Los Angeles vs. the Gastropub

We seem to be in the grip of a full-scale beer renaissance here in LA. It's taken a while to get here -- as beer expert Hallie Beaune has pointed out, Southern California's proximity to wine country and the (often mistaken) impression that beer has more calories than cocktails or wine has held back beer's progress in this slimness-obsessed town. (Even as a wine-lover, I cannot help but think that the nouveau-riche association of wine with "classy" has helped wine and again, hurt beer.)

In any case, beer is here, and places like the Verdugo Bar in Glassell Park, the York in nearby Highland Park, and Father's Office in Santa Monica and Culver City remind me why I like the stuff so much. (And why Budweiser and most American lagers are so meager by comparison with, say, a Craftsman real ale or Scotland's Bellhaven.)

HERE is a piece I wrote for Portland's Oregonian (it comes out on Sunday) that looks at five gastropubs from the Eastside to the ocean. Where's Golden State, with its delectable sweet potato fries? Where's Ford's Filling Station, with its handsome celebrity chef? Sorry guys, I only had five. In my list I was looking for places with strong, unusual beer lists and good-to-excellent food, which I define -- for most of these spots -- as requiring a very fine burger as well as a range of less conventional offerings.

Those with strong opinions should vent them here or hold them for an upcoming poll on the city's best burger.

Hometown Pasadena and Eat LA

Tonight is a party for the new edition of "Eat LA," a sharp and useful guide to food and drink in greater LA put out by Pasadena's Prospect Park Books. I especially like the way this book stretches from traditional restaurants into bars, bakeries, taquerias and neighborhood joints.

I first met the publisher and main author of that book, Colleen Dunn Bates, when she was putting out "Hometown Pasadena." This was an ingenious idea -- to provide an informed guide to living in your own city -- that has resulted in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara editions as well. New York publishers have not generally treated California topics very intelligently or fully, and Bates' press is kind of the publishing equivalent of the "eat local" movement.

HERE is my article on Bates and the larger issue of micro-publishing.

And HERE, speaking of restaurants, is perfect little piece by Jonathan Gold from the Weekly about Palate, which has become one of my favorite local places to eat and drink. I love what he says about restaurants having multiple personalities (I've worked in enough to see that quite clearly.) Anyone wondering how the Falstaffian scribe landed a Pulitzer should only glance at this little amuse bouche.

This Sat, Feb 20, is a tasting and signing by the Eat LA gang at Book Soup.

Culinary Adventure with Jonathan Gold

THE food writing of Jonathan Gold is so vivid, colorful and at times almost embarrassingly sensual that as a reader, it's not hard to feel you are actually along for the ride with him as he seeks out restaurants dedicated to, say, regional Mexican cuisine, a groovy wine bar or the street food of urban southeast Asia.

But it's even more delectable to be able to follow the celebrated scribe to a meal in a foreign city, as yours truly was able to do during the international book festival in Guadalajara. Somehow I'd spent a day and a half and not had much of what Mexicans call "tipica" cuisine -- some fine enchiladas at the hotel, and some white wines from Baha, both decent but not memorable.

The first excursion came after Gold appeared in a panel on LA writers and humor, which also included writers Jerry Stahl and Paul Beatty. (Gold recalled his days editing the LA Weekly's humor column: "I thought what would make it distinctive," he said, "is that nothing in it would be funny.")

After the panel, a caravan of us followed Gold and his journalist wife Laurie Ochoa to what seemed like a remote neighborhood, Tlaquepaque, for a restaurant called El Parian. The cab driver seemed a bit confused by our request to head there, telling us (we thought) that we'd have to walk a long way after he dropped us off and that we'd know where we were because we'd see, "too many restaurants, too many artistanos, too many mariachis." I could not tell -- as we used to say in high school -- if this was a threat or a promise.

The meal ended up being very good: Many of us, including The Misread City, got birria -- a dish of stewed meat that is usually goat but here was calf. The restaurant's speciality is what may be the largest drink in the world: Mostly fruit, ice, triple sec, with a large shot of tequila on the side, its container is so large it is marked "BAR" -- the quotes are theirs, not mine -- presumably so it is not confused with a large soup bowl. (Across from me was UK-to-LA novelist Geoff Nicholson, an excellent guy whose Psycho-Gourmet blog I am digging.)

Gold said of the day's eating that he had consumed so much beef that he was constructing a cow in his stomach, piece by piece. (Now I know why he turned down the offer of the very fine pickled pig skins I was nibbling on.)

Somehow, by the way, the mariachis never showed up, though Gold, Ochoa, and novelist Mark Danielewski ended up, after the meal, at a bar at which two musicians serenaded them and a couple of drug lords who had footed an enormous bill for the performance.

The second night was longer and harder to explain -- all I will say of it is that Gold led us to a very cool bar at which we seemed to be the only gringos. And I think the man's reputation must precede him, even abroad -- a plate of what looked like pig's feet, served with lime and a chile paste, showed up next to Gold before, I think, anyone had had a moment to even order a beer.

Photo credit: I will not compromise the man's privacy by posting his picture, so here is a cow.

