kiramisu

January 22nd, 2013 by kira2070

My Hit List for DINE LA – Jan 2013

Last fall, I did some pretty comprehensive research on all the different venues participating in the Dine LA festivities.

My experience at Luna Park was amazing! While my lunch at The Lazy Ox Canteen left much to be desired.

After reviewing the menues, price points, and menue offerings of almost all participating restaurants this go-around, I’ve made one observation: the eateries with the lower price points almost always have the best menues and highest YELP reviews.

Since I LIVE for amazing bargains, and I’m an actress on a budget, this bodes well for me!

That being said, here is my HIT LIST for Dine LA, Jan 21-Feb 1, 2013! Please note, since I can’t eat fish, I’m only including one of the participating sushi restaurants, though I’m sure there are a couple of others worth trying out. I have never eaten at any of these restaurants before, so my opinions are based solely on the menues posted for Dine LA, and YELP reviews.

If you end up going to any of these places, give me a shout out! Maybe someday one of these venues will invite me to eat for FREE in exchange for my review. A girl can only hope!

Click on the name of the restaurant to see the full menue offerings!

TOP LUNCH PICKS:

Fundamental LA

Price Point: $15

Star Meter on YELP: 4/5

Neighborhood: Westwood

Food Type: American

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: Braised Short Rib Sandwich

Why It’s an Awesome Option: The menue offers an impressive number of options per course, and they offer a main dish, side dish, drink AND dessert for the $15 price point–whereas most others offer only an appetizer and main. Outstanding!

Coupa Cafe

Price Point: $15

Star Meter on Yelp: 4/5

Neighborhood: Beverly Hills

Food Type: Latin

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: Reina Pepiaca Arepa (Venezuelan White Corn Meal Griddle Cake filled with Chicken Salad and Avocado)

Why It’s an Awesome Options: Several options for each of the 2 courses. Home made hummus and olives are an option for the appetizer!

Muddy Leek

Price Point: $20

Star Meter on Yelp: 4.5/5

Neighborhood: Culver City

Food Type: Organic

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: Toasted Coconut Panna Cotta

Why It’s an Awesome Option: It includes dessert–and several different options, at that! Plus, who doesn’t love some organic eats?!

Sake House

Price Point: $20

Star Meter on Yelp: 4/5

Neighborhood: Culver City

Food Type: Japanese/Sushi

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy (or would if I could eat it): Beef Teriyaki with Spicy Tuna Roll and Spicy Miso Soup

Why It’s an Awesome Option: You sushi hounds out there know that seafood in this town can get pricey, fast! This is a pretty good set up of 2 courses for $20.

Sotto

Price Point: $20

Star Meter on Yelp: 4/5

Neighborhood: Pico-Robertson

Food Type: Italian

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: Cauliflower and Almond Soup

Why It’s an Awesome Option: 3 courses for lunch, including home made Cannolo Siciliano for dessert! Sotto has been on my ‘eat here’ list for over a year. It’s a bit pricey, so Dine LA is a good time to check it out!

Drago Centro

Price Point: $25

Star Meter on Yelp: 4/5

Neighborhood: Downtown

Food Type: Italian

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: Rabit Fettucini with Shaved Carrots and Smoked Ricotta Salata

Why It’s an Awesome Option: Thoughtful and artistic sounding options for each of the 3 courses, including dessert.

Fogo de Chao

Price Point: $25

Star Meter on Yelp: 4.5/5

Neighborhood: Beverly Hills

Food Type: Brazilian BBQ

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: Really, the whole menue looks FANTASTIC! So many different meat choices. The Cordeiro (fresh leg of lamb) in particular gets my vote because I LOVE lamb! Paired with the crispy polenta? My mouth is watering already.

Why It’s an Awesome Option: Brazilian BBQ is notoriously expensive (though you do get a good bang for your buck). This sounds like a step above most other restaurants of the same genre, with an extensive salad bar that includes artisan cheeses.

Le Ka

Price Point: $25

Star Meter on Yelp: 4/5

Neighborhood: Downtown

Food Type: International

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: Musquee de Provence Soup Garnished with Chestnuts and Porcini Cream

Why It’s an Awesome Option: Again, a 3 course lunch that includes dessert. Plus a diverse set of options per course.

TOP DINNER PICKS:

GRUB

Price Point: $25

Star Meter on Yelp: 4/5

Neighborhood: Hollywood

Food Type: American

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: Betty’s Potato Chip Chicken with Buttery Mashed Potatoes and Sautéed Spinach

Why It’s an Awesome Option: I’ve driven by Grub on numerous occasions. The patio looks warm and inviting, and the menue promises the most indulgent sounding comfort foods Plus a 3 course meal including, yup – dessert! (Are you noticing a theme yet?)

