Los Angeles

Outtake of the Week

2009-11-20T22:37:00Z

Why the attitude? No one else is eating here.

DineLA Warming Up for Winter

2009-11-20T19:03:00Z

What would a new season be without some restaurant-week action? DineLA has announced its winter dates, January 24–29 and January 31–February 5. While details haven't been finalized, expect a similar showing of more than 200 restaurants, most likely offering three tiers of three-course prix fixe meals. Check back here for more information soon.

Peek Inside Voyeur

2009-11-20T17:27:00Z

Voyeur seating

Photo: courtesy of the lounge

At Voyeur, an S&M-themed A-lister in WeHo, the usual Young Hollywood suspects wouldn’t dream of keeping their eyes wide shut while performers enact bondage scenarios on elevated platforms and in a glass booth; dark, ornate furnishings upholstered in haute fabrics add a loungey element to proceedings dominated by a DJ-driven dance floor and top-tier promoters.

7969 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood; 310-255-1110

Voyeur

Photo: courtesy of the lounge

Next Nate 'n Al's

2009-11-20T16:51:00Z

The biggest restaurant news of the week is the opening of Thomas Keller's Bouchon in Beverly Hills. Running a close: the opening of a second location of Nate 'n Al. After 64 years of serving corned beef and pastrami, lox and bagels to the movers and shakers of Beverly Hills, the most quintessential of delis has expanded to the 'burbs – and the deep 'burbs at that, in a Rick Caruso developed maxi-mall (2200 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 805-494-3354).

Dining News Elsewhere: Obese Americans, Ramsay Loses His Number Two

2009-11-20T15:17:00Z

– By 2018, 43% of Americans are expected to be obese. [NYDN]
– Gordon Ramsay has lost his right-hand man. [Bloomberg]
– The Senate is considering requiring beef to be tested for E. coli. [NYT]

– Top Chef contestants aren't being paid for the TV dinners that feature their faces (and recipes). [Time]
– First canned pumpkins, now an Eggo shortage looms. [NYDN]
– The art of complaining to a restaurant. [Guardian]
– A modest proposal for fixing restaurant and bar smoking bans. [Eater]
– Related: the science behind banning smoking outside. [Time]
– Ever wonder what it would be like to cook dinner for Thomas Keller? [Esquire]
– Talking cooking with Coolio. [Fork in the Road]
– NBC's newest cooking show, United Plates of America, will give away a four-restaurant chain. [Reuters]
– Hey, so, while you eat that sushi, this guy here is going to swallow a sword. [WSJ]
– Starbucks continues to roll out its unbranded coffee shops. [Diner's Journal]
– If New York loses its lawsuit, Tavern on the Green will become Tavern in the Park. [Crain's]
– Restaurants embrace Twilight. [NRN]
– Martha Stewart is not a fan of Rachael Ray. [ABC News, via EMD and GS]
– The Rolling Stones, the wine. [Examiner]
– Pork belly and other over-served dishes. [Between Meals]
– Students arrested for not paying their tip. [Philly]
– Plastic wishbones: what will the kids fight over? [SE]

Food Truck of the Week: Marked5

2009-11-19T20:17:00Z

Marked5 food truck

Photo: courtesy of the truck

In the U.S., we eat our burgers on fluffy, puffy, white-flour buns. Apparently in Japan, they prefer rice buns. Which are not so much "buns" as they are "patties" made from handfuls of long-grained rice, formed into White Castle-like squares. At the food truck Marked5, they're quickly cooked on a grill until they're tannish-brown, and then used to support slabs of Angus beef marinated in torraku ("truck") sauce – teriyaki with a fiery overlay of peppers – along with pork katsu, tofu burgers and piles of chicken curry. There are shrimp spring rolls and shrimp chips and fried lotus root as well as Japanese soft drinks (which look like bottles filled with melted crayons) to wash it all down. For dessert, there's Pocky – pastry sticks coated with sweet, crunchy things. The Marked5 truck journeys through the streets of LA – and in turn takes us on a journey to Roppongi and Shibucho. To find the truck, check www.marked5.com and twitter.com/Marked5.

– Merrill Shindler

Getting Into That Beaujolais Spirit

2009-11-18T19:10:00Z

Photo: courtesy of FI:AF

It's that time of year again. On Thursday, November 19, the latest crop of Beaujolais Nouveau begins pouring into wine glasses the world round. To try it, head to the Petersen Automotive Museum where $20 in advance ($30 at the door) buys you a glass of 2009 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau served in a souvenir wine glass, and $3–$5 buys you dishes to match prepared by chefs from the Club Culinaire of French Cuisine. To sweeten the deal, there will be free entertainment from 7 PM–midnight (6060 Wilshire Blvd.; 323-656-6083).

