A Commitment to Community (Ideas and free flowing red wine)

On Thursday, March 28, 2013 Osteria La Buca will host the first in an endless series of dinner parties – THE SALON AT OSTERIA LA BUCA.

Last month, La Buca began offering “The Dinner Party.”  Held in the privacy of the upstairs Pasta Room (during the daytime hours, this space is used only for making fresh pasta for lunch and dinner service), the space offers it’s own private entrance, a view from above of the entire restaurant, and a $30.00 pp “All-You-Can-Eat & Drink” of simple greens, spaghetti & meatballs, and lush Italian red wine (min six guests, max ten).  An instant success, the room now finds itself booked most every evening of the week.  Observing the popularity of the space, as well as the conversation and camaraderie that it promotes, OLB has taken the idea one step further – The Salon.

The Salon at La Buca will be offered one evening each month.  The evening will feature the ‘All You Can Eat & Drink’ of The Dinner Party, with one notable addition – The Salon places a premium on conversation.  All of our guests will be invited to join The Salon with our compliments because they have important thoughts, ideas, and opinions to bring to the table.  A diverse group of individuals will be invited to the inaugural Salon, perhaps a scientist, an artist, a writer, a DJ, a chef, or designer – entrepreneurs that have a vested interest in exploring and improving our community.  The inaugural Salon invitees will be hand selected by the staff and owners of La Buca. Prospective guests may RSVP to salon@osterialabuca.com, offering creative suggestions as to why they will make the perfect Salon guest. Whether that RSVP arrives in the form of a poem, a screenplay, a docudrama, a recipe, a video, a manifesto, a drawing, a biography, or a haiku is at the complete discretion of the hopeful guest. As with good conversation, individuality, creativity, and thoughtful opinion will be rewarded with an invitation to join the group.  After the inaugural Salon, guests of the first dinner will be invited to hand select the guests for the second, continuing every month thereafter.

Why The Salon?  Los Angeles is home to a hotbed of contemporary artists, writers, talented chefs, musicians, city planners, and political activists that are changing the world on a daily basis.  Our city creates and often dictates popular culture. Our reputation as a city, however, is often derived only from stereotypes that have long since vanished.  We love our city and we treasure our talented citizens and their contributions to our community.  Gathering brilliant personalities around the dinner table is the very essence of a restaurant – good food & drink, good people, and good conversation.  At the very least, good memories will ensue.  At the most, we just may arrive at a few solutions for a couple of our city’s greatest challenges.  We are confident that the bonds that are built during The Salon will carry forth afterward into our community, enriching our neighborhood and our world.

THE SALON AT OSTERIA LA BUCA | Thursday evening, March 28, 2013

5210 Melrose Avenue | Los Angeles, CA 90038

www.osterialabucala.com | 323.462.1900

www.jaleo.com

Mr. Egger arrives in Los Angeles, his former home, in order to bring the power of this philanthropic model to the west coast cities that have struggled to find solutions to homelessness, poverty, and hunger in our city. During the ceremony honoring Mr. Egger, Dan Glickman cited the teachings of the Talmud, offering “Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved the entire world.”

The time has arrived for the most fortunate among us to assume the responsibility of an outstretched hand, indeed a meaningful gesture to save the lives of our friends and neighbors in Los Angeles.

Mr. Egger has created a brilliantly insightful business model that simultaneously reduces food waste, feeds the hungry, and prepares the unemployed for work, all issues that have long been ignored and unattended in Los Angeles. This insightful man brings a plan for changing our city for the better, for productively dealing with some of our city’s most dire human issues, and in the process making us all better people and better citizens.

We gratefully and sincerely welcome that arrival of Mr. Egger and the L.A. Kitchen.  We invite you to do similarly, and to support this wonderful new organization with your time, your talents, and your gifts.

http://

www.lakitchen.org

Wishing you a safe & happy New Year.

May it be filled with good food, good friends and good times.

Cherish every damn minute.

And remember to laugh.  Laugh a lot and laugh loud.

We look forward to sharing every moment of it with you.