BLD

Price Point: $25

Star Meter on Yelp: 4/5

Neighborhood: La Brea

Food Type: American

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: It’s a toss up between the Braised Lamb Osso Bucco with Parmesan Grits, and Salted Carmel Marscapone Panna Cotta with Rum Soaked Cake.

Why It’s an Awesome Option: Did you see the two dishes I mentioned above? That’s only 2 of the numerous options on this gorgeous menue. 3 courses also.

Da’Pasquale Trattoria

Price Point: $25

Star Meter on Yelp: 4/5

Neighborhood: Beverly Hills

Food Type: Italian

Menue Item that Gets Me Giddy: Pappadelle Alla Boscaiola (Pappadelle Pasta in a Sauce of Mushrooms, Baby Green Peas, Ground Beef, Tomato and a touch of Cream).

Why It’s an Awesome Option: Delightful Italian Classics fill this menue, including traditional desserts – like homemade Tiramisu (my favorite!) for dessert.

Clearly my list is much longer on the lunch side. This is for 2 reasons. 1) Lunches are cheaper–which means you can eat more of them! and 2). Many places that offer lunch have the same exact (or pretty darn close) menue for dinner, but for a higher price.

So there you are ladies and gents! Happy Eating! I expect a full report on your Dine LA findings!

Posted in Bargain Eats, comfort food, desserts, Dine LA, Dinner, Eating Out in LA, Foodie Fun, Lunch | No Comments »

November 22nd, 2012 by kira2070

BAM! It’s the Most Magical Banana Cream Pie EVER!

Normally, it’s the heavy whipping cream that’s tough to get a hold of in the days leading up to Thanksgiving or Christmas, because of all the desserts people make. I did have to go to 2 different Ralph’s this week to get my heavy whipping cream, BUT surprisingly, I had a much harder time finding ripe bananas. Yes. Ripe bananas. Seriously?

And I’m not talking super-brown-ready-to-make-banana-bread-ripe. I mean any bananas that were not dark green all the way through.

I was just about to give up the pie and make my famous sugar cookies instead. My last attempt (after 4 other stores) was Whole Paycheck where I found a mountain of perfectly ripe bananas (still firm, no spots, with maybe a light touch of green at the very top).

HALLELUJAH!

So here’s the recipe. In case you need a good idea for tomorrow. Or, um…Actually not for tomorrow. It has to chill overnight. Which is the reason I went out to 5 different stores at 10 pm trying tot find 3 decent bananas.

Anyway…

The Most Magical Banana Cream Pie EVER (with peanut butter cookie crust!)

I freaked out a little when my mom sent me this recipe too. Don’t worry, the subsections of ingredients are just to help remind you what goes where and when. It’s much easier than it looks. I promise.

For the crust

1/2 pound peanut butter sandwich cookies, coarsely crumbled
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 Tablespoons butter, melted.

For the Filling -
Whisk together:
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon dark rum, optional

Combine (separately)
1 Cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon all-purpose four
pinch of salt
2 cups whole milk

Off Heat, Add:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Assemble pie with:
3 ripe, firm bananas, quartered.

Start by coating a 9 inch tart pan or glass pie plate nonstick spray.

Then, pulverize the peanut butter sandwich cookies. I like to use Nutter Butters because they’re easy to find, and the tray comes split in half. Since the full box is 1 pound, you dump out one perfectly subdivided half of the tray and you’re good to go!

The original recipe recommends crushing them in a food processor, but I live in a studio apartment and I don’t have all the different kitchen gadgets, right now, that I will when I have a nice 3 bedroom house in Larchmont.

So, I just put the cookies in a plastic bag, put the bag on a cutting board and went to town with my meat hammer. It worked just fine. Make sure you DO put a cutting board between your table/counter and the hammer though. Otherwise you might not be getting your deposit back when you move out of YOUR studio apartment.

Once the cookies are pretty well mashed, pour the crumbles into a small bowl. Melt 2 Tbsp of butter and pour it over the top. Then mix together. (Or pour the butter into the food processor with the crumbs and let it do the work for you–if you’re fancy like that).

Pour the cookie mixture into your pie plate.and gently press the crumbs out to the edges. It’s easiest to start in the center. As you flatten the pile of crumbs with your palm, they will naturally push out and crawl up the sides of the dish to give you a nice even crust.

Next, gently whisk the eggs and optional rum for the filling in a small bowl.

Combine sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt in a saucepan, whisking to break up lumps. Gradually add milk and whisk until smooth. I found you kinda have to stand over this mixture and stir it continually, or the cornstarch clumps together.

Cook over medium heat until thickened, about 8 minutes.

Temper some of the hot custard into the egg mixture, by adding a few large spoonfuls of the hot custard into the dish of egg. Mix that together. This helps warm up the eggs, so that they mix more easily into the rest of the custard. Otherwise, the egg cook too quickly and ‘flower’ in your custard like egg drop soup. That is not what we are going for here kids.

