Bad-o
I like saying nice things about good restaurants. Joe and I are more likely to write about positive experiences rather than bad ones, but honestly I think that’s because we choose our restaurants pretty carefully and tend to have very few disappointing meals. But now I’m going to say some bad things. Specifically about Malo, a popular Mexican restaurant in Silver Lake. Malo, I’m sorry, but I’ve given you plenty of chances.
balconinzedland asked: hello, and how are you? may i ask if your waiter at proof in d.c. mentioned whether the jamón serrano was "iberico"? if so, did (s)he mention which region it was from? thank you, and i feel embarassed that this goes directly onto your blog, but i couldn't find another way to contact you with this question. cheers!
No mention of it being Iberico, which leads me to assume it wasn’t, especially since I believe it’s a pretty high-end item. Would love to try it sometime though! When we ate at Joel Robuchon’s L’Atelier in Las Vegas a couple of years ago there was a leg of it in full view, but alas it wasn’t part of our tasting menu.
The Proof is in the Meat & Cheese Tray
This past weekend Joe had a gig in Arlington, Virginia, so I decided to tag along whether he liked it or not. Fortunately, I’m pretty sure he was okay with it. We were looking forward to taking in some of the sites in nearby Washington DC, and you can’t take in sites without taking in food, of course. Plus, Joe’s birthday was the week prior, so I promised him a suitable birthday meal while we were there.
Before our trip, I hunkered down in front of the computer to find a great place for said birthday dinner. Because of our schedule, it would have to be a Sunday night dinner, which proved a bit of a challenge when looking into some of the more upscale places in DC. I did my typical out-of-town cross-reference between Chowhound and Yelp, but many of the highly recommended spots are closed Sundays and Mondays. But then I came across a few mentions of Proof, and decided to investigate.
Insert Wine/Whine Pun Here
Joe and I have a Groupon problem, especially when it comes to restaurant deals. It’s not unusual to find ourselves scrambling to make reservations the day before a Groupon (or Open Table, Living Social, Blackboard Eats) deal expires. But how can you say no to 30% off dinner, and certainly we’ll find a time to go in the next 4 months…right? Alas, we found ourselves in just such a time crunch recently when I unearthed a long-ago purchased Groupon to Malibu Wines, which, of course, is a meat-packing plant in Fresno.
Top 10 Food Trends That Gary and Elaine Fight About, care of Poor Taste Magazine, written by Molly.
Winning the Loteria
Joe and I have lived in Studio City for about a year and a half now, and there are still lots of restaurants we’ve been meaning to get to (this “Jack in the Box” sounds amusing). But a few weeks ago we were pleasantly surprised to see a new neighbor, the brand spankin’ new Loteria Grill, a restaurant we’ve been to a few times in its Hollywood and Farmers Market locations. Why do we like Loteria? Because if there’s one thing sure to please us, it’s a good sampler platter, and Loteria Grill has a doozy.
A Meaty Oasis in the Desert.
This weekend, Molly and I found ourselves in the rare and enviable position of having nothing to do, so we decided to find something fun to do in the area. One of the great benefits of living in Los Angeles is that you are surrounded by so many different cool destinations that seem to be worlds away from the city. Mountains, oceans, forests, vineyards and deserts are all a short drive away. We opted for deserts on this weekend and headed out towards Joshua Tree National Park. Just a couple of hours east of LA, Joshua Tree is visual delight of stunning vistas, incredible rock formations, and of course the ubiquitous Joshua Trees, for which the park is named. More importantly however, Joshua Tree is in the middle of nowhere, and Molly and I, of course were concerned (as always) with what we were going to eat.
Getting cozy at the Foundry on Melrose
It’s winter in L.A., meaning it’s rainy and almost chilly enough for everyone to justify wearing their hipster-tastic scarves. How can you stay warm and toasty when the mercury dips below 60? It seems like the perfect time to pack on an extra layer of insulation with some good ol’ comfort food. Now, the term “comfort food” gets tossed around a lot and probably means different things to different people. But essentially it’s the kind of food that when you’re sad, makes you happy, and when you’re happy, makes you really incredibly happy. You want to curl up with it on the couch and tell it your hopes and dreams. And a great place to get comfort food is at one of our favorite local restaurants, the Foundry on Melrose.
