Two weeks ago, I finally made it out to Los Angeles to visit my friend, former roommate, and fellow food enthusiast, Anastasia, who led me on an excellent culinary tour of some of LA's best eateries.
On my first night in town, Stash took me to Little Dom's in Los Feliz, one of her favorite neighborhood spots. I had two glasses of Verdicchio from their cute wine list (it's divided into three sections: "tried and true," "your new best friend," and "go out on a limb"), some particularly memorable fried rice balls filled with melted mozzarella cheese, and a big bowl of spicy cappellini with oven roasted tomatoes and crushed red pepper. A low-key and reasonably priced Italian dinner at Little Dom's was the perfect antidote to the weariness brought on by a long and frustrating day of air travel.
In my opinion, no trip to the west coast would be complete without a big plate of tacos, so for lunch on Sunday, Stash brought me to Cacao Mexicatessen in Eagle Rock. It was a gorgeous day and we were lucky to snag two seats on their patio where we snacked on warm homemade tortilla chips and salsa as our tacos were prepared. We each had three of their delicious soft tacos: carnitas (shredded pork shoulder), carne asada (grilled steak), and corn truffle for me, and carnitas, calabacitas (zucchini, corn, and cotija cheese), and tiger shrimp in citrus-chipotle-garlic sauce. I would like to eat some more of their tacos right now!
Stash's lovely parents invited us over for a family dinner at their house on Sunday night where her mom, Christina, made one of my favorite indulgences of all time: a puff-pastry wrapped baked brie. We went over to their house extra-early so I could watch how she makes it. First, she thaws two sheets of frozen puff pastry, then she coats a wheel of brie (tied with camembert for my favorite cheese) with an entire round of garlic and herb boursin (another one of my favorites). The boursin-slathered brie then gets wrapped up, not once, but twice, in a sheet of buttery puff pastry before heading into the oven for 35-40 minutes. The resulting oozing brie is perfect with sliced baguette and crisp raisin flat breads.
On Monday, Stash brought me to Wurstküche, a Belgian sausage and fries place downtown. They offer approximately 2 dozen homemade sausage varieties, ranging from "classics," like spicy Italian, "gourmet" like mango jalapeno, and "exotics" like alligator, pork and andouille sausage, all served on fresh-baked rolls with your choice of caramelized onions, sauerkraut, and sweet or spicy peppers. I was not feeling particularly adventurous and selected a bratwurst with caramelized onions. I enjoyed it very much, but the real highlight of our lunch was the large order of double-dipped fries with a white truffle oil glaze. They were hands-down the best fries I have ever had. Ever! And I've had a LOT of fries.
This very rich lunch was followed by a very rich dinner at Lucques, a French-American restaurant on Melrose Avenue (not to be confused with Melrose Place) in West Hollywood. The restaurant's head chef, Suzzanne Goin, was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's top new chefs in 1999, and Lucques was awarded first place on LA Magazine's top 75 restaurants in 2008. To start, Stash and I shared a wild mushroom lasagna with butternut squash, asiago cheese, and wilted kale. As we finished this decadent lasagna, we realized we were sitting next to several members of the cast of "Dallas," including Larry Hagman and Linda Gray. My first official LA celebrity sightings! (Not quite as exciting as Julia Roberts or George Clooney, but still cool.) I went on to order braised beef short ribs with sauteed greens, cippolini onions, and horseradish cream - excellent; Stash had slow-roasted lamb sirloin with parsnip puree, and balsamic-glazed Brussels sprouts. We finished our meal with a stand-out vanilla panna cotta.
I spent my last full day in Los Angeles hanging out on the Paramount lot in Hollywood, before rejoining Stash's family for cheese enchiladas and very strong margaritas at La Cabañita in Glendale - just the right ending to my much too short trip.
60+ degree weather in February, delicious Mexican food around every corner, and being within a 10-mile radius of some of my favorite people (not including Larry Hagman) - enough to make a life-long New Yorker seriously reconsider my east-coast-superiority complex.
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