Behold the Latte Art

Well, sort of. Here's the update. After receiving the awesome Rancilio Silvia espresso maker as a holiday gift (from myself), I set about to drag my '90s era barista-self into the third wave.

At first, I tried to find someone who would take my hand and teach me the fine art of microfoaming and latte art, but to no avail. So I set about on a totally DIY course, reading coffee forums, watching endless videos of people pouring milk and practice, practice, practice. My conclusion: it's harder than it looks.

After two months, this is probably the best I've done. A friend on Facebook called it a tornado, which I'm willing to go with. As my art evolves, I'll continue to post. And I'm always open for hints, suggestions or other schooling.

FYI, this was made with Cafecito Organico's Espresso Clandestino.

Culver Crepes: L'Epicerie

L'Epicerie is the little market/restaurant from the former owner of Fraiche. I recently stopped by for lunch. There is a nice menu of pretty basic sandwiches, all of which were good if not very exciting, but I particularly liked the desserts. Ice cream sandwiches were sandwiched with large, macaron cookies. The grasshopper with mint chocolate chip cookies was fabulous. The highlight, though, was the brown sugar crepe, a simply enough made crepe with melted butter and brown sugar, but it was spot on, chewy and a bit eggy, with sweet melted butter popping out as you bit into it.

The dinner plates look intriguing as well, especially the house made charcuterie and duck and pork belly confit, some of which are also available in the small market section of the restaurant.

L'Epicerie Market
9900 Culver Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 815-1600

Whiskey Wednesday: Mini Me

My recent review of Highland Park 40 got me thinking about one of my pet issues: miniature bottles. I could never have afforded a full bottle of Highland Park 40, which goes for around $2,000. The miniature version goes for about $125, and while it ain't cheap nor is it beyond the realm of affordability. Personally, I would nearly always rather buy a miniature than a full bottle. I'm a taster more than a drinker, and there are very few whiskeys of which I need more than 50 ml to satisfy my curiosity. Plus, my closets and drawers are already bulging with whiskey bottles.

Yet for some reason, especially in the U.S., miniatures are mostly reserved for bottom shelf and mass marketed whiskeys. I know that every new bottle size costs money for the bottlers who need different sized crates, boxes and shelves, but having more minis would be a huge boon for the curious consumer.

So, my plea to whiskey companies, make more minis!

Chicken Fried Steak - Quantity over Quality in Texas

After my awesome chicken fried steak at Rosie's in Tahoe, I was jonesing for another plate of chicken fried goodness when fate would land me in San Antonio, Texas and breakfast at Lulu's, a place that's famous for its chicken fried steak.

Now, I should have known to be skeptical when the menu cover noted that Lulu's had been featured on Man vs. Food, the Travel Network show in which Andrew Richman gorges himself on ridiculous quantities of food while a rapt audience watches to see if he'll vomit...yes, that apparently is what passes for entertainment in twenty-first century America.

We all know that things are big in Texas, but this place was ridiculous. The giant cinnamon roll, which I expected to be large, was bizarrely enormous, the size of a whole cake. Having seen this monstrosity, I ordered the smallest chicken fried steak on the menu, which was good sized, but not mutant-like; it was served with eggs, toast and hashbrowns for around eight bucks.

I have to say that this "as seen on TV" steak did not come close to the glory of Rosie's. It was tough and the batter easily flicked off. The gravy was think and lacked the meaty goodness of Rosie's, probably indicating more milk and less drippings. The eggs and hashbrowns were good, but how hard are those things to make.

I'll stick with the quality of humble Rosie's over the quantity of celebrated Lulu's any day.


Lulu's Bakery & Cafe
918 N. Main Street
San Antonio, TX 78212

Tahoe Report: Country Cooking at Rosie's Cafe

There are many great cuisines in LA, but there are also things that are sadly lacking. One of them is country cooking, the hearty cuisine of the old Scotch-Irish protestant population of the south and southern midwest. But journey into the interior of California, and you will find this cuisine, a remnant of the dust bowl refugees that poured into California during the Great Depression.