Once you’ve tempered the egg, pour the egg mixture into the custard pan and whisk together. Continue to cook until thick ad bubbly, about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and add 2 Tbsp butter and 1/2 tsp of vanilla. (Sorry there aren’t photos of this part, but you have to do the egg tempering and mixing in really quickly! I didn’t have time to take pictures).

This is the fun part! It makes me feel like Kerri Russell in “The Waitress.” Except I’m not pregnant or married or sleeping with my gynecologist. I guess it’s just the pictures of the pies .

Peel and quarter the bananas. Cut them in half length wise, and then in half the other way.

Then place the banana spears cut side down over the crust.

Give the custard one final swirl with your whisk and then pour it over the top of the bananas. Smooth out the top with a spatula so it looks pretty

Loosely cover it with plastic wrap and then chill in the fridge over night (let it cool down a little before you cover it, if you have time). Mom always serves this with freshly whipped cream – and that’s exactly what I’m going to do tomorrow after dinner! Btw, if you haven’t whipped your own cream, you haven’t LIVED.

Have a safe and delicious Thanksgiving everyone! I wanna see pictures!

Posted in desserts, holiday foods, pie, recipes | No Comments »

October 12th, 2012 by kira2070

Rosemary Lamb Stew

FINALLY! Fall has made it’s way to Los Angeles! Hooray!

Though it’s a bit concerning to me that daytime temperatures can drop 25 degrees in less than 3 days—I’m so relieved that the heat wave is over that I really don’t care how it happened.

I’m excited to pull my purple pea coat, my scarves, and other layering materials out of the closet! And even though the blazing hot weather is gone – I’ve found myself sleeping with the window wide open – so that the cold air blows into my room at night, and I can burrow down under my quilt, all nice and snuggly. :)

I was so excited to cook with lamb for the first time, I actually made this stew a few weeks ago during the heat wave. I even did some research and went to an actual butcher shop in the farmer’s market near the Grove, since I wasn’t able to find any of the lamb tips that they ‘supposedly carry’ at Trader Joe’s, but are always out of when I want them. But now that it’s really fall – I thought a few more of you might like to give this recipe a try.

I made a few slight variations to the recipe from the website.

Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless lamb leg, cut into 1 inch pieces (shoulder is better, but it’s hard to find a place that will sell you only half a shoulder and I didn’t want like 6 or 7 pounds of meat!)

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp seasoned pepper

2 Tbs all purpose flour

1 large onion, diced

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks (or use baby carrots like I did- about 2 handfuls)

1 parsnip, peeled and cut into chunks

4 cups (or one 32 oz container) of beef broth

1 lbs potatoes of your choice (I used fingerling)

1Tbsp chopped FRESH rosemary (trust me-use FRESH!)

1 cup coarsely chopped leeks

When I went to the butcher’s, he asked me what I was buying lamb for. When I told him, “I’m going to make stew,” he offered to cut it into 1 inch chunks for me! That definitely saved me some time and grief, trying to figure out how to chop up 3 pounds of meat! When I opened my package at home, it looked like this:

So I trimmed off the big hunks of fat, until it looked all nice and pretty like this:

First thing – mix the flour, salt and pepper.

Then dust the lamb with the flour mixture and coat evenly (mix it up with your hands!).

Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan.

Then add lamb chunks, in small groupings. Brown the lamb evenly on all sides, about 2-3 minutes each side. Doesn’t need to be cooked through, just browned. Make sure the pieces don’t touch, in the pan. You’ll probably have to do a few batches. When the chunks are browned, place them in the crock pot.

Deglaze the pan in between batches of lamb as needed. When the flour mixture gets crusted on the bottom of the pan, add a bit of the broth, and scrape the bottom so that the flour mixture dissolves into the broth. Pour this thickened broth into the crock pot as you go.

Once all the lamb is browned, add a bit more olive oil to the sauce pan, and sautee the onion until it starts to soften. Then add about half of the lamb chunks and the rest of the beef broth and let it simmer all together until the broth thickens a bit, but before the onions are totally translucent.

Pour this mixture into the crock pot.

Trim the leaves off of one stem of rosemary, and dice them. Measure out 1 Tbs of chopped leaves (might be more than 1 stem).

Coarsley chop the leeks (sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this part!) and toss the leeks and rosemary into the crockpot. Cover the crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours, or until meat is fork tender.

According to the original recipe, you can also make this stew in less time on the stovetop. But since it was my first time cooking with lamb, and I know it’s easy to overcook it and make the lamb tough, I figured the crock pot was a safer choice.

Based on other recipes I saw, you can also dice the veggies and put them in the bottom of the crock pot (under the meat/onion mixture). But I found a lot of mixed reviews online about crock pot veggies, especially potatoes. They said that often the veggies come out too soft, or not cooked through at all–so I decided to cook my veggies separately, and pour the stew over the top.

