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Archive for Olive oil – Page 2

Palmeri again

May05

Restaurant: Palmeri [1, 2]

Location: 11650 San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 442-8446 ‎

Date: April 3, 2011

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great, and good value.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Palmei is one of our Sunday regular places. I’ve already covered the basics in my previous review. But it’s an always reliable and reasonable Italian with a very good kitchen.

The menu.

A nice little half bottle of Brunello. Parker gives it 92. “The 2005 Brunello di Montalcino is impressive for its open-knit, expressive bouquet of violets, dark cherries, minerals, menthol and grilled herbs. Medium in body, the wine delivers gorgeous length and a polished, refined finish. It is a strong effort in this vintage. The estate’s Brunello is made from vineyards in Castelnuovo dell’Abate (70%) and Canalicchio (30%). In 2005 La Gerla did not produce their Vigna gli Angeli bottling and opted instead to add that fruit to the regular bottling. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2020.”

Palmeri has very nice bread, including the ever popular homemade grisini.

And best of all, they have this “amuse” (with the bread) ofmarinara sauce and ricotta baked. With bread, pretty much like pizza.

“Special Caprese of burrata and heirloom tomatos, olive oil and basil.” For my detailed write-up on burrata, see here.

Barbiatelli, beets, goat cheese, a bit of nuts and fruit.

Penne pomodoro, for our toddler.

He likes his parmesan.

“Ravioli, Crab meat filled black pasta in a saffron sauce topped with rock shrimp.” I love good pasta in these butter sauces. These are soft and the sweetness of the crab and shrimp go perfectly with the butter.

“Special pasta stuffed with ricotta and spinach.”

Pizza Fornarina. Mozzarella, St. Daniele prosciutto, argugla, parmigiano reggiano and truffle oil. I’m particularly partial to this pizza. The dough is very tasty and thin but chewy. The salad like combo of toppings top notch, and the bit of truffle oil lends a little extra zing.

For our previous Palmeri review, click here.

Or for a different Brentwood Italian.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats – Palmeri
  2. Quick Eats: Divino
  3. Sotto – Sicily con Sardo
  4. Seconds at Sotto
  5. Piccolo – A little Italian
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brunello di Montalcino, Italian cuisine, Los Angeles, Marinara sauce, Mozzarella, Olive oil, Palmeri, Parmigiano-Reggiano, pasta, Pizza, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, San Vicente Boulevard, side dishes, vegetarian, Wine tasting descriptors

The “Reform Kosher” for Passover Tuna Melt

Apr23

We were scrounging around for lunch and came up with this variant passover tuna melt. While “passover” compliant it is in the tradition of the Great Trefa Banquet of 1883. You’ll see why. My wife did not participate — for the same reason.


So in making the tuna itself. At home I use this red chunk Italian tuna packed in olive oil which is amazing. Here I only had some Trader Joe’s albacore packed in water. So I added some olive oil (I don’t like mayo with my tuna). I also threw in some chopped cornichons, fresh ground pepper, lemon juice.


And mustard. Now this is a great mustard, but as we searched my mom’s very deep pantry, it came up.


Notice the price on this baby, and the yellowed tag. Today you’d find this tub for around $29, therefore dating this particular example to the 80s. We moved on to a lesser, but “younger” mustard.


The tuna.


The matzah, waiting.


Here’s the Trefa, a little Prosciutto.

Matzah, ham, then tuna.


A nice aged cheddar (goes so well with the ham).


All four.


A little trip to the toaster oven and…


Voila.


Close up. Yum!


Others who aren’t tomato haters used some of these.


As shown.


And after baking.


Our explorations in the pantry also turned up this vintage can of hazelnut oil, complete with archaic french price tag. It might date back to the late 70s!

For a similar non-passover snack, see here.

To see my passover seder, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Passover Seder 2011 – day 2
  2. Passover Seder 2011 – day 1
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Black pepper, Cooking, Lemon juice, lunch, Matzo, Olive oil, Passover, Prosciutto, Sandwich, Tuna, Tuna melt

Upstairs 2 – Modern Tapas, Lots of Wine

Apr17

Restaurant: Upstairs 2

Location:  2311 Cotner Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064 Tel. 310-231-0316

Date: October 10, 2010 & April 15, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Tapas

Rating: Bright flavors and a lot of options.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Upstairs 2 is located just above the Wine House on Cotner. This is one of the two great wine stores on this road, the other being Twenty Twenty Wine Merchants which is even more erudite (and closer allied to my taste in wine). Upstairs offers not only a big wine list and extensive by-the-glass offers (in multiple sizes) but a rich and varied menu of modern American tapas. As you know, I love tapas style dining because of the ability to try more than 2-3 flavors and the much more flexible composition of dinner menus.

This review is a composite of two different dinners. I show both a small set menu and a variety of “regular” tapas off the menu.

The menu.

The bread and olive oil.

Tonight there’s a little tasting menu with wine pairings. It appealed to me so I gave it a try.

This riesling was to my taste.

The cold cucumber soup, creme fraiche, and dill, not as much. I was hoping for something a little closer to middle eastern yogurt salad. This was very cucumber and dill. I enjoy those flavors but the thin texture of the soup (almost watery: the texture not the flavor) put me off somehow.

I funky powerful white.

“Half lobster tail, spinach polenta, black truffle butter.” This was the best dish of the three. The green stuff was rich and creamy and went very nicely with the firm lobster meat.

A pleasant barolo.

The osso bucco itself was tasty. The meat was firmer than a traditional osso bucco, and tasted almost like lamb. The succotash was okay.

I should have ordered ala carte. The dishes were okay, but I could have done better picking myself.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

And so, here is a collection of modern tapas designed to be shared by the whole table.

“Blood Orange Caesar Salad, Pumpernickel Croutons, Shaved Parmesan.” Very close to a traditional caesar, just with a little extra sweetness thrown in.

“Grilled Mahi Mahi, Crispy Corn Pancake, Black Bean Hummus, Avocado Mousse.” Sort of a modern fish taco!

“Medjool dates wrapped in serrano ham, stuffed with asiago cheese.” These are always yum central. The sweetness of the dates, the savory of the cheese, and the salty bite of the ham blend wonderfully.

“Lobster BLT on brioche, bacon, frisse, roma tomato, housemade mayo.” Another winner. I didn’t even mind the tomatoes here.

“Tandoori chicken salad, artisan greens, grape tomatos, raita, meyer lemon dressing.” This was great too. Somehow tandoori chicken does okay on salad.

“Crispened eggplant, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, marscapone cheese, chunky tomato and basil.” Mini pizza-like in flavor.

“Mixed heirloom tomatos, rainbow microgreens, citrus vinaigrette.”

“Lamb sausage flatbread, Moroccan red sauce, asiago cheese.” Not so mini pizza!

“Grilled Local Sea Bass, Purple Potato Ravioli, Ginger Beur Blanc, Black Sea Salt.”

“King crab ravioli, veronique sauce.” I love these butter sauces on delicate pastas.

“Grilled bison hanger steak, yukon smashed potatoes, red wine sauce.”

“Slow Roasted Kurobuta Pork, Sticky Rice, Oregano and Citrus.” This was really tasty, with a sweet asian pork thing going on.

“Moroccan Roast Chicken, Plums, Olives, Capers, Couscous.” Lots of flavor here as well.

“lamb meatballs, ouzo and mint.”

“Pappardelle Pasta, Veal ragu, Fresh Basil, Asiago Cheese.”

Dessert menu.

“Valrhona Chocolate Chip Gelato.”

“Sticky Toffee Pudding, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.” This was good, not amazing, but good, particularly with the ice cream. I wanted even MORE toffee flavor, but I’m an extremist.

