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INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is Quentin Tarantino’s WWII fantasy about how the war should have ended. Brad Pitt’s redneck hero commands “the basterds,” a pack of Jewish-American soldiers, as they execute an excruciatingly violent mission. Events culminate, not on the battlefield, but in a movie theater where a young woman who witnessed Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) murder her family extracts cinematic revenge on the entire Third Reich high command. The astounding Waltz should be dancing at Oscar time. As for us, after a long summer we’re back with news of what you’ve been missing and what you can’t afford to miss.
The food event of the year, the 27th AMERICAN WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL (AWFF) takes place on October 2 - October 4, benefiting Los Angeles Chapters of Meals On Wheels. There’ll be the usual Friday night kickoff party ($150) at Red Seven, with chic eats and innovative libations. Saturday’s main event runs from 6 to 11pm at Universal Studios’ Back Lot when Alan Wong; Rene Mata of Chinois; Nobu Matsuhisa; Yoshi Kojima; Charles Phan; Lissa Doumani and Hiro Sone; Thomas Keller; Piero Selvaggio; and Yuji Wakiya are among the huge gathering of culinary elite who will be cooking up an epicurean feast paired with fine wines and spirits, not to mention live bands, a silent auction and a few surprises ($300). Patron packages begin at $1,000; table reservations are $3,500 up. At the Chefs Grand Tasting Dinner, Sunday evening at 6pm at Spago, some of these celebrity chefs will prepare an elegant, six-course meal. The evening includes a live auction ($750). Tickets: Tracey Spillane at 310-385-0880.
The raves continue to pour in for Ricardo Zarate’s amazing modern Peruvian cuisine. As if running two restaurants were not enough, the rising star chef has instituted weekday lunches at WABI-SABI (1635 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice; 310-396-8857) and Tasting Dinners with all dishes off-themenu, on the third Thursday of each month, at MO-CHICA (3655 S. Grand Ave., downtown; 213-747-2141, mo-chica.com. Mon. 11AM-8PM, Tues.-Sat. 11AM-10PM) for an absurdly low $35, reservations limited to 15 or so people. More on this later.
It’s National Mushroom Month but thanks to state-of-the-art cultivation techniques practiced by HOKTO KINOKO, outside San Diego you can enjoy organic specialty mushrooms: maitake (hen of the woods), king trumpet (eryngi), brown beech (buna shimeji), and white beech (bunapi) year-round. These mushrooms are so fresh and clean they travel from pre-harvest to grocer’s shelf untouched by human hands. Simply trim the base, prepare, and serve — they don’t even need to be washed — and they last from two to four weeks in the refrigerator. Info, recipes: www.hokto-kinoko.com.
September 3 - 9 FIG RESTAURANT (Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, Santa Monica) celebrates the Santa Monica Pier Centennial with Chef Ray Garcia’s nostalgic lunch/dinner “Pre Pier Menu” of a la carte items: ON A STICK: (Cheese on a Stick; Wagyu Corn Dog; Lobster Corn Dog; Scotch Duck Egg); ON BREAD: (Pancetta Burger; Cheese Steak; Bratwurst on Pretzel Roll); IN A BASKET: (Sweet Potato Fries; Blue Cheese Filled Buffalo Chicken), and more.
Starting September 10, on the second Thursday of each month, check out CIGAR AND WHISKEY NOSING NIGHTS AT THE BAR (The Langham Huntington, 1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave, Pasadena; 626-585-6218). Enjoy an evening under the stars with live music, conversation, and networking while you learn from whiskey specialists and fellow cigar enthusiasts. Dine on specially paired hors d’oeuvres from The Dining Room, enjoy two glasses of a featured whiskey, a cigar, and a second hand-rolled cigar to take home (from 2nd St. Cigars, LA). Cost $60.
