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Quick Eats – Jon & Vinny’s

May30

Location: 11938 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 442-2733

Date: April 24, 2019

Cuisine: Italian American

Rating: Food was excellent

Despite the fact that Brentwood is already full of Italians, I was excited to hear that Jon & Vinny’s was opening on San Vicente as I’d been meaning to go and never make it out to Fairfax for someplace so casual.

Clean looking frontage.

And similar interior. Sometime by myself I’ll have to try the bar. Today I was meeting an old friend for lunch — but it was passover AND both of us are eating low carb, so despite the killer looking pastas and pizza we only ordered veggies and meat balls!

The breakfast and lunch menus.

Cappuccino.

Marinara braised meatballs, ricotta, garlic bread. These were really good.

Gem lettuce, calabrian chili dressng, parmesan, bread crumbs. Good and zesty/mildly spicy caesar clone.

Tuna brentwood, tuna conserva, heirloom tomato, gem lettuce.

Grilled broccolini, golden raisin, almond, chili vinaigrette. The chili etc made these excellent for veggies.

Grilled asparagus, lemon, parmesan. Same with the asparagus.

What I had was all very well prepared, giving me the sense that this is a good kitchen. Very bright flavors and on point. I also kept seeing all these incredible looking pastas and pizzas. When I’m either off my diet or being bad I will definitely have to come back. Sigh. It’s very convenient, being on the close side of Brentwood and only 10-15 minutes from my house.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Brentwood, cappuccino, coffee, Italian cuisine, Jon & Vinny's, Salad

Eating Tuscany – Villa Breakfast

Jul13

Location: Staggia, Italy

Date: June 11-25, 2011

Cuisine: Tuscan

ANY CHARACTER HERE

This is our third year renting a villa in Europe for a big chunk of June. I’ve experimented with different ways to handle the breakfast situation for a large number of people (9-15 is what we’ve had). It’s not practical to go out everyday, it would just take too long to wrangle everyone, and a free for all at the house (which we tried last year) has all sorts of issues. Namely the challenge of restocking the groceries and cleaning up. So, our houses at this year’s villa arranged to set and clear a continental breakfast table, to which we added some local products. Overall it worked out very well.

The first thing I need is my coffee. Cappuccino this time of morning. Our hosts made them, which was convenient as last year my dad was making them straight for 90 minutes every morning. Given that many people have two, and the slow speed of the little home machines, it’s hard to churn a lot of them out.

The full spread.

Various dry goods, yogurts, jams, cereal, orange juice.

Fruit, cookies, toast, blood orange juice (yum).

We also put out some of the local cheeses, mostly Pecorino.

And more.

And the stubs of all sorts of them.

A few cow cheeses from the local market.

No Italian breakfast is complete without Prosciutto.

Or Salami.

Our hosts also baked a variety of pastries and breads over the two weeks. Homemade croissants in this case.

A really yummy chocolate torte. Buttery crust, with congealed nuttella type filling.

We had some extra ricotta and our baker turned it into this wonderful cheesecake.

Chocolate inside, with a tasty crust and coco top. It was like breakfast tiramisu!

Pound cake.

Cherry tart.

Delicious chocolate cake, tasted like a giant brownie. Nothing like chocolate to pick you up in the morning.

Tuscan apple pie. Really good stuff, perhaps drier and more bready than the American version, halfway between that and an apple strudel. Delicious.

Blackberry tart. These kind of fruit tarts are typically Tuscan.

Mixed local fruit.

And cherries, which are local and in season.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Breakfast, Brunch, cappuccino, Chianti, Dessert, eating-italy, Italian cuisine, Italy, Orange juice, pastry, Pecorino, Prosciutto, Salami, Tart, Torte, Toscana, Tuscany

Eating Modena – Real Fini Breakfast

Jun12

Restaurant: Hotel Real Fini Via Emilia

Location: Modena, Italy

Date: June 5-8, 2011

Cuisine: Breakfast Buffet

Rating: Typical Italian Hotel Breakfast

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Italian hotels almost always include breakfast. The Real Fini in Modena’s is extremely typical of mid range hotels.

Cappuccino is always available, and unlike in the states is free and not $8. Plus, they know how to make a decent one at nearly any place in Italy.

