SYP Says

Peas in Romesco at Bar Pintxo in Santa Monica

Bar Pintxo in Santa Monica, CA (109 Santa Monica Boulevard, 310-458-2012) does a good job of recreating the tapas experience in Spain.

I haven't found a tapas bar in the OC that I love, so we drive the 45 mins to Bar Pintxo if we're feeling the need. It's just authentic enough to make me miss Barcelona more than the typical tapas bar.

They serve excellent cava, especially the Avinyo ROSAT, a refreshing, dry rose which is lovely on a sunny SoCal afternoon.

And while they don't serve nearly enough anchovies and sardines, both of which are pintxos maintstays, and they don't count toothpicks for the bill, Bar Pintxo does have a healthy reverence for fresh vegetables, and one of my favorite dishes of theirs is the Sauteed Peas with Romesco Sauce.

Lucky for you, it's pretty easy to recreate a similar tasting dish at home. I've made this a few times and it's really delicious.

SAUTEED PEAS WITH ROMESCO SAUCE

* Mix of whatever kind of fresh peas and pea shoots you can find (sugar snaps, English peas, pea shoots, etc). I have made this dish with just sugar snaps and it was delicious. If you are using sugar snaps, cut them in thirds.

* 2 chopped shallots

* olive oil

* Romesco Sauce (adapted from Deborah Madison's excellent Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone):

-- 1 slice country-style white bread

-- 1/3 cup almonds (roasted if you have them)

-- 1/4 cup hazelnuts, roasted & peeled

-- 4 garlic cloves

-- 1-2 tsp paprika

-- 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes

-- salt & pepper

-- 4 Roma tomatoes with the seeds removed

-- 2 tbsps fresh parsley

-- 1 roasted red bell pepper (if you use one from a jar, make sure you rinse it thoroughly to remove any vinegar)

-- 1/4 cup good quality sherry vinegar

-- 1/2 cup olive oil, preferably Spanish

Make the Romesco first. Fry the bread in a little olive oil until golden and crisp. When cool, grind the bread, nuts, garlic, and chile in a food procesor. Then add everything else but the vinegar and oil and process until smooth. With the machine running, gradually pour inthe vinegar, then the oil. Taste and make sure the sauce has plenty of piquancy and enough salt, and is the texture you want. You may need to add a few extra tablespoons of oil if it is too vinegary for your taste or if it the sauce is too thick. Set aside.

Saute shallots in a few tbsps of olive oil on med high until translucent. Do not brown. Add the peas (and pea shoots, leaves, etc if you are using those). Saute further until just cooked through and still crisp. This may only take about 5 mins. Add sea salt to taste. 

You can toss the peas in a few spoons of Romesco or serve the sauteed peas on a mound of Romesco so it gets tossed as people serve themselves. Enjoy!

NOTE: This Romesco is a great all-purpose sauce--I've served it with grilled shrimp and even used it as a a sandwich spread with grilled vegetables and goat cheese.

Death by French Toast aka The Creme Brulee French Toast at Break of Dawn in Laguna Hills, CA rocks

Since I moved to SoCal a few months ago, I've had some great food. This weekend, though, I had one of the best french toasts I've ever had at the wonderful Break of Dawn restaurant in Laguna Hills, CA. The rest of our brunch was awesome too (check out this lineup: A kumquat champagne cocktail and then braised duck with scallion omelette, butternut creamed corn & fig and goji berry gastrique for me, and for Jeff, beef short ribs with merlot poached eggs, rice, mushroom ragout, prickly ash pepper jus). 

The piece de resistance though was the incredible Creme Brulee French Toast with mexican chocolate, coconut custard, raisin and cinnamon brioche, caramel-chocolate sauce.  Please go and tell me what you think of this not-so-little plate of heaven! 

FYI: This place is only open for breakfast and lunch 8-2:30, Wed-Sun. The chef calls his food "creative comfort" and he and has family have overcome incredible odds to make it--it took them ten tries over two years to escape from Vietnam before being successful. Read their full story here. Better yet, go and try his eats. They are innovative and delicious!

BREAK OF DAWN

24351 Avenida De La Carlota
Laguna Hills, CA 92653

(949) 587-9418

www.breakofdawnrestaurant.com

David Lynch Photo Exhibit in LA

Spent last Saturday in LA proper and between eating great food and seeing great friends, managed to find time to visit the Michael Kohn Gallery in West Hollywood. 

Fifty of David Lynch's photos inspired by the recent Dangermouse/Sparklehorse music collaboration entitled Dark Night of the Soul are on exhibit there. Some of the photos are creepy and abstract; some are strange retro slices of 1950s life as only David Lynch could imagine them.

If you're in SoCal, check out the exhibit before July 11. 

Find out more about the drama behind the new CD from Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse and why the artists are asking you to download it for free off the Web.

