Cicada Club

First question people ask is how to pronounce the word. The correct pronunciation is see-kay-duh. Now that that's out of the way, next question is what is it? It is a dinner-dance club at the beautiful art deco Oviatt Building on 617 S. Olive St. in downtown Los Angeles.

Robert, a friend of mine told me about this place. I thought it would be a nice place to celebrate Piero's birthday (dance instructor & friend). It has a live band that plays songs from the 20's to 50's era. Last Friday was the night we decided to check it out. Most people dress accordingly. It is so nice to see young people really get into it; complete with the hairdo's and hats. It takes you back the days when people dressed up, had a nice dinner and danced the night away. Sandi and I were able to find something from our closets...had to improvise.

Sandi and I got there first. We were in awe of the ambiance with a big chandelier in the middle. They had a dance floor by the orchestra and an additional one upstairs by the bar. The prix fixe dinner that night was $49 plus $20 admission fee. So for $69 you were guaranteed a table. We expected more friends to come after dinner. The regular admission was still $20 but you are not guaranteed a seat. You could go upstairs by the bar and seating on sofas are on a first come first served basis.

The dinner was not bad though we thought it could have been a lot better for the price. Our main complaint was that it didn't have enough flavor. Good quality meat, shrimp and crab but not tasty. The chef had the nice ingredients but seemed like he/she didn't know how to make them delectable. Presentation was good though. Our first course was the Tiger Shrimp stuffed with lump crab wrapped in Kataifi (angel hair pastry) with a trio of caviar sauce. Doesn't that sound great? I was so excited. It was just okay. For entree, we all picked the "Maxwell Special"; Braised Short Ribs with vegetables and mashed potatoes. The presentation was nice, the meat was tender but we all agreed that it lacked the oooomph. (flavor) Sandi and I decided on the Creme Brulee. Again, it looked good but it was too rich (nothing wrong with that) but somehow it tasted like something from a mix or a can. We both ate just the top. Piero had the Chocolate Molten Cake with vanilla ice cream and fruit for his birthday dessert. No comment. It's really too bad because the food can and should be a lot better to suit the venue.

After dinner, Tom (my other dance instructor and friend) came with Yvonne. What a nice surprise! Later on, Alessandra and Monique came to join us. By that time, the dance floor was packed! It is wise to come early when you can still dance on the floor. Later on, it's just too hard without stepping on someones toes or worse, getting stepped on.

Despite everything, we still had a lot of fun. It was an experience. This is a nice place to go with friends. Next time, we might eat somewhere else then just pay the admission fee to get in shortly before the orchestra starts playing.

Wishing Piero a Happy Birthday!

Yellowtail from Mexico

Our friend's son Bryce went on his annual fishing trip to Mexico. This past week, we were lucky recipients of 2 big chunks of yellow tail.  I decided to cook and invite Sandi when my son called and asked if I there was food in the house and if I was planning to cook. It was his lucky day!

The 2 pieces of fish were thick enough to split in 2 so I got 4 pieces. I squeezed a lot of lemon juice on them, seasoned them with salt and pepper and found a bottle of ponzu sauce I bought but never used. I ended up just broiling them which turned out really good.

For sides, I had some baby potatoes which I previously boiled and fried in butter with salt, pepper and some black truffle oil. I also had some Brussels spouts which I roasted with olive oil and diced bacon. At the last 15 minutes of roasting, I added some fig balsamic vinegar.

It was a very good dinner if I may say so myself. Dessert was very simple. I made a Key Lime Pie on a chocolate crust. It was not "L'Amande quality" but it was a nice ending to our fish tale.

Thank you Bryce and may you catch even more fish next year!

Smoked Salmon Sandwich

I meant to blog about this sandwich the first time I had it but lost the pictures when I upgraded my phone. This was my lunch today: Smoked Salmon Sandwich from L'Amande bakery in Torrance.

Let me tell you... this sandwich is great.  It is served on their freshly baked baguette. First they slather some ricotta cheese and tops it with the smoked salmon. On the side you have the lemon, onions, capers and sour cream. A nice salad comes with it.

As soon as you dress the naked salmon, it comes to life; ready to go to a party. I first squeezed some lemon all over then spread some sour cream and meticulously added the onions and arranged the capers. I bit into the bread which was nice and soft but before I could finish the bite, my teeth came in contact with the crunchy crust of the baguette......yummmmy. It was filling so I asked one of the servers for a box so I could pack the other half.  Thank God she got busy and forgot because I ended up eating the rest of it.

If you haven't had this sandwich, I beg you to try it. You'll be glad you did. The bonus is you could skip your fish oil pill for a day.

Pavillions Version of the Cronut

I ran in at Pavillions Market this afternoon to grab a loaf of Russian Rye for my husband. On my way to the checkout stand, something caught my eye at the bakery department. It looked like glazed donuts but were certainly taller. I looked at the label and it read: Donut Croissant Glazed There were 4 in the box and the price was great; $5.00 for four.

The first thing I thought of was; this is not going to have the croissant consistency since the box was closed. There was no way this was going to be crispy and flaky. As soon as I got home, I took one out and had a big bite.

Conclusion: Don't even give this a second glance when you see it at the market. It was too sweet. The layers were there but it was more like layers of thin bread. There was no hint of a croissant. This was a bigger, sweeter, airier over-sized glazed donut. Nothing more. Keep your $5.00!

Gourmet Dinner at Home

Love it when we get invited to someones house; especially if the host or hostess is a gourmet cook. The other night, my husband and I were guests of our dear friends Fabrice and Yvonne at their lovely home. Gonz and Ana were the other lucky couple.

They had melon wrapped with prosciutto and Belgian endive with a stuffing of goat cheese, walnuts, cayenne pepper and olive oil. Judging by the toothpicks on my little plate, I think I ate most of the prosciutto.  The endives were delicious as well; the saltiness of the goat cheese, the crunchy walnuts were good flavors and texture to offset the slightly bitter endives. Thank God there was no way to see how many leaves I consumed as there were no traces on my plate.

Their son Christian joined us for dinner. For appetizers, they served goose foie gras with a side of truffle salt and some fig jam. This was the best I've ever had. If I had a ziplock, I would have smuggled some. I have never had it with the truffle salt or fig jam.....it was heaven.

Our main entree was Roasted Veal Chop. When I asked how this was prepared, Chef Fabrice said he cooked it with dried shallots, sage, chives, parsley etc. etc. then deglazed it with white wine. He served this with potatoes. I am sure that if I tried to replicate this it would not come close to what we had mainly because this was made with Fabrice's magic; a lot of love sprinkled all over.

For dessert, Christian made a Galette des Rois (Kings cake) which was appropriate for the feast of the Epiphany (3 Kings). He made this from scratch; from grinding his own almonds to making the creme patisserie.  I am not an almond fan but this was truly unbelievable. Instead of a king inside the cake, he had a snowman. Whoever gets the king, picks a queen or king and that unlucky person has to give the winner a present. I got the king....yeahhhh....so I picked my husband to be king and I asked for a pair of boots. I am still waiting......

Ana brought a pear tatin. That was very good as well. I got to have my fruit for the week. This was a healthy meal!

The family dog Stella, a Great Dane was not able to join us but this well behaved puppy just sat on the sofa. I hope he was able to sample some left over veal.

Cheers to Chef Fabrice and his queen Yvonne and pastry chef Christian.  Do you have any openings this weekend; table for 2 or 4 perhaps?

Hatfield's Private Dining

I was again lucky enough to be part of a private dining party at Hatfield's on Melrose.  There were 14 of us and we had a 3 course feast in which I had to pick what we wanted on our menu.
I have never been to this restaurant though  I have heard nothing but good things about it. This was my chance to prove or disprove the "goodness" of it all. The ambiance is very much conducive to fine dining.

For our first course, we had a choice of Japanese Octopus A La Plancha. I had this on the menu since most of the people in our party were adventurous foodies. The second choice was a Croque Madame. I had the octopus with green garbanzo, roasted globe carrots, asparagus and ginger chermoula (Moroccan marinade). I loved this dish. It was nothing but delicious. Most of us had it. A couple had the croque madame. This is unlike any other you have had. This was Yellowtail sashimi with prosciutto, sunny side up quail egg on a grilled brioche! It looked great. Unfortunately, I was sitting next to Elliot who never shares and by the time I thought of trying it, his plate was cleaned off.

Our second course were choices of either Slow Cooked Branzino or Prime Dry Aged N. Y. Steak.
It was not easy to make up my mind even if I usually go for the meat. The branzino looked interesting with red onion soubise, sauteed haricot vert, and dried apricot almond caper crunch. Alma was willing and able to part with a bite of it....loved it!  I ended up with the N.Y. steak which was pan roasted with salsify  root (similar to parsnip) and puree, Swiss chard, brown butter sauteed with shimeji mushrooms. It was cooked medium well; the flavor of the brown butter with the Swiss chard and whatever else that was pureed made a nice creamy supplement for the steak.

We had 2 choices for dessert. The first one was Sugar Spice Beignets which came with Venezuelan chocolate fondue and a side of vanilla malted milk shake.  This did not impress me though it was good; I did enjoy the malted milkshake. The other dessert was a Banana Custard Pie. That was a lot better as it had caramel and bitter chocolate sorbet. They also served tiny cupcakes which didn't excite anyone.

All in all, Hatfield's does have very good food and service. In my opinion, they will just have to improve their desserts. Oh...almost forgot to mention the cheese rolls they served with the ciabatta bread in the beginning. They were warm, crusty and cheesy outside and soft inside. I had 2 of them!

Sandi's New Year Dinner

Sandi and I started the New Year by seeing the first show at the AMC theater; "Saving Mr. Banks" which be both thought was a very good movie. We had planned to go to our favorite L'Amande Bakery for lunch but discovered that they were closed today! So we parted ways and decided to just go home and do our own thing. Being New Year, we had discussed that no matter what,  we had to eat spaghetti today in hopes for  long life; aside from the fact that we also had to wear something polka dots (Filipino custom) for prosperity.  She had planned to cook some pasta anyway so she invited me and my husband for a simple dinner. Before she even finished her sentence, I told her we would be happy to come over.

We got there and started with champagne and an array of cold cuts. I took a peak at the kitchen and she was cooking up a storm. Her simple dinner turned out to be pasta with vegetables, breaded fried shrimps and lobster tail. Everything was delicious but I was impressed with the lobster tail. She had never cooked it before and was instructed by the man at the local market on how prepare it. He told her to boil the tails in water with butter and salt for 2 minutes. Then crack the back of each tail and add some butter and broil them for 5 minutes (meat facing down) back on top. All I can say is the chefs at your local Red Lobster should take note of this. They were nice and succulent unlike some places where they overcook it and therefore taste like rubber.  I can't wait to experiment and see if I get the same results.

For dessert, she just went and got a fruit tart from Von's market which was not bad at all. I just had to pick out the kiwis as I am allergic to them. I made a key lime pie from a mix Sandi brought from Florida. It was good considering all I had to do was add water and condensed milk to the mix and pour it on a graham cracker crust.

It was a good day to start 2014. Here's to more good movies, succulent lobsters and great friends!
Cheers to you Sandi!