Quick Bite - Craftsman & Wolves (San Francisco)

So, a little while back, my husband and I went to San Francisco for a weekend getaway.  True to form, I did some research beforehand in regards to places to eat while we were in town.  After reading a ton of restaurant reviews, food blogs, etc., the name of one place in particular kept popping up, Craftsman & Wolves.  According to their website, Craftsman & Wolves is a "contemporary pâtisserie located in San Francisco’s vibrant Mission district" on Valencia St.   It is an industrial looking, but very sophisticated bakery, helmed by a James Beard-nominated pastry chef, William Werner.  We decided to make it a "must try" while we were in San Francisco.

Now, Craftsman & Wolves offers an ever changing menu of breakfast pastries, cakes, confections, desserts, lunch, and other savory items. When you walk in, you are greeted by a huge counter with mountains of beautiful looking muffins, pastries, sandwiches, and other mouth-watering treats.  Everything behind the glass looked utterly delicious.

However, after all of my research, I was there for one thing, and one thing only....the myth, the "foodie" legend, a special muffin called "The Rebel Within."  Now, "The Rebel Within" not only sounds cool, it is an actual food celebrity.  I have seen it featured on a number of shows on the Food Network, and it has had a number of articles written about it in several magazines.  Apparently, it has quite a following. 

Now, "The Rebel Within" is basically a savory muffin, made with asiago cheese, sausage, and green onion.  What makes this muffin so unique is that it has a whole, soft-cooked egg buried in the middle of it!  You order the muffin and it just looks like a normal muffin, but then you cut it in half and you discover the magic buried within...

The muffin itself is dense and chewy, and then you get a perfectly cooked egg inside with the still runny yolk oozing out of the middle.  It was egg, bread, cheese, sausage all rolled into one very complex muffin. 

Along with my very tasty muffin, I had one of Craftsman & Wolves' artful coffee drinks, which was expertly poured by one of their super talented barristas.  The coffee was fantastic, and with my egg-filled muffin, I have to say it was a pretty perfect way to start the day. 

I have chosen now to write about this delicious treat because I recently learned that Craftsman & Wolves in going to be opening a Southern California location in the Culver City area.  The anticipated opening date is Summer 2015.  I believe it will be a huge success in the So Cal area and I highly recommend checking it out.

Dinner at The Factory Kitchen (Downtown L.A.)

After reading some positive reviews, and getting a personal recommendation from a friend, we recently decided to try out an Italian eatery, in the thriving Arts District of Downtown L.A., called The Factory Kitchen.  Now, I thought this was a strange name for an Italian trattoria, but apparently it takes its name from the street it is located on, Factory Pl.   The restaurant occupies a tightly packed space, in what was probably on old loading dock, in a former factory building whose upper floors have been converted into residential lofts. Like many of the newer restaurants we’ve been to lately, especially in Downtown L.A., the interior design is “industrial-chic”, with concrete floors, large concrete pillars with peeling paint, exposed pipes, and a mixture of tile, wood, and metal.  It is basically one large room, and with all the concrete, is definitely loud.

The Factory Kitchen is the first solo effort from chef, Angelo Auriana, who formerly held an 18-year stint as the chef at Valentino in Santa Monica, which for much of the time, was considered the best Italian restaurant in L.A.  The specialties of the house at The Factory Kitchen are definitely the fresh, home-made pastas.

For my starter, I tried a salad called cremosella.  The salad contained an abundance of mozzarella cheese, chopped green beans, pea shoots, and was seasoned with ligurian oil and black pepper.  The salad was simple and elegant.  It was not drowning in dressing as a lot of restaurants tend to do.  However, the biggest problem I had with it was that there was way too much cheese!  I know, I never thought I'd find myself complaining about “too much cheese,” but the portions of cheese that came with the salad were huge.  The salad could have come with only one or two of the pieces of cheese, and it still would have been a monsterous portion of cheese for a "starter" salad.

