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!

Dinner at Hinoki & the Bird (Century City)

Being the "foodies" that we are, my husband and I love when exciting new restaurants open up around the city.  I especially love when Los Angeles Magazine publishes its annually "Best New Restaurants in L.A." issue and provides us with a list of great places to try.  The most recent of these issues came out in December with its list of the "Top 10 Best New Restaurants of 2013."  Fortunately for us, we had already tried out the #1 (Trois Mec) and #2 (Bestia) places on the list.  Then, a Saturday night came about recently where we had no plans, so we picked up the magazine, looked at the list, and decided to check out the #3 restaurant called Hinoki & the Bird.

Hinoki & the Bird is located on the ground floor of "The Century" building in Century City, which is known for being the most expensive condominium building west of the Mississippi.  As for the name, hinoki is a type of cypress tree that is meant to represent the spirit of Japan, and the hinoki wood is used to perfection in one of their signature dishes (more on that later). 


The interior is a mixture of both wood and industrial design.  We were seated outside on the enclosed patio, which had a large fireplace as its centerpiece.  The ambiance was both cozy and noisy.

The place was packed, and the tables were very close together, which made it a little difficult to hear each other across the table.  However, we had no trouble overhearing the conversations of all of the other diners seated around us.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy everything that was brought to their tables.


Hinoki has a specialty cocktail list, and since I've been trying to expand my horizons when it comes to cocktails, I ordered a Classic Negroni, which consisted of gin, sweet vermouth & Campari, on the rocks, with an orange twist.  The drink had one of my favorite new cocktail trends, the single, giant ice cube, used because it melts slowly and keeps your drink cold, but without watering it down.  The drink was delicious and really helped whet my appetite.

Hinoki has an eclectic menu, full of Californian and Asian influences.  The menu is divided up into various sections including a raw bar, fun bites, inspiration, simply grilled, and vegetables and grains.
We started off by sharing a couple of small plates.  The first was fried clams with black garlic aioli.  The clams were quite large, and the batter was crispy and crunchy.  The side of black garlic aioli was an interesting touch, and the richness paired well with the brininess of the clams.

 
The second small plate we shared was the chili crab toasts. In this dish, the sweetness of the crab was a bit overwhelmed by the chili spice, however the fresh strip of cucumber on the bottom helped cool down the heat quite a bit.


Next, we ordered a "main" dish which was the hinoki scented black cod.  With this unique dish, the chef ignites paper-thin sheets of hinoki wood and lays them, still smoldering, over charred clumps of oyster mushrooms and a crispy-skinned piece of black cod. The wood perfumes the restaurant, so you can always tell when somebody across the room has ordered it.  The hinoki wood imparts a delicate smoky scent to the dish.

This was definitely the stand-out dish of the evening.  One of the best preparations of cod that we've ever had.  It was super flaky, tender, and buttery.  The earthiness of the mushrooms was a great accompaniment to the fish.  The mound of mashed sweet potatoes were a tasty, yet completely unnecessary, component of the dish.  Just the cod and mushrooms alone would have been more than satisfying.


Next, we ordered another small dish which was the crispy marinated chicken lemon sauce. The chicken was good and crispy on the outside, yet juicy and tender on the inside.  They tasted like really good chicken tenders.


Finally, we decided to order one dessert to split. We chose the miso donuts with caramel dipping sauce.

Although the donuts were perfectly fried, and not greasy, we both thought that the coating of miso was a miss because it made the donuts too salty.  The caramel dipping sauce was good, but we both couldn't really handle more than just a couple of bites of the dessert.

Overall, we had a great meal at Hinoki and the Bird.  I would definitely recommend the hinoki scented cod dish, as it was one of the very best fish dishes that either of us has ever had!  The menu was innovative and very creative, the atmosphere was nice, and I would encourage all adventurous diners to give this one a try.

Eating our way through Portland

For the first time ever, I traveled out of town, with my husband, for Thanksgiving.  Usually, we have a lot of family over to our place, and we prepare the Thanksgiving meal.  However, this year we decided to travel to Lake Oswego, Oregon to visit my husband’s brother’s family who lives there.  Lake Oswego is a beautiful suburb about 10 minutes south of Portland.  After enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving, and spending a few days with family, we decided to spend the end of our trip exploring the fantastic food scene that Portland has to offer.  