Overall Upstairs 2 is a good place, particularly in that it offers a lot of variety and really strong flavors. It’s particularly good with a part of 4 or 6 and people willing to just order up a storm and share it around. The good, extensive, and flexible wine options are great too. Also if you buy a wine downstairs, there’s no corkage.

Related posts:

  1. Parlez Vu Modern?
  2. Bastide – Chef Number Six
  3. Quick Eats: Caffe Delfini
  4. Fraiche Santa Monica
  5. Quick Eats: Divino
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cook, Cucumber, Dessert, Italian cuisine, Los Angeles, Olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salad, side dishes, Soups and Stews, Tapas, Tasting menu, Truffle (fungus), Upstairs 2, vegetarian, Wine, Wine tasting descriptors

Fraiche Santa Monica

Mar23

Restaurant: Fraiche Santa Monica [1, 2]

Location: 312 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401. Phone : 310.451.7482

Date: March 19, 2011

Cuisine: Cal French Italian

Rating: On the way up.

_

This particular location adjacent to the Barnes and Noble on Wilshire near the promenade has a fairly checkered past. Two or three years ago the Fraiche group turned it into Riva. This was supposed to be a coastal Italian, but to my taste wasn’t really Italian at all — although they made a decent Pizza. In any case, it failed and they rebooted it as Fraiche Santa Monica with an entirely new menu and staff, albiet an identical interior. This is sort of a spin off of the Culver City location (REVIEW HERE).

One corner of the back room. I didn’t have much of a wide angle lens (food after all). It’s a pretty nice space.

The wine by the glass list.

“Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Les Chapitres de Jaffelin, Burgundy, 2009.” As a burghound this was about the bare limit of drinkability for Pinot Noir. A little sour and acidic and decidedly unbalanced. But then again, I rarely expect much from “Bourgogne” (Burgundy which is not AOC to a particular village or vineyard).

The bread was hot out of the oven, and very nice and crunchy. Oilve, mashed and oiled.

Today’s menu. This is actually the second time I’ve eaten at Fraiche SM (I did so once right after they opened) and in the meantime they have moved the menu to be much closer to the new one at Fraiche Culver City (detailed review of that here).

“POACHED PEAR SALAD, Endive, baby wild arugula, candied walnuts, Point Reyes blue cheese, red wine vinaigrette.”

“Baby Beets, House Made Ricotta / Orange / Pistachio.” Sweetness of the beets meshes with the cheesy sauce. Beet salads have become very passe, but when well done (like this one), I like them.

“ROASTED PEPPERS ARUGULA & BURRATA, Shallots, 12 year old balsamic and extra virgin olive oil.” This was as good a Burrata as I’ve had at a restaurant. They still aren’t quite as sensual as my own take on the cheese.

“Valpolicella Ripasso, Classico Superiore, David Sterza, Veneto, 2008.” Much better than the generic Burgundy. This was a fine wine of the type. Grapey, but not as much so as an Amarone.

“MUSHROOM RISOTTO, Arugula, Pine Nuts, Pecorino.” Nice nutty, mushroomy risotto.

“AGNOLOTTI, Mushrooms,  mascarpone, truffle butter.” These are really good. The pasta is nice fresh egg pasta. It tastes mostly of butter and mushroom. Butter!

“GARGANELLI, Mushroom Bolognese, Parsley, House Made Ricotta.” I actually expected this to be a meat pasta, but it’s vegetarian with the “ragu” being made from mushrooms. It was tasty, particularly the ricotta which, being homemade, was more like a real Sicilian Ricotta than one usually gets here. The mushrooms leant it a fairly rich taste, but it wasn’t heavy at all (like a meat one would be).

“Rigatoni, Beef & Pork Ragù / Scallion / Gruyère.” This one was great. basically a Bolognese, but really good. Close even to one of my ultimate pasa favorites, the lamb ragu at Capo (SEE HERE).

We were too full for desserts but Fraiche has really good ones, so I snuck in a photo of the Budino from a trip to the culver city joint. You can look there for a bunch more dessert photos. The dessert menu is nearly identical.

“Carmel Budino, Vanilla Mascarpone, Sea salt.” Mildly carmel/creamy with that nice salt factor. Good, but not quite as good as the similar dessert at Gjelina (SEE HERE).

Fraiche SM seems to be settling into its groove. It was better than last time, and quite a bit better than Riva. It isn’t a lot different than the Culver City location, but the menu is slightly smaller, and missing the assorted “pots of stuff” that are fairly unique over there. It does still have the very good fresh pastas. I need to try I nice meaty one.

Related posts:

  1. Fraiche take on Franco-Italian
  2. Finally, Modern Dim sum in Santa Monica
  3. Piccolo – A little Italian
  4. The New Cal Cuisine: Rustic Canyon
  5. Quick Eats: Divino
By: agavin
Comments (5)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: AGNOLOTTI, Burrata, California, Culver City California, Dessert, Eruca sativa, Food, Fraiche, Fraiche Santa Monica, Italian cuisine, Los Angeles, Olive oil, pasta, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salad, Santa Monica California, side, vegetarian, Wine

Quick Eats: Caffe Delfini

Mar07

Restaurant: Caffe Delfini

Location: 147 West Channel Road, Santa Monica, CA 90402. tel (310) 459-8823

Date: February 6, 2011

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Good Italian, great value!

 

Caffe Delfini is one of our regular “sunday night” places. LA has a lot of neighborhood Italians, and so it’s only necessary to go to the one’s with a good kitchen. Delfini consistently delivers very good fare at reasonable places, and they are extremely friendly too, and very accommodating of our messy toddler.

The official Menu is here.

I got a glass of Amarone. I like the grapiness of this very traditional wine from outside of Verona.

“CAESAR SALAD. Hearts of Romaine lettuce, shaved Reggiano cheese, tossed with light Caesar dressing,      and served with homemade garlic croutons. (contains pasteurized eggs).”

“MISTA  SALAD.    Chopped butter lettuce, radicchio, shaved carrots and sliced tomatoes      dressed with extra virgin olive oil and aceto balsamico.”

“INSALATA SPECIALE.   Combination of rugola e radicchio, caprese and prosciutto e melone.” My favorite salad, a bit of everything.

“RIGATONI ALLA NORMA.   Tubular pasta with eggplant, plum tomatoes, scamorza cheese, onion, garlic,     basil, thyme  and a touch of red chili flakes.”

“PENNE AL POMODORO E BASILICO.   Penne pasta with basil and tomato sauce.”

“LINGUINE MARE (white wine sauce). Linguine pasta with Manila clams, N.Z. mussels, shrimp, calamari, snow crab claw,  garlic, parsley and a touch of red chili flakes.”

These aren’t the incredible fresh pastas of a place like Drago, but they are nicely done classics, fresh out of the pot/pan, served searing hot. You could also walk across the street to Il Ristorante di Giorgio Baldi and get them too, but you’d also pay 2-3 times as much, and get a dose of celebrity attitude too.

 

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Divino
  2. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini 2
  3. Quick Eats – Palmeri
  4. Quick Eats: Sunnin
  5. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Amarone, Caesar salad, Cook, Insalata Caprese, Italian cuisine, Olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, pasta, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, Salad, side dishes, vegetarian

Quick Eats: Sunnin

Feb24

Restaurant: Sunnin

Location: 1776 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310) 475-3358

Date: December 24, 2010

Cuisine: Lebanese

Rating: Cheap tasty Lebanese

 

A couple years ago I had an office a couple blocks from Sunnin, and we used to go at least once a week. In those days Sunnin was across the street from where it is now, in a total hole in the wall. There they served on styrofoam with plasticware. It was it its best with “mama” behind the counter. The sons served (slowly), but the humus was amazing, and the garlic paste for the grilled chicken. Now they’ve moved across the street and they have real plates, a bigger space, and slightly higher prices. The sons still loiter about. The food hasn’t really changed.