For his starter, my husband ordered the Pancotto (literally, “cooked bread”), which was a semolina bread crostini topped with a duck egg, red potato velluta, sautéed greens, and speck.  The bread was nice and crusty, and eaten with the perfectly runny egg and the salty speck, made for a really great bite.  This dish was also quite large to be considered a "starter."

Our next course was the "pasta course" and we split the chef's signature pasta dish, which has been named on may L.A. foodie lists as one of the “best dishes of the year."  This is a dish of fresh, house-made pasta called mandilli de seta  (name translates into “silk handkerchiefs”).    The thick pasta noodles are then coated in an almond basil pesto.  This dish was definitely the highlight of our meal.  The pesto was creamy and nutty and coated the silky layers of pasta perfectly. 

For his main dish, my husband chose a dish called Mamiche.  The dish was a generous helping of fresh, tubular pasta with various types of seafood including, octopus, langoustine, and spicy mussels.  The dish was topped with a spicy, tomato broth.  We both felt that the pasta in this dish was too         al dente, because it was very chewy.  Again, we felt that the proportions were a bit off as there was a ton of pasta, and a limited amount of seafood and broth.

For my main dish, I tried the Anatra, which was a seared duck breast and leg confit, topped with a barbera sauce and some ranier cherries. The duck breast was well-cooked with nice, crispy skin, but I actually preferred the leg confit more as the meat was so tender and juicy that it just fell off the bone.  The wine sauce and cherries paired nicely with the duck.

Finally, for dessert we couldn't pass up the Bigne di cioccolato, which were basically profiteroles, which are cream puffs filled with custard, and drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauces.  The puffs were light and airy and the filling was good.

Overall, I felt that our meal at The Factory Kitchen certainly had its highs and lows.  The signature pasta dish, mandilli de seta, is a must try.  In fact, a table of guests who were seated nearby saw us examining our menus and advised us that we simply had to order it.  We were not disappointed.

While we enjoyed our meal well enough, if I had the choice, I would probably choose to dine at another Italian restaurant in the same general vicinity, Bestia, which is in a similar price range.  However, if you are having a difficult time securing a reservation at the always packed Bestia, The Factory Kitchen is certainly a satisfying runner-up.

Dinner at A.O.C. (Los Angeles)

In May, Los Angeles Magazine published it’s annual “L.A.’s 75 Best Restaurants” issue.  It’s always my favorite issue of the year, because it gives me ideas for new places to try around the city.  I was happy to see that I had already been to numbers 2, 3 and 4.  However, I had yet to try the #1 place on their list this year, A.O.C.  Naturally, I had to check it out.

First things first, what does A.O.C. stand for?   Well, this is a wine reference for a restaurant that started off primarily as a wine bar with some small plates, and has since evolved into much more.   
A little history on the meaning of A.O.C...  

Back in  the 1900s, France was suffering economically under the cost of two world wars, which was  contributing to a significant decrease in the quality and availability of prestigious French wines.  Around the same time, the A.O.C. (or Appellation d’Origine Controlee – meaning “regulated origin name”) was devised. The A.O.C. outlined the standards for today’s modern wine regulations and laws that serve both to define grape growing regions as well as protect the quality of wines. The A.O.C. served to redeem the country’s wine reputation and determine a structured protocol for quality and consistency within the French wine market.  I digress.... back to the restaurant...

A.O.C. can best be described as contemporary, California French cuisine.  A.O.C. is primarily a small plates restaurant, which is centered around locally grown, seasonal ingredients.  I really like the whole trend of small plates, since it allows me to try more things on the menu, rather than limiting me to only one entree.

A.O.C. has been in L.A. since 2002, however, it recently moved to its current location on 3^rd Street.  The new location is small, but they have a lovely, outdoor patio, which was absolutely perfect on a mild L.A. evening. A.O.C.is helmed by chef Suzanne Goin, who was named one of Food & Wine magazine's "best new chefs of 1999", and was nominated for James Beard awards in 2003 and 2005.  In 2006, she won a James Beard Award for Best Chef California. 