Bouchon Goes Beverly Hills

2009-11-18T15:48:00Z

Bouchon's roast chicken

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

Nearly two decades after he cooked at Checkers in Downtown LA, über-chef Thomas Keller is returning to SoCal, bringing the third edition of his upscale French bistro, Bouchon (the others are in Yountville and Las Vegas), to an elegant Beverly Hills space across from the Montage Hotel; expect high ceilings, ornate wall treatments, a raw seafood bar – and the sort of buzz Keller generates wherever he goes; N.B. this location doesn't have a bakery, though one is planned for the future.

225 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills; 310-271-9910

Dining News Elsewhere: Koodies, Samuelsson Goes to Washington

2009-11-18T15:21:00Z

– Marcus Samuelsson will be working the kitchen at Obama's first state dinner. [Obama Foodorama]
– The fight for Cadbury intensifies. [WSJ]
– Chipotle sets its sights on London, Europe. [NRN]

– Costco drops Coke. [AP]
– Related: Coke bottles, 1899–1986. [Pixdaus]
– Milk producers wish they could sell their product "raw." [NYT]
– Hooters is having trouble in Vegas. [Eater]
– A canned pumpkin shortage looms. [Diner's Journal]
– Putting things in perspective with the Fat Map. [HP]
– Jamie Oliver wants to help you find a date. [Marketing]
– A Shake Shack in Boston looks increasingly possible. [GS:B]
– What a $20 Thanksgiving feast from Walmart gets you. [The Awl]
– A word we'd like to quickly forget? "Koodie." [SE]
– Foods named after people. [Mental Floss and Cakespy, via SE]
– They found water on the moon...can you drink it? [Slate]
– Making mushrooms with coffee grinds. [Chronicle, via Coldmud]
– Making art with meat, some wires, a videocamera and a stove. [EMD]

Froma From Francine

2009-11-17T16:09:00Z

Froma on Melrose

Photo: Claire Thomas

Opened by sommelier (and Wolfgang Puck alum) Francine Diamond, Froma on Melrose, a combination cafe, wine bar and market in West Hollywood, covers three squares a day, offering inexpensive Continental fare like a tuna tartar salad, bruschetta and panettone French toast; N.B. it’s open till 9 PM Monday–Saturday and 7 PM on Sunday.

7960 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood; 323-653-3700

Celebrating Sona

2009-11-16T19:28:00Z

Sona

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

To celebrate the seventh anniversary of his New French flagship, Sona, chef David Myers is serving a special tasting menu Tuesdays–Thursdays throughout the month of November – seven courses for $77, including Maine lobster risotto with kaffir lime leaf, roasted duck with celery root–shiso salad and braised short ribs with cardamom-boniato purée. Feeling like there's not enough time to try it out? Though the restaurant is closed next week, good news: the offer has been extended through December (310-659-7708; reserve online).

Dining News Elsewhere: Buzzy Booze, Subway in the Sky

2009-11-16T16:49:00Z

– The FDA is targeting caffeinated booze. [WSJ]
– Meanwhile, its efforts to ban eating raw oysters didn't work out so well. [NYT]
– Burger King franchisees lose 10¢ for every $1 double cheeseburger sold. [NRN]

– A special Subway franchise is set to rise up with the Freedom Tower in New York. [NYP]
– U.S. chicken production is set to fall for the first time in 36 years. [Reuters]
– Champagne sales are a bit flat these days. [NYT]
– Musicians do covers of other bands' hits, why shouldn't chefs cover other toques' recipes? [Guardian]
– Pinkberry's further expansion plans include Boston, DC, New Orleans and Mexico. [Eater]
– Why we read cookbooks. [The New Yorker]
– Want a new drug? Synthetic alcohol isn't out of the question. [Scotsman, via ColdMud]
– Just when we've gotten used to twist-off tops, get ready for wine in a plastic bottle. [Stuff]
– Things a restaurant patron should never do. [Applesauce]
– Related, 10 dirty restaurant tricks. [Slashfood]
– Peace through hummus. [Economist]
– Hard to turn down a "love dessert" made with passion fruit and...Viagra. [NYDN]

Outtake of the Week

2009-11-13T22:50:00Z

Authenticity has never been more perfectly faked.

Shindler's Dish: Burger Queen, Amy Pressman

2009-11-13T20:23:00Z

When word spread across the blogosphere that Nancy Silverton was planning to open a hamburger stand in the original Farmers Market, my reaction was: well, of course she is. Nancy made her bones by redefining (and refining) bread in Los Angeles at her iconic La Brea Bakery. After that, she changed the way we perceive pizza at Pizzeria Mozza. Then, she opted to fool around with mozzarella in its myriad forms at the adjacent Osteria Mozza. That she would focus her seemingly faultless sense of taste on the Great American Burger is natural. Indeed, if anything, she's a bit behind the curve – more than a few boldface names have foie grased and short-ribbed their creations already.

But there's no way that Nancy won't do something unique – it's not in her DNA to do the same old, same old. And so, we called her to find out where the process stands. But since chef Silverton would (famously) rather spend her time in the kitchen pounding bread dough, spinning pizzas and playing with soft cheese than actually talking about what she's doing, she had her partner in the burger project, Amy Pressman, call us back.

