Window of Happiness: Omado no Pan

I had never heard of French toast until I was well into my adolescent. Besides, the standard breakfast at our house consisted of a bowl of rice and miso soup, accompanied by a piece of grilled fish or an egg, so the idea of eating something sweet like the French toast with a drizzle of maple syrup sounded bizarre to me. I always wondered why my American friends were not getting in trouble with their parents for eating dessert before breakfast.

My first encounter with grilled cheese came later in life too. I think I was first introduced to it at Bob’s Big Boy as part of a 1:00 a.m. hangover remedy (aka the rite of passage for all young adults).

But there was something that my mother used to make for me and my sister growing up in Japan that resembled a combination of French toast and grilled cheese that she called, “omado no pan,” which translates to a “bread with window.” She made it for us on weekends and special occasions, and whenever she served up the grilled sandwich with savory egg custard and ooey gooey yellow American cheese in the middle for breakfast, I knew I had a wonderful day ahead of me.

Here is the recipe of my mother’s “Window Bread” with a little bit of my own twist. I hope you would take the recipe for a spin on a weekend with your family — just like we did in our small but fun-filled house in Japan

Omado no Pan (“Bread with Window”)
Serves one

Two pieces of white bread
1 large egg
1-1/2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped Parmesan Riggiano (my mother uses American cheese but those artificial ones scare me so I substitute it with Parmesan)
Olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Ketchup and Tabasco to taste

① Beat the egg, milk, garlic, and mustard together in a small bowl and set aside.

② Cut out the center of each bread with a knife. I like to cut it as close to the edge as possible so that I can pour in as much of the egg custard and cheese as possible! I used the white bread I pick up at a Japanese supermarket here (they are a little thicker than the usual bread) but any bread of your choice will do.

③ Put the pan with olive oil in medium low heat and place the hollow bread on the pan.

④ Pour half of the egg custard in the cavity of the bread. Don’t worry if the custard spills outside of the cavity. You can always squeeze it back in once it’s cooked.

⑤ Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top of the egg custard. I liked to chop mine instead of grate it in so that I can really taste the chunk of cheese when cooked.

⑥ Before the egg custard fully cooks and cheese completely melts, put the middle piece back on the bread (shutting the “window,” so to speak).  Brush the olive oil on the other surface and flip. Cook until the surface is nice and golden brown.

⑦ Repeat for the second piece. If you have a pan big enough, you can cook two at the same time. I just didn’t happen to have one handy.

⑧ Sprinkle the chopped parsley and enjoy with a little ketchup and Tabasco sauce!

Pizza LA Style: Pizzeria Mozza

Pizzeria Mozza, a love child of Mario Batali and La Brea Bakery’s Nancy Silverton and a more casual cousin of Osteria Mozza, makes me realize how lucky I am to be living in Los Angeles where a restaurant of this caliber is just right around the corner, even if I have to wait a few hours to get a table (which is precisely what my sister and I did after we lost our reservation for walking in 10 minutes late … but I know, it was our fault ).

One bite of white anchovy, tomato and hot chilies on a bed of perfectly chewy and crispy pizza dough and you will forget all the troubles at the office, terrible LA traffic or any unsolved issues that have kept you up at night. Wash it down with a nice bottle of red and your mood, as well as your taste bud, will fly over to a blissful elation — where nothing negative exists. Okay, maybe I’m over-exaggerating slightly, but really, the dining experience at Pizzeria Mozza is as close as euphoric and intoxicating as it gets.  It is so amazing, you will never see pizza the same way again!

Arancini alla bolognese, cute little “orange” balls deep fried and served with delicious meat sauce

Nancys chopped salad, with a perfect combination of crunchy, salty and vinegary!

White anchovy, tomato & hot chiles pizza … so good, I almost cried after one bite

Egg, guanciale, radicchio, escarole & bagna cauda, for my sister

Squash blossoms, tomato & burrata pizza

Three Gelati: Greek yogurt, mint chip, and espresso

This place is an ideal destination for a casual date, but I recommend gathering a couple of your closest friends, sit at a bar, pop open a bottle of wine, share a big plate of insalate, take a bite of each other’s pizzas, laugh and indulge in wonderful conversation! Now, that’s a perfect date, LA style.

