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Archive for Eggs

Eating Israel – Aroma Cafe

Jul26

Restaurant: Aroma Cafe

Location: all over Israel

Date: June 29, 2019

Cuisine: Israeli

Rating: Not impressed

_

Aroma Cafe is a chain that’s all over Israel. As far as I can tell, it’s not in any way related to the LA Aroma Sunset Bar & Grills (which is vaguely Israeli).
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The Israeli chain itself is kinda like Au Bon Pain Israeli style, salads and sandwiches. They are everywhere (in Israel).
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The menu.
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An iced coffee.

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Chocolate croissant.
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To get simple pasta we had to order a more complex pasta with everything on the side. They wouldn’t sell us just the pasta.

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Here is the “on the side.” lol.

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Halloumi salad. Sliced of roasted halloumi cheese with white cabbage and roasted mushrooms, roasted pepper, red onion, tomatoes, ccarrots, lettuce, parsley, arugula. Seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice dressing. With an over easy egg.
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A close up. I did NOT like this salad. It was warm, very white, and basically had no seasoning at all. In general Israeli food can be a bit under-seasoned and this certainly was. I had to go up and ask for dressing and all they had was tahini. Did not combine well, made it very heavy — and it was 100 degrees out. Really, I wanted some kind of highly acidic vinegar dressing. I didn’t find these at all in Israel, salads were usually sweet.
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Shakshuka. Two eggs sunny side up, tomato and peepper sauce, parsley. Bread and butter. This is a very common dish in Israel.
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Roast Beef sandwich. Not much of a looker.
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Tuna sandwich. Also not exactly gorgeous.

I can’t say I was impressed with Aroma. In fact, didn’t like it at all. Felt so corporate and nothing I tried tasted good.

Click here to see more Eating Israel posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Jerusalem – Dolphin Yam
  2. Eating Hoi An – Brothers Cafe
  3. Eating Jerusalem – Hamotzi
  4. Eating San Francisco – Zuni Cafe
  5. Eating Jerusalem – Touro
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Aroma Cafe, chain, Eating Israel, Eggs, Salad

Quick Eats – Little Prince

May22

Restaurant: Little Prince

Location: 2424 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 356-0725

Date: April 20, 2019

Cuisine: American Cafe

Rating: Tasty, but lots of carbs

_

I have tried several times to test out Little Prince but in LA new breakfast spots can get really busy — and I refuse to wait.
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I even once had an OpenTable res here and showed up and they REFUSED to honor it, saying it would be 3 hours. Seriously? They claimed it was a “mistake” and it shouldn’t have been listed. But they should have just made it work some way.
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Room is small and cute.
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There may even be a patio out back, didn’t go back to check but many places on this strip do.
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The menu. We were eating low/no carb and had a bit of a tough time finding items hidden on this list that didn’t have some form of carbohydrate.
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Braised bacon. Thick but a touch dry.
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Smoked brisket and anson mills grits, salsa verde and a fried egg.
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Soft scrambled eggs with an herb salad and toast with smoked sablefish and creme fraiche. Very basic, but nicely prepared.
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Eggs baked in the wood oven with smoked cauliflower, green chermoula and flatbread with merguez.
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House made ridiculously guilty looking cinnamon buns — we didn’t have them but they smelled and looked great.

Food is very simple, maybe a touch Southern, and quite well prepared. More interesting than you would expect, but not exactly incorporating too many exotic tastes or flavors. Small, crowded, loud, and they have a touch of an attitude. Best to go at an off hour or with two at most.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

 

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats – The Rose Venice
  2. Quick Eats: Andy’s Spanish Eggs
  3. Quick Eats: Sunnin
  4. Quick Eats – Bru’s Wiffle
  5. Quick Eats — Ippudo
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bacon, Breakfast, Cafe, Eggs, Little Prince, Santa Monica, Venice

Lunetta All Day

May05

Restaurant: Lunetta All Day

Location:2420 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405.  (310) 581-4201

Date: March 31 & April 21, 2018

Cuisine: American

Rating: solid

_

Not too long along iconic (but dated) Santa Monica restaurant Josie closed and has rebooted as:

But I didn’t actually go to Lunetta proper, which is dinner only, but to their next door “Lunetta All Day.” Why this is a separate space is a bit mysterious as the main dining room is sitting there empty during the day. I guess because they wanted one more “bar like” and one more “diner like”. It’s all modern California farm to table.

