Archive for ‘Restaurants’

Salt’s Cure : My Last Meal in L.A.

By , 22 November, 2010,

My. Last. Meal.
We plunked down at Salt’s Cure‘s bar by the cash register, which turned out to be a strategic vantage point to chat with the chefs / owners while drooling over home baked biscuits, house made sausage and bacon – courtesy of natural happy pigs from River Dog Farm, and the griddle cakes.
Artfully arranged plates make eating the thoughtfully prepared food all the more pleasurable.

Salt’s Cure will get me back to Los Angeles sooner than later for a few simple reasons:

  1. Ambiance is cozy yet modern and clean.
  2. The art is animals-embossed-from-salt (you have to see for yourself)
  3. We laughed as much as we ate, thanks to the happy and friendly staff.
  4. The griddle cakes, oh the griddle cakes. Chock full of oatmeal the griddle cakes make a nutritious daily breakfast, or a wise choice as your last meal (on earth).
    A big scoop of butter melts from the center down the stack, intermingling with powdered sugar. Before the pancakes get to you, the butter has melted across the fluffy slabs. The cake edges delicately crunch, coupled with soft centers and mmmm butter.
  5. Beefy (porky?) slabs of house cured bacon and homemade sausages come from pork that Chris gets himself at River Dog Farm and drives back down to LA. Like a porcine road trip.
  6. Prices are very reasonable for the quality.
  7. Easy to get to, near Fairfax and Santa Monica.
  8. Everyone’s doing it: The bartender of another great restaurant had eaten breakfast there. A well respected pork-loving chef had gushed about Salt’s Cure to us, not knowing we’d just been there. Then I learned one of the chefs is my friend’s son. The Daily Candy, Tasting Table and Yelpers love it.
  9. Sigh… How often can you call a breakfast experience magical? Simply put, Salt’s Cure is the center of the universe.  I need to return to see if this was a one-trick pony or the cure for the common salt.

Canvas Underground / Ghetto Gourmet Restaurant Experience

By , 22 October, 2008,

Thanks to Vera for inviting me to a dinner with Canvas Underground, part of the Ghetto Gourmet network…a dinner which was anything but ghetto (in the slang sense of the word).

The delicious menu by Chef Peter Jackson made me want to take a roadtrip around the U.S. Here’s what we enjoyed:

East: Rhode Island Style Clam Chowder with Fresh steamed clams, homemade bacon, potatoes, with a side of cream and chopped potatoes to garnish the soup if we chose.

Southwest: Ancho Chile Fritters with Masa crust, fresh goat cheese, tomatillo – pumpkin seed sauce.
The chiles were dried and soaked to soften up. Very picante, a nice contrast to the creamy cool goat cheese.

South: Quail Pontalba with Roasted Wolfe ranch quail, tasso, sweet potatoes, wild mushrooms, creole bernaise sauce
The quail was a real discovery, and according to Peter they let the quail “mature” six weeks longer than is the usual practices. So they were meaty meaty and so delicious.

West: Chilled Poached Prawns with Avocado, ruby grapefruit, little gem lettuce, champagne-tarragon vinaigrette

Midwest: Caramelized Apple-Walnut Tart with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a deliciously tender crust

quail fritterssouppie
salad

Experience the dinner and learn more about the quail: