TableConversation.com

Sol Cocina Opens in Playa Vista

Sol Cocina opened splashily in Playa Vista with oceans of margaritas and a make-your-own guacamole bar stocked with things you may not have thought of adding to avocado, such as raspberries, blackberries and pineapple, chile-dusted dried mango, nopales and chipotle shrimp.

Already open for 10 days, the restaurant made it official with a party. It was great fun to watch as enthusiastic servers went back and forth with trays of margaritas, tequila shots, oyster shooters and more.

A taco bar turned out tacos of carne asada on a base of two small corn tortillas. What set them apart was a layer of cheese and chiles between the tortillas. You won't find that at your neighborhood taquería.

Next to these were fish tacos gobernador, with a lime-citrus aioli, melted cheeses and pico de gallo.

Jumbo peel and eat shrimp cucarachas are a Sol Cocina signature. They're roasted with garlic, lemon, chile and cotija cheese. On party night, you could eat as many as you wanted.

These esquites, seasoned corn kernels like they serve on the streets in Mexico, were the best I've tasted.

The Baja style seafood menu offers seafood samplers, fish, oysters, crab, shrimp, ceviche and more. But there are burritos, tortas, steak and ribs too, as well as tortilla soup and designer salads. 

Desserts such as a dark chocolate banana bread pudding and blondies may not be Mexican, but who cares when the blondies (above) are as good as they come?

The food is smart and contemporary, thanks to executive chef Deborah Schneider, who is a partner in the restaurant group.

I met Chef Deb on a culinary tour in Mexico when she was researching "The Mexican Slow Cooker," one of six cookbooks she has authored.  She's a hard worker, with great taste and depth in her approach to Mexican food.

That's apparent is this new Sol Cocina, which is the chain's third location. The restaurant occupies a corner in a brand new community of apartment blocks, home to smart tech types. Here, they'll find a pleasant escape from their cool, spartan environment.

The apartment buildings are so blank and similar, I wonder how they'll find where they live after an evening of Sol Cocina's margaritas, which are so spectacular, you can't help but try several.

If you like spicy, ask for a jalapeño/cucumber margarita.

Prefer sweet and fruity? Then go for Bubbles and Berries, composed of muddled strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, lime juice and agave with tequila, Cointreau and a splash of sparkling white wine.

Or slurp up a mango and chile frozen margarita, with a chile and salt rim.

You get the idea that Sol Cocina is bar-centric when, as you approach, you see this spectacular window of liquor bottles.

Inside, it's cozy and dark, with a glassed in kitchen that exhibits stacks of wood for grillng steak, lobster tails, corn and the like. At first, the restaurant was open only for dinner, but now you can have lunch there too. 

Sol Cocina Playa Vista,  12775 W Millennium Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90094. Tel: (424) 289-0066.

Chakra's Cool Blue Cocktail

If you're feeling low, achy, upset and just plain tired of it all, go to Chakra in Beverly Hills.

There, Happy Hour is really happy, because you can get a cocktail that will ease your complaints. 

Chakra has seven magical potions linked to the seven chakras that energize body and soul.

Was it a bad day at the office? Then try Sahasrara--Chakra Seven, which governs the top of the head and deals with thought, understanding, knowing and bliss. (Sipping citrus vodka, raspberry, lemon and Chambord does sound pretty blissful.) 

Or you could try Muladhara, inspired by Chakra One, the lowest of the chakras, which helps with grounding, stillness and survival.

After drinking this mixture of Absolut Citron, Grand Marnier, Chambord and cranberry juice, you may feel you can survive anything.

If you want to take your mind off everything, order Vishuddha, Chakra Five, above and at top. You'll be enchanted by its vibrant blue color, and after a few sips, you may feel creativity, expansion and excitement.

No wonder. Vishuddha is a stiff blend of vodka, tequila, light rum and Blue Curacao. 

If you get carried away and order a second Vishuddha, you'd better get some Happy Hour food, such as kebabs, chilli chicken, samosas, shrimp tikka and Chakra pepper duck.