 

Before we left L.A., I did some “serious research” into some of the must-visit, foodie places in Portland.  I read reviews on yelp, scoured the food blogs, and watched a lot of food network.  I took notes and gathered a nice list of places that I wanted to try.  With our limited time, there were only so many places from my list that we were able to get to, but we had some really great food.  We only had two days in Portland, but I felt like all we did was eat for those two glorious days!  So, here are the highlights, as best as I can remember, after I woke up from my food coma:

The Country Cat (7937 SE Stark St.  Portland, OR 97215): 

For our first dinner, we decided to check out The Country Cat.  This place has been featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives”, on an episode entitled “Meat-Lover’s Paradise”, so we were immediately intrigued.  They serve brunch and dinner daily.  Everything at this place is made from scratch, and they are big on the farm to table movement which is quite popular around the Portland food scene.  The place is owned by a husband and wife culinary team, Adam and Jackie Sappington, and the eclectic menu highlights various flavor profiles from Adam’s southern upbringing, balanced out by classic Northwest styles. 

 

We were pretty hungry when we arrived, so we each quickly ordered starters while we examined the menu.  I have a new found respect for gourmet deviled eggs, so I ordered those, and my husband has never met a soft pretzel he didn’t like, and these were described on the menu as “soft and buttery”, so he couldn’t pass them up.  

Now, the reason this place was on the “Meat-Lover’s Paradise” episode, was because of chef Adam’s love for all things pork.  He is known for his artful butchery, and he purchases and carves a whole 160-pound heritage pig, on-site weekly, utilizing everything available to create a pork lover’s dream menu. Perfectly punctuating this unique aspect of the restaurant is the popular Whole Hog plate which features  a brined pork chop, crispy pork belly, and braised  pork shoulder, served over white corn grits.  My husband decided to order the Whole Hog plate, and it was quite tasty.  I liked the braised shoulder meat, while he favored the pork belly with all its fatty goodness.

I ordered the fried chicken with mashed potatoes and country gravy.  Fried chicken, when done right, is one of my favorite comfort foods.  This chicken was done right, as it was nice and crispy on the outside, and really juicy on the inside.   It was one of the better fried chickens I’ve had in a while.

 

Overall, we were quite satisfied with our meal at The Country Cat, and could understand completely why it is so popular with the people of Portlandia.

The next morning, our goal was to find one of the “pods” of food carts which have become all the rage in Portland.  There are a couple of locations in the heart of the city that have dozens of these food carts to choose from.  Well, we found the place, but were disappointed to discover that most of the food carts are closed on Sundays.  Bummer!  We looked to our trusty cell phones to find another breakfast location.  Luckily, we figured out that we were only a few city blocks from the top breakfast place on yelp, Mother’s Bistro & Bar, so this is where we headed.

Mother’s Bistro & Bar (212SW Stark Street in Portland, Oregon 97204):

The chef/owner of Mother’s Bistro & Bar is Lisa Schroeder.  Lisa was working in marketing, when she realized there was no place that served the kind of food she would make if she had the time. She concluded that what the world needed was a place which served “Mother Food”—slow-cooked dishes, such as braises and stews, made with love. Lisa soon gave up her business career and enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America.   In 2000, chef Lisa opened Mother’s Bistro & Bar in downtown Portland.  Mother’s  Bistro claims to offer “refined versions of traditional home-cooked dishes.”  The menu is full of made-from scratch, slow-cooked recipes, utilizing the best available ingredients.  Mother’s serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, and also has a full bar.  

We went to Mother’s on a Sunday morning and the place was absolutely packed.  They told us that the wait was about 45 minutes, but we found a spot at the bar after about 20.  I started with their famous Bloody Mary, and my husband had a Manmosa, which is the same as a mimosa, only super-sized.  

The entire menu looked delicious, but I finally decided on the Eggs Benedict.  The eggs were perfectly poached, and it had just the right amount of Canadian bacon for my liking.  The Hollandaise was thicker than I like, and a little bit too lemony, but overall, it was a yummy dish.    

