Las Vegas: Border Grill

In foodie circles, there is much contempt for places like Border Grill. An incessant back and forth-age of statements of how double the authenticity can had for half of the price at Hole-in-the-Wall X. How it’s laughable that chefs like Susan Feniger misinterpret cultures through the bastardization of their food.

I get it. It’s not real. But so what?

Border Grill tastes good. And if you’re looking for justification, think of its concept as an homage - a celebration of a culture’s colors, its tastes, its diversity.



Located inside the Mandalay Hotel, Vegas’ storefront requires a significant walk past all other restaurants. The dining room itself retains an upscale atmosphere, while outdoor seating overlooks the hotel pool.

The restaurant’s menu is upscale Mexican and boasts the highest quality of ingredients.



As a first course, the queso fundido of melted manchego, panela, oaxacan string cheeses is a creamy medley of cheeses served with chorizo,onion, and roasted peppers (13). While neither the cheeses nor the chorizo contain the typical sass of salt that is customary to this type of Mexican fare, the dish is flavorful, but light - likely the result of healthier ingredients.



As a combination dish, the Yucatan Pork, flavored in achiote and orange, is roasted in banana leaf. The pork, while plentiful, is far from overbearing in flavor. It is served with cinnamon red rice, black beans, and plantain orange salsa. Corn tortillas are handmade(24).

For vegetarian fare, Border Grill’s roasted poblano pepper is an exceptional breaded chile relleno filled with manchego, panela, and cotija cheeses. Both red and tomatillo salsas dress this stuffed pepper. This dish is served with cilantro rice and black beans (18).



To best judge upscale Mexican cuisine, one has to consider how well traditional flavors remain in tact in the process of serving them with both a more sensationalized presentation and a more subtle seasoning palate - not too spicy, nor pungent. In that, Border Grill succeeds. Its presentation is bright and fresh. Its effect not overwhelming once the eating is done.

Real or not real, Border Grill mades excelling eating.

Border Grill
locations include Las Vegas, Santa Monica, and Downtown LA
http://bordergrill.com/

Celebrity Chefs Tour, Anthology, Little Italy

Billed as the Celebrity Chefs Tour, this four-hour food tasting and cooking event’s name can lead to incredibly high expectations.

Instantly, the mind races with impossibility: Eric Ripert, Michael Mina and Thomas Keller, or at least the Voltaggio brothers, strutting off the Lindbergh Field tarmac, knives in hand. In slow motion, no less.

But for this event, celebrity meant a season five Top Chef contestant from San Diego and a Food Network cupcake show contestant. The tour part of the event’s name could only be justified from the latter’s Los Angeles commute.

Food fantasies aside, this event, held on a late Sunday morning at Anthology, turned out to be an enjoyable experience.



Emulating a tasting menu of sorts, the event took place in five parts and included tasting samples of each dish while chefs provided live demonstrations. Recipes were provided for the entire event.

For an early morning drink, Cowboy Star’s bartender Garth Flood took the stage to demonstrate three drinks, including the Old Fashioned, a hot Whiskey, as well as a Tequila drink. While Flood shared his insights into the quality of alcoholic ingredients, tiny samples of the Old Fashioned were served as a belly warmer for a cold and rainy day. Seconds were easily had thanks to an eager waitstaff.

Afterwards, Cheese Wiz Gina of Venissimo cheeses, demonstrated her method for constructing a balanced cheese plate, then following up with a tutorial for fresh ricotta. Two cheese samples were available for tasting between presentations.



For the appetizer course, Anthology executive chef Todd Allison, along with an assistant, took part in creating both a butternut squash rock shrimp risotto, as well as a beet and buratta salad. Along with wonderful presentation, Chef Allison's plate revealed flavors that were a clean balance between savory and sweetness.



For an entree, Top Chef contestant Richard Sweeney espoused the value of pork belly dishes and demonstrated a rolled pork belly with bacon sage cornbread stuffing, black pepper milk gravy served with a side of smokey collard greens. Sweeney’s dish, which used bacon redundantly - that’s a good thing - was an exceptional comfort choice for the day’s wet weather.



Afterwards, pastry chef “Red Velvet” Stephanie Gaxiola, a Food Network Cupcake Wars contestant, along with two assistants, presented an interactive demonstration of three different cupcakes, including a pumpkin French toast, caramel candy apple pie (both pictured below), and chocolate candy corn cupcakes. Guests were encourage to come up an help with the demonstration. The result was a moist and flavorful bite.