Puffy papads and mint and mango chutneys (above) come with the drinks.

The cocktails are $7 during Happy Hour, which  is 4:30 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. The coolest place to have them is on Chakra's front patio. 

Chakra, 151 S. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Tel: (310) 246-3999.  

Celebrating with los Tres Reyes

The holidays are definitely not over. There's one more, which has several names--Epiphany, Twelfth Night or what I'll celebrate on January 6, El Día de los Tres Reyes (The Day of the Three Kings). All honor the day the kings presented their precious gifts to the Christ child.

I like the Latino holiday because of the delicious tastes involved. You can't celebrate without a rosca de reyes, a sweet ring bread decorated according to the baker's fancy. 

I get mine at La Morenita Bakery and Restaurant in Cypress Park, where head baker Alex Peña tops it with fruit pastes in three flavors--quince, guava and green apple--as well as preserved figs and maraschino cherries.

All except the cherries come from Oaxaca. Bands of sugar-flour paste, like that used on conchas, and splashes of sugar add to the festive look.

Each of these light, airy loaves contains a tiny figure of the Baby Jesus. If the baby turns up in your slice, you're obligated to give a party on February 2, which is El Día de la Candelaria, or Candlemas day. What you are supposed to serve is tamales, which you can also order from La Morenita. 

The bakery is turning out hundreds of roscas this week, and the competition to get them on the final day will be fierce. 

The traditional accompaniment is champurrado, a steaming hot, chocolate-flavored masa drink. I tried to buy some at La Morenita last year, but I got there so late, it was sold out. That meant I had to make my own, because the celebration wouldn't be complete without it.

La Morenita's Pepe Peña kindly sat down with me and explained what to do, even giving me a little ball of masa and a tablet of Abuelita chocolate to make sure I had the right ingredients. He recommends Abuelita because it is less greasy than other brands of Mexican chocolate.

Then I went home, made the champurrado (the recipe follows), cut a slice of rosca  lit a log in the old tiled fireplace and turned on the  Christmas tree, which sparkled with tin ornaments from Oaxaca.

There had to be Mexican music, and so I tuned the radio to La Ranchera.  And offered a warm, fuzzy toast to the tin Oaxacan kings on my Christmas tree.

It was a nice way to make Christmas last a little longer.

La Morenita Restaurant and Bakery,  1157-1159 Cypress Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065. Tel: (323) 222-7953.

PEPE PEÑA'S CHAMPURRADO

1/3 cup crushed piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar cones)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 segments from a tablet of  Mexican chocolate, which is about 1 ounce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon finely ground cinnamon stick
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup masa for tortillas
2 1/2 cups milk

Combine the piloncillo, sugar, chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until smooth. 

Combine the masa and milk in a blender and blend thoroughly. Add to the boiling mixture and cook until it comes to a boil again and thickens. Stir constantly, scraping up the bottom of the pan to prevent the masa from sticking and forming lumps. Serve very hot.

If leftover champurrado is refrigerated overnight, it will form a thick layer on top. Stir to blend and reheat.

Makes 4 cups, or 4 to 6 servings.

A Quesadilla Worth the Search

It was a great lunch, the sort of food you can find if you're willing to explore L.A.'s nooks and crannies.

La Guadalupana has only five small tables, two of them squeezed together to make a single table for four.

The sign in the window advertises squash flower quesadillas. This was promising, because the restaurant is in a Latino neighborhood.

Not just a promise, the quesadilla was excellent, a big, meaty flour tortilla stuffed with fresh squash flowers and Jack cheese and browned on the grill until the cheese melted.

The accompaniments were simple--squeeze bottles of mild green salsa and an orange salsa made explosively hot by chiles de arbol.

The drinks of the day were licuados of fresa and platano--strawberry and banana blender drinks.  If you order coffee, as I did, you make it yourself, with a bottle of Nescafe Clasico, a mug of milk and sugar.

