RECIPE: Preserved Lemons

Winter can be so gray, sometimes it's nice to have something a little bright in the kitchen. Preserved lemons not only add a cheerful yellow, but they add brightness to the flavor of things like chicken, fish, and rice dishes. Preserved lemons are a trademark of North African, particularly Moroccan cuisine. They are salty and tangy and you can use them anywhere you might normally use lemons for a little extra zing. To do them properly, you will need a month or so to spare, so make sure you decide to make them before you get all impatient to eat them. Once they are ready, it is suggested that they be rinsed off prior to using as they are quite salty.


Making preserved lemons is quite easy, and there are recipes all over the internet for them. At it's most basic, all you need is lemons and salt. Let the lemons hang out in the salt and lemon juice for about a month and they are ready to go. My lemon recipe is from the book Well-Preserved. If you want to be more complex, you can add spices. The spice mix can be of your own devising, but there are also many suggestions and recipes on the internet. Since mine came from a book, I've taken the liberty of searching out some nice looking recipes that readers can try if they don't have a recipe of their own:

FoodGal's Meyer lemon recipe (Meyer lemons were the type of lemon suggested for use in the recipe I used. Meyer lemons are a bit more thin-skinned and also juicier. You can use regular lemons as well but you may need to use more to get the right amount of juice)

David Lebovitz's Moroccan lemons (This recipe gives some nice suggestions for spice combinations)

NEWS: Restaurant Week Jan. 2010

It's almost restaurant week! Being a non-wealthy resident of Los Angeles, restaurant week is one of my more favorite weeks. Restaurant week takes place over two weeks during the weeknights. This year it will be January 24-29 and Jan. 31 - Feb. 5. The purpose of restaurant week is to promote local restaurants and get people out and supporting their neighborhood businesses. The benefit to you is that you get to try the restaurants at a very favorable price. You will get a three-course lunch or dinner at a set price ranging from $16-$28 for lunch and from $26-44 for dinner. This is a great way to try restaurants that may be otherwise out of your price range or to try a new place that you haven't ventured to yet.

You can find the list of restaurants with their menus and pricing on the DineLA site. Let me make some personal recommendations of places that I think will provide a great value and an enjoyable experience:

Angeli Caffe: Angeli has been a favorite of mine since I first moved back to LA eight years ago. It's been a neighborhood favorite since the 1980s when it opened and I believe the simple, welcoming, family-like atmosphere will keep it in business for as long as Evan Kleinman cares to keep it open. The food is rustic, classic Italian. Nothing new or fancy, but just plain good food. The fact that employees stay there for years and years is testament to happy atmosphere of the place. It's a place where you always know what to expect foodwise and service-wise and it's like that old comfy sweater that you keep forever because you always feel good in it. Angeli will be serving both lunch and dinner for restaurant week. (L:$16/D:$26). The dinner menu hasn't been set yet, but the lunch menu appears below:

LUNCH:

Choice of Appetizers:

• Soup of the Day
 (All soups are vegan)
• Eggplant Croquettes (
A delicious fried tidbit of roast eggplant puree, parmesan, garlic, herbs)
• Insalata Forte
 (Salad of baby greens, fennel, Belgian endive with garlicky parmesan vinaigrette)

Choice of Entrees:

• Beet Ricotta Gnocchi with Melted Butter, Sage and Parmesan
• Butternut Squash Lasagne
• Rosemary Garlic Lemon Roast Chicken

Choice of Desserts:

• Tiramisu
• Chocolate Chunk Bread Pudding
• Seasonal Fruit Crumble

Cube Cafe & Marketplace: Cube is kind of a hidden gem, I think. Although it opened in 2006, I believe, it wasn't until last year's Restaurant Week that I finally tried this place. The food is Italian and they focus on different regions as they change the menu. The pasta is homemade and the ingredients are very fresh. The wine selection is very interesting, and I recall having a wine that was so wonderful, which was a rather obscure and hard to find bottle and I probably would never known it existed except for the person who chose it out for their menu. It is a small, cozy place and in contrast with other restaurants, I remember it being nice and quiet, which makes for a good date location (provided you want to talk to your date!). Cube is serving both lunch and dinner (lunch $22/dinner $34). Below you will find the dinner menu. Lunch is the same except the latter two entrees are exchanged for a truffle burger and roasted leg of lamb panino.

