Taste of the Nation

It seems like there is a food event every other weekend in Southern California. Some of these events are worth trying and some of these events should be an annual pilgrimage. Taste of the Nation is a food event that should not be missed and maybe LA's best. This was my first time attending and I can't wait till the next year.



My plan was not to over indulge, but that would be tough. I headed straight to most visually appealing food first and that was Nona Sivley and Kerry Simon's lamb lollipops with hibiscus glaze on fava bean puree. It was nicely cooked and a great start to the day.





What happened next was a complete blur. The Bazaar/Tres served their signature olive spheres, a burst of pure unadulterated olive flavor. They also served a delicious grilled octopus tacos, served in bib lettuce with flowering cilantro. The octopus was tender, the taco itself was good, but could've used some acid.



Then came Campanile's olive oil fried egg served on grilled bread with olive tapenade and a tomato concasse. Putting a fried egg on top of perfectly grilled bread, is not fair. Simple but delicious.





Chaya restaurant group was the next food tent and I was not sure what to expect here. But Chef Shingefumi Tachibe really impressed me, as a matter of fact, my favorite single bite of food was the Hamachi Mole Pressed Sushi. Clean, great texture and perfectly seasoned. Their Sukiyaki short rib with porcini mushroom puree was also delicious.



I had to grab a beverage, so I headed over to The Spare Room and they were offering the Nantucket Sound. Boy have cocktails come a long way, this drink included the following: chamomile and lemon balm infused Plymouth gin; Bianco vermouth; and cantaloupe juice, served over spiced ginger sorbet. So refreshing, but back to the food. Up till this point there really weren't any lines, but at Go Burger, had a line, all for a burger? This better be good. I grabbed a lamb slider with minted goat cheese and grilled fava relish. If grading on looks, this burger would get an A, but for flavor this burger got an A+. Perfectly cooked medium rare, well seasoned and just great lamb taste. I want another one right now.





I'm still pacing myself at this point and skipping any dishes that I may have tried before. So I decide to head over to the VIP tent to try out what Chef Michael Voltaggio had to offer. Wagyu beef tongue cold cuts with pickled red onion, pumpernickle bread and mustard snow, the tongue was perfectly cooked, super tender and all together the dish was delicious. He also had an ice bar, with micro-cones, ice cream flavors included olive oil, bacon and blueberry pancake. I tried the olive oil and it was really good, so rich and creamy with a subtle olive oil finish. They also had my favorite cocktail of the day, their version of a Pimm's Cup using gin, sweet vermouth, Triple Sec, orange bitters and Peychaud's bitters; he combined it with fresh lemonade and garnished it with cucumber, mnt, borage, freeze-dried apples and strawberries.







AFrame served their signature pop corn, Buttered furikake kettle corn topped with Benton's bacon, dried pineapple, and fresh shiso. Lukshon served chicken pops, The Red O, had pork belly sopes and grilled blue mazatlan shrimp served on fresh jicama "chips". All of these dishes were good.



Okay, so this was just one side of the venue, I had yet to visit the other side. Next up, Osteria Mozza served porcini rubbed barbecued short ribs with salsa verde. This reminded me of kalbi, but a touch too sweet for me.



I missed the king crab chive dumplings at WP24, but I did get a taste of their chow fueng roll with braised beef short rib. This was a successful interpretation, but it just doesn't compare to the delicate chow fueng made at most dim sum restaurants.



The torta de lengua from FIG restaurant was another amazing preparation of beef tongue. And the escabeche served with the sandwich was awesome. Border Grill's offerings were Cold poached Alaska salmon on a jicama tostadita, topped with tomatillo herb salsa; Alaska crab and quinoa fritters with aji amarillo aioli, piquillo pepper romesco. I enjoyed the crab on the quinoa fritter, but the salmon was pretty bland.



All of this food and I only had about half of what was available. So much for my plan. I expected the food to be amazing and it was. But the surprise was the amazing cocktails being served at this event. Some of the best I have ever had. Thanks to everyone that contributed and donated their time for this event. You did an amazing job.

Hunan Chili King

Los Angeles magazine listed this place as #2 on the Top 10 Chinese restaurants list. With so many places to choose from in SGV, that's quite a statement. I was with my parents and my mom is the Simon Cowell of Chinese restaurant reviewers. But to her defense, shes an amazing cook and has great taste.



We arrived on a Saturday at about noon, there were plenty of tables available. As we were seated, a plate of boiled peanuts and spicy pickled daikon was placed at our table. If this dish was a barometer of the heat level we were to expect, our mouths were in for a challenge.



A great thing about this place is the menu, it has pictures and English!! Yes English! But with my parents there that didn't matter, for future tho, it's going to be importante.



We ordered Cumin Lamb, Sauteed Frog, Spicy Chicken, some type of fried fish and a sauteed bamboo like vegetable. See even with a English menu, I couldn't figure out half of the dishes we ate. The frog dish tasted a lot like the chicken dish, surprise, surprise. Both were good, but trying to eat meat the with all little bones was challenging. The cumin lamb dish was my favorite, subtle cumin flavor, tender thinly sliced lamb with a ton of cilantro, chilis and scallions.



