8 oz Burger Bar

Chef Govind Armstrong has been a participant on Iron Chef and Top Chef Masters. Those accolades result in expectations for food quality and innovation. Unfortunately, 8oz Burger was a bit of a disappointment. Although the 8oz Burger was very good - it did not have any supporting cast members to help prop it up. The Sweet Potato Fries were so-so and the Fried Pickles lacked on flavor and texture. However, the biggest disappointment were the Mini Kobe Corn Dog appetizers - they came at the same time as the rest of the food and really tasted like plain mini corn dogs from the freezer section.

Not every restaurant needs to be amazing - its always good to know how good a place is - even it's a disappointment.

Real Food Daily

Real Food Daily is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant on Le Cienega in West Hollywood. Since I keep a "veggie 'till 6pm" lifestyle, I tend to try the veggie option in many restaurants or if I'm lucky a veggie restaurant. This time i hit the jackpot.

The restaurant's manager recommended his personal favorite - The Total Club (in a wrap) instead of the gluten-free sourdough bread. The wrap consists of seitan, tempah bacon, avocado, lettuce and tomato all wrapped up in a spinach wrap. It was delicious and very satisfying. All this was washed down with the Sweet Green juice (cucumber, celery, parsley, spinach and a 1/2 an apple).

In summary, it was damn healthy and damn satisfying.

The next day, we gave this place another spin. I never thought that you can make vegan nacho that can stand up to regular nachos. Nachos here are made with veggie black beans and cashew/jalapeño cheese - a delicious and probably a little healthier alternative to the real thing.

The Bazaar - Saam

The SLS Hotel is always an experience. If you've experienced Bazaar (see previous post) then you will definitely want to make the extra effort an try our Saam - known as the Bazaar Private Dinning Room. Saam is located behind Bar Centro in the Bazaar/SLS maze and would be hard to find if not escorted to by a Bazaar host. The menu consists of about 20 bite sized courses - all our special made for Saam or are small portions of Bazaar staples (e.g., liquid Mozzarella Balls). Jose Andres never ceases to amaze his patrons and Saam is just another example of his one of kind spectacular creations.

Our personal server and her team were one of the best I've ever had (on par with Per Se and French Laundry) and the experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity - I cant wait to go back!

Here's the list of items that we enjoyed:

1. Beet "Tumbleweed"

2. Olive Oil Bonbon

3. Bagel & Lox Steam Bun

4. Tuna Handroll 2009

5. Black Olive Ferran Adria

6. Jose's Combination

7. Boneless Coconut Thai Chicken Wing

8. Crispy Nigiri

9. Chipirones en su Tinta

10 Linguini and Clams

11. Japanese Baby Peaches

12. Hot & Cold Foie Soup with Corn

13. Norwegian Cigalas

14. Not Your Everyday Caprese

15. Kurobuta Pork Belly

16. Wagyu Pork Belly

17. Philly Cheesesteak

18. Dragon's Breath Popcorn

19. Rose Clementine

20. Lychee and Coffee

21. Sexy little Sweets

Providence

Providence in Los Angeles is 2009 two-star Michelin restaurant. From my experience, the two-star rating may not be noticeable in the food but it certainly is in the restaurants staff. The waiters are all very attentive and the front of the house was kind and very helpful.

We started it off with a little sampler from the kitchen. It included a trout concoction in a shot glass with these little crispy round balls, and wasabi marshmallow. Sounds interesting, but it was so scrumptious (and NOT fishy at all).

After that point, all our remaining items had black spring truffle incorporated into the dish. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy truffles but it seemed to be over used in these dishes and it took away from the mystic and allure of truffles. The Fois Gras Saute with rhubarb, pink grapefruit, and arugula was good but a little oily. Also, the Italian black spring truffles over risotto was good but a little too rich and creamy.

Although we did not order desert, our server brought over a few little sweet samples – the chocolate marshmallow was the most memorable and one I would seek out again.

Outstanding in the Field - Devils Gulch Ranch

Two days after experiencing Staffan Terje at Perbacco, we had the opportunity to experience his cooking at Outstanding in the Field at Devils Gulch Ranch in Nicasio, CA (Marin County). Treje is a returning chef to Outstanding and he knows his way around an outdoor temporary kitchen. For this meal, he has been able to find diverse and bucolic heirloom fruits and vegetables, heritage breed livestock, biodynamic wine, artisan cheeses, and local honey.