DAN

DCPR has made a contribution to The Midnight Mission of Los Angeles

in honor of our friends, business associates, and loved ones.

We invite you to explore the good works

of this life changing and life affirming organization

and to give of your time and talents as you are able.

The Los Angeles Midnight Mission

Who goes to Pasadena for pastries? Certainly not me.  I live on the other side of town.

Until now.

A little pastry shop recently opened on Colorado Boulevard.  For those of you with only a vague mental image of Pasadena, it’s not “that Colorado Boulevard.”  It’s waaaaay down the Boulevard, across from Pasadena City College, and next door to a very busy Starbucks. Oh, and it’s also home to some of the biggest, boldest, most deliciously magnificent flavors I have experienced in a very long time.

The first brick and mortar shop of ‘Top Chef: Just Desserts’ finalist Danielle Keene, this is the cutest little pastry shop that you are going to thank baby Jesus for bringing to your backyard. Just open last week, what they lack in selection, they more than make up for with vibrant tastes that you will knock your socks off!

I only meant to order one item, but I changed my order several times and completely confused the very polite, young counter girl. I ended up leaving with three items, and twenty-fours hours later wished that I had filled a giant box with goodies – For Christmas gifts! Really!

The giant slab of fresh fig newton? Glorious. The coffee cake that I devoured while putting milk in my coffee? Extraordinary. The lemon poppy seed cake pictured above?  Criminal.

I enjoy lemon.  I seek out lemon. I add lemon to everything that I cook. I occasionally obsess about lemon. I famously adore all things lemon. And yet, I have never tasted lemon quite like this.  Intense flavors that remind you of a custard or a curd, and yet these are somehow ethereally light and airy?  It’s a mystery that I shall never solve, nor do I care to.  That is why we have talented pastry chefs! It was, by far, the most extraordinary dish that we enjoyed last week.  And the week before.  And…

If you live in Pasadena, go now.  If you live close, go this weekend when the college kids have vanished.  If you live in Kentucky, begin searching flights now.

I’ll be in Pasadena every week for meetings.  And I’ll be in this little shop for lunch (Yes, delicious pastry most certainly does constitute a sensible lunch) as often as I possible can.  And hopefully, all of those poor saps that are buying out the Starbucks pastry case next door will come to their senses.  They have LA Mill coffee, too.

BITTERSWEET

Each week we present our most delicious bite.  This week, that bite arrived in a glass – the classic martini at Musso & Frank in Hollywood, California. Perfection requires no description. Go. Enjoy the history of Hollywood. And the martini.

www.mussoandfrank.com

“The history will bring you in,

the food and service will keep you coming back.”

Each week we present our most delicious bite.  This week, the ‘Bavette, cacio e pepe’ at Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles, California.

One of Anthony Bourdain’s final episodes of “No Reservations” found him cursing his way through Italy, where he naturally proclaimed the cacio e pepe one of those wondrous dishes that no American has, or will ever properly replicate.  As I watched the program, it occurred to me that, with the thousands of pasta dishes that I have devoured throughout the years, I don’t believe that I have ever ordered this particular dish in a restaurant.  It always sounded too simplistic, and is oddly always priced similarly to options gilded with much more expensive ingredients.

Arriving for a charity event on a recent Saturday night, I found myself driving past Osteria Mozza with two hours to spare. It was surely the amateur move to believe that I would snag a seat here on a busy weekend night without a reservation.  Alas, the gods smiled upon me, and the hostess immediately lead me to a single open seat at the “cheese bar” and a birds eye view of the room in full throttle.

My fingers ran down the menu and to my delight, there it was…the very first item on the list of PRIMI - Bavette, cacio e pepe.  I was almost led to believe that the server was gently dissuading me, inquiring politely if I had ever enjoyed this particular dish before and describing as extremely spicy and peppery.  ”I’ll have it,” I barked! “And a nice red. What do you recommend?”

