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The 5 Top Tastes of July, 2018

This month's top tastes are global, but that's not surprising in an area as rich in ethnic cooking as Los Angeles and surrounding communities. The five dishes represent five countries: Korea, Vietnam, Jordan, Turkey and Armenia, in locations ranging from Los Angeles to Fountain Valley and Westminster. 


1.Dwehjee boolgogi bakban (spicy grilled pork) at Gamja Bawi in the food court of the Koreatown Plaza. You get a huge serving of delicious spicy pork along with seaweed soup, rice and assorted pickles. And the atmosphere is lively and fun. 

Koreatown Plaza, 928 W. Western Ave., LosAngeles, CA 90006.

2. Banh Tom Co Ngu--Shrimp-fried yam at Ha Noi Avenue in Westminster. This tangle of crispy fries embedded with shrimp existed in Vietnam long before sweet potato fries became trendy here. You pull these apart, dip them in sweet-tangy nuoc cham sauce, add any seasonings or greens you like and munch happily until the pile is gone.

Ha Noi Avenue, 8432 Westminster Blvd., Westminster, CA 92683. (714) 898-8838. 

3. Kibbeh at Oasis Mediterranean Cuisine. These pointy spheres are made of beef, lamb, onions and pine nuts ground together and coated with bulgur wheat. They're hot, crisp, and a delightful example of the restaurant's Jordanian food. 

Oasis Mediterranean Cuisine, 1663 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035. (310) 276-2747.

4. Stuffed Simit at Ikram Bakery and Deli in Fountain Valley.  Simit is the famous sesame-sprinkled Turkish ring bread. Here, the dough is made into flat rectangles rather than rings and filled with feta cheese and parsley, mozzarella or olives.  Ikram has simit rings too.  

Ikram Bakery & Grill,  9895 Warner Ave., Suite F, Fountain Valley, CA 92708. (714) 964-5726.  

5. Choereg is an Armenian Easter bread flavored with mahlep. At Moonlight Pizza & Chicken, which is really an Armenian restaurant rather than a pizzeria, choereg comes in cookie form. Fresh from the oven when I bought them, these handmade golden twists were only slightly sweet, perfect with tea or coffee or alongside dessert. 

Moonlight Pizza & Chicken, 9895 Warner Ave, Fountain Valley, CA 92708. (714) 963-4488.     

Big Wines from a Tiny Oregon AVA

This is Oregon wine country at it's best--a glorious Pinot Noir paired with an equally glorious view.

The wine is from Brandborg Vineyard & Winery in Elkton, a tiny AVA in the far northwest of the Umpqua Valley in southern Oregon. There are just seven labels in the  Elkton AVA (American Viticultural Area), which was established in 2013, and Brandborg is one of only two producing wineries there.

This view is from the deck of the Brandborg home on the estate vineyard outside the town of Elkton. The chilly cloudy day shows why this area is so hospitable to cool weather grapes. Climate-wise, it's comparable to Alsace or Burgundy, said winemaker Terry Brandborg, who is the current president of the Umpqua Valley Winegrowers Association. 

After a vineyard tour, Brandborg (above) poured his 2014 Ferris Wheel Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir. The light color is deceptive. The wine is loaded with character, because Brandborg really knows what to do with grapes.

He's self-taught and hands-on, starting as a home winemaker in the San Francisco Bay area, where he worked as a longshoreman. In those days, he recalled, "I had my hippy friends over for a grape stomp in the driveway." 

After he was licensed to sell commercially, in 1986, his wine was picked up by a high-profile distributor impressed by a Graves style Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend. At that time, Brandborg wine was showing up in restaurants such as Chez Panisse. 

The early days of hawking sample bottles around San Francisco are long past. Now there's a handsome tasting room and winery on the main street of Elkton, which Brandborg designed (above).

Here's a look at the tasting room, where you can taste the wine, buy local products, and hear occasional music performances.  Brandborg and wife Sue both cook for an annual five-course nouveau release dinner in the winery.

The Brandborgs settled in Elkton after a two-year search for property in California and Oregon. They bought 145 acres at Elkton, complete with a three-bedroom house, "for the same price as 20 acres with no improvements in the Anderson Valley," Brandborg said. 

Just five acres of the estate vineyard, which is located at a cool 1,000 feet, are now planted. Twenty-five more acres have been cleared, and 20 of those are plantable, Brandborg said. 

For the first four years after buying the land in 2002, he and Sue (above) did all the work, bringing production up to 6,000 cases. They have now reached 10,000 cases, made with both estate and purchased fruit. Most of the fruit comes from the Elkton AVA. They also custom make wine for other labels.

Assisting are two full time and one part time employee as well as picking crews and local help for bottling. 