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N. Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90036
★★★★★

Making Homemade Soap in the Kitchen

I’ve been in love with bar soap ever since I purchased my first Clinique facial cleanser as a teenager. Nothing made me happier than lathering up the yellow bar in a pretty green container and washing my face with it. It was heavenly. I think that was also the beginning of my fascination (and borderline crazy obsession) with cosmetics and skincare products.

But after years of wasting money on mass produced skincare products, I got interested in making my own. I really liked the idea of having control over what ingredients go into it, and I loved that I get to do it all in my own kitchen. I’ve been making my own lip balms, body scrubs and facial toners for many months now and I thought now is the perfect time for me to venture into soap making, thanks to the inspiration by books by Kyoko Maeda, who is synonymous with cold process soap making in Japan. My goal is to master, or at least be decent at this, in time for the holidays .

Making soap is very much like baking. You pick your ingredients (oils), mix them up, add extracts and other flavoring agents (essential oils), pour the mixture into a mold, bake (in this case, letting lye and oils get chummy in a bowl), let it rest, slice, and enjoy! Both require that you have the precise measurements, which can be tricky at times, but as long as you pay extra attention to that as well as when handling lye that can get as hot as a piping oven, the process can be pretty easy and enormously enjoyable! Even the oils-lye mixture looks like a luscious and decadent cake batter (but don’t let the pretty exterior deceive you — these mixtures are still very dangerous to handle and it is certainly not for consumption)!

I’ve seen many ways home chemists make soap, such as cooking the soap batch in a crock pot (this is called hot process), but mine is the traditional cold process method, just like what you see here (Countryrose Soap Company) and here (Birch Bark Handmade Soap tutorial). Soaps made this way take a little longer to cure but they retain more of the lovely glycerin that is wonderful for skin.

What you see here (above and right) is a batch of Premium Bar I made over the weekend using olive, sweet almond, jojoba, palm, and coconut oils. I used cinnamon to make the delicious swirl and the room is now filled with the wonderfully warm aroma, reminding me that autumn is just around the corner. I took the block out of the mold and sliced it today.

In addition, I’ve made a batch of Olive Oil Soap and Signature Marseilles Soap that are almost ready to use.

Olive Oil Soap
Ingredients: Pure olive oil, lye, distilled water, essential oils

Signature Marseilles Soap
Ingredients: Pure olive oil (not extra virgin), palm oil, coconut oil, lye, distilled water, essential oils

The only downside to making handmade soap is that you have to let them sit for four to six weeks, which will certainly test your patience. I have one more week for the Marseilles Soap and two more for Olive Oil Soap until these two batches of soaps become ready to use and I can’t wait.

If you are interested in making your own soap, I recommend checking out Bramble Berry first!  Happy soaping!

No Culinary Blossoms Here: Seed

I wanted to fall in love with Seed in Venice Beach so badly … I really did.

How could I not? This place received an impressive review from the Los Angeles Times, and many patrons also seemed to adore this little join that specializes in organic, vegan macrobiotics choices, with colorful array of dessert selections crafted masterfully by former M Chaya patisserie, Eric Lechasseur, now the owner of Seed. Paired with raves from celebrity fans like Madonna and Leonardo DiCaprio, the place had the pedigree of an ultimate knockout in the culinary rink. Everything was going toward its favor.

I would first acknowledge that Saisai Donburi Marco Bowl, a culinary playground of kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), shiitake, kale, sauerkraut, canellini beans and other healthy seasonal vegetables imaginable on the bed of brown rice, that my sister and I ate did live up to all the hype. No doubt. Seitan, a meat substitute made out of wheat gluten, was incredibly juicy and flavorful, it got me, the carnivore, asking, “beef what?” The mixture of seasonable veggies, creamy beans and other pickled vegetables, sprinkled with tangy and aromatic shiso powder and aonori condiments, danced in my mouth, taking me to a happy, gastronomical place.

With that out of the way, let me begin my rants:

① This place has no restroom in the premise. Seriously, that’s awful. And in front of the join is a small, 1-hour parking … one more thing to worry about when dining here.

② Food comes in plastic container, which cheapened the entire dining experience, especially after dishing out $15 for a rice bowl. Even the desserts are pre-packaged in the clear, plastic box as they sit in the glass case. I saw a threesome that came in to the place, looked at the dessert options, and left. It’s kinda unappetizing, to tell you the truth. This seemed like a strange decision, knowing that the owner is a pastry chef.  And how about the amount of trash that accumulate?