And for those of you, like me, who’ve never seen a parsnip – it’s the long white veggie in the middle of the cutting board here. Kind of resembles a carrot.

Here’s what the parsnip looks like after you peel it (and you MUST peel it).

Dice your parsnip and potatoes (if you so choose), and toss them in a bowl. In a separate dish, combine 1 Tbs olive oil, some fresh rosemary, salt, pepper and 1tsp of crushed garlic (or 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic).

Pour the olive oil and herb mixture over the veggies and toss them gently until they are evenly coated.

Then spread them out evenly, in a single layer, on a foil covered baking sheet or a glass casserole dish.

Bake the veggies in the oven at 475 F for approximately 20 minutes. Stirring half way through.

Apologies for the weird formatting and fuzzy pictures towards the end. For some reason, the formatting won’t allow for more spaces between the photos! AND–and lighting in my kitchen is terrible. But I figured it would be nice to see (even a fuzzy version) of what these things look like!

To serve, place a serving of the roasted veggies in a bowl, scoop out some stew and pour it on top–and voila!

A delicious, savory stew. Perfect for fall evenings! I recommend making home made biscuits or bread to go with your stew. It’s great to dip the bread into the broth as you go–or use it to sop up the extra juices at the end. Yummy!

Posted in comfort food, crock pot, home made foods, soup and chili | No Comments »

August 14th, 2012 by kira2070

Caprese Salad Bites!

Man alive! It has been HOTTER than CRAP in Los Angeles this past week!

Strangely, the latter half of summer and early part of fall always feel a lot more like ‘summer’ as far as weather is concerned, here in SoCal.

I love gathering with friends in warm months, when it’s still pleasant to sit outside after the sun goes down. Sharing meals, and talking into the early hours of the morning. But when the weather is hot, the last thing you wanna do is turn on the stove or up the heat in your house by cranking the oven! Instead, try fun finger foods, cool salads and little plates of meats, cheeses and crackers!

Here’s a simple little ‘salad’ type dish. A fun and pretty twist on a constant favorite, the caprese salad! But even easier! Instead of slicing and dicing, you just have to clean off the basil leaves, rinse the tomatoes, and assemble!

Ingredients:

One 8oz package of fresh mini mozzarella balls packed in water

One 10-12oz package of grape tomatoes (they are sweeter than cherry tomatoes!)

One package of fresh basil – or if you can find one, a live basil plant will give you more than one round of salad

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

One box of toothpicks

First, pull the desired number of basil leaves off of your basil plant. Depends on how many tomatoes you’ve got and how much you want to make at once! Another benefit to getting the plant, is that most of the time, the full plant costs the same (or less!) than a refrigerated package of fresh basil. When they are in season at Trader Joe’s, they run about $2.99!

I like to rinse the basil leaves by hand, one by one. It’s more work and more time, but it keeps them from getting bruised, wilted or otherwise smushed. Rinse the leaves gently under running water (or in a bowl of water) and then set them in a single layer on top of paper towels to dry.

Next, rinse your grape tomatoes, and set them aside.

Drain all the water from the mozzarella. Rinse, and drain again. Set aside.

Now you’re ready to put it all together! Get a medium sized bowl and add about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, one Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Stir the mixture together and toss in the mozzarella. Toss the mozzarella until it’s lightly coated in the olive oil mixture (you may have to use more or less of the olive oil/balsamic depending on your taste and how much you’re making at once).

Grab one basil leaf with the interior of the leaf curling up towards you, so the ‘pretty’ side faces down. Place one mozzarella ball and one tomato side by side on the leaf. Skewer the leaf through side to side so that it holds the mini caprese together. Then you can arrange them in a cute little decorative bowl, like this!

Quick, easy and always a crowd pleaser! Enjoy!

Posted in From Trader Joe's, Picnic and BBQ worthy | No Comments »

July 31st, 2012 by kira2070

Luna Park : Dine LA part II

Spent a lovely dinner at Luna Park with my good friend Victoria last week as part of Dine LA. Neither of us had been to Luna Park before, and we were anxious to see if the very enticing menu would be able to live up to the extensive drooling that we experienced as we skimmed the offerings online.

Though I enjoyed my lunch at the Lazy Ox last week, I think Luna Park wins, in the battle between the two.

The main reasons for the win?

1. The food portions at Luna Park were full sized (as far as I could tell) and generous sized portions. At Lazy Ox, they were ‘mini’ versions of the dishes, and their normal portions are kind of small from what I hear. Which means the Dine LA portions were basically bite sized.

2. Luna Park’s menu was a bit more diverse, as far as different kinds of options for each course. It’s true that I went to the Lazy Ox for lunch, and Luna Park for dinner. But Luna Park’s lunch menu was basically the same as their dinner menu, save for the addition of one or two entree options that were swapped out.

