Monthly Archives: September 2013

Lovely Rita

Rita's Water Ice
Although Autumn officially starts this weekend, the hot summer weather does not appear to be going away any time soon. So this week I have a recommendation for a cool way to cool off. Rita’s, which has been a mandatory stop on my food itinerary whenever I visit Philadelphia, has now expanded to Los Angeles, bringing two kinds of frozen treats that were previously hard to find here.

The first is Water Ice aka Italian Ice. Denser than shaved ice and smoother than a snow cone, this sweet, slushy and sugary dessert is served in a cup and consumed with a spoon. Rita’s offers many rotating flavors, including Root Beer, Blue Raspberry, Cotton Candy, Juicy Pear, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Swedish Fish and Pineapple. They also usually have a flavor or two of “Cream Ice,” a dairy version of Water Ice in flavors such as Pumpkin Pie and Red Velvet Cake.

The other specialty of Rita’s is Frozen Custard. It’s similar to soft serve ice cream but denser and richer since it’s made with egg yolks. Rita’s serves both Vanilla and Chocolate Frozen Custard and sometimes other varieties such as Coffee or Strawberry. If you can’t decide between the Water Ice and Frozen Custard, do what I do and have both. Rita’s Gelati is a delicious concoction made with a bottom layer of Frozen Custard, a middle layer of Water Ice, and a topping of more Frozen Custard. It’s well worth the attendant risks of brain freeze and sugar coma.

Rita’s is located at 2307 Main Street in Santa Monica, 403 N. Pacific Coast Hwy, Redondo Beach, and 468 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada Flintridge.

Gelati with Chocolate Peanut Butter Water Ice and Vanilla Frozen Custard

Gelati with Chocolate Peanut Butter Water Ice and Vanilla Frozen Custard


Cotton Candy Water Ice

Cotton Candy Water Ice


Dancing Water Ice

Dancing Water Ice

One of the only places to get authentic frozen custard in LA

One of the only places to get frozen custard in LA





Rita's on Urbanspoon
Rita's Italian Ice on Urbanspoon

6 Comments

Filed under La Canada, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica

ROC My World

ROC Soup Dumplings
Few things bring me as much joy as dumplings. I like to think of them as little wrapped presents that I open in my mouth. Well-crafted Chinese dumplings are especially nice gifts, the kind that I buy for myself after a particularly grueling work week or as a reward for doing my best to navigate the chutes and ladders of modern life. Sometime I gift dumplings to myself for no special reason at all, and occasionally I will even purchase them for others.

The best place for Chinese Dumplings is the San Gabriel Valley, but when I don’t have time to schlep out that far, I usually go to ROC Kitchen in West LA’s Asian food mecca known as “Little Osaka.” ROC opened last December and, despite a recent expansion into the space next door, there is almost always a wait for a table. The decor is modern and minimalist, with the focus, as it should be, on the food.

A meal at ROC should properly start with Xiao Long Bao aka Shanghai Soup Dumplings; little doughy sacks of broth and meat that explode in your mouth as you eat them whole. After that, I recommend moving on to the Crispy Dumplings with Pork and Shrimp — eight fried dumplings that have been fused together to form a crispy pancake of sorts, followed by some fluffy Steamed Pork Buns. Take a brief respite from the carbs and try the Three Cups Chicken with Fresh Chilies, Thai Basil & Roasted Garlic or the Pepper Beef. Both are excellent. For dessert, you can resume carbo-loading with sweet red bean or taro dumplings.

ROC Kitchen is located at 2049 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles (in West LA).

Xiao Long Bao aka Shanghai Soup Dumplings

Xiao Long Bao aka Shanghai Soup Dumplings


Scallion Pancake with Gingered Soy Dipping Sauce

Scallion Pancake with Gingered Soy Dipping Sauce


Pickled Szechuan Cucumbers

Pickled Szechuan Cucumbers


Steamed Pork Bun

Steamed Pork Bun


Beef Rolls

Beef Rolls


Crispy Dumplings with Pork and Shrimp

Crispy Dumplings with Pork and Shrimp


Pan Fried Pork Dumplings

Pan Fried Pork Dumplings


ROC Rice Cake with Chicken, Napa Cabbage & Spinach

ROC Rice Cake with Chicken, Napa Cabbage & Spinach


Three Cups Chicken with Fresh Chilies, Thai Basil & Roasted Garlic

Three Cups Chicken with Fresh Chilies, Thai Basil & Roasted Garlic


Pepper Beef

Pepper Beef


A dumpling house for Westsiders

A dumpling house for Westsiders



ROC Kitchen on Urbanspoon

1 Comment

Filed under West LA

Land of the Rising Sun

Golden Palace
Although I travel a lot, I rarely write about my food adventures outside of Los Angeles. However, I recently returned from an amazing first-time trip to Japan and I feel compelled to share. My family and I visited bustling and futuristic Tokyo, charming and spiritual Kyoto and, because of its reputation as a foodie haven, Osaka. In each of these places, the food was absolutely incredible. We were there for 2 1/2 weeks. If we had been there any longer, I would probably start looking like one of the sumo wrestlers pictured below. Here are the 14 best things (in no particular order) that I consumed in the Land of the Rising Sun:

Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo

Sushi from Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo


1. Sushi at Sukiyabashi Jiro This sushi bar in the Ginza subway station is so renowned, a documentary was made last year about it and its octogenarian owner/chef called “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.” Jiro served me some of the best raw fish I’ve ever eaten.

Okonomiyaki in Osaka

Okonomiyaki in Osaka


2. Okonomiyaki in Osaka A specialty of Osaka, this is a savory pancake filled with things like pork, shrimp and sweet potato, and topped with a special sauce. They’re typically served on built-in tabletop griddles and everyone at the table is given their own little spatula to cut off pieces.