Dinner:

Choice of Appetizers:

- Spicy Tuscan Bean & Sausage Soup; Winter Greens, Tomatoes, Tuscan Olive Oil
- Maple Braised Bacon; Celery Root Puree, Cipollini Onions
- Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad; Satsumas, Toasted Hazelnuts, Pomegranates, Pecorino, Hazelnut Vinaigrette

Choice of Entrees:

- Cube Garden Greens & House Ricotta Ravioli; Braised Oxtail Ragu -or- San Marzano Tomato Sauce
- Balsamic Glazed Piedmontese Skirt Steak; Cauliflower & Sierra Gold Potato Gratin, Baby Broccoli
- Meyer Lemon & Herb-Roasted Half Chicken; Braised Brussels Sprouts, Farro

Choice of Desserts:

- Seasonal Fruit Cobbler Duo; Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
- Valrhona Chocolate and Butterscotch Pot de Creme Duo; Shortbread Cookie
- Torched Meyer Lemon Meringue Cake; Fresh Seasonal Berries

Eva: Eva is quite simply my new favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. The concept is one we're all quite familiar with right now. Dishes made with fresh, local, seasonal ingredients inspired by many different cultures, but with a distinctly California feel. These types of restaurants have sprung up all over the place in the last few years. But imagine such a place run by a Jewish mother trapped in the body of a charismatic and friendly male chef. You can never quite be sure that your meal is over at Eva until you walk out the door. Our first dinner there, the chef came running out as we were putting on our coats to leave and spoon fed us ravioli filling he was experimenting with. When a young girl in the restaurant got a bit cranky, he tracked down her favorite song from "Hey Gabba Gabba" and played it over the sound system. On our second meal, we had just finished dessert and were paying the bill when Chef Gold came around with a heaping plate of fried chicken for us to try, and then after that an egg cream (both of which will be on the Restaurant Week menu). He has that same special magic of a Jewish mom too, where you may be stuffed and full but then she presents you with just one more thing, and you somehow find room to eat it, because it is good. When I left Eva for the first time, I felt as if I had made a new friend and it's very rare that a restaurant can inspire that feeling. I highly recommend taking this opportunity to try it if you haven't yet. Eva is serving both lunch and dinner (L: $22/D: $34). The dinner menu is below:

Dinner:

Choice of Appetizers:

- Chestnut Agnolotti (Handmade agnolotti with italian chestnuts)
- Hamachi, Winter Fruit (Japanese yellowtail with winter fruit and seasonal components)
- Soup and Salad (For those who want simplicity, a potato soup and a romaine salad with caesar dressing)

Choice of Entrees:

- Beef Tenderloin, Salsa Verde, Roasted Cauliflower (Sous vide beef tenderloin. the cauliflower is roasted, bordelaise and salsa verde)
- Swordfish, Potato, Red Pepper, Caper Relish (Swordfish cooked over low heat, a caper relish, confit potato and pepper)
- Fried Chicken, Creamed Spinach, Crushed Potato (Eva's famous "fried chicken," creamed spinach and crushed potato)

Choice of Desserts

- Chocolate Decadence (A flour-less chocolate cake, creme fraiche, walnuts)
- Steamed Lemon Pudding (A steamed lemon pudding cake, with whipped honey and thyme)
- Egg Cream and Ruggalah (Mark's favorite childhood drink with some ruggalah to wash it down!!!)

Grace: Grace is a fine dining experience. It's a place that's on the more expensive end of the dining spectrum (although worth it) and a place I might not normally be able to try unless I saved up my dollars for a special occasion. Restaurant week has afforded me the opportunity to try it and to confirm that the place would be worth every penny for a return visit at regular prices. When I had dinner at Grace for restaurant week in 2008, the salmon I was served was without a doubt the best piece of salmon I have ever tasted. They did a good job of showcasing exactly what the restaurant is all about at a reasonable price. Grace is serving dinner only and it is $44 per person. There will also be some supplements you can add to the menu for a few extra dollars. The set menu is below:

Dinner:

Choice of Appetizers

- Kabocha Squash and Roasted Chestnut Soup
- Roasted Beet Salad (goat’s milk feta, greens, pistachios, goat cheese fondue)
- Grilled Monterey Bay Calamari (warm chickpeas, olives, charred tomatoes)

Choice of Entrees

- Sautéed Wild King Salmon (forbidden black rice, pecans, cranberry, watercress emulsion)
- Grilled Jidori Chicken (ricotta dumplings, chanterelle mushrooms, broccolini)
- Grilled Filet of Beef (farro, haricot verts, morcilla, ossau-iraty cheese, red wine sauce)

Choice of Desserts:

- Sticky Toffee Pudding (brûléed bananas, toffee sauce, hazelnut gelato)
- Bitter Caramel Panna Cotta (blood orange soup, cinnamon croutons, smoked sea salt)
- Milk Chocolate Mousse (tangerine sherbet, earl grey crème anglaise)

