Jonathan Gold's 2nd Annual Union Station Speakeasy Fundraiser for Zocalo Public Square Happening This Saturday (Followed By The Gears At The Redwood!)

Busy As Hell Recently: But Still Finding That Time For Puro Pinche Pari!



Finally! A food and drink event that doesn't clash with my recent traveling schedule!

I'm proud to announce that I have been asked to cover this awesome event this year and will do so with utmost thirsty diligence! Pretty excited, I'm not going to front. I can finally attend these events that I'm pinche "legal". After all, it was this very event last year that landed me my mention on the New Yorker.


(Taken from Email)


This year, along with Jonathan Gold, we are celebrating the speakeasy style of downtown LA with cocktails by 213 (Cole’s Red Car Bar, The Varnish, Las Perlas, and Seven Grand), and nine of the finest restaurants in town (Lazy Ox, First & Hope, Come Ca, Providence, Jar, Rustic Canyon, Susan Feniger’s Street, Grace, and Rivera). We’ve also invited KCRW’s Garth Trinidad to spin music all night. Chef Ludo Lefebvre will be attending, among other celebrity chefs.



I know the ticket price ain't something you're used to (at $185 a person) but its not like Zocalo doesn't deserve it. Since 2003 these guys have been bringing interesting people and the community together to cover the deepest of topics. All free, they keep it real as a non profit. Not to mention the admission price is probably 1/4 the price of how much $ it would actually cost to all these big hitter bars and restaurants one by one.


As if the night couldn't get any better...all this followed by a show from The Gears at The Redwood at Midnight! Good thing The "Pirate Bar" is walking distance from Union Station. Wow, going to be a fun weekend indeed.

So...who's down?



Jonathan Gold's 2nd Annual Union Station Speakeasy Fundraiser for Zocalo Public Square

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2010 | 7:00PM
UNION STATION

GRAND TICKET CONCOURSE | 800 NORTH ALAMEDA STREET

LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

Click Here For More Info And To Buy Tickets

$185/per person

Non-Profit Employee Rate: $150.

Young Professionals' Rate: $125.
(Must be under 30 years old)

The Redwood
316 W 2nd St # 202
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3527
(213) 680-2600

The Gears (Midnight)
Poop (feat. Rikk Agnew from the Adolescents) (11 PM)
Symbol Six

Taste of Nation 2009 and Mole Cookoff: Until Next Time...

A rather 'persistent' amount of phone calls, email's in the last couple of weeks but...I made it: Taste of Nation 2009. I barely got a wink of sleep due to the mere thought of it, over 50 restaurants which the closest I affordably get to actually experiencing them is only through the brilliant posts, prose and photos of my fellow L.A foodblogger familia.

Was disapointed in myself for arriving 10 minutes late but the bus is not the bestest of transit's on Sunday afternoons. There she was, in all its sun-struck, food-frenzied glory...






I have noticed that as soon as I walk in to any of these food events, I tend to have a race with myself to sample each and every dish from each and every booth. Not just anxiety, more than often, the majority of offerings are almost always swept clean at the halfway point of an event. Today, I put myself in the perspective of the average rich Joe and chose my plan of attack to the aisles most closest to entrance first, instead of my usual random, giddying around and scoping out the scene out first.

Rivera Restaurant came outta nowhere and got my attention, with their most appealing representation of the almighty Tortilla, griddling a handmade one layered with Pansy blossoms--just take it in.






More like a polenta-pancake when bit into, hinting of truly made from "Modern Latin Cuisine" attempt at from scratch. Their "Chile Verde" was actually Taqueria Style Guac. nonetheless, props earned.






Fig's Confit Duck with Farro and Tart Cherry--delish, delish. Some sort of nut in Farro added jubilant crunch compared with juicy duck.






The only dish which I went back for seconds after tasting every single booth: Nobu's Miso Glazed Black Cod on Butter Lettuce with Shredded Phyllo...






The regular food clock of savory following sweet follows the infinity concept when it comes to the constructs of food events, shocking your tongue with umami-rich savory's, even after the most decadent of sweets, such as this:





Craft's Buttery-crumbed Peach Buckle here is no meal clincher in the least.

But we all know that innate habits are hard to break, so I still fall back to my old ways and like to do 2 or 3 sweets in a row to keep the sugar-high running strong...





Gelato Bar's Chocolato Sorbet was cream-lessly creamy and bittersweet, in this sun, knew this stuff was as good as gold here; they were out by 3 past the starting hour.

Now for the transition back to savories, something in between these flavor spectrums.





