Ruen Pair: L.A.'s Thai Town

Anyone who has ever glanced at my blog knows I love cake, but it is probably less evident that my go-to comfort food is Thai food. A pile of noodles is always less photogenic than a cute cupcake, so somehow the photos don't make it to the blog world. But regardless of appearances, something about the combination of sweet and spicy just makes me happy...perhaps not shocking since sugar obviously has an attraction for me, and doesn't spicy food have a sort of mood-altering affect on people?* In any case, Thai food is my first thought on a rough day, so given the proximity of finals at this time, it was an easy choice for dinner tonight.

Coconut soup (above) has had an increasing hold on my attention since I discovered the way each spoonful could feed the burn on my tongue and throat (which is a good thing!) and satisfy with its creamy texture.

Noodles always help me get to a good place, whether it be pad thai, as pictured here, or pad see yew, which always reminds me of my favorite childhood Chinese dish of beef chow fun. Smoky, sweet, mmmmm.

And at least one other spicy dish - cashew chicken, garlic pepper shrimp, panang curry - gotta keep nourishing the happy.

I do go for inauthentic Thai in a pinch, but my favorite for years has been Ruen Pair (can I just say, love that it sounds kind of like "ruined pear" as if a dramatic line in a tragic poem) on Hollywood Boulevard in L.A.'s Thai Town. The same strip mall boasts Thai Patio, which is also quite good and was very welcoming for my birthday dinner of 17 people, but I prefer the food at Ruen Pair (RP is cash only and does not serve alcohol). The restaurants in this area are open and bustling until the wee hours of the morning, so the next time you're out in Hollywood and crave a bite at 3 am, you know you can find something good here.





*According to Wikipedia: "It is common for people to experience pleasurable and even euphoriant effects from eating capsaicin-flavored foods. Folklore among self-described "pepperheads" attributes this to pain-stimulated release of endorphins, a different mechanism from the local receptor overload that makes capsaicin effective as a topical analgesic. In support of this theory, there is some evidence that the effect can be blocked by naloxone and other compounds that compete for receptor sites with endorphins and opiates."

Little Ethiopia: Messob

Wow, the summer comes to a screaming halt, and somehow I haven't posted in a month! Okay, I probably shouldn't say "somehow" as if i have no idea how it happened: I've been busy. This has been a summer of two moves (finally settled in, kitchen and all), an enjoyable but time-consuming teaching job, another amorphous and independently-motivated job, and just other stuff.

As with all my posting hiatuses, I have still continued to eat and cook, but have been less than diligent about taking photos and posting my experiences. In addition, I don't happen to have a working oven right now - wouldn't you know that I would move into a place whose oven is broken, not fixable by the gas company, and may even need to be entirely replaced - so I'm living the life of a frustrated baker.

Instead of a recipe, then, I share with you Messob, adjacent to my new neighborhood. Messob is nestled in L.A.'s one block of concentrated Ethiopian stores and restaurants, amongst a conglomeration of other ethnic pockets. I don't know how long I'll live in a city as large as L.A., but I do know that this is absolutely one of the benefits: the diversity of communites collected in the city, and the resulting food availability. There's almost no limit to the food I can find without ordering online, albeit at high cost at times (for example, gelatin sheets, which I previously thought I could only get in France, and kosher gelatin, which I brought back from Israel - both available within 10 minutes drive!).

The thing I enjoy most about Ethiopian food is the commual sharing aspect of the meal; I highly recommend ordering together as a table, and getting a variety of stews, which the server should spoon out onto your injera bread. The slightly sour, spongy bread will serve as your eating utensil as you scoop up the tasty and colorful veggie and meat stews. It's difficult to find parking in the area, since the residential streets have strict parking policies, but worth it for the experience and the food.

Warning about potential awkwardness: the menu suggests that you feed your dining companions mouthfuls of injera with stew, but if you're not there with someone of intimate acquaintance, you may want to pretend that you didn't read that part of the menu...