A.O.C. has a great "by the glass" list for wine, but I was primarily focused on the food.  The cheese boards change on a daily basis, and guest s have a choice of one, three or five different cheeses.  We decided to start with a three cheese plate.  We chose three distinctly different types of cheese, one was an aged gouda, one was a bleu, and one was a hard Italian cheese, which was less like a parmesan or reggiano, and more like a Spanish manchego.  The cheeses were accompanied by some dried figs, walnuts, and a couple of fruit pastes.  The board also came with come good, country bread.  All of the cheeses were delicious, and I especially liked a perfect bite with the bread, the bleu, and a bit of the lemon paste.  The combination of the sour bleu with the tart lemon worked really well together.

Along with the cheese board, we ordered the coppa and soppressata plate, to have some meat to go along with our cheese.  What is coppa? Coppa is a muscle of the pork right behind the back of the head, at the top of the shoulder.  Soppressata is an Italian, dry salami.  The coppa was salty and cured, with just the right amount of fat.  The soppressata was spicy, with just the right amount of heat.  I probably would have been happy just eating cheese and charcuterie all night, but everything else sounded so good, we moved on the the "small plates" part of the menu.

For my "small plate", I chose the clams with sherry, garlic, and toast.  The clams were briny, buttery, and luscious.  The sherry and garlic added just the right touch of flavor.  The broth was so good, I loved mopping it up with the grilled toast.  I had a great glass of sauvignon blanc with this dish, which was the perfect pairing, due to its crispness and minerality.  This was definitely one of the highlights for me.

For his "small plate", my husband ordered the duck cassoulet.  Now, a cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked casserole, originating in the south of France, which usually contains a dark meat (i.e. pork sausage, goose, rabbit, or duck), and generally, has some type of white beans.  This was a great example of a rich, slow-cooked duck, which had good, well-seasoned skin, on top of an array of beans, with a crispy, breadcrumb topping.  The duck had that soft, braised, fall off the bone texture, and the beans were perfectly cooked.  The bread crumb topping gave a nice crunch to the dish.

We each decided to order one more "small plate."  My husband ordered the parpadelle with asparagus, chanterelles, and parmesan.  The fresh, home-made pasta was perfectly cooked.  The sauce was rich and creamy, which was highlighted by the asparagus and mushrooms.  The asparagus was bright, crispy, and had an excellent "vegetality" (a term coined by him to describe well-cooked, vegetable flavor).  The chantrelle mushrooms added a nice, earthy quality to the dish.  Together, the vegetables and sauce married perfectly together. 

I decided to order the Spanish fried chicken with romesco aioli, & chili-cumin butter.  I am a sucker for fried chicken, especially, if it is well done. This chicken was crispy and crunchy on the outside, and moist and juicy inside.  The chicken was packed with a punch on its own, and the chili-cumin butter was a bit over-powering.  The breading on the chicken was very cumin-heavy on its own.  I ate most of it without the sauce, and felt it was unnecessary since the breading on the chicken was so full of flavor.  

Now, by this point, we were both pretty full.  However, as a duty to my loyal readers (all 4 of you), we felt obliged to order dessert. We went with the butterscotch pot de crème with fleur de sel & salted cashew cookies.  It was a delicious, rich butterscotch pudding, with a bit of added salt to balance out the sweetness.  We both enjoyed it, but each only had a couple of bites before we were too full to take anymore.

Overall, we both thoroughly enjoyed our experience at A.O.C.  Each of the small dishes we ordered were very enjoyable, packed with flavor, and well thought out.  The atmosphere on the patio was very nice, as well as, the "by the glass" wine list.  We will definitely be back to try more of  chef Goin's dishes.  Do I agree with L.A. Magazine, that A.O.C. is the "best in L.A."?  Probably not. There are certainly places I have enjoyed more.   However, the food was absolutely solid, and I would without a doubt  come back for more.  It is a place that all foodies in L.A. should have on their lists.

Dinner at Connie & Ted's (West Hollywood)

So every year on my birthday, my husband picks a place to take me for a special dinner.  This year, we had the good fortune to go to a great steak dinner the night before my birthday, so when he asked me where I wanted to go on my birthday, I told him to pick a “seafood place.”  We have both been getting more and more adventurous with trying different kinds of seafood, so I knew he would pick something good.  His choice was the fairly new, and very popular West Hollywood hotspot called Connie & Ted’s.  

