SYP Says

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

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).

Gnudi Pronunciation

Because I am obsessed with gnudi, basically melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi made out of sheep's milk ricotta instead of potato, and because according to my web stats, I get people coming to my blog looking for this info, here is how you pronounce gnudi, one of the yummiest things in the world (my favorite is available at The Spotted Pig in NYC).

GNUDI is pronounced "nu-di" with a silent "g."

All of my posts on gnudi are here.

Yummy Salmon and Lentil Salad

After posting on Facebook and Twitter my love for this salad that I conjured up recently, I've gotten a bunch of requests for the recipe, so here it is. No pic because we ate it before I got any requests!

Sorry it is not very precise. It's based on your taste, but will give you the gist. It's a bit mediterranean.

Also re the salad dressing, I wanted to give a shout-out to Deborah Madison who started the acclaimed Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, and her awesome book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I adapted her salad dressing recipe somewhat, but still wanted to give credit.

Salad:
* 1 small head of romaine or other stiff greens, washed, dried, torn into bite-size pieces (don't use a limp green because the dressing is creamy and lighter greens won't hold up as well)
* feta bits
* 1 scallion, minced
* 2 ears, steamed, cooled, and then cut off the cob
* 1 red pepper, chopped
* prepare lentils just done and cool or do what I did--I bought ready-made ones from Trader Joe's to save time because they are already cooked and vacuum-packed. Plus, they're from France, so they taste extra good. :)

Toss everything together, salt & pepper to taste. Set aside.

Salmon:
* 2 wild salmon filets: grill with olive oil, salt & pepper just for 4-5 mins or so total (both sides). Don't overcook, but this is not a sashimi salad either. I cooked the filets to somewhere between med rare and medium.

While it's cooking, make salad dressing.

Salad Dressing:
* 3/4 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
* 1/4 cup mayo
* 1 tablespoon or so of vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
* fresh chives to taste
* fresh parsley to taste
* salt & pepper to taste
* 1-2 garlic cloves
* a tablespooon or two of water to thin it to the consistency you like
* smidge of honey

Blend it all up. Taste & adjust. Lightly dress the salad and toss. Serve with the salmon on top!

BTW, of course you could do a mustardy vinaigrette or whatever dressing you like. I was experimenting with this one which is kind of a take on a green goddess dressing. You can also adjust the ratio of yogurt to mayo. And if you don't eat dairy, you could probably use silken tofu.

Jazushi in Jacksonville, Oregon

Had dinner last night at a cute little Japanese jazz + sushi restaurant called Jazushi in Jacksonville, Oregon, home of the Britt Music Festival, and an even tinier town than Ashland. It's about 20 mins away and reminds me a little of Chibi's on Mott Street in NYC.

It's just one guy who owns the place and does all of the cooking. The ambience is like being in his living room. They're generous with the sake, always a plus. Our rolls were fresh and my salmon with homemade teriyaki was really delicious. I usually avoid anything teriyaki, but here it was surprisingly tasty. 

There are several sushi restaurants in the area, but nothing really to write home about. The only one I go to on any regular basis is Kobe in Ashland and it's pretty pricey, so we don't eat there too often.

Anyway, try Jazushi if you're in town. Thumbs up from me.

Jazushi: 100 E. California Street in Jacksonville, Oregon. 541-899-9338. Open Tues-Sat 5-9pm.

 

Troon Vineyard in Southern Oregon

"It takes a lot of beer to make wine," Chris Martin divulged to us last month when we went to visit Troon Vineyard in nearby Applegate Valley. Chris is the winery's proprietor--he manages the day to day activities of the vineyard and one of his legacies will be the recently built outdoor tasting room (the one indoors is airy and beautiful, but the one outside is even nicer...plus, you can play bocce!).

I love the randomness of people finding my blog and one day in early August, I received a lovely, sympathetic email from Chris who had read my post on The Wharf restaurant in Medford. A fellow displaced foodie, he invited me to his vineyard for VinoLab, a small culinary program they run during the summer focused on pairing Troon wines with small plates using locally sourced ingredients.

