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Fast Moving Chefs at Minestraio

Sometimes the worst table in a restaurant is the best.

This happened at Minestraio when I wound up at a table that faced the kitchen door. I missed the scene in the main room, but I watched a better show--chef/owner Gino Angelini in action.

The pressure was heavy. Angelini and executive chef Gianluca Sarti were cooking for an Italian delegation in town to promote next year's World Figure Skating Championships in Turin.

The visitors had talked about the glories of Piedmont, the region in which Turin is located. Now it was up to the chefs to show off the cuisine. A chef from Piedmont had drawn up the menu, but they had to devise the recipes. 

As the door swung open, I watched Angelini orchestrate every course, check every tray of plates headed for the tables, constantly moving, bobbing up and down, running back and forth, calling out instructions.

My blurry photos make the point. Angelini never stopped, certainly not for a camera. Sarti was deeper in the kitchen, I couldn't see him through the crack in the door.

While the guests relaxed and sipped Gavi and Barbera d'Alba, the chefs sent out battuto di vitello, marinated chopped raw veal with a pale green celery sauce and shavings of Parmesan cheese.

Bagna cauda, Piedmont's famous anchovy and garlic dip, became a dressing for shredded Savoy cabbage and roasted red pepper.

The last of three antipasti was an ethereal molded carrot pudding surrounded by a velvety sauce made with  Piedmont's  Grana Padano cheese.

Next came risotto, chewy grains of rice cooked with Barolo wine. Plain and undecorated, just a flat circle of dark rice on a white plate, it was like a woman so beautiful she wore no gems to distract from her perfection.

Cream of zucchini soup had unexpected assertive flavors. The chefs had blended the cooled soup with extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan and served it at room temperature.

The main course was veal that had been marinated for 48 hours with red wine, aromatic vegetables, rosemary, sage and thyme and then braised. Its accompaniments were golden roasted potatoes and spinach flan.

To show off Piedmont's hazelnut crop, the chefs had decided on a hazelnut cake bathed with pale yellow zabaglione flavored with Piedmont's Moscato d'Asti, the wine poured with the dessert. 

And then dinner was over and Angelini and Sarti burst out to take their bows. The applause was rousing for these stars of an edible drama.

"Bravo, Gino." "Bravo Gianluca." Many thanks for a delicious performance. 

Minestraio Trattoria, 8384 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048. Tel: (323) 782-8384.

Tasting the Wines of Luigi Bosca

How nice to be back in Argentina, drinking sumptuous Malbecs. Well, I wasn't actually in Argentina but at Carlitos Gardel, the very model of a Buenos Aires cafe, only it's on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. 

Tango music played in the background, and glass after glass of Argentine wine appeared on my table. I wasn't binging. I had come to taste the wines of Bodega Luigi Bosca, a winery in Mendoza, Argentina.

Nine were being poured that night in flights of two whites and six reds, plus an additional Malbec that wasn't on the program.

It was a sentimental reencounter. The last time I tasted Bosca wines was two years ago in Mendoza, at the winery itself. And twice I brought home Bosca Malbecs from Buenos Aires, praying that the bottles wouldn't shatter in my suitcase.

Those were D.O.C. wines, from older grapevines than the reservas.  D.O.C. (Denominacion de Origen Controlada) governs location, age of vineyards, the amount of aging in oak and in the bottle and so forth, to set apart superior wines.

But enough of technicalities. On to wine and Argentinian food. Gardel's tasting menu suggested small plates to accompany the wines, a typically Argentinian mix of  Italian, Spanish and Argentinian dishes.

These included empanadas, stuffed mushrooms in red wine sauce, chorizo with salsa criolla, mushroom ravioli, gambas al ajillo (shrimp with garlic), cordero al Malbec (grilled lamb chops marinated with garlic, herbs and Malbec) and entranita, or grilled skirt steak. 

What surprised me among the wines was the two whites. I order mostly reds in Argentina, but these were so pleasant I realize that I have been missing out.

