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Wined Out but Eating Well at the L.A. International Wine Competition

Never have I eaten so well, and drunk so poorly, as at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition last week in Pomona.

The wines were fine. That wasn't the issue. I sat in as an observer on a panel (at top) judging 93 of them in a single day. Drinking that many would have been suicide. And if I liked a wine a lot, too bad. All of my tastes went into a spit bucket.

You can read the details of the judging and learn about related events you can attend in my story today in L.A. Weekly's Squid Ink.

Mercifully, at lunch the drink set out at each place was iced tea. During dinner, we could drink as much as we wanted from displays of last year's winners (above), and bottles were passed non-stop at the tables. The downside was, after dealing with so much wine during the day, I wasn't up for more.

The food was wonderful, though. The Squid Ink article describes what the judges ate for lunch. For dinner, we were almost overwhelmed by dish after dish prepared by Chef David Teig and his crew (above). Teig is in charge of McKinley's Grille at the Sheraton Fairplex Hotel & Conference Center, where the judging took place.

This salad combined gorgeous heirloom tomatoes with cheese and microgreens.

Spicy grilled octopus came with Anaheim chiles, fresh peaches and mint.

Here's a bowlful of asparagus, fresh morels and cheese.

Farm-raised squash and farm bacon accompanied king salmon (above), appropriate because we were eating outdoors in McKinley's Farm at Fairplex, site of the L.A. County Fair.

Meat eaters tucked into ostrich (above) and chicken.

Dinner ended with a choice of Moscato snow cones drizzled with port wine or hoja santa custard ice cream topped with saffron honey. Why choose? I had both--and caught the last trolley back to the hotel. 

One Last Ramadan Buffet at Mamounia

Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month, is over now, but before it ended there was time for one more sumptuous buffet in Anaheim's Little Arabia, this time at the Moroccan restaurant Mamounia.

It was the first night that Souad El Khantouri, who is from Rabat, took over the cooking. The dishes that she prepared were not only elaborate but genuine, with a warm personal touch.

"I made everything. It is like I make in my home," she said.

"Everything" included lamb with prunes, almonds, saffron and ginger, and chicken with olives and preserved lemons (above).

Another main dish combined potatoes with little ground beef kebabs (above).

For side dishes, there were delicious small potatoes seasoned with olive oil, garlic, cumin, parsley and paprika and yellow rice that contained fat golden raisins.

Salads included marinated carrots and zucchini; shredded cabbage; cauliflower with grilled red peppers, and a colorful mixture of cucumber, tomatoes and parsley. On the same table were round, airy rolls stuffed with tuna and onions (above). 

Another table held sweets and breads, among them small crisp semolina cakes and bubbly pancakes (at right above) over which to pour honey combined with melted butter.

There were platters of dates and golden brown, syrup-soaked fried sweets (at left above). On that same table were hard-cooked eggs to season with spices from containers that looked like miniature tagines.

But first came a bowl of harira, the tomato, lentil and chickpea soup that traditionally ends the day of fasting. 

The most exotic of the drinks was milk--yes, plain cold milk--flavored with orange flower water so that a beautiful fragrance was released as you drank it.

And then, of course, Moroccan green tea with mint, sugar and orange flower water.

All this in a setting that makes you think you are in Marrakech, Fez, Casablanca or whatever says Morocco to you.  

The Ramadan buffets are over, but there's one last chance to observe the season at Mamounia.

The restaurant will celebrate the end of the fasting month with an Aid El Fitr party this Saturday, August 25, at 7 p.m. There will be food and drinks and live music (The Casablanca Band). Kids under 10 are free.

I looked in on a birthday party one night at Mamounia, and the place really knows how to celebrate. It was jammed and the music was loud and fun. So call for reservations--if any are left.

Mamounia Restaurant, 1829 West Katella Ave., Anaheim, CA 92804. (714) 552-2813  

Don't Miss This--Iftar at Nara Bistro

You have a week to take advantage of one of the best restaurant bargains around. 

It's the Ramadan buffet at Nara Bistro in Anaheim's Little Arabia.

Each night until Ramadan ends after sundown August 18 the restaurant sets out an elaborate selection of appetizers, main dishes, drinks and desserts. This is for Iftar, the dinner that breaks the daily fast observed by Muslims.

The food is not only generous, but each night has a different menu. It's mind-boggling to think of how much cooking goes on in Nara's kitchen.

The food is Syrian, Egyptian and Palestinian. It was unusual and fascinating, at least for me, because I've never traveled in the Middle East. I went with friends and fellow food writers Faye and Yakir Levy, who are experts in the region and explained what I was eating.

We waited with other customers until around 7:40 p.m., after sunset, when the buffet opened.  It closed at 9:30 p.m, but people lingered, smoking hookahs, playing backgammon and drinking tea. The restaurant is open until 4 a.m. on weekends.

Highlights the night I was there included macarona bechemel (above), which is just what it sounds like, a golden brown pasta dish with a creamy sauce and meat.

Chicken beryani wasn't the usual layered chicken and rice dish. The chicken and its sauce were in one container, the rice in another.

Macloba, a layered dish of beef cubes, rice and fried eggplant slices (above) was so tempting that I would love to learn to make it. Notice the liberal scattering of pine nuts over the top. 

My plate was also loaded with baked kibbeh (above), okra with top sirloin, a rice and seafood combination, ground beef kebabs in tomato sauce, filo dough stuffed with cheese, and so much more I had to get a second plate to hold everything. 

Appetizers included baba ghanouj (above). Look how nicely it was presented. Others were hummus, fried cauliflowerets that were so tasty they disappeared quickly, fried eggplant chunks, a mixed salad and stuffed grape leaves.  

Tabbouleh loaded with fresh parsley (above) was on the buffet table too.

But the best was yet to come, as they say, at least for anyone with a sweet tooth. The dessert table (above) was pure heaven. In addition to fresh fruit, there were big trays of kunafeh (the first tray), which is syrup-soaked kadaif dough layered with mild cheese, and baklava (at the back).  A casserole of Egyptian rice pudding decorated with dark cherries came out later.

Aysh el saraya (in the middle of the three dessert trays and in a closup above) was better than divine. Restaurant owner Salee Zawerbek says it's a family recipe--and easy (if you know what you are doing). The bottom layer is bread soaked in syrup flavored with rose water. Over this goes a layer of thickened milk, which is then covered with crushed pistachios. The components are put together while hot, then refrigerated until set.

The beverages were just as interesting. There were three--jallab, a dark, fruity mixture that incorporates grape molasses, dates and rose water; amr el deen, a golden drink made from soaked apricot leather, and vimto, a mixed fruit drink that originated in England.

After such a heavy meal, one wouldn't be hungry for many hours. However, the observant had to be up early to eat breakfast before 4:44 a.m., when the sun would rise and another day of fasting would begin. 

Nara Bistro, 1220 S. Brookhurst St., Anaheim, CA 92804. Tel: (714) 991-6800.

The Mad Greek: A Desert Mirage

The Mad Greek Cafe turns up like a mirage as you drive along Highway 15 toward Las Vegas.

There it is, all blue and white, with Greek flags flying and a jumble of Greek statues. This is not what you would expect in a drab desert town like Baker.

The food is seriously Greek. You'll see stacks of pita bread and pita chips along with displays of dolmades, spanakopita, baklava, kataifi, Greek custard turnovers, kourambiedes, Greek rice pudding, yogurt drinks and more.  

The place is so versatile that you can order a gyro with pilaf, or you can have Mexican food or a burger.  This is necessary because the Mad Greek is a magnet for travelers of all tastes. It's generally jammed.

You'll eat with cool scenes of the Greek islands in the background, nice when the desert is scorching. 

And you'll read Greek quotes inscribed on the walls, such as "The most valuable of arts is the art of living Greek style."

Oddly, the Mad Greek is famous for something that's not Greek, a fresh strawberry shake. You pick it up at a counter that's just for ice creams and shake-making.

The foamy blend of vanilla ice cream, strawberry syrup and fresh berries is so thick that you have to spoon it up. A straw can't do the job.

The ingredients are ordinary. What makes it so special?  That would have to be the finishing touch, a little paper parasol planted on top. And the setting. Where else could you slurp up a shake with Hercules looking over your shoulder?

The Mad Greek Cafe, 72112 Baker Blvd., Baker, CA 92309. Tel: (760) 733-4354.

Noodles and Strudels at Mishi's

Want to escape from hardcore trendiness? Then go to Mishi's in San Pedro, where you eat from flower-sprigged china at tables set with lace cloths, where comfortable sofas inspire lounging, where the coffee (fair trade and organic) is so delicious you wish you could spend all your coffee breaks there.

Mishi's is Hungarian, which explains the cozy Old World feel. The coffee may be good, but the food is even better.

Mishi's specialty is strudel, baked there, with sweet or savory fillings. The best choice is one of each, like cabbage strudel sprinkled with paprika and parsley for a main dish (above) followed by apple strudel with walnuts, raisins and a tantalizing hint of lemon (below).

Other savory strudels include spinach with feta, mushrooms and sour cream, or beef with vegetables.

The list of strudels on the menu is long, but not all are available every day. A sign tells what is on hand.

I wanted poppy seed strudel with vanilla cheese, because it sounded so Hungarian. Unfortunately, it was only available frozen. The solution: Mishi's packs frozen strudel to go.

The flaky, very thin strudel dough used to be made in-house, but American flour has been reconstituted so that it no longer works well for such delicate pastry, they told me. Therefore, Mishi's now uses imported dough. 

Symbols on the menu indicate which dishes are traditonal Hungarian specialties and which are "secret family recipes" from owners Aniko and Michael "Mishi" Schueller.

Among these are the poppyseed and cabbage strudels, cabbage pasta, pasta with cottage cheese and bacon or with beef (all made with imported Hungarian pasta) and goulash (at right) with beef, bacon and green peppers.

Like the strudels, crepes (palacsinta) come with either sweet or savory fillings. Those with the traditional Hungarian symbol are filled with fruit jam or chestnut puree.

Mishi's opens at 9 a.m. and so serves breakfast. If you go for lunch, you can explore the shops on the same block. Nautica has seafaring mementoes, and The Grand Emporium's frilly decorative accessories include cakes that look so real you may try to sneak a taste only to find, sadly, that they are imitation.

Mishi's Strudel Bakery and Cafe, 309 W. 7th St., San Pedro, CA 90731. Tel: (310) 832-6474. Open Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Durian Pastry--It's Not Stinky

I've eaten durian cake, durian pudding, durian ice cream, durian and sticky rice and fresh durian. But durian dim sum? That's new to me.

I came across it at Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant in Rosemead, where deep-fried durian pastry is No. 57 on the menu.

The sunny yellow, flaky pastry filled with durian is slightly sweet but not sugary, although it's in the dessert section. 

As my lunch companions examined the pastries, I heard such words as "stench," "fermented,"  "smelly," "horrible," all referring to durian's notoriously stinky reputation.

Not deserved in my opinion. I would call the aroma and flavor tropical, ripe, sun-baked, concentrated, assertively fruity, exotically pleasant.  In other words, I like durian, and I thought the  pastries were great.

Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant, 3939 N. Rosemead Blvd., Rosemead, CA 91770. Tel: (626) 288-3939.

Fresh Fare at a Paso Bistro

Hot (in one sense), cold and for sure the best creme brulee that I have tasted in a long time turned up at Thomas Hill Organics Market Bistro & Wine Bar in Paso Robles.

It was a jalapeno creme brulee, not as spicy as it sounds, but aromatic, creamy and so delicious that it almost outshone everything I ate.

Almost, because all the dishes were very good as well as interesting, not the same old trendy combinations. 

Located in the center of town, Thomas Hill Organics has its own farm, which ensures a constant supply of fruits and vegetables. There's no distributor involved, so everything that comes into the restaurant is really fresh.

That's why a thin crusted margherita pizza (above) was better than most. The tomatoes, fresh tomato sauce and basil on top were at their peak.  

Owners Debbie and Joe Thomas get whatever they don't grow themselves from local purveyors. That includes meats, seafood, bread and a good selection of local wines.

The menu changes to keep pace with what the farm produces. Another stand-out the night I was there was a salad (right) of fingerling potatoes and smoked trout with haricots verts, corn and watercress, a hazelnut vinaigrette and a drizzle of creme fraiche.

A deep red puree of beets, tahini and orange juice--odd but intriguing--came with a stack of pita. Debbie Thomas (at top) brought out an extra that was not on the menu, fried green tomatoes with chunky remoulade sauce.

The restaurant has seating inside, but the place everyone wants to be is the courtyard, where there is live music at night. 

I went there with Mira Advani Honeycutt, who owns Cabernet Cottage in Paso Robles, a place where winemakers stay and often the scene of parties involving the local wine crowd.

She brought the wine, a  Minassian-Young 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from dry-farmed vineyards in Peachy Canyon, Paso Robles. 

The next day, we drove through hilly vineyard and farming country to the Thomas Hill Organics farm.

