Posts for February 20, 2013

Beachwood Brewing Unleashing "Full Malted Jacket" Scottish Ale

By Hadley Tomicki

Full Malted JacketPhoto: Beachwood Brewing

"A day without beer is like a day without sunshine." That's right, Beachwood Brewing is releasing a very special beer that will not only lift you from a world of shit get you buzzed, but lead to hours of you and your drunk friends dropping quotes from a Stanley Kubrick script. "Full Malted Jacket" is releasing this Saturday in two styles, a straightforward Scottish ale, as well as a version aged for a year in bourbon barrels. The pub's third bottled release from brewmaster Julian Shrago, the new label taps an heirloom barley from Scotland that undergoes a three-hour boil, coming in at a vicious 12% ABV for the aged version and a still somewhat fearsome 9% for the standard issue recipe. So, where do you, ahem, git some?

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Andre Guerrero Dreams of Ramen

"We’ve been talking about doing a ramen noodle concept...We’re going to do little small plates, little dumplings and of course the main course would be soup noodles, probably ramen and a couple others. This isn’t the last time you’ll see me doing soup noodles."—Andre Guerrero, chef-owner of Little Bear, Maximiliano, and The Oinkster, speaking at Noodle Bowl Fest on a potential future concept. [TFIE]

Here’s How Astronauts Make Peanut Butter Sandwiches in Space

By Hugh Merwin
Watch Video

Canadian astronaut extraordinaire Chris Hadfield gives us the lowdown on food in space. As we've learned to travel farther and farther away from Earth, we've also greatly improved our snacking capabilities. In Zero-G, it turns out, nothing quite hits the spot like a peanut butter and honey sandwich on a tortilla. Plus, dude uses space scissors! Check it out straight ahead, but please save room for astronaut ice cream.

"I noticed something cool about the honey." »

Punk Icon Alice Bag Eats Chocolate-Sauerkraut Cake, Is Called "Snackula" By Friends

By Javier Cabral

Bag at Eagle Rock's Coffee Table BistroPhoto: Javier Cabral

Alice Bag, a founding matriarch of U.S. punk rock, amateur pastry chef, Chicana role model, and feminist author, fuels her continued ass-kicking with servings of home-baked sweets, deep mugs of dark-roast coffee, and by chugging down malty German ales on a circadian rhythm. When it comes to eating, Bag admits, "It's all about pleasure. I know that I'm supposed to eat to fulfill bodily needs, but most of the time it is just about enjoyment for me; the sensual experiences, the taste of the food, relaxing and enjoying somebody's company." Grub Street kept company with the punk-rock icon, Mount Washington and Phoenix-based mother, and Diary of a Bad Housewife blogger to learn what she ate this week in today's L.A. Diet.

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Five-Dollar Ramen at Daikokuya

If you thought the lines at Downtown's Daikokuya were already an endurance test, the restaurant is offering its regular-sized ramen for five dollars starting today and served through Friday. The special, intended to help the ramen spot celebrate its eleventh year in Little Tokyo, is available all day but only at the Downtown location. [Yelp]

Lollicup Bringing Boba Tea and Squid Balls to Sawtelle

By Hadley Tomicki

LollicupPhoto: Tatiana Arbogast

The SGV is invading Little Osaka! Lollicup, a boba, fruit juice, and milk tea franchise that also serves hot snacks like chicken rice and squid balls, is poised to open on Sawtelle Boulevard, taking over the dashed dreams of a Tutti Frutti that never materialized after two years under construction. Lollicup had its start in San Gabriel in 2000 before quickly sprouting across the country and establishing a presence in China (a reverse migration we like to credit Koreatown's BCD Tofu House for initiating after its own expansion to Seoul) and releasing its own line of bottled boba. The forthcoming West L.A. location will be the business' first address west of the 110 Freeway.

Lollicup, 2206 Sawtelle Blvd. West L.A.

Does The Taste Have an Anthony Bourdain Problem?

By Hugh Merwin

Why aren't any of these people smiling? (Ludo's grin does not count.)Photo: Craig Sjodin/ABC

Andy Greenwald writes an essay for Grantland that basically tries to sink the unsinkable Anthony Bourdain and excoriate all of the benignly conspicuous conceits of ABC's show The Taste, described as a "a bland, underseasoned mess" that's overrun with "yoga-bowing amateurs" and "deluded Capoeira instructors who make 'food for awesomeness.'" (Greenwald also comes out here, it should be noted, against dessert as a legitimate dinner course.) The show is predictably awful, he writes, though Nigella Lawson is great, and, also, no one will ever dislike Nigella Lawson. Meanwhile, co-hosts Ludo Lefebvre and Brian Malarkey are nonstarters who don't do much to offer culinary expertise or entertain viewers, but worst of all is Bourdain, described here as a once-great "knight-errant of good taste," depicted "on a garishly lit soundstage, defanged like an aging circus lion" and a shadow of his former self up high atop a pyramid scheme of supreme boringness.

