Mapo Galbi, Los Angeles review

November 1, 2014November 1, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

As downtown Los Angeles increasingly evolves into a hip canvas for new toques to show off their kitchen prowess, diners are just as increasingly tempted to cross the 405 and 110 Freeways after dark, in search of some of the city’s most acclaimed food. But as you head east from the familiarly popular restaurant rows of Fairfax Avenue or West 3^rd Street, you venture through an oddly exciting (yet unnervingly foreign) neighborhood, which is home to some 120,000 Korean residents. And without GPS and a solid phonetic recommendation, finding an authentic and satisfying meal in K’town can be a bit of a long shot. You see, with the overabundance of brightly illuminated Korean signs screaming for your attention, what you hope might be a good steakhouse…could turn out to be a good gynecologist instead.

Mapo Galbi

As far as first impressions go, Mapo Galbi is a slight jolt to the expectation system. But don’t let the indecipherable Korean sign, nor the rather nondescript storefront or any of the interior choices of functional vinyl, 70’s wood veneer and sensible mirrors sway you. When you sit around one of the 10 gas-griddle tables, and slip on one of those cute, red aprons – you realize that you are about to venture more than a few feet outside the box.

Dak Galbi Stage 1

As our evening progressed, the hostess seemed to grow measurably more charming – even as we careened repeatedly into our substantial language barrier. When I mentioned that I had “wanted to try this restaurant for some time,” she obligingly pointed to the restroom door. The very succinct menu was equally tricky to navigate, but with the aid of hand gestures, charades and the translation services of a neighboring table in between a gush of giggles, we somehow managed to order the highly popular Dak Galbi (spicy chicken with vegetables).

Dak Galbi Stage 2

Our appetizers included a sliced cabbage salad with a creamy dressing, and a small dish of Water Kimchi, which consisted of a few submerged crunchy carrot and radish sticks under a milky, briny yet pleasantly refreshing, fermented broth. At this point, our griddle pan arrived, and the dish assembly began with alacrity. The ingredients started with rather simple chunks of marinated chicken, sweet potato chips and short ropes of rice-cake. Once browned, these were followed with coarsely chopped cabbage and a most unstinting helping of Gochujang (chili, sugar, sesame, garlic) sauce.

Dak Galbi Stage 3

Just prior to serving, sesame leaves and scallions were scissored in, giving the dish a fresh green accent.

Dak Galbi with Banchan (side dishes)

The side dishes (Banchan) included a rather soft, sweet and chewy strip of kimchi fish cake, a wonderfully flavorful seaweed salad, roasted zucchini and a few very crispy taco-sized slices of pickled radish. Our challenge was to balance a portion of chicken, rice-cake and cabbage onto a radish slither – without dropping the contents during the chopstick-assisted journey toward the lips. (If the need for the red aprons wasn’t clear earlier, it was blatantly obvious now.) The delectable combination of the sweet, sharp, savory and spicy, warm chicken against the cold and briny radish was a perfectly restrained contrast of the foreign and the familiar. And the incredible texture variety of melt-in-your-mouth rice cakes on one hand with crunchy scallions on the other, took the rather simple and gimmick-free dish to a unique and unexpected level.

Kimchi rice stir fry

And just when the evening began to wane, our hostess reignited the griddle and stirred up a small bowl of rice with chopped kimchi and a few black ribbons of dried seaweed, for a delicious post-course, sizzling stir-fry.

While I can happily vouch for the quality, I cannot speak to the authenticity of Mapo Galbi, but über-esteemed Momofuku chef David Chang not only can and does, but he even goes so far as to consider it one of his all-time favorites.

http://www.visitkoreatown.org/mapo-dak-galbi-restaurant/

https://wwww.facebook.com/…/mapo-galbi

ABC Cocina review

October 22, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s ABC Cocina might be more rustic and noisier than its big locavore brother ABC Kitchen, but it takes itself a lot less seriously too. On one hand the impressively lavish menu seems to steer solidly in the direction of Iberian-inspired tapas, but then a sudden sharp turn suggests we’re on a runaway taco truck with no brakes, picking up a litany of multi-culti hitchhikers as we perilously head for the border. With a chipotle pepper here or a chorizo there, here a taco, there an empanada and everywhere a salsa…Vong has created the ultimate pan-Latin kitchen comedy, by masterfully staging a telenovela right in the middle of a bullfight.