In the Tahoe area, if you look beyond the newer, gentrified spots, you will find plenty of country cooking. Diners and cafes that specialize in heavy breakfasts and hearty meals, often dating back thirty, forty or even fifty years. One such place is Rosie's Cafe in Tahoe City.

Decorated with ancient ski equipment and dusty hunting trophies, Rosie's sits directly across Lake Boulevard from Lake Tahoe. Founded almost thirty years ago, Rosie's features a full bar and breakfast until 2:30 pm.

One of my favorite country cuisine classics is chicken fried steak, and Rosie's has a wondrous version. A slab of steak, with a thick fried batter buried in creamy sausage gravy, accompanied by two perfectly cooked eggs (over easy in my case), hash browns and home baked cinnamon raisin bread. You may be able to get a great milanesa in LA, but you can't get a chicken fried steak like this, crunchy and crusty on the outside and tender within, a mid-day breakfast will stick to your ribs all day, just like country cooking is supposed to.


Rosie's Cafe
571 North Lake Boulevard
Tahoe City, CA 96145
(530) 583-8504

Whiskey Wednesday: The Evolution of a Whiskyfun Reader

How we learn to read our most beloved malt review website as our tasting experience grows:


Malt Experience: 1 year (six malts)

What's this? Whiskyfun? Why would I read this? The format sucks, there aren't any comments, I've never even heard of most of these distilleries, and it's filled with weird music reviews and these God-awful comics. I'm heading back to What Does John Know.


Malt Experience: 2 years (24 malts)

Hmm, searching for this "Brora" I read about on-line, I found a lot of reviews on this site; it must be really good stuff. I mean, this guy seems to know what he's talking about. Maybe I'll try to find some.


Malt Experience: 3 years (89 malts)

Hey, I tried that Tomatin. I finally tried something on Whiskyfun! Hmm, I must have missed the "faint dustiness in the background."


Malt Experience: 4 years (143 malts)

Oooh look, a 21 year old Brora on ebay! Never mind, Serge only gave it a 92.


Malt Experience: 5 years (263 malts)

Oh man [hilarious guffawing], Pete and Jack just nailed it.


Malt Experience: 8 years (1,654 malts)

Dear Johannes and Serge, please consider this my application for the Malt Maniacs. Enclosed is an 8,500 word epistle on the influence of sheep ticks on the distillation of Northeast Highland whisky in August, 1958. I thank you for your consideration.

Tahoe Report: Truckee Thai

I grew up spending a lot of time in the Lake Tahoe area, and I always love heading back. We stay in Truckee which is adjacent to the beautiful Tahoe National Forest and has access to some great ski slopes. While there are a few goodies that I've reported on through the years, the area is not exactly a culinary destination. Usually, if we go out, we hit one of a few familiar places or end up suffering through something mediocre.

I must admit, living a few blocks from LA's Thaitown, I was pretty skeptical of trying a Truckee Thai restaurant. How good could a Thai restaurant be in an area with virtually no Thai population? How wrong I was.

Thai Nakorn, on Donner Pass Road in Truckee, was superb. Nearly everything we ordered there was a hit. The menu is pretty typical American-Thai (no boar, not morning glory, etc.), but the flavors of everything really stood out. Papaya salad had a deep fish saucy flavor with none of the sweetness that can infect the dish; pumpkin red curry was rich with coconut cream and slices of pumpkin while green avocado curry had plenty of Thai basil and Thai eggplant; the noodles in the pad see ew were nicely charred. But the highlight was the duck noodle soup special. The broth was deeply ducky, with noodles, slices of duck and scallion; it was slurpable. For dessert we enjoyed a nice version of mango sticky rice.

This was a fantastic Thai meal, easily competitive with the best of the same dishes in Thaitown.

Thai Nakorn
10770 Donner Pass road
Truckee, CA 96161
(530) 550-0503
(They have another branch in South Lake Tahoe)

We'll have more Tahoe later this week.