Consuming LA

February 10, 2013 · 10:49 pm

Plate It Again Sam

I love a good food fest, so I was happy to hear that LA Weekly’s annual food and wine event is back for a fifth year. It will take place on Sunday, March 3rd from 1-5pm, at the Peterson Automotive Museum. Previously called “The Gold Standard” before the departure of LA Weekly’s food critic Jonathan Gold, the yearly event is now known simply as “Plate” and it promises to once again be one of the top LA food events of the year. There will be unlimited tastings from more than 40 of the city’s best and most interesting restaurants and unlimited wine (in addition to beer and spirits) from over 30 top-shelf wineries curated by Downtown LA’s BUZZ Wine Beer Shop.

As far as these kind of events go, this one is relatively inexpensive. Tickets are $75 for General Admission and $95 for VIP Admission, which enables you to enter an hour earlier than the General Admission people and gets you a gift bag. If you’ve never been to one of these fun events before, this is a great one to start with. Some of my favorite restaurants, including Mo-Chica, Jitlada, Chichen Itza, Hungry Cat, Wurstkuche, and Philippe’s will be participating. A portion of the receipts goes to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank so you’re actually doing a good deed by filling your belly with delicious food and drinking lots and lots of wine.

You can buy tickets by going to LA Weekly’s website or by clicking here. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

UPDATE: Plate 2013 was a success! Here are a few highlights:

My hero Roy Choi announces the opening later this year of Chego, his gourmet rice bowl restaurant, in Chinatown

Gilberto Cetina from Chichen Itza served up Tacos de Cochinita Pibil

Ricard Zarate and Stephane Bombet from Mo-Chica and Picca were serving amazing food and talking about their new restaurant Paiche, which will open shortly in the old Mo-Chica space.

Ricard Zarate and Stephane Bombet from Mo-Chica and Picca were serving amazing food and talking about their now restaurant Paiche, which will open shortly in the old Mo-Chica space.

Ricardo Zarate’s Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Miso Dressing was my favorite dish of the event.

8 Colorful Flavors of Pork from Korean restaurant Palsaik

Chef Jazz from my favorite Thai restaurant in LA, Jitlada, served up Spicy Chicken Curry.

Nguyen Tran from Starry Kitchen served Shrimp Chips with Grill Beef Bites in a homemade costume.

Where’s Spritle and Chim Chim? The event took place in the Peterson Automotive Museum.

In Hot Water

Lately I have been on a strict low-carb diet, probably the inevitable result of eating all of those scones. It’s one of those diets where you only eat protein and vegetables, so I’ve been frequenting all of the shabu shabu joints in town. For the uninitiated, Japanese-style shabu shabu is basically a plate of thinly sliced raw meat and another plate of raw vegetables and tofu (and udon noodles if you’re one of those hedonists that eats carbs), all of which you cook yourself in your own individual pot of boiling water. My wife has an issue with going to restaurants where you need to cook your own food, but I think it’s incredibly fun.

My favorite shabu shabu restaurant is Mizu 212. The “212” stands for “212 degrees,” the temperature at which water boils. Mizu 212 is exactly what you want in a restaurant serving raw meat; it’s exceedingly clean and modern, and the food is of the highest quality. Most of the seating is at a wraparound bar and it feels like you’re eating in a really cool science lab that plays great music.

There are several choices of premium beef. I usually order the “Vintage Natural Beef” Prime Grade Rib-Eye. It’s excellent, although “vintage” beef sounds funny to me; like they’re peddling old meat. I think the idea is that it’s old-fashioned-style beef, the kind that was raised before the use of hormones or antibiotics. If you’re wiling to pay a premium, you can get Kobe-syle “Wagyu” beef. They also have free-range chicken, high-grade black pork or lamb, and even grass-fed buffalo.

Mizu 212 is one of the few places that also offers seafood shabu shabu, including wild salmon, shrimp, scallops, crab and clams. The vegetables are super fresh and include cabbage, baby bok choy, carrots, asparagus, green onions, broccoli, kale, mushrooms, snow peas, kabocha squash and chrysanthemum leaves. They have delicious homemade ponzu and goma (sesame) sauces for dipping. Upon request, they can also make you a gluten- or sugar-free sauce. You can wash it all down with an artisan tea, premium sake, glass of wine or craft beer.

Mizu 212 is located at 2000 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles (in “Little Osaka” in West LA).

Seafood

“Vintage Natural Beef” Prime Grade Rib-Eye

Sauces

Vegetables, Noodles and Tofu

Shabulicious!

[mappress mapid=”103″]

1 Comment

Filed under West LA

Tagged as Best Japanese Restaurant Los Angeles, Best Shabu Shabu LA, Best Shabu Shabu Los Angeles, Mizu 212, Mizu 212 Degrees, mizu 212 menu, mizu 212 review, Mizu Shabu Shabu, Mizu212, Organic Shabu Shabu, Sawtell Shabu Shabu, Shabu LA, Shabu LIttle Osaka, Shabu Los Angeles, Shabu Sawtelle, Shabu Shabu Sawtelle, Shabu West LA

February 1, 2013 · 9:05 am

Griddle Me This

In this era of small plates, carbon footprints and the ubiquitous Prius, it’s refreshing to find a place that shamelessly embraces excess. The Griddle Cafe on Sunset in Hollywood is such a place. It serves breakfast until 4:00 in the afternoon every day and the portions are large, ridiculously large.