Jar: Jar is another one of my favorites. I must confess I've only eaten in the dining room once. Most of the time we just go and sit at the bar, where you can order off the regular menu and there's just a nice sense of cameraderie and the feeling you can be a bit more casual. The restaurant feels as if you've just stepped into an episode of "Mad Men." It has that retro design aesthetic of a 1960s swanky steakhouse. The vibe isn't stuffy, snobby or old-fashioned at all, however. The room is comfortable and cozy and the food is simple, mom-style classics executed masterfully. Suzanne Tracht just really knows how to cook meat, but as a person who eats meat only sparingly, I have to say that the fresh seasonal vegetables and salads are also very nicely done. Jar is serving dinner only at $44 per person. The menu is as follows, with wine recommendations:

Dinner:

Choice of Appetizers:

- Roasted Beet Salad (Roasted beets, arugula, roquefort, and balsamic vinaigrette)
* Cremant de Bourgogne, Simmonet Febcre, Brut Rose, NV, France $12

- Winter Apple Celery Salad (Watercress, arugula, apples, celery, Marcona almonds, shaved parmesan, lemon and olive oil)
* Sauvignon Blanc, Six Sigma, 2008 Lake County $12

- Soup of the Day

Choice of Entrees:

- Jar's Signature Pot Roast, carrots, caramelized onions served with a choice of mashed potatoes, French fries, or purple yam, and creamed spinach, pea tendrils, or braised beet greens
* Zinfandel, Dashe, 2007 Dry Creek $13

- Lemongrass Chicken, kaffir lime leaf served with a choice of mashed potatoes, French fries, or purple yam, and creamed spinach, pea tendrils, or braised beet greens
* Bordeaux Blanc, Chateau Ducasse, 2008 France $10

- Roasted Wild Alaskan Salmon, shallot lemon vinaigrette served with a choice of mashed potatoes, French fries, or purple yam, and creamed spinach, pea tendrils, or braised beet greens
* Pinot Noir, Carmel Road, 2007 Monterey $12

Choice of Desserts

- Jar's Signature Chocolate Pudding with creme fraiche
- Banana Cream Pie
- Selection of sorbets

RESTAURANT: What to Look Forward To in 2010

There are several new restaurants already in the works for next year. A couple of them I found to be of special interest:

Covell: Billy Heinzman and Katy Noochla-or are the masterminds behind several great Asian restaurants (Tuk Tuk Thai, Rambutan Thai). They had wanted to open a noodle house in Loz Feliz, but that didn't work out for logistical reasons, but that didn't work out so the reins have been handed over to a friend who will open a beer and wine bar featuring local beers and a wide selection of wines. Apparently food will be limited to cheese and charcuterie, but food trucks are welcome to hang out outside. (via Food GPS)

Greenspan's Grilled Cheese: Eric Greenspan of the Foundry will be opening a new, more casual place right next door that will be all grilled cheese, all the time. I guess his win in the Grilled Cheese Invitational got him thinking. His winning sandwich (short rib, Taleggio and apricot-caper purée) will be on the menu as "The Champ" along with other variations on the classic sandwich. The menu will also feature old-school soda fountain drinks, and comfort food like latkes, tater tots, and soups. (via L.A. Times)

Kogi the Restaurant: The famous Kogi Korean taco truck is now settling at a permanent location (although the trucks will still be rolling of course). The restaurant will in West L.A. on Overland and is planned to be a mom and pop diner focusing on rice bowls. The place is beign designed to feel like the small cheap place you pop into for a hearty meal with counter service and mix and match tableware. It's hopefully to open at the end of February. (via Food + Wine)

Little Spain: The farmer's market seems like it has just about everything already, but not so fast! It is missing something important - Spanish food! Little Spain is setting up to complement Mr. Marcel. It is described by the owner as a Spanish restaurant and market. They will specialize in traditional tapas, montaditos, and paella. They plan to open by March. It will be in the old Kokomo's space and there's a notice about an application for a beer and wine license, so it sounds pretty promising. (via Google and Blackburn & Sweetzer)

Loteria! Grill: Loteria Grill is opening a new location in Studio City. For all you Valley dwellers not in the know, Loteria Grill is a Mexican restaurant that features fresh, traditional Mexican food. It's a step above your basic taco stand, featuring fillings such as cochinita pibil (slow-roasted pork) and chicken mole poblano for its tacos and other options. The new Loteria location is opening at Laurel Canyon and Ventura. It was supposed to open in the fall, but now the forecast seems to be for spring, so the remodel and liquor license must be still in the works.