A rerun of "La Fea Mas Bella," the Mexican predecessor of "Ugly Betty," was playing on the TV in the corner. 

The atmosphere was homey and pleasant. And a young guy working there spoke proudly of other quesadillas filled with huitlacoche or mushrooms, tinga (shredded meat) or chicharron to try on another visit.

Quesadillas are $4 at La Guadalupana, 1422 1/2 W. 6th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Tel: (213) 483-2973.  

Mariscos Chente's Shrimp Taco

Short of going to Mazatlán, the only place you can get this shrimp taco is Mariscos Chente's in Inglewood.

Either way, the trip is worth the effort, the taco is that good--and different. 

Called taco gobernador (the governor's taco), it's the work of chef Sergio Cenuelas, who is from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, the state that includes the coastal city Mazatlán.

To make the taco as authentic as possible, Cenuelas uses shrimp that suppliers bring him from Mazatlán.

You can see him at the right, cooking the filling, a bright mixture of tomatoes, green and red sweet peppers, celery, green olives and shrimp.

The last step is to fold the filling into a corn tortilla, stuff in some Jack cheese and put it on the grill.  If some of the cheese leaks out onto the grill and turns golden brown and crisp, it makes the taco even better.

Served with guacamole, the taco gobernador is $3, a lot less than a flight to Mazatlán.

Mariscos Chente's, 3544 W. Imperial Highway, Inglewood, CA 90303. Tel: (310) 672-2339. 

 

Mexican Food--The Real Thing

Mexican cooking is so awfully misunderstood.

Chiles, cheese, nachos, tacos, hot salsas, guacamole. Nothing wrong with those, but there's another side of Mexican food that is mostly ignored on this side of the border.

And that is subtle, fine, elegant cooking.

A case in point is this beautiful fish dish, pescado en hoja santa, from La Casita Mexicana in Bell. The flavor is delicate, and there's not a chile in sight, except for a couple put on for decoration, but they're not part of the dish.  Instead, the fish is seasoned with something  much more rare in these parts--hoja santa (holy leaf), a large leaf with a faint anise taste.

This is just one example of the inventive, thoughtful cooking of chefs Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu. The fish--pollock--is topped with  tomato and onion slices, drizzled with olive oil, then wrapped in hoja santa from Del Campo's garden, wrapped again in foil and grilled.

You eat it leaf and all, enjoying the lightness and delicacy. Not on the regular menu, pescado en hoja santa is a Friday special.  Call ahead to find out when it's available.

La Casita Mexicana, 4030 E. Gage Ave., Bell, CA 90201. Tel: (323) 773-1898.

An Odd Couple: Malbec, Tacos

I would only eat Mexican food in Argentina out of curiosity. Nevertheless, I ate it Sunday paired with Argentine wines. An odd coupling, but fun to try something different.

Really spicy salsas kill the taste of a good wine, I noticed, but tacos, burritos and quesadillas work as well as bread and cheese, as long as they are salsa-free.

The tasting was Silverlake Wine's first of 2010. Tastings take place there every month, and the place buzzes as people get to know each other. Most of those I met live in Silver Lake, and the wine shop is a handy place to meet.

But the tastings are serious, and so commentary on Argentina's wine industry accompanied the five tastes. What I like about the tastings is that wines are brought to you, so you don't have to line up at the counter. And each taste comes in a fresh glass.

Sunday's five wines started with a sparkler, an extra brut 2007 that blended Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The name alone makes you want to buy it, that is, if you have a taste for the exotic. It is Siesta en el Tahuantinsuyu, and it's from Ernesto Catena.

Next came Tahuan Malbec Ernesto Catena Selection 2006, a deep, pink-toned red, dry and elegant with restrained fruit.

We tried a Malbec blend, Ca' de Calle Reserva 2008, composed of 75% Malbec, 20% Tempranillo and 5% Syrah. This too was from Ernesto Catena, whose wines dominated the tasting. 

The priciest wine poured ($29.50) was his Siesta en el Tahuantinsuyu Malbec 2005, another elegant, restrained wine.