③ I feel like this place belongs in places like Montana Avenue or Abbot Kinney, not in the smelly Venice Beach. It’s just me, but I’m not really a fan of this part of Venice.

④ Bad service. Maybe it was just that day when I was there, but the guy at the counter just stood there even when the food came out of the kitchen. I also had to go up to the counter to get the desserts because he forgot. Granted, my sister and I were the only ones in the restaurant at that time of the day, but we still, we were totally forgotten while staff stood around and talked.

⑤ And the cupcake … let me tell you about the Chocolate Cupcake with Green Tea Frosting that I ordered … disgusting. I know that the cupcakes here are made out of maple syrup and / or brown rice sweeter instead of regular sugar and they use all the vegan ingredients but that’s no excuse. I’ve had plenty of wonderful, non-sugar, non-dairy sweets elsewhere. This cupcake was flavorless and dense (not in a good way), and I had to put it down after the first bite. This was disappointing to say the least because I love cupcakes and I was really looking forward to the much talked-about pastry by Chef Eric who even wrote a book on this topic. I will say, however, that the Chocolate Mousse Terrine wasn’t bad.  It had a nice combination of sweet and tangy (sounds strange on a chocolate but it works) and aside from being a little too rich, I thought it was very tasty.

If this were a dating world, Seed would be someone who’s a really nice guy but other factors, such as his loser friends, are just too much of a liability to take the relationship to the next level. I would definitely like to try its donburi and other delicious food on the menu like Blackened Tempeh Burger with Sauerkraut and Seitan Pepper Steak, but that’s only if someone is willing to pick it up for me, on the to-go order.

I really thought Seed and I would have a wonderful future together but I guess I just have to file away this experience in my culinary “been there, done that” box and put it away. Until I find my macrobiotic and vegan Gastro Mr. Right, you can find me at M Chaya and Real Food Daily, respectively.

Seed
1604 Pacific Avenue, Venice, CA 90291
★★★☆☆

The Happy Medium: Scalloped Potato Gratin

Style is not about covering your body with brand-name clothes from head to toe, or putting on the most expensive pair of Jimmy Choo. For me, style is all about knowing what you can live without and what you’re not willing to compromise, under any circumstance. It’s really about truly knowing your priority.  I once met a woman who selected her outfit based on the fragrance that made her happy that day. There was also another lady who matched a pair of $300 heels with a $5 thrift-store top. To me, that’s crazy sexy and super stylish.

Let me start out by stating the obvious that I have no fashion sense. I used to, sort of, when I actually cared about other people’s perception of me and went shopping frequently for cute outfits here and there. But now, I know what works for my body type and personality and I stick with it – even if that means I would wear a pair of simple black slacks or a no name-brand jeans, and a plain, black top day after day.  So, in a way, I may not have a keen fashion sense, but I do have my own sense of “style.”

I’m kind of the same way in the kitchen. I am pretty much a happy-go-lucky kind of cook, where I mix and match ingredients even if that end up compromising the integrity of the dish. I admit that I splash a dash of soy sauce in my Bolognese sauce to add a bit of mildness to the flavor. Heck, I even put Tabasco on a gorgeous pot of bouillabaisse! I know that hard-core Foodie would hate me for this, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that it tastes good and that it makes me happy.

There are, however, a certain things that I will never budge. One is Parmesan cheese. There is nothing that compares to the full flavors and deliciously pungent fragrance that ooze out of the real Parmigiano Reggiano block with the very recognizable yellow rind. When I’m low on cash, I may scrimp on other ingredients but never on Parmigiano. The mysterious white flakes that sprinkle out of the green tube have nothing on the real thing! Even with calories. If I know I’m going to raise the calorie count by having the Parmesan Reggiano in the recipe, I will reduce it elsewhere to create a happy medium.

When I make Scalloped Potato Gratin, I would cut corners (and calories) by omitting fat-laden butter and heavy cream but I make sure to put the flavors back by packing in aromatic herbs and, yes you guessed it, Parmigiano Reggiano, for some cheesy goodness. Because of this “negotiation” my version is slightly lower in calories at about 200 calories per serving but with flavors that can rival the traditional recipe.

Scalloped Potato Gratin
(Serves 6 – 8 , side dish portion)

4 large Russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cups non-fat milk
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 twigs each of fresh rosemary, thyme, and oregano
5 tablespoon Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
Salt and pepper

① Preheat the oven to 375 degree F. Make the roux by heating the olive oil in a saucepan in medium heat and add flour. The mixture will resemble a paste. When the flour is cooked (careful not to burn), reduce the heat to medium low and add milk. Keep mixing the milk and the roux with a whisk.

② Add the herb, 1 tablespoon of Parmigiano Reggiano, salt and pepper to the liquid. Make sure to keep an eye, to ensure that the milk doesn’t bubble over! After a few minutes, you’ll notice that the liquid has become creamy. Viola! That’s your Béchamel (aka Veloute) sauce! Using Béchamel in this recipe gives the same texture and consistency you would get from heavy cream and other cheeses without the extra fat.

③ While the liquid is cooking, lightly grease the bottom of the casserole dish with olive oil. Put the potato slices in a layer until the dish is completely covered.

④ Pour half of the Béchamel sauce over the potato layer. Repeat laying the potatoes on top of the sauce. Pour the rest of the sauce on top.

⑤ Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of Parmigiano Reggiano on top and put the dish in the oven. Cook for about 30 minutes (or until the potatoes are cooked) and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on.

⑥ Cook until the cheese on top is nice and golden brown. I like mine slightly burnt so I left it in just a little longer. You can always finish it off by putting it in the broiler for a few minutes!

The Scalloped Potato Gratin was a side dish to the Pork Chop I cooked up, with garlicky mustard sauce. I coated the pork chops lightly in flour, salt and peppper, and cooked them in olive oil, until the center is nice and light pink. Remove the meat and let them rest. In the meantime, make the sauce by adding 1/4 cup of chicken stock to the same pan and deglaze to get all the juice from the bottom of the saucepan. Add a tablespoon of chopped garlic, 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, and a splash of Balsamic vinegar. Let the sauce reduce to half. Turn off the heat and pour a generous portion onto the pork chop. Enjoy with a side of steamed spinach!

The potato gratin and the pork chop were really yummy!  I hope you will try these recipes that I created on the fly.

D’Arabian Night: North African Meatballs

Melissa d’Arabian, the winner of the Next Food Network Star and the newest member of the FN family, promises to deliver a meal for four for under $10 in her show called, what else, “Ten Dollar Dinners.” A concept not too original, I must admit, but intriguing nonetheless. In this tough economic time, everyone can use some help in tighten up the belt.

I was really happy that she won the title of the Next Food Network Star, not necessarily because I thought she was the best cook out there, but because of her fighting spirit. In the beginning, no one thought she was going to win. I think many of us, myself included, discounted her, thinking that she wouldn’t last past first several weeks. But week after week, challenge after challenge, she unveiled a little bit of herself to knock nine other contenders out of the race. I took a major satisfaction in watching some of her fellow contestants attempt to throw her under the bus, only to be counter-attacked by Melissa’s culinary roundhouse kicks (don’t mess with stay-home moms, I’m telling you, they are fighters). Maybe I resonated with her because I too am an underdog in life, and it was impossible not to be inspired by someone who defeated all odds to climb to the top.

With that said, an FN personality is nothing without good food, so I decided to put her latest menus to the test, and to see if her recipes can truly live up to the delicious, $10 promise. The first attempt: North African Meatballs!

I went to Trader Joe’s to pick up the ingredients: ground beef, canned diced tomatoes, tomato paste, olives, lemon, chicken broth, cumin, parsley, and a bottle of white wine. I also picked up a box of couscous and carrots for side dishes. I already had other necessary ingredients like onion, garlic, cinnamon, brown sugar, and prunes (instead of dates) in my pantry which would be helpful to fit everything into $10 or less.

You can find the recipe for North African Meatballs here.

First, I cooked the onion and garlic in olive oil, and added chopped black olives, lemon zest, dices tomatoes, chicken broth and white wine and let them simmer in a pot in medium heat. Then I added cinnamon, brown sugar, salt and pepper. I added lemon juice (which the recipe didn’t call for) and two extra teaspoons of brown sugar because I wanted to really accentuate the warm sweetness of brown sugar and cinnamon. And wow, I never imagined that cinnamon and lemon zests go so well together!