Almond Croissant at Amandine

I have finally found a good almond croissant in LA...better in fact than many of the almond croissants I had in France! And let me tell you, I have had quite a few there - including one as big as a piece of pizza.

A croissant aux amandes is a day-old croissant, cut open and lined with almond paste, soaked in simple syrup, topped with sliced almonds, and baked all together. Sweet, almondy, and buttery.

Amandine, true to its name and reputation, had the winning pastry. It did not skimp on the almond paste, and was not too sweet, but oh so buttery and light. This croissant, accompanied by a huge café au lait, made me incredibly happy. Too happy to not share it with you. Mmmmmmm...

Olvera Street: Carnitas at La Luz del Dia

Since summer weather has finally come to LA, and it feels a bit more like vacation time, I'm in a mood to celebrate the city.

I'm also in a mood to save money, since going out to eat takes its toll, so I'm going to share an old family favorite: the #6 at La Luz del Dia, a Mexican restaurant at the plaza end of Olvera Street. The #6 has a healthy portion of tender carnitas, served with real rice and beans (which means lard, I'm sorry to say) and fresh salsa and guacamole sauce - and handmade corn tortillas! This old school place has lots of nice ladies serving the food (who probably have worked there forever), beautiful tiled tables and wooden chairs, and regular mariachi bands roaming through it.

It is also located right next to a plaza that will have free entertainment on your average weekend day, including these folks, who I could have watched for hours:

And across the plaza is the small, free Chinese American Museum that is worth a few minutes of time; true to this neighborhood's history, the entire museum is in English, Spanish, and Chinese.


So, one of these sunny summer days, take the Metrolink downtown to Union Station, cross the street to Olvera Street, wander the street market, enjoy the free entertainment in the plaza, explore the Chinese American Museum, and eat some good carnitas (and maybe a churro after). And heck, Chinatown is only a few streets over, so you could spend the afternoon looking around and have Chinese food for dinner. LA doesn't have to be expensive!

Paris Pastry and XT Patisserie

You know you've been in L.A. too long when you start judging a bakery by its "look." I do enjoy an aesthetically pleasing space, but all foodies should know that extraordinary food can come from the most unlikely places - even macarons. I am ashamed that I had to be reminded of this fact!

I believe that I have NOW, today, discovered the best macarons in L.A., and they are from a nondescript store in the Persian neighborhood of Westwood Boulevard. Paris Pastry has a nice, clean store, even if the front sign is a tad dingy and the space does not have the trendy modern look that newer bakeries predictably embrace. A number of items in the pastry cases looked good, but the Parisian macarons were EXCELLENT.

To be more precise, the macarons at Paris Pastry are provided wholesale by Xuan Ngo of XT Patisserie. Mr. Ngo happened to be handing out samples of his wares when I walked into the bakery, and a pleasant conversation ensued (accompanied by samples of whole halves of macarons!). It turns out that Mr. Ngo worked at bakery Le Nôtre in Paris for four years, the very bakery that was the source of the macarons in this photo:


I knew as soon as I bit into the caramel macaron that the texture was right in a way that no other macaron in LA has been right. It had a smoothness that is often lacking, while being delicate and slightly chewy and moist. All of the flavors I tried were good: pistachio, raspberry, lemon, coconut...and the French friends to whom I fed them were in agreement.

Mr. Ngo proceded to tell me that he had helped to start up Boule when it got established (though it is now sadly defunct) and is trying to get his wholesale business going. I told him that I would wholeheartedly endorse his wonderful macarons on my blog - which I would have done even if I hadn't met him...and even if he hadn't given me a few free macarons on my way out the door...

So do stop by Paris Pastry to try out his macarons (and look for the sample table and macaron tree)! Such a nice gentleman selling such lovely macarons is not to be ignored.

XT Patisserie, I wish you all the best!

Strawberry Macarons and AMANDINE!