Joe Thomas is a serious artist, at raising fruits and vegetables as well as painting them on canvas and on the logos for tee shirts sold at the restaurant.

That day, he was working out an arrangement of pears that he would photograph and later paint.

Anyone who grows nine kinds of pomegranates has to take an unusual interest in farming, and Thomas seems to revel in it, even to discussing the heartbreaks philosophically. Rabbits ate his entire crop of green beans this year, and they also go for his chile pepper vines. 

Thanks to his generosity, we came away with freshly picked apples, tiny Asian pears, plums, melons, cucumbers, chiles and tomatoes.  The heavily laden trees were dropping fruit on the ground, none of which could be used. Surprising that the farm supplies only the restaurant, when such a large crop cries out to be sold at farmers markets. 

The restaurant does put out some produce for sale, and Thomas said that some goes to a Community Supported Agriculture project headquartered at a nearby winery.

What's coming into season next includes quince. Thomas, photographed with a quince tree and wearing a shirt with one of his logos, told how he cooks the fruit with red wine and spices down to a soft paste in a slow-cooker. That's something to try when quince appears in markets this fall. 

Thomas Hill Organics Market Bistro & Wine Bar, 1305 Park St., Paso Robles, CA 93446. Tel: (805) 226-5888.

Eating Great Pizza in Templeton

The best pizza I've eaten recently was perfect from top to bottom. Scattered over a layer of fresh tomato sauce were vegetables so recently harvested that I could sense the warmth of the sun where they grew.

There were thin slices of grilled green and yellow zucchini, red and green bell pepper strips and both regular whole milk mozzarella and fresh mozzarella. Just-picked basil had been sliced and placed on top. The ultra thin, crisp crust was what Griff's Pizzeria calls a cracker crust.

No wonder everything was so fresh. Griff's is in Templeton, a town surrounded by farms and vineyards. This is the Central Coast wine region, and Templeton is only a short drive from Paso Robles, a center for wine touring. 

On Saturday's there's a farmer's market (above) that's worth attending if you're in the area.

As a matter of fact, what I had was a Farmer's Market pizza, one of six cracker crust pizzas on Griff's menu.

Others include the San Simeon, with a creamy garlic white sauce, shrimp, artichoke hearts and tomatoes, and Main Street, composed of  mozzarella, Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions and roasted garlic.

The Chanteclair amounts to breakfast on a pizza. It's topped with Black Forest ham, baked eggs and aged Swiss under a crisp layer of shaved Parmesan. All the cracker crust pizzas come with either a semolina or whole wheat crust.

Griff's has regular pizzas too, if you're addicted to red sauce, pepperoni, salami and meatballs. Even some of these sound creative, like the Tuscan Special, with a blend of garlic butter sauce and cheese, roasted chicken breast, roasted red-skinned potatoes, balsamic caramelized onions and fresh tomatoes, topped with Parmesan and fresh herbs.

Or the Flower Child, which has roasted vegetables, toasted cashews, crumbled feta, fresh herbs and pesto sauce made, I presume, with Templeton-grown basil.  

Griff's Pizzeria & Bistro, 105 S. Main St., Templeton, CA 93465. Tel: (805) 434-1760.

A Tale of Two California Soups

Turn off Highway101 at Los Alamos and you're headed toward a very good place to eat, Cafe Quackenbush.

Open for breakfast and lunch, the cafe is an art gallery, so you sit surrounded by paintings and craft items.

The counter where you order and a few tables are in one room. The main part of the gallery is in another room that is also equpped with tables for dining. Or you can eat outdoors and enjoy the quiet, pleasant ambience of the town.

To show how informal the cafe is, you may see chef/owner Jesper Johansson rush by as he waits on tables, then rush back to the kitchen.

He'd made a wonderful soup the day I stopped in, jalapeno sweet corn with lime and cilantro.

Half of the corn had been roasted to deepen the flavor. Johansson had put in leeks and other aromatic vegetables along with a touch of jalapeno. Made without meat stock, the soup was pleasantly limey. Cilantro leaves floated on top.

I ordered only a cup. That was a mistake. A bowl would have been a wiser choice. 

Cafe Quackenbush, 458 Bell St., Los Alamos, CA 93440. Tel: (805) 344-5181.

The next stop was Paso Robles, where the heat was intense. Hot soup on a hot day? Of course. It's considered an antidote.

The place I had it was Panolivo Family Bistro, which is run by a French couple, Beatrice and Didier Cop. Beatrice is the chef, and the food is prepared with French attention to detail. 