While the liquid is simmering, I made the meatball by first mixing egg, tomato paste, and chopped parsley together.

I added a pound of ground beef to the paste, added cumin, salt and pepper, and made them into little balls. I totally forgot to mix the breadcrumbs … shame on me!

I cooked the meatballs in olive oil until they are golden brown on both sides. They don’t have to be fully cooked at this point.

Once browned, I put the meatballs into the liquid and let it cook for about 20 minutes.

I also cooked up the Couscous with Dried Dates to accompany the meatballs. Instead of dates, I used dried prunes I already had in my pantry.

Because dinner is not complete without vegetable, here’s Melissa’s Glazed Carrots.

The food was delicious and an absolute delight. I really never explored North African-inspired dishes before so this required me to get out of my culinary comfort zone (it’s my first time incorporating cumin into my cooking) but the outcome was superb. The combination of cinnamon, cumin and lemon brought out such unique and beautifully foreign flavors, and the juicy meatballs cooked in tomato sauce really excited my taste buds!  I have a feeling that these dishes, especially the meatballs, will be making regular appearances at my dinner table.

As for the price (drum rolls, please) … the total of the entire dinner of North African Meatballs, Couscous with Dried Dates, and Glazed Carrots came out to … $12.32! Keep in mind that I did purchase the cheapest Chardonnay available (Two Buck Chuck, baby), and used lots of ingredients I already had in the pantry (and I didn’t even include the breadcrumbs that I forgot to use) so calling this a $10 or less meal is a little bit of a stretch … but I was able to make enough to feed about six people (instead of 4) so I guess that evens out the cost.

I hope you would try these simple but delicious recipes. They are much cheaper than dining out and they are sure to take your dining experience to a whole different continent!

I can’t wait to see what Melissa will cook up this week!

Finding Culinary Mr. Right: Ichiban Kan

Since my favorite sushi restaurant closed and became a mysterious Thai-Japanese joint, I’ve been in search of the “go-to” sushi place in the neighborhood. You wouldn’t think it would be too difficult to find a good sushi restaurant in the Valley where Japanese restaurants ranging from high-end to whole-in-the-wall are all vying for your attention, but it’s quite the contrary. I guess it’s like dating — when you’re only given a few options, it’s easy just to settle because you don’t know any better. But when you have so many options, the choice can get a little intimidating (not that I know what that feels like).

Lucky for me, I hit the sushi jackpot recently when my mother introduced me to Ichiban Kan in Woodland Hills, where she dined with her friends and returned with a raving review. We went to check out the restaurant on our regular Sunday night family dinner (where we usually end up at some Japanese restaurant) and we were all happy with what we found in this little gem of a place.

Ichiban Kan, which translates to “The Best Sushi House,” is the new home of Chef Hirosuke, the former owner of the popular Encino restaurant Hirosuke, as well as the highly respected Kabuki in Northridge (please don’t get this Kabuki confused with the other, nasty chain restaurant with the same name – they are different). Ichiban Kan might have a different zip code from Hirosuke and Kabuki, but I found that it has the same delicious selections of fresh sushi and sashimi, creative side dishes, and other Japanese staples, that made the former two restaurants the Valley’s sushi sweethearts.

Just try a crab sunomono (sliced cucumber, crab legs and seaweed marinated in sweet vinegar), and salmon (tossed with onion slices and cucumber slices), and let the fish melt in my mouth.  It’s heavenly!

I also recommend the Seafood Salad (loaded with sashimi, seafood, and cucumber on the bed of lettuce), Rainbow Roll, and Spicy Yellowtail hand roll, if you’re looking for something satisfying!

I suppose I can go to Katsuya for the best sushi in the Valley, but when you’re in the mood to enjoy a good sushi and sashimi without dealing with the rowdy crowd, this place is the answer.  Make sure to check this place out before it gets so popular that you would need to wait for hours for a table — because it will!

I’m so happy that I’ve finally found my Mr. Right.  And this is one love I’m willing to share!