The menu can be found HERE.

“Deep fried Cauliflower served with tahini sauce.” Fry, as usual, what’s not to like. Cauliflower has a lot of surface area, better to pick up the fry, and the sauce, which cuts the fry nicely.

“Fresh yogurt and cucumber slices mixed with garlic and dry mint.” I love yoghurt sauce, and it’s a fundamental part of what I call the “lamb yogurt flatbread continuum,” that band of culinary couplings that roles from Greece all the way to north India.

Pita.

“Sanbousek, Homemade dough stuffed with ground beef, onions and pine nuts.” Tasty thick pastry stuffed witha  savory mix of meat and spices.

“Lamb Kebab. Cubes of lamb grilled on a skewer served with hommos, rice, Lebanese salad and pita bread.” Tender lamb chunks. Zesty salad, and the humus. I’ve always loved the humus here, it has a lot of garlic, and a good amount of lemon in it. Then it’s brightened up with Lebanese olive oil (I’ve seen the jugs) and paprika.

Beef instead. The beef is more tender, but the lamb has a bit more flavor.

The chicken kabob is great here too, and it comes with the garlic paste — I love the garlic paste.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: La Serenata
  2. Quick Eats: Taverna Tony
  3. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini 2
  4. Quick Eats: Chan Dara
  5. Quick Eats: Andy’s Spanish Eggs
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chicken, Food, Fried cauliflower, Garlic, Humus, Lebanese cuisine, Olive oil, Pita, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, side dishes, sunnin

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

Ultimate Pizza – The Birthday

Jan31

For the second half of my mother’s birthday weekend we hosted a small pizza party. I’ve already detailed the entire process involved in the making of my Ultimate Pizza (CLICK HERE for the index page). This party was merely a refinement of the process, but one which succeeded in taking the art to even higher levels.

This whole format makes a really great party. Newcomers don’t know what to make of it because pizzas come off the line slowly at first, in series, and everyone grabs a slice. No one sits down, but instead hovers around the kitchen island participating in the three hour frenzy of pizza making. Very fun and interactive.

First off the presses is this completely basic tomato and mutz pizza for my two-year old. He doesn’t appreciate complexity yet, although I have progressed him from generic orange cheddar to 2-3 year aged special reserve cheddar, which he is now very fond of :-).

 

Opening with some whites: a nice champagne, and a very nice riesling.

“The 2000 Brut Millesime Cuvee Speciale comes across as excessively heavy and almost sweet in its ripe fruit. Something is not quite right about the balance here. Disgorged: December, 2006. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2011.”

Parker gives this riesling 91 points, “An almost confectionary sense of sweetness and ripeness pervades the Prum 2009 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese, making it something of an exception in a vintage collection generally noteworthy for the restraint of residual sugar. Apple candy, caramel, and vanilla mingle on a creamy palate, with hints of salt, stone, and apple pit happily offering some counterpoint in a long and otherwise soothing finish. This showed more grip as it opened, and perhaps time will lend more cut and complexity to a Spatlese that on the basis of track record is likely to thrive for another quarter century or more. Incidentally, this represents the first of three lots of “regular” Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese, the last of which was still in tank in September.”

And the first red. Parker 93, “Super-ripe aromas of cookie dough, spices, and black cherry syrup can be found in the nose of the medium-bodied 2002 Nuits-St.-Georges Les Pruliers. Its fabulously satiny texture, concentration, and purity are immensely impressive. This medium-bodied wine coats the palate with innumerable black fruits, minerals, and spices. Projected maturity: 2008-2018.”

Here is the evolution of my wife’s favorite pizza. Fresh tomato sauce (HERE for details and recipe), black mission figs, corn, mushrooms, roma tomatoes, and marcona almonds.

This is actually the second pizza of the night, as I had made my creme fraiche salmon pizza, but I forgot to get a photo. Fortunately, details can be FOUND HERE.

Cheese: mozzarella, parmesan, pecorino.

And then out of the oven. This time around I was trying to concentrate on slightly less irregular shapes, with some success. I have not mastered the art of “spinning” the pizza to get it very round, and the soft “00” based dough makes them very fragile.

This pizza employed a base of my special herb oil (detailed HERE at the end of this post). Then pesto (RECIPE HERE), steamed asparagus, almonds, tomato, various cheeses (including Bucheron), mushrooms, basil.

Out of the oven.

Caramelized onions, gorgonzola, figs.

Dressed with balsamic glaze. A very yummy sweet and salty pizza.

Besides all this pizza there was also a very yummy salad my mom made, with micro greens, granny smith apples, and a fresh homemade meyer lemon vinaigrette. I unfortunately forgot to take a photo, must have been running to the oven and back.

Here is a new one. One of my friends brought two new cheeses, a 5 year old aged Gouda and a 7 year old cheddar. Both cheeses were used here, along with breadcrumbs. This made fore a very yummy crunchy pizza, not unlike cheesy garlic toast.

My mother likes her pizzas fairly simple and veggie. This has classic tomato and mutz, plus mushrooms, basil, and julienned zucchini. I got to practice my knife skills with the julienne. She did throw a bit of the aged Gouda on.

It looks pretty different out of the oven, but it sure tasted great. The Gouda turned out to be a great sophisticated pizza cheese and melted here with the parm and mutz into a really great cheesy mess like on a good New Jersey style pie.

Gelsons was out of the Tikka Masala Sauce I used on New Years (HERE FOR DETAILS), but I bought a “coconut curry” sauce by the same company. It’s arrayed here with mutz blocks, corn, chaneterelle mushrooms, basil, red onion and bucheron.

I finished it with cilantro pesto (we had two different kinds of pesto this time around, DETAILS HERE). The purpose of the cilantro pesto was to mirror the finishing of a curry dish with a handfull of coriander (cilantro) leaves. The net affect on this pizza was less in your face than the Tikka Masala, but still very Indian, like Naan bread dipped in curry. Yum!

Pounding through the wines, had to crack a pair of brunellos.

Parker 91, “The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino is a fresh, vibrant offering bursting with dark cherries, violets, underbrush, minerals and sweet toasted oak on a medium-bodied frame. The wine reveals terrific balance in an energetic, focused style, with firm yet ripe tannins. The finish is long, clean and refreshing. This is a gorgeous effort from Loacker. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2019.”

Parker 93, “The stunning, single vineyard 1997 Brunello di Montalcino Montosoli, exhibits more new oak than its sibling, as well as more power, concentration, alcohol, and extract. A deep garnet color accompanies huge, sweet aromas of roasted herbs, red and black currants, cherries, earth, incense, tobacco, and soy. This is a wine to lay away for 5-6 years. This chewy, full-bodied, spectacular Brunello will be at its finest between 2010-2022.”

 

This was a great pizza made by a newcomer to our culinary circle. Pesto, red onion, bucheron, herb oil, some various cheeses, and I think a bit of acacia honey.

I sold her on finishing it with Burrata (details on my favorite fresh cheese HERE), and then single vineyard olive oil and balsamic must.  It was REALLY good.

This puppy, also by a newcomer, used a sauce base of both the crushed tomato sauce and homemade romesco (I had made it two days before for my special eggs, DETAILS AND RECIPE HERE). We also used both the aged cheeses, and some good aged parm.

Also a very yummy pizza, with the romesco lending an extra bit of tanginess to the sauce.

Another newbie with this novel shaped pizza. Basic stuffs, a lot of basil, lots of cheeses and onion.

Out of the oven.

Scott, one of my most regular partners in pizza crime, tried to make this “mexican pizza.” The sauce is actually salsa, not regular tomato. Then corn of course, various cheeses, tomato, red peppers, and some sliced jalepeno I think.

Finished with burrata and cilantro. We wanted to use avocado too, but our farmer’s market avocados were hard as rocks, they needed another week or two to ripen.

My mother liked her basic veggie so much (as did many others) that she whipped up another one.

This is a highly experimental pizza. It used a port wine cheese and aged gouda, along with chopped farmer’s market dates, and even some splashes of the currently open wine (either a brunello or a very good cote de rhone — below).

Then it was finished with fig jam (not shown). This made it a very interesting sweet pizza, even if the color was a putrescent pink.

I decided to experiment with my own caramelized onion based pizza. I added Bucheron, sharp cheddar, marcona almonds, cherry compote, and a bit of harrisa.

After cooking.

Dressed with burrata and balsamic glaze. This was not my most successful combo, and I think the problem was the cheddar. It added a tangy sharpness that just didn’t work.

This used romesco alone as the sauce, along with all sorts of vegetables, figs and cheeses, including bucheron.

Finished with burrata and balsamic and olive oil. Yum!

More wine. Parker 90, “The 2006 Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone exhibits meaty, herbal, tapenade, pepper, animal fur, and damp earth-like notes. It is soft, round, lush, and best consumed over the next 10+ years.”

For a finale Mirella, another regular and adventurous pizza chef, concocted this baby. The sauce is a mix of Moroccan Harissa and caramelized onions! Aged cheeses, onions, sliced garlic, and gorgonzola dolce.

Cheesy, spicy, sweet, this was a delicious finisher.

But we weren’t done drinking. Parker 97, “The 2004 Reserva, according to Remirez is “a great vintage, a lot of nerve, like 1994, that needed a long aging period”. Opaque purple in color, it offers up a splendid bouquet of sandalwood, incense, Asian spices, balsamic, and black cherry. Layered, opulent, and impeccably balanced, it is a monumental effort.”

My mom’s birthday cake, yes she is one year younger than my toddler.


And after that cheese bomb of a meal, nothing like a little gelato/sorbetto to polish off the palette. We experimented with this gourmet store brand, Talenti. Pistachio, Lemon, Raspberry, Double Chocolate, and Blood Orange. For store bought ice creams these were very good, but it still doesn’t hold a candle to what you get at a good gelateria. Sigh. All were good, personally I thought the blood orange was the best.

Finito.

Related posts:

  1. Ultimate Pizza – New Years
  2. Ultimate Pizza – Day 3
  3. Ultimate Pizza – The Toppings
  4. Ultimate Pizza – Day 2
  5. Ultimate Pizza – The Sauce
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Almond, Apple, Bucheron, Cheese, Cook, Cooking, Dessert, Dough, Food, Gelato, Gouda, Homemade pizza, Mozzarella, Olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pesto, Pizza, side dishes, sorbet, Tomato, Tomato sauce, vegetarian, Wine, Wine tasting descriptors

Quick Eats: Divino

Jan12

Restaurant: Divino

Location: 11714 Barrington CourtBrentwood, CA 310.472.0886

Date: Jan 07, 2011

Cuisine: Italian

Summary: Solid value.

 

Divino is another of Brentwood’s seemingly endless supply of Italian eateries. I find this one in the upper middle of the pack. It’s pretty good, and very reasonably priced, but not brilliant. The menu can be found here.

I ordered this “super tuscan.” Very nice wine actually, grapey in the extreme. Parker gives it 92 points. “This is a superb set of releases and I can’t recommend the wines highly enough. The 2003 Testamatta (70% Sangiovese, 15% Colorino, 12% Canaiolo and 3% Moscato Nero Malvasia Nera) is a deeply concentrated, expressive wine packed with the essence of black cherries, licorice, smoke, minerals and underbrush. It is a surprisingly fresh, finessed and elegant wine for this vintage, even if it can’t quite match the sublime 2004. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2018.”

They have regular bread and this “pizza bread.” This is just pizza dough baked in the pizza oven with no toppings, and then drizzle with olive oil. I do this extensively myself at home during the course of Ultimate Pizza (see here for more).

“Mozzarella Divino. Slices of fresh mozzarella & roma tomato, with extra virgin oil and basil.”

Beet and burrata special. Yes, even after going through two whole tubs of Burrata at home this week (CLICK FOR DETAILS), I ordered this. Nice burrata prep. The cheese was in perfect soft ripeness, and went well with the beets.

A “free” intermezzo of tomato, goat cheese, and eggplant, with basil. This was tasty.

“Ravioli Zucchini. Freshly prepared pasta filled with ricotta cheese & spinach topped with fresh zucchini sauce.” These were perhaps a little mushy, I like my pasta a bit firmer.

Another special. Spaghetti with lobster. Very nice. There was a bit of celery in here that lent this a very slightly asian noodle salad flair.

We didn’t order desert, but they gave us for “free” these little Italian cookies. The only sugar was the… sugar. They would have gone well with expresso.

All in all Divino does a nice job for the money. They aren’t revolutionary, but the food is solid and reliable, and they are considerably way modern than some of the Italian joints that haven’t changed their decor (or menu) since the 60s.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Pizzeria Mozza
  2. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini 2
  3. Quick Eats: Piccolo
  4. Quick Eats: Andy’s Spanish Eggs
  5. Quick Eats: Osteria Latini
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Burrata, Cook, Dessert, Food, Italian cuisine, Lobster, Mozzarella, Olive oil, pasta, Pizza, Ravioli, Restaurant, side dishes, vegetarian, Wine tasting descriptors, Zucchini

Ultimate Pizza in Review

Jan09

Since I have so many Ultimate Pizza posts I wanted to gather their links together into a single page. But I solemnly promise this is the last pizza post for a good while — at least until I prepare another batch of them!

In summary, every couple of months we make homemade pizzas. Like many things at my household, we take this to the extreme in a quest to reach the Ultimate level of quality. Hence Ultimate Pizza. This pizzas are really good (and a lot of work), and to do them justice required quite a number of articles. I broke them down on individual topics.

Ultimate Pizza – The Dough
Ultimate Pizza – The Pesto
Ultimate Pizza – The Sauce
Ultimate Pizza – The Toppings
Ultimate Pizza – New Years (pizza itself)
Ultimate Pizza – Day 2 (more pizza)
Ultimate Pizza – Day 3 (and even more)
Ultimate Pizza – The Birthday (the second coming)
Ultimate Pizza – The Comeback (the third coming)
Ultimate Pizza 2012
Ultimate Pizza – New Years 2012
Ultimate Pizza – New Years 2014
Between Ultimate Pizza there is Burrata

If you still want to see more food after this, check out the FOOD INDEX which links to all my food related posts.

Also I throw in here a survey of random pizza photos from past pizza nights:

IMG_1785











IMG_9840

Related posts:

  1. Ultimate Pizza – Day 3
  2. Ultimate Pizza – The Sauce
  3. Ultimate Pizza – Day 2
  4. Ultimate Pizza – The Pesto
  5. Ultimate Pizza – New Years
By: agavin
Comments (18)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Burrata, Cook, Food, Home, New Year, Olive oil, Pesto, Pizza, side dishes, Tomato sauce, ultimate_pizza, vegetarian

Ultimate Pizza – Day 3

Jan07

The seventh Ultimate Pizza post. Earlier in the series were Dough, Pesto,Sauce, Toppings, New Years Pizza, and Day 2. Woah!
We had family over on Sunday to polish off the seven remaining pizza balls and work our way through some more of the toppings. I made a number of repeat pizzas that I didn’t photo, like another Tuna and another Lox pizza. So there were about four pizzas made but not pictured.

