The Return of Chocolate Napoleons

A little birdie told me that this weekend, L'Amande Bakery will be having the chocolate Napoleons. I blogged about them recently when they had them and the following day, they ran out early.

Tomorrow, Saturday, July 27th they will be selling them at 10:00 a.m. so plan to be there close to that time so as not to be disappointed. These Napoleons are crisp and just plain delicious. Forget the cronuts; these are a much better deal for your money plus you will be happier with the fresh and finest ingredients; no powdered stuff!

If you haven't read the last blog on the Chocolate Napoleons, click on the link below.
http://solittlethyme.blogspot.com/2013/07/chocolate-napoleon.html

L'Amande Bakery is located at 2553 Pacific Coast Hwy. in Torrance in the Rolling Hills Plaza.

See you there!

Black Hogg-OMG

Six of us met at Black Hogg last night for dinner to take advantage of  the last few days of the dineLA week.  My niece Aimee and her husband Elliot talked about this place many times and how I would love the food especially the popcorn bacon which intrigued me.

The 3 course menu (appetizer had a choice of 2), included the "popcorn bacon" so I had to travel the distance.  I drove 4 of us from Torrance to Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. Aimee mentioned before that they didn't take reservations so we left at 4:00 p.m. hoping to get there at 5:15 p.m. so we can fall in line. They open at 6:00 p.m.
The traffic was terrible and it took us almost 2 hours to get there.  At 5:55 p.m. we were happy to see no line!  We went in and the hostess asked for the time of our reservation. I told them we didn't have any since I understood they didn't take reservations.  She told her manager and he apologized and explained that they started taking reservations just a month ago. They were booked and there were no tables available. At this time, we were the only ones except for a party of 2. By this time, my niece and her husband Elliot walked in. I told them they didn't have tables for us.

We asked about the bar, and they finally said yes if we didn't mind sitting at the bar.
Elliot suggested going to another restaurant if we wanted since it would be hard to talk in a bar setting. We decided to stay. The saving grace is the manager waived the $19 corkage fee since they were not able to give us a table.

We had the dineLA menu. We all had to have the "Popcorn Bacon". Aimee and Elliot have had them before and loved them. I picked up my first one with my fingers since it called on being picked up by my fingers, dipped it in the maple creama sauce and OMG, OMG, OMG....I was truly delirious!  How can pure fat be so so very good?
They were bite-sized bacon morsels. It was amazingly delicious and not greasy; does that even make sense? I think I could have eaten a big bowl of them.

I also ordered the Brussels Sprout Hash for my 2nd appetizer. They were twice cooked which included Yukon gold potatoes and had bacon vinaigrette and a poached egg on top.  That too was deeelicious and I definitely would order that again along with the popcorn bacon. Aimee's 2nd appetizer was the Pork Bun (pork belly) steamed Hirata bun with hoisin slaw and Kewpie Mayo. Love that one as well.  Cindy's 2nd appetizer was the Garlic Scallion String Beans with candied Hazelnuts.  This is not made for wussies...these were very salty so it really needed the candied hazelnuts. I love salty so I liked it. 

For my entrée, I almost ordered the Octopus Chana Masala, grilled Spanish Octopus with potatoes, chickpeas served with a grilled naan. The reason I didn't order it is because they advised me it was quite spicy. Thank God for that advise because Aimee and I ended up ordering the Roast Mushroom Brioche Box. A big hunk of brioche bread, ever so light with Hen of the woods, Shimeji, and Crimini mushrooms in brown butter. This was another OMG! The sauce was so delicious and so were the mushrooms. I think I overdosed on my selenium intake last night. Sandi had some left over fries which she dispersed among us and boy did they make a splash on my pool of sauce. 

Sandi ordered the Lamb Burger which was huge. I had a bite; I was not too excited about this one. It was good but I have had better burgers. She was only able to eat 1/2 and the other 1/2 was happily consumed by Elliot.  Ana and Elliot ordered the Octopus which turned out not being too spicy. It was also good but it was just that.....good.
Cindy ordered the Mushroom as well but without the egg. Oh well, she's still growing up; maybe there's hope for her in the future.

