Welcome Dinner at Dominique's Kitchen

My brother Dino, his wife Grace and two youngest sons Luigi and Lewis arrived from the East Coast traveling from Singapore where they live. What better way to welcome them than to celebrate their arrival with a dinner at Dominique's Kitchen. Our brother Gary joined us for this wonderful dinner. Both brothers will celebrate their birthdays later this month making this dinner a triple celebration.

For an appetizer, we started with the (must have) Truffle Fries which always tastes even better when dipped in mayonnaise. Others ordered Dominique's famous Lobster Bisque. I had a Caesar Salad instead which is always good especially since they have a lot of shaved Parmesan cheese.

Luigi and Lewis ordered the 8 oz. Bistro Steak with parsley lemon butter and garlic fries. Both were happy with their steaks. I was surprised that 8 yr. old Lewis could almost finish his steak after eating some bread and a ton of truffle fries. Gary ordered the infamous Roasted Chicken with olive oil accompanied with sauteed spinach and baby new potato. His only problem was "How do I heat the leftovers"? The chicken was as humongous as ever.  Dino had the Short Ribs with pinot noir, tomatoes, celery, garlic, onions and Yukon mashed potatoes.

Grace ordered the Lamb Chops served with creamy polenta, roasted garlic, veggies in a thyme au jus. I haven't had that in a long time that I decided to order the same until I heard the specials. There was a trio of meats; lamb chops, pork and beef. All were cooked in a wonderful sauce and were juicy and tender. Grace loved her lamb chops. I fell in love with my 3 types of meat! All were tender and juicy and cooked to perfection. This was served over a carrot puree which I also loved.

The 2 birthday boys were presented with a Panna Cotta dessert which they so graciously shared with the rest of us. Yummy! We couldn't leave without having a Baked Alaska so we ordered one to share. Everyone liked it except for the 8 yr. old Lewis, which was probably due to the alcohol.

It was another great dinner at Dominique's Kitchen. Thanks to Liza, Dominique's wife who is always so welcoming that it feels like we are at their home. Dominique's Kitchen is located at 522 S. Pacific Coast Hwy. in Redondo Beach, California.

Krispy Kreme Chocolate Glazed Donuts

You've probably already heard the advertisement on the radio about Krispy Kreme's new donut. Every first Wednesday of the month they will be selling Chocolate Glazed Donuts. These will not be served hot like the regular glazed donuts they sell, unlike the time they did it in honor of the solar eclipse last year.

These donuts are very good BUT only if eaten hot.  It tastes like any other donut if eaten at room temperature. Lo and behold, when heated in the microwave for 10-12 seconds, it is a totally different encounter! The nice thing about it is you can freeze them. You can wrap them in wax paper or parchment paper and put them in a ziplock bag (make sure you get all the air out). It is best to thaw them a bit before heating them in the microwave. Microwaves vary so be sure to watch closely as you heat them. Don't allow the chocolate to melt; you just want to warm them enough to make it taste like it just came out of the conveyor belt.

Little Sister

Yvonne invited me to have lunch with her at the Little Sister Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.  I have never been to this restaurant athought there is one close by in Manhattan Beach. It was lunchtime and the place was quite busy.

I gave her the liberty of ordering whatever she thought would be good. She ordered the Autumn Roll; sweet potato, jicama, egg, Chinese sausage sweet shrimp with a coconut peanut sauce and the Imperial Rolls with shrimp, crab, pork, taro root, glass noodle, roasted peanut with a chili lime sauce. Both were absolutely delicious. The skin of the Autumn roll was so thin and light and not at all starchy.  The Vietnamese Crêpe; banh xeo pork belly with prawns, bean sprouts, herbs in a green house dressing did not excite either of us.

The Salted Cod Fried Rice with egg omelet, sweet & sour pork with crab chili sauce was very good.  We were both so hungry that we finished most of the food.

There were lots of other items on the menu that looked very interesting. Our eyes wondered as servers passed by us with wonderful things on a serving tray. Luckily, I won't have to drive to downtown Los Angeles to try Little Sister again. So, Manhattan Beach, here I come.

Before we left I had to visit the ladies room. Most of the time, you can judge a restaurant sanitary conditions in the kitchen by what the restroom looks like. I am happy to report that the ladies room was very clean and amusing.

Palmeri RIstorante

My friend Sandi and I just got out of a 3-1/2 hour play at the Wallis Theater in Santa Monica. We saw the play entitled Long Day's Journey Into Night starring the great Jeremy Irons which by the way was an excellent play.

Sandi has never been to Palmeri so I thought this was a good time to go. We called them to see if they could take us and we were happy they said yes. It's been 4 years since I last visited this restaurant. I was happy to see the Chef/Owner, Ottavio Palmeri. It's always a good sign when the Chef/Owner is around to make sure everything runs smoothly.

They still serve the goat cheese with marinara sauce to go with a selection of bread which was as good as I could remember. For an appetizer, they had a special; Zucchini  Blossoms fried in a tempura batter stuffed with ricotta and served on a Parmesan basket. It was as delicious as it sounded and looked.

