What have you been cooking this summer? I’d love to hear what you have been up to in your kitchens in the comments below!
I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately, testing recipes and enjoying all the beautiful summer produce from the CSA I share with my friend, and from the farm stands at my vacation spot. I should have some recipes to satisfy your corn and even zucchini cravings (can you really crave zucchini?) in the next two posts!
In the meanwhile, I thought in honor of my daughter returning home to the nest after her long stay in Los Angeles, I should post L.A. Story Part Two this week to show you how I finished out my time in the City of Angels. If you missed it, you can read L.A. Story Part One by clicking here.
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I ventured out solo on my third day in L.A. as my daughter had an activity with her school program. As it was a Saturday, I headed out to Santa Monica bright and early to see the sites. First up, was a visit to the famous Farmers’ Market. I arrived promptly at 8:30 am when it opened and had finished viewing all the booths by 9:00 if not earlier. I have to say, I was imagining something much, much bigger but nonetheless, it was very fun to chat with some vendors and see some of California’s beautiful produce.
I had to take this picture as it was the first booth at the top of the market. Valerie had some gorgeous sweets and jams and Valerie’s husband told me it was their last time at the market as they are focusing on their retail locations and other business…
Squash is all shapes and sizes. Love the green pattypans in the back of the photo…
Look at these gorgeous artichokes! I wish I could have purchased some to bring home and cook up straight away. A tip – when purchasing artichokes, their tops should be tight and closed like those in the picture. If the leaves are pulling away or the top of the artichoke has started to open up, then it is past its prime…
And I had to get a shot of these flowering artichokes. They would make a beautiful centerpiece…
Lavender…
Lotsa tomatoes!
When I finished up, I strolled along the Third Street Promenade which is studded with retail stores. Later in the day, there was live entertainment of all kinds similar to Faneuil Hall in Boston. I grabbed a coffee and made my way towards the water and Santa Monica’s famous pier…
There is an amusement park on the pier that looked like fun…
A look back at the beautiful coastline. Ah, California…
After walking back from the pier, I didn’t have an action plan (because I thought I would be talking to more vendors at the farmers market) and it was only 10:00! I had a lot of hours to burn so I went onto Twitter to see if I could figure out where Roy Choy’s famous Kogi BBQ food truck might be parking itself for lunch. I lucked out and saw that it was coming to Venice at Noon, only a few miles away. I debated walking because I had the time, but I happened to be standing near a Blue Bus stop and one suddenly appeared. I asked the driver if he went to Venice and a few minutes and $1 later, he was kindly pointing out where to get off and how to get back on when I was done.
After shopping around funky Venice for a bit, I found the truck and the line had already started to form…
I could tell the young man in front of me was a regular from the way he was chatting with his two friends who were clearly newbies like me. I asked him what he would suggest ordering and he said hands down to order a short rib taco as a component of my lunch. He told me the tacos were not big and there was a 3 taco combo so that’s what I decided to get.
One short rib, one spicy pork and one chicken taco served as my lunch. Loaded with veggies and some hot sauce, these tacos were completely worth the wait. Everyone got their food and sat around wherever they could find a spot. It was very California chill, I have to say. The corn tacos were warm and generously filled with meat, fresh and crunchy vegetables and some hot sauce. They were so delicious but if I had to order again, I would choose only short rib tacos as that one was my favorite. If you are in L.A., be sure to check out one of Roy’s food trucks! Roy also has a taco stand in Terminal 4 at LAX (not the one I flew out of sadly).
I reunited with my daughter for dinner in the evening. We went back to Santa Monica Canyon to dine at Giorgio Baldi, a restaurant that has been on my list since a college friend told me about it several years ago. It is also on Gwyneth Paltrow’s list of places to go in L.A., so, there’s that if you care. It is a small, intimate restaurant with exquisite Italian food and service. However, you are elbow to elbow with your neighbor and the lighting is dim so we quickly decided to forego photographing our food for once!
I will tell you that everything about the evening was wonderful. Our waiter was seasoned and not particularly chatty but was completely attentive. We chose straightforward salads to begin our meal. For dinner, my daughter chose Stracetti al Basilico which was a simple dish of homemade square pasta topped with a marinara sauce and some fresh basil. I ordered Panzerotti, crepes filled with ricotta and spinach and finished with fresh porcini mushrooms and a marinara sauce. I loved this restaurant and would highly recommend it. Its combination of chic-California casual, delicious food and wonderful service made it the most memorable dinner of my trip.
On my last full day in L.A., my daughter and I went to brunch and then did a bunch of errands which finally included a visit to her apartment to meet her roommates!
We enjoyed brunch at Kitchen 24 in West Hollywood. There are two locations of this fun and festive restaurant where you can order anything at any time during the day. You name it, they have it. First, let’s take a quick glance at two pieces of the decor that caught my attention. First, this whimsical light fixture adorned with cutlery. There were a few of these throughout the restaurant in different shapes and sizes. So fun…
And then who could resist these barstools in not one, but two shades of pink with contrast welting?
My daughter hasn’t met an artichoke spinach dip she doesn’t love and this one did not disappoint either of us. Our only comment was that the blue corn tortilla chips that were served with the dip that we think were made in house were a little too salty…
My daughter’s made to order omelet came studded with lots of fresh veggies and topped with some fresh avocado…
Hash browns…
And my omelet from the menu, The Jolly Green Giant, had broccoli, bacon, chicken sausage, tomatoes and cheddar. We were completely stuffed! I wouldn’t say it was the best brunch we had ever experienced in our life, but it was a very fun restaurant and I would go back…
After brunch, we did a run to CVS and Whole Foods where you better bring a bag or be willing to carry your purchases (bags are discouraged but if you absolutely need one, it costs 10 cents pending approval of a proposed state-wide ban on plastic bags). We then headed back to my daughter’s apartment so she could show me around and introduce me to her roomies, one of whom joined us for dinner that night at Fig & Olive on Melrose Place.
Fig & Olive is an upscale restaurant with 4 locations in New York, 2 in California, and 1 each in D.C. and Chicago. The Melrose location was beautiful, spacious and airy with almost an atrium feeling. It was quiet, but reasonably busy for a Sunday evening…
The menu at Fig & Olive is inspired by the cuisine of the Riviera and coastal regions of the south of France, Italy and Spain. We started our meal with an olive oil sampling. Our server explained we had 3 options, a Chilean oil that was sweet, a Spanish oil that was grassy and an Italian oil that was spicy. This was fun as my dinner group had just done an olive oil tasting at our last meeting! The three of us decided we liked the Italian oil the best…
We ordered some olives to share…
The menu includes extensive “tapas” as I would call it, appetizers, salads, pastas and entrees. From the crostini section of the menu, we ordered 5 varieties to share including burrata, tomato, pesto and balsamic; pea, asparagus and ricotta; proscuitto, ricotta, fig, olive and walnut; and, carrot tapenade, charmoula and heirloom carrots, which inspired my recipe for Roasted Carrot Tapenade. The burrata, carrot and proscuitto crostini were our favorites…
For dinner, I ordered a Chilean Sea Bass served with a celery root puree, vegetables and a charmoula sauce. Light and delicious…
My daughter ordered a Truffle Risotto that she thought was ok…
And her roomie ordered the Provence Roasted Chicken that she really enjoyed, but was way too much to finish in one sitting! Service was very good and I would love to go back and sample more of the tapas menu…
So, there you have it Kitchen Scout readers! Between L.A. Story Part One and now Part Two, I hope you have a few new places to put on your list should you find yourself in Los Angeles at some point in the future.
And just for fun, I am including this picture. I purchased some berries at Whole Foods so I had something healthy to eat while I made my way home. I forgot to get cutlery, but had these chopsticks from the food we brought home from Katsuya. Hey, they worked! I can just imagine what the people around me were thinking as I was snapping pictures…
See you next week!
One Year Ago: Tomato, Feta & Preserved Lemon Salad