The soup of the day was tomato-fennel, made with locally-grown tomatoes. Like the soup at Cafe Quackenbush, it was vegetarian, relying only on the fresh full flavor of the vegetables, which included carrots, celery and garlic.

A house-baked French roll came on the side, and I asked for a glass of a local wine, Clayhouse Adobe White, a fruity, off dry blend of seven varietals.

In the hot weather, that was enough for lunch. But I am still thinking about the dessert I left behind, a two-chocolate (white and dark) bread pudding, which demands a return trip.

Or should I have the Super Decadent Chocolate Trio, which includes a double chocolate brownie, chocolate truffle ice cream and dark chocolate sauce? Or maybe both?

Panolivo Family Bistro, 1344 Park St., Paso Robles, CA 93446. Tel: (805) 239-3366.

Ikal Wine: New from Argentina

It's been a double-barreled Argentine week--a wine tasting one day and an Argentine lunch the next.

The tasting introduced the first wines of Bodega Ikal, a new, higher elevation winery in Mendoza.

Ikal is owned by a team that includes Sandra Beltran and Jerry Ward, Houston residents who came to Los Angeles for an introductory tasting at Lou wine bar.

Ikal released its first wines in 2009. Production is tiny, just 2,000 cases. Of these, 700 are Malbec, the remainder divided among Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Torrontes.

The 125 acres of newly planted vines aren't ready for wine-making, but the property includes 18 acres of older vines. Grapes for Pinot Noir and Torrontes are purchased from neighboring vineyards.

The high, dry location near the Andes eliminates the need for pesticides and fungicides, Jerry Ward says. The number 1150 on the labels indicates the altitude in meters (almost 3800 feet). Each vine is drip-irrigated, necessary because average annual rainfall is only 4 inches.

The ambitious project will one day include a 12-room boutique hotel and residences where buyers can raise their own grapes.

How are the wines? Selling for $16 to $19, they match the price with higher quality than bargain-priced South American wines in markets here.

The 2009 Chardonnay is crisp and tropical, with a touch of minerality from the rocky Andean soil. It is fermented in 50% neutral French oak and 50% stainless steel to preserve the fresh flavors.

The 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon is deeply colored (as far as I could tell in Lou, which is too dark to observe wine colors and clarity, as you can see in the photo at right).

Big, soft and round, it is very good if you're looking for pleasant drinkability right now.  "A lot of people who don't like Cabs like the high altitude Cabs from Argentina," Ward says.

The 2007 Pinot Noir sat 1 1/2 years in lined concrete tanks for natural settling. It's light and elegant, with cola and cherry tones, made, as Ward says, with "one foot in the New World and one in the old."

Winemaker Luis Martinez grew up in the cellars of Mendoza and has studied in California and the Haut Medoc in France.   "We strive for old world wines with a gravelly, minerally, river stone character," Ward says.

The 2008 Torrontes, fermented  in stainless steel, is lightly floral, balancing slight sweetness with strong minerality.  

Ikal will make Malbec its signature wine. The 2007 is clean, lean and balanced, not dripping with fruit. A sommelier attending the tasting chose it as a personal favorite. 

The name Ikal is Mayan for poetry. Mendoza is obviously not a Mayan community. The name was taken from a previous enterprise of Ikal's owners, a hotel in Playa del Carmen on the Riviera Maya. 

At Lou, the wines were accompanied by the wine bar's famous pig candy (bacon caramelized with brown sugar), olives and cheeses, but nothing Argentinian.

For that I went the next day to Malbec in Pasadena. Ikal wines aren't on the list there, because they haven't arrived in Los Angeles yet. However, Bodega Ikal's Ward had said that Argentinians drink chilled Bonarda with barbecue. And so I chose a Bonarda (unchilled) to go with that quintessential Argentine dish--grilled steak.

Malbec's entraña (skirt steak) was juicy and delicious, accompanied by what Ward says is rare in Argentina, a salad.

In restaurants there, chimichurri sauce is usually served on the side, but Malbec spoons it right onto the meat, and also serves it with bread. 

Lou might do well to copy this garlicky herb and olive oil mixture for the next time an Argentinian winemaker comes to town.

Lou Wine Bar, 724 Vine S., Los Angeles, CA 90038. Tel: (323) 962-6369.

Malbec, 1001 E. Green St., Pasadena, CA 91106. Tel: (626) 683-0550.