tiffin unboxed

Taste of the Nation Highlights

Last Sunday I volunteered for the second year in a row at the annual fundraiser, Taste of the Nation in Media Park, Culver City. This annual event supports hare our Strength, a charity devoted to ending childhood hunger with their "No Kid Hungry" campaign. All proceeds of the event are going to L.A. Food Banks

The event contains booths from close to 50 top restaurants, spirits from bars, craft beer garden, wine, a live auction, carnival style games, cooking contest and a VIP tent!

Since I volunteered and had limited space to store or carry belongings, I opted for a no-camera day. However, I broke out my Blackberry to get a few shots whenever it was possible to balance the phone with plates and cups!

Although image quality isn't great, here are a few of my favorite sites and eats from the day.

Spare Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Those vintage looking polka dot aprons were right up my mid-century alley, as were the inventive drinks at the Spare Room table.

Spare Room, Le Saint Amour

The ladies at Spare Room made this Plymouth Gin and cantaloupe drink with a scoop of spiced ginger sorbet in place of the ice (and a little wooden spoon). What's not to love?

Le Saint Amour offered a cherry foie gras pate, rabbit terrine with golden raisin compote on a crostini, a merguez sausage sandwich. I love anyone who serves these semi-hard to find North African spicy lamb sausages.

Luckhson - Chicken Pops

Chef/Owner Sang Yoon had both a Father's Office booth serving beer floats and a Lukshon both serving these finger-licking good Chicken Pops. One of the best chicken wings I've ever had in terms of caramelized seasoning, juiciness and presentation. I could have eaten 10 of these plates but settled on 1 1/2.

Simon LA

Simon LA's Kerry Simon and Marius Blin personally served up these Scarlet Scallops and Yellow Beets Napoleon with Green Garlic Goat Cheese. Visually stunning and it contained all my favorite ingredients in one refreshing dish. I've had squid ink pasta/risotto/pastries and now I've eaten a scarlet scallop.

Cocktail from VIP tent

The Foundry - Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Finally tasted the infamous Grilled Cheese Sandwich from Eric Greenspan's The Foundry on Melrose. The chefs at the booth were really fun. Before he handed me this beauty one of the chef's said this was the most beautiful plate of the day. People were asked to ring a large bell before getting their plate and he said my attempt at ringing the bell was the best of the day too!

La Descarga

La Descarga made perfect, classic daiquiris.

La Descarga - Bill Esparza performance

We stopped at La Descarga table at the right time because special guest musician Bill Esparza of one of my favorite blogs, Street Gourmet LA broke into a saxophone solo. Perfect timing.

1886 Bar at the Raymond

1886 Bar at the Raymond served up Bols Genever gin cocktails both during the event and at the after-party.

1886 Bar

They were "making" their own smaller straws fro the drinks and for some reason we asked for an encore. They are just fun to watch.

1886 Bar

The drink on the right was spicy and named Razor Blade. Both were excellent.

There were many other favorites not pictured:

• La Seine served two winners - a coconut crusted jalapeno with a topping of albacore, salmon, yellowtail and aioli. Chef Alex Reznik's braised short rib with crispy chicken skin was my absolute favorite dish of the day. But since I devoured it so fast, I forgot to take the photo. You can see it at My Last Bite's page, who photographed it beautifully and also declared it her favorite bite of the day.
• Michael Voltaggio's micro cones from the upcoming ink. I tried the blueberry pancake and olive oil vanilla cones.
• Picca, Ricardo Zarate's (Food & Wine's Best New Chef) chicken anticucho, or skewers, with his grilling sauce and rocoto chili peppers
• Ray's & Stark Bar Chef Kris Morningstar served stuffed chile with chorizo, dates and sherry almond sauce
• Street's Susan Feniger & Kajsa Alger served the popular Kaya Toast, toasted bread spread thick with coconut jam, soy butter, drizzled with soy sauce and white pepper
• Tres by Jose Andres' grilled octopus taco with lettuce wrapper and olive spheres
• A-Frame's Roy Choi served Cracked Out Kettle Corn, a buttered furikake kettle corn with Benton's bacon, dried pineapple and fresh shiso. I've devoted another blog post to this soulful popcorn, which was kicked up a bit here.

Even though I was too full to continue eating, I barely made a dent in the nearly 50 choices.

Between noshes, there was plenty of chef sighting - several Top Chef alumni, Top Chef Masters finalist Mary Sue Miliken. My favorite was a brief encounter with Jonathan Gold, who "elbow"-shaked me since both of our hands were full of food.

Overall, a wildly successful event on a perfect summer day.

Burgers & Beats - Recession Priced Burgers

There are so many variations of burgers all over town, but an 'underground' burger from a chef of quite an extensive background was a first for me.