The event included a promotional demonstration. La Jolla Cost Plus World Market General Manager put on a table setting demonstration while her assistant promoted the fall line of tablewares. In return, Cost Plus supplied the swag bags, as well three gift baskets for raffling.

Overall, the event ran smoothly with incredibly prompt service, and each of the speakers was entertaining in each of his or her own way. Where Chef Allison was humble and down to earth, Chef Sweeney was full of entertaining sarcasm and wit. Gaxiola, on the other hand, was bubbly and equally amusing at that.

While tickets were priced at $70/person, at the last minute, 25 tickets were offered at two for one. The series will continue Nov. 14 and Dec. 5 with different chef guests.





Celebrity Chefs Tour
Anthology
1337 India Street
San Diego CA 92101
http://celebritychefssandiego.blogspot.com/
http://www.anthologysd.com/index.html

Las Vegas: Rick Moonen Seafood

When it comes to seafood, there two things that make it scary and unappealing: Eating it out of trucks and eating it in the desert. These situations leave it, either physically or psychologically, too far removed from where it belongs - close to its source and close to adequate refrigeration.

So is it ever fair to say that some of the finest seafood can be had outside of coastal proximity?

The second place finalist of season two’s Top Chef Masters Rick Moonen seems to think so.



Inside Mandalay Place, RM seafood can easily be overlooked nestled beneath the casino escalators. But once inside, the two-story RM reveals itself to be larger than expected.

A first glance at their menu consisting of entrees that are almost all priced at well over thirty dollars, will further beg the question: Can fish be this good in Las Vegas?

Once the plates arrive, the food will affirm it to be true.

Above, the Top Chef Masters “Moon” Doggies (14.) are shrimp corn dogs and drizzled in cilantro mayonnaise. The dogs’ breading is crisp, the shrimp cooked with a tenderness that borders on melting.



Entrees are poetic. What sounds like overstatement becomes reality when served; RM’s plates are like paintings - vibrant contrasts, artfully composed - a tropical compensation for being in the desert. And they taste good, too.

Above, the Hawaiian walu “kabob” (35.) is composed of walu fish layered between cippolini onions, bok choy, and crushed jalapeño- pineapple. The dish is a thoughtful juxtaposition of savory spice and palate cleansing citrus flavors. Below, the grilled shrimp saffron risotto (31.) is served with spinach and chorizo oil. The plate’s shrimp are tastefully grilled and while a little too oily, the risotto is rich and striking in both taste and color.




RM’s dessert is full of whimsy, as detailed in a Rocky Road chocolate pudding, red velvet whoopie pies, and below, the “Fat Elvis”: Thai inspired bacon and banana spring rolls, warm chocolate included (9). While a visually refined dish, the rolls are pure and delicious comfort.



Seafood in the desert? Think of it as an oasis. An expensive, but tasty oasis.

Rick Moonen's RM Seafood Mandalay Place
3930 Las Vegas Boulevard South
LasVegas, NV 89199
www.rmseafood.com

Los Angeles: Tinga

In theory, I love Mexican Food. I love what it represents: humility, mothers and grandmothers, history and tradition.

In truth, I don’t eat it very often.

Of course, I share allegiance to preferential holes in the wall, as well as the sadness that my mother’s pozole and espinazo stew are treasures that I will some day be without; that no other woman could ever prepare so well. Mexican food is about memory.

Still, there’s something very off putting about Mexican cuisine.
Is this a Mexican mutiny? Perhaps.

But the truth is that when it comes to Mexican food, aside from the mystery and resourcefulness of regional cuisine, I am all too often left unimpressed. Especially in America, where most Mexican food appeals through grease and girth.

When it isn’t playing the role of “quantity cuisine,” Mexican food serves as a sad and predictable metaphor that seeks solace in tradition, but does little to move forward.

Mexican food can be static. Forgettable.

Then there are moments of innovation. Instances of reinvention, refinement, and restraint. Moments when everything is new again.

Tinga is a little like that.



There is no taxidermy in Tinga. No stuffed bull’s head. No zarapes. No dried hanging chile peppers, no velvet sombreros. Tinga is industrial minimalist - modern in design, earthy in color.