3. Luna Park’s dinner was in the lowest price point, yet offered one of the best menus out of all the participating restaurants (trust me, I checked pretty much every menu).

Here’s what we got! Sorry, there aren’t photos for each course. One of the major downsides with Luna Park is that it is SO dark inside. So the photos didn’t necessarily turn out really well. I understand ambiance, but when I have to struggle to read your menu by the light of the candle sitting on my table, it’s too dark inside folks. I want to be able to see the beautiful presentation of my food while I’m enjoying it, and not feel like I’m going to fall asleep and face plant into my pork chop. Also, we were so excited about our appetizers, we ate them up before remembering that we ought to try and take a photo.

Oops!

Course 1:

5/5 Goat Cheese fondu with bits of french bread and sliced Granny Smith apples.

This appetizer was simple, but SO good! It was a small pot of melted goat cheese, delivered over a candle (to keep it warm) surrounded by a wreath of the bread and apples. Will definitely go back for this one!

5/5 Grilled Artichoke

This was the best artichoke I’ve ever eaten, hands down! They must soak or marinade that thing for hours before cooking it. And how does one grill an artichoke so that it stays tender and delicious? No idea, but these people do it up! I agree with another YELP posting I saw. Whatever the marinade is (some kind of lemon and pepper mixture I think it said) it’s addictive! I was sucking on the leaves even after I’d cleaned them off, just to get more of that flavor. Outstanding!

Course 2:

4/5 Stuffed Pork Chop

2/5 Side dishes

It was lightly breaded, and stuffed with diced mushrooms and Guerre cheese. The thing I liked best about this pork chop was that they actually put a fair amount of stuffing in it. When I cut into it, cheese and mushrooms oozed all over my plate! Most of the time “stuffed” meats have very little inside. This was well done, and served piping hot! The mashed potatoes were too wet and bland for my taste. Seemed like maybe they came out of a box? So I would ask for a re-do on those. The green beans were fair. Nothing to write home about. I might suggest the thinner french green beans in place of the firmer, standard sized ones that they served. Oh! And the photo reminded me, the compote that they served it with was AWESOME! I think it was some kind of cinnamon with cranberry and/or apple. That was super tasty!

Course 3:

5/5 Make Em Yourself SMORES with home made graham crackers

2/5 Mini Fried Apple Pies with Ice Cream

The Do It Yourself element of the SMORES was so much fun! Loved the little pot of semi sweet chocolate (that I’m not supposed to eat!) and freshly toasted marshmallows. And the house made graham crackers were delightful! A bit denser and more crisp (and buttery too, I think) than the traditional crackers. A lovely way of personalizing a simple, crowd pleasing treat. A+

The mini Apple Pies were far less interesting than they looked. The crusts were nothing fancy, and the filling was pretty plain. When you do apple pie, you’ve really got to spice up the mixture just right in order for it to be worth my while. These weren’t worth the calories, so we just ate up the SMORES instead. The carmel drizzle over the pies was good. And the consistency of the ice cream (which seemed like it could have been home made) was satiny smooth. BUT, I couldn’t tell what flavor the ice cream was supposed to be. Maybe carmel? If so, it needed a LOT more carmel flavoring. As it was, it was just sort of blah.

Overall, I’d give this experience a 4/5. The appetizers were the best part by far.

I saw on the menu, that they offer 2 for 1 appetizers during Happy Hour, which would DEFINITELY be a worthwhile endeavor! And there is also the option to have a Prix Fix menu any night of the week for dinner, which is very convenient! 3 courses, for either $33 or $37, depending on which entree you choose. Includes any appetizer and any dessert. Not a bad option if you’re looking for a moderately priced dinner out.

If you need a fun Happy Hour spot Mid-City, I would certainly recommend checking out Luna Park: 672 S La Brea
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Posted in Dine LA, Eating Out in LA, Happy Hour | No Comments »

July 21st, 2012 by kira2070

Lazy Ox Canteen: The Dine LA Experience

On Tuesday, my best friend Renee and I went to our very first Dine LA lunch, at the Lazy Ox Canteen, in downtown LA. Since we like sharing foods, we got different appetizers and entrees so we could try more of the menu. Out of all of the listed lunch menus for Dine LA, the Lazy Ox Canteen was one of the few lunch options that included dessert. We also liked this menu because they offered multiple choices for each of the courses (whereas some of the skimpier restaurants on the list only offered one plate per course).

Here are some photos from our adventure, and my thoughts and ratings on each of the courses:

Course 1 :

Yellow Corn Soup with whipped coconut cream and porkbelly (4/5)

Polenta with creamed mushrooms and yellow curry oil (5/5)

This was actually my favorite course! The Yellow Corn soup was a nice variation of a very simple soup. The sweetness of the coconut cream provided a nice contrast to the salty corn soup. The bits of pork belly were tiny and crispy. Maybe fried? Not really enough in there to be able to tell. The Polenta was amazing! Great texture, very creamy, and the mushrooms were lovely!

