World Cup of Yum

Baco Mercat Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #9 Baco Mercat has a very LA bar feel – dimly lit with high exposed-pipe ceilings. It also has tasty food, in particular the Baco, which is the signature flatbread sandwich invented by chef-owner Josef Centeno. Several of the Josef Centeno Group restaurants make appearances on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list,…

Langer’s Deli Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #8 Langer’s is a NY-style deli… only it’s in LA! It has been around for something like 70 years, and it’s safe to say it’s something of an LA institution. Jonathan Gold actually said “Langer’s servers the best pastrami sandwich in America.” Wow, BOLD statement… so of course it makes Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best…

Tasting Kitchen Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #7 Tasting Kitchen is one of the few restaurants on the westside that appears on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. In his words, it is “not cheap”. None of his westside picks seem to be. Nonetheless, the wait for this place is long. We decided to go without a reservation, and were told they…

Sqirl Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #6 Sqirl is a tiny minimalist space. A few white counters and blackboard menus on white tile walls. There’s also a small patio seating area, but it wasn’t open when we went. Everything in the place looks clean and fresh. Owner Jessica Koslow is one of the biggest names on the LA food…

Sapp Coffee Shop Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #5 Sapp Coffee Shop isn’t really a coffee shop. It’s a Thai restaurant. Perhaps they prefer to call it a coffee shop because “restaurant” might seem a bit high-brow, which this place is not. It’s more of a local hole-in-the-wall. With the deceiving name I might never have even checked this place out,…

Petit Trois Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #4 Petit Trois is a French bistro by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. It is a regular on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. Jon and Vinny have a handful of restaurants all within about a 3-mile radius in the Fairfax area. In addition to Petit Trois, there is Animal, Son of a Gun,…

Coconut Milk Chicken

I once had stewed chicken at a Caribbean restaurant, and was blown away. I asked the waiter how it was made, and he said that the key was browning the chicken in brown sugar, and then stewing it in a coconut milk and tomato sauce. Well yeah, of course that’s going to be good. I’ve…

Ultimate-Pucker Lemon Bars

Cookbook Club – Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook For June’s Cookbook Club, we used the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook by Amelia Saltsman. I chose the Ultimate Pucker Lemon Bars. Go to my Cookbook Club site to see all the Farmers’ Market food people made for the event. For now – my dish! This recipe…

Spicy Asian Pickles

My mom made these spicy Asian pickles a lot when I was a kid. They are really quick to make, and go great with Asian food. It’s great to have a jar of them in the fridge. My mom says in a pinch, these pickles are good even if they’ve only been marinating for an…

Rosemary Sea Salt Shortbread

I like to think of shortbread as a means to get as much butter as possible into my face. When I was a kid, I loved the buttery shortbread cookies we’d occasionally have. So I was pretty pleased to discover that shortbread is super easy to make yourself. This recipe is especially great because while…

Steamed Pork with Salted Duck Egg

Steamed pork just sounds blah. But it is actually one of my favorite childhood dishes, which I think just needs a more exciting name. Like being named after a general, or maybe a province. As it stands, steamed pork tends to be a dish of Chinese home cooking. It’s rarely found in restaurants (I posit…

Chichen Itza Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #3 Chichen Itza is a Yucatecan restaurant. Well, actually it’s more of a stall, in the Mercado La Paloma. I was glad I went to check out Chichen Itza if for no other reason than discovering the Mercado La Paloma. It’s a cooperative marketplace filled with craft and food stalls that is great to wander around…