Inside, a communal table leads to the counter where orders are placed. Tinga is no ordinary taco shop. Its culinary point of view is nouveau Mexican, delving into the culture’s flavors in a subtle and refreshing way. The result is an attentive array of brightly flavored dishes that play with chipotle, queso fresco, tomatillos, and poblano chiles.




One remarkable side dish is the elote especial, a bowl of grilled sweet corn coated with poblano puree, creamy lime, and chile (5.). Kernels are charred in earnest; it’s sweet, tangy and mildly spicy at every bite.




While offering a variety of two taco, chips and salsa combinations, the house specialty is a pair of tinga tostada of stewed chicken, crema and pickled onions. While relatively small, the tostadas are first-rate. The chicken is spicy and moist, the crema as clean as the vegetables are fresh. To be fully enjoyed, they should be eaten quickly, as the chicken’s stew quickly compromises the tostadas’ texture ($7.50).




Quesadillas are also on Tinga’s line up. The list includes chorizo and goat cheese, chicken and corn quesadilla, as well as the wild and tame mushroom quesadilla. This one is slathered in a mushroom pate and filled with melted jack cheese ($9.50). While jack cheese can be uneventful the salt and tang of the crema and cotija cheeses liven this dish up.

Drinks are equally interesting here. Cantaloupe aqua fresca, watermelon lemonade and horchata are on the roster. A more innovative option, below, is the dirty horchata - this horchata is served with two shots of espresso ($5.).





Cynics will tell you that this isn’t true Mexican fare. That due to its modest rations, upscale pricing, a and penchant for playing indie music, Tinga is watered down. But that’s ridiculous. It’s like saying a Native American can only be Native American if she’s wearing feathers.

Tinga’s appeal is that it moves Mexican culture forward.





Tinga
142 S. La Brea
Los Angeles, CA 90036

http://www.tingabuena.com/

Los Angeles: Tar Pit "dinela"

I have toiled for years over going(or not going) to Chef Mark Peel’s much acclaimed restaurant Campanile. You see, even though I don’t mind occasionally paying to dine like a rich man, it’s an ordeal to get me to want to dress like one.
And from all gathered intelligence, Campanile is relatively formal, if not downright uptight.
It’s not that I’m a slob; I would never dine out in anything less than shirt sleeves. But the whole slack and shiny shoe thing makes an otherwise enjoyable experience a wash. Especially, if it involves a drive up to Los Angeles.

Chef Peel’s newest endeavor, a cocktail bar and restaurant named The Tar Pit, seemed a more casual compromise.



It wasn’t that casual.
The Tar Pit is pure swank. But there was confusion among the masses. Inside a dimly lit, jazz-age inspired restaurant, patrons were evenly dressed in t-shirts and suits - a schizophrenic luxury that compelled a more inclusive ambience than the Tar Pit’s elegance aspires to demand.

As a cocktail bar, The Tar Pit’s drinks are smart, creative and expensive. With a cocktail menu divided into sours and aromatics, the Tar Pit’s $12 libations include whimsical elixirs like the frosty Georgia Julep (above, left) and the very potent Oaxacan Angel, a mixture of mescal, agave, and cardamom bitters.



During DineLA Week, as a participant of the annual two-week long prix fixe special, The Tar Pit offered three courses for $26.

In addition to the choice of a goat cheese and fig compote crostini, the special menu included a vibrantly tasting Persian cucumber and radish salad, as well as a more muted, but visually striking Bibb and chervil salad. While the Persian was dressed in pungent tang, the salad remained crisp; the Bibb was only herbaceously flavored, but fresh.




The Tar Pit’s mains were also a thoughtful juxtaposition of delicate aromatics and refined heartiness. The veal short-ribs in parsnip puree as tender as they are bold tasting. The linguini and littleneck clams in clam sauce of roasted garlic and thyme is earthy, but light; its pasta rustically rendered. Chicken A La King was a third option.



The dessert course included the choice of banana bread pudding in rum caramel sauce, crème fraiche, and candied pecans or a couple of a chocolate caramel sundae comprised of caramel ice cream, chocolate sauce, as well as nuts and orange streusel.
The bread pudding was remarkably firm in texture, not soggy like some. In spite of not being overly soaked, it was delicious. The sundae, while good tasting, was just a sundae.



In spite of its elegance, service at the Tar Pit was spotty and slow. Some tables qualified for bread, while others did not. Some felt compelled to remind servers of their orders as lapses in service were the norm for the night. Whether due to its newness or a method by which to get diners to order more drinks, TheTar Pit, with all of its aesthetic luxury and good flavor, finds itself with much room for improvement.