Course 2:

Serrano Ham Sandwich with “pa amb tomaca”, piquillio & mozzarella (2/5)

Pulled Short Rib Sandwich with tomato confit & carmelized onion (3/5)

Sadly, both these entrees were pretty boring. It’s probably not a great thing when the French fries (which were awesome!) are the best part. The ham sandwich was basically a slice of artisan bread with a bit of proscuitto, a piece of lettuce and thick sliced tomato, and a thin slice of mozzarella half melted on top. Very bland and less than thrilling.

The pulled pork was ok, but the sandwich size was disappointing. It was about the size of a slider, with less meat than an average mini burger. Mostly the meat was salty. That’s about it.

Since eating here, a good friend told me that their portions are known to be small. I asked our server out of curiosity if the portions were normal sized. He told me that the servings were a bit smaller than their regular plates. Still, I didn’t see anyone with a lot of food piled up any where nearby.

Course 3:

Rice pudding. (4/5)

A nice variation on a traditional dessert. This particular pudding was less sweet than what I normally expect, but delightful. I liked the crunch of the nuts/graham cracker crumbs sprinkled over the top. And the home made caramel was a nice touch.

Overall, I give our experience a 3/5. The ambiance and décor were lovely. The wait staff was incredibly attentive, courteous and knowledgeable. And the presentation of the food was lovely. I just wish that these dishes had tasted as good as they looked. Most of them didn’t quite measure up to their presentation.

Still, it was an enjoyable mid day excursion with one of my favorite people, and it involved food. Always a good combo! Plus, DineLA liked my photo of our appetizers on Instagram (I’m cleverfoodie), and Susan Feniger’s STREET started following me on Twitter.

Overall, a great day!

Posted in Dine LA, Eating Out in LA, experiments | No Comments »

July 15th, 2012 by kira2070

I Dream of Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes

A few months ago, my friend Jocelyn and I were discussing breakfast spots around LA. After bonding over a few common favorites, she enthusiastically gushed, ” Have you tried Little Doms ?! They have the most amazing blueberry ricotta pancakes!”

“Blueberry ricotta pancakes?! What does the ricotta do to the pancakes?”

I was intrigued.

Since I’m on a budget, what with quitting my day job and all (to pursue my dreams yo! ) I figured I might as well try to make these things myself.

Of course, the first time I went to Trader Joe’s, they were out of ricotta cheese and I didn’t really feel like driving around to another store. So I grabbed some marscapone instead. I made some regular blueberry pancakes and topped them with the marscapone, instead of mixing the cheese into the batter. And though those pancakes were delicious, the marscapone melted over the top like butter, since it’s a softer cheese.

Delicious, but not quite what I was going for.

This week, I decided I would try again. I went to my friendly neighborhood Trader Joe’s, bright and early, and was pleased to find a row full of ricotta!

Got home, and asked THE GOOGLE for recipes for blueberry ricotta pancakes. I ended up selecting the recipe below, which I found on another food blog. Since it was my first time making these, and it was just for me, I decided to make half a batch.

This is the full recipe (that I halved)…

2 cups Bisquick
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
3/4 cup water
1 tsp lemon zest
8oz of fresh or frozen blueberries

I also altered the preparation of the batter based on a few other recipes I found – combining the wet ingredients first, and then mixing in the Bisquick. Glad I did it this way! I think it made things much easier (and less lumpy).

First, in a glass bowl, whisk together the ricotta, water, eggs and lemon zest. By the way, if you’ve never zested a lemon, it’s easy! Get a fresh lemon, rinse it off, and grate the outside peel on the small holed part of a cheese grater, or on a spice grater…Make sure you rotate the lemon as you go so that you only grate the yellow part. The white part underneath will add a bitter or chalky taste, which we want to avoid! Sorry, I didn’t think to take a photo of this part, but this is what the end result will look like. Little flecks of the peel. Added bonus, it makes your kitchen smell nice too!

Now pour the wet mixture OVER the Bisquick. If you have a large Pyrex measuring cup, I suggest putting the mix into that, so it’ll be easier to pour onto the griddle!

When you’re done whisking the dry and wet parts together, it will look something like this…

You can make your pancakes on a griddle like this one that I got on sale for $15 at Kohl’s on Black Friday a couple years ago – SCORE! (I set mine to about 325F) . Or you can cook them over medium heat on the stovetop in a non stick skillet. Either way, make sure you very lightly grease the cooking surface before you pour the batter! I like to use this Trader Joe’s canola oil cooking spray.

Be aware, this batter is THICK! It’s about twice as thick as regular pancake batter – so know that’s ok! It kind of freaked me out at first…So I made a little test, silver dollar sized pancake, just to make sure.

