Category Archives: Beverly Hills

July 20, 2012 · 10:15 am

Saam I Aam

Located in a clandestine room behind an unmarked door at the rear of The Bazaar in the SLS Hotel, Saam offers one of the best and most exciting dining experiences in the city. Here, super-star chef José Andrés has crafted a tasting menu of approximately 22 small plates of whimsy and gastronomical delight, almost all of which do not appear on the menu at The Bazaar. With so many courses, the meal takes around 3 1/2 hours to complete. Service is top-notch; among the best I’ve ever experienced. Of course Saam is not inexpensive. The cost is $120 per person plus tax, tip, optional wine pairing ($100) and optional shaved truffles ($35-$50 per course). But as with The French Laundry, this is not just a meal. It’s an evening of entertainment; a special and unique experience.

Chef Andrés, who trained at the legendary El Bulli in Barcelona, is incredibly creative and utilizes molecular gastronomy and other playful techniques to surprise and wow his diners. There are scallops masquerading as carrots, spherified mozzerella balls which instantly liquify in your mouth, a Vietnamese Bahn Mi sandwich which has been elevated both literally and figuratively, and a Spanish street food favorite that has been turned inside-out. It’s all really delicious too. One of the high points of the meal is “Dragon’s Breath Popcorn,” a puffed corn cake that is immersed in liquid nitrogen at your table, causing smoke to come out of your nose and mouth when you eat it. The desserts are excellent also, especially the frozen Apricot Timbale with Amaretto, and there is a gift of chocolates to take home.

Saam is located in the SLS Hotel at 465 S. La Cienega, Los Aneles (Mid-City near Beverly Hills and West Hollywood). 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!

Apple Meringue with Blue Cheese

Spicy Handroll

Seabeans in Tempura

Oyster and Jambon

Jose’s Combination

Brussels Sprouts

Patatas Bravas

Chicken Skin & Cigala

Not Your Everyday Caprese

Crispy Nigiri

Uni & Eel

Chipirones

Banh Mi

Carrot or Scallop

Mirugai

Mushroom & Duck Liver

Dessert Desert

Japanese Baby Peaches

Dragon’s Breath Popcorn

Apricot Timbale with Amaretto

Sexy Little Sweets

Cotton Candy Cocktails

Gifts to take home!

Located in a clandestine room behind Bazaar

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Filed under Beverly Hills, Mid-City, West Hollywood

July 13, 2012 · 11:00 am

Wait For It

Not content with cupcake supremacy, Sprinkles has now branched into ice cream. Sprinkles Ice Cream opened recently in Bevely Hills next door to Sprinkles Cupcakes and the awesome Sprinkles Cupcake ATM, a vending machine where you can buy cupcakes at any time day or night. I’m a huge fan of Sprinkles Cupcakes so I was very excited to see what pastry chef/owner Candace Nelson does with ice cream. As with their cupcake shop, the cornerstone of Sprinkles Ice Cream is red velvet. They have red velvet ice cream, red velvet cones, red velvet crumb topping and you can get a scoop of ice cream sandwiched between two halves of a red velvet cupcake. I thought the red velvet ice cream, which is essentially vanilla ice cream with red velvet crumbs mixed in, was pretty good but not amazing.

In addition to red velvet, there are eleven daily rotating flavors, as well as six different kinds of homemade cookies. I liked some of the ice cream flavors such as dark chocolate and salted caramel, but found other flavors to be disappointing. As a peanut butter fanatic, I had to try Sprinkles’ peanut butter cup ice cream, as well as their peanut butter pretzel chip cookie. Sad to say, I was not impressed with either. I did, however, absolutely love their gooey double chocolate cookie. It should also be mentioned that all of these treats are quite expensive. A single scoop costs $3.50 and a double scoop is $5.75. Toppings and cones are an extra dollar each and an ice cream sandwich will set you back $6.50 if it’s on cupcake “muffin tops” or a whopping $8.50 if it’s on cookies. There is a super miniature ice cream cone that you can get for $1.75, but it’s not much more than a taste and you can eat it in about two bites.

The most interesting (and annoying) thing about Sprinkles is their long lines. It’s not so much the number of people in line, but that the lines are incredibly slow-moving. You would think that the long lines would hurt business because many people would not want to wait, but I suspect the lines have the opposite effect. I’m pretty certain that Sprinkles intentionally tries to keep its lines long to reinforce their reputation of being highly in demand and to attract passersby, most of whom appear to be tourists eager to try something that is so seemingly sought-after in posh Beverly Hills. The store is completely understaffed and it seems as if each employee is required for some reason to disappear into a backroom for a period of time either while preparing each order and/or between waiting on each customer. It’s rather genius. But for me, while I’m willing to wait in line for a short while for Sprinkles Cupcakes, Sprinkles Ice Cream is just not worth it.

Sprinkles Ice Cream is located at 9631 S. Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills. 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!

Vanilla bean ice cream with red velvet crumbs

Ice cream sandwich with peanut butter cup ice cream and vanilla cupcake tops

Salty caramel ice cream

Peanut butter pretzel chip cookie

Scooping ice cream on a red velvet cone

Be prepared to wait.

Cones and toppings

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Filed under Beverly Hills

Tagged as Candace Nelson, Red Velvet Ice Cream, Sprinkles ATM, Sprinkles Beverly Hills, Sprinkles Cupcake ATM, Sprinkles Cupcake Vending Machine, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Sprinkles Hours, Sprinkles Ice Cream, Sprinkles Ice Cream Beverly Hills, Sprinkles Ice Cream Flavors, Sprinkles Ice Cream Hours, Sprinkles Ice Cream Menu, Sprinkles Ice Cream Review, Sprinkles Red Velvet Ice Cream

February 14, 2012 · 9:30 am

14 Best Peanut Butter Treats In LA

I am a peanut butter fanatic, a peanut butter fiend, a peanut butter junkie. I am nuts about peanut butter and I love it more than almost anything else. If a restaurant or bakery has a peanut butter dessert on the menu, I automatically order it. And I always keep a jar at home in the fridge for snacking or adding to other desserts. After years of dedicated research, I share with you my 14 favorite peanut butter treats in Los Angeles (in no particular order).

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cream Cookie from Xtreme Desserts

1. Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cream Cookie from Xtreme Desserts (11990 Ventura Blvd., Studio City) A peanut butter cream cheese filling sandwiched between two soft chocolate chip cookies with chocolate ganache drizzled on top. One of the best things ever!

Peanut Butter Meringue Pie from Pie 'n Burger

2. Peanut Butter Meringue Pie from Pie ‘n Burger (913 E. California in Pasadena) This is one awesome pie. Creamy and delicious peanut butter pudding in a delcious butter crust topped with meringue. They serve it every other day, alternating with Butterscotch Meringue Pie.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream from Mashti Malone's

3. Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream from Mashti Malone’s Ice Cream (1525 N. La Brea Ave. in Hollywood) Rich and creamy with chunks of peanut butter and chocolate. It’s surprising that a store famous for their Persian rosewater ice creams and sorbets would make the best peanut butter ice cream in the city, but they do!

The Huell from Stan's Doughnuts

4. The Huell from Stan’s Doughnuts (10948 Weyburn Ave. in Westwood) Stan’s actually makes three amazing peanut butter doughnuts: a Peanut Butter & Banana Doughnut, a PB&J Doughnut and “The Huell,” with chocolate chips and peanut butter, named after local TV celebrity Huell Howser.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Macaron from 'Lette Macarons

5. Peanut Butter and Jelly Macaron from ‘Lette Macarons (9466 Charleville Boulevard in Beverly Hills, 333 S Alameda Street in Downtown and 14 S. Fairoaks Ave. in Pasadena) The exciting marriage of a simple childhood favorite with a refined French pastry. Tastes really good too!

Peanut Butter Chip Cupcake from Sprinkles Cupcakes

6. Peanut Butter Chip Cupcake from Sprinkles Cupcakes (9635 S. Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills) My all-time favorite cupcake. Chocolate chip-studded peanut butter cake with peanut butter frosting covered in chocolate sprinkles. They only have them on Tuesdays and Sundays.

Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Cakewich from Cake Monkey

7. Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Cakewich from Cake Monkey Bakery (available in all Umami Burger locations as well as other restaurants and gourmet shops) Yummy yellow cake sandwich filled with peanut buttercream, housemade marshmallow and coated with bittersweet chocolate.

Pnut Butter Puff from The Groovy Gourmet Pnut Butter Bar Truck

8. Pnut Butter Puff from The Groovy Gourmet Pnut Butter Bar Truck Los Angeles has its own peanut butter-themed gourmet food truck and this sinful confection is their speciality. It’s like a large fluffy peanut butter beignet and is topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwich from Down Beat Cafe

9. Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwich from Down Beat Cafe (10202 N. Alvarado St. in Echo Park) This funky hipster coffee shop bakes the best crispy peanut butter cookies in the city. They take two cookies and make a sandwich with a filling of peanut butter. Super delicious.

Peanut Butter Icebox Pie from Magnolia Bakery

10. Peanut Butter Icebox Pie from Magnolia Bakery (8389 W. 3rd Street in Mid-City) This is one of several peanut butter offerings from one of my favorite bakeries in the city. It has a super light, creamy and delicious filling which sits atop a denser crust. I can devour a slice in about five seconds flat.

Peanut Butter Stuffed Mochi from Fugetsu-Do

11. Peanut Butter Stuffed Mochi from Fugetsu-Do (315 E. 1st St. in Little Tokyo/Downtown) This sweet shop has some of the best mochi in town and my favorites are these soft and chewy mochi disks stuffed with peanut butter. It’s the Japanese equivalent of an Abba Zabba bar!

Deep Fried Fluffer Nutter with Fresh Bananas from Black Market Liquor Bar

12. Deep Fried Fluffer Nutter with Fresh Bananas from Black Market Liquor Bar (11915 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City) Top Chef’s Antonia Lofaso has created this dessert sandwich of peanut butter, marshmallow and bananas on sweet brioche, which is covered with panko bread crumbs and deep fried until golden. It’s wicked good!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bar from Joan's on Third

13. Peanut Butter and Jelly Bar from Joan’s on Third (8350 W. 3rd St. in Mid-City) Joan’s on Third makes amazing baked goods and this dense peanut butter bar with jam on top is no exception. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and salty, and excellent with a cold glass of milk.

Peanut Butter Pinkberry

14. Peanut Butter Pinkberry (numerous locations) Pinkberry hit it out of the park with their rich and luscious peanut butter flavor! Try it with the peanut butter crunch topping, strawberries and a dollop of jelly. They don’t carry this flavor at all locations (what’s with that?!), so call first.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwich

HONORABLE MENTION: Diddy Riese Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwich (926 Broxton Ave. in Westwood) There always seems to be a line outside Diddy Riese, which bakes up delicious cookies. I love their ice cream sandwich made with Dreyer’s Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream and peanut butter cookies. At $1.75, the price can’t be beat!

If you enjoy Consuming LA, please subscribe, like me on Facebook, and/or follow me on twitter at the top right of this page. You can also find me on Instagram @ConsumingLA. And please forward to your friends!

UPDATE: The Groovy Gourmet Pnut Butter Bar Truck is no longer on the streets. Xtreme Desserts closed their Studio City store, but you can find their Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cream Cookies at many LA locations including Crave in Sherman Oaks and Studio City.

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Filed under Beverly Hills, Downtown, Echo Park, Food Trucks, Hollywood, Mid-City, Pasadena, Studio City, Westwood

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January 11, 2012 · 11:00 am

Take Your Medicine

Writing a food blog has its perks. Recently I was invited to a dinner for bloggers hosted by Maker’s Mark Bourbon at Red Medicine. Red Medicine serves upscale Vietnamese-inspired cuisine in a hip, modern setting in Beverly Hills. It opened a little over a year ago to controversy when they ousted and outed LA Times food critic Irene Virbila by not honoring her reservation, snapping a rare photo of her (she likes to dine incognito) and posting it online with a note about their disdain for her. I was pretty sure they weren’t going to take my photo and I love bourbon (the Meyers Manhattan is the house cocktail at my home bar), so I accepted the invitation without hesitation.