The bamboo dish was a nice contrast from all of the oily spicy dishes. The fried fish dish would have been good, but they were over cooked, bordering burned. The prices of the dishes were on the high side, but as far as authentic Szechuan cuisine goes, Hunan Chili King has that covered. The spice level is high and the service is decent.

Son of a Gun

Delicious, simple, creative and fun. This is how I would describe the food and atmosphere of this place. The first thing I would recommend is sitting at the communal table. Twenty two seats available for walk-ins only. So be patient, go for a walk and wait for some seats to open.



We were seated at the end of the table, it was crowded but the energy was contagious. As we reviewed the menu, we could see all of the other dishes being ordered by our table mates. We started our meal with the shrimp toast sandwich and mussels. Both were delicious, the mussels were removed from their shells and submerged in the tarragon, fennel and pernod sauce. This was the best mussel dish I had in a long time. The shrimp toast sandwich was spicy, rich and full of flavor. The bread was fried in butter.



For the next round we needed something to break-up the richness of the first two dishes. We ordered the hiramasa and the fried chicken sandwich. The hiramasa was fresh and light, very subtle in flavors. The fried chicken sandwich has changed my impression of every chicken sandwich I have ever eaten and will ever eat. The combination of the spicy slaw, rooster aioli, buttery toasted brioche and the most tender, juicy and crispy chicken, was truly amazing.





I didn't know if I should eat anything else after that sandwich, I thought I should end the meal on a high note. But since we had split all of the items between three people, I was still hungry.



So for our final round we ordered the brandade with soft egg. And just when I thought the fried chicken sandwich was unbeatable, in comes the brandade. Another amazing dish, simple, luscious and rich.

Cannot wait for my next visit to this place.

Daikokuya

In my attempt to visit the top ramen restaurants in Los Angeles, I had high expectations for Daikokuya. It was a Saturday afternoon and the crowd outside was dense. We were told the wait would be about 45 mins. An hour later, we were seated.



My friend brought a bottle of Riesling and the restaurant did not have a problem with that. But they didn't have wine glasses either. I guess that should have been expected. We ordered teriyaki chicken, gyoza, and pickled vegetables to start. For my entree I had the Daikokuya Ramen combination with the Unagi Bowl.



All of the starters were delicious, nothing amazing but very good. The ramen on the other hand, was spectacular. The noodles were perfectly cooked and had nice chew. The pork was tender and unctuous and the broth was savory and rich. Each of the accompaniments green onions, marinated boiled egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and sesame seeds added either texture or another dimension of flavor.



Let's not forget about the Unagi bowl. The fatty eel with the Kabayaki Sauce was delicious served on top of rice. I understand why I waited an hour and why Daikokuya has always been mentioned as one of the best ramen restaurants in LA. Can't wait til next time.

Osteria Mozza

I finally made it to Osteria Mozza, after several attempts I made it.

It was a last minute decision and we were able to reserve a table for 5 at 5:15 on a Sunday. I was with a group of food lovers and we had just enjoyed ourselves at the Gold Standard Food event.



We arrived as they opened at 5:00pm and seated immediately. The restaurant is nicely decorated and not too dim. It's nice, but also casual at the same time. Since we weren't starving we decided to order a few starters and entrees to share. We also order a few cocktails and a bottle of wine. Before our meal started, we were served an amuse of crostini with burrata, olive tapenade and julienned basil. It was a nice little bite.



Our starters included Crispy Testina con salsa di gribiche, Grilled Octopus with potatoes, celery & lemon, Burricotta with radicchio, spiced walnuts, honey & fried rosemary and an arugula salad.



The Crispy Testina was delicious, it was sort of a terrine of pork fried and served with a garlic aioli with fried capers and parsley. It was rich and salty, but perfect to be shared among five people.



The grilled octopus was awesome, perfectly cooked and tender. The celery and lemon added a fresh bite. The dish was simple and very clean.



Next up from the mozzarella bar, we had the burricotta. I've never had that before, it was very much like ricotta, much lighter and very mild. The grilled radicchio added a nice charred bitter note and the walnuts were sweet.

For our entrees we ordered a nice selection of pastas. Squid Ink Chitarra Freddi with Dungeness crab, sea urchin & jalapeno, Ricotta Gnudi with garlic and parsely, Ricotta & Egg Raviolo with browned butter and Fiorentini with guanciale, tomato & spicy pickled peppers. Each dish had a different flavor profile and base sauce.



The squid ink pasta was a cold dish and the urchin added a really nice sweetness. I thought the squid ink was very subtle and I missed the brinyness of it.



The gnudi were so tender and light. The simplicity of the dish really shined, each ingredient stood out on it's own and combined they were harmoniess.



The ravioli with ricotta and egg was the highlight of the night. As you cut into the plate sized ravioli, the egg yolk oozed out and mixed with the delicious brown butter. It was so decadant, so delicious.