It’s a typical new mid-scale brunch space.

With yummy looking pastries.

All day has a niceish patio.

The menu.

Omelet and salad.

Very thick VERY salty bacon.

Nicoise Salad. White albacore tuna, soft-boiled egg, roasted potatoes, lemon zest haricot vert, kalama olives, confit tomatoes, red wine mustard vinaigrette. Deconstructed.

The man Nicoise components are seperate and you can “add?” them to the salad. Nice presentation though.

The salad. Not really exactly your traditional Nicoise even if the ingredients are similar.

Wood Fired Eggs. Buffalo mozzarella, eggplant, kalamata olives, basil, mesquite tomato sauce. Decent, but I expected more acidity and/or flavor. Relatively mild.
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Eggs Benedict Gravlax. house cured gravlax, dill hollandaise saice, petit rustic.
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Crispy Chicken & Pancakes. Fried Jidori chicken breast, lemon ricotta pancakes, pure maple syrup, clarified butter, fried free range egg.
 Baked goods looked… well good.

Overall, nice spot. Service was pleasant but overworked. Seemed there was only one person on the whole patio and they weren’t keeping up with the basics. Food was pretty, and had very good ingredients. I didn’t taste that much but the flavors weren’t quite bold enough for me. I’ll have to try again, there is a pretty big menu.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Breakfasts of Champions
  2. Quick Eats – Wilshire
  3. Brunch at Tavern – again
  4. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brunch, Eggs, Lunetta, Lunetta All Day, Santa Monica

Eating NY – Baker & Co

Aug28

Restaurant: Baker & Co

Location: 259 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014. (212) 255-1234

Date: July 5, 2017

Cuisine: Vaguely Italian

Rating: good eggs

_

Off to Greenich Village for brunch — in the middle of the week.

Some google searching brought us here to this menu.

Eggs, scrambled with thick cut bacon and fries. The bacon was so thick it was like a smoked pork chop.

Benedict. With burrata, truffle, poached egg, hollandaise, and prosciutto. GREAT Benedict. I’m going to have to remember this and use the burrata/truffle thing again.

Overall, we were the only people in here and the food seemed solid, but too small a sample to really give any verdict.

For more New York dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Brunch at Tavern – again
  2. Eating NY – Sarabeth’s
  3. Eating NY – Eat
  4. Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern
  5. Eating NY – 2nd Ave Deli
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Baker & Co, Baker's Lunch, Brunch, eating_new_york, Eggs, New York

Modern Breakfast – Huckleberry Cafe

Feb24

Restaurant: Huckleberry Cafe

Location: 1014 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 451-2311

Date: February 22 & April 17, 2016

Cuisine: American Breakfast / Pastry

Rating: Jury is still out

_

Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan have a mini food empire going in Santa Monica. This includes Rustic Canyon, Milo & Olive, Sweet Rose, and Cassia.
 Huckleberry is their take on a breakfast bakery, which is an ever popular sort of place in LA — where nobody makes their own breakfast.
 Huckleberry offers various eggs, sides.
 And tons of attractive looking pastries.
 And more desserts.

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Check out the line on a Sunday at 11am!

The format is a bit weird, with multiple lines. While I do like “fast casual” in some circumstances, I’m never a fan of the multiple line thing. There are separate lines for take out. A different one to order than to pay, etc. This was my first time and I didn’t totally understand where to wait, leaving me with the feeling like I wasted 10 minutes with the whole line thing.