The first was the 2007 Sauvignon Blanc Reserva Maipu. When I was at Bosca, 2007 was predicted to be a great year, barring heavy rains and floods. Obviously the weather held, judging by this delightfully fruity wine, dry and without harsh grapegruit or vegetative flavors.

Luigi Bosca has introduced a line of premium blended wines labeled Gala. The 2006 Gala 3 blends 50% Viognier with 40% Chardonnay and 10% Riesling.

When I tasted this at the bodega, less than a year after the grapes were picked, it was bright and fresh, with flowery notes from Viognier, tropical fruits and a touch of oak from Chardonnay and honey and mineral tones from Riesling. Two years later, I would describe it the same way.

The reds were two Malbecs, two Malbec blends, a Bordeaux blend and a young and fresh Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva, Finca El Paraiso, Maipu 2005.

The 2005 D.O.C. Malbec, the very wine that I brought home last year, was thrown in as an extra. I was chagrined to find that the price in the United States is only a dollar or two more than I paid in Buenos Aires, which means lugging that wine back to my hotel from the shop and exposing the contents of my suitcase to a possible red flood was a waste of time.

Maximiliano Bozoghlian of Carlitos Gardel brought from his own cellar bottles of Malbec Reserva Vistalba, Lujan de Cuyo 2002. His idea was to show how age matures the wine.

The 2005 reserva was refined and dry, showing elegant fruit and minerality, unlike plushy, popular, low-priced Malbecs. (This is not to criticize those inexpensive wines. "It is impossible to find a bad Malbec in Mendoza," a  winemaker from that region said proudly.)

The 2002 was softer, with earthy tones of age and stewed fruit rather than fresh young fruit. Full of life, with good acidity and tannins, it is expected to continue on for another five to 10 years. But alas, it is sold out.

The two red Galas offered a choice beween a Bordeaux blend (85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot) and a blend of 85% Malbec, 10% Petit Verdot and 5% Tannat.

I put a checkmark by Gala 2, the Bordeaux blend, because I thought it was so nice. The Gala line is blended for aging and international appeal.

The most expensive wine, at around $50, was a Malbec Verdot, Finca Los Nobles 2002, made from the two varietals fermented together, reflecting the way they grow in the vineyard. The grapes came from vines close to 90 years old, which indicates the long history of Malbec in Argentina.

Malbec wines are made in other parts of the Western Hemisphere.  I have collected bottles from the Valle de Guadalupe in Mexico (Monte Xanic) from California (Chateau St. Jean)  and Oregon (Abacela).

But in Mendoza, the grapes thrive on hot sun, little rain, rocky soil and mineral-laden water from the Andes, conditions that aren't quite the same anywhere else. 

Carlitos Gardel Restaurant, 7963 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046. Tel: (323) 655-0891. Aside from the tasting, the restaurant has a long wine list, with many bottles from Argentina.

My Lunch with Charlie

I've not traveled in the Middle East, nor am I very familiar with those cuisines. So when former L.A. Times food section colleague Charles Perry suggested that we meet for lunch at a Lebanese restaurant in Glendale, I was eager to go.

Charlie has studied Arabic in Lebanon, speaks and translates the language and knows how the cuisines vary from one country to another, not only now, but for centuries past.

The place he chose was Skaf's on Chevy Chase, a branch of the original Skaf's in Burbank. The restaurant was dark, crowded and noisy. People were lined up waiting for tables, a good sign.

Charlie ordered, and soon our table was covered with dishes so full of flavor and variety and rich in tradition that I wish I could relive that lunch--often.

We started with cold grape leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables. "Mellow flavor," Charlie observed, approving the way the plate was decorated with paprika. Then we had maanek, small Lebanese sausages that tasted of lemon and sweet spices.

Thinking back to the year he spent in a Lebanese mountain village, Charlie wanted a dish that he ate often in those days. This was kibbeh labanieh--three spherical dumplings of fine bulgur wheat and meat in a bowl of garlicky yogurt sauce.