Spiced Ground Beef Empanadas

Many of the usual suspects are re-imagined with new and exciting textures and flavors like adding hearty eggplant to the Spiced ground Beef Empanadas or laying landmines of crispy chicken skin with lemon zest into the Arroz con Pollo giving the otherwise mundane staple some unexpected crunch and purpose.

Patatas Bravas

I was initially suspicious of the 24-karat gold roasted Patatas Bravas that were nested next to a pool of mysteriously dark and picante sauce suspended in the heart of an ivory aioli, but after mixing the liquids together and then dribbling them over the crispy nuggets, I found myself pleasantly overwhelmed in rosemary rapture.

Grilled Maitake Mushrooms

Even though the woody-smoky-charcoaly Grilled Maitake Mushrooms were crowned with melted herb goat cheese, their tart Fresno pepper vinaigrette might have shifted the earth on its axis by a hair.

Chipotle Chicken Tacos

Of all the gourmet Taco options, the Chipotle Chicken seems to have done the best job at already establishing its own fan club and Twitter account. But as delectable as it might have been, with just the right amount of fuss you’d expect to find inside a floppy masa shell, something was definitely missing. Too dry? Too crunchy? Turns out the grilled Jalapeño salsa was left in the kitchen and only arrived after we had digested the final morsels. Oops! But the sublimely moist and flavorful Grilled Chorizo sausage arrived with all of its parts fortuitously present.

Housemade Chorizo Sausage

While things may have changed slightly since former chef de cuisine Dan Kluger left the ABC’s to start his own venture, his footprints for success are still well-entrenched in these polished-concrete cocina floors. ¡Esta bien!

http://www.abchome.com/eat/abc-cocina/

Trois Mec, Los Angeles review

October 10, 2014October 10, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Trois Mec

Trying to get into any of LA’s “it” restaurants at the peak of their game has always involved a bit of high stakes drama. But none can rival the theatrical shenanigans of securing a seat at Jon Shook, Vinny Dotolo and Ludo Lefebvre’s Trois Mec (three mates). Just like any other live performance, the website offers tickets to specific sittings on specific dates. The “pay now – see you in two weeks” scheme permits diners to sample Lefebvre’s unconventional cuisine in a daily changing, omakase (chef’s choice) menu of whatever happens to be in season, in vogue or in the pantry.

Trois Mec exterior

Thrilled to be finally clutching a ticket, I gingerly opened the door to a roar of “Bon soir”, in an utterly unremarkable dining room, that occupies the space of a formerly unremarkable pizza joint at the end of an unremarkable strip mall in the shade of the Hollywood hills.

Then for the next couple of hours I found myself drowning in a tsunami of mediocrity as the giant candle of hype melted away into a puddle of weak tea. Sure, the notion of a don’t ask, don’t tell, hush-hush, say-no-more, pre-pay, chef’s choice supper club sounds rather enticing, but when the eloquently described dishes yield little more than the total sum of their parts, its hard not to feel like you’ve just been taken for a bit of a backstage joyride.

Garlic Bread

A series of pre-menu Snacks included the house signature Buckwheat Popcorn – a decent enough, salt and vinegary blocker for the gaps in between the teeth; the peppery Tapioca cake with melted Parmesan cheese – a solid runner-up in the rice-cake cook-off; a Dijon Crème Brulee – every bit as unnecessary and pretentious as it sounds; a highly forgettable miniature sesame crisp something-or-other with shredded greens; and finally the first applause-worthy item, a square inch block of fire toasted Garlic Bread with melted herb butter.

Spot Prawn

The five menu items started with the melancholy death of a Santa Barbara Spot Prawn, which was camouflaged from sight by slithers of crusty tomato, and camouflaged from taste by the violent upstaging of horseradish-infused crème fraiche.