This has been a week heavy on the baking, partially because of Mother's Day, but also because I just CANNOT STOP BAKING. I was proud of myself for waiting until today to bake something that I thought up on Sunday - two days is a long time to wait when you've got all the ingredients sitting in your kitchen! I almost made myself wait until next weekend, but then I thought "that's ridiculous! by then I won't even care about this idea and will have moved on to another!" And so I baked. Although I do believe that that particular recipe was improved by ideas I thought up in the tween time, but that is a story for another post.

In any case, my baking schemes do offer additional opportunities to procrastinate actual work that needs to get done (like I need more than the internet and TV afford!), so predictably the recent increase in my workload corresponds closely to the amount of goods my kitchen has been producing. It seemed a perfectly natural choice to make strawberry macarons for my sister's belated birthday gift, rather than simply purchasing a membership to REI (sorry, Amy, that may be a gift for another time...).

I think the macarons turned out wonderfully; I was nervous to tinker with the recipe that worked for me, but I did, and it did, so I'm all pumped up to try other flavors! I took the recommendations from Tartelette's strawberry macaron recipe by drying strawberries in the oven and processing them into powder, then replacing the cocoa powder in my chocolate recipe with the powdered strawberries.

Then came my real innovation: strawberry buttercream. The strawberry flavor in the macaron was rather subtle, and my sister LOVES strawberries, so I definitely wanted to kick the flavor up a notch. I basically added concentrated strawberry purée to a buttercream recipe, and the lovely pink cream in the macaron above came about. Here's a guesstimated outline of the recipe (I made no measurements when I was actually making the cream):

Strawberry Buttercream

1/2 lb strawberries
1/2 cube (4 T) butter
at least 2 C powdered sugar
1 T heavy cream

Wash the strawberries and cut their tops off. Throw them in your food processor and purée completely. Heat the purée in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently to avoid burning, until the purée condenses down and thickens significantly (sorry I can't be more specific; think of this as reducing the water content of the berries and concentrating the flavor). Set purée aside to cool.

Once purée is cool, cream it with the butter in a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer. The butter may not incorporate completely, but that's okay - it'll mix in better once the sugar is added. Add the powdered sugar bit by bit until the icing reaches the consistency you want. Make sure it is thick enough to hold its shape when spread, since you don't want it running out of the macarons or off the cupcakes or whatever. Mine was a little on the thin side. Add the heavy cream in just to make the mix more creamy. Yum!

I also finally made it to Amandine on Mother's Day, a bakery on Wilshire that I would have visited the previous week had it not been for a barricade of re-paving road work. The re-paving now finished, I successfully purchased some puff pastries that are certainly some of the best in L.A. I also bought my grandmother an almond raspberry tart, since she loves almonds, and the tart had a nice dense texture to it as well as good almond flavor.

These pastries, along with with the scotchmallows I made for my mom (layer of marshmallow, layer of caramel, glued together with chocolate) AND the dim sum feast we all ate together made for a nice Mother's Day. Not to sound completely selfish, but it's nice when our mother's desires coincide exactly with our own, isn't it?

Jin Patisserie

Jin Patisserie was the last bakery on my list of macaron places in L.A. to try; if there are others who make macarons here that are not on the list (like Vanilla Bake Shop), I will just have to discover them as I muddle my way around the city.


Jin is an Asian-inspired French pastry and chocolate boutique tucked away on Venice Beach's funky/trendy Abbot Kinney Avenue. This door leads into a nice little courtyard with fountains, tables to sit at, and nice greenery, behind which sits the shop itself. I feel very strongly that this should be called a boutique rather than a bakery, since the small indoor space is set up as a sparse store - a few glassed-in shelves on the back wall, a little chocolate counter by the cash register, and shelves of merchandise behind the counter. It's got style, but not a space to stay in; you buy your stuff and retreat into the courtyard.