The grounds are gorgeous. You really feel like you're in Europe. Even better is the wine which is estate grown, produced, and bottled. They make only small lots (under 300 cases) of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, and more. They finish their wines mostly in French oak barrels for twelve to twenty four months depending on the grape and the amount of oak needed to perfect the wine.

In the vineyard, they follow organic principles and aspire to a closed loop, sustainable farming environment. No herbicides or pesticides are used, and all tending of the vines is done by hand. Pretty cool. Can't even imagine how much work that all entails.

The winery was established in 1972 by founder and southern Oregon grape growing pioneer Dick Troon. Today it's run by the Martin family, but Dick Troon lives just up the road and recently planted some olive trees. The vineyard is in great hands and they really seem focused on providing a great customer experience--Phil would really like visiting them.

When we sat down at the table, Liz Wan who handles events and also created the different appetizers, talked with us about how she comes up with the menus. Sounds like a super fun job. (She might consider making that pomodori al forno I had such great success with--curious to know what kind of wine they would recommend to go with it!)

We each had a VinoLab flight. The delectable line-up:

* Crackling Shrimp Chip with Shrimp Guacamole paired with 2007 River Guide White

* Buffalo & Savory Stuffed Baby Porabello paired with 2007 Druids Fluid

* Three Berry Meatball paired with 2006 Spirit of the Rogue

* Housemade BBQ Chicken Pizza paired with 2005 Old Vine Meritage

* Blackened Ahi Candy paired with 2006 Reserve Zinfandel

* Truffles and 2004 Insomnia Port

Troon wine has received many awards. I went with my tastebuds though in selecting what I wanted to take home. I opted for a couple bottles of the 2007 River Guide White, a bottle of the 2005 Old Vine Meritage, a 2006 Reserve Zinfandel, and a 2004 Insomnia Port.

Visit Troon if you're in the area. It is easily the nicest vineyard I've been to in Southern Oregon!  They're open 11-5 daily. For more about Troon Vineyard, visit their site, call 541-846-9900 or email [email protected].

If you're not, buy Troon's wine online. (Their shipping info is here.) You won't be disappointed. I'm enjoying a glass of the Meritage right now. :)

Pomodori al Forno or what to do with all those tomatoes in your garden

This Labor Day weekend, I went on a bit of a cooking rampage. The piece de resistance was the absolutely luxurious Pomodori al Forno I made (courtesy of the August issue of Bon Appetit). You can make these from fresh plum tomatoes like I did or good quality canned tomatoes. Although you'll be tempted to eat them right after the 3 hour roasting time, hold out and wait until after you've added the garlic and parsley, and the tomatoes have cooled, been chilled, and then brought back to room temperature. It makes a big difference in both the taste and the character of the tomatoes.

This is a great dish because not only is it versatile, but the actual "work" time involved is very short--about 15 minutes. You just need to do it on a day when you can hang out at home while the tomatoes do their thing (all told, the dish will be ready after about 5-6 hours).

The first day, we ate them as the recipe recommended--with baguette slices and aged goat cheese. On the second day, we ate the tomatoes tossed with a small amount of plain linguine and fresh basil, and drizzled fresh mozzarella slices with the oil. We started with wild mushroom crostinis, truffle oil, and thyme vinaigrette (also from the same issue and a super-tasting, quick starter). Add a French cab and the leftover brandied plum claufouti I'd made the night before, and it was food-splurge heaven.

Pomodori al Forno Recipe            

Ingredients

• 1 cup olive oil, divided
• 2 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeded (canned or fresh)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh Italian parsley
• Aged goat cheese (such as Bucheron)
• 1 baguette, thinly sliced crosswise, toasted

Preparation

Preheat oven to 250°F. Pour 1/2 cup oil into 13x9x2-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. Arrange tomatoes in dish, cut side up. Drizzle with remaining 1/2 cup oil. Sprinkle with oregano, sugar, and salt. Bake 1 hour. Using tongs, turn tomatoes over. Bake 1 hour longer. Turn tomatoes over again. Bake until deep red and very tender, transferring tomatoes to plate when soft (time will vary, depending on ripeness of tomatoes), about 15 to 45 minutes longer.