For our entrée, we decided to split an order fo Tagliatelle Bolognese and the Branzino. Both enrées I have had previously. Their pasta is homemade and is always cooked aldente. The Mediterranean Sea Bass is baked in a Sicilian sea-salt crust and served with spinach. I asked our charming and enthusiastic server, Vincenzo, if he could show the fish encrusted and prepare it by our table since they normally do this in the kitchen. I wanted Sandi to experience what I did the first time I had this served to me in Sorrento, Italy. Vicenzo brought the platter to show us how the fish is cooked inside this cave. He cracked it open in the kitchen in order not to make a mess. He then proceeded to fillet the fish ever so carefully with precision in front of us.

The fish was so fresh and delicate. All we had to do was squeeze lemon on it and it brought the flavor of the fish to life. The bolognese was perfect and it went well with the sea bass. We ordered the Crostata di Limone for dessert. It was a nice lemon tart with lemon sorbetto. It was a perfect way to end our wonderful meal.

Grazie Mille to Vincenzo and of course to Chef Ottavio Palmeri. I am happy to report that Palmeri Ristorante after all these years is still very good. They are located at 11650 San Vicente Blvd. in Los Angeles, California.

Ladurée

We finally made it to Ladurée, the French pâtisserie which specializes in macarons, not to be confused with macaroons which are cookies made with coconut. They opened a couple of shops in Beverly Hills and one at The Grove. As soon as you walk into the store, you are transported to Paris. They all have the same design and one cannot get over how beautiful the pastries and macarons look on display.

We were there for lunch and it was a perfect L.A. day to sit outside under the umbrellas. My brother already told me that the Croque Monsieur was good so I had planned to order that. The only reason I didn't order the Croque was that they had a Lobster Roll with French Fries and Sandi decided to order the Croque so I knew I would be able to have a bite of hers. Sujata went for the Breakfast Avocado Toast.

The Croque Monsieur was indeed very good. It was prepared a different way but still good. Sujata's avocado looked great especially the way the eggs were cooked; light and fluffy. My lobster was a bit of a disappointment. They were served on top of 3 tiny brioche rolls. It looked like a lot of lobster on the roll but they had scooped off just a tiny portion on the brioche so it held very little lobster salad which was too mushy, I don't know what sauce they had but it almost seemed like the lobster was undercooked. I must say that the French Fries were excellent.

We did buy an eclair to take home and compare it with the eclair we got at Dominique Ansel's shop. Ladurée is located at 189 The Grove Drive, Unit H in Los Angeles.

The Original Cronuts

I have had many so-called cronuts under different names like croissant donuts or kronuts, etc. Some better than others. I've never had the one from Dominique Ansel, the father, and creator of the cronut, until yesterday. Three of us ventured over to the Orange Grove to buy some to take home. We didn't have it right away since we had plans to have lunch at Laduree, also at The Grove. There were a multitude of pastries from eclairs, canalés, kouign-amanns and a variety of croissants.

As soon as I got home I opened my beautiful yellow package to view these babies; cronuts, kouign-amanns and canalés. I immediately set one cronut on a dish and admired it. The anticipation was killing me. I finally had a bite. There are no words to describe the experience. It was unbelievably one of the best things I've ever had in my life. It was crunchy, not at all too sweet as there was an explosion of liquids and gel oozing out. I couldn't tell exactly what flavors, I only knew it was a bit tart yet sweet. I later called the store to find out exactly what was in the cronut. The answer was: Passion Fruit Ganache, Guava Jam, Caramelized Orange Peel, and Custard. Nothing was overpowering. Everything just came together like a beautiful symphony.

Upon further investigation, I was told that they change the flavor of Cronuts every month. The one I got will be available until the end of June. We decided we will have to check every month and make the trip to The Grove so as not to miss any of the wonderful flavors. For your information, the cronuts are not cheap, it cost $6.00 but every bite is well worth it. Take my word for it!!!!

Brisket Sandwich at Dickey's

I received another coupon; this time it was for a buy one get one free sandwich. I normally don't get excited over a sandwich since I do not consider it a meal. I made an exception this time since the coupon was from Dickey's Barbecue Pit. I recently just discovered Dickey's and was very happy with their barbecue ribs.

My friend and I ordered the same thing; the Beef Brisket Classic on a Brioche. For sides, we decided to split an order of the Fried Okra which we've had the last time with some Ranch dressing. They have 3 big containers of barbecue sauce; regular, sweet and spicy which we helped ourselves to. I found that adding the sauce was like adding Parmesan to my spaghetti, it tends to vanish quickly. Needless to say, we both enjoyed the juicy tender brisket.

The 2  young men that worked there at the time were helpful and enthusiastic. We could tell that they liked their jobs and took it seriously unlike some places where they are just there waiting to clock out.

Dickey's Barbecue is located at 407 N. Pacific Coast Hwy. #102 in Redondo Beach, California.