I arrived 20 minutes before the store closed for the day, and the back shelves were already being cleared of any remaining items. There were three staff people in the small space, and they almost looked at me like I didn't belong in there. The only thing for me to do was to directly address one of them and ask to see the macarons, and she very nicely brought them out and showed me the flavors. I don't think I would have known what to do if I hadn't already known what I wanted when I walked in!



I ended up buying pistachio, violet-cranberry, rose, and sea salt caramel, and actually got them home without popping one in my mouth. It would have been easy to, considering the teeny-tiny size of these little guys.



These are the closest to Pierre Hermé's macarons that I have found in the States! In appearance they approximate his approach of couture cuisine (see the gold dust on the rose macaron?), in flavor they present inventive options (violet-cranberry, tea, sour plum, red bean paste, as in other items at Jin), and in texture they were JUST RIGHT. Not too chewy or substantial, not too crumbly inside the outside shell, not too brittle a shell, a nice slight sheen to the outside, pretty little feet, and lovely creams on the inside.

The pistachio's flavor tasted a teeny bit artificial to me, the violet-cranberry combination was interesting but a little too perfumy to be my favorite, but the rose was a wonderfully clear rose water flavor, and the sea salt caramel was marvelous! I'm not entirely sure why it's orange, but I suppose one has to make these decisions in high fashion food.



I feel that a properly made macaron is delicate enough to be in danger of being crushed in transport, but not so delicate that it crumbles at the slightest touch. It's always with a mix of relief and sadness that I find a crushed macaron in my bag after bringing it home!

So, to sum up the macaron scene in L.A.: absolutely do not miss Jin and Euro Pane, and stop by Milk if you feel like a macaron ice cream sandwich (fun and big!), but feel free to skip Paulette and Boule unless you want to be disappointed. And who wants to be disappointed by macarons?

The Bazaar by José Andrés

I'm sure it's obvious that my foodie instincts lean towards the homemade, bakery fare, and ethnic foods, but make no mistake: I am happy to have a good formal restaurant dinner any time. In this case, I had a great dinner experience at The Bazaar by José Andrés in Beverly Hills. Thanks to a new foodie friend (writer of movies and munchies) we got reservations for a Wednesday night in this Philippe Starck decorated space. Between the four of us at dinner, we were able to sample a good number of dishes and keep the price down to about $75 per person including tip and tax, although excluding alcoholic beverages.


I honestly didn't expect to like the food that much; I expected to experience new combinations of flavors and textures, taking a bite or two of each dish just for a good try. Having read a tad about molecular gastronomy on various blogs, I knew that it could tend towards the extremes of non-traditional food - and so I ate a mini-meal beforehand! I think that this decision allowed me to enjoy the food much more, since I was not eating to be full, but to taste.

Generally it felt like the tapas ingredients were fresh, high quality, and well prepared, but I was most impressed by the intentional composition of each dish. I felt like someone had played with the food, and I was there to sample the results of their playtime.



At the server's recommendation, we started with lovely crisp, salted sweet potato chips and an aerated yogurt dip with olive oil and hints of anise. I thought the little brown paper bag was a fun touch.



Then the foie gras lollipops came...yes, lollipops, wrapped in cotton candy! Can you believe it? When popped in the mouth, the sugar made a nice case for the smokey and salty foie gras cube in the center. This was actually my first taste of foie gras ever, since the idea of having the fatty stuff in my mouth has never appealed to me, but I mostely enjoyed this. If there had been a tad less of the foie gras in the mouth at the end, I would have enjoyed it completely.



One of the general themes that I enjoyed throughout the evening was the use of fresh citrus, and this artichoke heart salad set the tone, hearts nestled in a citrus sauce with peeled slices of grapefruit, blood, orange, and navel orange, with pomegranate seeds and fresh herbs.



This traditional tapas platter of 3 types of jamon brought lots of salty smokiness to the table...


accompanied by Catalan-style barely-toasted bread spread with shredded tomato.



