Ladurée @ Colette

Ladurée as a mini-corner IN colette at the moment. Gah! To be in Paris.

Flaky Crab in Filo

From a recent DISH party ;)

Mix My Granola

If you read this blog even once a month, you know what a granola fanatic I am. From making it to rating it, there've been many an ode to the stuff. So, when I found Mix My Granola a few weeks back, I knew it'd be turning up on the blog whether I liked it or not.  MMG is one of those ideas to which you say <why didn't I think of that!?>.  The concept is simple: customized granola.  MMG puts ingredient selection in the hands of the consumer - allowing everyone to get exactly what they want.  I remember so many batches of granola I've encountered with coconut - YUCK ... for me. But YUM for others.  I always want more dried fruit and not as many nuts.  I like tons of cinnamon... flax seeds... MMG told me I could have it all.



Visit the website and you can start mixing your own.  Start with a base - cinnamon, organic, low-fat, French vanilla or muesli.  I naturally selected cinnamon.  You can then select the other ingredients, divided into categories: fruits, nuts and seeds, extras and enhancers.  The sky's the limit and there's no adding too much.  You can add doubles of ingredients if you want, all fruits, all nuts.. whatever your granola heart desires. And there's a pretty great variety of everything from which to choose.  Have you heard of chia seeds? What about adding some gotu kola powder?  It's an anti-inflammatory that helps circulation!  But things don't have to get too health.  The extras section is filled with gummy bears, chocolate bits and - my favorite - sesame sticks.

So after you've selected your ingredients, all you do is plug in your shipping address and pay (my granola came out to about $13 for roughly 15 oz). A few days later, a tube of granola arrives to your door! The customized nutrition facts are right there on the back with your ingredient list.



The only extra ingredient they add is love.  Awww how sweet. And in the end my granola was pretty tasty! It didn't have that baked together, crispy crunchy quality that comes when you bake all of the ingredients at once but I did love the fact that everything was in there because I wanted it to be!

Chanukah Latkes

One of the wonderful parts of Chanukah is the latkes. Of course I could make potato pancakes all year round but I could make a giant turkey all year round too and never do.  It's the same with latkes. On the seventh night, I decided to make sweet potato latkes.

I grated 2 sweet potatoes, 1 pink lady apple and 1 yellow onion.  To the grated mixture, I added 1 egg and 1 white from another.  I added about 1/4 cup of flour, a pinch of baking soda, cinnamon, salt and pepper.  I mixed up the ingredients, formed them into patties and sautéed them in canola oil.  It made about 12 latkes - all of which were consumed.

Inspiration from my favorite L.A. restaurant

On our last night in L.A.,  Jill and Taylor suggested dinner at GJelina - a new restaurant on a very hip street in Santa Monica. We were dazzled by the 20 or so choices of vegetable small plates on the menu and our favorite of the ones we tried was roasted cauliflower.
I made my own version tonight that my husband thought was just as delicious. Here's the easy recipe: Place cauliflower florets in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, add garlic, salt, pepper, capers, golden raisins and scatter lightly with breadcrumbs. Roast until lightly browned. Serve sprinkled with parsley! Le Yum!

Thanksgiving in L.A.

Thanksgiving this year was very atypical. And very delicious. As a midwestern mother of three, cooking for days to prepare for a Thanksgiving feast was de rigeur. So what a treat it was to be a guest this year. The whole family visited Jill's new home in Malibu and we had Thankgiving dinner with relatives (Jill's dad's brother and very pregnant sister-in-law, Jamie). They made the turkey, but Jill's new L.A. culinista prepared the most scrumptious side dishes! She treated us to the best ever sourdough/mushroom stuffing, cippolini onions with balsamic and raisins, garlicky green beans, adobo chili sweet potatoes, acorn squash with chili lime sauce and fruity cranberry sauce - we devoured it all.
I love to cook, but send me a culinista anytime ... fantastic, homemade food - without the work! We enjoyed the beach and then enjoyed dinner. (Hey, Jill, can we come again next year)?