Generously, he gave me a taste. And I could see why he was homesick for this soulful, comforting food.

His choice for me was chicken shawarma, chicken cooked on a vertical spit and sliced off when just done so that the meat was moist rather than stringy and dry. 

Impregnated with savory seasonings, the chicken was so good that I ate little of the tahineh and garlic sauces that came with it. I didn't want anything to interefere with the flavor.

Ordering a lunch plate at Skaf's brings a hefty assortment of food. A basket held more hot pita than we could eat. Hommos, with a hollow in the center to hold olive oil, came in a traditional red pottery bowl. Shredded cabbage salad had a wonderful dressing of lemon juice and olive oil, garlic, parsley and mint.

This was Old World food, natural,robust and served liberally, as if Mom were in the kitchen making sure that the family had enough to eat. 

Charlie went on to dinner with friends. How could he do that after eating so much, I wondered. I went home with enough leftovers for one more memorable meal--but not that night.

Skaf's Lebanese Cuisine, 367 N. Chevy Chase, Glendale, CA 91206. Tel: (818) 551-5540. Open 11 a.. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed on Sunday.

A Gritty Downtown Taco Walk

It can be pretty gritty, walking deep in downtown Los Angeles. My friend and I picked up our pace when a guy started to yell crazily behind us. We hurried past cheap hotels and a few shops, clutching our purses. In the street, fire trucks were dealing with some sort of emergency.

Why were we there? It's simple. We were hungry. We wanted fish tacos. And Jerry's Mexican Grill has them.

Jerry's is in the new Santee Village Food Court at the corner of Los Angeles and Seventh Streets. It's part of a loft development at the north edge of the L.A. Fashion District. 

The court is a safe place, comfortably gentrified. There's even a lounge with overstuffed chairs at the back.

Jerry's is at the front. It's a stand with the usual Mexican fast food--burritos, tacos, enchiladas and a salsa bar.

Our fish tacos were huge, thanks to heaps of shredded cabbage mixed with sour cream on top. Underneath were fried, batter-coated chunks of red snapper. Although buried in that wet mass, the fish remained crisp, which earns Jerry's good marks. The cabbage was fresh and crisp too. 

The small soft corn tortillas underneath fell apart quickly though. There was no way to fold them around the filling, so we wound up eating fried fish and cabbage salad with a side of tattered tortillas.

It wasn't your usual taco experience, but a pretty good lunch anyway, despite the perils of getting there. That can be avoided with a phone call. Jerry's delivers.  

Fish tacos are $2.50 each at Jerry's Mexican Grill, 720 S. Los Angeles St. (In Santee Village Food Court), Los Angeles, CA, 90014. Tel: (213) 624-8226. Open daily from 7 a.m to 5 p.m. 

 

A Stimulus to Eat at Lago

You can have a stimulus package right now at Locanda del Lago in Santa Monica.

This Italian restaurant on the Third Street Promenade has set a blackboard outside advertising its stimulus menu--two courses for $15. This would be a high price for "poor" food prepared in massive quantities, as if Lago were a trendy soup kitchen.

But there's no economizing here. "Stimulate your cravings, not your wallet," the menu says.

Instead of bulky, grainy dishes and tough, gristly meats, you get high end food such as vitello tonnato (chilled veal tenderloin with creamy tuna-caper aioli), tiger shrimp wrapped with Parma prosciutto, a salad of grilled chicken breast with warm Gorgonzola dressing and toasted walnuts, and a "Euro" burger blanketed with Robiola cheese on a good bun.

These are four out of nine main dishes. The three starters are similarly ambitious. Well, there is a green salad, but, judging by the rest of the food, it must be quite good. The soup is an unusual cream of Savoy cabbage with fried Brussels sprouts, topped with long thin ciabatta croutons.

The third choice, a meal in itself, lets you choose anything you want from the tavola freddo, the chilled appetizer buffet.

There were so many choices that I had to leave several behind. My plate was already handsomely filled with grilled eggplant, marinated mushrooms, sliced sweet peppers, tomato slices with fresh mozzarella and basil, a frittata wedge, a tomato half stuffed with risotto and several slices of bresaola--dark red, air-dried salted beef accompanied by arugula and shaved Parmesan.

After this I ordered pizzoccheri alla Valtellinese, or pappardelle (made at the restaurant with buckwheat flour) combined with fried fresh sage sprigs, finely diced Yukon gold potatoes, garlic and a Bitto cheese sauce. The pasta arrived covered with a single leaf of braised Savoy cabbage, like a pretty green, edible dome.

There was no skimping, no eliminating of extras.  The waiter brought a basket of good, warm bread, butter and a container of olive oil.

Like other shoppers, my friends and I had dropped in because we liked the look of the restaurant and the menu. And we stayed for a long time, enjoying the pleasant, open space. 

The challenge to our stimulus savings was the dessert menu. We simply couldn't resist a semifreddo di zabaglione, a small cake of frozen hazelnut ice cream topped with a bright yellow slice of star fruit and a mint sprig and surrounded by swirls of caramel sauce.

Economizing on calories and budgets, we split the semifreddo four ways, adding $2.25 to each of our stimulus lunches, a small sum for such a beautiful creamy dessert.

Locanda del Lago, 231 Arizona Ave. in the Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Tel: (310) 451-3525.

A Big Crowd at Little Dom's

Restaurants are closing right and left. Where are the customers? A lot of them are in Little Dom's, which was so mobbed on a weekday night that you'd never guess a recession was in progress.

When tables emptied, they filled again. And the buzz was ear-splitting, not from bad acoustics but from so many people crowded into a small, cozy space.  Actually two spaces--a bar lined with booths and the restaurant itself, which is closely packed with booths, small window tables and larger tables in the center.

A third room contains a deli stocked with homemade pasta and sauces, sandwiches, deli salads and desserts. It's open during the day. 

Novelty isn't the attraction, because Little Dom's has been open for more than a year. The location is good--Hillhurst Avenue near Los Feliz, a lively restaurant strip with more places to come, including a Korean barbecue restaurant that will occupy some of the empty space next to Little Dom's.

The food is what everybody likes--pizza and pasta, plus interesting appetizers, salads and seasonal specials. 

Monday bargain suppers--three courses for $15--cater to the weak economy.

The March 16 supper will include fried green tomatoes, red bean and andouille risotto and banana gelato with Banana's Foster sauce.

Chef and co-owner Brandon Boudet is from New Orleans and freely mixes Creole and Cajun tastes with Italian.

This results in fusion dishes such as risotto "Jambalaya," grilled orata (gilthead seabream), a fish popular in Italy, paired with crawfish tails, fresh fava beans and roasted tomato, and spicy linguine with New Orleans style barbecued crawfish.

That linguine was one of the best dishes I had, a cohesive blend of flavors and ingredients.

Other dishes were rich, fried and cheesy, which made a simple presentation of farmer's market baby carrots a standout. A grilled artichoke appetizer was also appealing, although the leaves had little meat to chew on. 

That night's specials included sticks of polenta and mascarpone that looked like fat French fries, accompanied by a three-cheese dip (taleggio, gorgonzola dolce and parmigiano). Rich indeed, but the polenta "fries" were surprisingly light.

Rich and light blended in a salad of firm, sweet fuyu persimmon with arugula, balsamic dressing and a golden-brown square of fried fontina cheese.

A foodie friend who was leaving as I came in raved about pappardelle, long strips of pasta combined with small mounds of ricotta, crumbled fennel-flavored sausage made at the restaurant, and chewy fresh green peas. 

Not everything was perfect. Pizza Margherita with herbed ricotta was a little bland, and the topping quickly softened the thin crisp crust. And a few rancid pine nuts had sneaked into the topping for my dessert, torta della nonna with blackberry sauce and sweet cream gelato.