Grilled Eggplant Caviar

The Grilled Eggplant Caviar reminded me of a bucket of red laundry with Jamon Iberico swimming in a soggy pond of honey melon juice amidst a few crushed hazelnuts in suspension.

The Sunchoke salad, the only real hit among the misses included a medley of the thinnest slithers of delicately pickled sunchokes amongst a splendid blend of crunchy green beans and roasted sunflower seeds over a bed of citrusy hummus, spiked with thyme powder, giving the dish a fresh elegance and a little hope for the rest of the evening’s performance.

Sunchoke Salad

The jury is still out as to whether it might have been easier to slice through my wallet or the Grilled Beef Belly, which would have also benefited more from the company of a crispy roast potato than the paltry abalone mushroom and green herb jus.

And finally a sugar-crusted, raw egg yolk topped the Carolina gold Rice Pudding, which came peppered with brown butter powder, making for a curiously savory and unnecessarily rich dessert.

Sesame Crisp

If I’m ever in the area again, I just might pop next door to Ludo’s Parisian bistro Petite Trois, which by all accounts looks and feels (and hopefully tastes) like a real meal – and may yield slightly more value for the $100 seat!

https://www.troismec.com/

Flex Mussels review

October 6, 2014October 6, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Flex Mussels

Can we please hear it for mussels – those inexpensive, scrumptious, highly adaptable and relatively unsung heroes of the shellfish world?

“Bombay” Indian curry, star anise, garlic, cinnamon, white wine

While they might make an appearance on many a menu in many a city, they often seem to do well at being overlooked or under-ordered. Is it the size of their shells that belies the amount of flesh within? Or could it be because they require actual physical contact and dexterous assistance? Or maybe that their classic preparation (white wine, leeks and cream) fails to put the lust back into lackluster?

Thanks to Bobby & Laura Shapiro, the Canadian duo who are somehow able to haul in an endless catch of the most perfectly sized, beardless, Prince Edward Island farm raised bi-valves that snap open as they soak up flavors from all around the world at Flex Mussels.

The menu offers 23 different options that are as delicious as they are audacious. From simple, low-key ingredients you might expect to see in a pot of mussels: Dijon mustard, orange zest, fennel and tomatoes, to some you’d be surprised to see: curry coconut broth, pesto, spinach or Kalamata olives, to some you’d be outright flabbergasted to see: bacon, ham, chipotle adobo, prosciutto or blue cheese. The kitchen goes even further to include lobster, calamari, shrimp, crab and an entire sausage gumbo into some of their most memorable concoctions. My favorite is the Bisque, with hearty chunks of succulent lobster tail, sweet San Marzano tomatoes and a generous hint of brandy in the bread-dippingly delectable garlic cream.

“Gumbo” Andoille sausage, peppers, ochra, shrimp, roux

The scene at both of their strictly informal Manhattan-based bistros (West Village and Upper East Side) is equal parts young, noisy, popular and energetic, with not much room for décor beyond a few enlargements of the Prince Edward Island setting sun, allowing the punch-line-printed (“Mussel-tov”), black T-shirt-wearing staff to deliver pot after steaming pot to the dozen or so crowded tables.

Curiously enough and contrary to the laws of nature and physics, the longer these pots sit on the table, and the deeper you dig to extract your harvest of delight, the hotter they get! Hmm.