Layer tomatoes in medium bowl, sprinkling garlic and parsley over each layer; reserve oil in baking dish. Drizzle tomatoes with reserved oil, adding more if necessary to cover. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours.

DO AHEAD: Cover; chill up to 5 days. Bring to room temperature before serving. Serve with aged goat cheese and toasted baguette slices.

INGREDIENT TIP: Alta Cucina canned plum tomatoes are available online from sciabica.com.

Apparently this dish is from Seattle's Cafe Lago. If you're in town, check out the restaurant and let me know how it is.

The Wharf in Medford, Oregon **

(Left: A real lobster roll. Alas, not the one I got at The Wharf.)

After the baked potato incident from last Sunday, I felt some guilt. I noticed that traffic was coming to my blog from people typing in "the wharf medford oregon" and of course what they were getting once they arrived was an absurd story about a call I had with the hostess. I figured I had to give the place a chance, so I went there for dinner after work Wednesday night.

The Wharf is cute--you can tell that it used to be a pizza joint, but it's blue and white, has a sea mural on the wall, and looks sufficiently seafood shack-y. It also purports to be a seafood market, but the halibut in the case looked a bit worse for wear.

Anyway, we were seated quickly. I opened the menu and what do I see but an alarming notice:

Dinner available all day. Baked or mashed potatoes only available after 5.

(The true impact of this only makes sense if you read the baked potato incident--here is the link.)

Why this is, I have no idea and I felt ridiculous asking, so unfortunately I have failed in solving the baked potato mystery. However, I am willing to give a quick review of the restaurant, just for the hell of it. 

First, let me say that to date, I've stayed away from doing true restaurant reviews on my blog, even though I am a huge foodie. There are several reasons for this. For one thing, although I am overjoyed that Ashland has good restaurants, there are few here that can really rival what I got in NYC even on an average day. My standards are high, and as a result, if I really were honest, the vast majority of my reviews would be pretty harsh. Another reason: restaurant reviewing is a real pain. Rather than just enjoying my meal and the company, it forces me to keep track of everything going on. I don't want eating to become work. I already have a job! All that said, I'm willing to share a brief review of The Wharf with you. Enjoy.

We ordered two Walkabout Worker's Pale Ales. This is a good local beer made by a coworker of mine and her husband. The glasses weren't chilled, but otherwise, A-OK.

Needless to say, I stayed away from the dinner options. Jeff ordered a fresh fish sandwich and I ordered a lobster roll. We had a cup of clam chowder and steamed mussels to start.

The steamed mussels were well scrubbed, plump, and soft. The white wine broth had too much butter (so much, in fact, that it prevented me from spooning it up like soup which I usually love to do), but it was still pretty good. The clam chowder was also fairly acceptable--creamy and tangy and not overly potatoed which usually results in a thick, starchy mess. At this point, I was feeling hopeful.

Then the entrees arrived. The fish sandwich was pretty good--beer battered cod with all the fixins. Nothing special, but fine. The steak fries were slightly underdone.

My lobster roll, however, was an absolute travesty. The top of a roll was hollowed out to make room for a few sad pieces of lobster in a cream sauce and parmesan on top that had obviously been put in the oven. Sort of like a bizarre lobster alfredo casserole in a roll-shaped bread bowl. This was certainly not the spartan lobster roll that I know--a buttered, toasted bun (usually a hot dog-shaped one) with huge chunks of soft lobster tossed in just a tad bit of mayo and lemon, sometimes with a small amount of fine diced celery and/or onion, but with the lobster always always as the star.

I picked out the lobster (at approx. $14, each bite was $3.50) and left the rest.

The waitress, who was fine btw, asked me, "How's the lobster roll?"

"Well, it's not really a lobster roll."

"Oh...are you from the east coast or something? We've never been. I don't really know what one really is." Ack!

