btw, Bequet Caramels has salted caramels which blew my mind. You can order them online, or Joan's on Third sells them. A-MAZING!!!

http://www.bequetconfections.com/

Thank you. A second poached egg may be the most tempting thing ever. I will check it out soon!

Sometimes you get a craving for something. In my case, it would be a runny fresh poached egg on a bed of frisee, slightly wilty and salty from hot lardons being placed on them moments ago....please chowhounds, let me know where you had a great frisee salad. I am near Hollywood area and don't want to travel to westside/valley if it can be helped...(no slur to those places, just lack of time!) Thanks!

This is where I get mine - huge bags last awhile! don't forget to get half n half or whole milk if you like it 'creamy'. Great in the summer, eh?

Silom Supermarket
5321 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027

(323) 993-9000‎

I don't know if this is helpful - but the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) has the EASIEST and most delicious gazpacho recipe (google it). You basically buy a large can of tomato juice and put in your veggies (cucumbers, red peppers, etc.) - that's it!! It takes 10 mins to chop the veg and put it in, plus you can make it as 'sour' (vinegar) as you like! omg, i doubt you will pay for it again at a restaurant. Good luck! :)

Korean grocery stores carry them too, so if you're near K-town, check it out. If on westside, there is a small (but great) Japanese grocery store called Nijiya (Sawtelle at Olympic) which carries it too. "Japanese" syrup flavors are usually melon, strawberry, maybe lemon. You can buy the powdered green tea and make a green tea one too. Yum. I think they're a lot cheaper than the Torani ones, but the Torani syrups have tons of flavors and are fairly ubiquitous (World Market, etc.).

Thank you - this sounds very good (and easy). I did debate pork, I know that would make them flavorful.....and there's probably enough fat to bind without using eggs, exactly as you suggest!

So my friend is having a big birthday bash with a lot of beer. What better appetizer to bring than teriyaki meatballs? I've done some prelim research on google - nothing seems right. I don't want Sweet & Sour meatballs, and I am perfectly happy to make both the meatballs and sauce from scratch.

Links? Recipes from your Asian/Hawaiian grandma/ma (depending on your age) from the 50s when meatballs were the de rigeur appetizer? To keep cost down, I think I will make a ground beef/ground turkey mix one. All ground turkey or ground chicken would run $5/lb., and I want to buy 3-4 lbs. of meet to make a monster plate load of them for people to nosh with their beer.....Please help me Chowhounds! I know you guys are chock full of great ideas. Also don't know if I trust this "grated raw onion" bizness...any experience? Dehydrated onion flakes might be good. I feel like I did that in a burger once upon a time and thought of it as an elegant solution to adding onion flavor to meat, if memory serves..

P.S. These need to be as amazing (or even more amazing) at room temp. No chafing dish. Ultra low-maintenaince meatballs they must be. (okay, why did that come out with a Yoda-like sentence construction?) ;P

So my friend is having a big birthday bash with a lot of beer. What better appetizer to bring than teriyaki meatballs? I've done some prelim research on google - nothing seems right. I don't want Sweet & Sour meatballs, and I am perfectly happy to make both the meatballs and sauce from scratch.

Links? Recipes from your Asian/Hawaiian grandma/ma (depending on your age) from the 50s when meatballs were the de rigeur appetizer? To keep cost down, I think I will make a ground beef/ground turkey mix one. All ground turkey or ground chicken would run $5/lb., and I want to buy 3-4 lbs. of meet to make a monster plate load of them for people to nosh with their beer.....Please help me Chowhounds! I know you guys are chock full of great ideas. Also don't know if I trust this "grated raw onion" bizness...any experience? Dehydrated onion flakes might be good. I feel like I did that in a burger once upon a time and thought of it as an elegant solution to adding onion flavor to meat, if memory serves..

P.S. These need to be as amazing (or even more amazing) at room temp. No chafing dish. Ultra low-maintenaince meatballs they must be. (okay, why did that come out with a Yoda-like sentence construction?) ;P

Woolsey! I love this word "yindie". How apt (to describe Silverlakers).

I don't get it though - why was everyone so upset about yer pal?

Churros Truck on Echo Park Blvd...does anyone know the hours? I kind of wanted to bring a big batch of churros into work, but the only info I have found says "evening"...so I don't really want to waste a trip schlepping over there if the truck doesn't arrive till afternoon/evening. Does anyone know their schedule, roughly? Thx.

Auntie 'Em's in Glendale has GREAT bread pudding. Usually fruit though, like banana, don't know if they do chocolate chips. And while there, pick up their Red Velvet Cupcakes. The minis are only $1.25, the 'maxis' (huge ones) are $3-3.50...and just gorgeous. Not too oily, like Doughboys....

thank you. will do. Now to find a parking spot..... ;P

I had an amazing BLT at Le Pain Quotidien on Doheny in BH. Nice to sit outside. Bread good (toasted), thick bacon, ripe tomatoes...a pleasant surprise!

Agreed. These biomorphic strawberries are an abomination. I don't care about SIZE people, I care about flavor. If anyone can recommend a good grocery store/farmer's market with REAL strawberries (flavor/aroma) near Larchmont/Ktown area, I would be forever grateful. I am suspicious even of the Farmer's Market ones these days - where oh where did all the flavor go?

I love the initial instruction: "Pick out foreign matter from between the peas..." YES! Love picking out foreign matter! Joking aside, falafels are SUPER filling and cheap cheap cheap. Even if you don't want to pick out foreign matter yourself, and go with a falafel mix. My bf and I ate a lot of falafels in our student days. Somehow we thought tahini on brown rice was delicious too. Who knows how nutrititious that is, though?

*Sigh* my student days poverty recipes (not for the carb faint-of-heart):

(1) red beans and rice. what could be more filling, cheaper, and keep well? both the cooked red bean mixture, and rice, freezes beautifully. Saute chopped garlic and onion in olive oil or butter, add a can or two of kidney beans, and canned tomatoes. Cook a bit, add salt, and myself Tabasco is the king of hot sauces. But you can put in chile flakes or any other kind of "heat" you have. Man, this is a delicious dish! You might need a can of tomato paste to thicken it up. I lived on this for a year in Paris (and miraculously did not gain weight). Great for a crowd cause easy to double/triple....
(2) spaghetti with garlic. I think this is a Silver Palate recipe (believe it or not): cook several cloves of garlic in olive oil, then put in some chicken stock, then your cooked pasta. Top with parmesan cheese (optional, getting more costly!), mashed anchovies (not too many), or golden raisins. I know that sounds like punishment but it's actually quite tasty.

i love these time-travel recipes from days of yore! :) i understand the tradition of putting crackers/bread crumbs in meat loaf is an economy as well - "filler" for those who couldn't afford to do 'all meat'.

Learn to cook with tofu! Meat is expensive. As is alcohol. Time to go dry? ;P

Agree with many of the posts - panko is used in Japan primarily for DEEP FRYING...not baking in the oven, so you absolutely need more oil and higher temperatures. Also do not flour the meat - use flour as a coating OR bread crumbs, not both. The egg wash is to make the crumbs stick to the meat. I find foodnetwork to have good tips and recipes - they may have panko-crusted tips in general (for baking). www.foodtv.com

Good luck - to get a nice brown crust on meat/fish, high temperature is a must! I understand if you don't want to deepfry, but you may want to stick to 'regular' bread crumbs if baking..hope this helps! ;P

Completely agree. Now that Back Door Bakery (Silverlake) is gone, these are the best croissants on the east side. Large, flaky, fresh, buttery. A bit pricey ($2-3), but truly amazing! Lots of savory ones too. (spinach/cheese, mushroom/cheese, ham/cheese) which are a meal in themselves.

This chain went off on a tangent of calamari, but back to the original question...if in LA proper, Birds on Franklin (Beachwood neighborhood) does a half-stack and full stack of HUGE onion rings which are fun to eat with friends. It comes with three dipping 'sauces' - catsup, barbecue sauce, and a nacho cheese one. The onion rings are not flaky, they're rather - solid - but good nonetheless. Substantial, I guess one could say. The rest of Birds menu is uninspired and hit-and-miss. But for their Arnold Palmer and onion rings, I say thumbs up!