The last dish was the Fiorentini with guanciale, tomato & spicy pickled peppers had the most familiar Italian flavors. With a tomato based sauce, the pasta cooked al dente. The guanciale was diced into small pieces and the spicy peppers weren't that spicy. But the dish was good.



Desserts and digestifs were next, but I was up to my eyeballs with food. My friends ordered some Grappa, Madiera, some cannolis filled with ice cream and the Torta della Nonna. Was told everything was delicious.



I was pleased and excited to have finally experienced Osteria Mozza. The food was good and the ambience was nice. The service was attentive and informed. I am looking forward to my next visit.

The Gold Standard 2011

The day finally came, the 3rd Annual Gold Standard event. This would be the second straight year the event was held at the Petersen Automotive Museum. We had VIP tickets which would allow us to enjoy the first hour of the event with a smaller crowd. It was definitely the way to go. After we grabbed our gift bags, we headed up to the second floor. A great sponsor this year was Knork, a knife and fork combo that was very useful at this event.

The first booth I noticed was Susan Feniger's Street, they served a Vietnamese Crepe wrapped around a bean sprouts, carrots, pickled daikon and peanuts. They execution of this dish was off, my serving was a mouthful of fish sauce. There was no balance in the dish.



Immediately after my bite of the crepe, I headed over to the Fathers Office booth. I thought they might serve their signature burger, but instead they offered Stout Braised Ribs with a Spicy Orange Blossom Honey Glaze. This dish was also not executed well, I noticed the ribs were in steam trays without sauce, it was sauced before serving. While the meat was very tender, the flavor just didn't penetrate the meat. This wasn't the way I expected the event to start off.



As we split up to conquer separate booths, I headed off to Mozza. They were serving a Roasted Cherry Tomato on top of Burrata and pesto. Nancy Silverton was plating along with the rest of her staff. It was a simple plate with great flavors. The burrata was silky smooth and the ingredients all complimented each other. I grabbed an extra plate and headed over to Bistro LQ.





Next up, Chef Laurent Quenioux was offering a set of dishes. The first was a Hare Terrine and Stuffed Duck and Pickled Huckleberries. Delicious. The next item was pork cheeks with a Chocolate Sauce served over polenta. The pork cheeks were perfectly cooked and the sauce was subtle but flavorful.



We gathered with our selections and each of us sampled each others plates. We had Irish Car Bomb doughnut holes from The Nickle Diner, Tripe Soup and Cochinita Pibil from Chichen Itza and the best single bite of the day. It was Raw Scallop with tiny rice puffs wrapped in a nasturtium leaf. It was delicious, clean and so creative, Providence represented.







At this point, the VIP hour was coming to a close and we had only sampled a third of the booths. The tent was divided into three rows, with the middle row being beverages. Then another handful of booths outside. We decided to attack the next row of booths before the lines got too long. I headed to Slaw Dogs and Waterloo and City. Slaw dogs offered something they called the "Spring Fling" and Waterloo and City had a Chicken Liver and Foie mousse.







As we met back at our table, I started sampling. The chicken liver and foie mousse was really good, the sweetness came through and balanced the richness. The Slaw Dog was weird, actually it was bad. The first issue was the fact that you couldn't fit your mouth around the entire thing and they had some type of Parmesean and Bacon wrapped around the hot dog, disgusting. My friends brought over some dishes from La Casita Mexicana and Ethiopian from Meals from Genet.



Every dish from La Casita had heat, but also good flavor. A cheese and jalapeno tamale, chile relleno made with a jalapeno stuffed with beans and cheese, it was roasted, not fried. The third dish was a roasted pork tostada, which also had a ton of heat. I was happy they didn't tame the heat.





Meals from Genet was a plate of Ethiopian fare. Collard greens, split pea puree, lentils, salad all served on Injera. I really enjoyed the collard greens and split pea puree. The flavors were so unique.

I'm getting full at this point, but there were still several places I needed to try. We headed to Akasha to try some cheese and there chutneys and jelly, the pear chutney was awesome. Then to Palate, to try the Pork Ear, Lardon, Pistachio and Kumquat banh mi. The portion was ridiculous, the flavors were awesome, a bit to sweet from the Kumquat, but really good. Then it was CUT serving Braised Kobe Short Ribs with Indian spices. Really good, a little cold, but tasty.





Then across the aisle was Mo-Chica serving mussels topped with Peruvian salsa. This dish has flavors of Ceviche, a lot of acidity and fresh veggies. Next door was Drago Centro serving Foie Gras Pannacotta with duck confit and beet croutons. The most beautiful presentation of the event and very good.





We headed outside, the first booth was Little Doms. They were serving grilled oysters, it was awesome, incredible, ridiculously good. Parks BBQ had Bulgogi with fried rice, nothing special. The Gorbals really surprised me with their Fried chicken gizzards with Romesco sauce, it was really good. The Foundry served an award winning grilled cheese, it had Raisin bread with Taleggio Cheese, Arugula and Roasted Red Bell Peppers.







I thought the event was a great success. The lines were always manageable and the food was delicious for the most part. Looking forward to the next one!!