Discerning1's Profile
Pizza Mozza, Patina, Gjelina and Spago reserved. Where else should I eat?
After four years of being a UCLA parent, Nook Bistro (http://www.nookbistro.com/) is my favorite moderately priced attractive spot with good food and drink. Make a reservation in advance. It's literally hidden away in the right angle of a little strip mall.
Also Hop Li on Santa Monica has pretty good Chinese seafood. It's where we held graduation dinner for a crowd for a modest price.
Also Fundamental on Westwood off Wilshire (http://fundamental-la.com/dinner.html) has well-prepared, somewhat minimalist food. I've only been there for an excellent lunch, not dinner.
Pizza with egg topping?
You all are THE BEST. Loving this community.
I took the advice and made a small sample pizza with caramelized fennel and onions and strips of collards, fresh mozzarella, white truffle oil, and one egg poured on near the end. Really good.
Thank you everyone for the advice...not too much liquid, fewer eggs, using the broiler for last minute cooking of the whites.
The only challenge is that I gave away my great pizza peel to save space. Any other ideas for moving the dough onto the hot pizza stone?
Pizza with egg topping?
Dear Chowhounds,
It is time again for me to host my reading group brunch and I had a vision today of making a breakfast pizza. I was thinking of a layer of caramelized onions and fennel, some burrata, and a whole egg (sunny side up style) on each 1/8 of the dough.
Have any of you ever actually made anything like this? Will the egg work?
The pizza will have to be vegetarian.
Thanks.
Pizza Mozza, Patina, Gjelina and Spago reserved. Where else should I eat?
Drop the list and go to Picca.
Best restaurants in/near Disneyland?
Was at California Adventure this week and had what appears to be the best value for decent food: Sonoma Terrace bento box lunches for $14.99 each.
One box had 2 pieces of good fried chicken, tasty potato salad, coleslaw, a flavorful slice of apple pie, and a beverage plus admission to a reserved section for the World of Color spectacle at night.
The other box had miso-glazed salmon, a soba salad, greens, cucumber-radish salad, an orange mousse-like dessert and a drink plus admission to World of Color. And they came in a reusable World of Color tote bag.
Quality of the food and ingredients was surprisingly good for DisneyFood.
Grandma's Stuffed Cabbage Came Out Delish - Here's the Recipe
Had the urge to make stuffed cabbage this week and I updated my Grandma Esther's recipe. To make the sauce sweet and sour, instead of sugar or vinegar or lemon, I used grated preserved lemon for the sour, grated carrot and parsnip for the sweet.
Also, I microwaved the head of cabbage, which avoided blanching the leaves, and trimmed the rib thinner for easier rolling.
Otherwise did what my grandma did for the stuffing and the sauce. Came out great.
Baco Mercat
Had lunch there last week. Don't think I'd return. We had some pseudo-falafel sandwich, which I found greasy and unappealing. Also the Toron, which was better, but so-so in flavor.
The blistered okra and sautéed green tomato and corn were the best dishes in terms of balance, respect for the ingredients, flavor and appeal. The pecan panna cotta was divine.
The service was ridiculous. We sat there for 15 minutes before we literally accosted a server to order. Then it took about 20 minutes for the panna cotta. The poor server was mortified at the kitchen's nonchalance.
Picca
I'm a little late to the party, but we were a party of 4 at Picca last week and it was a sublime experience. The avocado cocktail was velvety (I only got a taste, since I ordered the Meyer Lansky).
The small plates were sumptuous. We went through 14 dishes for the group but probably could have done with 11. The carapulcra---roasted black cod---was an amazing mouthful, as was a daily special vegetable stew. The sushi-like causas were divine, served on a cake made of potatoes. We enjoyed everything from salad to skewers and mussels.
We dined upstairs which was somewhat quieter and were seated next to A-list celebrities who had some privacy upstairs.
Favorite cheap meats?
Oxtail is not inexpensive in my area of California. At the Asian market it's $5.69 a pound, but at markets with butchers it's closer to $10 a pound.
