This marks the end of the first full calendar year of Sku's Recent Eats. (We started up back in May 2007). I thought I would take this opportunity to do something that is almost never done...see if we made good on last year's New Year's resolutions. Let's take a look back at the resolutions I posted on January 1, 2008.
1. Go for Indian in Artesia. We did it, and found some great eats, but I'd still like to do more.
2. Get to know Brandy. Not yet, but it's coming, really, I swear. Early next year we will introduce a series of Brandy Fridays.
3. Eat East LA. Well, I did do a comparison of two of the big Mexican chains that originated there and checked out Babita, but I never made it to Whittier Boulevard, so we'll chalk that up as a not yet.
4. Go to Seven Grand. We went but decided we liked the Daily Pint better.
5. Find the Best Banh Mi in the OC. Well, we've been to a few since then, but no write ups yet, so not yet for this one.
6. Explore Macallan. I did sample the Cask Strength Macallan, so by a loose definition of the term "explore," I'm going to count it.
7. More Korean Food. This one we hit out of the ball park with visits to Korean Barbecues ChoSun Galbee, Suhrabal, Ham Ji Park and Park's BBQ. We also explored the new Korean Fried Chicken outlets KyoChon, BonChon and Chicken Day. In addition, we checked out the Korean-continental Haus Dessert Boutique and the Korean pizza joint Mr. Pizza Factory.
Overall, out of seven resolutions, I accomplished four and will have another one (brandy) done very soon. I'd say that's not a bad record. If all Americans kept the majority of their resolutions, we'd all be a lot thinner and have less debt.
In addition to all of that, we had a lot of fun this year. I especially enjoyed our trip to Hawaii, our ten part American Whiskey series, our recent Disney Dining review, my daughter's favorite restaurants and my series on classic American whiskey cocktails, not to mention all of my dalliances with the holy trinity of cheese, chocolate and whiskey.
And now it's on to 2009. Happy New Year everyone!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Dogfish Head Beer in Los Angeles
Did you read the recent New Yorker article about Delaware-based Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and immediately wonder where you could get some of this "extreme" beer? So did I. The answer, for us Southern Californians is Hi-Time Wine in Costa Mesa (also available through their on-line shipping) or Beverage Warehouse in West LA.
I'm not a beer maven and I won't pretend to be. I prefer my beer distilled into whiskey, but I really liked the three Dogfish brews I was able to pick up at Beverage Warehouse: Midas Touch is the most interesting of the three, a sweet, light brew that includes muscat grapes, honey and saffron which is allegedly based on an ancient analysis of beer remains; Palo Santo Marron is called a brown ale but drinks more like a stout; and 90 Minute IPA is medium bodied with a complex flavor.
Dogfish is obsessed with the history of beer and experimentation which you can find out more about on their site. It's definitely worth a taste.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
And a Spammy Christmas to you to Mr. President!
We know the President Elect is a fan of the local favorites of his home state, including Zippy's and Rainbow Drive Inn, but only now do we have evidence of his love of one of my island favorites, Spam musubi.
As reported by the Washington Post in describing a golf game played during Obama's holiday vacation:
Damn straight he ate those musubis. Although, I guess you don't get pecks like these from eating a lot of Spam.
Next week: The year in review.
As reported by the Washington Post in describing a golf game played during Obama's holiday vacation:
About midway through the course, Obama stopped by the snack bar, where he purchased two hot dogs, two passion-orange sodas, one Powerade and one Coke. He also bought two Spam musubi, a sushi-like Hawaiian delicacy consisting of Spam and fried egg on a slab of rice, all held together with a dried seaweed wrap. (He paid a total of $17.75, but it was unclear whether the president-elect ate a Spam musubi.)
Damn straight he ate those musubis. Although, I guess you don't get pecks like these from eating a lot of Spam.
Next week: The year in review.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Happy Chanukah!
I love Chanukah and all of it's oil-soaked glory. What could be better than a holiday in which you are practically required to cook fried foods? The fact that it has a cheese tie in is just gravy.