Deep Fried Walnut-Crusted Turkish Apricot stuffed with Chevre courtesy of Venice Beach Wines.

Talking about transition, if normal tiny capers are salty, what does that make this Grusa variety (14+ mm) like? On top of this Vitello Tonnato Roasted & Chilled Veal Tenderloin, Creamy Tuna-Caper Aioli toast from Locanda Del Lago...






Props to Susan Feniger's Street and BottleRock restaurants for choosing to do renditions of culturally venerated spicy/sweet street foods.





Crisp shelled Pani Puri stuffed with spiced Potatoes, Yogurt, Tamarind and sprouted Mung Bean and Lentil sprouts, from the street snack standardized Uttar Predesh region of North India (thanks Andrew for enlightening me on that).






Bottlerocks chopped up Okonomiyaki seafood pancake rich with slivered Nori seaweed, thick-flaked Bonito fish and assorted usual seafood mix. Japanese thin mayonnaise to boot! A little fancier than Hiroshima's version but different is sometimes good.

Learned a long time ago that I shouldn't post about about ALL the day's noshings so I guess, I'll switch over now to the glamorous part of the food life: Celebrity local chefs. Nawh, nevermind. In it for the quality of food, not for the drama and glamour of this Chef this or that Chef that.

As you guys may have heard, a "Mole Cook-off" was to take place this on this glorious day. Moderated and judged by Shifu Jonathan Gold along with Good Food's Evan Kleiman and Nancy Zaslavsky, a Mole cookbook author (thanks Mr. Gold, for reprimanding me on that).

The Mole to be judged was...Mole Negro, taking its roots from the seven regions of Oaxaca, a motley brew of typically +30 ingredients, most of which have to be individually soaked beforehand then fried/toasted/pureed to create that notorious jet-black, smooth sheen.

The contestants were:






The ever so lovely Bricia Lopez of L.A's famous, family run Guelaguetza restaurante






Hometown Hero, Rocio Camacho of Moles La Tia.

And last but certainly not least (Jaime, Ramiro?!)





Tlapazola Grill

Pressure was on, especially for the Gold Guru, as he diligently displayed his Mole palate skills, right in front of our very eyes:





The master and his craft, I am not worthy!

Seriously though, to judge this--still--is like comparing apples to oranges, they are just too different, I bet each of the competitors come from a different region of Oaxaca to begin with. I would have to agree with the Gold Guru with his comment he made as he announced the spicy victor.

"This is one of the most hardest decisions I've ever had to make in my entire food profession life".

...Moles La Tia, I've personally have noticed that the people just love her pronounced signature, nonchalant deft hand with chiles.







May she use that J.A Henckles knife set with reassuring pride, at least until the next challenger stands up...

As I walked out, greeting chef's and holding my metabolism to full regard, I contemplated the day's epic eating's and outcomes, while thinking of what I was going to have for breakfast the next day.

Until next year Taste of the Nation, until next year...

Glutster Just 'Assigned' Taste of the Nation: L.A (June 14, 2009; Culver City)

Just in,

For those of you that witnessed my 'utmost dedication' to my food writing/blogging career last year and saw just how much going to these food events mean to me...

I will be covering Share our Strength's Los Angeles Taste of the Nation 2009 this upcoming Sunday (June 14, 2009: Culver City Media Park!)

This event is one of the few where 100% of the ticket sales actually go for the set charity: to make sure that no kid in America has to go through hunger pangs.

That being said, tickets are a splurge, but a fruitful urge at that.

East L.A Hometown hero, Rocia Camacho of Moles La Tia will be fiercefully competing for Mole Gold at the Mole Cook-Off that will be held, judged by the Jonathan Gold Guru himself, I am faithful.

The list just keeps getting better and better, get to meet all L.A celebrity chefs as they themselves are usually manning their booth.