Himalayan Pizza

My husband and I recently returned from the trip of a lifetime! We spent ten magnificent days in Bhutan, a majestic kingdom high in the Himalayas, a country still relatively untouched by Western culture. We thoroughly immersed ourselves in the Buddhist culture, enjoying clean air, organic food, breaktaking views and a multitude of unfamiliar cultural activities.
Even though I've been living in Ohio for all of my adult life, I am still and will always be a born and bred New Yorker. So when we came across a sign on a "restaurant" in a remote village in the middle of Bhutan that read "Himalayan Pizza" ... well what do you think I did? My mouth started watering, and while I knew that my favorite Two Boots was very far away, I knew I had to try Himalayan Pizza.
Turns out, it's a famous little place run by a fiesty, little Bhutanese woman who has perfected the crust and uses locally made swiss cheese and fresh tomatoes for the sauce. But the best part was the dish of fresh, crushed chilis she brought to top the slice! ( a shake of hot pepper flakes will never be the same)!
After a healthy diet of red rice and organic fresh veggies for every meal, this Himalayan slice was heaven on earth - as was the country itself.

Pure Ohio

I love vising Jill in New York and eating all kinds of new or gourmet or unusual food. But sometimes, simplicity rules.

Olive Oil

I've got an article up on The Daily Beast today about olive oil. If you are interested in learning how to buy it and what the best ones are, check it out!

Gjelina

Gjelina, that trendy but not too trendy restaurant on Abbott Kinney (that trendy but not too trendy street in Venice), is like Craft and Little Giant combined but with that California casualness and breeze that makes it unpretentious – even when it is crowded on a Monday night and Owen Wilson (he checked me out!) is hanging around.

It was round two for me there last night and what struck me this time was how heavily the dishes rely on the natural flavor pairings of only a few ingredients. The items are simple and yet each one packs a flavorful punch. It’s fun to see the star ingredients listed out on the menu – really alluding to the fact that you could make these items yourself (or The Dish’s Dish could do it for you) if you got the balance juuust right.

We repeated a few vegetables from last time – Brussels sprouts and cauliflower – and we added a new one – radicchio. The cauliflower is still my very favorite. There really is something very Little Giant about the dish – the simplicity yet expert preparation, the balance of fat and fresh and sweet/savory equilibrium… sweet vegetable plus a few chili flakes for good measure.

Moving down the menu, we added the trout salad to our order. White fish tossed between curly leaves of arugula, flavored by grapefruit and lemon and punctuated with avocado and shaved red onions – with each bite, I kept saying to myself, “remember to make this at home! This is perfect for a simple supper!” Likewise for the squid… on which we re-upped after we gobbled away the first order… it was such a simple combination of capers, parsley, shaved celery and tiny smashed potatoes. I could so easily imagine the process of composing this dish – the best dishes are always the ones to which you say “why hadn’t I thought of it before?” So Craft.

As a bonus, we threw in some pizzas. Hen of the woods, beet greens and taleggio was my addition. The boys picked the eggplant, tomato, oregano and mozzarella pie. I know better than to eat pizza outside of NYC but these are really pretty good. It’s not so much about the crust/sauce/cheese ratio as it is about the interplay of gourmet ingredients, which sometimes can be just fine with me!

Dessert was chocolate chip banana bread pudding.  It was another of those dishes: "Why didn't I think to do that?!"

Neighborhood Spot

Zooma Sushi, located just down the way from Zuma Beach, for which it’s phonetically named, is a true neighborhood spot – quite, hidden, unpretentious. But it’s no frills atmosphere – like a third world version of Nobu in the country mart – masks excellent rolls that are both inventive and made from incredibly fresh fish.

A favorite was the Fire Roll – spicy tuna on the inside with tuna and sriracha on the out. The salad roll also impressed us – the masters packed four different types of fish plus asparagus, avocado and cucumber into soy paper managing to make it look beautiful and stay together seamlessly. But my favorite roll was one for which I cannot remember the name. It was fresh albacore on the inside topped with broiled albacore on the out and drowned with a garlic ginger sauce that I could have drank!

Zooma Sushi is perfect after a long day at Zuma… or if you live in the neighborhood (wink wink).

Umami Burger

After hearing mixed reviews - from gushing accounts to up-turned noses - I wanted to check out Umami Burger.  Umami, is that unknowing but all-knowing sense of something-delicious-in-my-mouth-is-happening-now.  I like this word, and this name for the restaurant.  I also liked my burger, the namesake patty.  Meat plus portabello mushroom plus parmesan crisp plus sun-dried tomato did have that je ne sais quoi affect.  I could have done for more dipping sauces - house spread was a thousand island-esque dressing and the garlic aioli was addictive.