Then it was confusing if they would bring it to you, or you picked it up, and the kitchen wasn’t churning out much. It took 20-25 minutes for us to get our stuff — after 15 minutes in line. That part wasn’t so good.

They made a good cappuccino — although it sat on the counter for 5 minutes before they brought it to us.

Poached eggs over farmers’ market vegetables with pesto. The veggies leaned perhaps a bit heavy on the cabbage side.
 Green eggs & ham with prosciutto di parma, pesto & arugula on housemade english muffin. Basically an egg’s Benedict without the hollandaise and with added arugula/pesto. Not bad, lighter tasting than the regular.
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Hard boiled egg sandwich. They sure love the arugula!
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Breakfast burrito. Eggs and sausage. Not bad, but not mind blowing or anything either.

 Blueberry muffin.
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Coffee cake. Solid, if a tiny bit dry.
The concept here is great. Yummy breakfast. Yummy pastries. Great location right next to Melisse. Hip looking modern space.

Huckleberry is going to take more than one quick visit to really suss out. I need to try some real pastries. The food was well prepared, but maybe we didn’t order as well as we could. The line format was confusing and the service slow. Is it always slow? I’ll have to come back and find out. It was pricey, $60 for 3 egg dishes and 3 cappuccinos.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Tuscany – Villa Breakfast
  2. Eating Milano Marittima – Palace Hotel Breakfast
  3. Eating Modena – Real Fini Breakfast
  4. Cocoa Island – Endless Breakfast
  5. Eating Santa Margherita – Miramare Breakfast
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Eggs, Huckleberry, Huckleberry Cafe, Josh Loeb, pastry, Zoe Nathan

Palm Springs – Colony Palms Hotel

Jan16

Restaurant: Colony Palms Hotel

Location: 572 N. Indian Canyon Drive Palm Springs, CA 92262. 760.969.1801

Date: December 26-27, 2011

Cuisine: American

Rating: Solid cafe food

_

During the holiday break my wife, son, and I made a quick little visit to Palm Springs and I would be remiss as a food blogger in not chronically the culinary aspects of the journey. Foodwise, as in many other ways, this little desert oasis is a bit of a throwback.


The view from our hotel restaurant, which given the gorgeous 78 degree clear December weather was pretty darn fine.


Veggie burger with fries. Apparently, this was a very good example of the beast. The fries sure were good.


Cobb salad (I left out the tomatoes). I’ve had a lot of cobb salads. This was a 6/10 as they go.


At breakfast, French toast with creme anglais and apple soaked in calvados. This isn’t the prettiest dish but it sure tasted great. The creme was superb and the apples lent some addition cinnamony sweetness to the mix.


A berry smoothy.


And my scramble, with ham, bacon, caramelized onions, and goat cheese. Again, not a looker, but it tasted good.

As hotel restaurants go the Colony Palms one was solid. The food was tasty and the setting nice. It wasn’t anything to completely rave about, but on average at hotels you can do far far worse.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Milano Marittima – Palace Hotel Breakfast
  2. Beverly Hills Hotel – Polo Lounge
  3. Eating Santa Margherita – Hotel Miramare
  4. Book Review: The Last Colony
  5. Gjelina Brunch
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Breakfast, Brunch, California, Coachella Valley, Colony Palms Hotel, Dessert, Eggs, French Toast, Palm Springs, Palm Springs California, smothie

Quick Eats – Wilshire

Aug24

Restaurant: Wilshire

Location: 2454 Wilshire Boulevard Santa Monica, CA 90403-5823. (310) 586-1707

Date: July 23, 2011

Cuisine: New Californian

Rating: Solid

_

Wilshire is a New American in the heart of inland Santa Monica. They belong to the approachable ingredient driven California style popular in recent years (the older LA styles being “asian fusion” and “80s eclectic”).