 

Opened in 2013, Connie & Ted’s is the brainchild of chef Michael Cimarusti, who helms L.A.’s   pre-eminent seafood mecca, Providence.  While Providence is upscale and contemporary, Connie & Ted’s has a much more relaxed, casual vibe.  Chef Cimarusti has re-imagined the New England clam shacks he frequented as a kid growing up in Rhode Island.  The restaurant is named after the chef’s maternal grandparents.  His grandfather, Ted, was an avid fisherman, and obviously passed his love of seafood down to his grandson.  

The interior of Connie & Ted’s is quite large, and loud, with an open view of the kitchen, where you can watch all of the cooks hard at work at their stations. 

 

It is not the kind of place to go is you want a quiet, intimate meal.  It is a bright, open dining room, with touches of a fish house everywhere you look.  The light fixtures are even made from re-purposed lobster traps.  There is a very large, raw bar with a huge, ever-rotating selection of different types of oysters, with chalk boards highlighting the daily offerings.  The oysters are supposed to be some of the best in the city.  That being said, I need to include a caveat before I can continue my review, and that is that neither my husband, nor I, are big fans of raw oysters so we did not partake in any.  

One of the few negatives I can say about Connie & Ted’s is that even with a reservation, we still had to wait almost an hour for our table on a Friday night.  However, that gave us time to sample some interesting cocktails on the list.  I had a Narragansett Cooler, which consisted of bourbon, orange juice, and ginger ale.  It was a light, refreshing cocktail that I was able to enjoy during our lengthy wait.

By the time we were finally seated at our table, we were pretty hungry, so we went straight to the starters.  We ordered two of the house specialties.  First, we had “Stuffies” which were chopped quahog clams mixed with breadcrumbs, linguica sausage, garlic, and butter, and then stuffed back into their shells and baked until piping hot and crispy on top.  There was no shortage of sausage, and the spicy kick from the linguica seemed to dominate the oyster flavor.  I thought they were delicious, mostly due to the fact that the oyster flavor was hidden underneath all of the other ingredients.  

If you are looking for the complete opposite end of the oyster flavor spectrum, I recommend ordering the “Deviled Oysters” starter.  We decided to put our reservations concerning oysters aside, and go full throttle with this next dish.  The order came with three, giant cooked oysters, which were both salty and spicy.  The spice helped to balance out the brininess, but overall, the oysters themselves were a bit too large for our liking.

Next, we could not resist ordering the hot, soft, buttery rolls.  They arrived fresh from the oven, baked in a cast-iron skillet, and topped with butter and a dash of sea salt.  Delicious!

For our main courses, my husband ordered the Portuguese Fish Stew.  The stew consisted of hake, manila clams, mussels, linguica sausage, in a spicy tomato broth.  My husband is a big fan of cioppino, so we thought this would be right up his alley. There was definitely no shortage of seafood in the bowl.  It turned out to be more like a cross between a bouillabaisse and a cioppino.  It was quite tasty, but we both generally like the broth to have a stronger tomato flavor.

My main course was the grilled halibut with lemon, herbs and oil.  The fish was very fresh and cooked perfectly, but it was completely smothered with the herbs, which tended to overwhelm the taste of the fish.  The halibut was enjoyable, but I would likely choose a different preparation if I were to return.

Finally, since it was my birthday, we ordered a Blondie for dessert (it even came with a candle).   The Blondie was basically a brownie without the chocolate, and it came topped with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce.  I am a sucker for desserts, and thought this one was scrumptious.  

Overall, I would say that we both enjoyed our meal at Connie & Ted’s.  Although the service was not particularly great, every part of our meal was quite good.  It is still a hard place to score a reservation, so I don’t think I’d be in a big rush to return.  However, if you enjoy the offerings of a typical New England style clam shack, and specifically, if you are a raw oyster fan, you should definitely check this place out!