Flex Donut Collection

The menu also offers a sizable Not Mussels section, including a wonderfully light and crispy, mixed seafood plate called Burnt Fingers, a very affordable selection of California and European White and Red wines (including a rarely-seen-in-these-parts Turley Old Vines Zinfandel) culminating in the Flex Donut Collection, where 4 or 6 (or more) tennis-ball sized donuts are served with a vanilla dipping sauce on a wooden rack, practically exploding with your choice of sinful fillings, from Salted Caramel and Wild Blueberry to Meyer Lemon…but it’s still all about the mussels!

http://www.flexmussels.com/

Yunnan Kitchen review

October 2, 2014October 9, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Yunnan Kitchen

When chefs leave restaurants, the impact to a kitchen is far greater than say when a captain leaves his ship. Ships aren’t really expected to do much more than shlepp passengers (who prefer to travel in hordes, unpack only once and who are quite comfortable with their first impression of a foreign destination being the port) without fuss, plague or delay. Restaurant kitchens on the other hand have hungry, expectant, impatient, picky and frequently critical diners to feed, a reputation to uphold – all while serving countless renditions of the same dish monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, minutely without a single fluctuation. Chefs can’t cut corners. They aren’t allowed to improvise or compromise because they are ultimately the first and last reason any diner recommends, revisits or pans a restaurant. So when Doron Wong took over the leadership from Travis Post at Yunnan Kitchen in the Lower East Side over a year ago, he created a fresh and affordable menu with sharable dishes offering a spectrum of Yunnan province flavors – from aromatic petals to gasket-blowing peppers that are part of the reason there is still a pervasive line outside the door.

Ma La Chicken Wings

If New York has flower, theater, diamond and garment districts, then the Lower East Side is the uncontested eclectic food district. Yunnan Kitchen’s rustic space with Clinton-Street-de-rigueur exposed-brick, pressed-steel ceilings and dim lighting is pretty much the final outpost in a row of distinctive and original establishments, where reservations are seldom offered.

Wong has a few signature cocktails that debut many of the spices and aromas that are about to color and define the rest of the evening. The first appearance (of the seemingly abundant) Sichuan peppercorns is added to a sweat-inducing grapefruit, chili, tequila Rita. The next most reached-for ingredient in the house is Chrysanthemum, which becomes the cornerstone for an aromatic, sweet ‘n sour Daiquiri with splashes of citrus and St. Germain.

The broad measuring-tape-sized Spicy Pulled-pork cold noodles, snake around morsels of barbecued pork and cherry tomatoes, which are dressed in chili oil with a more subtle infusion of Chrysanthemum giving them an unexpectedly fragrant – yet spicy perfume.

Mushroom Rice Cakes

Notwithstanding the addition of flecks of ham and the odd chili, the Stir Fried Mushrooms felt a little rubbery to me, with perhaps too much restraint in the flavor department to warrant a position on the very cautiously selected 16-item menu, but the Mushroom Rice Cakes are fabulous. Diagonal slithers of a dense yet remarkably light rice cake, are warmed with the smokiness of fermented chilies in a thick, rich and hearty brown sauce.

Lamb Meatballs Mao Shao

The addition of Yunnan spices to the soft and perfectly juicy Lamb Meatballs Mao Shao is yet another brilliant example of distinctive simplicity.

The all-time favorite Ma La Chicken Wings (with shoulders attached) are an absolute knockout. As you bite through the dry crunch of the ochre skin, waves of warmth begin to envelope your senses from your lips to your nose to your toes, as the unrelenting heat of the Sichuan peppercorns serves up the first punch, followed by a surprising left hook from the Numbing Spices. I managed two rounds before tapping-out.

Ma La Chcolate Crémeaux

The only real disappointment was the Ma La Chocolate Crémeux. The fact that Asian desserts have never found a fan base in the US is nothing new or surprising, but because there was only one lonely option on the menu I felt compelled to give it a try. The doughy train-wreck of a biscuit that tried to commit suicide on uncooked cumin, flanks a scoop of Sichuan pepper-infused Valrhona Chocolate Mousse with curiously sticky marshmallow triangles, feels out-of-character and heavy-handed to have emerged from this kitchen. (Maybe chef Wong can sneak in something simple from one of his neighbors up the street. Just sayin’.)

http://yunnankitchen.com/reservations.htm

El Quinto Piño review

September 18, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

El Quinto Piño

The mere expression “Spanish tapas bar” instantly conjures up a very familiar expectation of a Spanish inspired, small-plates snack bar. It is therefore brave and admirable for Alex Raij and Eder Montero to create a derivative in their Chelsea slither of a bistro – El Quinto Piño, that’s just as traditional as it is bold and quirky. The charming comedor room off of the curved bar feels familiar and intimate in its simple understated design, with mismatched chairs, interesting lighting and a large sound-absorptive woven tapestry.