Onion rings also yummy, but I wanted more in the order. Then again, it was nice that you'd got what you paid for all around. Having a sparse plate with just a burger on it made the burger a heck of a lot more manageable over all.  We left happy and full but not devastated; a good indicator that we will be back.

FOX NEWS features Yours Truly

What a weekend.  I was on Your Questions, Your Money to "sell" my business to a panel of sweetheart experts who were all genuinely excited about The Dish's Dish. Watch below to see what they suggested I do.  What do you think?  Post your ideas in the comments!

Brunch at Ford's

Fresh off the plane from NYC on Sunday, what better a thing to do than collapse into the sunny patio outside of Ford's for brunch? Biscuits, fish n chips, brisket, polenta... a heavenly way to re-acclimate to California livin'.

Biscuits... hot from the oven... came with sweet jam. A good opening salvo.

Shrimp Pil Pil. I liked the idea of dipping the sweet biscuits into the garlicky shrimp. No one else did but I thought it was great. I was pretty hungover and wrecked from NYC though so that might have had something to do with it.

Holy fish n chips. The batter was light and spongy and not only were there chips but there were onion rings and asparagus, too!  The fish was perfect. Perfect! Loved.

Brisket Hash. Booyah. That's some good Sunday food right there.

Blue Maxx - Ford's version of eggs benedict. Smoky potatoes lined the bottom of the dish. Killer hollandaise.

Polenta Cake with mushrooms and truffle-mascarpone. So baller it's on the dinner menu, too. This was the dish that I, officially, ordered. No regrets.  I'll see you soon my friend.

Metro NY Thanksgiving!

For those readers not living in NY, Boston or Philadelphia, I thought I might mention the awesome coverage The Dish's Dish received from Metro on Friday. We had a full page spread of easy Thanksgiving recipes. Check out their site for all of the recipes or click the photos below to see the pretty pics I took during the shoot!

Max Brenner, Are You There?

The real deal?

So this is really strange. I was reading about the most recent Max Brenner expansion and got linked to a FOX Business interview with him. I instantly recalled that Frank Bruni had written an article for the Times a while back in which he proclaimed that there was no real Max Brenner.  Instead, it was a fictitious concept developed by two businessmen.  WTF? Who's telling the truth?  People need to get their PR hats on straight.

Tacos Por Favor

A reason high on the list for moving to the west coast: Tacos Por Favor.

Best Brekkers in Jackson

Before a hike in the Tetons over the weekend, my friend let me in on a secret- Nora's Fish Creek Inn. It's an old-school spot that's been serving meals to woodsmen for decades. Huevos Rancheros are a must. Eggs over easy plus bacon plus beans plus green sauce plus a layer of cheese will give ample energy for a hike (in our case 13 miles). A close runner up is trout and two eggs which comes with potato hash. Don't worry - all those calories will quickly burn up on the gnarly mountain range that waits right outside the door.

Soda Like Never Before.

Do you wish he was your quirky relative who showed up every year at Thanksgiving with some crazy sodas?

Fried Chicken. Done.

If you've ever wanted to know, now's the time to learn baby.

(This video will be up til the 14th)

Kabobs

Last night I marinated tuna in soy, balsamic vinegar and honey for about an hour. I roasted red and yellow peppers and mushrooms. Then I seared the tuna and put them on kabobs.  Accompaniment was a simple salad of spinach with shaved fennel plus fronds as well as fingerling potatoes roasted with thyme.  I tossed them in a balsamic reduction that a Culinista had left at my house last week.  

English Muffins Reimagined

(photo courtesy of Le Grande Orange)

It might seem silly to devote an entire article to English muffins but once you try the homemade sourdough rendition that Le Grande Orange makes daily, you’ll understand.

I was never much of an English muffin fanatic growing up, but that all changed when I moved to New York and discovered the Good World burger. This burger, made up not only of fine meat but also of beets and other Scandinavian-esque fillers, was topped with Jarlsberg and bacon and served on… an English muffin. It seemed revelatory to me – that this somewhat dainty bread could make an appearance on a very manly burger.

So I started loving English muffins after that. The positive association with the burger was enough for me. I would get caviar from Brighton Beach and spread a thick layer atop a toasted muffin.

Then it dawned on me, though, that I didn’t love the muffins, I loved the idea of them – the nooks and crannies, the flat outside and doughy inside. I like English muffins OK but it’s true, they really aren’t that special – it’s all about what you can do with them.