This puppy has black truffle sauce, then a generous spread of caramelized onion marmelade, gorgonzolla, parmesaen, morel mushrooms, marcona almonds, cherry compote, and drizzled honey.

After baking.

Then I added some fresh basil, burrata, and drizzled balsamic glaze and olive oil. It was really good. The sweetness of the onions mixed nicely with the salty blue cheese and nuts giving it that sweet and salty factor that I’m very fond of.

A repeat of my Tikka Masala pizza. Ricotta, Mozzarella, Parmesan, onions, corn.

Dressed with basil and olive oil.

A tomato sauce, fresh tomato, mozzerella, archichoke, sun dried tomato pizza.

Dressed with a little basil and olive oil.

We ran out of balls, and my niece wanted a pizza of her own creation so we used a tortilla. This one has pesto, tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, and sliced tomatos.

Then dressed with bail. The tortilla actually worked incredibly well. It came out like a water cracker, incredibly thin and crunchy. The overall feel of the pizza was very light and crispy. I was surprised. Different than our chewy tasty pizza dough, but good.

With that I conclude the endless saga of Ultimate Pizzas. It will be at least a few weeks before I have the energy to do them again.

Related posts:

  1. Ultimate Pizza – The Sauce
  2. Ultimate Pizza – The Pesto
  3. Ultimate Pizza – Day 2
  4. Ultimate Pizza – New Years
  5. Ultimate Pizza – The Toppings
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Almonds, Cooking, Food, Home, Morels, Mozzarella, New Year, Olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pesto, Pizza, Tikka Masala, Tomato, Tomato sauce

In between Pizza, there is Burrata

Jan05

As if you can’t tell, I like cheese. A lot. Many many different kinds of cheese. About 15 years ago I was at Valentino Restaurant in Santa Monica and I discovered Burrata. This is a fresh Italian cheese, originally from Apulia (the boot heel). It’s name means “buttered” in Italian, and it’s basically a mozzarella ball into which fresh cream is injected. When I make Ultimate Pizza (CLICK HERE for details), I always buy some Burrata and I often eat it as a snack in the day to follow.

We are blessed in Los Angeles to have locally made fresh Burrata. It isn’t made in very many places in the states — and it doesn’t travel at all. In fact you must eat it 3-5 days after it’s made. Sooner is better. I buy mine at Bay Cities Deli or Guidi Marcello. You could drive to long beach and get it at the source, but why…

Burrata is fine on its own, but it really shines with just a subtle touch of extra juice. In this case on a bed of fresh arugala, tossed with meyer lemon juice and fresh ground peper.

Observe the intensely white creamy texture. Burrata has a silky outside and a creamy inside. My homemade pesto is to the left, it goes well with the white stuff.

On the bed, ready to be dressed.

Burrata doesn’t need a snazy outfit. Single vineyard olive oil and some balsamic must will do. This is a delectable combo, much like a dressing, but much classier. Must is fresh pressed grape juice, and it’s much sweeter than true balsamic (which is also heavenly).

I put some little dabs of the pesto and Tikka Masala Sauce on the side (in the back). A little such of this can add a little punch to the salad. The Masala was an experiment, as I had it in the house. But a successful one.

It must be noted that Burrata is so creamy eating it is an intensely sensual experience. Lest you think I’m crazy I’m not the only one who feels this way.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FINAL PIZZA POST.

Related posts:

  1. Ultimate Pizza – New Years
  2. Ultimate Pizza – Day 2
  3. Ultimate Pizza – The Toppings
  4. Ultimate Pizza – The Sauce
  5. Ultimate Pizza – The Pesto
By: agavin
Comments (22)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Apulia, Arugala, Balsamic, Burrata, Cheese, Eruca sativa, Food, Italy, Los Angeles, Must, Olive oil, Salad, side dishes, vegetarian

Ultimate Pizza – Day 2

Jan03

Here we are at the sixth Ultimate Pizza post. My neck is all knotted up from this much obsession. Earlier in the series were Dough, Pesto, Sauce, Toppings, and New Years Pizza.

Since we had a lot of dough balls, and tons of ingredients, why not get a couple meals out of it.

I wanted to do a “Jewish Pizza.” I’ve done it before, and I’ve refined the technique. First I mixed up the “sauce.” Pictured is dill, chives, and creme fraiche.

Creme cheese isn’t fresh enough, so creme fraiche! Mixed up here. I set this aside.

Then I rolled my pizza and glazed it in olive oil (single vineyard) and a little fresh rosemary from the yard. As my wife calls it: “Osiris pee rosemary.” (The dog does, after all, use the yard).

This bakes really quickly, just 4-5 minutes. With this pizza you bake it first. I tried putting the creme fraiche on before baking in a previous session. This worked MUCH better.

Add the creme.

Red onions and capers. As you would on a bagel.

Wild scottish smoked salmon! And more capers and onions. This was really really yummy.

My wife recreated her crowd pleasing margarita + corn, almonds, mushrooms, and figs.

Baked up nicely.

My Tikka Masala pizza worked so well on New Years that I tried it again. This time I took care to get it neater, and I left off the basil until the end. Tikka Masala sauce, ricotta, red onion, corn, little mozzarella balls.

In the oven.

Neater than last night.

Added the basil and a touch of olive oil. Just as good the second time.

PLEASE CONTINUE if you want to learn more about Burrata. Or, CLICK HERE for the final pizza post.

Related posts:

  1. Ultimate Pizza – The Toppings
  2. Ultimate Pizza – New Years
  3. Ultimate Pizza – The Sauce
  4. Ultimate Pizza – The Pesto
  5. Ultimate Pizza – The Dough
By: agavin
Comments (10)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: chives, Cook, Cooking, Creme Fraiche, dill, Dough, Food, Lox, New Year, Olive oil, Onion, Pesto, Pizza, Red onion, smoked salmon, smoked salmon pizza, Tikka Masala, Tomato sauce, vegetarian

Ultimate Pizza – New Years

Jan02

Finally, five posts later, we come to the main event, the Ultimate Pizza. This post is pretty epic, but just to recap. We set the stage with articles on the Dough, the Pesto, the Sauce, and the Topping Preparation.

Now everything is set to go. Most of the toppings and the workspace.

The pizza stones (actually, there’re ceramic) are in the grill, and it’s been heated to 800-900 degrees.

The dough balls (read about their preparation HERE) have been taken out of the fridge two hours before and are rapidly rising on the counter. In fact, they will soon escape their plastic prisions on their own.

The peels, spatulas and pizza cutters are on the counter.

And more importantly the wine station is set up. The bottles in the back are “best ofs” from previous nights.

Being New Years, it’s time for the big guns.

For the white lovers: “The 2009 Kabinetts were absolute knockouts, and the one from Dönnhoff’s famed Oberhäuser Leistenberg vineyard is a likely candidate for Kabinett of the vintage! A complex core fragrance of golden apple, vanilla, orange peel, and Indian spices are subtly interwoven with notes of clove and incense. In the mouth, the wine shows impeccable purity, concentrated tangerine and tropical fruits, livel y acidity and pretty mineral notes that become pronounced on the back palate. Complex and beautiful, it is the essence of why the wines of Dönnhoff are referred to as ‘the most perfect Riesling can ever be.”