These "Philly Cheesesteaks" were a pocket of airbread filled with cheese and topped with slices of tender steak and chives -


See what I mean about food play?


The Japanses tacos were the least popular of the evening, with overcooked eel (although I am not familiar enough with eel to be able to tell the difference), but cute in their cucumber shell.



The "Not your everyday Caprese salad" with balls of liquid mozzarella, peeled cherry tomatoes, pesto, basil leaves, and croutons.



A colorful mouthful!


The citrus returns in a brussel sprout salad, green apple tucked into the brussel sprout cups, citrus sauce, and lemon "air" to top.


Very fresh brussel sprouts. The foam was a little something extra for flavor, texture, and looks.



Perhaps not the best looking, but very good tasting tender lamb slices hidden under this potato foam.



We moved over to the Patisserie area for dessert in order to have access to the full dessert menu.



The waitress that moved us forgot to let the dessert staff know we were there, but eventually a waitperson came to take care of us.



The dessert area has funky decor, and was located practically in a boutique, which was odd to me - I didn't really want to be surrounded by cases of merchandise, even if it was high-end...



But the dessert selection was pleasing, and I was happy with my choices: green tea shortbread cookie, sesame seed croquant, chocolate tablet with salt, and passionfruit marshmallow. Chased by 4 plated desserts!



With a very bitter espresso; I normally enjoy espresso after dinner, but this one was too strong.



Flan and vanilla bean whipped cream, smooth and caramelly, lovely.


The small dark chocolate cake, filled with a chocolate mousse and topped with salted caramel sauce and chocolate nibs. Loved the caramel sauce.



Clementine sorbet, with some lemon sorbet, fruits, and more foam - very refreshing and light.



And, finally, the coconut floating island, which had been frozen in liquid nitrogen as videoed here. Creamy and light, with passionfruit syrup and mint leaves.



The liquid nitrogen left it soft while still holding shape, with a more solid base.


All in all, a unique experience for me, which I enjoyed for its visual aesthetics and fresh flavors. While half of our dinner party were not as pleased with the experience, I believe expecting play rather than a filling, comforting meal would make Bazaar a fun meal for anyone willing to drop the cash.

Boule: Another macaron attempt

Working my way through this list of places to get macarons in L.A., I finally made it to Boule. I only purchased three flavors here, after having purchased a whole box at Paulette; I realized that it was a risk to buy macarons at a new place, and at $2 per cookie, I felt it prudent to spend less than $10. Yes, prudence applied to a decadent purchase!

I feel that I was wise to choose just these three; I enjoyed the fresh flavors of the rose, caramel, and pistachio, and the colors were much more natural than Paulette. The rose is topped with a sugared piece of rose petal, the caramel was an interesting burnt sugar flavor, and the pistachio was nice.

The delicate macaron texture, however, was lacking. I'm afraid I'll sound picky and pretentious, but these were disappointing. Not as bad as the super chewy ones I had at Paulette, just a little too stiff. I wish I had taken a picture of one after I had taken a bite of it, because a profile shot would show what exactly was disappointing about it: once bitten, the outer layer of cookie remained firm in shape while the inner portion of the cookie sort of collapsed around the filling - imagine a pocket of air under a thin shell on the outside. I can't help but contrast these to those I purchased at Pierre Hermé; PH's macarons were so tender and delicate that they got crushed just a bit when I carried them in a bag for about 10 minutes, while Boule's were in a bag for even longer but didn't have a single dent in them (see above). To me, that is a sign of an overly stiff macaron. What is the point of buying the most delicate cookie in existence if it's not delicate?

So, my favorite L.A. macaron remains that from Europane, with the macaron ice cream sandwiches at Milk a close second. Then again, I'm no expert, so try it yourself and tell me what you think!

Boule
408 La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048
310.289.9977
(alternate location in Beverly Hills)

From L.A.