Best Lunch in Brea, CA

Brea, CA in Orange County is surrounded by great restaurants--from awesome ethnic restaurants in La Habra, Rowland Heights, and Garden Grove to college haunts in Fullerton and Pomona to family fare in Anaheim to more upscale and seaside eats up and down the South Coast only 20 mins away in Newport and Laguna Beach.

Brea itself though has so much shopping (and the chains that go with it) that good eats can be hard to find amidst the malls, cars & palm trees. And especially when you just want to go for a work lunch, you really don't want to drive more than 5 or 10 mins. Brea proper is not exactly a food mecca, but you can still eat pretty well and avoid fast food.

Here's a short list of places I like to go to grab a bite and you won't find a mega-chain name in the bunch. 

• Mammalucco's: 2500 E. Imperial Highway, Ste 100, 714 672 0555. The best, most authentic NY pizza I've had outside of NYC and this from a New Yorker. It was started by a New Yorker and many of the customers are transplants. Grab a slice for lunch and you won't regret it. They have a decent-sized dining room too if you've got company.

• Olive Pit Mediterranean Grill: 2445 E. Imperial Highway, 714 529 3200.  Delicous kabobs, spanokopita, dandelion greens, hummus, baklava, and the like. Way better than the other "Greek" places in the area.

• Taps Fish House: 101 E. Imperial Highway, 714 257 0101. Upscale restaurant and brewery. Great for dinner too, but the perfect business lunch spot because it has something for everyone in addition to seafood (pizza, burgers, salads).

• Olivia's Bistro: 159 E. Imperial Highway, 714 871 3757. OK, this is actually in La Habra, but it's right on the border and worth the extra 5 min drive. Cute place with very tasty Vietnamese food. I especially love their crepe. SO GOOD. If you really need to stay right in Brea, go to Pho 99 or Pho Tay Bac which are both in Brea proper and great for a quick Vietnamese lunch.
  

• Corner Bakery Cafe: 103 W. Imperial Highway, 714 257 9208. Paninis, salads, and soups. Located in downtown Brea.

• The Hat: 1210 E. Imperial Highway, 714 257 9500. Known for their huge, dripping pastrami and burgers, this Orange County tradition is strictly a to-go joint unless you like eating at dark, greasy spoons on your lunch hour. Also, probably not a good choice if you've got a presentation to do in the afternoon. :)

• House of Tandoor: 600 S Brea Boulevard, 714 529 2695. Tasty and inexpensive Indian lunch buffet, I hear. I went once for dinner and the masala dosa was good.

• Tacos San Pedro: 17475 Imperial Highway, #A, 714 572 1171. Right over the Brea border in Yorba Linda, this teeny taco dive is admittedly not the cleanest, but their tacos are pretty good, especially so close to Brea.

If you have a tad bit more time, grab a real Italian sub or the best chicken salad sandwich ever to go from Claro's Italian Market in north La Habra, or drive down to Fullerton and stand in line for homemade Mexican at El Camino Real or pretend you're in the West Village at the cute & chic Rialto Cafe (also super for brunch).

Behind the Orange Curtain

Well, I made it! Exactly three weeks ago, I moved from Ashland, OR to Brea in Orange County, CA (yes,it took a while, but I now understand that the OC is separate from LA--I'm an East Coaster, what can I say).

For those of you who don't know, I spent 13 years in NYC and then three years ago, moved to the tiny Southern Oregon town of Ashland to build the marketing team at Musician's Friend, the largest direct seller of musical instruments in the world. 

I decided to take a new job as VP of Marketing at PennySaverUSA, the largest direct shopping publication in the country, to help build their Web business and make it cool online. (That's right, the PennySaver is going to get hip, y'all, mark my words. :))

I took a week off to unpack and get settled and then took a much needed break in NYC. Last week was my

first week in the office and it was uneventful, aside from the terrible cold I caught. The poor people I work with must have hated me!

According to a friend of mine, at the executive level, you should be spending 50% of your time just thinking. With not a single meeting all week, "thinking" and planning was all I did and it was wonderful. The last three years at Musician's Friend, I spent all my time in meetings, so it was heaven.

It is hard to believe I've only been here a few weeks. Oregon seems very far away. The weather is AMAZING here, I adore my loft, and my commute is exactly 7 minutes! Aside from that, I already love the diversity of the population and the food--I'm surrounded by authentic Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Mexican, etc.--and just the sheer amount of interesting stuff to do.

This past Friday, I went to see indie band Black Kids at the Glass House in Pomona, a scant 20 mins from me, and tonight am going to the Newport Beach Film Festival (about a half hour away). In Ashland, I was 4-5 hours from anything. For a New Yorker like me, that was tough. 

It's a lot greener and hillier here than I thought it would be which is lovely. And sure, there are a lot of malls and the OC is more conservative than any other place I've ever lived (I considered commuting from West Hollywood, but now am so glad I decided being closer to work made more sense), but maybe I can convert some people--lol. I can't tell you how excited I am to be back in civilization!