And for the red lovers. A perfect wine.  Parker gives it 100+.   “This is a Le Pavilion of mythical proportions. Produced from extremely old vines, some dating from the mid-nineteenth century, with yields averaging under 15 hectoliters per hectare, this is the richest, most concentrated and profound wine made in Hermitage. The 1991 Ermitage Le Pavilion follows the pattern of the 1989 and 1990-it is another perfect wine. The saturated black/purple color is followed by a compelling bouquet of spices, roasted meats, and black and red fruits. Enormously concentrated yet with brilliant focus and delineation to its awesomely endowed personality, this extraordinary wine should age effortlessly for three plus decades. Very powerful and full, yet displaying silky tannin, this is a seamless beauty! Anticipated maturity: 2001-2035.”

The ’91 Le Pavilion was the first truly great wine I ever tasted, back in 1996, and I bring out a bottle of it every once and a while to remember the glory days.

For my first pizza I thought I’d give something new a try. The Tikka Masala Pizza. While shopping I had found this stuff, and it looked good.

This is basically a tomato butter spice sauce, perfect as a substitute for regular tomato sauce.

Then I had to imagine what would go well with it. Mild cheese I thought, so I went with ricotta. Some corn, fresh chanterelle mushrooms, and a bit of basil.

It tasted WAY better than it looked, which is generally the case with these homemade pizzas. Notice the cornmeal by the way. This is a very important part of the process, allowing pizzas to be slid around easily. Even after doing this about a dozen times (perhaps 100 pizzas) I still mess it up a lot. You need to make sure you can move the pizza without making a mess if you want a pretty result. I wasn’t totally successful this time and some of the sauce slopped to the edges. Next time I’d also put the basil on after cooking, or late on the grill.

It still tasted FANTASTIC! Like naan dipped in Tikka Masala sauce.

One of my friends concocted this one. Herb oil as the base (the one I made in the sauce article), and then the pesto I also described.

Sun dried tomatos, and goat cheese.

After baking, drizzled with balsamic glaze. This was real good too. Goat cheese and sun dried tomatos go really well together, and the herby/basil thing complimented nicely.

A mini. Sweet onion marmelade, gorgonzola, figs.

Also drizzled with balsamic glaze. This was really really good, sweet. Unfortunately half of it was accidentally knocked on the floor and enjoyed by Osiris (the dog).

My wife likes a fairly straight up pizza. The fresh tomato sauce I made earlier in the day, roma tomatos, figs, mushrooms, mozzarella, parm, pecorino. She did add some marcona almonds. Everyone enjoyed it immensely, as it’s a very bright and perfect version of the classic margarita pizza, but with a bit texture and sweetness.

This is another one of my cooky creations. Herb oil, the crushed tomato sauce, red onion, capers, and most of a jar of really really good Italian chunk tuna packed in olive oil.

I tossed on a couple morels too and baked it.

Then to dress it. My favorite fresh cheese in the world. Burrata. I’m going to write a whole post about this stuff in a couple days.

I put a virtual salad on top using my pre-prepared arugala tossed in meyer lemon juice and black pepper (discussed here in the toppings). Then I drizzled single vineyard olive oil and balsamic must on top. I’ll write about those with my burrata article. The net result is AWESOME. The tomato, onion, caper mix below provides a delicious tang that pairs with the tuna, and then the bright citrusy flavor of the salad, and the mild creamy cheese. Yum Yum.

For my next trick. I used as a sauce the pre-bought “black truffle sauce,” then added mozzarella, parmesan, gorgonzola, bucheron, marcona almonds, figs, corn, white asparagus, and morels. Then I drizzled blobs of pesto, tikka marsala sauce, cherry compote, and fig jam on top, and a thin swirling of acacia honey! This is a sweet and salty pizza, a variant of one of my masterpieces that I call Formaggio Maximus (that one has more cheese, and less funny sauces).

I botched the transfer again because it was so heavy and wet. So it’s ugly, but it still tasted great.

Then I dressed it with the burrata. This is a very tasty pizza, with all sorts of sweet and salty flavor surprises in every bite.

Another big bertha of a wine. Parker gives it 98!  “The Philadelphia tasting was the finest showing yet for this wine, which has been forbiddingly tannic, backward, and broodingly difficult to assess for much of its life. In the blind tasting, I thought it was Lafleur, and came close to giving it a perfect rating. Although still youthful, it has turned the corner and is emerging from its closed state.
A murky, dense, opaque garnet color is followed by spectacular aromatics of roasted herbs, smoked meats, cedar, prunes, black cherries, and black currants. Rich, powerful, and full-bodied, with a thick, unctuous texture, considerable fat and glycerin, and dazzling concentration, Certan de May has not produced a wine of such intensity, thickness, and aging potential since their 1949, 1948, 1947, and 1945. It is accessible, but do not mistake that for maturity. This 1982 demands another 5-6 years of cellaring; it should age easily for 30+ years. It is a modern day classic, and unquestionably the finest Certan de May I have ever tasted.”

One of my friends whipped up this peanut sauce by combining skippy, sugar, soy sauce, and a bit of water for consistency.

Then he put down the herb oil and white asparagus.

Corn and a few almonds.

Then the peanut sauce and a little bit of mozzarella.

The result.  Again it looks a little ugly, but tasted amazing. As a kid I used to melt peanut butter on pita bread in the toaster oven. This was like the 100x better version of that. Sweat and spicy. The thing with custom pizzas is that anything that goes well with toasted bread (and that’s a lot) will work on a pizza.

This all took a long time, but we still had to wait for the ball to drop. So expresso. I have a little Italian commercial machine because I’m ridiculously obsessive about doing everything at the maximum level of quality — work or play.


New Years approaches. And so time for the crystal and Cristal. Parker gives this 96. “The estate’s 1996 Cristal, from a legendary vintage, does not disappoint. Like the 1979, there are elements of austerity that will require some time to sort themselves out, yet the 1996 is an insanely beautiful Cristal loaded with floral, perfumed fruit and vibrant minerality. The wine turns delicate in the glass, yet this is a sublime, fresh Cristal that is in need of further cellaring. In 1996 Cristal is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. According to Lecaillon 1996 is a vintage that did not respond well to oak aging, so only 3% of the wine was aged in wood, while 10% of the wine saw malolactic fermentation. This bottle was disgorged in 2007 and dosage was 8 grams. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2026.”

I use Riedel Sommelier crystal because it’s well… excessive. Austrian leaded old school hand blown crystal. Nothing else will do. Just touch touch it, and washing is a total nightmare. It takes about 5 minutes a glass, and can only be done by hand.

Desert. From Bottega Louie. We had a passionfruit poof thingy (upper left) that was amazing. A coconut sponge cake (lower left) which was pretty good. A chocolate thing (upper right) which was fair.

A coffee creme brulee (left center) which was awesome. A hazelnut choc cake (lower left) which was pretty good. A real dense bitter chocolate “cake” (upper right) and an amazing creme puff (lower right).

 

After all that, Osiris has the right idea. Happy New Year!!

We have so many toppings that two more days of pizza are possible, so I’ll be back soon with more reporting.

Please CONTINUE HERE when we make even more pizza for New Years Day.

Related posts:

  1. Ultimate Pizza – The Sauce
  2. Ultimate Pizza – The Pesto
  3. Ultimate Pizza – The Toppings
  4. Ultimate Pizza – The Dough
  5. Quick Eats: Pizzeria Mozza
By: agavin
Comments (10)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Burrata, Cheese, Cooking, Dessert, Donnhoff, Food, Gourmet Pizza, Italian Tuna, Kabinett, New Year, Olive oil, Peanut Sauce, Pesto, Pizza, Pizza Oven, Pizza Stone, Pomerol, side dishes, Syrah, Tikka Masala, Tomato sauce, Tuna, vegetarian, Wine, Wine tasting descriptors

Ultimate Pizza – The Toppings

Jan01

When making Ultimate Pizza fresh ingredients are one of the most crucial elements. I already went over the preparation of the Dough, the Pesto, and the Sauce. Now I’ll cover the bulk of the shopping and for toppings.