Ichiban Kan
19723 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91364
★★★★☆

The Breakfast of Champion: Dim Sum

I rarely get out of bed before noon on a Sunday but when I do, my boyfriend and I like to go out for breakfast. When he’s in my neighborhood, we settle for traditional American-style breakfast of eggs and hams at local coffee shops, but when I’m in his, it’s almost a guarantee that we go for dim sum at nearby Chinese joints. I love the fact that Chinese enclaves of Los Angeles (Monterey Park and San Gabriel Valley) are right in his backyard.

We sample variety of dim sum restaurants in the neighborhood and our latest destination was NBC Seafood in Monterey Park, a banquet hall-like restaurant suited for wedding reception and other big events. We arrived around 11:00 a.m. and the place was already packed with hungry weekend patrons looking for some dumplings to kick start the day. We waited for about 45 minutes to get our table, which wasn’t too horrible, considering that I’ve waited for a table for nearly two hours at a super popular Empress Pavilion in LA Chinatown. One good thing about this type of restaurant is that once you’re seated, you can start eating immediately just by grabbing the dish you want from moving carts!

Har Gau (steamed shrimp dumpling), egg rolls, and Jin deui (or Matuan), deep-fried dough filled with sweet bean curd and rolled in sesame seeds

Siu Mai (steamed pork dumpling) and fried crab with sugar cane

Steamed Cake and Char Siu Baau (bun with sweet barbecued pork)

I wouldn’t necessarily say that NCB Seafood is the best place for dim sum as there are so many other fabulous places around, but they do offer decent selections of dumplings and other dishes.

In the war of breakfast, har gau and siu mai will kick hash brown and scrambled egg’s ass.  Seriously, there’s no competition here.  And if dim sums don’t make you want to get up early on a Sunday, I don’t know what will.

NBC Seafood
404 S Atlantic Boulevard, Monterey Park, CA 91754
★★★☆☆

Ina at Home: Chicken Bouillabaisse

Since the likelihood of Ina Garten inviting me over to her East Hampton barn for dinner is pretty slim, I decided to welcome her cooking into mine, by trying out her Chicken Bouillabaisse recipe from her latest cookbook, Back to Basics, for dinner.  (I received this cookbook from my boyfriend’s sister last Christmas and have been wanting to cook from it for a while so this was the perfect opportunity.)

The classic bouillabaisse typically calls for seafood but her recipe takes ordinary chicken and turns them into a beautiful, deep auburn-colored Provencal stew.  This recipe introduced me to saffron, the most expense spice in the world (by weight), and although I was hesitant to spend that much for so little at first, it left me with no mystery why this spice is one of the most sought-after culinary jewels, even just after the first sprinkle.  The aroma the saffron produces is so beautifully potent, it fills the entire kitchen with warm, rich, floral, coppery scent, and gives this tomato-based soup an entirely new dimension.

You can get the recipe for Ina’s Chicken Bouillabaisse here.

The recipe was very straightforward and simple to recreate, with saffron, fennel, rosemary, garlic, and white wine working together to create one, big, bold, multi-layered flavor in my lime green Le Cruset pot.  I substituted fennel seeds with salt and fennel seeds mixture and omitted Pernod (because to be frankly honest, I didn’t know what that was or where to find it!).  I also added extra tomato puree because I had a slightly bigger can than what the recipe called for and didn’t want the rest to go to waste.  Other than that, I pretty much stuck to Ina’s recipe.

Here’s the at-glance instruction:

Brown the chicken until the outside is nice and brown. Don’t worry about cooking them all the way through at this point. The chicken will have plenty of time to cook and get tender once the pot is in the oven.  Remove and set aside.

Simmer the soup, stirring occasionally (time to deglaze … yum).  The recipe instructs to puree the soup in a food processor, but mine was already pretty smooth so I omitted the step.  After about 30-40 minutes, add potatoes.

Return the chicken into the pot and continue to cook in a 300 degree oven for about 45 minutes.  The liquid cooks down, concentrating all the flavors … it’s heavenly.

By the time the bouillabaisse came out of the oven, chickens were fork tender, potato perfectly cooked, and the soup was rich and dense in flavor.  I don’t know if it’s just me, but there is something gastronomically sexy about the burnt edges on the pot — something only Le Cruset can produce.

