The Times Tasting Panel tries French Roast coffees, everything from big guns like Starbucks down to local micro-roasts, and in the end, decide they all taste burnt.
Out on the dining scene, SIV goes to the heart of Chianti and dines family-style at Solociccio. She also gives West, the restaurant atop the new Angeleno Hotel in Bel Air, half a star (½ ) for good antipasto, a fabulous view of the westside, but falling short on pasta and steaks. Linda Burum visits LA's only Potuguese bakery, Natas Pastries to try the tiny custard tarts of the same name: natas.
In LA, Mashti Malone's ice cream is a a bit of a cult hit. No, it's not ice cream from an Irish-Iranian family. Mashti and Mehdi Shirvani grew up in a small town in northern Iran, and after immigrating to Los Angeles, took over Mugsy Malone's Ice Cream Parlor, but didn't have enough money to change the sign completely. They could only change the first half, and thus Mugsy Malone's became Mashti Malone's.
Mashti's has several flavors that include Mango, Orange blossom, and Pomegranate, but it' the Rosewater flavors for which people come back. There is Creamy Rosewater, Rosewater Saffron with Pistachios, and Ginger Rosewater. If you have an ice cream maker and can find rosewater at a local Persian or Asian market, you can use this recipe from the Citizen Times to make what they call "Persian Ice Cream," basically the same as Mashti's Rosewater, Saffron, and Pistachio.
Persian Ice Cream
1 1/2 cups half-and-half 1/2 of a vanilla bean 6 egg yolks 1 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon saffron 1/3 cup rosewater 1 cup finely chopped pistachios
Bring half-and-half to a boil, add vanilla bean and saffron. Beat egg yolks and sugar together. Add half-and-half mixture slowly to yolks, then cook over simmering water until thickened. Remove, cool in an ice bath, add rosewater. Refrigerate overnight. Strain through a fine strainer, add pistachios, and freeze in ice cream maker.
Is it because it's summer? Festival-, fair-, and carnival-season?
Suddenly corn dogs are not only "hot," but they have been elevated from their mall food court status to haute cuisine, as corn dogs are appearing on menus of upscale restaurants in LA. Santa Monica's BOA Steakhouse uses Kobe beef hot dogs and serves them with the traditional condiments. Bistro retsaurant at uber-hip Chamberlain hotel in West Hollywood has single-bite chorizo corn dogs and at both Honey restaurant in Hollywood and new Republic, they are serving lobster corn dogs. I guess it's kind of the way macaroni and cheese was the "it" comfort food about two years ago.
I don't know. I kind of just want a Hebrew National dipped in corn batter and deep fried. Nothing fancy. Well, except for some super hot mustard.
There's always a new restaurant opening in Westwood, whether in Westwood Village or further south along Westwood Boulevard. I'm not sure why the turnover in the area seems higher than in other places, but I suspect it has to do with very high westside rents battling against a very budget-conscious college market.
The most recent opening I noticed is Fresh Corn Grill, a few blocks south of the campus area on Westwood Boulevard. We stopped in for lunch.
Sushi Sasabune is famous in Los Angeles for omakase. The restaurant used to be located in a tiny shack (quite literally, a shack) on Sawtelle Boulevard in West LA, with fluorescent lighting, flimsy tables and chairs, and no atmopshere whatsoever. But night after night, Sasabune was bursting at the seams with devoted fan of the fresh fish.
Sasabune has finally moved to a much larger, cleaner, airier space on Wilshire Boulevard (the space used to be a Todai - thank God it's not there anymore). We went recently to check out Sasabune's new digs, and to see if the sushi in a larger, higher volume operation would be the same.
It's Cinco de Mayo (that's "5th of May" if you took French in high school), so don your sombreros, head out to the local cantina, and start the fiesta! LA is a veritable goldmine of Mexican joints, with everything from upscale Border Grill to the taco truck on the corner (though we're not sure the taco trucks have blended margaritas). Here are eight places around LA to celebrate the victory of the tiny Mexican militia at Puebla. Get there early, since places will fill up fast on a Friday afternoon.
Baja Cantina, 311 Washington Boulevard, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292, (310) 821-2252, www.bajacantinavenice.com - Get there early. Last year, I drove by it, and kept driving because the line was full of guys in Mardi Gras beads and straw hats waiting to get in.
Cabo Cantina, 8301 W Sunset Blvd (@ Sweetzer), Los Angeles, CA 90069, (323) 822-7820 - There is also a second location on Wilshire Blvd on the Westside. That's where Monkey was having his margarita!
El Carmen, 8138 W Third St (@ Crescent Heights), Los Angeles, CA 90048, (323) 852-1552 - It's dark and moody inside, with creepy masked Mexican boxers on the walls, but their selection of tequila is incredible.