The Tar Pit
609 N. La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, 90036
(323)965-1300
http://tarpitbar.squarespace.com/

Many of the photos appearing on this post were taken by http://brubrublah.blogspot.com/

CIY: Seamus Mullen's Crispy Kale and Lemon Yogurt Dip

In his efforts to experience life to its fullest, Seinfeld character George Costanza envisioned a multi-sensory experience that combined passion, palate, and television programming.

Better known as the “trifecta,” George decided to introduce television and the pastrami sandwich to his sex life. Though it doesn’t work out for him, George’s folly teaches us a powerful lesson: Man has a right to his follow his dreams.

My dream involves food and technology.

So when both Gourmet and Food+Wine magazine both recently introduced their iPad apps, I came a step closer to realizing that dream.

Along with exceptionally rich and wonderfully presented material, Food+Wine’s first digital issue included an easy recipe by Chef Seamus Mullen - a former Next Iron Chef contestant - for crispy kale and a lemon yogurt dip.

While simple, this recipe was not only for kale, but for making a man’s dream come true.



You need:

• Two bunches of kale ( seriously - the recipe calls for a pound, but who has an oven for that?)
• olive oil
• 1 tbs of minced garlic ( or in my case: Garlic flavored olive oil
• 1 lemon for 2 tbs of juice, 1 tsp of zest
• 1 cup of plain fat-free Greek yogurt
  

You do (crispy kale):

1. Cut the stems and spines off of the kale.
2. Wash and dry it.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
4. Toss the kale in 2/3 cup of olive oil.
5. Lay the kale out on baking sheets.
6. Put them in the top and bottom thirds of the oven for 7 minutes.
7. Have the sheets trade places for another 7 minutes and take out.
8. Salt and pepper them to taste.
9. Serve.

You do ( lemon yogurt dip):

1. Pour one cup of plain greek yogurt into bowl.
2. Add two tablespoons of lemon juice and the garlic.
3. Add one tablespoon of olive oil.
4. Add one teaspoon of lemon zest.
5. Whisk it all together.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.

You get:
Mullen’s crispy kale is light and airy, practically dissolving in your mouth. The combination of a usually bitter leafy green with the dip’s cool citrus taste proves to be a delicious dichotomy that’s also low in calories.

And lastly, a note to George: Food + Wine’s iPad app makes magazine reading, cooking and eating the perfect trifecta. “I’m busting, Jerry. I’m busting!”

Seamus Mullen’s Crispy Kale recipe and nutritional value can be found here:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/crispy-kale-with-lemon-yogurt-dip

Food + Wine’s ipad app here:
http://www.foodandwine.com/mobile-apps

Las Vegas: Todd English P.U.B.

I don’t want to think of myself as the Las Vegas type. While I’m not sure exactly what that means, I understand it to have some form of perhaps self-imposed negative connotation. Negative, of course, for Las Vegas’ wiley ways: the manner in which it empowers us to make claims about how sexy we are, or how hard we’ve partied or how some form of conspiratorial tragedy came to be in a way that could never happen anywhere else; a secret that is to be kept in the desert.

It’s a liar’s paradise for sure.

And yet, for some reason, I find myself in Vegas every couple of months.
Vegas. That’s how we say it because we’re so cool there, even though we don’t say York, Angeles, or Diego.

With all of its falsities, kitsch, and inevitable liver damage, there’s definite appeal to Las Vegas. We go there because it’s democracy in action. Vegas can be everything for everyone. For some it's Paris or Egypt or Italy or the Starship Enterprise. It can even be a circus, if that’s what you want. We go there because Vegas is the great equalizer. After all, where else in the world can we walk into a four star steakhouse in cargo shorts and an Ed Hardy fanny pack and be treated like royalty?

“Vegas, baby.”



In this desert diorama that is the adult’s version of Disney’s “It’s a Small World,” a little bit of England is just as available as anything else, inside the new City Center, at Todd English’s P.U.B. (public urban bar). This sparse version of an upscale pub is too cavernous to be intimate, but its abundance of open space does radiate simple swank.

The restaurant stocks a full bar and a meaningful wine and beer list. Most beers are ambitiously priced at eight dollars a pint. Above, the birra moretti is a clean tasting choice that will set you back a steep nine dollars.