I shall spare you, gentle reader, the overwrought adjectives.  Instead, I will encourage you to drive immediately to the corner of Highland and Melrose Avenues. Order only this dish, preferably with a rich and decadently expensive red wine, a simple task as all of the wines at Osteria Mozza are decadently expensive. You will savor every drop of wine. You will eat every bite of pasta.  You will boorishly clean the plate with a piece of bread.  You will smile.  And then, you will thank me.

Surely, Mr. Bourdain was mistaken.

NEED HELP ORDERING THIS ITALIAN DISH? LISTEN HERE.

www.osteriamozza.com

That is all.

Each week we present our most delicious bite.  This week, the Sable & Whitefish Salad Platter from Barney Greengrass in Beverly Hills, California.

If you ever wondered if the wealthy citizens of Beverly Hills really do live better than we mere mortals, one need look no further than the top floor of Barney’s Department store.  After your first trip to Barney Greengrass, you come away with the only possible answer: They most assuredly do.

Famously jetting in their specialty smoked and cured fishes from the farthest reaches of the isle of Manhattan, Barney Greengrass is the ultimate deli, an unattractive room with a few tables covered in white butcher paper.  The fact that the world’s wealthiest and well-traveled citizens flock here daily, however, is a testament to the product that is offered.

By no means inexpensive, the platter pictured above arrived in the neighborhood of $40.00.  It also served two people and filled a large to-go box, which I criminally forgot to actually take home.  Quite frankly, I suspect that it was the most deliciousness that $20.00 can buy one person.  Much akin to a “fish butter,” the sable packed a flavor punch that melted on the tongue like a delicious lozenge.  The whitefish snapped with a freshness that is rarely found in anything labeled “salad,” and in this case, most certainly not a salad included on any diet to which the fit citizens of this fine city might ascribe.  In short, bliss. Pure. Dining. Bliss.

Sometimes, most times actually, words simply do not suffice in relating a delicious bite.  Now that I recall this extraordinary breakfast, I suspect that it would have been more effective to simply post the picture.  Therefore, I now kindly request that you please ignore all verbiage included between the image above to the link below.

www.barneys.com

Los Angeles Times Restaurant Critic Jonathan Gold recently offered a brilliant reflection on the impending closure of one of Los Angeles’ most highly acclaimed and long running restaurants – Campanile.  For more than two decades, the restaurant has famously played home to many of L.A.’s most talented chefs, including chef/owner Mark Peel and his former wife, Chef Nancy Silverton.

The restaurant played a very dramatic role in my own adventures in Los Angeles and continues to offer some of my greatest dining memories.

At the far end of the Campanile bar await three backless bar stools, each situated in such a manner as to provide the perfect lighting for reading. For several years, I lived just a few short blocks away from the restaurant, and I arrived to spend many an evening engrossed in a good book at the end of that bar.  I would often enjoy excellent dinners; however most often, I simply enjoyed an escape via great literature and a glass of wine.

As with most neighborhood bars, especially those that survive for many years, a very loyal clientele of regulars tends to form over the years.  I was lucky to meet and know many of the regulars at this bar, an unusually eclectic of mix of professionals, most highly successful entrepreneurs and movie industry-types seeking a quiet place to unwind with friends. In many cases, the “friends” in question were the bartenders that have worked here for years, if not decades.  These gentlemen were always the consummate professionals, painstakingly remembering each guest’s name and preference of seat, libation, and conversation topic.  It was always a comfortingly familiar experience to return to this bar, year after year.

Oddly, only rarely was I found in the dining room of the restaurant. We descended upon the restaurant, as did most of Los Angeles, for the launch of the infamous Grilled Cheese Nights.  I suspect that I personally tried every version ever created by Ms. Silverton.  I am also quite certain that I thoroughly enjoyed every one.

One very special night returns to mind, however – the night that I would meet my personal “cultural hero,” acclaimed American writer Gore Vidal.  I happened to be entertaining friends visiting from the East Coast.  We were deep into dinner (I vividly recall this dinner as my introduction to the elusive and exotic Flageolet bean!) and deep into the enjoyment of our wine, when I suddenly realized that I was sitting a mere two feet away from my literary hero.  Observing that I was about to ask for Mr. Vidal’s autograph (and rudely intrude on his dinner) and had no paper or pen at my disposal, the server whipped out a menu and pen in the blink of an eye. Mr. Vidal was gracious and accommodating, and I treasure my autographed menu to this day.  It perhaps sounds corny, but it was one of those “only in LA” celebrity encounters that one remembers for a lifetime.