Nuestras Bravas

The large menu features sufficient “usual-suspect” dishes to satisfy the purists intent on reliving that distant Spanish vacation (or the opportunity to show off their international-ness to their less-travelled friends). In addition there are a few bold spinoffs that improve on the original, and a couple of quirky creations to bolster interest (and stars) amongst the food critic literati. While most of the menu undergoes periodic regional rotation to retain freshness and an element of the unexpected, there are a few permanent staples that are mentioned on a variety of must-try lists.

Croquetas

No tapas bar in its right mind would ever dare open its doors without the mandatory Nuestras Bravas (fried potatoes trickled with spicy aioli), Pan amb Tomaca (tomato and garlic rubbed bread with salt and olive oil) and those crusty shelled, delightfully creamy potato and Serrano ham Croquetas – all of which are as reliably delicious as they are popular and more than make up for the somewhat bashfully-flavored and under-toasted shrimp and squid Fideúa (Valencia short noodle paella).

Uni Panini

On the bold side, creating a po’ boy styled Bocadillo de Calamar has all the best flavors of delicately fried and exquisitely crispy squid legs, adding crunch and sweetness to a tightly wrapped vegetable sandwich. I would also have to concur that the Uni Panini deserves its position as one of Eater.com’s Top 20 sandwiches in all of New York. But while I adore the flavor of sea urchin, I wish someone could have warned me about the lightning-bolt shock of sinus-clearing mustard!

Fideúa

And finally some of the quirkier options that include the Arroz Brut de Conejo, which is a cabbage stuffed with rabbit meat and rice, or the crispy and rather harshly intense ocean-floor surprise taste of sea anemones cooked into soft scrambled eggs known as Revuelto de Ortigulla. The proof that Raij and Montero have solidly catered to just about everyone’s culinary comfort zone is directly proportional to the persistence required to snag a table.

http://elquintopinonyc.com/reservations

République, Los Angeles review

September 16, 2014 / Roger Hyde / 1 Comment

République

If reinvention is as American as Apple Pie, then the capital would have to be Los Angeles – where dreams are made, shattered and reconfigured between a jog through Runyon Canyon and a tall, wet, white, decaf, no-foam, percent, vanilla latte on Sunset Plaza. Like any other business, restaurants are hardly immune to the competitive pressures of new entrants and fickle loyalties – regardless of how unrelenting their meteoric success might have been. While cooking-show super stars were being created a mere mile up the road, no one noticed that the first darling of SoCal’s seasonal-sustainable discipline, Campanile, fell victim to waning interest. But the good news is that République has breathed brand new life into what was once the Charlie Chaplin building on the edge of Hancock Park. Walter Manzke (formerly of L’Auberge Carmel, Patina and Petty Cash Taquería) has performed a spectacular transformation, not only with tiles from the Philippines, wood from Thailand (for the lengthy communal tables and even lengthier charcuterie boards) but also by cracking the cloistered space wide open, and relocating Chaplin’s iconic tiled fountain to enhance the super-bistro’s curb appeal. Manzke and pastry-chef wife Margarita have created robust-flavored pan-European plates from France to Alsace to the Italian Riviera (and beyond) accompanied by an exclusively French yet approachable wine list with a handful of cheerfully curious cocktails that include Absinthe, Serrano chillies and Pandan leaves as ingredients.

Grass-fed Beef Tartare

As you walk in, a very respectable selection of bi-coastal oysters greet you (where the bakery used to be) along with a tempting glimpse of pre-baked dessert tarts and a row of imported tulip-bulb shaped dollops of fresh Normandy butter. The menu is broken down more by kitchen department than digestive courses, with separate sections for Bread, Steak Frites and Savory Tarts. Most portions are sharable and the wait staff shines at taste timing and course choreography. And here’s the best part, not only is the shelf-life for any menu item dictated by its availability, but many of the preparations are frequently reinvented (I assume due to diner indifference or kitchen fatigue or both) leaving a menu perpetually brimming with highly popular and difficult-to-make decisions.