We discovered the Foundry a couple of years ago during Dine L.A. Restaurant Week. The food is delicious, and it’s nice enough for a special occasion but not too nice to just drop in once a month when you get a craving for, say, peanut butter bread pudding. Chef Eric Greenspan, a recent victor in an Iron Chef battle against Bobby Flay, puts his own spin on comfort food classics like grilled cheese, mac & cheese, and tater tots.
There are several menu options at the Foundry: the Chef’s Tasting Menu (five courses for $80), the Market Menu (three courses for $39), and the à la carte Dinner Menu. While we’re always a fan of tasting menus, on our most recent visit we opted to order à la carte because we had some specific items in mind. We started with quite possibly our favorite item on the menu, the Potato Soup. But it’s not just any potato soup. Heck no. This one is served over bacon leek bread pudding and is topped with a warm and gushy fried egg. It’s rich and amazing and leaves us scraping the edges of the bowl with our spoons every time.
Next we ordered one of the “Mid Course” items on the menu, the Grilled Cheese, which is a not-quite-melted Kraft single between two slightly warm pieces of Wonder Bread. Okay okay, it isn’t. It’s Taleggio cheese on toasted raisin bread with apricot-caper purée. You can see how I could get confused. Now, you can opt to add short ribs to your grilled cheese, but with more food coming we decided to pace ourselves. This isn’t some dainty high-tea version of grilled cheese – the bread is nice and thick and there’s a substantial slab of gooey cheese oozing out from it. The sweetness of the raisin and apricot are an amazing combination with the saltiness of the cheese and capers.
For our entrée, Joe got the Mustard-Glazed Short Ribs. Yes, yes, short ribs are pretty much a menu cliché these days, but gosh darn they’re tasty. These came with spaetzle, green grapes, and roasted golden beets. Side note: Joe and I both shared a deep hatred of beets until two back-to-back meals at Foundry that featured some delicious golden beets. We liked them so much we made them for Christmas dinner this year. But I digress. I ordered the Mushroom-Crusted Tuna with kuri squash, mushrooms, and the thing that launches this into the comfort-food-osphere, pork cracklins. Sure, you might not think of snuggling up by the fire with a rare piece of tuna, but the preparation with the mushroom crust and squash actually makes it seem warm and cozy.
And then we skipped dessert and jogged home to squeeze in a Tae Bo session. Wait, no, I’m thinking of another time. Ah yes that’s right, we ordered the Pecan Tart with pecan brown butter sauce and cinnamon ice cream and Lemon Meringue Pie with lemon curd and lemon segments. We really have to hand it to ourselves, we picked a great combination. What’s more comforting that pie, even if that pie is elevated to a more foodie-worthy level? I did mention the Peanut Butter Bread Pudding earlier, and the only reason we didn’t get that is because we’ve ordered it every single other time we’ve gone to the Foundry. It’s one of my favorite desserts in recent memory though. It comes with peanut butter ice cream and grape sauce, so it’s really like eating an incredible, warm PB & J.
For us, the Foundry on Melrose is a fantastic choice for solid, familiar food done in a new, elevated way. Chef Greenspan has a knack for knowing what to change in a familiar dish and what to leave alone.
Popping Into Ludobites 6.0
Joe and I recently enjoyed one of our late-afternoon guilty pleasures: happy hour at Mr. Cecil’s Ribs in Sherman Oaks. That’s a post for a later time, along the lines of our Great Greek lunch, it’s an incredible value and will leave you with leftovers for days. Anyway, we were walking back, full of ribs and hushpuppies, when I glanced at what used to be the restaurant Marché. It appeared to be open, but the t-shirt on one of the waiters revealed its new identity – Ludobites 6.0, the “pop-up” restaurant of Iron Chef challenger and Top Chef Master contender Ludo Lefebvre.
Lunch, the most important meal of that time of day
There are a lot of different ways to look at lunch. Most of them are unflattering. Just think of school lunches, a weekly melange of mediocrity, drowned in blah-flavored gravy (my personal unfavorite was pizza rolls, essentially leftover hamburger buns from the previous days lunch, with a slice of cheese and tomato sauce. There are political prisoners in North Korea who eat better than that.
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Don't be scared...they're just restaurants. A blog about owning your dining experience.
