Please The Palate |

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: A Classic Chinese Culinary Feast at Bistro Na’s in Temple City, CA

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

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Crab Cake Cook-Off and Wine Tasting Competition at Mendocino Coast Clinics’ Crab, Wine & Beer Days 2020

A crab cake cook-off and wine tasting competition! All you can eat crab cakes paired with crisp, delicious, cool-climate Mendocino County wines! Without a doubt, the 21st Annual Crab, Wine &...

08 February, 2020

Mizlala Sherman Oaks

At least once a week, I find myself driving on Sepulveda Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, near the exit from the 405. Whether I am driving to or from my parents home, I pass by a handful of restaurants on the west side of Sepulveda Blvd. There is an Italian restaurant and a Katsuya izaka-ya, which I have been to, but I had not noticed the restaurant in between the two until now. Mizlala, which opened in 2016, is a family run restaurant serving modern Mediterranean cuisine and I now cannot stop going there.

Mizlala is owned and run by Danny Elmaleh and his wife Justine. Danny took over the space, formerly known as Simon's Cafe, from his father, chef-owner Simon Elmaleh, when he retired. Danny Elmaleh had previously worked at Cleo and Doheny Room before opening Mizlala, which means "eatery in Hebrew". Open for lunch and dinner, Mizlala, which has a second location on West Adams, offers a flavorful menu of Mediterranean dishes that will tempt you. I can never decid what to have as everything looks and sounds so good and I have not ordered the same thing twice yet.

04 February, 2020