I get most of my “fancy” condiments at Bay Cities Italian Deli and Bakery. This is a convient one-stop-shop spot for all sorts of Italian (and other) goodies.

I have never been in there when they aren’t mobbed. The deli counter wait alone is usually 30-45 minutes.

They make some darn good hoagies, and they have a bit of outside seating. Even though it’s December 31 the weather is gorgeous.

I had them make a “Jersey Style” Italian Hoagie. No mayo. No mustard. Just cold cuts, provolone, and oil and vinegar. Oh and don’t forget the onions, lettuce, pepper-chinos.

I went to the Gelsons for produce. Bay cities doesn’t really have produce.

The loot nestled in the trunk. This is pizza only for five!

Dairy. Next after the dough, and possibly the olive oil, nothing is so important as the dairy. Burrata, world’s greatest fresh cheese, fresh from the local creamery. Mozzarella (balled and blocks from shredding), Creme Fraiche, Gorgonzola, Parmesan, Ricotta, Bay Cities House Blend (parm and pecorino grated), and Bucheron (very fancy goat cheese). I threw in some Egg Nog because of the season.

Some jarred and canned stuff. Anchovies (in vinegar and in oil), black truffle oil, Italian tuna, capers, roasted peppers, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, tomatoes, various compotes, jams, corn (sometimes I’ll roast it fresh but I was too busy), and more.

Polenta to use as “pizza lube” (getting it off the stones and peels). Olive Oil (single vineyard), balsamic must (the Romans used this), honey, garlic, vinegars, onion marmelade, balsamic glaze, black mission figs, marcona almonds. I have white truffle oil too, but I forgot to stick it in the photo.

Produce. Five types of mushrooms, including morels and fresh chanterelles. Basil, Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Chives, Dill, Sage, Cilantro, Mint, Arugala, crushed red pepper.

More produce. Italian squash. Red onion, avocado, lemons, meyer lemons, roma tomatos.

Every item needs to be prepped and put in a bowl or similar so it is accessible during the pizza making. Here is the basil. In total, this is a huge amount of work.

Mozzarella is grated.

Arugala is coated in Meyer Lemon and fresh ground pepper.

Gorgonzola crumbled.

Dried mushrooms rehydrated, fresh ones washed.

White asparagus boiled and blanched.

Vegetables chopped.

In aggregate, this prep takes 2-3 hours, even after all the shopping. The the above is just a sampling of photos.

Here is the complete spread prior to guest arrival.

Please CONTINUE HERE WITH THE PIZZA ITSELF.

Related posts:

  1. Ultimate Pizza – The Sauce
  2. Ultimate Pizza – The Pesto
  3. Ultimate Pizza – The Dough
  4. Quick Eats: Andy’s Spanish Eggs
  5. Quick Eats: Pizzeria Mozza
By: agavin
Comments (5)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bay Cities, Black pepper, Bucheron, Burrata, Cook, Cooking, Creme Fraiche, Deli, Dough, Eggnog, Food, Home, Olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pesto, Pizza, Shopping

Ultimate Pizza – The Sauce

Dec31

This is part 3 of my comprehensive coverage of our New Years pizza making, following the article on Dough and the one on the Pesto. Upcoming will be toppings and the pizzas themselves.

Here are the ingredients. Two types of marzano tomatos from Italy. Crushed and pulped. Garlic, lemons, salt, pepper, oregano, and fresh basil.

We use this recipe from the excellent pizza making book American Pie as a basis, but wing the proportions.

Dump a bunch of stuff in, and blend. This is super easy and makes a much much fresher and better tomato sauce than any canned sauce. One could use fresh Marzanos, but they can be a bit of trouble to find.

The vat.

As a tease, here is the “pizza oven” in preparation. I have two ceramic pizza stones and I shove them in a Viking outdoor gas range. If one pre-heats an hour in advance it will get up to 800-900 degrees F — hot is good for pizzas.

Southern California, December 31, 2010. 62 Degrees and gorgeous.

At the last minute I decided to try and make some of this herb oil.

I through all sorts of herbs together, including fresh rosemary from the garden, and some garlic.

Dumped in some olive oil and stirred vigorously (picture is before the stirring). We’ll see how it tastes in a couple hours.

Please CONTINUE HERE as we get closer to Ultimate Pizza.

Related posts:

  1. Ultimate Pizza – The Pesto
  2. Ultimate Pizza – The Dough
  3. The New American – Gjelina
  4. Quick Eats: Pizzeria Mozza
  5. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
By: agavin
Comments (7)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Basil, Cooking, Dough, Food, Garlic, Herb Oil, Herbs, Home, Italy, New Year, Olive oil, Oregano, Pesto, Pizza, San Marzano Tomato, Southern California, Tomato, Tomato sauce

Ultimate Pizza – The Pesto

Dec31

This is part 2 of my series on Ultimate Homemade Pizza. For Part 1 (on Dough) CLICK HERE. We prepare a lot of different toppings, including homemade pesto, which makes an excellent substitute or compliment to tomato sauce. Most toppings will have to wait for the day of, but pesto can be made a day or two in advance.

The ingredients. Fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil (fine single vineyard), and parmesan.

One can do this by hand or with the Food Processor. Today was rainy, and we felt lazy. It’s also hard work to get a really fine texture with the mortar and pestel.

All ingredients in.

Bass-o-matic! A little pepper tossed in too.

The final result. Intensely basil — and green!

This is a photo of another time when I did it the hard way. Takes some serious elbow grease.

The Ultimate Pizza guide continues HERE.

Related posts:

  1. Ultimate Pizza – The Dough
  2. Quick Eats: Pizzeria Mozza
  3. The New American – Gjelina
  4. Food as Art: Hatfield’s part 1
  5. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
By: agavin
Comments (12)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cooking, Food, Food Processor, Garlic, Home, Mortar and pestle, Olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pesto, Pine nut, Pizza, sauces, Tomato sauce, vegetarian

Ultimate Pizza – The Dough

Dec30

For New Years those with toddlers tend to stay in, but we’re having friends over and making our Ultimate Homemade Pizzas. This is an involved process so I’m going to split both the prep itself and the event itself into multiple posts. We’ll begin with the dough. I’d put our pizzas up against even the likes of Mozza, and it all starts with the dough. While it doesn’t take long to make, you have to do it 48-72 hours in advance. Slow fermentation in the fridge is key to yummy dough with the right texture.

And high quality ingredients like this single vineyard olive oil.

Here is the slate of ingredients. Olive oil, two kinds of flour (more on that later), salt, ice water, and bakers yeast.

The righthand flour will be familiar, but on the left we have an essential ingredient to great Neapolitan pizza. Farina “00”. Imported from Naples. This is finer and makes a stickier dough than American flower. It’s key to a very thin crispy pizza. However, 100% “00” makes for a very thin and challenging dough — difficult to shape and maneuver. So we mix the two 50/50.

Flour, yeast, and salt go in the mixer under the “dough hook.”

The hard part is getting the consistency right is hard. You slowly add ice water.

And olive oil.

Until you can get it shaped into a big alien cocoon-like blob. It takes some practice.

Then you flour up the board.

Do some serious whacking of the dough to break up the glutens.

Then slice and ball.

The waiting pizza larve.