The unassuming frontage (really sideage) conceals a rather extensive interior with a big bar space and a lovely outside patio. Their website has an up to to date menu.


“Art basil. kanon organic vodka, muddled grapes, basil, lime, ginger ale.” Pretty tasty.


A beet, burrata, and tomato salad with a bit of pesto and balsamic.


“Bacon and eggs. speck, housemade ricotta, poached egg, frisee.” This was a tasty combo, although the egg was just a touch underdone. This is a tricky balance as I like the yolk totally liquid but the white pretty well cooked.


“Scottish salmon. salsify, sprouting broccolini, king trumpet mushrooms, meyer lemon.”


“Braised shortrib. mascarpone polenta, swiss chard, romesco.” A classic short rib combo, as this kind of heavy meat is usually paired with a starch like mashed potatoes, polenta, or risotto. In this case it was the beef gravy that made the polenta, as it often does.


Part of the patio.


The patio bar.

One of the two interior rooms.

I haven’t sampled Wilshire in enough depth to form a really solid opinion. I like the patio area and the food I had was quite tasty, although it didn’t blow me away. Perhaps it seems just a tad too typical New Cal Cuisine. It’s also a hair over priced, but we certainly had a good meal here.

My index of LA Restaurants here.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Kreation Kafe
  2. Quick Eats: La Cachette Bistro
  3. Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern
  4. Quick Eats: La Serenata
  5. Quick Eats: Brentwood
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: California, Eggs, Food, Los Angeles, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salmon, Santa Monica California, Short Ribs, Wilshire, Wilshire Boulevard

Gjelina Brunch

Aug19

Restaurant: Gjelina [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd, CA 90291. (310) 250-1429

Date: August 6 & 14, 2011

Cuisine: New Californian

Rating: Great food, annoying service!

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I hadn’t been to Gjelina (despite it being a favorite) in a few months but I headed back there for two brunches only a week apart, one with my son and the other with my brother and cousin.


The all important Cappuccino. They make a good one as attested by the nice micro-foam. I’m not a fan of those coffee with a pile of foam on top versions.


“Moroccan Baked Eggs with Merguez, Chili, Tomato Sauce, Cilantro & Spiced Yogurt.” This was REALLY tasty. The sausage was awesome, as was the sauce and yogurt combo. It had a pretty genuine Moroccan flavor profile.


My son wanted eggs. He didn’t even touch them though. Toddlers!


“Crispy Sunny Eggs with Prosciutto, Romesco, Arugula & Lemon.” This was also very good, and very similar (except for the ham) to my special Breakfast Eggs.


“Pizza Margherita.” A very nice version of the classic. Rich tomatoey sauce, lots of basil.


My son ate most of this, although he complained about the “green stuff” and made me remove it.


“Duck Sausage, Nameko Mushroom, Garlic & Mozzarella.” The sausage was fantastic, and the overall pizza was very smokey with an interesting chewy mushroom texture. I liked it a lot, but you certainly have to be a shroom person.


“Peach crumble with Crème Fraiche.” I like my crumbles more crumbly.


“Butterscotch Pot de Crème with Salted Caramel w/ Crème Fraiche.” This is just incredible as always. I could eat like 10 of them. Bad me. Bad me.

Overall, the food at Gjelina is fantastic as always, but I need to snark about the service, and I’m not the first. Apparently the owner/managers even like to hire staff with attitude! Boo hiss! The first time, I asked to get some eggs that on the menu had strips of bacon on top with the bacon on the side (or gone). I was told (very rudely) that I could remove the bacon myself. In this day and age of people with dietary restrictions this just isn’t acceptable. I can understand not building totally custom dishes, but trivial omissions? Give me a break.