Ideas for a whole salmon for a luncheon party
I'm giving a birthday luncheon for my god-daughter who is a pescatarian. I bought a whole cleaned salmon and am trying to decide how to prepare it. No grilling possible. About 10 guests coming.
Figure I should play it safe with flavors, not knowing how adventurous the guests are. For the main course we'll have salmon, asparagus, a green salad, and a parsnip preparation (haven't decided on the parsnip prep yet).
Since it's a rainy day here on the Left Coast, kinda hard to envision this spring bounty today.
Your ideas for the salmon prep, please?
Cost of Bones
In the interest of Chowhound community research, I carefully examined the beef bones at 99 Ranch, a pan-Asian supermarket chain. There were so many varieties. Here as labeled for the beef bones:
Beef bones $1.19
Shank bones $1.29
Hind shank bones $3.29 (very meaty)
Neck bones $2.29
Oxtails $5.69
Cost of Bones
OK...I'll try it next time I go to Costco in Sand City. Thanks for the tip.
Cost of Bones
My regular butcher is Deluxe Foods of Aptos. Sometimes I try Staff of Life or Shoppers Corner. What about you?
Help make my family love beets!
Here's the thing: some people just have a taste intolerance for beets. My adult daughter seems to have inherited it from her dad. She loves the idea of a beet salad with goat cheese and toasted hazelnuts, but the flavor just clashes with her taste buds.
While we are adventurous eaters in our family who enjoy a wide range of foods and particularly vegetables, foods high in oxalic acid just don't appeal to me.
Go figure...my friend can't tolerate the taste of cilantro. Each to her taste?
What do you think is the best Chinese Cookbook?
There are recipes in Barbara Tropp's China Moon cookbook that my family loved, including the Pork Wonton in Roasted Garlic Broth. The stocks are rich and deeply flavored.
It is very sad that Barbara passed away far too young. When I look at the cookbook, I think of what she accomplished in a short lifetime.
Cost of Bones
I've been astonished at the cost of beef and veal bones in the Monterey Bay Area of CA. I'll have to check them again at the butcher, but they have really gone up. And oxtails are very pricey. Doesn't seem likely that suddenly lots of folks are making stock and driving the prices high, does it?
Latke confession
Joan Nathan writes in her Jewish Holiday Cookbook that Jews living in the Pale of Settlement in the 17h century probably used goose fat to cook latkes as an inexpensive alternative to olive oil. I've eaten delicious goose soup with matzoh balls in Hungary.
Reading about frying latkes in goose fat led me to trying poultry schmaltz. And, yes, of course there were eggs in the latke mix too. Forgot to mention them.
Latke confession
Very interesting. I like the idea of the flavor additions and the potato flakes. Will try this.
Latke confession
For the last few years, my latkes have sucked....really, they were bad. This year they were flavorful and crisp because I used mother's little helper. No, not Valium, schmaltz.
Delicious schmaltz. Flavorful schmaltz to fry the mixture of grated russets and onions and salt and matzoh meal in.
I rendered turkey and chicken skins and fat from birds that had been brined. For the first time I understood why my grandparents and great aunts and uncles thought it was a treat to smear schmaltz on a good piece of Jewish rye.
But, shhhh, don't let my family know. What's your latke secret?
Discontinued at Trader Joe's (started 6/19/2011) [old]
Cooked and aseptically packaged wild rice is gone. Sob!
Raw foods cookbook?
I know this sounds like an oxymoron, but I'm looking for a raw foods cookbook to gift a friend who has "gone raw."
Any suggestions?
For those who love it, can someone explain the appeal of the McRib?
OK, true and hopefully anonymous confession. I had a McRib about 2 am and it tasted just right for the occasion. Stayed working very late at my office and the only place open near there was the McDonald's drive-thru. The combination of "pork product," pickles, fresh onions, a sweet BBQ sauce and a good bun hit the spot.
What did your Mom always have on hand, that you NEVER do?
Kathleen...don't belch too soon. Canned LeSueur peas are a key ingredient in a delicious vegetarian chopped "liver." It consists of lots of caramelized onions pureed with the famous canned peas themselves, hardboiled eggs and walnuts.