Before the meal even started, Chef Terje was gracious enough to let us help in the preparation of the meal. We did some of the basic activities such as slicing strawberries, using a sharp madonline to cut paper thin French radishes and hand shredding rabbit confit. We also were able to share a beer with the Perbacco Team (Carl and Jimmy) and learn about their passion for truly outstanding food.

Our meal was extraordinary! Here’s the breakdown:

We stared with the three different appetizers; the first was a crushed fresh pea with mint and Ricotta. The other two were with two spreadable salumi from Devil’s Gulch, both made from the farm’s hogs. Appetizers were served with a Pey Marin Riesling which complemented the appetizers.

Next came an amazing confit of rabbit from Devil’s Gulch (the same one we hand shred earlier in the afternoon) and grilled asparagus. Afterward, we had a truly amazing ricotta gnocchi (very similar to the one we had two nights earlier at Perbacco but slightly different). The gnocchi was beautifully light and airy; it was complemented with romps and wild mushrooms and paired with a Pey Marin 2007 Pinot Noir. The main course was slow-roasted pork from the Devil’s Gulch farm, served with artichokes and spring onion with olive-oil crushed potatoes.

The entire meal was phenomenal – great food, made of fresh ingredients and enjoyed in the field – it was indeed an outstanding in the field experience.

Perbacco

Perbacco is located in downtown urban SF and is adjacent to it’s sister restaurant Barbacco. The restaurant boasts a brick wall original to the historic building which it currently occupies. Perbacco co-owner and chef, Staffan Terje is Swedish but his focus on Italian cuisine has proven that you don’t need to be from Italy to make and serve sensational Italian food.

Chef Terje is known for the quality of his pastas, and rightly so. The ravioli filed ricotta and spinach with a farm egg , truffle butter, morels and fava beans is rich and delicious - especially when you realize that the egg yolk is flowing out of the ravioli as you take your first bite. My two favorite dishes are the Truffle-herb ricotta gnocchi with wild mushroom sugo and Tagliatelle served with a pork sugo and porcini mushrooms. Both were outstanding and were served as part of their Tris option where a tasting of three pastas is shared by the whole table.

Northstar Cafe

Northstar Cafe is located in the Short North district of Columbus Ohio. Northstar is a casual cafe which serves a few fabulous vegetarian and vegan options. The Buddha Bowl includes Pan seared organic tofu, long-grain organic brown rice with peanut sauce and bright veggies (broccoli and cabbage). The buddha bowl is a must-have for any vegan or vegetarian

Mesa Grill

Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill is located in Ceaser Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. Las Vegas has only in the last decade become a hotbed for foodies.Mesa Grill is known for their long margarita selection and southwestern flavors. Since we arrived at brunch time our menu had a large selection of brunch items. We started with the Pulled Tuna nachos. The Tuna was fresh and mixed in a chili based sauce the extracted great texture and flavors. For our main courses, we got the Egg Tostada and Ranchero dishes. Both hit the spot and were also accented with various chili-based sauces.

Levain Bakery

This place is another Throwdown notable. Although, I’ve heard the cookies are a highlight, I was a little worried about paying $4 for a single cookie. Once I tried the oatmeal raisin cookie, I realized that I probably would be willing to pay $5 or $6 or even $7 for these gooey on the inside crunchy on the outside masterpieces. As impressed as I was with the oatmeal raisin cookies I was somewhat disappointed with the chocolate walnut cookies, those flavors just didn’t mix too good with this type of cookie.

Needless to say, two days later, I was back for another round of cookies. I gave another try to the chocolate walnut (same results) but also tried a Binniono, which is a baked doughnut with a seedless raspberry filling. Very good with none of the oil and grease you get from a regular doughnut.

Per Se

Thomas Keller’s Per Se is located in Columbia Square in New York City. The restaurant is considered to be the sister restaurant of French Laundry in Yountville, CA. Although The French Laundry is the more known then Per Se, Per Se is ranked slightly higher (#10) on the Best Restaurants in the World.

The restaurants have similar formats, a Chef or Vegetable Tasting Menu of 10-12 items (with a few extras that are never on the menu). A little known fact about these two restaurants is their kitchen’s a linked via closed caption satellite video. In each kitchen there is a 60+ inch TV on the wall that gives a peak into the other restaurant’s kitchen (only video, no sounds can be exchanged). This gives both kitchens a subconscious obligation to always maintain professional and high-class environment.