Now enter Le Grande Orange – a Phoenix-based phenomenon, now in Santa Monica, that brings eclectic food a good name. They started making English muffins at their Arizona grocery and have become an obsession. Made with a sourdough starter every day, baked à la griddle not oven to preserve the crispy outside soft inside balance and dusted with cornmeal, these are not Thompson’s.

They are about triple the size of any English muffin I’ve ever seen and triply delicious. They are excellent plain, toasted or topped with a variety of accoutrements. Le GO serves their commuter breakfast on one and you can ask for their burger on the muffin at lunchtime. The dense dough will sop up all the juices.

There’s something chewy about them that makes even a plain muffin incredibly satisfying.

$9 will get you a bag of six muffins but be sure to purchase an extra one – you won’t be able to drive home without busting into the bag. I am looking forward to having Thanksgiving leftovers on them. Can you imagine? A toasted muffin, a slathering of mayonnaise, cold turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing… drizzled with gravy…

Swedish (fish) Sushi

All of that Baltic Sea seafood... the Swedes must have great sushi. Swedish... Sushi... Fish... Swedish... Fish... Swedish Fish Sushi.  I found this on This is Why You're Fat. I am appalled and yet intrigued... and definitely know someone who will likey.

The Halloween Reveal

*******UPDATE*******UPDATE******UPDATE*******SEE BELOW******

Halloween is my favorite holiday and it's time to reveal my costume. I've been practicing all week to get into character and I've got bunny ears, an Egyptian headdress, an arrow headband and a banjo for the occasion. Guessed yet who I'll be? He's my crush of the century... Steve Martin!





Here's my rendition:

The Witch's Wish

A lonely witch once lived on ScaryBlob Lane,
Her cauldron bubbled and boiled but good cooking was her bane.

See, the pot was too black from the tricks that she played,
And tasted of farts from the elves that she once slayed.

She had very little trouble serving such gruel,
To the monsters, goblins, trolls, and ghouls.
They'd take their rusty knives and stab at the flesh,
Of half baked vultures with curvy long necks.
Slurp the soup with eyes of newt,
Belched at the end just like brutes.

But the witch was tired of this dark company,
Always plotting and scheming about their next massacry.
She thought of being pretty and wearing white lace,
Making new and happy friends and showing of a new place.

But how could she do this,
She thought without rest.
The witch wished she new just how to be her best.

Alone, she peered in her crystal ball,
Looking for secrets very near and very far.
She happened upon a noisy and hopping fun place,
A city full of wonder, bright lights, Will and Grace.

People danced through the nights and walked through the days,
Ate fancy foods and watched fabulous plays.
Though they were busy, the fun never stopped.
They never had to cook because of chefs in black tops.

The witch gasped and gloated then smiled with reprieve.
She thought for a moment saying, "that kind of living is just what I need".

She hopped on her broom wearing mismatched socks,
To see if she could find those chefs, "they rock!"
She contacted their ruler, a woman named Jill,
Tall and lanky but approachable still.

She explained in great detail her troubles and doubts,
And of the life she so long lived without.
"We'll send you a Culinista, one of our best,
They'll make the food.  You can take care of the rest."

The witch was delighted and flew home straight-aways,
To take care of odd things, loose ends, and frays.
She mopped what could be mopped and broomed all she could broom,
A garden of flowers replaced the tombs.
Her cauldron was dumped and she scrubbed down spots,
Built a stove and bought all-clad pots.
Washed her black hair and shined her black shoes,
Bleached her brown teeth and Wonderbra'd her boobs.

"No more spells", she promised.  This life was new.
Plus they weren't all that magical and never did what she wanted them to do.

Invites were sent to neighbors in town,
People who once avoided her with long faces and frowns.
They all came to see, new magic and glee
And the new happy chef, she promised, with tea.

The guests were amazed!
They loved it from beginning to end.
And sang silly songs with their new dark-haired friend.

Only the Dish's Dish could've answered the witch's wish.
No black magic could've ever handled this.

Happy Halloween!

$400 at Smith and Wollensky

I got a last minute invite to join my big brother and his buddy at Smith and Wollensky last week while going ballistic in NYC. They had some $400 gift card that they'd been wanting to use for a while. That seemed like reason enough to hit up the classic uptown meat palace. Here's the crew.



We got things started with a bottle of Turley, one of my favorite California vintners. We moved on to a full line up of appetizers - an iceberg wedge, delicious calamari and my favorite, the colossal crab cocktail, which was truly ridiculous.

Booya.

The filet au poivre was the meat of choice and, by the end of the meal, all plates were clean.  We got spinach and mushrooms as sides - both worthy choices.



We were pretty well done for it at that point - having polished off two bottles and the meat. But what's a steak dinner without dessert and dessert elixirs to match.  We followed Chris's lead when he ordered Hennessy and carrot cake. Good call boss.



All in all we did pretty well... and only went over our gift card a tiny bit ;-)

Tipsy Parson; First Look

Tasha gave me a little tour of Tipsy on Friday. And things are looking rad. Sadly, I had to head back to LA before I could sample the goods... always a good reason to return.

Cute exterior. Check.

Inviting front room with stocked bar. Check.

Cozy back room. Check. I didn't want to leave.

And here's me and Tasha - truly one of my mentors and someone I truly admire.

Can't wait to return for a full-on dinner!

West Village Breakfast

I forgot that one of the little pleasures of living in the West Village is banana pudding for breakfast. It's not debated that it's the best from Magnolia. Sneak back into bed with a little bowl-full. It even goes with freshly brushed teeth.

Jilly loves Rawvolution

Before leaving LA (first time since moving!), Taylor and I decided to do the most crunchy thing possible just to give me a little extra boost before re-entering the jungle: NY. What did we do? We went to a raw restaurant on the way to LAX! Moreover, it's called Euphoria Loves Rawvolution! The place is as you'd imagine: mismatched furniture, worn in. Community art. Scarves and other billowy materials. Cat Stevens. People closing their eyes while they ate.
It was a pretty mellowed out vibe. We realized how much NY we still had in us when a woman descended upon our corner nook and introduced herself. We couldn't process her motive of introducing herself and just blankly stared back. Awk-ward!
In any event, the food was really yummy. I had these nori wrapped veggies which came with a miso dip and dilly cucumbers. Taylor had the Swiss and mushroom burger, which of course was not what it seemed to be. But it too was very tasty! The food tasted fresh and hearty and we felt really good after eating. So good that we split some desserts - a cinnamon apple cookie that was a dense puck of dried fruit (but good in a hiking rations sort of way) and a coconut chocolate ball that tasted just like a Mounds to me.
We were in such good spirits when we left we decided to make this pit stop our LAX ritual. It's great food pre-boarding and makes it easier to say no to icky plane food.

Jitlada, an Out-Of-Towners Sripraphai

Now that I live in LA, I have to find replacements to all my NYC go-tos... my fav burger, my fav cheap Japanese, my manicure place, my dry cleaner... and my new Thai hideout. My go-to in NYC was always Sriprapahi in Queens.  Yes, far out but ooooo so worth it. So I was stoked when my secret connect here told me about Jitlada. It's known to be a spicy favorite amongst foodie here.

The menu is enormous and looks pretty standard until you get to the back page, which is a paper insert of a straight-up black ink on white paper, tiny margins, list. The real stuff is back here. On a recommendation we ordered the crispy morning glory salad and the rice salad.



The morning glory salad was a sweet and spicy balancing act only enhanced by the complimentary textures - crispy, crunchy plus supple and smooth. Sripraphai does a similar salad with watercress and I prefer it because the flavors are more separated out across the palate.  Here, there's a myriad of flavor but it all fuses together.



The rice salad was neither of our favorites even though I am a HUGE lover of rice. Moreover, this salad a blend of jasmine rice, mango, green beans, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, Thai chiles, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, bean sprouts, coconut and dried shrimp that all gets mixed into a sauce of kaffir lime, anchovy paste, sugar, lemongrass and ginger.  In theory, I should love this dish but it seemed somehow too soft for me. Too mushed.  If there had been perhaps more citrus to cut the mushiness... I don't know. I wished I'd liked it but I didn't.

Also on a rec, we ordered a green curry which really was good. The sauce was fantastic and in it floated yummy Thai eggplants and little shrimps. I prefer the green curry at Sripraphai - I think it has more fire and more defined, specific flavors but this one was doable.



The crown jewel of the evening was the Satoon Tiger Prawns. Two enormous shrimps came grilled and split down the middle. Seriously, they were little lobsters. The grill taste came through without affecting the tenderness of the meat. Left a good taste in our mouths and we'll surely be back. It may be across town for us in LA but at least it's not cross country.