I love cooking the Chanukah meal and use my well-tested recipes for latkes (with homemade apple sauce) and noodles kugel.
For the second year, I've also tried some doughnuts. Last year, I did little cake doughnuts. This year's batch were glazed yeast doughnuts, but the yeast didn't really do its thing, so they were a bit dense but still tasty.
When Chanukah is this close to Christmas, it's a real hardship for the bi-religious home cook, so soon I'll be mixing up eggnog. We will do traditional Jewish Christmas Eve at a Chinese restaurant (I'll report back) and then I'll be cooking Christmas dinner.
Happy holidays!
Whiskey Wednesday will be back for the new year.
I love cooking the Chanukah meal and use my well-tested recipes for latkes (with homemade apple sauce) and noodles kugel.
For the second year, I've also tried some doughnuts. Last year, I did little cake doughnuts. This year's batch were glazed yeast doughnuts, but the yeast didn't really do its thing, so they were a bit dense but still tasty.
When Chanukah is this close to Christmas, it's a real hardship for the bi-religious home cook, so soon I'll be mixing up eggnog. We will do traditional Jewish Christmas Eve at a Chinese restaurant (I'll report back) and then I'll be cooking Christmas dinner.
Happy holidays!
Whiskey Wednesday will be back for the new year.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
A Little Egg for your Noggin
I have another guilty pleasure confession to make: I love egg nog. Yes, egg nog is one of those cocktails that is all about the cream and the egg and the milk and not so much about the character of the spirits, a trait which I emphasized in my series on classic whiskey cocktails. But is there anything more comforting than a sweet, thick glass of egg nog around Christmas time?
In general, I don't partake of packaged egg nog, with the exception of Broguiere's lusciously thick and rich nog. But Broguiere's, for me, is more of a dessert and is better consumed straight than cut with alcohol.
For my own alcoholic nog, my go-to recipe is an old Craig Claiborne New York Times recipe that was republished last year. It's full of whipped egg whites and whipped cream such that the resulting nog is like drinking a fluffy, alcoholic cloud. It's so thick, you need to eat it with a spoon; in fact, it probably qualifies as more of a mousse than a nog, but it is heavenly.
Now the Claiborne recipe is wonderful, but it is fairly labor intensive with all the beating and such. For a quicker, thinner but very tasty nog, you can't go wrong with this recipe by cocktail expert Jeffrey Morgenthaler. The most beautiful thing about it is that the whole thing can be made in a blender!
Interestingly, while the NYT article recommends equal parts brandy and Bourbon, Morganthaler uses equal parts brandy and rum. I've tried both of these combinations and they are both delicious. As I noted above, egg nog is really less about spirits and more about sweetness and texture, so in the end, the choice of spirit is less important than in some cocktails.
Now allow me to raise my glass and wish you all good cheer.
In general, I don't partake of packaged egg nog, with the exception of Broguiere's lusciously thick and rich nog. But Broguiere's, for me, is more of a dessert and is better consumed straight than cut with alcohol.
For my own alcoholic nog, my go-to recipe is an old Craig Claiborne New York Times recipe that was republished last year. It's full of whipped egg whites and whipped cream such that the resulting nog is like drinking a fluffy, alcoholic cloud. It's so thick, you need to eat it with a spoon; in fact, it probably qualifies as more of a mousse than a nog, but it is heavenly.
Now the Claiborne recipe is wonderful, but it is fairly labor intensive with all the beating and such. For a quicker, thinner but very tasty nog, you can't go wrong with this recipe by cocktail expert Jeffrey Morgenthaler. The most beautiful thing about it is that the whole thing can be made in a blender!
Interestingly, while the NYT article recommends equal parts brandy and Bourbon, Morganthaler uses equal parts brandy and rum. I've tried both of these combinations and they are both delicious. As I noted above, egg nog is really less about spirits and more about sweetness and texture, so in the end, the choice of spirit is less important than in some cocktails.