Upon hearing of the closing of this great restaurant, I very recently found myself driving down La Brea on the way home.  It was a Saturday night and, to my surprise, a parking space was open directly in front of the restaurant.  Destiny was demanding that I visit one last time.  The bartender remembered me, warmly welcomed me back and thanked me for stopping in to say hello.  There wasn’t time for conversation, as everyone at the bar had returned for the same reason – to relive and relish long held cherished memories.  While there, I noticed the gentleman that had offered the pen and menu to document my meeting with Gore Vidal was busy serving his guests in the front vestibule of the restaurant on this busy weekend night, just as he had likely done professionally for years and years.

I enjoyed my beverage, offered with the bartender’s compliments, and then exited with a smile… And my memories – wonderful memories of great friends, great literature, and memorable evenings spent with consummate hospitality professionals.  To those professionals, I sincerely wish the very best of luck and happiness, as well as my sincere thanks for their warm and caring service throughout the years. They were very good years, indeed.

Campanile is scheduled to offer

final service on October 31, 2012.

www.campanilerestaurant.com

Campanile on Facebook (for final updates, memories, and information)

Each week we present our most delicious bite.

This week, the MIXED MUSHROOM PIZZA with fontina, Parmigiano Reggiano & thyme at Milo & Olive in Santa Monica, California.

We’ve enjoyed a great deal of delicious pizza over the last few years. One might say that L.A. is a bit spoiled for pizza. There are quite literally dozens of high end, gourmet pizza joints in this town. And we’ve tried them all. Milo & Olive presents a small quandary, however. It is a tiny space. Very tiny. So tiny, in fact, that I have never once driven by without seeing a line of waiting diners, and most times I continue to drive past for that reason.  My mistake.

I’ve been here before, and I’ve enjoyed very good meals here before.   This past week, however, presented a dining experience in which every element came together in one of those magical, mythical experiences of restaurant excellence.

When we ordered, the very efficient server informed us that the pizza would take up to twenty minutes to prepare, and asked politely if we’d like to add a starter.  When I responded that there were pizza places in town that could cook my pie in under a minute, he quite cleverly responded with “Well, that’s just disgusting!”  And on that hilarious note, we chose to start with a bottle of Rose to steady us until dinner arrived and to keep the good humor intact.  Our plan worked beautifully!

At $20 a pop, this is no cheap pie.  It is, in fact, that most expensive on the menu.  Interesting, considering the other choices of Shrimp, La Quercia prosciutto, and pork belly sausage.  One bite in, however, and the reason became very clear.  This was no ordinary mix of mushroom. My mind raced back a couple of decades to the fine dining tables that served Mushroom Duxelles – the glory days in which chefs discovered all new ways to make healthy ingredients decadent and as unhealthy as possible.  Although this was not exactly that preparation, it was that glorious mix of exotic mushrooms – the flavors were so rich and bold that it was as if a taste memory had resurfaced.  The funk of the mushroom, the earthiness of the fontina, a hint of thyme, with an excellent Parmigiano Reggiano grated on top made for the perfect pie.

I ate three of the four slices.  The next morning, I discovered the fourth in my refrigerator.  It was devoured cold, slowly, with both eyes closed and a smile.  Hands down, this was the best mushroom pizza I have ever enjoyed. Ever. Add attentive, professional service and good company – one of the absolute most enjoyable dinners in a very long while.

If you don’t have plans later in the evening, as we did, start off with the Garlic Knot.  A giant fist of garlic, wrapped in dough and baked in the pizza oven.  Pure garlic heaven, but only if you have mints at the ready and the guarantee that no one will be within three feet of you for the remainder of the night.  Oh, and it takes twenty minutes to prepare, as well.  I highly recommend the rose to fill the gap.

www.miloandolive.com