Amy, it should be added, may be the most famous chef in Los Angeles that you've never heard of. She's a diminutive sprite of a woman, who was one of Wolfgang Puck's original line cooks at Spago. In the years since, she's created the menu for the much-loved Parkway Grill in Pasadena (along with many of the other restaurants owned by the Smith brothers). For a decade, she ran the outlandishly indulgent Old Town Bakery. She's had her hand in a multitude of other restaurants, always behind the scenes. But when it comes to Nancy Silverton's burger joint, she's the designated spokes-chef. She's also having the time of her life – reinventing the burger is a lot more fun than reinventing the wheel.

Merrill Shindler: Amy! You and Nancy! All these years after you worked together at Spago – you're back together again!

Amy Pressman: Nancy is a partner in the burger place. She's intimately involved with the food. But she's not going to be behind the counter every night, like she is at the Mozzarella Bar at Osteria Mozza. Our arrangement is she'll be there as much as she can, and I'm happy to have her there as much as she can be. But right now, she's deep into it – we're figuring out every aspect of the burger. The meat, the bun, the toppings, the cheese – there are lots of parts.

MS: Where in the market will it be?

AP: It's in the old Du-par's Bakery. It's a two-story building – a stand downstairs, sit-down upstairs. The upstairs will open up, so it's sort of a crow's nest. You'll be able to look over the market, not just into it. At the moment, we call it Market Burger. We were thinking of Grass Burger, but Market Burger is what we're calling it right now.

MS: How did you and Nancy come together on burgers?

AP: We did a burger night at a small restaurant called Canelé. It was really fun. And we both share the same passion, always searching for the best of everything, and making it ourselves if we can't find it.

MS: Have you had fun researching burgers?

AP: I'll tell you, I've probably eaten more in the past six months than in the five years before it. It never ends. We've tried every component we could get our hands on. I'm extremely passionate about the possibilities of using grass-fed beef from Sonoma Direct. And Nancy has come up with a blend of Harris Ranch beef that's fabulous. We're dealing with some really juicy, delicious hamburgers.

MS: Where have you been going to taste burgers? You've got to do research after all...

AP: I grew up in Pennsylvania, eating at a place called Charlie's. It doesn't exist anymore. But I can still remember what it tasted like. It was the best. I've gone to every place that people recommended – and especially to taste the Daniel Boulud burger in New York. He started the upscale burger trend. It's an amazing thing – foie gras and rib-eye in a burger. You'd be hard-pressed to finish it, and feel good afterward.

MS: What's feeling good afterward got to do with it?

AP: I'm much more into feeling good after you eat something than Nancy is. That's been a point of disagreement for us. But then, Nancy never finishes what's on her plate. She's a taster, just eating a bite. So, it's not an issue for her. It is for me – I finish everything. I used to eat the double cheeseburger with chili, bacon and a fried egg at Fatburger after a night of working at Spago. The whole burger.

MS: What makes a great burger?

AP: It's all about the proportions. The meat, the cheese, the bun, the crunchiness of the bun, the toppings – everything has to work together. Get one element out of whack, and it falls apart. I was at a place the other day, the burger was really good. But the bun was so over-toasted it cracked when you bit into it. That ruined the experience. It's all got to work.

MS: And when do you open?

AP: Not till next summer. The building is a tear-down. We're building it like a burger – from the ground up.

– Merrill Shindler

Dining News Elsewhere: Drink Preferences, Raw Oyster Brouhahah

2009-11-13T17:05:00Z

– A whole lot of info on what diners like to drink. [R&I]
– Should the FDA try to prevent you from eating raw oysters? [NYT, Slate]
– Burger King franchisees are suing over $1 double cheeseburgers. [Miami Herald]

– Meanwhile, McDonald's plans for the future. [CNN]
– The backlash to the list of waiter no-nos is on. [XX, Server not Servant]
– How to act around a celebrity chef. [Atlantic]
– The U.K. now has its own version of the Food Network. [Eater]
– Related: Emeril Lagasse is planning a prime-time variety show not on the Food Network. [ABC]
– Mario Batali makes his film debut in The Fantastic Mr. Fox. [WSJ]
– Heston Blumenthal plans a wildly expensive Christmas dinner for a TV special featuring ambergris, aka whale vomit. [Sun]
– Jamie Oliver has seen a backlash for the salt content of his pasta sauces. [Guardian]
– Cooking With Coolio, the cookbook, is now on sale. [EMD]
– Remembering New York City's 1935 ban on baby artichokes. [Diner's Journal]
– Don't be embarrassed to dine out alone. [Between Meals]
– Raising a vegetarian child without the conflict. [LAT]
– Can drunken fruit flies help cure alcoholism? [Wired]
– Looking to find free grub for the rug rats? Try here. [Kids Eat For, via SE]
– Deep-fried turkey disasters. On video. [EMD]