This wouldn't stop me from going back. Little Dom's is warm and cheerful, dark and old fashioned, like a well-seasoned corner bistro. The attention to fresh seasonal foods, farmers market produce and local products such as burrata from South El Monte outweighs the random mishap.

Little Dom’s,  2128 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027.  Tel: (323) 661-0055. Open daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for breakfast and lunch. Dinner is 6 to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. The deli is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Sneaking Wine in Pondicherry

There we were, two tourist bums sitting on Pondicherry's seawall, drinking wine hidden in a bag. 

Pondicherry (now Puducherry)  is in South India, and therefore the wine was Indian--Grover Vineyards Cabernet-Shiraz, produced from grapes grown on the slopes of the Nandi Hills near Bangalore.

I had met Margaret at an ayurvedic spa outside Bangalore, and we ran into each other again in Pondicherry, a former French colony on the Bay of Bengal below Chennai.

I was staying in an ashram guest house, where liquor was not allowed, so Margaret volunteered to pick up a bottle at a shop near her hotel.

In the cool of the evening, when Pondicherry's residents parade along the sea, we sipped our wine discreetly, checking out the wares of itinerant vendors--I bought a wooden flute--and sharing our rupees with beggars.

When we were finished, we gave the bottle and the two plastic bags that it was wrapped in to a beggar woman. She carefully tied the bags around her bare right foot to use as a shoe and hobbled away.

I didn't taste that wine again until a couple of days ago, this time in Los Angeles. A friend from Mumbai had given me a bottle.

"Best served with spicy food," the label said, and so I cooked an Indian dinner to go with it. It was simple food, chicken rubbed with a spice masala, roasted potatoes, the way an Indian friend makes them  (the recipe appears below), and spinach puree as prepared by the late film producer Ismail Merchant, a master at making Indian cookery easy and accessible. 

My notes from Pondicherry described the wine as "surprisingly good, very smooth and drinkable." At home, it tasted rustic and a little wild, and it needed the highly seasoned food to tone it down.

Grover exports its wines, and I've seen them at Indian restaurants in Los Angeles. But that first bottle, so charged with the enchantment of being in India, will always be my favorite.

MIRA'S ROAST POTATOES

1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspon herbes de Provence or any dried herb mixture
1/2 teaspoon salt
Generous dash freshly ground black pepper
1 pound small red potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the coriander, curry powder, garlic powder, cumin, mixed herbs, salt and pepper in a small dish and mix well.

Scrub the potatoes, trim and cut in half, but do not peel.

Place the potatoes in a baking pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Sprinkle with the olive oil, then with the spice mixture and turn to coat them evenly with the seasonings.

Arrange the potatoes cut side down in the pan. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes, or until tender and the cut side is browned.

Makes 4 servings. 

Tasting the Best of Japan

If you go to Sushi Roku, you will probably never eat what I did--baby anchovy rolls, the anchovies as tiny as threads, and shrimp shooters with sake and wasabi.

That's because Sushi Roku prepared these dishes only for the Japanese Food & Sake Festival last night (March 5) at the Hyatt Regency Orange County in Garden Grove.

Tastings were liberal at this 70-booth presentation of Japan's finest food and drink, meaning you should not miss next year's festival.

Restaurant fare ranged from innovative to classic.

Sushi so diminutive that you needed a magnifying glass to examine it attracted attention at Kitayama Restaurant's  booth.

Fit for a doll's house, the nigiri sushi and minuscule rolls were cute, but delicate roses, or were they camellias, fashioned of thin pink scallop petals were enchantingly beautiful.

Ronin Izakaya Bistro went fusion with homemade tortilla chips topped with sea urchin sashimi, guacamole and shiitake mushrooms, seasoned with mild wasabi and homemade teriyaki sauce--a lot of things on a little chip.

Fusion is automatic for the three Oki Doki restaurants, which have Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese chefs. Oki Doki served glazed shrimp with mayonnaise and crisp pork rolls.