My husband ordered one of the daily specials, which was a Cajun Hash.  It had Andouille sausage, potatoes, and some kind of herby, mustard sauce.  It was served with two over easy eggs on the side.  The hash was good on its own, with a good amount of spice from the sausage and mustard, but once it was mixed with the runny egg yolk, the dish was delicious.

We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast at Mother’s Bistro, and would highly recommend it to anyone heading to Portland.

Since the portions were so big at Mother’s, and since we didn’t eat breakfast until around 11:00, we held off on any more meals until dinner.  For dinner, all my pre-trip research led us to a spot called Le Pigeon.
  
Le Pigeon (738 E Burnside St., Portland,OR 97214):

Le Pigeon serves up adventurous, French-inspired food, by Portland rockstar chef, Gabriel Rucker.  The entire restaurant is made up of a large open kitchen, about seven communal tables, and a chef’s counter where you can watch all the action happening in the kitchen.  It is fairly dark inside, so my photos do not do the food justice, but trust me, it was all quite beautiful.  

Chef Rucker takes classic French techniques, along with eclectic Northwest ingredients, and transforms them into carefully executed, and creative dishes.  He recently received the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year Award which goes to show that he is definitely doing something right.

Le Pigeon is only open for dinner, and the seasonal menu changes on a regular basis.  Guests have the option of ordering starters and entrees al la carte, or in the alternative, they can do either a five course or a seven course tasting menu.  Since so many of the items on the menu looked amazing, we decided to go all out and try the seven course feast.

Our first starter course was a Nantucket Bay Scallop Ceviche, with papaya habanero sorbet, cucumber, tomatillo, and trout eggs.  The scallop was super fresh, and by setting it on top of the sorbet, it stayed quite chilled and was very refreshing.  It had a nice citrus flavor, with a hint of heat from both the habanero and the tomatillo.  It was a great way to start off our meal.

The next course was Smoked Duck Breast, with yams, cranberry vinaigrette, oyster mushrooms, and a parsnip cream.  The duck was cooked perfectly.  Because of the cranberry vinaigrette and the yams, the whole dish had a very Thanksgiving-ish flavor profile, which I loved.  

For our third dish, we had Ricotta Cavatelli with a suckling pig ragu and sage hazelnut gremolata.  The cavatelli was a house-made pasta, with ridges around the outside of it.  This pasta was perfect because the ridges really helped the rich ragu stick to the outside of the pasta.  The ragu had a deep, intense flavor.  The gremolata, which is basically a condiment made of herbs, gave the dish some added texture.

Next came our first entrée course which was called Chicken Royale.   The dish consisted of a couple of small, perfectly cooked pieces of chicken which were accompanied by little pieces of lobster, foie gras, and shaved truffle.  The dish was incredibly decadent with all of those rich ingredients.  

 

The second entrée course was Grilled Venison with bone marrow pumpkin pie, onion chutney, and a brussel slaw.   The venison was tasty on its own, but with a bite of the bone marrow pumpkin pie, it was definitely kicked up a notch.  Truth be told, I felt that one of the only missteps of the entire meal was serving a cold slaw on top of the warm venison.  But overall, another unique and enjoyable dish.

 

We were served not one, but two separate desserts.  First was one of Chef Rucker’s signature dishes, a profiterole with fois gras ice cream.  This ice cream was silky and luxurious. 

 

Finally, the second dessert was another seasonal offering of gingerbread cake.  The cake was light and moist, and came with some fresh whipped cream on the side.  The cake had just the right amount of spiciness, without being too overwhelmed by the ginger. 

It was an excellent way to end a wonderful meal.  We left Le Pigeon stuffed, but very satisfied.

Tasty n Sons (3808 N. Williams, Portland, OR 97227):  

The next morning we headed into yet another Portland neighborhood to a local favorite called Tasty n Sons.  I first heard about Tasty n Sons on another T.V. show called “Unique Eats” which airs on the Cooking Channel.  The show was profiling places in Portland, and after watching the segment on Tasty n Sons, my mouth was watering, and I told my husband that we had to go visit this place on our trip.

