(or, I am a very bad Jew). LA update to come shortly. In the meantime, be sure to check out Time Out New York's 100 Best Things to Eat and Drink, two of which were written by yours truly: Chicharrones from Flying Pigs Farm & Wontons with Hot Sauce from White Bear (both conveniently located in the pork section).
Author: Laren
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I’m Driving in My Car . . .
. . . I turn on the radio. Yes, I am still capable of driving with the radio on. After all that anxiety, I will admit, I'm really enjoying tooling around L.A. in my Ford Focus hybrid. It's a zippy little number with a sunroof and pretty good pickup, it handles well, and my GPS is my new best friend. For the most part. It has kept me off of the freeways so far, but it did take me on the absolutely most ridiculous roundabout route from WeHo (as the locals call it, apparently) to Venice — through the damn airport. Insanity. I've now taken to checking Google maps before hitting the road. That said, it did lead me to this gem along the way:
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Walking in L.A.
As you read this I'm already on a plane to L.A. Freaking out a bit about the whole car culture thing, as I'm a huge walker, but I think it's more anxiety about driving in a city I don't know or understand at all than the acutal driving — every time I get behind a wheel of a car (which isn't all that often), I love it. Looking forward to seeing L.A. friends and family!!
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LES* Noshing Walk
A few weeks back, I went on a self-guided noshing walk around the Lower East Side and Chinatown; I highly recommend it as a way to spend a sunny Sunday. I followed it up with a ridiculously long walk — hope that helped to counterbalance the caloric intake.Heebster at Russ & Daughters (I only ate half)
Full sour pickle at The Pickle Guys
Jam filled square doughnut at Doughnut Plant
Optional stop at Kossar's Bialys (for breakfast later in the week)
Wave hello to Mark at Pizza a Casa
Tastes at the Hester Street Fair: Sigmund Pretzel Shop cheddar and truffle pretzel, Guerrilla Ice Cream's Peking Duck ice cream
Spicy pork jerky from Malaysian Beef Jerky
If you can handle more, there are other good stops, but I was definitely done by then (I didn't even get any jerky, actually). Eat and enjoy!
*Both the Lower East Side and my initials!
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Booze You Can Use: Leblon at Lani Kai
Often I am invited to attend events that don't completely mesh into something I can write about for my current freelance columns, but which are great for gathering information, getting pitch ideas, increasing my knowledge, and making contacts. I'm going to do my best to write about them here instead. I figure that between those of you who read my blog, plus 800+ of you on Facebook and 1200+ of you on Twitter who see my blog posts via feeds, at least someone will be reading them!
Last week I went to a Leblon event held at the soon-to-be opened Lani Kai in SoHo. Lani Kai, Julie Reiner's newest project, is a tribute to a beach in Hawaii, with modern tropical decor and menus that reflect flavors of the region (More about all this from Julie in the not-too-distant future is in the works). The food, by chef Craig Rivard, was fantastic, starting with an ahi poke (something I haven't had since my trip to Hawaii a few years back), a pork bun slider with "Lani Kai secret sauce," a fried whole red snapper with a selection of dipping sauces, and steak served with bibb lettuce, bean sprouts, friend shallots, fried purple potatoes, hoisin, and ginger scallion sauce, made to be wrapped.
snapper!The cocktails served that night were all made with Leblon cachaça. Many people don't know much about cachaça beyond the caipirinha — Brazil's national cocktail — but this spriit, distilled from sugar cane juice, and in Leblon's case, aged in XO cognac casks, has a delicate, somewhat floral flavor that plays well with others. Joe Swifka, who I first met when he worked at Elettaria (RIP), is running the bar at Lani Kai. Joe has a flair for tropical flavor and is one of the nicest guys around. I'm quite excited to see what he has in store there. He created a Leblon cocktail that was served with the ahi poke and will be listed on the opening menu.
The Tides
2 oz. Leblon cachaça
1 oz. Falernum
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
3/4 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
1/4 oz. cane syrup
2 dashes Peychaud bittersShake with ice and strain over fresh ice in a collins glass. Garnish with a lime and grapefruit twist.
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The Beauty of Butter
"One of the many reasons that restaurant food often tastes better than the stuff we make at home is that restaurant cooks do not know your cardiologist and have no real interest in your long-term enjoyment of life. They cook for this moment and for the fleeting feeling of delicious transcendence they can offer a diner. Next time, you can use less. This first time, add all four tablespoons." – Sam Sifton, on his Malfatti a Maialino recipe.
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Treasure
Happiness is having friends who have known you for so many years that they sometimes know you better than you know yourself.
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So Much Inspiration, So Little Time
This month's Bon Appetit was chock full of delicious sounding recipes! I'm going to have to start hosting dinner parties on weekdays too; will just make them very simple, with advance preparation. Helloooo, autumn!
– Horseradish-glased brisket and short ribs with root vegetable mash
