasty little dish you should really try it some time.  He improvised with the recipe a little bit:

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 egg
2 cups of italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 slices of ham
2 slices of swiss cheese

tooth picks

Pre-heat oven to 350 degress.

Place the chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap, spraying water on the top side of the chicken and the top side of the plastic wrap (this will help keep the chicken from tearing when you whack it!)  Then smash the chicken up with a rolling pin, or a flat sided meat tenderizer (even a cast iron skillet in moving in one direction works.)  Lightly season your chicken with salt and pepper.  Crack egg in a shallow dish and use fork to break up the yolk.  Place bread crumbs in a second shallow dish.  Dip one chicken breast into the egg, then into the bread crumbs making sure to coat evenly.  Transfer this chicken breast to a plate, and place one slice of ham and one half slice of cheese on it.  Roll everything up and secure it with two toothpicks.  Do the same with the second chicken breast.  Spray cooking spray on a cookie sheet and place the chicken breast on it and into the oven for 30-35 minutes, until the internal temperature has reached 160 degrees.  Place another half slice of cheese on top and return to the oven for another 5 minutes.

Remember the toothpicks!!  They sort of blend it so don't forget to take those out.  So that was my yummy, not too terribly unhealthy dinner on Friday night!  ENJOY!!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Happy Hour at Ciudad!!

So on Thursday it was my friend Rob's birthday so we decided it was time to go out after class for some drinks and dinner!  First we went to Yardhouse at LA live , which had a two hour wait!  Apparently there was a Los Angeles Kings and Buffalo Sabres game at the staples center and all the fans had decided to camp out at Yardhouse until the game started.  So we hopped in our car an drove up Figeroa looking for decent place to eat.  California Pizza Kitchen is good, but we were looking for drinks.  Morton's has drinks, and a dollar sign heavy price tag for said drinks not to mention dinner.  Then we roll up on Ciudad and I quickly googled it from my phone.  "Happy hour till 7, half priced drinks and 3 dollar tacos!"  and we were sold!

We sat in the bar at this cute little high boy tables.  There were only four of us so we attempted to squeeze us all around one, but the waiters noticed and very nicely offered us to put two tables together.   Score 1 point for Ciudad.

  The options for drinks were $4.50 for a house margarite, house mojito, house sangria or house ciapirinha (see the rest of the menu here).  Now we asked the waiter what the heck a Ciaperurbadjda (cause I couldn't pronounce it) was he said it was muddled limes with simple syrup, soda and a rum made from sugar cane or fire water.  Well that sounded tasty, except for I wasn't sure how sugar cane = fire water but I was willing to try it expecting something along the lines of a gimlet.  It was not a gimlet.  It was made with Cachaça and OMG was it fire water.  I took one sip expecting it to be a sweet drink only to find it was a very SPICY drink.  And one sip was enough for me.  Lose one point for Ciudad (from me, one of the girls I was with loved hers and drank the whole thing.)

When the waiters came around again and I told them I didnt enjoy the drink and they quickly replaced it with one of the tastiest sangrias I've ever had (regain the lost point).  We proceeded to order a number of tacos and at the last minute I changed my mind and ordered the empanadas. Best decision I had made all day!

I also got the potato taco (just in case happy hour empanadas were not large enough to fill my appetite) which apparently was deep fried (which we know I love) and had some sort of tasty orange colored cream sauce underneath. (1 more point)

But the best part of my meal was the empanadas.  Two little flaky puffs of awesomeness!  First they come out on a plate with one empanada in a bright green sauce and one in a tangy orange colored sauce (different from the potato taco sauce.)  Unfortunately I didnt realize they were two different empanadas and I wish I had because one was WAY better than the other (though they were both super good).  The one that was playing second fiddle was the wild mushroom ( which I love) and a chipotle (orange) cream sauce.  Still very tasty.  The star however (which I foolishy devoured not realizing it was the only one I had) was stuffed with a purree of spinach, pine nuts, raisins and manchego in an oh so yummy salsa verde.  My darn camera phone doesn't do the plate justice, since the colors of the sauces were so bright and the empanadas were a golden brown perfect.  It should also be noted that I have no tolerance for heat or spicy foods, these sauces however had the warm flavors without the heat!  I am totally coming back here and ordering this again and again and again!  (+1)

Also happy hour only runs until 7 so around 6:50 the waiter comes by and asks if we want to order another round.  We don;t have to drink it now, and they wont even bring it out until we ask, but if we thought we might want another round to order it now to get the half off prices.  I have NEVER had that happen before!  It was just so nice!  Obviously another round was ordered (the ciapirinha, interestingly was left off the second round.)  Another MASSIVE point!

All in all out of 5 possible points, I give Ciudad's happy hour menu and service and whopping 4 points!