On the second trip we ordered some vegetables which didn’t come (the waiter read them back to us too). Plus similar with an ice tea even after asking about three times. Eventually, after the waiter went AWOL we found him and brought up both. He didn’t even apologize. 10 minutes after that he brought the ice tea and said he’d take it off the bill. Ooh ah, $4 ice tea for free (it’s all profit anyway). We mentioned something to the manager. He didn’t apologize either, just nodded his head. Then finally, about 5 minutes after that he snuck back and apologized, like it had been eating at him and he felt he needed to. There was no offer of a freebee or anything. My brother asked him point blank about that and he took a dessert off the tab.

I go for the food, but they do need to lose a bit of the ‘tude.

You can check out two other Gjelina reviews HERE and HERE.

Or my index of LA Restaurants.

Related posts:

  1. Brunch at Tavern – again
  2. Brunch at Tavern 3D
  3. The New American – Gjelina
  4. Gjelina Scores Again
  5. Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Abbot Kinney Blvd, Breakfast, Brunch, California, Cooking, Dessert, Eggs, Fruit and Vegetable, gjelina, Merguez, Pizza, Prosciutto, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Romesco, Sausage, Tomato sauce, Venice

Eating Milano Marittima – Palace Hotel Breakfast

Jun19

Restaurant: Palace Hotel

Location: Cervia / Milano Marittima, Italy

Date: June 9-11, 2011

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great hotel breakfast

ANY CHARACTER HERE

The Palace Hotel in Cervia fits into an interesting class of European hotel. It’s a beach resort, and elegant, but hosted in a building from the 1960s or 70s that has been newly restored. This is not the kind of old school Belle Epoque place like say Le Metropole in Beaulieu-sur-Mer. But it is very nice and well run.


Breakfast is outside on the beach/pool patio.

Another view. The Adriatic beach is right behind that hedge.


This breakfast puts the typical one at the Hotel Real Fini to shame, but it follows the same basic format of large cold breakfast buffet and a few hot items. Here are the jams and spreads!


And more of them, plus teas and a few other odds and ends.


Then cereals.

Juices and additives for yogurt or cereal.

Have a few Fruits.

Champagne, more spreads, lox, cheeses.

Close up of the cheeses, mostly local.

Some meats, like salami and prosciutto. Note that they have the same spam-like spreads!


Then the regular breads and self-use toaster.

Now we really get our sugar going with the huge sweet pastry table. A lot of these are local too.


And the other side! This selection changed a little every day. There were all sorts of nut, chocolate, creme, and fruit tarts.


Finally there is the hot station. With omelets or eggs made to order, pancakes, and some various hot sausages. Plus you can order fresh squeezed juices and coffee done any way (cappuccino etc). All of this is included with the room! And this is actually just typical of a good larger Italian hotel too.

Click here to see more Eating Italy posts.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Modena – Real Fini Breakfast
  2. Eating Cervia – Locanda dei Salinari
  3. Eating Parma – Cocchi Ristorante
  4. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  5. Eating Modena – Il Fantino
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Breakfast, Brunch, Buffet, Cervia, eating-italy, Eggs, Food, Hotel, Italian cuisine, Italy, Milano Marittima, Palace Hotel, pastry, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, side dishes, vegetarian

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.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Modena – Osteria del Pozzo
  2. Quick Eats: Italian-Iberian Snack
  3. Quick Eats: Piccolo
  4. Riviera Country Club – Gluttony with a View
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Breakfast, Buffet, cakes, cappuccino, coffee, eating-italy, Eggs, ham, Hotel, Italian cuisine, Italy, Modena, pate, Travel and Tourism

Breakfasts of Champions

Feb01

During my mom’s birthday weekend we seized on the opportunity of a fridge filled with pizza ingredients to whip up a number of Gavin-style breakfasts. First I made my Spanish eggs (SEE HERE). The next day my brother cooked up one of his signature frittatas.

This is a big fluffy omelet stuffed with cheese and veggies.

Plus some fruit, cheese, and fresh squeezed blood orange juice (the trees had a bumper crop this year).

