Doner Kebab - Eagle Rock

Food Trucks

Slaw Dogs - a Lake dig

http://www.theslawdogs.com/

Union street is buzzing

We decided to check out a new restaurant that has been taunting us with an online menu and is in a popular location, that I keep passing- Quarupel.

The decor of the room was, as intended, Belgium bar reminiscent- dark wood panelling with carved wood edging. The restaurant tables were also of an expensive nature- grained wood and very elegant. Those items slightly distracted from the ugly iron ram railing in the entrance way along with the uncomfortable table placements. It was almost exclusively two person table settings set in the middle of the restaurant, so close, and with no dividers, that the secluded romantic atmosphere did not hit mark. The restaurant was also humming at a very loud buzz that left anything but mundane conversation to the patrons lest you have to shout some less than sharable conversation.

In fact it was so loud, the bus boy asked what we wanted to drink and we said tap water, but instead he brought back a bottle of still water.

We ordered the shallot rings, which were fantastic. I didn't even want the sweet and sour sauce- they were amazing as a stand alone fried ring. The breading had a complex taste that went well with the delicate flavor of the shallots. I also was in love with the texture- thinly sliced soft shallots with a well crisped breading.





Blue cheese and pear salad:



The pork meatballs were pretty darn yummy.



Having fun out!

Who doesn't like a meatloaf roll-up?

I am slowly but surely getting back into being motivated to do things I love- cooking is one of them. So last night I got the hankering to cook a meatloaf roll-up. I cooked this once a long time ago for Rob when Celia was out of town on business, and he reminded me how much he loved it. That inspired me to make it again!

I started off testing a leek parsnip soup Andy had made one night. I had some carrots and parsnips with a leek and garlic roasting in the oven:




In the meantime, I put together the meatloaf ingredients (beef, pork, egg, breadcrumbs, pine nuts, raisins, garlic paste, and some parsley):





Then you roll it out:



Layer spinach, prosciutto, and provolone:



Roll it:



Eat it:


With soup (the jury is out on the soup- it was a little thick because I added cream. I also think i needed more leek.) There is always next time too!

Last minute steak dinner

I have been crashing and napping a lot recently, so when I got up at 8 from a nice afternoon nap, what did I need to cure the emotional exhaustion going on? A BIG STEAK!

I was told I needed to try the Whole Foods Dry Aged Meat (tender), and get some Irish butter and blue cheese to put on the top as the meat settles (hattip Jay).

Here are my ingredients with some Aventinas (great Belgium beer):


Ah, blessed be the meat. I am obviously from Texas!


Serena had a fantastic dessert wine she brought out to have with the blue cheese- we of course were nibbling on the rest of the wedge while we waited for the carrots and parsnips to cook:

I can see this becoming a nightly meal- dessert wine with blue cheese chunks!

Serena, the fantastic sommelier she is, also thought of a nice red to go with the beef. It was so smooth and went well with all the food.


Here is what the final diner looked liked (aren't you hungry now? I am!). Torey was in charge of cooking the meat and got it medium, medium-rare, yeaaa!


Carrots and Parsnip with paprika and olive oil. All the ingredients were so fresh and yummy that we didn't add anything else to the food- paprika on the veggies and blue cheese and butter on the steaks- nothing else!










It was a fantastic dinner, even the cats agree!

Marché - French food finds

Mirna and I headed out for dinner to Marché, the french restaurant Serena works as a wine sommelier!

We started off with the onion soup. I had a hard time resisting ditching the spoon to get the last drops into my mouth. The caramelized onions were really yummy, but nothing describes how much better they were with the cheesy croustini bits with them!



Serena picked us out a fantastic wine:




Which we drank with my oxtail gnocchi:


Mirna's baby lamb shoulder (cooked for two days to medium rare and melted like butta in your mouth):


and Serena's chanterelle mushrooms with egg and spinach (which I used to think was my favorite dish on the menu- now I am confused):


For dessert we decided to try the Tahitian squash and blood orange... it was dessert quality veggies. Absolutely yummy!


But who can resist washing down dessert with some dark chocolate homemade peanut butter cups? In fact, we couldn't resist so much that we had already dug in before I could take the picture!


Coffee to top off the evening. Two glass of hazelnut Colombian coffee and I still fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow- the evening was that fantastic.

The New Dish!

I went to check out a new restaurant's grand opening from a Tweet I got. The new restaurant is where BrenArt Cafe used to be, and is called Dish Bistro and Bar.

The LATimes review of the opening - link

We got the pears in balsamic vinaigrette with blue cheese cream sauce (fun to smell, excellent to eat):


The deep fried olives stuffed with ricotta bacon and shallots- creamy, salty, deep fried... life doesn't get much better (with Viognier, Kenneth Volk):


Then we tried the oysters... *having a moment here*. They were grilled in the shell with artichoke hearts, basil, and wine on top. Heavenly. I could have eaten some more (but shouldn't have!)


All and all, the food was great, the service was first-day-passable, and the atmosphere (same as BrenArt) easy elegant. Thumbs up! I even have a list of things to try next time- scallops, foie gras, and maybe the duck confit! Yumm-o!

High in the Sky

This was bound to happen sooner or later.

CaCao instead of Fatty's

I really wanted to try a vegetarian place called Fatty's, so when Edward, the Texas vegetarian, was in town, I thought I would drag him and Erin to the restaurant. Well, when they got there, the open days were Thursday- Sunday! Great.

Plan B- CaCao's was across the street and has a separate vegetarian menu.

The trio of salsas were fantastic, although I am not entirely sure I tasted much after the first large habenaro salsa bite I took (since when is SoCal Mexican food spicy?? I wasn't expecting that!)

We tried the queso with chorizo and mushrooms. I am not sure where the mushrooms were, but the cheese was fantastic! I could have kept eating that. It was bad!



Then I had to try their Duck Taco, for which they have acclaimed fame. It was okay. Not what I was expecting. I will try something else next time. I have a sneaky suspicion I will find the thing I am in love with (besides the queso).