There were 3 choices for dessert.  Sandi had the Five Leches Bread Pudding which was made of brioche, brown butter apples and toasted pecans and a big dollop of whipped cream on top. I had a bite and it was yummy, the apples were truly buttery. Cindy had the Milk & Honey Pana cotta with lavender honey and honeycomb crumble. This was also delicious. The rest of us had the Churros con Chile Chocolate. This dessert was wonderful except I would have wanted it not to be spicy.  These were Chai spiced churros with cayenne spiked Belgian chocolate.  When I read the menu, all I saw was Churros con Chocolate which I have always loved and it's very hard to find good churros let alone the thick chocolate that goes with it. This had everything  but I thought the spice & chile took away from the chocolate. That is just my preference.

All in all, we had a great time even if we sat at the bar. Jennifer, our server was right there and catered to our needs. I even ordered an extra popcorn bacon to go to experiment and see if it will be good heated up.

Black Hogg is located at 2852 W. Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles in the Silver Lake district. I will have to make another trip to try other dishes in the menu but also to have some more of the popcorn bacon! It is INCREDIBLE!

Hollywood Bowl Picnic Baskets

Last week we were lucky to get tickets to the Herb Alpert/Lani Hall and Sergio Mendez concert at the Hollywood Bowl. We ordered the food from the Patina Group.  We used to get invited by friends who had a box and we always ordered the gourmet dinners from them.

Several weeks ago, I got a notification in my email that offered a special deal.  A picnic basket for 2 was $87 if ordered before a certain date. Since there were 4 of us in the box seats, we ordered 2 of the Pan Seared Flat Iron Steak with Horseradish Cream and Roasted Garlic Aioli. These came with an Heirloom Tomato Salad with shaved onions, basil, and extra virgin olive oil. For side dish, we had herb marinated Asparagus with Manchego cheese and almonds. There were 2 French rolls with butter, country style Potato salad, a variety of cheeses with apricots and walnuts and an assortment of chocolate truffles.

Everything was delicious. The only thing I did not enjoy were the truffles; they had a nutty flavor which I didn't care for. We were impressed with the cutlery. They were made of wood, not plastic. I have never seen that before. The black plastic plates were as classy as you can get for the venue. These boxes are not very roomy and it takes careful planning on the layout.  The best part about ordering your food is that it gets delivered to your box. We didn't have to bring coolers, baskets, etc. I just brought a bottle of champagne to go with the gourmet dinner.

If you are lucky enough to get a box, check out the Patina Group Dining at the Hollywood Bowl.  You can view their menu on the Internet. In addition to the picnic baskets, they have a 3 course menu, or you can order a la carte or even family style dinners and platters.

By the way, the show was lively and entertaining. It made us feel young again and brought us back to the 60's. Those were the days when music had melody and beat. Music was.....Music.

Ruth's Chris

It's been at least 15 years since my last visit to Ruth's Chis, the steak house. I remember the sizzling steak as it was brought to the table. The sizzle comes from butter which they add at the end just before they serve it.  They were one of the restaurants listed for the dine LA weeks.

Sandi and I had to go to take advantage of the great deal which included lobster, salad, side dish and dessert.

The  Caesar salad was very good with lots of shaved Parmesan, and I mean lots! We were off to a great start.  Sandi had the house salad and she was happy with it. The 6 ounce filet with a lobster tail sitting on it came to our table sizzling like crazy. I should have taken my Lipitor before my first bite. It was butter all over and the aroma was quite pleasing. The steak was well done even if I ordered medium well; not to worry, it was tender as can be. My lobster tail was tough and overdone. As the server came by, he asked how everything was so I mentioned that the lobster was overcooked. He offered to exchange it but I declined. I figured I was there for the steak and it was very good. Soon after that, the manager came by and said she had heard that our lobsters were overcooked so she insisted on giving us fresh ones. We were grateful. The lobsters came and indeed they were soft but this time, they were undercooked. I really didn't have the nerve to tell her when she came to check on us. I just thought we would take them home and nuke them in the microwave for a minute.  The side dishes we ordered were mashed potatoes and mushrooms; both were great company for our steaks.

Dessert was surprisingly delicious.  Cheesecake crème brulee, chewy chocolate walnut cookie with rhubarb compote.  The cheesecake was not your regular cheesecake.  This was just a very light, almost liquid crème brulee. The cookie had a fresh out of the oven taste; warm and gooey which went well with the rhubarb compote.

The question is: Is Ruth's Chris still worth visiting?  Definitely......it's an experience.  Just do not order lobster. It's not their thing. If they can't get it right twice in a row, they are likely not to get it right at all.

Ruth's Chris has several locations. We went to the one on 224 S. Beverly Dr. in Beverly Hills California.

Frances Donuts (Cronut inspired)

These so far might be the closest to Dominique's cronuts.  Drove all the way to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles to try their version of cronuts.

These were very flaky and crispy. When I got home to cut them in half, you could hear the crunch while the knife dug into the multiple layers which had a lot of air in between.  I tried the plain one and the chocolate. The plain, which was not too plain since it had a custard filling, was very light. The chocolate also had the custard.  It's just a matter of preference on which flavor you like. I would have liked them both to have less custard. They also had the blueberry which I did not try. These do not come close to the ones I had yesterday from Capicola's. Like I said, those had a greasy aftertaste and looked like a flat tire compared to Frances Donuts.

If you have to try them, it is worth the drive on a Saturday morning. You can preorder them so they will be ready when you get there. They have parking in the lot or on the street. They are located at 404 E. 2nds St. in Los Angeles (Little Tokyo).

While you are there, go cross the street to the Japanese Village Plaza and visit Café Dulce and get your bacon hole donuts (the best ever) and some spirulina rolls. These things you can freeze so you can have them for breakfast. I usually wrap them individually in wax paper then put them in a freezer Ziploc to freeze.

Don't forget to have some coffee as they really have the best darn coffee in Little Tokyo!

This is how you hit 2 birds with one stone...these birds..... I don't mind at all.

Lemon Napoleon

I was lucky enough to preview the lemon Napoleon coming to L' Amande Bakery this weekend, July 20 and 21. For lemon lovers, I highly recommend them as they are flaky as ever and the lemon couldn't be any better; just the right amount of tartness and sweetness. For non lemon lovers: I strongly plead you give them a try. Life is too short not to be open to new things.

They come in an enclosed plastic container. I suggest you leave that lid open till you consume them. If and when you get home and still have some left, keep them in the refrigerator with the lid WIDE open.  That way it will stay crispy.

L' Amande Bakery is located at 2553 Pacific Coast Hwy. in the city of Torrance.

Croinuts at Capicola's

The cronut craze have arrived in Torrance. These are called croinuts. For those who haven't heard, cronuts which  originated in New York and invented by a French chef by the name of Dominique, is a combination of croissant and donut. Its is made with a croissant dough so it is flaky...or at least is supposed to be, and then deep fried like a donut. Forget the calories.  This guy is so smart that marketing wise, he has done tremendous business and even has a trademark on the name so followers may not call them cronuts; therefore we have, dosants (donut-croissant), croinuts, etc.

When I heard that the nearby Sandwich shop, Capicola's was selling them, I felt it was my duty to investigate.  For your information, these things don't come out of the oven till 10:30 a.m. to which I was disappointed when I wanted them for breakfast.  Oh well, I went back and purchased a variety to try them out. They had numerous flavors but I only purchased the chocolate, chocolate chip, pistachio, and salted caramel.
This was an experiment so I shared them with 5 people.

First of all, these look more like regular donuts. When you cut into them, there's a bit of a flakiness filled with Bavarian cream (I was told) but too much of it that it weighed down the donut. Since the are deep fried, it was a bit crunchy and it was not bad for the first time though it left a greasy aftertaste.  I would compare this to a first kiss; not bad, a bit awkward and you'll never forget it.

I am glad I was able to try the local ones. This is a fad and I call it this because I am sure that after people have tried them for curiosity's sake, they will not want to be suckers as these croinuts are $4.99 each; let's face it....it's $5.00!!!! These ones are just not worth the money.

In the meantime, I will keep you informed on my cronut adventures. This weekend we plan to go to Little Tokyo and try some from Frances Bakery.

Capicola's is located at 3160 Pacific Coast Hwy in Torrance.