Now allow me to raise my glass and wish you all good cheer.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Pralus Chocolate
Pralus is a French chocolatier that makes single origin bars. Each Pralus bar comes from a single location and uses a single type of bean. On Chocosphere, you can buy variety packs, showcasing all of the bars for $45.95 for 50 gram bars or $8.95 for 5 gram bars. The full-sized 100 gram bars are $8.35 each.
I really loved the Pralus bars. Shockingly, for fine chocolate, the bars ingredients include soy lecithin. Most fine chocolates sneer at such additives, though at least they use only GMO-free soy lecithin. However, I judge by taste, not by purity of additives, and these are good bars. Each bar is 75% cacao.
Just a quick reminder on bean type, since Pralus, unlike many other chocolate makers, uses a variety of beans. Forastero beans are the most common used in bulk commercial chocolate but can be fantastic when handled correctly. Crillo is considered a more gourmet bean and is used in much high-end chocolate. Trinitario is a hybrid of criollo and forastero.
Here are my thoughts on the range:
Papouasie (Papua New Guinea), Trinitario beans
Beautiful, subtle chocolate flavor. Very understated. Dark but not bitter and only a light sweetness.
Indonesie (Indonesia) Criollo beans
Fruit and acid flavor...maybe cherries. Fairly typical of criollos.
Sao Tome (Sao Tome & Principe) Forastero beans
Very nice, earthy with strong olive tones. Reminds me very much of Michel Cluizel's Los Ancones bar which has that similar olive and brine flavor.
Trinidad, Trinitario beans
Very dark, a little bit soapy and earthy. Very low acid.
Venezuela, Trinitario beans
Very Venezuelan. Sweet with some berries and dried fruit. This flavor profile is why Venezuelan chocolate is so popular, though, for my part, I generally prefer some of the darker, earthy chocolates from Africa and the Caribbean.
Tanzanie (Tanzania) Forastero beans
Dried fruit but not too sweet. A nice bar.
Ghana, Forastero beans
Dark, rich, very low acid and low on aromatics. Meaty, evincing beef, poultry and umami flavors. A really fabulous and very different bar.
Madagascar, Criollo
Dark but also acidic, in a generic, non-fruity way. This one lacks balance.
Colombie (Colombia) Trinitario beans
Good flavor, moderate acidity, nice balance, very even keeled.
Equateur (Ecuador) Trinitario beana
Subtle, a slight bit of grittyness though nice flavor.
Overall, I really enjoyed these chocolates. They encompassed a wide range of flavors - from heavily acidic, to fruity, to simply dark, and it was fun to taste some of the non-criollos and taste the differences across bean type and geography. The texture of the bars was generally good and lacked the artificial mouthfeel that can sometimes come with soy lecithin, though none of the bars had the creamy quality that some great bars have. I'd place them in the higher range of chocolate bars generally, though not at the very top.
I really loved the Pralus bars. Shockingly, for fine chocolate, the bars ingredients include soy lecithin. Most fine chocolates sneer at such additives, though at least they use only GMO-free soy lecithin. However, I judge by taste, not by purity of additives, and these are good bars. Each bar is 75% cacao.
Just a quick reminder on bean type, since Pralus, unlike many other chocolate makers, uses a variety of beans. Forastero beans are the most common used in bulk commercial chocolate but can be fantastic when handled correctly. Crillo is considered a more gourmet bean and is used in much high-end chocolate. Trinitario is a hybrid of criollo and forastero.
Here are my thoughts on the range:
Papouasie (Papua New Guinea), Trinitario beans
Beautiful, subtle chocolate flavor. Very understated. Dark but not bitter and only a light sweetness.
Indonesie (Indonesia) Criollo beans
Fruit and acid flavor...maybe cherries. Fairly typical of criollos.
Sao Tome (Sao Tome & Principe) Forastero beans
Very nice, earthy with strong olive tones. Reminds me very much of Michel Cluizel's Los Ancones bar which has that similar olive and brine flavor.
Trinidad, Trinitario beans
Very dark, a little bit soapy and earthy. Very low acid.
Venezuela, Trinitario beans
Very Venezuelan. Sweet with some berries and dried fruit. This flavor profile is why Venezuelan chocolate is so popular, though, for my part, I generally prefer some of the darker, earthy chocolates from Africa and the Caribbean.
Tanzanie (Tanzania) Forastero beans
Dried fruit but not too sweet. A nice bar.
Ghana, Forastero beans
Dark, rich, very low acid and low on aromatics. Meaty, evincing beef, poultry and umami flavors. A really fabulous and very different bar.
Madagascar, Criollo
Dark but also acidic, in a generic, non-fruity way. This one lacks balance.
Colombie (Colombia) Trinitario beans
Good flavor, moderate acidity, nice balance, very even keeled.
Equateur (Ecuador) Trinitario beana
Subtle, a slight bit of grittyness though nice flavor.
Overall, I really enjoyed these chocolates. They encompassed a wide range of flavors - from heavily acidic, to fruity, to simply dark, and it was fun to taste some of the non-criollos and taste the differences across bean type and geography. The texture of the bars was generally good and lacked the artificial mouthfeel that can sometimes come with soy lecithin, though none of the bars had the creamy quality that some great bars have. I'd place them in the higher range of chocolate bars generally, though not at the very top.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Whiskey Wednesday: Whiskey Gifts
It's that time of year again, time for whiskey gift recommendations. Since I spent most of the year on Scotch and American whiskies, I'll make recommendations in each category.
American Whiskey
This has been an amazing year for American whiskey, and just in time for holiday shopping, there is a vast array of high end whiskey on the market. Heaven Hill has released a 27 year old version of its well regarded Parker's Heritage to rave reviews and has 21 and 23 year old versions of Rittenhouse Rye. Buffalo Trace just released its new, always popular Antique Collection, which continues to be one of the best deals in whiskey, with prices ranging from $55 to $85.
For the money though, there isn't a better deal than Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon which runs in the $40 range. This Bourbon is new to California this year. I found it to be refined, subtle and complex. It is a great deal for the price and is my pick as best bang for your buck for a Bourbon gift. Four Roses is widely available at good liquor stores and on-line retailers.
If you're a rye fan and have a slightly larger gift budget, check out the new High West Rye. I haven't posted my review yet (it's coming), but High West rye is made by a Utah company from a blend of two Kentucky high-rye content ryes. It's wonderfully smooth with a strong rye flavor. It goes for about $50. You may have to hunt for it a bit, but it still seems to be available from your better retailers.
Scotch
Unfortunately, the year hasn't been as great, or at least as accessible, in the world of Scotch. Scotch inflation has gotten so ridiculously out of control that the biggest new releases all seem to go for several thousand dollars. Hey, don't get me wrong. I would love to try some Black or White Bowmore, Highland Park's new 40 year old or the Last Drop Blend, but the stuff just isn't anywhere near my price range. Of the slightly more affordable new releases that have created a buzz, Ardbeg Renaissance is not available in the US and Bruichladdich's super-peated Octomore seems unlikely to reach our shores by the end of the year. For all of these reasons, it was a somewhat disappointing year for Scotch compared to the amazing year American whiskey had.
However, there are still some good gift ideas out there. I absolutely loved the Bruichladdich 15 year old Second Edition with its rugged, maritime notes. It still seems to be out there in the $80 range. This one is a real people-pleaser.
Another new entry in the single malt market that I really enjoyed was Ardmore, which I reviewed just a week ago. This nicely peated, sweet Highlander is in the $30 to $35 range and is now widely available. It's the first time that Ardmore has released a distillery bottling, so there is definitely some novelty to it if you're looking for a fun Scotch gift.
Happy Holidays to all the whiskey fans out there!
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