The P.U.B.’s menu does include a few British comfort staples, such as bangers and mash and a grilled bologna plate, ironically presented in refined composition and priced at almost twenty dollars. But British cuisine is mostly novelty on a menu that boasts an equally eclectic offering reflective of the area - a list that includes both smoked salmon quesadillas and New England fish and chips.

Below, the trio of duck buns, topped with slivers of scallions, is a tasty and obviously un-British plate of hoisin flavored shredded duck.




The P.U.B.’s favorites includes the grilled bologna a rather simple sandwich of artisanal bologna and mozzarella. While humorous in concept: bologna sandwich done upscale, at sixteen dollars, it’s not that funny. As good as the bologna was, it never deserves a double digit fee.

Another favorite is the bangers & mash - a pairing of grilled sausage slathered in a mustard and red wine sauce and mashed potatoes (18). It’s a fun and bold tasting plate as well as a meaningful foray into British cuisine. One surprising misstep is the dish’s use of potatoes in the sausage portion. It’s a redundant oversight as I found myself dipping potato chunks into my mashed potatoes.



Along with burgers, british classics, and Mexican inspired fare, Todd English’s P.U.B. also houses a carvery, which features half pound servings of meat, as well as a raw bar stocked with oysters, lobster and the usual seafood selections.




Making the right choice is a big deal at P.U.B. - dishes are hit or miss. And while this kind of gamble is a natural part of Las Vegas, odds are you’ll find yourself having a good time there.

Todd English P.U.B.
3720 Las Vegas Blvd South,
Las Vegas, NV 89158

http://www.toddenglishpub.com/

Restaurant Week 2010: Bleu Bohéme, Kensington

French restaurants are complicated.

There is the bad service stereotype, the frightening to pronounce menus, and of course, the peculiar proteins. For these reasons, for many years I simply declared French food, with all its French techniques, overrated.

In fact, I’ve often questioned its popularity in America; after all, it’s not like French restaurants line America’s streets alongside taco shops and sushi bars.

And so with each visit to fake France, I aspire to address the same question: What’s the deal with French food?

Bleu Bohéme’s participation in Restaurant Week was reason enough to re-ask the question.
It’s response was a 3-course prix fixe for $30.



In the cozy neighborhood of Kensington, Blue Bohéme doesn’t have to live up to big city ambience. Instead, it pretends to be provincial with its iridescent windows, unfinished brick walls and rustic interior. In terms of aesthetics and ambience, Blue Bohéme is a charmer.



In terms of a French-countrified motif, the food matches the drapes: its flavors are rich, earthy and simple - presentation, equally rustic. The onion soup, soupe à l’Oignon Gratinée, delivers a caramelized richness in its onions. Topped with fresh herbs, this soup’s base is beef stock. Texture is provided in the form and gruyere cheese crouton.



As an appetizer option, the escargots a la Portugais in red wine provide a satisfying texture: the escargot not too chewy; the chick peas and linguiça sausage are a good offset for the bleu cheese potato croquette. It’s a strong dish all around.



Bleu Bohéme’s mains, their restaurant week choices are similar in composition with the exception of their protein. One of the options, not pictured, the steak frites, looked great.

The classic coq au vin is a farm-raised bone-in chicken cooked in red wine and served with mushrooms, country smoked bacon and caramelized pearl onions atop a light serving of egg noodles.

Similar in both flavor profile and rusticity the boeuf bourgignon is the beef version, also cooked in red wine, and all the similar fixings. This dish is only heartier in that , instead of noodles, potatoes are provided.

Both dishes are equally stewy in their hearty factor. Vegetables and meat are cooked just right, not mealy; both dishes are satisfying comfort plates.



Below, the pain d’ Épice, a warm gingerbread with strawberry confiture is a suitable post-heavy meal dessert. It’s served with caramel ice cream.



Even lighter eating is the Profiterole dish - a pastry puff with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with dark chocolate sauce. Both desserts, while worth their weight in calories, offer little in terms of surprises.



French motif in tact, Bleu Bohéme makes French dining accessible and almost entirely unintimidating by keeping it simple. Bleu Bohéme does its job well enough to merit a visit, but remember, simple and rustic is its schtick, not revisionist cuisine. Pure comfort.



Bleu Bohéme
4090 Adams Ave
San Diego
CA 92116
(619) 255-4167
http://www.bleuboheme.com/