The Griddle Cafe is best known for its pancakes, waffles and French toast, which come in dozens of varieties and are stuffed with things like butterscotch, peanut butter, crushed oreos, pumpkin pie filling, brown sugar-baked bananas and Nutella, and topped with whipped cream, powdered sugar or struesel (not to mention the maple syrup they give you to pour over the whole thing). Their signature dish is the “Red Velvet PanCAKE,” which is covered with swirls of cream cheese icing. Just one can feed a small army.

But despite the fun of the Willy Wonka-esqe menu, I’m not really a huge fan of these griddled monstrosities. I find them too sweet and prefer my flapjacks more refined. I usually opt instead for the egg specialties, such as the Tequila Sunrise (corn tortillas topped with refried beans, eggs sunnyside up, jack and cheddar cheeses, tequila spiked ranchero sauce, avocado and sour cream, and served with chicken tequila sausage). These savory dishes are not exactly “refined” either, but they won’t put you in a sugar coma for the rest of the day.

The Griddle Cafe is located at 7916 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood.

Wholy Moley Pancakes with Blueberries

Tequila Sunrise (corn tortillas topped with refried beans, eggs sunnyside up, jack and cheddar cheese and covered with tequila spiked ranchero sauce and served with chicken tequila sausage

Tequila Sunrise (corn tortillas topped with refried beans, eggs sunnyside up, jack and cheddar cheeses, tequila spiked ranchero sauce, avocado and sour cream, and served with chicken tequila sausage)

A fun place for breakfast

[mappress mapid=”98″]

Bu-dee-licious

Nobu is a high-end sushi restaurant chain intent on world domination. It has 26 locations around the globe including Cape Town, Hong Kong, Milan and Moscow, and will open its first Nobu Hotel in Las Vegas in the next few weeks, with additional hotels to come in London, Riyadh and Bahrain. In LA, we have two locations; one in West Hollywood, which has the feel of a posh Vegas restaurant, and one in Malibu, which recently moved to fancier, beachfront digs and reminds me of a luxurious resort on a tropical island. Both locations have beautifully designed interiors, impeccable service and exorbitant prices.

The Nobu empire is helmed by Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa, a master of modern Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine, who blends traditional Japanese dishes with South American ingredients to spectacular effect. One of my favorite such dishes is Taradito (fluke or other sashimi with Peruvian rocoto sauce, lemon yuzu dressing and soy salt). I also love the Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno (pictured above), Black Cod with Miso and Rock Shrimp Tempura with Creamy Spicy Sauce. But while I’m a big fan of Nobu’s innovative fusion dishes, I’m less enamored of Nobu’s traditional sushi and can think of at least a dozen sushi bars in LA that serve better fish. Nobu does, however, have great desserts, such as the PB&J Satandagi with Warm Peanut Butter, Chocolate Satandagi, Peanut Butter Ice Cream and Plum Wine Gelee.

I don’t go to Nobu that often, mainly because my fusion-style sushi restaurant of choice is Katsu-ya, which is more casual and has many similar but more reasonably priced dishes. But for a special occasion when you don’t mind splurging and want to consume your sashimi concoctions in an oppulent setting, Nobu really can’t be beat. Nobu is located at 22706 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and 903 North La Cienega, Los Angeles (in West Hollywood).

Taradito

Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Artichoke

Rock Shrimp Tempura with Creamy Spicy Sauce

Nobu Style Tacos with Wagyu Beef

Soft Shell Crab Roll, Uni Sushi and Crab Hand Rolls

PB&J Satandagi with Warm Peanut Butter, Chocolate Satandagi, Peanut Butter Ice Cream and Plum Wine Gelee

Warm Pistachio Souffle with Amaretto and Hazelnut Gelato and Pine Nut Opaline

The new Malibu location looks like a luxury resort.

Beautiful ocean view from the patio in Malibu

[mappress mapid=”101″]
[mappress mapid=”102″]

An American in Parish

Eastside hipsters who live Downtown and in Silverlake are different from Westside hipsters in Venice, and not just in terms of hat styles and facial hair. So when I heard that Casey Lane, venerated chef of The Tasting Kitchen on Abbot Kinney, was opening The Parish downtown, I wasn’t sure if Lane’s new venture would be able to replicate the success of his Venice eatery. So far, things look promising.

Like The Tasting Kitchen, The Parish has an uber-cool bar with an array of tasty cocktails, and is a destination for many solely to imbibe. And just as The Tasting Kitchen epitomizes the casual elegance of the Westside, The Parish has nailed the urban, retro-cool and slightly dangerous vibe of Downtown. I would describe its decor as “vintage hipster chic” and speakeasy-esque.

The cuisine at The Parish is elevated British gastropub fare. On the whole it’s very good, but not yet of the level of The Tasting Kitchen. My favorite dish is the Meat Pie with Sausage, Cheddar and Mashed Potatoes. It’s served in a delicious pot-shaped crust. I also love the Sauteed Corn with Basil, Chili, Chickpeas, Dill Aioli & Pecorino, as well as the Porchetta for Two with Cider Braised Cabbage & Salt Roasted Potatoes. But several of the other things I’ve had there are just OK and the desserts are disappointing. Nevertheless, for a fun evening, I recommend checking this place out. Don’t forget your fedora.

The Parish is located at 840 S. Spring St., Los Angeles (Downtown). 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!