BombayUpWithaTwist's Profile
Best chicken matzo ball soup
I also like Barney Greengrass, they are a little expensive, but you can't beat the view :o)
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Barney Greengrass Restaurant
9570 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Good Beer Bottle Shop in LA
I agree with Wine House, we bought a ton of single bottles to give as a gift. They also have a great selection of hard liquor too :o)
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Wine House
2311 Cotner Ave, Los Angeles, CA
White Truffles @Valentino
Maudie, your white truffle potato gratin sounds decadent!! I'm always afraid to buy truffles for home use, I'd be afraid that they are sub-par, but your recs for Surfas & Cheese Shop sounds great! Someone else was talking about Urbani, not sure if it is still available.
It also is nice to splurge once or twice a year at Valentino's to get the best :o) I hate everything with truffle oil, it is way too overused lately!
White Truffles @Valentino
Went to Valentino’s last night and had an AMAZING meal!! It was just me and my husband. I picked 4 dishes + dessert and they split each one for us, so it was like having a custom tasting meal. I love how they do that for you, Scarpetta will also serve that way too.
Italian Chopped Salad.
Hubby loved it, it was a little too bitter for me, I think because of too much radicchio :o)
Grilled Octopus w/Squid Ink Israeli Couscous.
Loved this!! The octopus was super tender because they poach it first then grill it. The skid ink couscous was great too, not fishy, just enough mineraliness to it ;o)
Risotto w/White Truffles
I decided that if I had a choice, this would be my last meal that I would pick :o) I would just need to die in late fall...lol Valentino's makes the BEST risotto and white truffles are just sublime! They use Vialone Nano rice for their risotto. I already ate some when I took this picture. It was covered in truffles when it came to the table. It was $70 for app portion & $100 for entrée…we split entrée portion. They said that they would have the truffles until about New Years.
Sliced NY Steak w/arugula & tomato...
Ordered med rare, but maybe a touch too rare.
Perfect Tiramisu!
Most places dumb it down by making it too sweet and not enough alcohol in it ;o)
There were some interesting people dining…
One table had a woman gnawing on a bone, I do that sometimes too, but not at a place like Valention’s…lol Then later in the evening, she stood up and modeled a sweater that she was going to give to her mother, she actually made a presentation with it!
Another table had a young guy wearing a plain old white t-shirt as his attire. Can’t you dress up just a tad for a place like this??
The table right next to us had one couple at it, SHE talked on her cell phone for the first 15 mins…she even ate her salad as she gabbed.
P.S. Sorry the pics aren’t that great, I wasn’t very good with the iPhone this time...
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Scarpetta
225 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Cookbook for making tofu
My head has been spinning with all the info I have gathered too...lol I'm most familiar with Japanese tofu and have been using nigari. In one blog, I found that they used cornstarch with it, I haven't tried that, but wonder if that would really make a difference.
I'm actually making tofu now, waiting for the soy milk to be made now...I use a soy milk maker :o)
Cookbook for making tofu
That's great! Keep us updated on what you come up with :o)
The only thing I've come up with is the firmness...lol
It seems like you can get more info if you google "homemade tofu" and there are some blogs out there that add veggies directly to the tofu or add turmeric to add color.
Good luck!!
Cookbook for making tofu
I agree with "The Book of Tofu". I still haven't completely read through it yet, but it's pretty comprehensive. What kind of "different" tofus are you looking for? Are you asking for different type of dishes/recipes or to actually make the tofu itself? I've been having fun making the tofu and it tastes so much better than store bought :o)
What cut of beef for burgers?
I made a nice burger with Chuck, Short Rib, Bacon & Pork Butt. The bacon added extra flavor!
Anniversary Dinner
We were just at Saddle Peak Lodge for our anniversary on Fri night and loved it :o)
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Saddle Peak Lodge
419 Cold Canyon Rd., Calabasas, CA 91302
Calas
Monch, that's exactly how I imagined that Calas would be. I guess I should have taken the extra effort to go to Elizabeth's. Now I know for next time ;o) Maybe I just need to try to make my own...
Calas
Thanks, Hunt. I would have sent them back if I'd known they weren't supposed to be that way...oh well :o) I was really looking forward to having them too. We did love the Pain Perdu though!
Calas
Hunt, The ones that I had were rock hard. It was so hard that it was hard to cut it with just a fork. Is this how they are supposed to be? I pictured them to be soft and fluffy like other fritters.
Calas
Sorry it took forever for me to report back on the Calas.