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - The Juicy Luicy

For this beautiful burger it's worth going underground.

Several months ago my friend Abby from Pleasure Palate shared some tweets and blog posts about a monthly outdoor event by Chef Christian Navarro of Haute Skillet.

So a group of us were determined to try his next creative burger at the 2nd event of this type. Because of the rain, the normally outdoor location moved to the Curry Up Cafe in Woodland Hills.

Christian Navarro and the Mother's Office Burger description

His concoction for that day was the Mother's Office Burger - "the difference is Mom doesn't get mad when you add bacon and sauce to it".

Curry Up Cafe's Wongie Fries

While the burgers were grilling in the kitchen we ordered some of Curry Up's side dishes - the Philipino lumpia (egg rolls) and the house special Wongie Fries (think In N Out Animal Style - esque fries), complete with cheese, green onions and secret sauce.

Mother's Office Burger

Mother's Office Burger - unwrapped

Needless to say, I was a fan. Not only of the delicious food, but also of his passion and charisma. Which brought me back to B & B 4.0 where Chef Navarro would prepare his much requested signature version of the Juicy Lucy burger, and it would be outdoors as intended.

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - The Juicy Lucy

Upon arrival at the 4.0 Hollywood location (a private residence), Chef Navarro was prepping out in the yard. Fresh croissants were on the grill with sprigs of rosemary that were sourced from the house's garden.

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - The Juicy Lucy

Next step was seasoning the patties. Since this was a Juicy Lucy, the cheese goes inside the patty and melts to gooey perfection when served (an inside-out cheeseburger). Chef Navarro completed this step prior to arrival, but talked us through his recipe.

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - The Juicy Lucy

If you usually add ketchup, mayo or mustard to your burger, how about a freshly prepared lemon-rosemary aioli, fresh picked from the garden? Perfect complement to the burger.

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - The Juicy Lucy

By this time the meat patties came off the grill to rest.

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - The Juicy Lucy

Next the chef mixed up and dressed some greens including organic arugula and pea shoots, another unexpected twist. I particularly loved the fresh, almost minty quality, the pea sprouts brought to the table.

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - The Juicy Lucy

The patties and greens went on the croissants.

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - The Juicy Lucy

And the Juicy Lucies were plated, ready to be devoured.

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - The Juicy Lucy

If you think that looks good on the tray, here it is half eaten. The greens slightly wilted, the cheese melted. The buttery croissant. Perfect medley of flavors.

Burgers & Beats 4.0

Did I mention this chef-prepared burger is free ? Tips help offset the costs of this generous operation and keep it sustainable, so diners are invited to pay whatever they feel is appropriate.

Burgers and Beats 4.0

Burgers & Beats 4.0 - guests enjoying the space

In order to make room for the next round of lucky diners, a group of us migrated over to nearby Milk for dessert.

Milk - butterscotch banana ice cream bar

All in all, a delightful gourmet Sunday.

If you'd like to experience an upcoming Burgers & Beats, you can follow Haute Skillet on Twitter (@hauteskillet), on Facebook, or join their mailing list directly from their website.

Look out for the details. Chef Navarro has all kinds of interesting plans for the future.

Fooding Around LQ@SK Pop-Up

This past Monday I attended one of the 2 soft openings nights of an unusual Pop Up event with acclaimed French Chef Laurent Quenioux at Starry Kitchen in downtown L.A.

Chef Laurent Quenioux in kitchen

The event description indicated that the amuse bouche (first mini-appetizer) of the meal would contain imported escamoles, a Mexican delicacy also known as "insect caviar" (ant eggs). So that set the tone for this thoroughly amusing meal.

This unlikely collaboration, as Chef Quenioux wrote on his broadcast email, resulted in the love child, a new signature LQ dish. But more about that later.

Having tried both LQ's modern French fine dining and inventive SK Chef Thi Tran's bold Asian dishes a number of times, I took a trip down taste bud memory lane to think about each entity before tasting the fusion of the two.

So before we get to the meal at hand, some brief background.

LQ

My first taste of LQ fare was last year's 2nd Annual Gold Standard event, where Bistro LQ (Chef Quenioux's former restaurant, recently closed) served up multiple dishes.

Bistro LQ table at the Gold Standard event 2010

Upon tasting their savory uni tapioca dish (on top tier of table in the photo), it was love at first bite, and I knew a visit to Bistro LQ was imminent. In my opinion, it was the best dish of the whole event.

Bistro LQ - uni tapioca

Inevitably it was on to Bistro LQ where I savored their famous, heavenly uni tapioca pudding with kumamoto oysters, lobster gelee and yuzu. It's the best of seafood all in a symphony of a couple of perfect bites.