Back at the tasting room, Brandborg conducted a tasting, starting with the 2015 Fleur de Lis, a White Pinot Noir made "for the fun of it," the label says.

Then in came lunch, prepared by Sue Brandborg. To go with the wines, she came up with an asparagus quiche with a touch of goat cheese, homemade cucumber and onion pickles and a salad of local lettuce, grapefruit, pepitas and chives, mint and oregano that grow alongside the winery building. 

With this, we tasted a completely dry Pinot Gris--"our oyster wine," Terry Brandborg said. (It's in the photo with Sue Brandborg).

Next up was the lightly sweet 2013 Riesling--the 2012 Riesling was the first wine bottled after Elkton became an AVA.


Then came a standout, the 2014 Gewürztraminer, a rich full wine at 14.2 % alcohol, made with grapes from two Elkton vineyards.  "It's the single best bottle you can buy for Thanksgiving, because it works with everything on the plate," Brandborg said

The final wine was the 2014 Pinot Noir from the Hundredth Valley Vineyard, the most western of the Hundred Valleys of the Umpqua, which is a nickname for the Umpqua Valley.  

Wines such as Brandborg's may tempt more to try their luck in Elkton. For now, this is a rural area, hilly, green, and quiet. The town of Elkton has only 170 inhabitants and few attractions for tourists. In other words, it's still unspoiled. The nearest large city is Portland, a three-hour drive away, which is too far for all but the most determined weekend wine tasters.  

Brandborg Vineyard & Winery, 345 First St., Elkton, OR 97436. (541) 584-2870.  

A New Look at Southern Cooking

Southern cooking today isn't just grits, fried chicken, peach cobbler and the like.  

It's also Chinese char siu pork, Mexican posole, Thai larb, Venezuelan arepas and Korean grilled beef ribs.

These are among the 80 recipes in "Secrets of the Southern Table" by Virginia Willis, a book that is as much about diversity as it is about food.

Willis (above) is a classically French-trained chef and author of five other cookbooks including "Lighten Up Y'all," which won a James Beard award.

Born in Augusta, Georgia, she notes that people outside the South don't understand it. As a result, she gets saddled with old-fashioned expectations. 

For TV appearances to promote the new book, she's asked to make biscuits rather than something that would reflect the subtitle, "A Food Lovers Tour of the Global South."

Of course the book includes biscuits and a 12-photo layout on how to make them and also recipes for gumbo Z'herbes, Nashville hot grilled chicken, peach upside-down cake and other regional favorites. 

But Willis wanted to present the South as it really is, a fascinating conglomeration of cultures in an area one million miles square.

The Chinese have been in the Mississippi Delta since the 1860s, when they came to supply labor after emancipation of the slaves, she said during a talk at Melissa's Produce.

By 1870, there were more Italians in New Orleans than anywhere else in the United States. Birmingham attracted a large Greek population. Mexicans came to work for Kentucky horse farms. And the war in Vietnam brought in so many Vietnamese that Houston is now the second largest Viet settlement after California.

Some global recipes have acquired southern flavor. There is ketchup in the char siu glaze, for example, and Georgia peanuts in larb. The reverse is true too, as shown by lemongrass in Cajun BBQ Shrimp, basmati or jasmine rice in jambalaya and fresh ginger in the green beans she is showing here instead of the usual bacon, fat back or hog jowl. 

True southern cuisine is basically agricultural, Willis said, and so the book deals with farms and food producers, local products, cooks, markets and eating places as well as recipes, captured in enticing photographs by Angie Mosier.

At Melissa's, a Mexican chocolate pudding with bourbon cream was a top draw--"one of the best things I've ever had," said one enthusiast. The Mexican touch comes from cinnamon and a dash of cayenne. Here is the recipe. 

MEXICAN CHOCOLATE PUDDING WITH BOURBON CREAM
From "Secrets of the Southern Table" by Virginia Willis

6 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream plus 1/2 cup for topping
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon bourbon

Whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, espresso powder, cinnamon, cayenne and salt in a saucepan. In a large measuring cup, combine 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, the milk and vanilla. Add to the saucepan and whisk until smooth.

Place the saucepan over medium heat. Cook, whisking continuously, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the chocolate and cook, whisking continuously, until the chocolate has melted, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Whisk in the butter until melted. Divide the mixture equally among 6 serving dishes such as dessert coupes or ramekins.  To prevent a skin from forming, place plastic wrap directly against the surface of each pudding. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. 

To make the bourbon cream, combine 1/2 cup heavy cream and bourbon in a large bowl. Refrigerate, along with a whisk, for at least 15 minutes. Once chilled, beat the cream with the chilled whisk until it holds soft peaks, 3 to 5 minutes.

When the pudding is chilled completely, top each glass with a spoonful of bourbon cream and dust with cocoa powder. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings.