Brunch at Tres

It's always delightful to end up at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, be it at Bazaar or Tres. You end up spending time absorbing the ambiance since there is a lot to absorb. You see books, numerous fireplaces, animal heads on the wall made of glass if I'm not mistaken. You will see all sorts of art objects; some weird, some cute....something for everybody. My favorite is the "machine gun" floor lamp. There's whimsical and yet there's also class and sophistication.

Sunday Brunch was good for the price of $42. I loved the charcuterie table with all sorts of cheeses and meats; prosciutto being the star of the show. There was a big slab of smoked salmon with all the trimmings. The prime rib was delicious as well. They had steamed baby buns which was tasteless by itself but when smothered with the maple butter, it was wonderful. The shrimps were great but it lacked the cocktail sauce which would have tasted better than the little liquid sauce which was in little mini droppers. The crab claws suffered the lack of flavor since this was the only sauce they served. Sandi had some salad and a beautiful plate with an assortment of veggies. It was pretty to look at but it did not speak to me.

Desserts were plentiful. There was something for people who like to eat healthy; fruit. We did not touch those. There were little glasses filled with what looked like fruit in the bottom and yogurt. I tried that (I normally never buy yogurt) and was pleasantly surprised on how good it was. If only yogurt taste that way, I would include it in my daily food consumption.

The most impressive desserts were served in containers that looked like egg shells. One had a very rich chocolate pudding and the other was like a flan. Both too good and am sure very fattening....but who cares at this point! We had to sample the lemon meringue, chocolate cake, etc, etc., etc. Some better than others but most of it very edible.

Tres by the one and only Jose Andres,  is located at the SLS Hotel on 465 S. La Cienega in Los Angeles.

Corazon Mexican Kitchen

A new Mexican Restaurant, Corazon Mexican Kitchen has opened in Rolling Hills Estates recently. My friends Olivia and Sandi was game enough to experiment and go for lunch yesterday. We had our choice of tables. We first settled in the indoor patio; we were protected from flying birds. It was a bit chilly, though they offered to turn the heaters on in which case it would have been too hot, so like Goldilocks, we went inside and got comfortable in another table.

We first ordered the homemade chips and salsa. The chips didn't have much flavor but after I sprinkled some salt on them, they tasted much better. The salsa was not too exciting though we all thought it kinda grew on us after awhile. They didn't have blended Margarita but they did have Margarita on the rocks. I must say, for $5.00, it was pretty good!

Our server Kim, asked if this was our first time and since it was, she had her recommendations. The first one was the El Tamal. We were all sold on that when she described the dish to us. It is sweet corn masa topped with shredded chicken, Jack & Oaxaca cheese drizzled with Romero sauce (whatever that is). Olivia and I had to have that. Sandi ordered the Chorizo con Papas Tacos. Chorizo, potatoes, roasted bell peppers, corn cotija cheese, guacamolito and sour cream. Since there were 2 tacos, she was willing to share one if I shared my El Tamal. It sounded like a good deal- a win/win situation in case one was not too good.

The El Tamal was very good, muy delicioso! The verdict was unanimous; we would all order that again. The sweet corn was nice and sweet which went well with the cheesy chicken. The tacos were a bit spicy and were just o.k. We didn't get too excited over it.

They served some Churros with 2 sauces; chocolate and agave. We all preferred the chocolate. If you like Mexican churros, you would probably like their churros. I prefer Spanish churros which are entirely different so I am not a good judge of Mexican churros.

Corazon Mexican Kitchen is located at 767 Deep Valley Dr. in Rolling Hills Estates, behind Bristol Farms.