Tasmanian Sea-Trout Crudo

Must-have starters include the pastry covered Escargot, the Thai-inspired Charcoal-grilled Prawns and two incredibly flavorful crudos: the impeccably balanced Hamachi with fire and freshness from pineapple, passion fruit and fresh jalapeño, and the lightly smoked Tasmanian Sea-trout in a wonderfully light (yet creamy) leak-and-potato mousseline (whipped egg-white sauce) with green apple gelée. Our waiter very accurately defined the Grass-fed Beef Steak Tartare as follows: “They didn’t reinvent it or anything – they just nailed it!” And nail it they did with dill pickled onions and a take-no-prisoners mouth-watering tarragon aioli.

Nueske’s Bacon Tart Alsacienne

The Nueske’s Tarte Alsacienne is a traditional, thin-crusted savory flatbread drenched in melted gruyere cheese over soft caramelized onions and heavenly strips of chewy bacon.

The rich, sweet and juicy Australian Lamb Rack is presented in a cast iron pot over nuggets of lamb shank and a wintry mix of beans, tomato and zucchini. As a side, we had to sample the irremovable menu fixture Wood Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts, which are deliciously browned with apple-wood bacon and a soft poached egg.

Australian Lamb Rack and Shank

Most of the desserts include seasonal fruits as inspiration around tarts, pastries and puddings, and the cheese menu includes local and European options with a couple of seldom-seen raw-milk choices.

Mirabelle Plum Tart

And so while it’s tough to let go of my many recollections of Campanile and their impossible-to-get-into Thursday night grilled-cheese heyday fests, I couldn’t help finding myself in total embrace of brand new memories at République.

http://republiquela.com/

Dining in Brussels

September 11, 2014September 11, 2014 / Roger Hyde / 1 Comment

La Villette

Belgium has always enjoyed a respectable (if somewhat unadventurous) culinary reputation, thanks to its border with the Netherlands and France. On one hand, some say that the local cuisine is classic French cooking served up in Dutch-sized potions, whereas for the vast majority of the chewing world, the only dishes that come to mind are Waffles, Beer, Moules Frîtes (mussels and fries) and of course my relentless weakness – chocolate. (More about that in a subsequent blog)

Delicatessen

Not to be outdone by any other European city, Brussels has its fair share of serious eats, modern surprises and tourist traps. There isn’t a single visitor to the city who doesn’t arrive armed with the name Chez Leon as a recommendation from a cousin’s neighbor’s aunt’s sister’s hairdresser’s boyfriend’s therapist. Located on the awning-covered, light-bulb-string-illuminated, beggar-inhabited Rue de Bouchers, the only way to describe the Moules Frîtes at this Belgian institution – is institutional! If the boredom of the wait staff is any indication of how the cooks must feel every time a red-eyed, jet-lagged backpacker orders the exact same dish, it’s no surprise you’re left with a relentlessly lingering aftertaste of salty leaks. For a more pleasantly memorable Moules Frîtes experience, the delightful bistro on Sainte Catherine’s square called La Villette hits the spot. The menu is riddled with Belgian favorites from Grey shrimp to Sole to Entrecote steak.

Moules Frîtes with Belgian endives – La Villette

Their Mussels with Belgian endives is flavored with white beer foam and cream, creating a rich, deep and buttery broth for the generous pot of fresh Zeeland bivalves, and for putting the hand-cut fries to good use.

Vol au Vent – La Villette

The equally scrumptious Vol au Vent is best described as a deconstructed chicken pot-pie, with a very simple cream, beer and mushroom gravy. Desserts include the ubiquitous Pancakes and Profiteroles in some form or other, but the Crème Brulee made with Chamay beer is a true original.