Musha Tokyo Cuisine offered braised pork belly so soft and delicious that I wanted  to dump all the little cups of it into one bowl and eat nothing but that. Alongside was a soy-based vegetarian equivalent that wasn't equivalent at all.

Mishima served pretty red shiso martinis made with soju and shiso juice in glasses rimmed with red shiso crumbs. Its bento boxes of delicately seasoned vegetables--edamame, green beans, burdock and pumpkin--were charming.

On the classic side, Katsu-ya presented perfect nigiri sushi. Nothing could be finer than that. And the Shin-Sen-Gumi Restaurant Group of yakitori restaurants gave out generous portions of cubed and ground chicken on sticks.

The crowd became so great that I missed the booths of Tokyo Table and Gyu-Kaku, as well as traditional style ramen noodles as prepared at Chibaki-ya in Tokyo. However, restaurants were only part of the show.

Food products, some available in Japanese markets, some only for the restaurant trade, occupied many booths. And there was a sea of sake as well as Japanese beers and endless samples of green tea.

Among the standouts were rare Amaou variety strawberries from Fukuoka Prefecture in southwestern Japan, silky noodles from Akita Prefecture in northern Japan and Sakamoto Kurozu's pleasant apple-flavored vinegar drink (mix 1 ounce of this with 4 to 5 ounces of milk and it turns into yogurt, they told me).

Genuine wagyu beef from Japan, cooked shabu shabu style. was as tender as one would expect.

Ceviche with yuzu kosho sauce (kosho means green chile) was interesting. And I liked pureed pickled ume (Japanese sour plum) on crisp crackers, a nice change from the all-too-common tapenade.

Okinawa's booth presented a refreshing beverage made from Okinawa's unique citrus, Shikwasa (Citrus depressa). High in antioxidants, this small orange and green fruit looks like a cross between an orange and a lime. The booth also displayed packets of mineral-rich  sea salt pulled up from great depths and lower in sodium than many sea salts.

Ordinarily, I pass up tofu, but I'm glad I didn't miss Johnny brand soft tofu in little cups with avocado and soy dressing. This was a perfect food pairing, the tofu creamy and pure in texture and taste. Johnny is a premium brand, much more expensive than most tofu, but worth whatever you have to pay, in my opinion.

Here is a mini Japanese restaurant guide, based on the restaurants that exhibited at the festival. They are listed in alphabetical order:

Chibaki-ya: Edogawa-ku, Higashi Kasai 6-15-2, Tokyo, Japan. Tel: 03-3675-3300. 

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ Dining: 10925 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064. Tel: (310) 234-8641. Also in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Sherman Oaks, Topanga Canyon, Torrance, Huntington Beach, Rancho Cucamonga, Hawaii and New York.

Katsu-ya Restaurant Group: 11680 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604. Tel: (818) 985-6976. Also in Encino, Glendale and Los Angeles.

Kitayama Restaurant: 101 Bayview Place, Newport Beach, CA 92660. Tel: (949) 725-0777.

Mishima: 8474 W. Third Street, No. 108, Los Angeles, CA 90048. Tel: (323) 782-0181

Musha Tokyo Cuisine: 424 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401. Tel: (310 (576-6330. 

Oki Doki: 3033 S. Bristol Street, No. O, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Tel: (714) 540-2066. Also in Garden Grove and Tustin.

Ronin Izakaya Bistro: 359 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90048. Tel: (310) 289-8404.

Shin-Sen-Gumi Yakitori Restaurant:  111 N. Atlantic Blvd. No. 248. Monterey Park, CA, 91754. Tel: (626) 943-7956. Other locations in Fountain Valley, Gardena, Rosemead, Torrance and Tokyo, Japan. 

Sushi Roku: 8445 W. Third Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048. Tel: (323) 655-6767. Also in Santa Monica, Pasadena, Las Vegas and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Tokyo Table: 50 N. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Tel: (310) 657-9500. Also in Arcadia and Irvine.