Reservoir Restaurant in Silver Lake

FIRST of all, let me say how pissed i am that LA Mill cafe and The Park in Echo Park are no longer BYOB. because they are applying for permits right now,  you can neither order a drink nor bring your own beer or wine in. the worst of both worlds!!

it's for this reason that my wife and i ended up at RESERVOIR, a new place, natch, near the silver lake reservoir, across the street from club spaceland in the old netty's space. 

the place only opened a few weeks ago, and may need to work some bugs out, but we were quite pleased with the place. its pedigree is similar to several other newish eastside places: seasonal, market-driven cuisine, and a chef who'd toiled in prestigious kitchens (lucques, AOC, blair's) before finding the chance to open her own place.

the wildcard is the way the menu is structured: you pick your main, and then match it to one of several arrays of sidedishes. so sara got the scallops, which were seared with a bit of curry and fantastic, with tuscan kale and potatoes, while i got the short rib and paired it with farro with pine nuts. (this is trickier from the chef's point of view that it looks, as all the mains have to match all the sides.)

we also had a beet salad with hazlenuts which was quite fine, and the service was friendly and warm and on time.

setting and sleek modernist design quite cool, tho for some to be sitting at netty's (or looking out at the 7-11 nearby) and paying real restaurant prices will be dissonant. 

overall, i'd say it's similar to canele' in atwater village -- another case of chick-chef from fancy place looking for her own place -- tho at canele' the emphasis is on simpler dishes and pure ingredients. 

the chef at reservoir is working hard to make every dish distinctive. my wife prefers it slightly to canele'; i know the atwater place better and my heart belongs to them.

my one caveat about reservoir is that the wine list was good but a bit pricey: every glass i was interested in was $12 or up. we paid the $15 corkage and dug into the domaine carneros pinot i'd happened to have on me, which was not perfect with anything but close enough with all of it.

Photo credit: Reservoir

Birth of a Wine Shop

ANYONE interested in wine, or how a small business gets off the ground, should check out this series of youtube videos about the birth of colorado wine company -- conceived as the dream of a restless young couple in brooklyn who left everything they had in new york to drive to eagle rock, LA, to build it from the ground up.

HERE is the first of the four little segments of the show "radical sabbatical." you can also cut to the chase with segment two. (maybe because it was recently passover, i read it too fast as "rabbinical sabbatical," which doesnt sound like quite as much fun.)

in the show, john nugent and his lovely wife jen talk about their ambitions, the hoops they're jumping through, upgrading an old space, their push to get open by christmas. there's more drama than you'd think. "here we are, the future location of colorado wine company," john says, without much confidence, standing in front of a papered-up storefront. you cant help shouting, good luck -- you'll need it!

what's interesting now, in 2009, is how many of their goals they've met. the place i know matches the original dream for it -- an accessible but still sophisticated shop that serves as a meeting spot for the neighborhood -- oddly well.

it's also hard not to feel a little sadly nostalgic watching this: the shop opened in 2005, in a very different economy. how many johns and jens out there have dreams they are not able to pursue, neighborhoods they are not able to enrich, because the economy was allowed to get so bad?

Photo credit: Colorado Wine Co.

Wine Tasting on the Central Coast

LAST week my wife and i made a trek to california's central coast to visit wineries and olive farms. more on the olives and oils later. and what a beautiful time to be up there, with its rolling, deep green hills and plentiful wildflowers.

we had time to visit only three wineries, tho it's quite impressive how many of the local juice ends up on menus of san luis obispo restaurants like big sky and novo.

the three places we visited below:

halter ranch is a relatively new winery that's generating attention. it's just past the end of paso robles' vineyard drive, a truly remarkable setting, and because it's toward the west side of paso, it's a bit cooler than most of the region's wine country. wines were strong all around; we picked up the grenache-syrah-mouvedre but i was tempted by the sauv blanc and a dry, earthy, complex syrah as well. sweet picnic area outside.

lone madrone should be more widely celebrated: it's the personal label of tablas creek's winemaker. quite an informed pour girl, extremely refreshing and unusual white blends, very fine nebbiolo (!), an english west-country style cider and big, heavy bordeaux blends with goofy names. i hit this place every year.

tolosa is down a dreary highway outside SLO but is as lovely a winery as i've seen, with gently hilly vineyards dramatic under the day's cloudy skies and a stylishly modern tasting room. we bought a bottle of the pinot, though the rhone blends were quite fine as well. i did not love the "no-oak chardonnay" as much as i'd hoped but this has a real following.

my favorite under-the-radar winery in the area, which we did not have time to visit this time, is linne calodo, which  turns out to be expanding its tasting room and facilities. they specialize in rhone blends and blended versions of zin. i can still remember tasting their big but nuanced wines two years ago.

i'm sorry those are all blandly positive reviews, but i tend to check these places out ahead of time to see if they're to my taste. and indeed, these were. just wish i'd time for more like adelaida, tablas, c&c and others.

Photo credit: Flickr user D LeRoy

Pinot Noir: California vs. Burgundy

VERY fine NYT piece today on a new trend in california pinots: a backing away from the power of the fruit bomb that has defined the regional style and toward the finesse and elegance of a burgundian style pinot. 

eric asimov, who wrote the story, here, is one of my favorite chroniclers of the vine, and he has the perfect blog voice -- he's a serious but somehow casual drinker, and there is no bs class association to his assessment of wine. (the fact that his uncle all but taught me to read with his wonderful books on science and sundry "facts" only makes me feel warmer to this dude i have never met.)

anyone who has spent time with me in the warmer months knows there are few things i like better -- especially if we are eating salmon, duck, mushroom dishes, some kinds of steak -- than pinot. my original love of pinot came from heavy, fruity california varieties from sideways country -- melville, au bon climate, sanford -- but my taste has since moved to more elegant versions. some oregon pinots -- the hard-to-find cristom -- and new zealand's peregrine hit the sweet spot for me. (i recently had a beaune burgundy at palate food + wine that blew me away.) 

so i was glad to see this development asimov chronicles. he speaks to jim clendenen of au bon climate as well as the guy behind arcadia, which may be the finest american pinot i know. (the latest vintage currently sitting on the shelves at colorado wine co.)

LET ME ALSO URGE ALL READERS OF THIS POST TO VOTE IN MY WINE POLL, DOWN THE RIGHT MARGIN. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!!

Photo credit: NYT

Eagle Rock and Bourgeois Bohemia Imperiled

ON a crisp winter day, with snow glinting on the san gabriel mountains, air cleansed by a recent rain, and mighty oak trees looming over the quiet streets above colorado blvd, eagle rock can seem like the kind of place '60s bands used to write songs about. but these days, people aren't singing -- or if they are, it's in a bittersweet key.

over the last few years northeast LA has become a kind of socal brooklyn, with craftsmans and palm trees instead of  brownstones and maples. but things are slowing here as they are everywhere else. HERE is my new york times story on this neighborhood and how it may or may not survive the recession. (and here is a brief piece from the LAT written for the 2007 opening of larkin's, a new-wave soul food joint.)

i only regret that the tight pages of a newspaper means i didnt have room to mention by name some of the places that give ER its identity -- whether old (casa bianca pizza) or new (colorado wine company, auntie em's bakery/cafe, vegeterian restaurant fatty's, cool bar the chalet.)

my story suggests that this and other neighborhoods will suffer with the economic downturn -- this is a case where i am entirely happy to be wrong.

tonight, by coincidence, is what i hope is not the last-stand of hipster culture in eagle rock: the elusive kogi korean/taco truck is parking outside colorado wine co. to accompany a massively sold out tasting.

it looks like ABC news may be following the story as part of a larger package about the awful california economy.

what do my distinguished readers expect will happen to this and other on-the-verge eastside LA neighborhoods?

Photo credit: Flickr user 30 and Colorado Wine Company

Gastropubs and Highland Park

The other night i went to the reasonably new "gastropub" in the formerly rundown-- now thriving -- area of los angeles called highland park. an english friend, who i sometimes go pub-hopping with near his home off the hampstead heath, grumbles these days when his beloved victorian watering holes "go gastro," in his words.

but i'm in favor of the trend, partly because english pub food, and most american bar grub, is so ghastly. especially when you outgrow buffalo wings or "crisps" as the brits call them.

the place in highland park, The York, reminded me why the trend is so heartening. it's not as ambitious as the great british gastropubs like the Anchor & Hope on london's south bank (where i had a memorable meal after an '07 tate modern visit). but it not only serves one of the best burgers i know (with harissa and pickled onions no less), hand cut fries, etc, but a very fine shrimp bruschetta, an excellent mixed greens with beets and goat cheese, tasty grilled vegetable sandwich, etc.

of course, a pub is largely about drinks, and here the place comes through quite well. the york is primarily a beer place, but their wines go way beyond the usual unholy trinity of over-oaked chard, flaccid melot and overpriced cab here. there's usually, for instance, a very fine white rhone on the list -- when's the last time you've seen that on a pub menu? -- and that still-underrated red, cabernet franc, by the glass as well.

beer-wise there is too much to get into here... i'll say only that along with delights like stone pale ale and fat tire on draft (and rogue and allagash in bottles) they serve my current favorite: craftsman brewing company's old-school ale, which is cask-poured and the kind of thing you usually have to go to britain to get.

the place also also an excellent historical-reuse design that makes good use of old brick and a vaulted ceiling that was not exposed in the place's former life, with very modern lighting.

from my limited visits, i'd say the york offers the best of several worlds: well-rendered contemporary cuisine that a skinny woman can eat without guilt, decent wine list, wide range of traditional ales, and a warm, friendly neighborhood spirit -- very different than the forced booziness of a sports bar -- that can be very hard to find in this most private of cities. great jukebox too.

(By the way, this picture is not of the york but a place basically under london bridge called Market Porter. it is not, for what it's worth, really a gastropub, but it's across from a great farmers market that has been going, i think, since roman times, and right next to a grilled sausage place that i'll wager is of much more recent vintage.)

Photo credit: SRT