Doing anything on Sunday, September 13th from 1:00 – 5:00pm? Wanna do lunch at Bombay Café; FIG Restaurant (Fairmont Miramar); I. Cugini; La Grande Orange; Shangri-La Hotel; Wokcano; Xooro, and more? Then meet me at Santa Monica Pier for TASTE OF SANTA MONICA and we can sample dishes from a slew of great local restaurants, an international pizza tent, wine booths, and a beer garden. There’ll be live music by KOOZA Cirque du Soleil, Sunset Happy Hour, a kids corner, preferred prices to Pacific Park and KOOZA (www.cirquedusoleil.com/taste SM), plus a chance to meet and mingle with the KOOZA street team. Entry Tickets $10; Taste Bucks in $1 increments for sampling. VIP pass $65 (early entrance, unlimited food & drinks); www.tasteofsantamonica. com or 310-393-9825 ext. 10.
The 8th Annual Precious Cheese Italian FEAST OF SAN GENNARO is September 25-27, preceeded by the Prima Notte Fundraising Gala on September 24. Both at 1651 N. Highland Ave. Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla host a live auction with fabulous items up for bid. Stroll restaurant row and eat your fill of pizza, gelato, biscotti, and much more. Buy your tickets online up to 48 hours before the event or on-site the day of the event. It might not be the first place you think of for a bargain, but that’s what you’ll find at Bar 360 at Café Rodeo in the LUXE HOTEL (360 N Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills; 310 273-0300) delivers with a $3.60 happy hour (4:30 to 7:30pm Mon – Sat). Order a classic dry or dirty martini, a cosmopolitan, a watermelon martini, or $3.60 Amstel Light or Negro Modelo beers. Patrons can also order daily from an extensive specialty cocktail and wine list and a full dinner menu in the dining room/lounge or on the block’s only dining patio. Complimentary two-hour valet parking with validation.
Le Troquet at LE MERIGOT - A JW MARRIOTT BEACH HOTEL AND SPA (1740 Ocean Ave., SM; 310-395-9700) has come to the rescue of workaholic Westsiders with a late night happy hour. Monday through Friday, from 8 to 10pm, appetizers and small plates are 30% off and well drinks are 50% off. They’re serving Tuna Tartar, Crab Quesadilla, and Steak Au Poivre. Slake your thirst with a Colada Me Coco, a Berry Belini or a Honey Lips Martini any day from 2PM to 11PM (Fri & Sat till midnight).
Barrie Lynn, the Cheese Impresario, reports from the 2009 AMERICAN CHEESE SOCIETY competition in Austin, Texas, that an unprecedented 1,327 American Artisanal Cheeses were entered. Rogue Creamery’s Rogue River Blue won Best of show. Order: 866-396-4704.
Other winners include Red Hawk by Cowgirl Creamery; Cave Aged Mellage; Cocoa Cardona; Mozzarella Company in Dallas; La Cocina Caciotta, a goat’s-milk cheese blended with fresh basil and cilantro, ancho and guajillo chiles, garlic and chipotle peppers; Pure Luck Farm and Dairy’s chèvre from goats that graze on cedar bark and prickly pear cactus; Veldhuizen Family Farm’s Paragon, a velvety raw cow’s-milk cheese that is perfect for melting. Roth Käse USA captured five awards, including three blue ribbons: Valfino, a semi-soft cheese with a hint of spice and fruit took top honors in the American Originals (Cow’s Milk) category; St. Otho earned first place in the Low Fat/Low Salt Cheeses category; GranQueso won top honors in the Hispanic and Portuguese Style Cheese category for the sixth year in a row. Roth Käse USA also captured a second place ribbon for Petite Swiss in the American Made/International Style Category and third place in the Flavored Cheeses category for Peppadew™ Havarti. Info: 608845-5796 ext. 5 or www.rothkase.com.
Did you make it to the inaugural August KOREAN BBQ COOK-OFF? We didn’t, but we read about it at www.losangeles.grubstreet.com, from New York Magazine, which has the latest dish on restaurant openings and closings, events, insider tips and gossip. Editor Hadley Tomicki sent us this excerpt from his report & slideshow: “an estimated 6,000 hungry bellies braved the heat in hopes of being served grilled galbee and bulgogi … (we) arrived to see such VIP judges as Jonathan Gold, Evan Kleinman, and Russ Parsons choose all-you-can-eat restaurant Mu Dae Po’s galbee as the winner…by a very slim margin. “Korean BBQ is kind of like sex,” declared Gold, “even when it’s bad, it’s good.”