Recently I've been coming to terms with the idea of being from L.A.; I moved here five years ago, and it looks like I'll be here another five, so at some point I will probably identify myself as "from L.A."  This identity change will take a while to get used to, but I've realized that there are a lot of great food opportunities here that I appreciate.  While some folks in other parts of the country, and even the state of California, do not have many food choices, I have options representing many ethnicities and cuisine trends.  I thought I would share a few photos of food I've eaten out just in the last week in L.A. - and by L.A. I mean everything in the L.A. Basin, from the coast on the west, north to the edge of Ventura County, south to the edge of the O.C., and east to Pomona.

The photo above is from a vegetarian restaurant in Eagle Rock called Fatty's; my friend ordered this lovely pear gorgonzola salad which made me quite jealous after the one bite I had.  The cheese was pan seared and breaded crispy on the outside but melty on the inside, the pears and oranges were sweet, and the vinaigrette light but tasty.  I love how the slice of blood orange sits on the cheese like a hat.

This is dessert at Babalu on Montana Street in Santa Monica - a trendy hangout that a friend introduced me to - a fabulous follow up to excellent entrées.  In the foreground you see the opera cake, made with thin layers of white cake filled in with cream and lots of almond chunks, coated in dark chocolate and served with thick, sweet whipped cream.  In the background you can see a bit of the Italian wedding cake, which is covered in cream cheese frosting and coconut on the outside, packed with walnut bits between the cake layers inside.

Back at Fatty's, this appetizer was a hit: whole dates, stuffed with walnuts and wrapped in veggie bacon, drizzled with a balsamic syrup.  Definitely something I'll try to replicate with turkey bacon - the smokey flavor of the pseudo-meat with the sweetness of the date was a marvelous combination, as was the crispiness of the bacon with the soft chewy date.

Not a great photo, but one of my childhood favorites: Beef Chow Fun.  As a kid I called it "fat noodles" (although these noodles aren't that fat), and it was one of the things alongside of sweet and sour pork that I would gobble up at the time at Chinese restaurants.  Usually smokey flavored, greasy, and great.

My current dim sum favorite: Siu Mai, or shrimp and pork meatballs.  Certainly not kosher nor vegetarian, but so, so good.  The best are at NBC in Monterey Park, where I practically go into raptures while I eat their siu mai and exclaim after every bite "these are so good!"  I don't know how the juicy flavor is the way it is, but I will not ruin the experience by overanalyzing it.  NBC also has the best general dim sum offerings and squab lettuce wraps, among other things.  Monterey Park is the current living Chinatown of L.A., and the place of my birth.  If you go for Chinese food in L.A., you gotta go here sometime.

I felt I had to represent Malibu in some way; these are the hugest glasses of Diet Coke ever (another unhealthy vice of mine; there's something classic about picturing unhealthy diet vices in Malibu...) at Paradise Cove, a restaurant where you not only can see the beach and the waves, but you have your feet directly in the sand.  Very pleasant on the evening of one of the hottest days of the year.

Last and far from least, some crême brûlée french toast with fresh strawberry sauce at Julienne, a quaint French-ish café in San Marino.  The inside of the bread barely has a bread texture, as it probably has been soaked in egg and cream for a tremendously long time, and the top has a small layer of torch-burnt sugar.  This was not as sweet as I was expecting, and the bread was a bit eggier than I prefer, but this was a unique breakfast with excellent sauces.  I would order it again to work out the secret of the bread texture - but then again, there are so many other things I want to try on the menu, and so much to browse in the attached store...

Fatty's Cafe

1627 Colorado Blvd.

Eagle Rock, CA  90041

323.254.8804

Babalu

1002 Montana Ave.

Santa Monica, CA  90403

310.395.25000

NBC Seafood Restaurant, Inc.

404 S. Atlantic Blvd.

Monterey Park, CA  91754

626.282.2323

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

28128 Pacific Coast Highway

Malibu, CA  90265

310.457.2503

Julienne

2649 Mission Street

San Marino, CA 91108

626.441.2290