But my favorite was a Malbec more like those I am accustomed to drinking in Buenos Aires, the sort of wine you might have in a cafe or a parrilla restaurant, or that Portenos would serve with  really good barbecue at home. It was Altocedro "Ano Cero" Malbec 2008.

Full of fruit and easy to drink but classy and well made, it was the least expensive wine of the tasting ($16.50). Ano Cero means the year zero, but this wine rates many more points than that.

Its place of origin was La Consulta in the Valle (Valley) de Uco, Mendoza. The winemaker was Karim Mussi Saffie, who blended 15 % Tempranillo with 75 % Malbec.  

The food rated high points too. It came from Taco Zone, which parked a van-drawn kitchen outside the wine shop. Malbec is everywhere in Argentina. But mobile tacos-- I have yet to see anything like that down there.

Silverlake Wine Company,  2395 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039. Tel: (323) 662-9024. 

Oaxacans Hold a Special Fiesta

It was like any sunny Sunday in the zocalo of Oaxaca city. Bands played. Dancers in indigenous costumes stomped, tapped and whirled through dances from the seven regions that make up Oaxaca state. Families relaxed and chatted, and teenagers eyed each other as they spooned up ice creams in such exotic flavors as mamey, tuna (cactus fruit) and leche quemada (burnt milk). 

But this wasn't Oaxaca. It was Los Angeles. And it wasn't a zocalo but the parking lot of St. Cecilia Catholic Church on south Normandie Avenue. 

And it wasn't just any Sunday gathering, but one of the most significant events of the year, a fiesta honoring Oaxaca's patron saint, La Virgen de la Soledad (The Virgin of Solitude).

It started with Mass, celebrated with dancers and band music. Then came a procession to the parking lot led by marmoteros--men who transport the enormous fabric balloons called marmotas that are essential to fiestas in Oaxaca.

Priests, dancers and the faithful followed, bringing a large portrait of the Virgin, which they placed in a white tulle frame. 

Then the dancing began, continuing for hours as folkloric groups and bands took their turns.

A Mixe dance started somberly, then erupted into action. In La Flor de Pina from Tuxtepec, girls danced with pineapples balanced on their shoulders. 

Interludes of saucy banter punctuated another sequence, provoking laughter from the audience, and a boy and girl flirtatiously charged at each other as if they were a bull and bullfighter.

Dancers swayed to the nostalgic "Cancion Mizteca," a song of longing for the homeland, and boys in tall headdresses performed the Zapotec feather dance as if they were energetic young warriors from centuries past.     

Of course there was food, prepared with enthusiasm because the purpose was to support the dance groups and bands.

If restaurants were involved, as was the case with Guelaguetza in Palms, they were identified only by the name of the group they wanted to promote. The eating began long before the ceremonial procession arrived.

Women patted out masa to form memelas and  bean-stuffed huaraches. Or they flattened the masa into tortillas by hand or with a wooden press.  

Fried quesadillas with such fillings as mushrooms and papas con chorizo (potatoes with chorizo) were slathered with black beans, then topped with lettuce, cheese and Mexican crema. 

Tortillas con relleno (above) were lined with black beans to form the base for a layer of nopales, a freshly grilled black Oaxacan chorizo, lettuce, cheese and salsas.

Tlayudas (right), large masa rounds topped with beans, meat, cheese and other savory ingredients, were so large they had to be folded in half to fit on a plate.

There were tacos, tortas filled with Oaxacan cecina, tamales verdes (with green sauce), tamales with mole, hamburguesas and drinks such as ponche, champurrado and brightly colored aguas frescas.

Soledad Lopez of Guelaguetza (right) served plates of barbacoa de chivo (goat), barbacoa tacos and chicken taquitos smothered with lettuce, cheese and avocado salsa.

And she brought the prized fruit tejocotes, which look like tiny yellow apples (manzanas) and so are also know as manzanitas or manzanillas. These are essential for the holiday drink ponche, but she had cooked them in cinnamon-flavored syrup (they're in the pink bowl below).