So, we did end up going to the Coffee Pot because it was the most convenient since it was walking distance from our hotel. Unfortunately, I did not like their Calas, they were rock hard! Are they supposed to be that hard? It just tasted like a hard, fried ball of dough. I couldn't even tell that it had rice in it. The grits were a little bland, but then I guess that's how they are supposed to be, they were delicious when I mixed it up with some of my friend's corned beef hash;o)
Hubby had banana pancakes. I also did not like those, but Hubby did. They actually add the banana into the batter, they just don't top it with them. The bananas were huge slices, so it was more banana than pancake and is the reason I didn't like it. Another friend of mine had the Lost Bread...NOLA's version of French Toast and these were delicious! The whole table raved about that dish!
GK, thanks for mentioning the 18% add-on tip. It was written on the door, but I probably would have missed it if you hadn't mentioned it. The service was pretty good, I think the waitresses have been there forever. One of them even broke out in song. She was pretty amazing! She wasn't a professional singer, she just sings at her church.
We had a fabulous eating fest during our stay. I will try to post on another thread about it. One of the highlights was fried chicken at a small place called Fury's. It was one of the best fried chickens that I've ever had! They make it to order and it's crispy and flavorful throughout! I heard about this from the New Orleans Menu Pages, it's a website that is all about restaurants in NOLA. I've been subscribing to it for several years now. Right before our trip, he listed his Best Fried Chicken List...it was perfect timing! They also had really good Gumbo & Red Beans & Rice. You can tell that everything is made from scratch! Funny thing is that they also have many Italian dishes on the menu.
http://www.nomenu.com/joomla1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2506:12-best-fried-chicken-restaurants&catid=222:top-ten&Itemid=293
Other places we hit, Sazerac Bar, Galatoire's, Carousel Bar, Napoleon House, Tujague's, Cochon, Cafe du Monde, Commander's, Angelo Brocato, Krystal Burgers...lol, Ritz Carlton Bar, Mr. B's, Le Marais Bar, Johnny's Poorboy & Central Grocery...it truly was an eating & drinking fest, we were only there for 3 nights :o)
http://furysrestaurant.com/
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Coffee Pot Restaurant
714 Saint Peter St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Calas
gkc, thanks for the warning about Old Coffee Pot! Only prob is that that seems like the only place that serves sweet Calas :o( If I do go I will just be sure to check on the tip! Wait,, I just saw Monch's tip on Elizabeths...
That would be great if you can ask your friends! I will be going there this Sun... Thanks in advance!! I love NOLA, can't wait to get there!
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Coffee Pot Restaurant
714 Saint Peter St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Calas
Thanks, Celeste, but I think that I may be more interested in the sweet :o) I guess it's not a very common restaurant item, more of a "make at home" type of thing...
Calas
I will be visiting New Orleans in a couple weeks. This will be my third trip and am so excited about eating all the good food. I just recently learned about Calas, the deep fried rice fritters. I found that the Old Coffee Pot serves it, but are there any other places too? Thanks in advance for your input :o)
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Coffee Pot Restaurant
714 Saint Peter St, New Orleans, LA 70116
Eating out in Japan, the language issue
Nini, you just asked "Do you eat the Japanese language?" :-). So they may laugh...lol
"Washoku tabemasuka?" means do you eat Japanese food, but then everybody would say yes. I know I'm not being very helpful...
Photographing Dinner
Hunt, we are talking about taking food photos of the food we made ourselves, not at restaurants :o) I guess the title should have said that ;o)
Photographing Dinner
I was also told to always use a tripod, but I don't have the time or patience for that;o)
As long as I haven't had a couple of cocktails, my hands are pretty steady...lol
Photographing Dinner
Pata, your photos look beautiful! How were you able to get so much light on the first pic? Wasn't it taken at a restaurant?
Your 2nd one is so beautiful too! Nice composition and it looks so soft :o)
Photographing Dinner
Rubee, my hubby is very patient too about me taking photos before we eat too;o) I try to serve him hot as best I can!
I love your site...I'm going to peruse it later :o)
Photographing Dinner
Monavano, can you give me some pointers on my photos, up thread. Obviously not the first 3, I know my mistakes on those...
Photographing Dinner
Monavano, I guess using point and shoot and dslr makes a difference in what type of flash to use, right?
Photographing Dinner
I keep reading don't use flash, but I guess it has it's place. I was talking to a camera store guy that takes food photos as a living and he says he always uses flash...well strobe lights and stuff;o) Or do like escondido and cover the flash for a different affect and they also have those covers for them too. See, so much to learn...lol
Photographing Dinner
I've heard of putting your finger or even a piece of kleenex over the flash...lol I see what you mean by the salt, it really pops out!
I'm like you, sometimes I just want to do things right away without reading a manual:o)
Photographing Dinner
Aaah, I know exactly what you are talking about! I've just blown with my mouth sometimes when I'm taking shots on the stove...lol I never thought of actually having something to do it with!