As you can see, I prefer to drop the blueberries in by hand, right after pouring the batter onto the griddle. If you fold them into the batter, they all tend to sink to the bottom, and it also increases the likelihood that the blueberries will burst and turn your batter purple (which is ok, if that’s what you WANT ). Also, be aware that since the batter is thicker, it may take a little longer to cook. Mine took almost 3 full minutes on each side.

The first time I made these (as a half batch) it made about 4 grown up sized pancakes (and then the little silver dollar sized one). I like mine to be big enough to cover most of the plate.

These pancakes were SO good, that I actually made them twice the same week. The second time, the batter was a bit thicker, and I ended up adding a little extra water, a Tablespoon at a time, to thin it out. The first 2 pancakes I made without thinning out the batter were still amazing, it was just a bit difficult to pour the batter onto the griddle and it didn’t spread over the griddle as evenly as I would have liked.

The full batch made about 6 pancakes. Probably would have made 8 if I’d thinned out the batter first.

These were the most delicious, thick and fluffy pancakes I’ve EVER had. To answer my original question: What does the ricotta do? It seems to make the pancakes denser, but also fluffier! And they stay hot longer too!

Seriously, it was all I could do to keep from making them again today!

Next time, instead of maple syrup, I think I might try squeezing lemon juice over the top and then sprinkling them with powdered sugar, like you do with German pancakes (which I need to make and share soon!)

Try whipping these up friends! It’s easier than you think, I promise!

And if you have left over pancakes, lay them out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or paper towels. Turn them every 20 minutes or so, as they cool, so that moisture doesn’t collect underneath or make them soggy. Then, when they are fully cooled, pack them in freezer bags with slips of parchment paper in between (so they are easy to separate and pull out one by one later!). They freeze beautifully! Then when you want them, simply take them out and let them thaw to room temperature. I like to eat them plain and cold as a snack! Or you can heat them back up on a skillet, or in a toaster oven!

Posted in Breakfast and Brunch, home made foods, recipes | No Comments »

July 7th, 2012 by kira2070

Jell-o Pretzel Salad – Hooray!

In preparing for our Wednesday Night Potluck Family’s Fourth of July BBQ this week, my good buddy Kristen asked me if I wanted to go in on 2 dishes with her for the group! Seeing as my brain has been mostly fried lately, I was only TOO happy to let her cook up a storm and share the grocery bill.

She even shared this new recipe with me (which she gave me permission to share with you!). It’s a different take on the traditional fruit and Jell-O with whipped cream salad, that is a staple of most summer picnics. But this Jell-O pretzel salad is especially neat because it’s sweet AND salty at the same time!

I meant to post this (or course!) before the fourth….But you know how things go. Some day I will do a holiday food post in time for you to actually make the dish FOR the holiday that same year :)

Jell-O Pretzel Salad:

3 cups of stick pretzels (broken into 1 inch pieces)

2 sticks of butter, melted

2 Tbsp sugar

16 oz fresh or frozen berries of your choice (we used strawberries)

1 cup sugar

8oz container of Cool Whip

8oz of cream cheese

2 cups of boiling water

1 large package, or 2 small packages of strawberry or raspberry Jell-O

Break 3 cups of pretzel sticks into 1 inch pieces

Place the 2 sticks of butter into a microwave safe dish and melt it!

Add 2 Tbsp of sugar to the melted butter and mix until the sugar is disolved.

Place the pretzel pieces into a 9×13” casserole dish until they form and even layer on the bottom. Then pour the butter/sugar mixture over the pretzels and mix them around until they are evenly coated. Reposition the coated pretzel bits along the bottom of the dish until they form an even ‘crust’. Then bake the pretzel crust in the oven at 400 F for about 8 minutes (or until the crust is solid and the bits don’t slide around).

Remove the baked crust from the oven and set aside to cool. In the mean time, slice up your strawberries (if you use strawberries)…Kristen says that it tastes better if the strawberries are cut a bit unevenly. And I tend to agree. Plus it’s a little more interesting, visually!

To make this batch a bit more flavorful, we used fresh strawberries and raspberry Jell-O. We both agreed that the raspberry Jello-O has a much more substantial flavor. Also a tip, if you use fresh berries, freeze them at least half way. This will help the hot Jell-O mixture cool down faster when you pour it over as the final step, and help keep the layers from separating!

Next, combine 1 cup of sugar and the cream cheese with a hand mixer until it’s softened…I actually don’t have a photo of this step because we had to do it over again and I didn’t take a picture. Originally we mixed the sugar, cream cheese and Cool Whip all at once, but the mixture got too flat and didn’t provide the necessary protection between the crunchy pretzels and the hot Jell-O. So we had to do it again, because the bottom got mushy.

After you mix the sugar and cream cheese, fold in the Cool Whip, by HAND. This will keep the mixture nice and light and fluffy. Once the crust is cool, pour the cream cheese mixture over the top and spread it out to form a nice even layer.