I'm a bit of a purist about this kind of thing, so I was compelled to explain the virtues of a real lobster roll. She was really nice about it and even came back to tell me she let the chef know (for whatever good that will do).

My bill was $50. Pretty hefty, I'd say, although if my lobster roll had been good, I would have been OK paying that. The ambiance and service were fine for the kind of restaurant that it is. The food needs some work. Two Stars out of Four using the Southern Oregon curve. **

If I still lived in NYC, I probably wouldn't go back, but honestly, I'm fairly certain I'll end up trying it once more for lunch. The choices in Medford are pretty few and far between and Ashland is too far to go back to during the work week.

Want a real lobster roll in NYC? Try Mary's Fish Camp or Pearl Oyster Bar two of my faves.

Dinner in Medford, Oregon (almost)

Heard about a new restaurant in Medford called The Wharf. Sort of an odd name for a restaurant that is landlocked, but anyway... Medford, OR is not exactly overrun with great food choices, so anytime I hear of a restaurant that is supposedly good, I feel like I should check it out.

I called The Wharf to make sure they were still open and see if we needed reservations.

"Dinner starts at 5."

"OK," I say, and as I go to hang up, I can hear that she is still talking. I put the phone back up to my ear, and ask if she can repeat herself.

"Yeah, what I was saying was that it's because of the baked potatoes."

"Sorry...what?" I ask, bewildered.

"You can come before 5 for dinner, but you just won't be able to order baked potatoes."

Now I have never called a restaurant and gotten this kind of helpful advice, so I'm a little confused. What does this mean--that they bake all of their baked potatoes way in advance so if I go there at 7, the baked potatoes will be wrinkly from a heat lamp and 2 hours old?

Needless to say, I'm now less than enthusiastic about trying out The Wharf and decide to stay in Ashland. Granted, The Wharf at least does not bill itself as a "family restaurant," a surefire way to convey that your food is hopelessly bland and mediocre, but still...we're in a recession, aren't we? I don't want to waste my hard-earned money on restaurants that can't serve baked potatoes until 5 o'clock dinner!

I go to T's Restaurant, my favorite in Ashland, and the only one that really reminds me of Manhattan. They have great modern food, drinks, and an ambience right at home in Flatiron/Gramercy. Our grilled squid, Jeff's steak, and my roasted eggplant lasagna were all delicious. Thank god for small miracles on a Sunday night.

UPDATE: The baked potato saga continues here.

Organic Vodka by Cascade Peak Spirits

My landlord, Diane Paulson, is a cool chick. She and her fiance, David Eliasen, recently opened Cascade Peak Spirits, a micro distillery brewing organic vodka in my current home away from home, Ashland, Oregon.

Cascade Peak Spirits is the first organic distillery in Oregon making the first organic vodka, gin and whisky in the state.

Their first product is called Organic Nation Vodka and everything is handcrafted from the bottling to the labeling. When I went to renew my lease, I got to try it out. In a blind taste test vs Grey Goose and Square One (another organic vodka...albeit far inferior), we found Organic Nation Vodka was way better. No joke--it was smoother and more refined.

Right now, Diane and David are getting their pure spirits from a distillery in Idaho and then filtering it about six times. However, they've planted two acres of rye that will be ready for harvest in the fall.

For more info, check out their Web site at CascadePeakSpirits.com or email them at [email protected] . Send them ideas for new flavors too (my fingers are crossed for a Yuzu-flavored vodka which would totally rock). You can also read the May features on their new enterprise at Ashland Daily Tidings and The Mail Tribune.

Most importantly, buy their vodka! It's Oregon's first organic liquor, so support it. It's available, upon request, at all Oregon liquor stores and coming soon to Washington and Northern California. You can also request it at a bar or restaurant.

Locally, it is available at Ashland Liquor Store (40 Lithia Way, 541-482-4258) and West Main Liquor and Stevens Street Liquor stores in Medford. In Portland, Organic Nation Vodka is available at Pearl Specialty (900 NW Lovejoy, 503-477-8604).