Burratta – La Manufacture

Other classic restaurants in the city range from the 90 year old and multi Michelin star honoree Comme Chez Soi, to the hip, trendy locovore kitchens like Alexandre, Delicatessen, and the former suitcase factory La Manufacture – featuring a mind-blowing Burrata with external olive-oil infuser and a hot, crispy and sinfully delicious Goat Cheese Crème Brulee, but what the menu boasts in green olive and pistachio crusts or tarragon sauces is quickly diminished by the complete and abject lack of service.

Le Wine Bar de Sablon

My personal favorite has to be the neighborhood bistro Le Wine Bar de Sablon. The staggering menu features every part of every creature (snails, brains and sausages included) proudly produced by the tiniest of kitchens.

Sea bream Carpaccio

The Dorade Royale (sea bream) Carpaccio was spiked with red peppers and pickles, giving the fish a smooth, sour and spicy edge. The Rillettes were sinfully festooned in thick duck fat with pickled onions and stoneground mustard for a sharp contrast, but the runaway hit of the day was the Poêlée de Champignons.

Poêlée de Champignons – Le Wine Bar de Sablon

A caramelized and sautéed trio of dark forest flavored and freshly plucked moist porcini, chanterelle and hedgehog mushrooms served with steaming hot polenta.

Lizzie’s Wafels, Bruges

And without doubt, the hands-down best Waffles in town – are actually located out of town. Just steps from the Grote Markt in nearby Bruges, Lizzie’s Wafels have conquered the hot, dimpled vanilla biscuit market. After years of being pestered by insistent tourists demanding waffles, Lizzie finally relented and took the popular all-day breakfast snack to a higher level. Serving nearly 150 super-sized crispy waffles per day with all the obvious (and some less obvious) toppings, Lizzie also created Chocolate “Roses”, which are peach-sized chocolate blooms in three flavors that are lowered into scalding milk for the most decadently wonderful melted hot-chocolate delight the world has ever tasted.

http://www.la-villette.be/reservation/

https://www.commechezsoi.be/Reservations/tabid/401/language/en-US/Default.aspx

http://www.lamanufacture.be/en/

http://www.winebarsablon.be/en

Hot Chocolate “Rose” – Lizzie’s Wafels, Bruges

Son of a Gun, Los Angeles review

August 26, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

Don’t judge a fish by its scales! To the West 3^rd Street passerby, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo’s summery seafood joint Son of a Gun resembles a casual but whimsical, south-Florida fish shack, with its sun-faded pastel shades as the canvass to a large, nautical pawn-shop collection of beachy tchotchkes. But once the dishes emerge, it becomes soberingly obvious that there’s nothing laid-back about the food. Here Shook and Dotolo have created an equally popular, full-flavored, scales-and-shells equivalent to Animal, their immensely successful carnivore paradise less than a mile away.

The comprehensive sharing menu is grouped by critter category rather than courses, and the bright and cheerful, color-splashed plates arrive with hurricane speed, but never seemed to deluge the table.

Hamachi

In the what appears to be the land of 101 vinaigrettes, the Hamachi crudo (raw fish) is splashed with a wonderfully sour dressing and prodded with sweetness from the doll-sized apple dice.

Lemonfish Poke

The superb Lemonfish Poke and radishes enjoy quite a different vinegary bath as they hide under a nest of the most exotically crispy sunchoke chips. Sunchoke chips? Finally someone brave enough to do something with sunchokes other than purée or au-gratin.

Uni & Burrata might very well be the names of my unborn children, but I can’t say that the fresh sea urchin and cream-centered mozzarella played very nicely in the sandbox together. Even the addition of yuzu lemon and button mushrooms couldn’t seem to entice them to get along. But the Jamaican jerk spiced Scottish Salmon with a sweet vinaigrette, chilies and cherries was like raiding a pirate ship with all sorts of treasures from The Carribbean to the coast of Spain and beyond. But enough about the crudo!