Then spread the strawberries out over the top of the cream cheese layer.

In a pour-able container, mix together the Jell-O powder and the hot water (as per instructions on the package). Stir until all the Jell-O is dissolved. Then pour the Jell-O mixture slowly over the top. It’s best if you pour it over the back of a spoon to keep the Jell-O from splattering or cutting through the cream cheese layer…

Then put the whole thing into the fridge until it solidifies, about 2 hours.

When it’s all done, the layers look like this!

MMMMMM!!! Delicious.

And we totally KILLED the whole thing in about 10 minutes on the 4th. A big crowd pleaser for sure!

Thanks for sharing your recipe Kristen!

I hope everyone had a safe, happy and DELICOUS Fourth of July!

Posted in desserts, holiday foods, Picnic and BBQ worthy, recipes | No Comments »

June 27th, 2012 by kira2070

Grits: For the Southerner in YOU (and me!)

I love food.

Clearly.

I’ve been exploring lots of new cuisines lately and have come to a realization. I’ve been gipped on the Southern side of things! My dad’s family is from the South (mostly Tennessee and the Carolinas) but, I haven’t had many opportunities to visit with them over the years, for a number of reasons. Which means I ALSO missed out on learning to prepare authentic Southern cuisine.

Fail.

I’m excited to try REAL Southern BBQ when my family and I go visit relatives in the fall, but until then, I thought I’d try something simple on my own.

My dad was a big fan of grits, and I remember eating them as a kid—though mostly the instant kind. I’m sure we had the real ones occasionally—but that was probably when I was much younger. My brother stills likes the instant ones, but when I saw these at Trader Joe’s the other day, I couldn’t resist picking some up and trying them out for myself!

For those who aren’t familiar with grits – they are a hot cereal-ish dish made from corn. When they are cooked up, they have a consistency similar to polenta, and can be prepared as either a sweet or savory dish.

I looked at the bag, and the instructions seemed easy enough!

First boil 1 1/2 cups of water, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 Tbs of butter in a medium sauce pan:

Then once the water is boiling, slowly whisk in 1/2 cup of grits:

Turn down the heat as low as possible and continue simmering grits covered for 15-20 minutes, until most of the water is absorbed. Make sure you stir the mixture often (I let it go for a few minutes and they started to stick on the bottom! Fortunately I saved them in the nick of time!).

Then add in 1/2 cup of milk and simmer, stirring frequently, for an additional 10 minutes.

The package suggested serving the grits with brown sugar OR salt and pepper OR with 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese mixed in. I’ve often heard of cheesy grits, so I decided to try the last option….

Remove the grits from heat and stir in the shredded cheese AFTER the milk has been absorbed.

Voila! Here are my VERY TASTY cheesy grits. 1/2 cup uncooked makes about 1 1/2 cups cooked grits! Whoo! I still have some left over for breakfast tomorrow. These were well worth the wait!

Salty, delicious and MUCH tastier (and heartier) than instant grits.

Can’t wait to see how these stack up against real Southern grits!

Posted in comfort food, experiments, From Trader Joe's, Southern | No Comments »

May 29th, 2012 by kira2070

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope everyone had a safe and blessed Memorial Day Weekend! I was fortunate to be able to celebrate with good friends (some of whom I have not seen much of in the past couple of years) over an amazing, day long, pool party and BBQ.

Here’s a picture of my contribution to the festivities! A fruit salad.

I’m pretty picky when it comes to fruit salad! Let’s be honest, most people go the cheap route and fill the fruit salad with all kinds of melon and add a few berries or something. BLAH! No, no, no!

If you shop around, especially on a holiday weekend, you can generally find some much tastier fruits that will run you about the same total cost. This salad contains:

Jazz Apples

Navel Oranges

Fresh Pineapple spears (pre-cut from Trader Joe’s)

Strawberries

Blackberries

Bananas

Fresh squeezed lime juice

When preparing the fruit salad, I like to slice the apples first, put them on the bottom of the bowl and cover them with oranges. The citric acid keeps the apples from turning brown. Afterward, I slice and layer all the other fruit, bananas last (also for the browning factor) and then squeeze the lime juice on top! Lime juice is a great alternative to lemon (which a lot of people tend to use to prevent browning) – I think it’s tastier too :)

Posted in holiday foods | No Comments »

kiramisu

My Hit List for DINE LA – Jan 2013

BAM! It’s the Most Magical Banana Cream Pie EVER!

Rosemary Lamb Stew

Caprese Salad Bites!

Luna Park : Dine LA part II

Lazy Ox Canteen: The Dine LA Experience

I Dream of Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes

Jell-o Pretzel Salad – Hooray!

Grits: For the Southerner in YOU (and me!)

Happy Memorial Day!

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