The only downfall was that I over-seasoned the stew by adding too much salt (which was surprising because I’m usually a very light seasoner), but aside from that, I was really happy with how everything turned out.  I served the stew with boiled haricot verts (okay, they’re just green beans) my friend N helped me make, with a dollop of Rouille, a homemade mayonnaise with a hint of saffron, which was also used for the bouillabaisse, and a simple salad of arugula, shredded carrots, and cannellini beans, dressed with simple vinaigrette dressing.  Oh, and don’t forgot the crusty, golden-brown baguette to soak all the liquid goodness.

Keep adding chicken stock or water to the leftover, reheat, and enjoy it for a week!  The stew just gets better and better each day.

Ina, I love you

Not a Daddy’s Little Girl: Father’s Office

We use a phrase “it’s not worth it” too often just by looking at the attached price tag, and without really thinking about what “worth” truly means to a person.

Most people would probably look at a $5,000 Hermes bag and think it’s so not worth it, but if that Kelly bag makes someone feel like a million bucks and feel truly happy sporting it, then maybe it is worth all the money. On a flip side, you might buy a $20 bag because it was on sale but never use it, then that bag truly wasn’t worth it, however much money you might have saved.

When I purchase something, I always do a simple math in my head. I take the cost of the item in question and divide it by projected usage. If I’m looking at a $200 pair of shoes and I know that I will wear it every day until the heels fall off, then I will happily dish out the money even if the price tag is in triple digit. This goes both ways. I won’t even accept those free gifts with purchase if I am certain that I won’t use them. It’s just not worth the space. (It took me a long time and many, many, complimentary bright pink lipsticks to get here.)

I take the same philosophy when I go out to eat. Although I’m trying to be as cost conscious as possible, I will chose to dine at high-end restaurants and order expensive items on the menu if I feel that the dish will truly provide me with the one-of-the-kind experience. If the flavor of the dish takes me to a place where my palette have never gone before, or takes me back to a familiar place, I would consider it money well spent.

For this reason, I never hesitated spending outrageous amount at Father’s Office, a local burger joint that serves, as some put it, The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Its signature hamburger is legendary – with juicy medium rare patty atop caramelized onion and arugula (or what is spinach?). Both Santa Monica and Culver City locations are always packed with loyal patrons looking for the signature burger, a glass of ice-cold beer, and a good old time, and I have been dying to take a bite into that phenomenal experience that people’s been raving about for many, many months!

I finally had the chance to experience it when my boyfriend, his friend D, and I went to the Culver City location, for a late lunch last Saturday. My heart was jumping in joy as we walked up to the counter and I ordered my burger, a side of famous Sweet Potato Fries, and glass of dark, porter beer. I will admit that I became speechless for a second when the total for three burgers, one regular fries, two sweet potato fries, three beers, and a plate of beet salad came out to a whopping $90, but I knew that it will be worth every penny … or so I thought!

What I’m going to say now will probably upset many (and I mean many) Yelpers and Father’s Office worshippers but I would have to say … that it was SO NOT WORTH IT! I’m even going to go as far as to say that In-N-Out Burger is infinitely better. There, I said it. Please don’t be hating.

I have been to 25 Degrees, a hip, trendy, over-priced burger joint inside the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, and spent the same $12 and although, in my opinion, no burger should cost that much, I actually liked it. I probably won’t go there regularly, of course, but I will definitely go back.

But it is with great sadness that I say this — that Father’s Office did not live up to the hype, and I probably won’t be coming back any time soon, if ever. The patty was dry, flavorless, and overcooked (I ordered mine medium rare but came out medium, and my boyfriend, who ordered medium, got one that was raw.  We had to swap them.) and the sweet potato fries with the $8.50 price tag were soggy and not impressive, and way too expensive for just wedges of potato! I would have to say that the salad and the beers were exceptional and I certainly won’t mind having them again but that’s pretty much it.

Would I go back to Father’s Office if the burgers and fries were cheaper? Maybe (and I even say this with great hesitation). Would I rather spend the same amount and buy myself and 30 of my friends a round of Double Double at In-N-Out? MOST definitely. But this place has nothing to worry about. There are plenty of Angelenos who’s willing to eat away their hard-earned paycheck on a mediocre burger, even in this tough economic times.

I’m just not one of them.

Father’s Office
3229 Helms Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90034
★★☆☆☆