Food

One of my final restaurant meals pre-COVID-19 was in the casual beach town of Hermosa Beach. The last thing I had expected to find was an authentic Italian restaurant, but Radici, an upscale family-owned Italian restaurant, reminded me of Italy as I enjoyed an authentic home-cooked meal. Radici is owned by Laura Francisco and her mother Lucia Gasbarri. Lucia, who grew up in Pacento, a tiny village in the Abruzzo region of Italy, is a self-taught chef who has owned restaurants with her now deceased husband in Southern California for multiple decades. Laura brought her mother out of retirement to open Radici a couple of years ago. Lucia has taken family recipes that were carried through generations to create a menu of home-made pastas and traditional Abruzzese dishes in a modern and inviting open space.
07 April, 2020
The key to making really good pasta is the ingredients. It only requires three ingredients - flour, eggs and salt - but it requires the best ingredients. At Uovo Pasta in Santa Monica, they found the best ingredients by going directly to Italy. And the resulting homemade pasta is delicious. That is why Uovo Pasta in Santa Monica is the Please The Palate pick of the week. I was running an errand in Santa Monica the other night and found a parking spot on the street. I finished my errand and was walking to my car when I noticed that I was parked in front of Uovo Pasta. Uovo Pasta was on my list of places to try as I had heard some positive things from friends. So I decided to go in and check it out. And that was a great choice! Uovo is a pasta bar. A long rectangular bar wraps around the open kitchen with bar stools. A few tables are also available for groups. I took a seat at the bar and perused the menu.
07 March, 2020
To kick off 2020, Maude journeyed to South Australia as the region to be the focus of their tasting menu from January through March. South Australia is in the southern central part of the country where it is nicknamed the "Wine State. It is home to Adelaide, the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley and Coonawarra. It is a diverse region that includes the coastline and the outback, providing an array of ingredients including wattleseed, quandong (a native peach), mountain pepper, lemon myrtle, native watercress, pandanus and strawberry gum, to showcase in a delicious menu. In addition to the diverse ingredients foraged, the Maude team was also influenced by the fresh seafood sourced from the coast. Oysters, mussels, cockles, limpets, spiny lobsters, Eastern School prawns, and freshwater crayfish are all thriving in the southern waters. They were inspired by chef Maggie Beer, an Australian legend who runs a cooking school and farm shop which is home to peacocks, olive groves, a quince orchard and a lake. And they visited Hutton Vale, where 3,000 merino sheep roam and are raised for their wool and meat. We began with a bottle of Rieslingfreak No. 4 Riesling from Eden Valley that was fresh and aromatic with notes of lemon, lime, white flowers and slate with bright acidity. Our meal started with two plates. One had oysters cooked in lamb fat and hiramasa (yellowtail kingfish) with finger limes. The other plate has celtuce (stem lettuce) with kumquat and coconut, and a tuile cone with wattlesead, potato and black truffle.
25 February, 2020
When I first read the book "Eat, Pray, Love" in 2010, going to Naples to eat pizza went to the top of my bucket list. I finally made it to Naples in September 2019 and spent two days eating as much pizza as I could, including at the famous L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. The pizza was as good as I imagined and I loved the spongy crust and the perfect balance of tomato and cheese. Luckily, I don't have to go to Naples in order to enjoy the pizza because L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele is open in Hollywood and is the Please The Palate pick of the week. L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Hollywood is the first U.S. location of the historic pizzeria which opened in Naples in 1870. In Naples, the pizzeria is just that. They serve two pizzas, Margherita and Marinara, and a selection of drinks. The restaurant has two rooms and old photographs are hung on the walls. In the main room, you can see the men making the pizza and the large oven the pizzas cook in. L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Hollywood is the complete opposite. Located in the old Café Des Artistes, the space is modern, large and bright. After walking through a simple wooden door, you will be blown away by the beauty of the space. A patio is at the front of the restaurant. Inside, just past the hostess stand, is a welcoming lounge area, followed by a long bar and dining area and then the gorgeous garden.
22 February, 2020
The Year of the Rat is here! January 25th marked the 2020 Chinese New Year and the festival lasted through February 8th. To celebrate the Lunar New Year, a group of friends and I went out for a classic Chinese culinary feast at Bistro Na's. Bistro Na's is located in Temple City in the San Gabriel Valley. It is also the only traditional Chinese restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star in Southern California and it is the Please The Palate pick of the week. Walking into Bistro Na's feels like walking into a scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The restaurant looks like a traditional Chinese home. The main dining room looks like an enclosed formal Chinese courtyard. Musical instruments hang above the gold and red room with bamboo trim and high-hanging lights. Past the dining room are private banquet rooms, each elegantly designed with Chinese accents. Bistro Na's is unlike most Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles. It is not Cantonese or Szechuan or a Dim Sum restaurant. Instead Bistro Na's serves Chinese Imperial Cuisine, dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). This was a cooking style reserved traditionally only for the Emperor and the royal family. At Bistro Na's you can order a la carte but they offer six different banquet menus. We selected the menu which included King Crab. We took our seats in our private room and our feast began. Soon our table with filled with dishes!
15 February, 2020

As I think about where I plan to travel in this new year, I keep thinking about my trip to Italy last fall. Campania, in...

11 February, 2020
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