Since both the Chef and Vegetable menus were sampled in this meal, I’ll highlight a few of our selections below. Each tasting menu started with a paper-thin cone (one filled with crushed peas, the second with a salmon tartar. These cones packed umami in each bite – a fantastic starter to our meal. The "Oysters And Pearls" "sabayon" of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters and sterling white sturgeon caviar is another notable selection worth mentioning (one of my favorites). Each bite was creamy, smooth and full of flavor. The desert courses were decadent. The homemade Pineapple Sorbet lime macarons, compressed golden pineapple, papaya and persian lime salt was phenomenal and a great end to an outstanding meal.

The Abraco Cortado

Abraco is a coffeehouse that is the size of a postal stamp in the downtown Manhattan. You won’t find Venti - soy - half caffeinated - 3 pump – lattes here. Abreco has a limited menu of easy and no-nonse whole milk and non-flavored drinks. I had the Cortado (a small cappuccino), served in a simple glass cup. The Cortado had a smooth velvety texture that had a nutty and berry taste. The foam was perfectly frothed and temperature was just right. Bottom line… If you are ever in NYC and you drink coffee – you need to go to Abraco.

Clinton Street Baking Company

Bobby flay should not have beaten these guys on Throwdown. Let me explain….

After waiting for 30 minutes and seeing the crowd outside keep growing and growing, we got a nice spot at the back of the restaurant and sat in for our breakfast journey. The Blueberry pancakes were one of the best I’ve had (yep, better than Norma’s). The special addition to these pancakes is the maple butter, which we got extra to smother our pancakes. I kept wondering throughout the meal how to combine butter and maple into this velvety texture, too bad it’s a Clinton Street’s secret recipe.

The rest of the menu at Clinton Street looked good so we also tried the farmer’s plate (solid egg dish) and a couple of biscuits. The biscuits came with homemade raspberry jam which we devoured… I need to see if that recipe is available because I would love to remake it at home.

The Harrison

Before making a reservation at Amanda Freitag’s restaurant, I read a few reviews on yelp and open table. They had mostly good reviews (especially for the duck fat fries) but also a few negative comments about the service. I wondered if my experience would be similar….

First, we arrived to the restaurant 30 minutes late and were the last seating for the night. The host was nice and courteous (never tried to rush us or mention anything about the kitchen closing) and the server was both informative about the food and had some good food and drink recommendations. Those folks with bad service must have just been bad customers…

Here’s the breakdown of our meal:

Two Appetizers:

Beet Salad: A superb salad, crunchy raw beets with a robiolina cheese base topped with pistachios

Avocado and Ruby Red Grapefruit Salad: Good but not great – although the avocado portion was generous

Two Entrees:

Olive Oil Hake: The fish was cooked very well and the texture was good but the taste was underwhelming – the sides of braised leaks and sunchokes confused my taste buds

Braised Cabbage and Roast Sunchokes with Sweet Potato Puree: I wonder if people that are not vegetarians ever consider trying this dish – they should! The sweetness of the puree was balanced with the savory taste of the braised cabbage and toasted barely

Bonus:

The Duck Fat fries were a great compliment to our meal – very crunchy on the outside and a good texture on the inside. The fries were accompanied by an malt cider vinegar aioli which made the fries the star of the night.

森本 正治 (Morimoto)

Morimoto New York City is located in the located in the meat packing district of Manhattan. The outside of the restaurant gave me the feeling that I'm about to enter a Japanese rave but instead, I entered the world of Morimoto where the food is exquisite and service is amazing. The 8 course chef tasting menu ($120) included the following:

1. Toro tartare

2. Morimoto Sashimi with garlic and scallion oil

3. Japanese Seared Kanpachi

4. Market Oyster Steamer

5. Morimoto Nigiri Sushi

6. Intermezzo

7. Half Main Lobster / Flash Grilled Wagyu Strip

8. Chocolate Tart

Out of these dishes, the top dish was the Kanpachi which was accented with soy foam (yum) and the Wagyu part of the main course. The meat was just delicious.

The least favorite items were the Oyster Steamer (too fishy) and the Intermezoo House Made Ginger Ale (too acidic).

Stumptown @ The Ace Hotel

Hmmm.... the stumptown coffee shop in NYC is located inside the Ace Hotel. The Barista's are knowledgeable about the coffees they serve and the pastries that are magnificent. I had my usual skinny cappuccino with a smooth berry aftertaste and sampled the beet cupcake with a generous portion of cream cheese frosting topped with roasted hazelnuts.