There are very few hot items, just some scrambled eggs and a meat or two (sausage or ham). But there are lots of typical dry northern Italian cakes and cereal.

A couple fruits.

Yogurts, meats, cheeses. Often regional.

More bread products and jams. There’s always nutella, which makes anything better.

Biscuits and yogurt.

And this unusual selection of different “tinned” meats.

Like this Pate di prosciutto. Better than spam!

And a couple juices.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Breakfast, Buffet, cakes, cappuccino, coffee, eating-italy, Eggs, ham, Hotel, Italian cuisine, Italy, Modena, pate, Travel and Tourism

Ice Cream & Coffee

Apr24

Restaurant: Sweet Rose Creamery [1, 2]

Location: 225 26th Ave, suite 51, Santa Monica, 90402 310-260-CONE

Date: April 17, 2011

Cuisine: Homemade Ice Cream

Rating: Very REAL ice cream.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

We were at the Brentwood Country Mart and I noticed this creamery I had wanted to try for a while. They make real homemade ice cream using only the traditional and natural ingredients. None of those emulsifiers and artificial flavors.

The board of flavors.

There aren’t a lot of flavors, but those they have are ver good.

There is even “Caffe Luxxe” coffee ice cream (we’ll see the coffee itself in a second).

This is salted carmel and mint chocolate chip. The carmel was delicious, sweet, carmely, and the fleur de salt on top a perfect contrast. The mint tasted entirely like cream and REAL mint leaves, not that artificial stuff. The chips were nice and rich. The mint in particular reminded me of my Mom’s homemade ice cream from when I was a kid.

My son demanded, “I want chocolate!” so here it is. Rich and creamy.

Caffe Luxxe coffee ice cream underneath coconut lime sorbet. The mix was odd. The coffee was good, but the coconut lime was amazing. It tasted lime Tom Yum Gum (the Thai soup).

Salted Caramel (again).

Then, since it was right here, a quick stop at LAs best coffee place. They have 3 branches actually, all in Santa Monica / Brentwood.

The masters at work.

And the incredible result. These capachinos don’t even taste like normal coffee. The milk is so expertly foamed that it seemlessly blends in to make a completely silky uniform texture. Not a hint of bitterness.

Luxxe also carries Mararons from Paulettes!

Or check out a second look at sweet rose, featuring the bacon sundae!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Caffe Luxxe, cappuccino, coffee, Creamery, Expresso, Flavor, Food and Related Products, Frozen, Ice cream, Mentha, Mint Chocolate Chip, Santa Monica California, Sweet Rose

Quick Eats: Kreation Kafe

Mar01

Restaurant: Kreation Kafe

Location: 1023 Montana Ave. Santa Monica, CA 90403. (310) 458-4880

Date: January 21, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Mediterranean

Rating: Tasty and modernized take on kabobs and mezzas

On the once bustling Montana (now home to more than a few empty stores) is this little med cafe. They have tables out front and a patio in back. The interior space is tiny. The food is very fresh and organic.

The Menu.

Someone else’s salads.

“Eggplant Dip Flavored with Tomatoes, Red Onion and a touch of Garlic.” Basically Baba ghanuosh, but very fresh. With almonds and a crunchy fennel salad.

“Yogurt Dip Persian Garden Cucumber with diced Shallots, Fresh Mint, Dill and Parsley.” A really good example of the type. Very fresh, with the bright intensity of the Yogurt front and center. There isn’t a lot of garlic here like in a tzatziki.

It all goes nicely with the Persian style flat bread.

“Smoked salmon, various salads, olives, cucumber tomato, red onion, cream cheese, capers.” All very fresh.

“Braised Beef Short Rib Plate.” Like chunks of good tender pot roast. Kind of a cross over between a kabob and Shabbat dinner.

“Braised Beef Short Rib Sandwich.” Same thing, on a roll.

Usually I get the “Niman Ranch Ground Beef Kabob” here, which slathered in the yoghurt sauce is pretty awesome.

Another nice thing about this place is that it’s only a block from Cafe Luxxe, which has hand’s down the best cafe expresso in Los Angeles. This is the most incredible cappuccino, without even the slightest hint of bitterness. It isn’r even hot, body temperature, with the micro foam blended in all perfect. Just goes down easy.