After all of the rich food and wine pairings at Le Pigeon the night before, I decided that a nice, spicy Bloody Mary sounded like a great way to start off breakfast.  The Bloody Mary was delicious, and it had a whole smorgasbord full of garnishes including the traditional celery, but also a pickled carrot, beet, mushroom, and an olive.

I started my meal off with the “breakfast board” which included a soft-boiled egg, house-made beef jerky, chicken liver mousse, bacon, crusty bread, beets, apple slices, and labna, which is a strained yogurt.   The board arrived and we dove right in as everything on it looked fantastic.  It was a perfect breakfast charcuterie board.

Along with the breakfast board, my husband ordered a dish from the “smaller plates” part of the menu, which was potatoes with an over easy egg and aioli.  The potatoes were diced and fried, but they were then covered in a spicy sauce which made them a little soggy.  The eggs were perfectly cooked, and the still-runny egg yolks were great when mixed with the potatoes.

 

Now, our two starters could have easily been our entire meal.  However, I really came for a dish that was featured on the “Unique Eats” episode, which was the steak and eggs, served in a cast-iron skillet, on top of a cornmeal cake, with jalapeno butter.  The dish had three large pieces of steak, which was perfectly cooked, alongside of some cheesy, creamy scrambled eggs.  The steak and eggs were laid on top of a cornmeal cake, which tasted like corn bread with a bit more crispiness.  To top it all off, there was a giant slab of jalapeno butter in the middle of the plate, which could be used to spread on the pieces of steak, or just melted on to the cornmeal cake.  

 

We couldn’t come close to finishing everything, as we had clearly ordered way too much.  However, everything we had at Tasty n Sons was creative, unique, and most importantly, very tasty.  This was definitely a place I would recommend, and would most likely return to on our next trip to Portland.

 

Salt & Straw Ice Cream (2035 NE Alberta St., Portland, OR):

The last place we hit on our culinary exploration of Portland was the Salt & Straw ice cream shop.  They call Salt & Straw a “farm to cone” ice cream shop.  This is because all of the ice cream here is all hand-made in small batches, using only the best local, sustainable, and organic ingredients Oregon has to offer.  Their ice cream is made with 17% butterfat, which makes it some of the silkiest and creamiest ice cream you’ll ever taste.  

 

Another thing that makes Salt & Straw so unique is the crazy, gourmet flavor combinations they come up with, which constantly change with the seasons.  Some examples are:  “The Elvis”, which is banana pudding ice cream, with marionberry jam, along with homemade peanut butter cookie dough and pralined bacon;  “Pear with Blue Cheese”, which is a pear ice cream with aged crumbles of blue cheese mixed throughout; “Honey Balsamic  Stawberry with Cracked Pepper”; “Coffee and Bourbon”; and “Spiked Egg Nog.”

 

Our very favorite flavor at Salt & Straw is their Sea Salt Ice Cream with a Caramel Ribbon.  The actual ice cream is flavored with sea salt, and not overly sweet.  The caramel is home-made and abundant throughout.  It is absolutely, hands-down, the best ice cream I’ve ever had!  I also gave the olive oil ice cream a chance, which sounds like it would be bad, but was actually rich and decadent, and quite enjoyable.  The Salt & Straw has the ability to turn non-traditional ice cream foods into magical ice cream flavors.   This is definitely a must-try place for anyone headed to Portland.

Overall, we had a great time on our Portland food adventure.  Everywhere we went the food was creative, unique, and full of flavor. It's clear to see why Portland t is now being called the foodie capital of the Northwest.  From coffee shops, to artisan bakeries, to craft breweries, to James Beard Award winning chefs and restaurants, Portland has something to offer for all tastes and budgets.  It is definitely a very food-centric city, and a great place to explore.

Dinner at Church & State (Los Angeles)

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were going to be journeying to Downtown L.A. once again, so we took the opportunity to revisit a restaurant that we had enjoyed a couple years ago called Church & State.  Since we visited the south of France earlier this year, we have a new found love for French Provencal cuisine, and have been trying to find a great French restaurant in L.A. that is comparable to the amazing food we had while in France.  Church & State is a classic French bistro, in the old, industrial area of Downtown L.A.  In fact, it is located on the ground floor of the original National Biscuit Company (i.e. Nabisco) building, which was built back in 1925.

When it first opened back in 2008, Church & State was one of the first restaurants to open in the now bustling Arts District of Downtown L.A.   The cuisine is traditional French bistro fare, including such classics as steak frites, escargot, moules (mussels), roasted bone marrow, steak tartar, and duck confit, along with a selection on French cheeses, and an all-French wine list.  In addition, they have a full bar, and a great selection of unique, craft cocktails.

We each started with one of the craft cocktails, mine was called an "impromptu", and although I don't exactly recall the ingredients (it's been a few weeks), I do remember that it was quite good.  Our server also delivered some fresh, crusty bread for us to nibble on as we studied our menus.

Before we even ordered, our server also gave us an amuse, which was a gougeres (cheese puff).  This little one-bite wonder was warm, light, cheesy, and delectable.  I could have eaten several of these yummy morsels.

Our first mission was to each pick an hors d'oeuvres.  There were a lot of options on the menu which sounded great.  The hors d'oeuvres menu is pictured below.

Being a fan of charcuterie, I decided on the "small" version of the charcuterie board for my first course.  The various meats on the board were duck prosciutto, pork rillette, chicken liver mousse, and one other that I can't recall.  The server explained that all of the meats are made in-house.  The board also contained some lovely, brightly colored, pickled vegetables, along with some whole grain mustard.  We were also provided with even more fresh, crusty bread to eat the various meats with.  The meats were all delicious, and the vinegar in the pickled veggies provided just the right amount of acidity to balance out the fattiness of the meats. 

For his first course, my husband tried one of the house specialties, the moelle de boeuf, or roasted bone marrow.  Church & State is well known for their bone marrow offering, a staple on their menu since the beginning of the bone marrow trend in foodie-land. After having skipped it on our first visit, he decided go for it this time.  You can see in the picture that it arrives having been roasted in the split bone, and is served with some crostini and a marinated radish salad.  Our server explained that you are supposed to scoop the marrow out of the middle of the bone with a spoon, spread it on some bread, and then top it with a bit of the radish salad.  We had a similar experience at The French Laundry which served (back when it was legal in California) a foie gras pate to spread on toasted brioche, which was delicious.  However, my husband felt that the bone marrow at Church & State trumped the French Laundry foie gras.


The bone marrow was decadently rich, and basically tasted like the melted fat you would get on a really good ribeye steak.  The best description I’ve heard is that it tastes like “animal butter”.  Indeed it has a fatty, gelatinous texture which can be off-putting to some, but is cancelled out by some crunchy, toasty bread.  It is similar to foie gras, in that it absorbs flavor very well.  We both thought it was fantastic, and enjoyed every bite of its heart-clogging goodness. 

The next step was to each decide on an entree.  Again, the menu was loaded with French classics.

My husband went with the Scottish salmon, green lentils, red onion and crispy bacon.  The salmon was well cooked, and the mixture of the lentils, onion, and bacon, was an excellent accompaniment to the fish.

I chose the duck breast and leg confit.  The duck breast was tasty, however, it was a bit dry and needed a little more seasoning.  However, the leg confit was absolutely delicious!  To make duck confit, you basically poach the meat in the duck fat.  This method of cooking the duck allowed the leg meat to retain its moisture, and imparted tons of flavor.  The sauce was also tasty, but the leg confit did not even need any of the sauce.

Even though we were more than full at this point, we decided to split a dessert.  We decided on the pot de creme au chocolate et cafe, which was basically a chocolate coffee custard, topped with a chantilly creme.  It was a lovely end to our meal, but not particularly memorable.  It was a solid effort, but I do not feel it compared to the rest of our excellent meal.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Church & State to anyone who enjoys classic French bistro fare.  The first courses of charcuterie and roasted bone marrow were definitely our favorites, but the entrees were great as well.  It is a delicious French experience in the heart of Downtown LA.