Peel n Eat Shrimp

I could have made an entire meal of the Chilled Peel & Eat Shrimp spiked with cajun spices and a citrusy mustard dipping sauce, were it not for the Hamachi Collar, a large, triangular section of fish from just behind the head and gills. In strict accordance with the adage that everything tastes better when cooked on the bone, Shook and Dotolo finish this especially flavorful fish cheek with yet another vibrant vinaigrette and fresh herbs.

Fried Chicken Sandwich

Normally one wouldn’t dare order chicken at a seafood restaurant, but that’s not the word on this street. On most of the dozen or so tables (ours included), stood at least one 9-inch tall gobbeliciously crispy, Sriracha aioli Fried Chicken Sandwich, stuffed with a zesty, citrusy, peppery, pickley coleslaw. A monumental challenge to bite into (given that a temporary jaw dislocation was out of the question), many of the slaw shreds escaped from between the fingers, landing on the plate (for subsequent re-consumption) or landing on the trousers right next to the napkin (for subsequent dry cleaning), but a highly satisfying ordeal nonetheless.

White Peaches

The menu winds down with a bright and seasonal choice of salads and sides like the popular Shishito Peppers smothered in Bottarga (cured fish roe) aioli and fresh basil or the wonderfully refreshing White Peach salad with mint and chili.

Desserts are equally summery with sorbets, gelato sandwiches and an impossibly delicious Banana Bread with coffee ice-cream and salty candied pecans.

It certainly appears that everything this dynamic duo touches, turns to caviar. I anxiously await the opening of their next act, Jon and Vinny’s on Fairfax this fall.

http://www.sonofagunrestaurant.com/reserve/

Umami Burger review

August 18, 2014August 18, 2014 / Roger Hyde / Leave a comment

You probably wouldn’t believe it, but there is a connection between the words Umami and Chutspah. Umami – borrowed from Japanese – has to do with the perceived fifth “savory” taste after salt, sweet, sour and bitter, and Chutspah is Yiddish for gall, guts, courage, fortitude, determination and a touch of arrogance. But Adam Fleishman (coincidentally Yiddish for “meat man”, hmm…) is the very personification of both. After going for broke, the California native created Umami Burger, a formidably successful franchise from the umpteen-thousandth re-re-re-invention of the hamburger. But when that wasn’t enough, he did the unthinkable – he brought it to New York City. As you can imagine, New Yorkers of all walks of life were unspeakably apoplectic with indignation that Fleishman would have the chutspah to enter their holy burger grail, tell them that he could do it better, and that he was an Angelino no less!

The predictably feverish hype and hoopla blitz ensued, and instead of standing in line for 3+ hours outside their Greenwich Village location (although I’ve read that the wait has shrunk to below 30 minutes for a table nowadays), I decided to sample Fleishman’s creation in its natural habitat. I sat at one of the raw wooden benches with a view of the parking-lot outside the tip of Fred Segal’s ivy-covered clothing empire in Santa Monica, as my server wearing the iconic logo of a cross between a burger and a pair of Rocky-Horror-Picture-Show-ketchup-stained lips on his T-shirt, brought me the Original burger with a side of Smushed Potatoes dredged in a roasted garlic aioli.

The Original

The soft, yet dense Portuguese roll has a cute cattle-brand of a “U” on its lid. The meat is roughly chopped Wagyu steak, which is loosely packed and cooked to a juicy medium-rare with Fleishman’s secret seasonings that are supposed to unleash that unbridled Umami flavor. The toppings are on the unconventional side, with sautéed shitake mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions and a Parmesan crisp wafer that adds an interesting crunch as you bite down.

The overall flavors are definitely restaurant quality. There’s char-grilled depth, salty moisture and a heartiness you wont find in a fast-food factory burger (which always remind me of gray wood-shavings and Purina puppy chow.)

But is it the best burger in the land? Probably not. Is that such a bad thing? Probably not. And will this be the last ever re-invention of the burger as we know it? Most definitely not.

Next time someone wants to reinvent something, why not try Escargot? They’ve been prepared the same way for over 350 years. I think it’s time.

http://www.umami.com/umami-burger/

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FOOD. My favorite 4-letter F-word.