Buen Provecho

GOLD SPONSORSDIVINE PASTA CO. FOR CUBE CAFE AND MARKETPLACE
WISCONSIN MILK MARKETING BOARD, INC. FOR FORD'S FILLING STATION
TIARA CAFE
GETTLOVE FOR RIVERA
SILVER SPONSORSFIG
LAGOBRONZE SPONSORSAKASHA
ANGELI CAFÉ
ANIMAL
BAR MARMONT
BESO
BLT STEAK
BLUEBIRD CAFÉ
BOTTLE ROCK
CAFE PINOT
CHURCH & STATE
COMME CA
CRAFT LOS ANGELES
FRAICHE/RIVA
GELATO BAR
GRACE/BLD RESTAURANT
JAR
JOE'S RESTAURANT/BAR PINTXO
KATSUYA
K-ZO
LOTERIA GRILL
LUCQUES/AOC
M CAFE/CHAYA BRASSERIE
MELISSE
MOZZA
NOBU
ONE RESTAURANTS(STK & ONE)
PALATE FOOD + WINE
SIMON LA
SUNSET RESTAURANT
TABLE 8/8 OZ
THE BOWERY/DELANCEY
DD FACTOR JOBS FOR THE FOUNDRY ON MELROSE
VENICE BEACH WINES
WESTSIDE TAVERN
WILSHIRE
XIV VIP SPONSORMOONSHADOWS
LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL MAGAZINE
XOORO
AUCTION SPONSORSUGARCOATED CATERING
ADDITIONAL SPONSORSLA SPECIALTY
LA WEEKLY
ROCK HARD FILMS
SPA PROMOTIONS
LAMILL COFFEE

Final's-Crunch Post: STK L.A

Almost done with semester at PCC, still have no idea what I'm going to do in life. Was thinking of going somewhere in South-East Asia if I man up in time, but my 4 year macbook companion, took a five feet dive yesterday and it wasn't pretty, like dropping a baby. Hmmm...new mac or vacation?

So backlogged, don't even know where to start, must use this school library time carefully!

Being a guy of my word...






A while back, Abby from PleasurePalate organized a media dinner with a bunch of us over at STK house, basically an event where the set restaurant gets to showcase it's chops. Abby is interning with One Group, responsible for other L.A-hip abodes such as One Sunset and Coco De Ville.

Blogger dinners are something all in their own, an all out attack of comped dishes, drinks, desserts one after the other until we reach that sad/sickening feeling of satiation and you just can't take another bite...one of my top reasons of loving life personally.

Today was no exception.





Talk about [tongue] sweeping a foodblogger off his taste buds! Tomato 4 ways (Tomato "tartar", marinated sun-dried tomato, flash fried tomato, and a marinated raw cherry tomato), Chef Todd Miller set the bar high with this special off-the-menu starter. Top quality tomatoes of any sort need not too much doctoring at all, as is the case here with basil infused olive oil & a dash or two of bacon salt, like I said, not much at all.

A cocktail pairing was to accompany every course apparently, courtesy of their mixologist Pablo Moix. Wished I would of knew this before the cocktail reception, based from PURELY aroma and presentation sense perceptions...\






Uva Caipirinha (Leblon cachaca, red grapes, lime, clover honey)






Golden Roasted Beets get the Eastern treatment with coriander, micro mint, yogurt & a light curry blend ($12). Surprisingly superb blend vs. these perfectly cooked root veggies.






Jumbo Lump Crab Salad (green melon, avocado, mache greens and kaffir lime)
Keeping true with it's "Jumbo" naming (for once), this mix was jam packed with luscious, sweet crab flesh, tasting overly fishy in some bites, but that Kaffir lime took care of that nicely.






Capsicum Mojito (Bacardi, lime juice, mint leaves, bell pepper)
...smelled sweet and spicy, in the truest sense of the word.






Lil' Big Macs (Japanese wagyu, "special sauce", sesame bun; $20)
Juice bombs that made perfect headway for those nice fresh-baked buns, that secret sauce only brought everything together. Never having an actual Big Mac ever in my life, and not planning, ever, especially after this baby.






Wet and Dry Aged Beef orders were charred & nice from what I can remember, but not to much swoon factor, the myriad of sauce I'm sure would of helped (herbed Bearnaise, red wine sauce, blue butter, STK, lemon mustard, bold STK, and toasted peppercorn, creamy horseradish) if only they weren't all the way on the other side of the buzzed blogger table...

Swoons were definitely heard on these spud sticks though.





Truffe Parm. (more like porn) Cheese Fries
Lincoln log style-stacked. Wait, since I wasn't around to play that back in the day, so, can't really walk the talk, so, here's my J.Gold style bad ass description: Jenga, jenga, jengaaa! A-ha, take that J. Gold guru...

And the night's clincher, a most surprising makeover of old friend friends.





Hazelnut Pop Tart w/ Hazelnut Ice Cream
Nutella containers and Chocolate Pop Tarts never lasted longer than a week in my house. These renditions were impressive, they got down that signature crumby, buttery crust like in the industrial artificial ones but actually made from real quality ingredients. And very few times does A la Mode not work on desserts.