A pile of handpainted, bowl-shaped jicaras at the front of her stand were containers for tejate, a frothy prehispanic drink. Making it is dauntingly laborious, and a mixer or food processor can't do the job. Lopez stirred and swirled the mixture, first with her arm, then with her fingers, until it began to bubble and foam.

The ingredients included mamey seeds, cacao, cacao flowers, peanuts, almonds and dried corn boiled with cenizas (ashes) to make it easy to peel. Corn for masa is cooked with cal (lime), but this would taint the drink with a chemical taste, Lopez said.

Diluted with water, the ground mixture was not sweetened, but servers spooned a little sugar syrup into each jicara as they filled it. The nutty flavor was concentrated in tiny granules called florecitas that floated on top.

Typical Oaxacan ingredients were on sale too. There were fresh chiles de agua, smoked dried Mixe chiles, the string cheese called quesillo, chapulines (grasshoppers), tasajo (dried meat) and breads such as pan de yema and pan amarillo brought from Oaxaca.

A stand of religious goods offered framed portraits of the jeweled, black-robed Virgen de la Soledad, whose basilica is one of the most important sites in Oaxaca city. 

The music drifted from the church into the neighborhood, and families sat outside to eat, drink and listen until the fiesta ended as light faded. 

A New Foodie Citizen Celebrates

Of the 1,038 people who took the oath of citizenship yesterday in Pomona, probably just one sells cemitas, comes from Oaxaca and celebrated last night with a Oaxacan feast at a restaurant owned by her parents. 

Who is this new U.S. citizen? The answer is Bricia Lopez, whose restaurant, Pal Cabron in Huntington Park, specializes in the signature sandwich of Puebla, the cemita, and also the pizza-like Oaxacan clayuda.

Bricia's parents are Maria and Fernando Lopez of the Guelaguetza restaurants in Los Angeles and Lynwood. Maria was at the stove last night, preparing special dishes that are not on the Guelaguetza menus. 

The party filled the Guelaguetza on 8th Street in mid Wilshire. State senator Gil Cedillo presented a proclamation, and gifts ranged from flowers and a rare tequila to Sarah Palin's new book, which brought a few laughs. 

Media people, food bloggers, a fashion designer, a TV newcaster and many more ate food that came nonstop.

For starters, there were chips topped with mole coloradito and Oaxacan cheese, which is the signature appetizer at the Guelaguetzas.

Then came platters of Oaxacan tamales, taquitos cloaked with Oaxacan moles, quesadillas and picadas, which are round masa cakes with pinched up edges, topped with tomatoes, onions and cheese.

Drinks flowed too--water, beer, jamaica and three brands of mezcal. For the mezcal drinkers, there were plates of lime wedges and sal de gusano (ground worm salt) and chapulines, Oaxacan grasshoppers.

Although the menu gave a choice of two main dishes, there was so much of each that it was possible to have both, an option that had a lot of takers.

One was spicy--costillas de puerco con verdolagas (above), or pork ribs with earthy-tasting verdolagas (purslane) in a sauce fired up with morita chiles.

And one was mild--lengua de res almendrada, or beef tongue in an elegant, smooth, ground almond sauce flavored with cinnamon and cloves. The recipe came from Maria Lopez's grandmother.

Both plates included rice cooked with chepil leaves brought from Oaxaca.

And the food kept appearing, by this time desserts, among them fried bananas in syrup, Oaxacan fruits put up in alcohol, and arroz con leche, rice pudding with raisins and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

This was a once-in-a lifetime event, and Bricia summed it up the morning after. "It was a very special night for me. I am so happy to be an American."

Guelaguetza, 3337 1/2 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90005. Tel: (213) 427-0601. Other locations on Olympic Blvd. in Koreatown and at the Plaza Mexico in Lynwood.

Cemitas y Clayudas Pal Cabron, 2560 E. Gage Ave., Huntington Park, CA 90255. Tel: (323) 277-9899.