Fanoos Grill

I blogged about this small Persian restaurant back in 2013.  I have been eating there since and sometimes I pick up food for the family. See previous blog:
http://solittlethyme.blogspot.com/2013/06/fanoos-persian-restaurant-grill.html

Tonight, Sandi and I met there for dinner.  I am happy to report that the food is still as good as we first had it and the portions are humongous.  We can still split an order of the Koobideh. This time, we ordered 1 beef and 1 chicken. We've never had the chicken before; we were surprised on how delicious it was, truly juicy and packed with flavor. We ordered the Maust' Khiar which is a combination of yoghurt and chopped cucumbers flavored with dill. I use this as a sauce to my meat. The Koobideh is served with basmati rice topped with saffron, charbroiled tomato and a garden salad. Even the salad was very good, as I rarely even mention salad.

Service is always good as one of the owners is almost always present. If you're lucky you might even see both owners; brothers Amir and Omid.  Fanoos is located at the Rolling Hills Plaza at 25336 Crenshaw Blvd. in Torrance.

Lindt-Sweet Popcorn

Who does not like the chocolate Lindt? I don't know anyone. They have all sorts of flavors to please almost everyone. Unfortunately, we don't get all the flavors they make, like the Champagne Lindor Ball, however, we are fortunate to have the salted caramel, dark chocolate truffle, white chocolate, etc.  

When my friend Sandi came back from Vermont, she brought me a chocolate bar made by Lindt. It was called: Hello My Name is Sweet Popcorn.  I was very pleased to meet this new friend. The chocolate was creamy and not too sweet. It had bits of popcorn which reminded me of Rice Crispies, only the bits were a bit salty. I took it to the movies and it was the perfect dessert after our regular popcorn.

The problem is the chocolate is not available in stores; at least in Los Angeles. You can order them online and the price ranges from $5.00-$8.00. Since Sandi liked it as much as I did, she placed an order through her sister in Vermont. So, if you have relatives in Vermont and probably in the east coast, it's time to call them and see how they are doing and then you can ask them......by the way, have you heard of this chocolate........ Good Luck!

Joey's Smokin' Bar-B-Que

They say their ribs are "smokin".  I only had their pulled pork in the past which was very good. The other day, I watched a link that showed the proper way to eat ribs. I have always eaten ribs with my hands, well, almost always. I sent the link to most of my friends. Here is link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMFOL1eXReg&feature=youtu.be

After Sandi got my email, she suggested we have ribs that evening; and so we did. We headed over to Joey's. We just ordered the 1/3 Slab  which had 4 bones. It came with corn bread plus a choice of sides. Sandi had the baked potato and I had cole slaw. Before I got our order, I went to the restroom to wash my hands. The ribs came and I was all ready to attack my dinner. A surgeon getting ready for surgery came to my mind. I slowly separated the bones and the meat practically just fell off the bones. It was deeeelicious! The coleslaw was creamy with just a tiny bit of tartness, though mostly sweet.  It was a the perfect escort for my ribs. The cornbread was not too bad either.  I was concentrating so much on my dinner that I forgot about Sandi who was kind enough to share her baked potato with me; she was enjoying her ribs as well.

The only problem was, Sandi chose to ignore the video she watched earlier that day. She has a problem of not wanting to get her hands dirty so she ate her ribs with a fork and knife. It hurt me to see her eating the ribs that way; just like it would hurt someone's ears to hear scratching your nails on a blackboard. Oh well......we can't all be perfect!

Joey's Bar-B-Que is located at 25308 Crenshaw Blvd. in Torrance, California. They are open 7 days a week from 11 am to 9 pm.

Stacked: Food Well Built

We were at the newly renovated Del Amo Mall in Torrance the other day. We entered through the new Nordstroms. We were in awe as the mall was truly beautiful and spacious. We were there on a weekday at 4 p.m.  We did a quick tour to see what stores were open; a lot of the spaces had signs: "opening soon".  Lee and I were starving so we went to the directory to find a restaurant. We started having heart palpitations when we saw the restaurant listed, Din Tai Fung. We made a dash to the 2nd floor to see a big space marked Din Tai Fung with a sign: Opening September 2016! What a let down!

We then strolled along the mall and ended up at a restaurant called Stacked: Food Well Built. As we walked in, I asked the man how long they have been open and it turns out, they have been there for several years. They have locations at Cerritos,Thousand Oaks and San Diego. We were seated at a corner booth. The had tablets on each table. The man who seated us explained to us how to use the tablet. Of course if you're below a "certain age", no explanations would be necessary. It looked like a lot of fun. You pick something you like and you could add whatever you desire to your item. So essentially, you build it up.

Lee and I ordered a diet coke but shortly after I ordered my coke, I realized that it was still Happy Hour, so I could have gotten a Margarita for $5.00. When our server came with the coke, I asked her if it was too late to order one and she was nice enough to take the coke back and bring me a margarita. From the tablet, we ordered the Lobster Mac N' Cheese. We did not add anything to it. It was quite delicious. It had chunks of juicy (not rubbery) lobster with a hint of garlic and basil. Man cannot live on Mac N' Cheese alone so we split a Stack N' Bleu which was an Angus beef on a brioche bun with roasted shallot mayo topped with bleu cheese, Applewood smoked bacon and crispy onion strings drizzled with balsamic glaze.  The burger was a winner! We both liked the brioche bun. They cooked it to our liking which was medium. It was not rare nor was it well done, it was perfect.

I think we will be returning to this restaurant soon to experiment and play with their tablet. It was nice to be able to put your order in and be able to "check out" when you were ready to pay the bill.
Stacked is at 3525 W. Carson St. at the Del Amo Mall in Torrance, across P.F. Chang's.

Erick Schat's Bakkery

This bakery has always been in Bishop ever since I can remember. It started out as a small bakery in the town of Bishop, California. In the mid 70's, I remember being at the bakery standing in line next to the actor, Robert Blake which was exciting then since he had the T.V. show, Baretta.

On the way home from June Lake, I made it a point to stop by Schat's Bakkery (this is how they spell it). My friend and I were to have breakfast there and buy a couple of their delicious bread. I looked at their website to make sure they would be open at 8:30 a.m. The website stated that they open at 6:00 a.m. so off we went. I didn't pay attention on the way up exactly where the bakery was located. I just knew that it was much bigger now and it was on the west side of Main St. We saw it and pulled over the parking lot. I was surprised to see a lot of space. As we got out of the car, we detected no movement inside the restaurant. In fact, all the chairs were on top of the table. Three motorcycle men were talking among themselves; Sandi approached them and asked if they knew why the place was closed. One said he thought it opened at 11:00 a.m. which didn't sound right. We told him, their answering machine said they open at 6:00 a.m. Greatly disappointed, we strolled to the Donut store across the street. They were terrible, too greasy. So we started driving south when all of a sudden we saw another Schat's. This was the bakery. The other one that was closed was the restaurant! I was not aware they had a restaurant.

Hallelujah! The parking lot was very busy. We got in and we were both overwhelmed. I could not believe all the loaves of bread, pastries, etc. and people all over the place. I was going to get their famous Sheepherders bread but I abandoned that idea when I saw the Bacon Chili Cheese Bread. I got one of those; in addition to that I bought a Peach Pullaway which looked delicious.

The Bacon Chili Cheese Bread was wonderful. Crusty outside and very soft inside with a bit of spiciness due to the chilis. I had it for breakfast  the following day lightly toasted with butter and raspberry jam. I was sorry I didn't buy a bunch to freeze though I don't know if they would freeze well.

The Peach Pullaway was also delicious. It was very moist with chunks of peaches. It went well with my strong cup of coffee. The kitchen counter was the perfect spot for it since every time someone would pass by, they would pinch a chunk off.

Next time you are in the vicinity of the Sierras, stop by the Bakery which does open at 6:00 a.m. Their address is 763 N. Main St. in Bishop. They also have a restaurant in Mammoth and was told they sell baked goods as well.