Tsukemen from Rokurinsha in Tokyo

Tsukemen from Rokurinsha in Tokyo


3. Tsukemen at Rokurinsha Thick chewy noodles are served in one bowl, with a complex and concentrated ramen broth served in a companion bowl for dipping. This kind of “dip ramen” is called “tsukemen” and the best is served at Rokurinsha, a restaurant so popular that it had to change locations when its neighbors complained about the hordes of people (sometimes in excess of 300) constantly lining up outside to eat at their tiny counter.

Molecular Gastronomy from Narisawa in Tokyo

Molecular Gastronomy from Narisawa in Tokyo


4. Molecular Gastronomy at Narisawa This was our one fine dining meal in Japan and it did not disappoint. The restaurant ranks number one this year in San Pellegrino’s list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. The cuisine is an über-inventive combination of classical French cooking, local Japanese luxury ingredients and a generous dose of molecular gastronomy. The 12 course meal was entitled “Evolve with the Forest” and included bread prepared and baked right at our table, Hida beef coated in carbonized leek, and other unusual and drop-dead gorgeous dishes that tasted amazing.

Matsusaka Beef from Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M

Matsusaka Beef from Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M


5. Matsusaka Beef at Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M Forget Kobe beef. Matsusaka beef is even better and I had it for the first time in Osaka. The flavor and texture of the meat blew me away. To get this quality of beef, the cattle are raised on quiet farms, fed beer, massaged regularly and listen to soothing music. We cooked the beef on a little charcoal grill on our table, similar to LA’s own amazing Yakiniku restaurant, Totoraku (aka The Secret Japanese Beef Restaurant).

Ramen in Crab Broth from Kanisenmon Keisuke

Ramen in Crab Broth from Kanisenmon Keisuke


6. Ramen at Kanisenmon Keisuke The largest subway/train station in Tokyo has a “Ramen Street” where eight of Tokyo’s top ramen chefs were invited to open up outposts of their famous restaurants. One of the best is Kanisenmon Keisuke, which makes its most popular ramen with miso crab broth and serves it in bowls in the shape of Hokkaido, Japan’s Northernmost island.

Tempura from Shinjuku Tsunahachi

Tempura from Tsunahachi


7. Tempura at Tsunahachi The tempura in Japan is insanely good and nothing like the tempura we have here in Los Angeles. Some tempura houses in Japan have even received Michelin stars. The best tempura I had was at a little restaurant called Tsunahachi in the neon-signed shopping mecca of Shinjuku.

Tofu Kaiseki from Tosuiro Kiyamachi in Kyoto

Tofu Kaiseki at Tosuiro Kiyamachi in Kyoto


8. Tofu Kaiseki at Tosuiro Kiyamachi The food scene in Kyoto is all about kaiseki, artistic multi-course meals of small beautiful plates. At Tosuiro Kiyamachi, we had a spectacular kaiseki meal composed of all tofu dishes while sitting on a beautiful deck overlooking the Kamogawa River.

Yakitori from Kokekokko in Tokyo

Yakitori at Kokekokko in Tokyo


9. Yakitori at Kokekokko Perfectly seasoned and grilled skewers of chicken breast, thigh, heart, liver and gizzard, as well as quail eggs, were the focus of this yakitori joint that we stumbled upon in Tokyo. Since no one working there spoke a word of English, I was unable to ascertain whether there was a relationship between this restaurant and the Kokekokko in Little Tokyo here in Los Angeles.

Tonkatsu at Tonkatsu Maisen Tokyu-Toyoko

Tonkatsu at Maisen Tonkatsu


10. Tonkatsu at Maisen Tonkatsu One of the most popular dishes in Japan is fried pork cutlet called tonkatsu. The best tonkatsu I had was at a restaurant on the top floor of the Tokyu department store called Maisen Tonkatsu. It was crispy and juicy, was made from high-end Okita Kurobuta pork loin, and melted in my mouth.

"Burnt-style" Miso Ramen at Gogyu in Tokyo

“Burnt-style” Miso Ramen at Gogyu in Tokyo


11. Burnt-style Miso Ramen at Gogyu The Japanese love ramen and there are so many creative versions of the dish, especially in Tokyo. One of my favorites was at Gogyo, where the ramen is made with dark seared miso.

Tokoyaki from a street stand in the Dotonburi region of Osaka

Tokoyaki from a street stand in the Dotonburi region of Osaka


12. Takoyaki in Osaka Takoyaki (aka Octopus Balls) are dumplings made of a delicious batter, pieces of diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger and green onion. They are cooked in stalls on the street using special pans and then doused with sauce and bonito flakes. To eat them, you put each piping hot dumpling in your mouth whole using a couple long toothpicks.

Taiyaki from a department store food hall in Kyoto

Taiyaki from a department store food hall in Kyoto


13. Taiyaki Some of the best places in Japan to get food are the elaborate and extensive food halls in the basements of big department stores. One of my favorite treats there are these fish-shaped hot cakes which are prepared fresh right in front of you and filled with custard or sweet red beans.

Mochi Ice Cream

Mochi Ice Cream at Tokyo Station


14. Mochi Ice Cream at Tokyo Station These ice cream treats were truly spectacular. Varieties included Apple Pie, Sweet Potato, Custard Pudding, Caramel Macchiato and Raspberry Mille Feuille. For each piece, the ice cream had one flavor, the mochi casing had another and there was a liquid filling inside the ice cream such as caramel or condensed milk.

Sumo!

Sumo!


Geisha!

Geisha!


Jiro!

Jiro!


If you enjoy Consuming LA, please subscribe, like me on Facebook and/or follow me on Twitter at the top right of this page. And please forward to your friends!

10 Comments

Filed under Outside Los Angeles