El Cholo, 1121 S Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006, (323) 734-2773, www.elcholo.com - El Cholo also has a Westside location at Wilshire and 11th in Santa Monica. It is very popular. If I were you, I'd go there now. No, really, now.
El Coyote, 7312 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, (323) 939-2255, www.elcoyotecafe.com - Margaritas are HUGE, food portions are HUGE, but the girls are tiny.
Spanish Kitchen, 826 N La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90069, (310) 659-4794, www.thespanishkitchen.com - I've never been, but all my friends love the place. A bit expensive, and sort of hipster-ish, but fun nonetheless.
Velvet Margarita, 1612 N Cahuenga Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028, (323) 469-2000 - Like Spanish Kitchen, it's a wee bit of a hipster place, so dress nicely. The giant margaritas in fresh pineapples are sort of touristy, so stick with a regular one on the rocks and you won't look like a plebe.
My little pet monkey and I went for drinks and few light foods for Happy Hour a few days ago. The place we went is
in downtown Los Angeles, at the base of a high-rise that has the name of a bank on it. The restaurant is part of a
large restaurant "empire," this one focusing on steaks. While the restaurant isn't extraordinarily busy, the
bar is always crowded with a downtown business and legal set at happy hour, who indulge in martinis and discounted
mini-burgers, hummus with pita, and French fries. The food is very decent, and the drinks are delicious. The best part
of the bar is that much of the seating is on an outside patio amongst the high-rises.
Baby, you look fabulous, even after partying all night
on the Sunset Strip.
The best way to blast that
hangover for good so you can do it all over again tonight, though, is to go out for breakfast. Not
eat breakfast, for how do you expect to shimmy your svelte little self into that strappy,
form-fitting thing? Go out for breakfast. Pull back your hair and put on your Prada sunglasses. We're
getting pancakes in LA.
Now, for the LA-uninitiated, the above scenario might well seem the standard, taking place right in front of The Standard. I mean LA couldn't possibly know how to make
a mile-high stack of thick, fluffy, hot pancakes glistening with butter and dripping with maple syrup;
and even if it could, no one would actually eat them, right?
Ha. Uninitiated.
There are lots of places to get pancakes in LA, and not all of them serve paper-thin, fruits, nuts, and flakes
tenuously held together with non-fat soy milk and garnished with low-fat air. LA joints know how to make not
only plain Jane buttermilk pancakes, but pancakes that are all dressed with everywhere to go: laced with Kahlua
and Bailey's, filled with Oreos, or covered with caramel. And the breakfast/brunch set certainly knows
how to dive fork-first into a stack. With their Prada sunglasses on, of course.
If you're not up for roasting
your own leg of lamb, poaching
eggs, and baking an asparagus quiche,
then there are options around LA for Easter brunch - hotel brunches, the loveliest places right on the water, of
course. Just make sure to call ahead to see if they have space.
In wine, drink
clubs are the new book club, and if you want to do a tasting at home, you need some
basics. Like wine glasses. The Wine of the Week is 2003 Domaine Olivier Pithon Côtes du Roussillon,
"power with finesse" for about $19 retail.
It sort of reminds me of that very buxom bar/restaurant that was sued several years ago. The chain of prime rib
restaurants, Lawry's, has been sued for discrimination in hiring. The US
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the class-action suit in Federal court in Los Angeles this week accusing
the Pasadena branch of the restaurant of continuing the policy of using women servers only - a policy that dates back
to 1938.
One of the attorney's for the Commission has said that the practice denies men of the higher-paying jobs of
serving, relegating them to lower-paying jobs like busing tables.
Do the mean really want to wear those mud-brown dresses and silly bonnets?!
The Wine of the Week is 2003 Domaine de la
Begude to perfectly pair with an Easter leg of lamb, but don't forget about the Greeks.
Passover begins next week, so a few choices
beyond Manischewitz.
You might not know exactly where the Beverly Hilton is in
Beverly Hills, but you certainly know about the Beverly Hilton if you watch the Golden Globe Awards, which are
hosted there every year. The "new" owner, who purchased the hotel from Merv Griffin two years ago, has planned
to tear down some existing structures on the hotel's property to build condos, including the old-school Trader Vic's restaurant. Apparently, the legendary
Polynesian restaurant, famous as the godfather of the Mai Tai, is one of the hotel "elements that
no longer work."
Champagne is taking off in restaurants all over LA.
The Times Tasting Panel 
In LA, 
There's always a new restaurant opening in Westwood, whether in Westwood Village or further south along Westwood Boulevard. I'm not sure why the turnover in the area seems higher than in other places, but I suspect it has to do with very high westside rents battling against a very budget-conscious college market.
Sushi is a hot topic
It's 
Baby, you look fabulous, even after partying all night
on the Sunset Strip. 
Soy and chickpeas might help stroke victims
The world of pie and tart crusts
Starbucks launches the Piadini 