If you are more Silverlake/Los Feliz area, Muchachos Tacos (?) on Vermont right next to the car wash and across from the B of A does REALLY good carne asada fries. They have good steak-cut fries, and you can add any type of meat to it (this place does a good chicken mole - you know, for a taco stand type place). They then add cheese and microwave it on the meat/fries, then add guacamole, salsa, onions. To be shared with a friend, and maybe sneak a beer or two (they don't have alcohol, it's just a taco stand with a few tables/chairs in an enclosed area).

Good deal for $6.25 or whatever it is; it really can feed two. Sorry I don't know the cross street or proper name....

the coffee sounds like a MUCH better deal than the soup! ;P

I def. do want to have a sit-down meal there. Just wanted CH readers' input since the glowing LA Times review did not mesh with my takeout experience...thx for adding to the discussion! :)

yeah, this is what i'm talking about...to have that poor service in a new and grandiose place is a let-down. Attitude! Hi, you're still in Silverlake, not Beverly Hills or Malibu. You're a few blocks away from a mountain of dog poo (dog park) - can you really be so snobby and pretentious? ha ha.

so Mr. chicken: to poach or to boil? (for this dish of the Hainan-Canton-Mandarin-Singaporean origins) (you are so knowledgeable!! I am impressed!)

Let me ask you this: how much water? I ask b/c "poach" makes me think the water should just cover the chicken, whereas a ton of water makes me think it is really more of a "boiled" chicken. Thank you Uber.

Confession: I haven't eaten here, only stopped by twice for coffee/baked goods (yes the canelle is delish). However, being a die-hard ex-Silverlaker (sounds like a sports team!), I am SOOOOO disappointed that they can't seem to get it together there. It is gorgeous, no question about it. LA Mill is like that expensive splurge of furniture you buy, which makes everything else in your apartment look dingy. LA Mill makes the other Silverlake coffee shops and stores look dingy by its glimmering, shimmering glamourousness.

Don't get me wrong. We all need a dash of glamour. I am not anti-glamour.

What I am "anti" is: poor signage, poor service, for a cafe to have such a limited selection of baked goods poorly displayed.....and the worst of all crimes - a bad cup of joe. (Or $3-4 bad cappucino.) I'm writing this in response to today's LA Times' gushing about LA Mill. Maybe the food IS to die for - I am willing to give it a try. Maybe I am just sad that Back Door Bakery is gone and am taking out my frustrations on its "replacement", LA Mill which is two things Back Door Bakery never was: large and glamourous. But I'll tell you what Back Door Bakery DID have: tremendous selection of baked goods, a GREAT cup of coffee, friendly and attentive service. I must have gone 20 times and was never disappointed. A tad expensive? Yes. Amazing and worth the trip? Yes. (Orange-almond croissants, now that I've met you it's so hard to say goodbye...)

For a cafe like LA Mill's barrista to be ignorant of common coffee terminology, such as a "dry" cappucino.....what's with that? It seems like the staff was selected for their looks (everyone looks good), not their experience and service-orientation. They seem nice, just a tad confused themselves. Kind of a headache, if you ask me.

Curious what other people's takes are. Maybe I'm expecting LA Mill to be something it's not, and I need to think of it more as a restaurant that happens to have an expensive coffee maker and a few bits of pastries in front, rather than "a neighborhood cafe", with the expectations which accompany that designation!

Wow! That is so cool, thank you. I love to cook and this sounds very simple. I know many Asian grocery stores carry young ginger (I frequent Japanese ones since I am Japanese), so next time I will do that. Question: how to poach the chicken? I read one recipe that said to cut up a whole chicken into chunks (uh-oh, don't have a cleaver) and steam on a plate in a steamer. Any simpler ways or good places to just purchase the chicken pre-poached/steamed? I am becoming a lazy cook. I can handle making the sauce, though.... :)

All these suggestions sound great...it's for dinner, though, and we want to be comfortable and order booze (yeah, that put the "cheap" right out of the equation...so I think a place like Philippe's is more of a lunch than dinner place. Also I am thinking of the space itself - i.e. we don't want to wait long, if it's small we don't want to feel overcrowded...keep the suggestions coming! All of these are great but any other ideas for groups? Thank you to everyone!