Food

I like cucumbers. What is not to like about cucumbers, those long crunchy green members of the fruit family who are related to gourds and melon? Cucumbers add a refreshing crunch to our salads, they are a fat-free conduit for dips and they are wonderful to infuse in water. Cucumbers are also very healthy, fight inflammation, freshen breath, full of vitamins that manage stress and help digestive health. But other than putting them on a crudite plate, in a water glass or on top of your eyes after a long night, are cucumbers really that interesting in flavor? In Maude's June menu, cucumbers were the featured ingredient. As I reached out to friends to join me, many seemed unexcited by the featured ingredient. They wondered aloud, jokingly, if the meal would be cucumber crudite, tzatziki, raita and cucumber water. In general, I heard a few tell me they did not think it would be very interesting. Boy did those friends miss out! The team at Maude proved how diverse cucumbers are with a menu that was one of the best so far this year! As we sat down for our meal, we were surprised with a bottle of Champagne Aubry Brut Rose that was a gift for one of my companions for her birthday.  As we toasted the birthday girl and enjoyed our first sips, the first two bites of the night were served.
20 June, 2017
It is easy to overlook many restaurants in LA. Drive down the street and tell me if you can name every restaurant you pass and if you have eaten there. One of these that I have driven by is Delphi Greek. Located on Westwood Blvd, just south of Westwood Village, it is possible I have driven by it for decades as it has been open for 32 years! Ten years ago, Persian businessman Roozbeh Farahanipour purchased the restaurant. As the street is filled with Persian businesses, he was pressured to change the theme of the restaurant. However, Farahanipour has been a lover of Greek wines for many years and he decided that he wanted to honor the tradition of the restaurant and maintain the diversity on the street.
15 June, 2017
Big, ripe, juicy strawberries signal that summer is here. And that was the featured ingredient in Maude's May menu. I had been looking forward to this menu for months as I love strawberries. I buy them fresh and put them in my smoothies, on my yogurt, in my salads or dip in brown sugar. And now I was going to see how Maude utilized the red berries. We sat down and started with a glass of Champagne Tarlant Cuvee Louie. Fresh and bright with a touch of brioche notes, we said "cheers!" and were ready to start. The first dish was a large plate of clam shells fanned on a plate like flower petals. On the top was a shell that had a few pieces of fruit and a green leaf. Simple in presentation, it was full of flavor. The fruit was mango and strawberry, compressed in their own juices with a little heat. And wrapped in the leaves was goeduck.
06 June, 2017
I first tried the delicious Peruvian flavors of Chef Ricardo Zarate in 2009 when he opened Mo-Chica inside Mercado La Paloma in Downtown Los Angeles. I last saw him in 2015 when his first book, entitled The Fire of Peru: Recipes and Stories from My Peruvian Kitchen, was released and he was hosting a Peruvian pop-up called Once (on-seh) in Venice. And, lucky for Los Angelenos, he is back with the opening of his new restaurant Rosaliné, Please The Palate's "pick of the week." Rosaliné, named after his mother, is located in the former Comme Ca space on Melrose and La Cienega. The restaurant is slated to open in mid-June but I was fortunate to get a sneak peak this past week at the final LA Food Bowl Hanging with Harris dinner and Santa Barbara County Wines, raising money for No Kid Hungry. 
03 June, 2017
This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register. Tens of thousands upon tens of thousands descended upon BottleRock 2017 for three days of non-stop music on four stages. But in between top name artists to the likes of Maroon 5, Foo Fighters, Tom Petty and Ben Harper, to name a few, there was plenty of food and wine and beer and cocktails to enjoy.
Many of the the Napa Valley’s best-known restaurants were on display including La Toque, Oenotri, and Angéle La Taberna, Redd Wood, Minimashi, Goose & Gander, Morimoto, 1313 Main. Between the restaurants and the food trucks, there were close to 100 vendors serving flavorful dishes.
01 June, 2017
This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register. What do you think about drinking when you eat sushi? Beer, sake or a crisp white wine such as riesling, gruner veltliner or sauvignon blanc? What if I said cabernet sauvignon? Yes, a red wine with sushi. After a recent dining experience, I have been convinced that it can work. But, it takes a unique kind of sushi and the right wines.
The sushi is called Edomae, which means the “style” or “the way” of Edo, the former name of Tokyo). It is a type of sushi that was popular in Tokyo in the 1800s. During this time, there was no refrigeration system to preserve the fish, so chefs marinated and seasoned the fish to preserve it safely. The fish, shellfish and conger eel would be caught and lightly processed with vinegar, salt and soy sauce and then laid on vinegar rice. During this preservation of the fish, the water is extracted, as well as the fishiness. The result is sushi that emphasizes umami flavors, and this is what pairs with wine. Edomae was how fish was eaten for 350 years in Japan. But with modern refrigeration and transportation over the last 50 years, the style has changed now we eat the fish fresh.
25 May, 2017
I am an omnivore. I like food. I do not restrict myself and jump on trendy bandwagons of "no gluten", "no dairy" or "no meat". And as much as I love vegetables, I do not like the idea of meat replacements. In fact, when I went to the launch of a new product this week and they said it was about "using science for the creation of their product", I found those words concerning and unnatural. But, then they brought out the Impossible Burger, a meatless burger that is now available at nine Umami Burgers, as well as at 10 other restaurants across the country, I was wowed. It looked just like a hamburger but in fact, it is a vegetarian burger for meat lovers. And that is why it is the Please The Palate "pick of the week." Impossible Foods was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D. Ph.D., Professor Emeritus in Stanford University's Biochemistry Department and a 40-year vegetarian. Brown wants to make the global food system more sustainable. He explained that cows are the "most destructive technology on earth." People love to eat beef but cows will do irreparable damage to the earth as they produce emissions. As a result, Brown is focused on producing meat and dairy products from plants, which have a lower environmental footprint. In fact, the Impossible Burger uses 1/8 of greenhouse gasses, 1/20 of the land and will reduce water consumption by one billion gallons per year.
20 May, 2017
As the saying goes, "April showers bring May flowers", but in Los Angeles that saying rarely applies. Here we are in the beginning of May, ready to enjoy the spring weather. But, last weekend, while the sun was shining, the clouds were grey and the rain was looming as the 2nd Annual Masters of Taste LA was getting ready to start. As we entered the iconic Rose Bowl in Pasadena, we were ready, just in case, and we had our rain jackets and umbrella. Masters of Taste brought together more than fifty chefs and restaurants, as well as wine, beer, spirits, cider and non-alcoholic purveyors. More than 2000 people bought tickets to attend the event. A football field filled with food and drink is reason enough to attend the Masters of Taste but all the more so because 100 percent of the proceeds go to Union Station Homeless Services which assists the city's homeless.
11 May, 2017
Frozen yogurt has come and gone and come again as a trend. First in the 1980s and 1990s, frozen yogurt shops were on every corner. Then, in the last decade, places such as Pinkberry and Yogurtland started popping up. But with the motto: "Be Bold. Be Different. Blend-In," Humphrey Yogart has stood the test of time for more than thirty years and that is why it is my Please The Palate "pick of the week." I began going to Humphrey Yogart, located in a strip mall in Sherman Oaks in the 1980s, when I was in high school. Humphrey's was always different than the rest of the frozen yogurt shops. In fact, just from the name, you can tell they follow their motto to "be different." The name "yogART" is the playful name for their art of blending frozen yogurt with ingredients to create individualized flavors.
06 May, 2017
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