Hey, look, it worked. »

Craft Vet Anthony Zappola Leading The Revival of The Royce at The Langham

By Hadley Tomicki

Zappola

Last we heard from Anthony Zappola, the skilled chef who opened Tom Colicchio's Craft in Century City, he was parting with the restaurant to explore a different direction. Two years later, it turns out he's finally found it, as The Langham Hotel is re-branding its restaurant The Royce as The Royce Wood-Fired Steakhouse, reopening March 15. The restaurant will dedicate itself to superior meats (American prime, Australian wagyu, and according to the property's press rep, "five-star grade Japanese Kobe cuts") grilled over white oak and other woods, and a secondary selection of seafood, sides, and vegetable dishes. The restaurant's fine-dining look will not be altered, nor has its serious wine stock been liquidated. The new Royce will also feature a Sunday brunch with mimosa and chef-manned buffet stations, as a hotel restaurant probably should.

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Staples Center Not Bowing to Morrissey's Vegetarian Strong-Arming

By Hadley Tomicki

It turns out Morrissey's camp jumped the gun a little bit in their fervor for animal rights. Yesterday's report that the singer had succeeded where Paul McCartney failed by convincing The Staples Center to go completely meat-free for a March 1st concert now turn out to be a miserable lie premature. Instead, the venue is simply committing to the addition of more vegetarian options and encouraging L.A. Live eateries around the stadium to do the same. So, if you're that sensitive, black-clad concert-goer who struggles to side with Morrissey over a juicy burger, you'll be able to enjoy the best of both. Just be warned: PETA is going to be there to "to talk to attendees about animal-free lifestyles." [LAist]

Bludso's Bar-&-Que Arrives in Hollywood

By Hadley Tomicki

Rib tips, pork ribs, and pulled pork at Bludso's Bar-and-QuePhoto: Tatiana Arbogast

Straight outta Compton, Kevin Bludso's eponymous sliver of a Texas-style barbecue restaurant is now serving Hollywood in the former home of Mark Peel's Tar Pit. A collaboration between Bludso, Golden State owners Jason Bernstein and James Starr, and Man Bites World-blogger-cum-meat-smoker Noah Galuten, the brand-new Bludso's Bar-&-Que adds cocktails, craft beer, and Scoops ice cream to the existing restaurant's roster of heavenly brisket, hot links, pulled pork, ribs, and chicken on a truncated menu that makes your options a little easier to assemble. Meats are offered by the quarter, half, and full pound between $5-18, with small and large side servings of mac and cheese, collards, baked beans, and potato salad. Desserts, including fat slices of crucial red velvet cake, are being baked daily by the chef's mother, who is passing her secrets on the kitchen. And the drinks?

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Andre Guerrero And David Feau Cooking at Tapenade, February 27

By Hadley Tomicki

Ressul Rassallat

Tapenade, the new West L.A. restaurant from former L'Orangerie sous and Lodge at Pebble Beach executive chef Ressul Rassallat, will welcome chefs Andre Guerrero (Maximiliano, The Oinkster) and David Feau (the French former Patina chef who recently closed The Royce in Pasadena) to dinner next Wednesday, February 27. The trio will prepare a seven-course meal priced at $72 per person, with an $18 optional supplement for wine pairings. Dishes will include Guerrero's lobster panna cotta with pineapple, John Dory a la plancha with cuttlefish and fennel pollen from Feau, and Rassallat's rack of lamb in a vadouvan reduction, in addition to a two layered chocolate and vanilla bean creme brulee. Reservations can be made at 310-312-6233 and the full menu can be seen below.

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Watch Jon Stewart Take On the European Horse Scandal

By Alan Sytsma
Watch Video

The ever-growing horse meat crisis in Europe is no doubt disturbing for those involved, but it's also the kind of story that's given a lot of fodder to comedians. The latest: Jon Stewart, who points out that even though things in the U.S. seem bad, at least our meat supply (probably) isn't tainted with rogue horse DNA. Then again, as Stewart himself says, What kind of a world do we live in where we can no longer trust the product purity — the regulatory oversight — of Transylvanian meat slaughterhouses? Check out the full clip, straight ahead.

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Here’s the Greatest, Fakest Guy’s American Kitchen Parody Website Ever

By Hugh Merwin

Is the Hobo Lobo Bordello Slam Jam fresh tonight?Photo: Guy's American Kitchen and Bar

"Guy Fieri didn't register his restaurant's domain name," a Brooklyn-based programmer named Bryan Mytko tweeted yesterday, "so I picked it up. I think this new menu look great." Indeed. The fake menu that's now parked proudly at the spoof site Guy's American Kitchen and Bar now proudly offers "Panamania!," a boisterous entrée of deep-fried snake that comes with a "a printed out picture of David Lee Roth stapled on it and a sparkler sticking out of each eye," not to mention a "side of Bud Light you have to wring out of a Hawaiian shirt." It's sort of like the greatest thing ever. Also, it's a little more than depressing.

How fresh is that deep-fried snake? »

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