this place is like "wine for dummies" (the book, the book, i'm not trying to insult you).

it oversimplifies wine and has a terrible selection, maybe 40 different bottles repeated in different sections.

with mission wine right down the street, and silverlake wine, colorado wine and bristol farms all within striking distance, there is absolutely no reason to go to this place.

looking for some hog casings, anybody know where i can find them in town? i don't want to order the huge box from butcher-packer.

actually, here in LA they all seem to be going in right next to established supermarkets.

where can i find pink salt in LA? i really would rather not pay the 8 bucks in shipping, and i KNOW it has to be around here somewhere...

home cooking hounds, i need your help!

i'm making a chicken liver mousse, and i'm tired of using the mineral-tasting frozen or dark red livers - i want the pale, fresh lovely ones, the ones that will make my jewish mother proud when i present the terrine...

i've used the frozen ones and the ones in the containers at supermarkets...and i'm not satisfied.

where to find them? live poultry markets?

help!

leaf lard is the fat around the kidney, and is rendered i believe...i'm looking for good ol' unrendered backfat. thanks tho...

i vac pac my left overs and sous-vide them in a pot of hot water. you get it heated up and don't lose any of the moisture or flavor.

i like to use my leftovers for pozole.

the book "smoke and spice" by bill and cheryl jamison is a good place to start, as is www.virtualweberbullet.com. if you have a smoker, like the weber smokey mountain, you can make incredible bbq by yourself, especially if you cheat with an electronic temperature control like a bbq guru.

bbq cooking is defined as "low and slow," and cooking cuts with a lot of connective tissue such as the pork shoulder (used for pulled pork) this way melts away most of the fat and connective tissue, basting the meat from the inside out, leaving it tender and highly flavored. the use of different kinds of smokewood such as oak, pecan, apple etc. also help tweak the flavors.

i've been smoking meats for years, and never cooked my pulled pork less than 20 hours over indirect heat in my smoker. i brine the shoulders, dry cure them overnight with my rub and baste it every few hours on the smoker. any less and i've found you don't get as tender a meat or as good a "bark" (the crust that forms on the outside). i serve mine straight up with a vinegar sauce and a yogurt based slaw on the side.

all i want to do is make rilletes...and i never thought it would be this hard to find pork fat. i'm reduced to asking butchers to shave it off of pork loins.

does anyone have any recs for finding fatback in los angeles?

i've tried:

alexanders
ranch 99
innumerable latino carnicerias, although it may just be that my spanish is THAT bad

help!

help! i need to nail this recipe, and i can't seem to get that fluffy, airy quality this dish has in yakitori restaurants.

i'm using home-ground chicken thigh and i'm satisfied with the sauce - the texture is killing me though!

any ideas or recommendations?

i think alexanders, the butcher in howies market, has them. although i might be thinking of the great veal shanks i got there...

how about Q noodle?

use the beer braised beef ribs recipe from the hammersly's bistro cookbook, or the beef in barolo (or do they call it "italian pot roast?") recipe from cooks illustrated- available for free on the americas test kitchen website.

both are practically idiot proof. but throw a little butter into the sauce reduction at the end on hammersly's to smooth out the sauce.

also, both are better done a day ahead, as it makes degreasing them ALOT easier, and both reheat great.

my wife and i had our engagement banquet at sam woo seafood in focus plaza - they were very cooperative, the food was better than my experiences in the dining room, and they charged us NO CORKAGE for the wine or soda, which we provided ourselves to save money. they sat us in a private room near the front, so an entire wall was glass with a great view of the mountains (as well as the chaotic and endlessly entertaining gladiators in the parking lot).

we had about 40-50 people.

my wife made me a few dozen vietnamese buns, and we froze them in plastic wrap. i found microwaving them for 2 minutes on 20% and then on high for 20 seconds while wrapped in the plastic wrap worked pretty well.

good guess.

so i just got my butcher to trim his loin chops for 3lbs of pork fat - i think i can make it work.

when i asked him about unsmoked, uncured bacon, all he said was "i told you i don't have fatback." heh.

isn't pancetta cured?

i'm having trouble tracking down fatback - what are some other options besides bacon, and where can i find them?

i agree with the poster - i've given Gen 4 tries and been disappointed or underwhelmed each time. i don't think i've had quite as bad an experience as the poster, but i'm not surprised considering the scale and bustle of the place. the sushi just seemed sloppy, of mediocre quality and carelessly presented without much concern for flavor or presentation.

to be honest, i just don't understand the hype on the board about this place, especially when there are so many excellent sushi places in LA.

and i sat at the bar each time.

there's an M&M in pasadena? where?

triumphal palace will take reservations for a group that size. In my opinion, that is also the best of the three restaurants you mentioned.

sushi ike is located in the minimall on the corner of hollywood and gower. be prepared for a wait (with no waiting area - you're out on the sidewalk of the minimall) if you go during popular dining hours.

good stuff there - make sure to get the grilled octupus.

izayoi has a private table upstairs that can accomodate that many.

Izayoi
132 S Central Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 613-9554

actually, for the food we got they were by far the least expensive. of all the references we got for them, not one considered them pricey. not sure what kind of food your friends wanted, but the KFEF was at least 30% less than most other caterers - with no compromise in quality.

well, it was my bachelor party, so my memory is a bit sake-soaked...

we started with a seaweed salad, then moved on to a tofu custard, the seared beef appetizer, house made fish cakes (three different kinds and all delicious), and two other menu items i can't really remember (but both off the menu). then we had a large course of mixed sashimi, another course of sushi and a final round of varied rolls. we are all big eaters and everybody was HURTING by the end of the meal. it was delicious.

they were very flexible about the menu, and i basically went with most of my favorites.

not in pasadena, but izayoi in downtown has a nice private room above the sushi bar, and i recently had an amazing group meal there for about 35 a person, at least 5 courses plus three courses of sushi.

i also seem to recall saladang using screens to section off a part of the room.

there is also one on bristol near south coast plaza in santa ana/costa mesa, south of the 405.

oops - just saw you know about that one...

yes they do.

it is a second branch of a restaurant in inglewood. i've eaten at the inglewood branch several times, not bad as far as carribean restaurants go. i remember the curried goat being pretty good, as well as the jamaican patties.

there are no good sushi places around there that will be open on sunday. you could try ita-cho on beverly west of la brea, it may be open.

and if you don't want obvious answers, perhaps you should be asking more specific questions.