We wrap them up in plastic wrap and toss them into the fridge for 2-3 days. The cool temperature retards the fermentation of the dough, slowing it down to allow nice small bubbles to form. When the time comes, I take them out of the fridge two hours before baking time to warm them up.

Ultimate Pizza CONTINUES HERE.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Pizzeria Mozza
  2. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
By: agavin
Comments (8)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: baking, Bread, Cooking, Dough, Flour, Food, Home, Laudemio, Mixer, Naples, Olive oil, Pizza, Yeast

Food as Art: Sushi House Unico

Nov13

Restaurant: Sushi House Unico (SHU)

Location: 2932 1/2 Beverly Glen Circle – Bel Air, Ca 90077 (310) 474-2740

Date: Nov 12, 2010

Cuisine: New Style Sushi

Rating: A great “Nobu” clone with some dishes of its own.

 

Nearly 15 years ago now when I first ate at Matsuhisa I was blown away. I was already a veteran Sushi eater, having started going to Washington D.C.s one (then two) places in the late 70’s, and having been to Japan 2 or 3 times at that point (now it’s around 20). At the time it seemed like a culinary breakthrough. Classic sushi was great, but here was a whole new cuisine based on “modernizing” and combining Japanese elements with some other sensibility. Fundamentally it seemed intensely creative. But nowadays half the restaurants in LA have Miso Cod or Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno. In Food just as in any other art, creativity is surprisingly rare. SHU is very much derivative of this tradition, but unlike many of the places (Sushi Ryoku & Katsuya you know who you are!) does add a dash of its own style. Now we had read that SHU combined Japanese flavors with Italian. As a lover of both cuisines I didn’t really see this. It was more like a 95%/5% split in the Japanese favor. A few dishes had an occasional ingredient pulled from the Italian palette (like Olive Oil), but that was about it.

 

The menu, left half.

And right.  There is also a separate Sushi menu and a specials of the day menu.

“Edamame,” the usual. They just put it on the table, which some places do.

This is unfiltered Sake, served cold. It looks like the Japanese soda Pocari Milk. I liked it, smoother than many filtered Sakes, with a nice “rice” flavor.

“Miso Soup w/ Tofu & Green Onion,” the classic. Certainly well done, but I object to the presence of the spoon.

“Tuna Carpaccio. Thinly sliced Tuna w/ arugola, extra virgin Olive Oil, Yuzu & bottarga,” was very tasty, bright, soft, with a pronounced citrus zing and a good dose of black pepper. While it did have Olive Oil, I’d hardly call it Italian — but I liked it!

“Wild Yellowtail: Tomato Sashimi,” was nice. The sauce had a LOT of zing to it, very vinegary in a good way, with a little hint of spice afterwards.

“Heirloom tomato salad with Jalapenos, onion, cilantro and Jalapeno dressing.” I only tried the dressing, as I detest raw tomatoes (one of 2 foods I don’t like). My wife liked it, although it was a chopstick challenge. The dressing was on the side and I used it on some other dishes as it had a great, very bright citrus, vinegar, jalapeno tang.

“Salmon Carpaccio, thinly sliced Salmon, w/ capers, arugolo, extra virgin Olive oil, sea salt & lemon,” I didn’t try. In fact, I didn’t order, but it was so pretty I photoed it from the next table over.

“Crispy Risotto w/ Spicy Tuna Tartar & Sliced Jalapeno” was a very nice dish, but the Risotto name was a total misnomer. It’s the standard “friend crispy rice cake,” topped with spicy tuna. But it was very good, even though I’m not a spicy tuna fan. Spicy tuna is to Sushi as Spaghetti and Meatballs is to Italian.

“Broiled Miso Marinated Black Cod,” the Nobu classic and one of my wife’s favorites.

“Roch Shrimp Tempura w/ spicy creamy mayo” is another Nobu classic, but it was done just as well here.

Click the pic for a zoom. Starting left to right across the top:  Toro, Salmon, Albacore, Uni, Japanese Scallop, Eki (squid), Fresh Water Eel, and Tamago (Egg Omelet). The sushi was excellent. It was just a notch below what you get at Nobu, the late Hump (sob), or other extremely top LA places. So extremely yummy, but not totally sublime. Bear in mind that I am an extreme sushi snob with over 30 years of practice.

The unasked, but welcome fruit plate. I was too slow with the camera.

The trendy interior.

And exterior, right next to Vibrato Jazz Grill.

Overall, SHU was a very good place. It did the “classic” Nobu dishes well, and added enough originality to give it some flavor of its own.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art: Sasabune
  2. Food as Art: Urwasawa
  3. Food as Art: Ludobites 6.0
  4. Food as Art: Calima
  5. Food as Art: Melisse
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Asian, Dessert, fish, Food, Japan, Japanese, Japanese cuisine, Miso soup, Nobu, Nobu Matsuhisa, Olive oil, Restaurant, reviews, sake, Sushi, Tokyo, World Cuisines

Quick Eats: Pizzeria Mozza

Nov10

Restaurant: Pizzeria Mozza

Location: 641 N. Highland Ave. Los Angeles, Ca 90036. 1-323-297-0101

Date: April 6, 2010

Cuisine: Modern Neapolitan Pizza

Rating: Best restaurant pizza in town (that I’ve had).

 

There are two Mozza’s. The pizzeria and the osetria. Both are good, sort of watered down spawn of Mario Batali, but in a town with so many fantastic Italian restaurants, it’s the pizzeria that stands out.

The reservations are a bit annoying to get, and they have an attitude here. The parking is also ludicrously over priced, although the restaurant itself is not.  The MENU can be found HERE.

I think I forgot to bring wine this night so we had to order off the list.  It isn’t bad, being full of moderately priced but tasty Italians. Valpolicella is Amarone‘s baby brother, but it never fails to provide an unctuous jammy wine.

A nice salad with goat cheese on top.

I think this was Mozzarella or Burrata with pesto and tomato. it went too fast to photo.

This was a remaining bruschette. There were others, but they were eaten. I think this was “white beans alla Toscana with extra virgin olive oil & saba.”

The main event. The pizza. “Funghi misti, fontina, taleggio & thyme.”

“Margherita with mozzarella, tomato & basil,” boring, but a great example of the classic. This was my first night out with my new compact macro lens and I had extreme depth of field issues that I have since mastered. Also the place is dark as a cave, and I had no flash. Now days I know to stop down and I use a macro flash ring, which rules.

My favorite, “Bacon, salami, fennel sausage, guanciale, tomato & mozzarella,” what I like to call the “meatser meatser.” This an amazing pizza, topped with so much pig goodness.

Another fantastic pizza, the “Squash blossoms, tomato & burrata.” This inspired me to top some of my homemade pizzas with Burrata (CHECK THOSE OUT HERE, I have lots of pictures and they are even better than Mozza’s).

Mozza has great deserts too, but we were too full on this particular night. The “Butterscotch budino, Maldon sea salt & rosemary pine nut cookies” is to die for.

Since opening Mozza really fills a great niche in LA. Very high quality gourmet Neapolitan style pizzas. I love it, but hate the fact that it’s 45 minutes from my house and hard to get a reservation. The place is tiny, and one of the times I was there Kim Kardashian and party took up half the restaurant. That kind of thing tends to make for upity hostesses.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats: Piccolo
  2. Quick Eats: Andy’s Spanish Eggs
  3. Quick Eats: Brunch at Tavern
  4. Quick Eats: Panini at Home
  5. Food as Art: Calima
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Amarone, Burrata, Food, Italian cuisine, Kim Kardashian, Los Angeles, Mario Batali, Mozzarella, Olive oil, Pizza, Pizzeria Mozza, Restaurant, Restaurants and Bars, reviews, United States, Valpolicella, Wine
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