Bistro LQ - cheese cart

Our whole table gawked at the monumental cheese cart. Another work of art.

I've also dined at Vertical Wine Bistro where LQ is Executive Chef, which presents a blending of their previous menu with LQ's additions.

SK

As Starry Kitchen owner Nguyen Tran pointed out to me on Monday, I've been to every incarnation of Starry Kitchen, from their word of mouth underground setup at their North Hollywood home to the LA Street Food Festival (and other events) to their stint at Test Kitchen and to their current location.

While the food is delicious, their infectious energy (like showing up in the infamous banana suit) adds to the experience. The first time I met Nguyen he already knew my name since I had been following SK on Twitter. Very impressive.

My first dish at underground SK was the Malay Ayam, a comforting Malaysian chicken curry banh mi.

Starry Kitchen at Test Kitchen - Crispy Tofu Balls and Pandan Chicken

But my favorite is the Crispy Tofu Balls (aka Game Changer 2), where you do not miss the meat.

Starry Kitchen (downtown) - Spice "crack" crab cakes

And the spicy crab ("krab") cakes which Nguyen refers to as "crack-tacular". I agree.

LQ@SK

This union definitely piqued lots of peoples' interest and curiosity. Upon being seated I recognized the familiar silver and glass pitchers from Bistro LQ containing citrus water.

For the soft opening, they offered bread by Bread Lounge and inclusive paired wines by Domaine LA - a Croatian white, Spanish Cava, California/French/Spanish roses, reds, sparkling and a white port wine after dessert.

I've left off the details on the wines since they are not offered during the pop-up's regular run. However, they will offer free corkage.

On to the meal....

Amuse bouche: Escamoles

Amuse Bouche - Escamoles

Insect caviar (ant eggs) was not high on my list of things to try, but I am willing to try almost everything at least once. Since this is a Mexican delicacy, and were "smuggled" in from Tijuana, all the more reason to honor their efforts and try it.

Escamoles - detail

Escamoles are actually ant larvae harvested by hand from the roots of the agave or maguey plants, from which tequila and mezcal are made.

The taste once they were sauteed and placed in a taco was surprisingly mild, slightly nutty and buttery. I definitely couldn't place the taste if nobody explained what they were. The outer wrap of nasturtium leaf, from the chef's own garden, added a peppery, fresh component.

The mini glass of spiced, lime Sapporo beer contained the flower blossom. All of it was edible except the stem.

1st course: Oxtail Compote, pickled spring vegetables, mustard tapioca

Oxtail compote, pickled spring vegtables, mustard tapioca

The mustard tapioca brought back wonderful memories, and served as a great condiment. The tapioca with the slightly sweet, tender oxtail and sour pickles balanced well with the fresh tarragon, although I would have preferred a stronger mustard taste.

The mustard tapioca also will make an appearance in the LQ Boudin Noir Starry Kitchen lunch special.

2nd course: Tai snapper, citruses, zucchini, tomatoes, kohlrabi, smoked black sea salts

Tai snapper, citruses, zucchini, tomatoes, kohlrabi, smoked black sea salts

The pea pod with attached peas was the star of this presentation. I loved how the shape of the citrus segments and even of the fish mirrored its shape.

The New Zealand Tai snapper, also known as red sea bream or porgies, was moist and peppery. Everything tasted good on its own but it didn't all come together for me mixing the components together. A solid but perhaps too mildly flavored course.

Event Organizer Allison Reynolds, pouring the wine pairings and greeting guests

3rd course: Teriyaki rabbit albondigas, teriyaki foie gras, miso, green garlic tempura

Teriyaki rabbit albondigas, teriyaki foie gras, miso, green Garlic tempura

A tableside pouring of the miso broth added even more excitement to this dish.

Teriyaki rabbit albondigas, teriyaki foie gras, miso, green Garlic tempura

Veal sweatbreads, morels, chanterelles, shisito peppers, yuzu kosho

Chocolate chipotle mousse, lime serrano gel, cinnamon soil

Starry Kitchen Owner Nguyen Tran

Spring Garden Blooms

People say we have no seasons in Southern California. While we don't get many weather extremes, we definitely have a bounty of plants in bloom throughout the year.

March 21st was the first day of spring. Since then I've been noticing tiny buds, blooms and sprouts all over my garden. Here are some for you to also enjoy.

rosa bianca eggplant sprouting from seed

There is joy in watching plants grow from the ground up. Part of the satisfaction of gardening for me is to watch a plant grow from seed or clippings, then eventually bloom.

double tuberose sprouting from bulb

pumelo blossom

lemon blossom

lemon growing (lower right)

tiny grapes

lavender

blooming daisies