(note: I know that I said I wouldn't judge a place based on the service, but I mean,  theses people were super nice!  We obviously were not high rollers and I thought that was just awesome!)

Time to get things started

So I wanted to start off with a bang, and to do so I wanted to talk about the amazing dinner I had at Alex.  My birthday was on the 14th so as any good 25 year old will tell you we were obligated to spend the MLK weekend in Las Vegas.  We got in on Friday so we could have a night by ourselves and not have to worry what our friends wanted to do.  That night we had gotten reservation for Alex at the Wynn.  If you haven't heard of Alex don't worry I hadn't either but when Joel Robuchon (three star Michelin and chef of the century) turned out to be a little two pricey we needed to fine a better alternative.  And did we ever?!  First of all Alex is a two start Michelin and a James Beard Foundation award winner for best American Chef - Southwest.  I was shocked that I had never heard of it.  Anyway, on to the food.  It was fabulous.  Best meal I've ever had.  The End.


Okay really we had the tasting menu, which by the time it ended had close to 11 courses.  It started off with canapés which everyone receives before the menu even comes.  Five little one to two bite diamonds that are to die for, our favorite was the tempura lobster (the one with the stick).  Personally I always enjoy crab over lobster, but if the lobster were always prepared like this I think I would quickly switch.  Now for the tasting menu:

Amuse bouche (little one to two bite course to prepare you for the meal): Prawn carpaccio which is a little 3 inch in diameter round of raw prawn meat, on top of another 3in round of parsnip and sandwiched in between is a little dollop of caviar all drizzled with a little olive oil salt and pepper.
First Course: Butter Poached lobster, black pasta, brussles sprouts, and sea urchin
Second Course: Seared Foie Gras in top of poached persimmons and apple compote
Third Course: Parmesan crusted dover sole, wild mushrooms, baby savoy cabbage with cabbage foam
Four Course: Flank waygu (Kobe) beef, parsnip custard with crispy marrow, arugula salad with shaved Parmesan
Pallet Cleanser: (a dish they serve that makes the transition from savory to sweet a little easier) Coconut panna cota with tropical fruit and dehydrated pineapple chip
Dessert: Vanilla Brioche on top of a brunoise (little tiny perfect cubes).  The brioche was topped with vanilla ice cream which was topped with a sugar decoration
Birthday Dessert:  Vanilla cake that said Happy Birthday
Petit Fours: 5 little one to two bite desserts like a mini apple pie, a pumpkin spiced cheesecake
More: Fresh baked, super warm Madeline’s
Even More: A little box of macaroons to take home.

 Easily the best meal I've ever had, I would recommend it to anyone I know, or don't know for that matter.  Butter poached lobster is the tastiest thing ever.  Let it be known that my husband has a problem with consistency, he doesn't like things that are creamy or smushy or sea urchiny, but the way it was prepared at Alex he ate EVERY bite of that dish.  We tried to rank which dishes we liked the best and couldn't agreed on an order or even a best dish.  Everything tasted amazing, I was really sad because I couldn't bare to eat my last bite of Waygu beef because I had failed to pace myself earlier in the meal.  For more pictures from the evening please click here.

A little note about myself...

Disclaimer:  I have terrible spelling a grammar problems,  I am in biology I have no use for such tools so please be aware.


Hello! My name is Amanda and after turning the big 2-5 last week and have decided that I needed to sharing my knowledge with the blogging community.  I am currently a graduate student in biology which is pretty much as far away from food as you can get, but with the incorporation of food gastronomy it seems my two worlds have collided.  I love food, I love eating food, I love making food, I love reading about food and I am sure you do as well.  I also like to experiment in the kitchen, kind of like my own personal version of the show "Chopped" on Food Network.  I also am not picky about my food.  I don't care if its not classy food.  As long as it tastes good, I'll take a burger over a wedge of iceberg any day.  However just because I believe in tasty food doesn't mean I believe in unnecessarily unhealthy food.  I love fried chicken, and you just can't make a healthy version of that, but I also know that its not something that should be a weekly staple. For the most part I experiment trying to make the best tasting dishes I can with the least amount of calories, but if I need a pat of butter, so be it.  

Being in graduate school has its perks, I can't be fired for being late, I don't have to commute, I will get paid more once I get this blasted degree, the downside, however, is that I am broke.  After the four years of undergrad being spent with my dear friends Top Ramen and Kraft Mac and Cheese (which was a delicacy because that involved also buying milk and butter) I have decided to take a different approach this time around.  Cook low cost, high flavor meals, and occasionally eat out at low-mid cost, high flavor restaurants.  Granted I live almost entirely off my husband which makes it easier from undergrad but I'm sure if I had really budgeted I could have made this new meal plan work back then too. 

So welcome and enjoy deep fried du jour!