Honestly, didn't know what to expect as I fell asleep on the bus coming to this place but, it was pleasantly surprise. Vowed to myself to never become one of those L.A hipster type of guy's, but wouldn't mind coming back on an 'expense account' one day to experience that hip burger, fries and Nutella pop tart thang.



Other bloggers who joined who were hip enough:

Alli 411 http://alli411.blogspot.com/
Folie a Choisauce http://choisauce.wordpress.com/
Food She Thought http://foodshethought.blogspot.com/
Gastronomy http://gastronomyblog.com
Gourmet Pigs http://gourmetpigs.blogspot.com/
Kung Food Panda http://kungfoodpanda.blogspot.com/
Liquid Muse, The http://theliquidmuse.blogspot.com
Matt Bites http://mattbites.com
Mattatouille www.mattatouille.com
Seeking Food http://seekingfood.blogspot.com
Sinosoul http://sinosoul.com/
streetgourmetla http://streetgourmetla.blogspot.com/
Teenage Gluster http://teenageglutster.blogspot.com/
When Tara Met Blog http://www.tarametblog.com/

List thanks to Gastronomy Blog

STK
755 N La Cienega Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90046
310-659-3535

An Evening of Chocolate Bliss: In Search of the Heart of Chocolate (Screening)

Thanks to the folks from the almighty Chocolate Salon, I was invited for the screening of In Search of the Heart of Chocolate, a 'chocumentary' dwelling into the drive of chocolate "enthusiasts" (not addicts) and analyzing chocolates ability to build communities (proof of this seen clearly: people disregarding the grizzly L.A rain and traffic and still coming out?)

Anyways, the short documentary by Sarah Feinbloom turned out to be a comedic riot, exposing the 'sinful' happiness admitted by various "percenters" (level of chocolate lovers = type)

Eating about a pound of chocolate paraphernalia and still going back for seconds, thirds, fourths of Tulip Cups with Chocolate Passionfruit Mousse and White Chocolate Macademia Meyer Lemon Bars at their Chocolate Buffet (courtesy of chocolatier Susie Norris), I was truly in a state of chocolate bliss. After a while though, I noticed everyone was twice my age and staring suspiciously at me so I scampered quietly away.

Don't know if it was the 'hyper-active' properties of chocolate (talked about in the film) but I think I spotted Mick Jagger there licking chocolate off a girls neck, ha. I'm not usually the one to notice these things so don't quote me on this...

Feasting, Courtesy of Carousel....

"Yeah, that eggplant dip thing was so smoky there!"

My brothers words ringing through out my mind endlessly while painstakingly waiting for my stop to finally come. And sooner than later...there I was, and there it was. The rich, jet white, creamy Muttabbal (Babaghanoush) in all its glory. The texture just right...rich and thick--yet light. The flavor...smoky in the subtlest way. Held up its reputation pretty good until I had a forkful of that engaging Muhumarra, a tart dip made with roasted red pepper and pomegranate, rustic chunkyness provided by the crushed walnuts notoriously present in it. The raw hamburger patty-looking, sort of Armenian Tartar Kebbeh Nayyeh was coool, but I like the gamier lamb version in other places instead.

We were told that there was a lot "more to come" but the aforementioned Mezzas have always been my highlight of most Middle Eastern meals. Then Falafel finally made its appearance... flaky? crispy? light? "Excuse me, what's in your Falafel?" It turns out the owner is the only one with the complete recipe, but the waiter spilled a little of the beans--or chickpeas--being the case here..."there is actually some yeast and flour in their, actually healthier." There you go, leavened falafel frybread!? Interesting...

All night, I patiently awaited the mutton. Soujuk (Homemade Armenian Beef Sausage) flambeing at my table eased my lamb angst, basically bombarded with nothing but garlic. I was also quite curious about how geometrically exact they shape the Kebbeh ("spheres of cracked wheat, onion and pine nuts"), they looked exactly like a model sized football. Then it came, just one little chop, too much anticipation I guess: charred edges were good, but a tad too done--dry--for me.

Several savory seconds later, I wondered how exactly they were going to end this P.R feast? I would of been happy with some Baklava. But no, no, no, that was "much to simple", what they were going to bring out was "much better than Baklava". Not just bringing out a dazzling seasonal fruit platter complete with carefully widdled kiwi's and strategically arranged strawberries, but the more elegant cousins of Baklava. The same signature textures (phyllo), flavors (buttery) and aromas (Rose) but taken up a notch with things like Halaweh B' Jheben (a blend of semolina, Lebanese cheese and fresh cream).

Feast!

Carousel
304 N Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 246-7775