SIMPLY DIVINE! wine & food tasting and auction took in over $160,000 at their event on Two Rodeo’s quaint cobblestone promenade in the heart of Beverly Hills, benefitting the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. Twenty top vintners — including Paradigm Winery, Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery, and Bernardus Winery — and restaurants such as Beechwood, Rivera, 8 oz., and Jar served delicious small plates. Celebrity chef and cochair, Susan Feniger, owner of Ciudad and Border Grill, herself earned the charity a whopping $15,000 by auctioning off a private dinner for 10. Then she did it again! Tickets for next August will be available at 323-993-7638. Incidentally, at Feninger’s STREET, you can pick up a $25 takeout bento box with five set items and your choice of entrée: Korean short ribs, lamb taco, Japanese shizo shrimp, chilled soba noodles, or fried chicken. Also, a tamarind ginger cooler or chrysanthemum mint iced tea.
Almost three decades ago, CAROL’S COOKIES was born out of a kitchen in Highland Park, Illinois. Today, Carol, a former social worker, runs the company with her son, Jeff Goldman, and these handmade half pound Chocolate Chip, Toffee Crunch, and Oatmeal Raisin classics, as well as Toffee Crunch, Cinnamon Swirl, Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry and Peanut Butter Combo disks are distributed throughout the United States or buy them at www.carolscookies. com or 847-831-4500.
Since not everyone can get to Philly to eat at TONY LUKE’S OLD PHILLY STYLE SANDWICHES restaurant, Luke has created a new line of frozen foods, TONY LUKE’s Pronto, that “take the gourmet sous vide (cooking in vacuum sealed pouches) technique to another level,” making it possible to serve up a juicy, tasty cheesesteak on an Italian bread roll in just a few minutes. Varieties include Cheesesteak, Roast Pork, and Chicken Cheesesteak 7” sandwiches. They are packed blast frozen, two per box, with microwave/boil-in-bag ready meat and Italian bread rolls, ready to heat and assemble in just minutes. They’ll be available nationwide by the end of 2009, or order online at www.TonyLukesPronto.com. Rastelli Foods, the maker, is also distributing the items through its 20,000 restaurant, casino, resort and commercial accounts and planning to build free-standing outlets worldwide. In his spare time he makes movies like THIS IS MY CHEESESTEAK and THE NAIL, starring Luke (with William Forsythe, Tony Danza, Leo Rossi) as Joey Nardone, an ex-con with a mission: to only “fight for the right,” shot on location in Philly. Out this month on DVD, this may be the only title with a cheesesteak promo.
With the small plate New American dinner menu by celebrity chef Michael Voltaggio (last at The Bazaar by José Andrés, and a Season 6 contestant on “Top Chef”), The Dining Room at THE LANGHAM, HUNTINGTON HOTEL & SPA (1401 South Oak Knoll Ave., Pasadena; 626-585-6218) continues as one of L.A.’s top kitchens. Go for the tomato tartare with parmesan over-easy and tapenade powders; Pacific yellowtail sashimi with soy-watermelon sauce; rougie foie gras with grapefruit-compari puree; marinated pastrami pigeon with brussels-kraut and puffed gruyere cheese; wagyu short rib; halibut cheeks with lemongrass-scallion froth; suckling pig with cipollini onions; and miso strawberry shortcake with nitro frozen yogurt and tarragon-arugula.
In case you decide to go for a swim after dinner, ANDRÉ BALAZS’ THE STANDARD HOTEL (8300 Sunset Blvd.; 323-650-9090; and Downtown) has added poolside vending machines stocked with Quiksilver bikinis and swim trunks, each with a “quik city guide” to local hotspots in the waistband.
With 60 Americans dying every day from lack of health insurance, John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal against single payer health insurance reform — the only way to control costs and insure everyone. As a result, thousands of people, including customers and employees, called for a boycott at http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog /?p=1370 and posted comments around the web expressing dismay at his opinion. ▼