Then on monday a slightly different, less fried take on the Spanish eggs. A little salad, some lox, and La Brea bakery toast with pesto and romesco, arugala, and peppers.

Here is the romesco on the left, and the pesto on the right (SEE HERE for more on the pesto).

A peek under the salad at the sauces.

Some eggs poached normally. Not as crispy as the olive oil “poaching” of the classic Spanish eggs.

An egg in place.

My brother chose to supplement with ricotta.

I went with burrta. I always go with burrata (MORE on the ultimate fresh cheese HERE).

A final shop, with nice contrasty lighting and some cracked pepper. Cutting into the egg of course provides lots of yolky goodness.

Related posts:

  1. In between Pizza, there is Burrata
  2. Ultimate Pizza – The Birthday
  3. Quick Eats: Andy’s Spanish Eggs
  4. Saturday is for Salt
  5. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Breakfast, Brunch, Burrata, Cheese, Cook, Cooking, Eggs, Eruca sativa, Food, frittata, Home, Olive oil, Omelette, Pesto, poached eggs, ricotta, Romesco, Salad, side dishes, vegetarian

Brunch at Tavern – again

Dec21

Restaurant: Tavern [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 11648 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 806-6464

Date: Dec 19, 2010

Cuisine: Market driven Californian

Rating: Not just your typical short order brunch — but better.

 

The weather is terrible (for LA), 58 and rainy, so brunch. Tavern has a nice glassed in patio.

And cappuccino.

The menu.

My son liked the fish and chips.

Pumpkin waffles.

The Tavern take on the east coast fish breakfast, like we had at the ThanksGavin. They substituted a chevre (fresh goat cheese) for the cream cheese. This worked extremely well, I think I’m going to try it at home.

Turkey burger.

The Tavern eggs benedict: prosciutto, frisse, brioche, Meyer lemon Hollandaise. A very good variant on the classic, only subtlety tweaked.

Carmel salt macaroon.

Check out some other Tavern meals of mine HERE, HERE, or HERE.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern
  2. Saturday is for Salt
  3. Food as Art: Ortolan
  4. Food as Art: Bistro LQ
  5. Quick Eats: Houstons
By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brunch, burger, California, carmel, Cooking, Dessert, Eggs, Eggs Benedict, Fish and Chips, Food, Hollandaise sauce, Los Angeles, Lox, macaroon, Prosciutto, Restaurant, Restaurants and Bars, reviews, side dishes, vegetarian, Waffle, white fish

Quick Eats: Andy’s Spanish Eggs

Nov07

Although I’m a ludicrously obsessive Foodie, I don’t cook that many things. However, those that I do make, I try to do to the Nth degree (anyone who knows me knows this to be true of me in general). One of my breakfast specialities is Spanish Poached Eggs. The original recipe was taught to me personally by Mark Peel of Campanille at a cooking class. I’ve made a few small improvements (adding Burrata and arugala). The result is below:

First, you need to make some homemade Romesco sauce. You can do this a couple days in advance if you like (I do).

  • 1 small tomato, cut in half
  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
  • 1 heaping tablespoon unblanched almonds
  • 1 heaping tablespoon hazelnuts
  • 1 medium (8 ounce) red bell pepper
  • 1/4 slice white sourdough bread, toasted
  • 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Adjust the oven racks to the middle and upper positions, and preheat theoven to 350° F.

Drizzle the tomato halves with a teaspoon of the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Place the tomatoes. cut side down, on a baking sheet, and roast on the upperrack for 45 minutes to an hour, until they are soft and the skin has wrinkled and blackened slightly. Allow to cool, remove, and discard the skin.

In a very small ovenproof skillet, saucepan, or dish, combine approximately 1/4 cup of the olive oil with the garlic cloves, to cover the cloves halfway. Roast in the oven on the middle rack about 20 minutes, until the garlic is soft and malleable. Allow to cool, and squeeze the pulp from the cloves. Reserve the oil and set aside.

