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My Five Top Tastes of February 2018

Korean steamed dumplings from a restaurant in a market head this month's top tastes. Representing Indian fusion are spicy Punjabi tacos. Because it's Lent, you can try tortitas de camarón, a Mexican specialty for the season.

Then come two desserts, luscious--and healthy--blueberry cheesecake, and a super rich flan that originated in the Philippines. 
 
1. The boiled pork dumplings at Wool Um Ma Restaurant are so flavorful they'd be good even without the soy sauce and vinegar dip. Tender, silky wrappers and plenty of filling make them even more outstanding. Bright yellow radish pickles also come with the order of 15 dumplings. They're so light you won't feel stuffed after eating so many. 

Wool Um Ma Restaurant is inside HK Market, 124 N. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90004. (323) 469-9329.  

2. Punjabi tacos at Radhika Modern Indian in South Pasadena. These are genuine tacos, with plenty of meat wrapped in two small corn tortillas. A heady dash of Indian spices is what makes them Punjabi. The usual Mexican taco garnishes--tomatoes, onion and cilantro--are also mixed with the meat. Lamb goes especially well with the bold seasonings, but you can have chicken instead.

Radhika Modern Indian restaurant, 966 Mission St, South Pasadena, CA 91030. (626) 799-2200. 

3. Tortitas de camarón, or dried shrimp fritters, are traditional for lent in Mexico. Available in the hot foods section of Northgate Gonzalez Market, the soft, puffy fritters come with nopales (cactus strips) and a red chile sauce.  

Northgate Gonzalez Market, 2323 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006, (213) 249-9173. 

4. Who could resist luscious blueberry cheesecake from Sarah's Organic Gourmet?  Like Sarah's other cheesecakes, it's organic, gluten free, raw, vegan, kosher, soy free and dairy free (the creamy layer is cashew paste). These are samples served earlier this month at the Kosher Wine & Food Experience.

Sarah's cheesecakes are produced and packaged at Got Kosher?, 8914 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035. Call (323) 643-3163 or go to www.sarahsorganicgourmet.com. 

5. This Japanese flan at Izakaya in West Hollywood is actually Filipino, created by chef Kennen Navarro, who was born in the Philippines. It's as rich as you can get, made with egg yolks rather than whole eggs, condensed and evaporated milks and infused lightly with lemon peel. The whipped cream on top is flavored with pandan. 

Izakaya by Slowfish, 8267 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046. (323) 745-0533.

Something New--Greek/Sonoma Wine

Georgós wines are Greek, sort of. They're also as American as Sonoma County.

To explain, Georgós Zanganas, company founder (above), came up with the idea of producing bona fide Greek wines. And in Sonoma, which is an easy trip from San Francisco, where he lives. 

What makes the wines Greek? Zanganas ships grape juice from Greece to California in 1,000 liter bladders (an odd but apt word to link with wine.)

The juice goes to Deerfield Winery in Sonoma, where winemaker Robert Rex completes the wines. 

Some consist entirely of Greek grape juice. Some blend in California grapes. The legal standard for a varietal wine is that it must contain 75 % of the grape named. Other grapes used don't have to be listed. The back labels of Georgós wines offer generic, romantic information but not blending details. This is legal, but it would be nice to know more. 

For example, the red wine Mykonos (above) is predominantly the red grape Agiorgitiko (St. George grape). Cabernet and Malbec are blended in, but the proportions aren't listed "because that would have crowded the label," Zanganas said, adding "we will do a better job with the next vintage." 

At an LA Wine Writers lunch at Cafe del Rey, Mykonos accompanied a seared scallop paired with butternut squash puree and tomato agridolce (above).

At home, I've served Mykonos and the Aphrodite's Kiss dry rosé (above) with spicy Indian and Mexican dishes, and they were good matches for that sort of food. The rosé is also made from Agiorgitiko.

The sole white wine in Georgós' latest releases is Santorini, subtitled "Sophia's Smile." Dry and crisp, it's made from the grape Assyrtiko, and Zanganas compares it to a dry Sauvignon Blanc. 

Corfu, a Cabernet blend, is fruity, soft and low in tannins. Easy drinking, it's perhaps not the best match for hearty meats, but enjoyable if you like a wine that gives the impression of sweetness. 

The same goes for Ithaka, a blend of California Cabernet and "old world grapes" (what are they?).

Zanganas emphasizes that his wines are low in histamines and sulfites, and they tend to be lower in alcohol. The labels say they're bottled by "Nu Greek Wine," which indicates this newer, health-minded approach. One reason for this is that Zanganas himself is allergic to sulfites. Now he can enjoy his own wines without any unpleasant side effects.

How to Practice Kitchen Creativity

Read "Kitchen Creativity," the new book by Karen Page, and you're likely to come away with:

A yoga position.

A meditation practice.

Quotes by Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle.

And a lot of miscellaneous information about food and chefs.

Page, known for such landmark books as "The Flavor Bible" and "Culinary Artistry," and Andrew Dornenburg, her husband and photographer, have dedicated this new book to chefs and how they create.

They've come up with a collection of random information that you can dip into now and then for an entertaining snippet. Or you can check out lists such as blue food, red food, winter food, ingredients that add sweetness, umami ingredients and so forth.

When the couple appeared at Melissa's Produce, Page talked about presenting the essence of a dish in a new way. For example, the caramel apples in the photo could be transformed into an apple martini rimmed with caramel and chopped nuts. 

Or gazpacho (above) could be modified by changing its essential acidic element, usually tomato, to something else, such as Wolfgang Puck's carrot-orange gazpacho.

The three stages of creativity, each with a section in the book, start with mastering skills. Next is alchemy, "converting the common into the precious," the book says. The final stage is creating from scratch something that is "new, useful and surprising," the hallmarks of creativity, according to Page. 

A simple example at "Melissa's" was grilled "chicken-on-the-side" Caesar salad, shown on the plate along with gazpacho, which was elevated by garnishing with grilled shrimp, and garlic mashed potatoes. 

Tools include lists of ingredients favored by top chefs and what they consider the top 20 culinary books. 

Another list, "The Kitchen Creativity 50," gives 50 quick tricks for transforming a dish into something new. 

An A to Z section covers a grab bag of topics including Ayurveda, chickpea water, Ramadan, social consciousness, Super Bowl and waffles, but not potatoes, soup, ghee, tofu or vegan.  It's for browsing, not a comprehensive guide.

The international cuisines listed under Ramadan represent countries with large Muslim populations that observe Ramadan. The book doesn't explain this, though. Like other lists in the book, it's shorthand to nudge the brain into action. 

Photo by Andrew Dornenburg

The yoga position? Check the photo of Rick Bayless doing a hand stand on a kitchen counter. The meditation practice?  Mindfulness and meditation provide the calmness that allows fresh ideas to come forth. Two pages in the book are allotted to comments on meditation by Eric Ripert, who has a meditation room in his home.

The Chopra and Tolle quotes? These and other non-food philosophical remarks provide encouragement and enlightenment. "One of the most important ways to triple your creativity is through choosing to be happy," Page said. 

You'll like this book if you're a chef follower, a high-end food admirer, a cooking show devotee, a student of the creative process and/or a fan of previous books by Page and Dornenburg. 

It's not a how-to guide and contains no recipes. As Page says, it's "a brainstorming tool," a collection of check lists and chef tips to help when you want to do something more than throw dinner together at the last minute.