This post-work delight was devoured at the Ace lobby lounge, where bar drinks and laptop carrying professionals mingle and enjoy their evenings in NYC.

checkout both locations:

Ace Hotel: http://www.acehotel.com/newyork

Stumptown: http://www.stumptowncoffee.com/locations/nyc-ace

Norma's Palm Spring

I always enjoy the atmosphere of the retro-chic of the Parker Palm Spring. from the shaggy carpets to the hammocks on the lawn in the back, it's always a great experience. Inside the Parker, you will be blown away by the food at Norma's. The decadent Potato Pancakes (a James Beard Award recipe) come aside a carrot sauce and apple cranberry relish - they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside... not your grandma's latkas!

Two other dishes are worth mentioning... 1. The blueberry pancakes have both berries inside the pancake and a generous amount of blueberry sauce on top. I think the Crème fraiche make the difference in this dish. 2. Huevo Rancheros had just the right amount of heat to richness ratio.

Bottom line, all plates at Norma's were polished clean.

The French Laundry

The French Laundry is the holy grail of American fine dining. Many foodies have their person list of “things to do before I die”. Reservations are accepted 60 calendar days in advance and can be made starting at 10am. Just as you suspected , you most likely will get a busy signals (who get’s busy signals these days?). We’ll you do when you call the FL (along with everyone else). Enough about the reservation process and mystique surrounding the restaurant, let’s talk about the food…

The French Laundry offers a vegetable tasting or chef tasting menus. There are 13 courses in this meal. All are so delicious that going into details of each dish will make you not want to eat anywhere else so instead I will highlight 2 dishes, The Ceaser Salad and The Foie Gras.

The Ceaser Salad:

Sweet Butter-Poached Maine Lobster Tail, Carmelized Romaine Lettuce, Garlic Melba and "Bottarga di Muggine" (which means salted sun-dried Red Mullet Roe that was shaved on top and used instead of anchovies)

The Foie Gras:

The smooth fois gras was garnished with Green Apple Relish, Chestnuts, Celery Branch and Apple Cider Reduction. It was served with Bouchon Bakery Brioche and 3 salts: Pre-Historic salt from Montana (40,000,000 million years old!), Pacific Sea Salt from the Philippines, and Grey Sea Salt from France.

After eating 13 courses (x of which are deserts) and not to mention drinking great wine – you will be in foodie heaven. When you leave, you are sent away with a few “souvenirs”, outstanding tea biscuits, some homemade truffles and a few small chocolate bars. Note to self: The chocolate bars are the best chocolate bars that I have ever had!

The French Laundry is a culinary experience that is a must for anyone who wants to enjoy a great meal and eat food that has been elegantly prepared and served with class.

Thank you Thomas Keller for this wonderful experience!

The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel

This isn’t your ordinary hotel nor is it your ordinary hotel restaurant. The hotel lobby is adorned with full size horse statues with heads substituted for lamps and 16th century picture frame portraits of a military leader that gradually transform into baboon a portrait. At the Bazaar, this creativity is applied to food. The salmon roe cones are delicate and delightful – the cone just softly crunches in your mouth. This tapas restaurant also enjoys making well known food items a little bit more unique and mysterious. The Cherry tomatoes, liquid mozzarella dish is delicious and elegant. Wonderful in a top notch restaurant elegant gourmet sort of way. Peeled cherry tomatoes echoed the same texture as the liquid burrata blobs, and both burst with flavor.

And my favorite dish, the cotton candy wrapped foie gras is a combination of sweet and savory that teases your taste buds. After trying 8-10 dishes, you are escorted to another part of the restaurant where you are offered desert. Hmmm… I have never been to a restaurant that gives you two seats for dinner. The deserts were sweet and tasty and are made fresh (of course).

The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in Hollywood is indeed a treat for the palate as it is for the eyes. Once you've tried both, you’ll want to come back for more.

Cakebread Winery

The Cakebread Winery is one of the very few wineries in Napa/Sonoma that offer a cooking class. Cakebread offers 6-8 different hands-on cooking class during the year, classes have no more than 15 students.

The Cassoulet class was our class of choice for this cold and rainy Saturday morning. Many of you may wonder what a Cassoulet is. Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked bean stew or casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat (typically pork sausages, pork, goose, duck and sometimes mutton), pork skin (couennes) and white haricot beans. The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides.

Cakebread’s Cassoulet deserves high marks; it is made with Liberty Duck’s pecking legs and high quality pork sausages, and beans. The dish was complemented with the winery’s Syrah wine which made this meal outstanding!