Turn the oven down to 325°.

Spread the almonds and hazelnuts on a baking sheet (in separate piles). Toast on the middle rack in the oven for 12 – 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Place the hazelnuts in a kitchen towel, and rub them together to remove the skins.

Meanwhile, on a hot grill or directly on the stovetop over high heat, char the pepper over an open flame, turning frequently until the skin is blackened on all sides and the flesh becomes tender. Place the pepper in a plastic bag or in abowl covered tightly with plastic wrap to steam until cool enough to handle.Using a towel, wipe off the charred skin. Remove and discard the seeds and ribs. Coarsely chop the pepper.

In a small skillet, over medium heat, warm the reserved olive oil from the garlic. When the oil is hot, fry the bread on both sides until lightly browned. Remove the bread to a paper towel to drain.

In a mortar and pestle, or in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, grind the nuts and bread until they form a coarse paste. Add the tomato, roasted pepper. vinegar, garlic pulp, cayenne pepper and salt and pulverize or process until smooth. Slowly pour in the remaining cup of olive oil and stir or process until combined. Season with salt to taste. lt will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

For the actual dish you will need:

  • Lots of eggs, one per dish
  • A loaf or two of good rustic bread. I use La Brea Bakery rustic italian or similar. Cut into big slices.
  • A huge bottle of extra virgin olive oil
  • Black pepper
  • A bag of arugala
  • A tub of fresh Burrata, no more than two days out of the creamery. In LA you can buy it at Bay Cities Deli. If you live somewhere (most places) where you can’t get this tub of heaven, then you will have to use some good mozzarella.
  • A couple Meyer lemons (regular will suffice if you are feeling lazy)

Next up is the bread. This can be prepared right before, or even a couple hours before eating. Get a real cast iron pan. No mamby pamby modern pans allowed. Fill it halfway up with olive oil and bring to a near boil. Be careful, if you get it too hot the oil will ignite and you will have to stick a lid on it (have one handy for snuffing fires) and wait for it to cool. Hot olive oil spontaneously combusts in the presence of oxygen.

After the oil is hot, quickly fry the bread slices. This makes a mess, but they fry in 5-10 seconds per side.

You end up with this, a plate of fried bread. This is yummy by itself or smeared with the Romesco.

Wash your arugala and put it in a bowl, toss with black pepper and Meyer Lemon juice.

Now that we’ve done the hard stuff. The following you do while your victims (guests) sit around the kitchen. This is sort of frenzied assembly because it needs to be eaten VERY soon after the egg gets poached (in the hot olive oil). So prep your bread.

Take a piece, smear generously with Romesco and add some tossed arugala. Have the Burrata (or Mozzerella) handy nearby.

Then add a nice blob in preparation for the egg. Burrata, when fresh it’s creaminess is visceral.

You can use your same hot olive oil (keep the bottle on hand to refill) to poach the egg. Have a slotted spoon and tongs ready. Crack an egg carefully into the oil. I use a small bowl, into which I crack the egg first, so that I can slip it quickly into the oil without splashing a lot of boiling oil onto my hands (a little is just a small price to pay for this dish).

It poaches (I prefer not to think of it as fried) in about 10 seconds. Spoon some hot oil over the top. You want it crispy and fluffy, but the yolk totally runny. Then get it out of there fast with the slotted spoon, drain, and onto your prepped bread.

Here it is again. Eat instantly. The yolk will run out and soak the crunchy bread. If you’re a more moderate person you could leave out the Burrata, or even not fry the bread, but the full monty is much better.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
  2. Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern
By: agavin
Comments (8)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Black pepper, Breakfast, Brunch, Burrata, Cayenne pepper, Eggs, Food, Garlic, Mark Peel, Meyer Lemon, Mortar and pestle, Olive oil, Poached Egg, Recipe, Romesco, Sourdough, Spain, vegetarian
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