The dinner consisted of a parade of specialty cocktails made with either Maker’s Mark Bourbon or Maker’s 46 (a delicious, spicier, sweeter and stronger bourbon that Maker’s introduced a year and a half ago) and dishes from the Red Medicine menu paired with such drinks. Red Medicine is known for their tasty cocktails and the bourbon concoctions did not disappoint. My favorites were Red Medicine’s version of a “Moscow Mule” made with Maker’s Mark, lime and housemade grenadine and ginger beer and a warm holiday dessert cocktail made with Maker’s 46, Echire butter (artisan French butter), sugar, Maldon salt, hot water and nutmeg, which is a perfect drink for the cold nights we’ve had of late.

The paired dishes were equally enjoyable and included a Pork Rillette (with crispy chicken skin, lychee, clove, pistachio and spicy herbs), Brussels Sprouts (with caramelized shallots, fish sauce and vermouth), and Imperial Wagyu Beef Brisket (braised for 36 hours with palm sugar, fish sauce and Maker’s Mark). The food at Red Medicine is not traditional Vietnamese food in any way, shape or form, but rather modern and creative interpretations of Vietnamese classics. The highlight of the meal was a reworking of a traditional Vietnamese “congee”; an Heirloom Rice Porridge with egg yolk, toasted hazelnuts, ginseng and Echire butter. It was buttery, creamy, nutty and and out of this world! The meal concluded with a beautiful and unusual dessert called “Bitter Chocolate” with sweet soy sauce, oats, parsnip, brown butter and soy milk sorbet. It was the perfect ending to an extraordinary meal; one that I am eager to repeat.

Red Medicine is located at 8400 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills.

Moscow Mule with Maker's Mark, lime, housemade grenadine & ginger beer and CO2

Heirloom Rice Porridge with egg yolk, hazelnuts, ginseng and Echire butter

Sweet Corn with Kelley's Egg, turmeric crepe, black malt and shiitake

Beef Tartare with water lettuce, water chestnut, nuoc leo, chlorophyll and peanuts

Mint Julep with Maker's Mark, pineapple syrup, mint, grapefruit peel and Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

Sword Fin Squid with onion soubise, young carrots, salted black bean and elderflower

Tomatoes with peanut, Malaysian spices, sake lees, lavender and rice crackers

Maker's Mark 46, Echire butter, sugar, Maldon salt, hot water and nutmeg

Coconut Bavarois with coffee, condensed milk, Thai basil, peanut croquant and chicory

Bitter Chocolate with sweet soy sauce, oats, parsnip, brown butter and soy milk sorbet

Macarons, Not the Manischewitz Kind

For a very long time, I thought that macaroons were cookies made of shredded coconut that you ate only on Passover after the matzo ball soup and brisket. Although also made without wheat flour, the French macaron (the second “o” in “macaroon” is dropped) is an entirely different animal. ‘Lette Macarons, a cute little bakery in Beverly Hills (and a brand new location Downtown in Little Tokyo), sells only one thing to eat: French macarons, and they are pure perfection. Made primarily from almonds, sugar and egg whites and filled with ganache, buttercream, jam or caramel, these soft and chewy confections are works of art. As far as baked goods go, they are also great works of labor. According to ‘Lette’s baker, these little treats take 24 hours and 37 steps to make. ‘Lette sells over a dozen different classic and seasonal varieties including Sweet Wedding Almond, Raspberry, Rose, Madagascar Vanilla, Lemon, Earl Grey Tea and Caribbean Chocolate. My favorites are Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter and Jelly. A box with a colorful assortment makes a great gift for any occasion. Maybe I will shake things up and bring a box of these French beauties to our family Seder!

‘Lette Macarons is located at 9466 Charleville Boulevard (at Beverly Drive) in Beverly Hills and 333 S Alameda Street (Little Tokyo Shopping Center) in Los Angeles.

UPDATE: ‘Lette Macarons has a new location in Pasadena at 14 S. Fairoaks Ave. (see map below).