Melgard Public House: Also on Melrose (Melrose and Gardner if you couldn't tell by the name) is a new gastropub by the minds behind 3rd Stop on Third Street. The place is already ready to go, set to soft open this weekend. It will feature a selection of over 20 draft beers and casual pub food such as fish and chips, mac and cheese, burgers and pizza. Happy hour is promised to feature free pizza in addition to discounted beers. (via Haute Living)


Rustic Canyon/Huckleberry Ice Cream Parlor: Zoe Nathan and Josh Loeb of Rustic Canyon and Huckleberry will also be moving into a slot at the Brentwood Country Mart. The shop should be opening by the spring. Seems they may still be settling on the concept as the original article for the L.A. Times promises small batches of ice cream in simple flavors using the best ingredients (strawberry, chocolate) and a more recent article says they have hired Shiho Yashikawa of the Slanted Door to create exotic flavors for them. Either way is fine with me when it comes to ice cream. (via L.A. Times)

NEWS: Happenings Around Los Angeles

There are a bunch of events happening around Los Angeles soon:

Pinot Days: The First Annual Pinot Days Southern California engages all the senses with its offering of gourmet food and 400 incredible pinot noirs. More than 75 pinot producers will pour their wines at Pinot Days, including the newly-released 2007 vintage, which critics are calling pinot's best vintage in decades, and maybe ever. The three-day Los Angeles food and wine event includes two intimate winemaker dinners and the Grand Festival, a wine tasting event which gives wine lovers the opportunity to experience and enjoy some of the world's best pinot noir and interact directly with the gifted and passionate winemakers who produce them. Pinot Days Southern California begins January 15 and culminates on January 17 with the Grand Festival at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, CA. Event tickets can be purchased at www.pinotdays.com.

Pinot Days producer Lisa Rigisich said, "Los Angeles is a real food town and the innovative culinary scene in this city is the perfect complement to the depth, complexity and versatility of pinot noir. Like chefs, pinot producers are modern day artists with an intense passion for their craft. This dynamic lends itself well to Pinot Days because it allows food and wine lovers to learn about pinot by connecting to it with both their palate and through its producer."

San Antonio Wine Tasting:

San Antonio Winery, Southern California’s most awarded Winery, invites all wine lovers to join them at the “Wine 101: Introduction to Wine” Tasting and Food Pairing on January 24, 2010.

Among the wines to be sampled are:

· Louis Perdrier Rose Champagne
· Windbreak Chardonnay 2006, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey
· Maddalena Vineyard Reisling 2008, Monterey
· San Felice “Il Grigio” Chianti Classico Riserva 2005, Tuscany
· San Antonio “Heritage” Rhone Blend 2006, Paso Robles
· San Simeon Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Paso Robles
· Maddalena Vineyard Muscat Canelli 2008, Paso Robles

These fine wines will be served a puma goat cheese, orange and roasted eggplant salad with French vanilla glaze, basil oil and microgreens; broiled Miso Alaskan black cod on a potato and chive pancake with Miso glaze; roasted Ancho pepper crusted rack of lamb on roasted wild mushroom risotto with pinot noir coriander sauce; and for dessert, Island mango mousse with candied macadamia nuts and toasted coconut shavings.

For more information or reservations, please call (323) 330- 8771. The cost of the event is $55.00 per person.

WHEN: Sunday, January 24, 2010, 1-4p

WHERE: San Antonio Winery
737 Lamar Street in downtown Los Angeles

I've also got some shameless self-promotion (of a sort) to do. I recently got a new job (yay!) working at Goldstar Events. Goldstar offers discounted tickets to all kinds of local events (and in other major cities as well). There are several food and wine related events and you can get great deals on them. I get nothing extra for sending people to the site, I just have really come to appreciate in the time I have worked here because I have seen from behind the scenes what a nicely run business it is and the great customer service. Right now we have the following events that readers of this blog may be interested in:

Wine, Cheese, Chocolate and Live Music at the Evo South Rooftop Lounge Wine Pairing Event ($33 - normally $55)

Little Tokyo Food Tours from Six Taste ($33 - normally $55)

Take a Tasting Trip Around the World With Drink:Eat:Play's International Wine Tasting ($40 - normally $60)

Hands-on Baking at Kiss My Bundt Bakery ($30 - $32; normally $50 - $55)

Wine Tasting Classes at SB Lofts ($39.60 - normally $66)

You can see more food and drink related events here: Food and Social in Los Angeles

In addition to this news I have more "real" posts coming up, thanks for being patient with my sporadic attention to the blog.