LA's Osteria Mozza

Okay, I have to admit that I am not a big fan of the City of the Angels - Los Angeles.  The traffic, smog and the Hollywood effect does not inspire or motivate me the way other cities do - like San Francisco, New York City, Chicago...

But because my work takes me to Los Angeles a couple times a year, I am determined to find a inspiring connection and for me it is FOOD.

The last couple of trips to LA, I've made a point to get restaurant referrals from my foodie friends here in Hawaii.  So last year, I was able to go to acclaimed celebrity chef, Suzanne Goin's AOC Wine Bar and Restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Sat at the bar next to a porno director and his wife - so pretentious!


Earlier this year, I got to have breakfast & brunch (once at their nextdoor counter & at the actual restaurant for Saturday Brunch) at JGelina in Venice and loved the food, atmosphere and service.  So I am slowly warming up to Los Angeles and giving it a chance into my foodie life.


This past Tuesday, I was able to get a reservation to Mario Batali's popular "Osteria Mozza" with executive chef Nancy Silverton really leading it.  So reservations were made on OpenTable.com, but the only time I could get a table was 9:15pm, I booked it anyway, and went early at 8:00pm to try to get in.  And I did on the Mozzarella Bar, which I think is the best seat in the house, especially when eating by yourself, because you really are not by yourself.


I was so pleasantly surprised to see Nancy Silverton herself, working the bar, not as the expediter, but as a line chef filling orders.  Now that is a class act!  She moved and interacted with staff, chefs and guests with much grace & ease.  She did not act as the boss, but as one of the line team.  When dishes needed fixing to comply with her standards, she just spoke to her co-worker as a coach and showed them how it should be.  I really give her so much respect, I was there for 2.5 hours and she worked the entire time and the place was hopping.  WOW!  I think that is one of the reasons she is called America's mozza master.

Let me start with the Mozzarella Bar, is not part of the drink bar, but a bar where all of the cheese and antipasti is prepared.  The bar is a marble counter bar filled with ingredients that is used in the primi dishes - salt, braised leeks, hazelnuts, a pepper shaker (one that everyone on the line shares), plates, milk glass vases of seasonal white flowers, and brass figurines of ducks, insects, pigs, on it - I just loved it.  It felt like how her kitchen at home would be. 


Before I go into what I ate, the service was delightful and easy.  Everyone that served me was personable and helpful - 5 stars for service, atmosphere and food!


So this is what I had:

I started with a glass of Italian rose.  I believe it was from Tuscany and was recommended by my waitress.

This was my pre-appetizer, a crostini with fresh ricotta, tapenade and fresh basil.  It was fresh, light, simple, delicious and a great palate opener.  The ricotta was lemony with a smooth milky texture.

My primi (appetizer) was Pane Pomodoro with Burrata, Speck and Pickled Shallots.  The burrata blew me away with it's silky sweetness, the smoky salty speck, the sweet/sour of the tomato salsa and acid from the pickled shallots were a perfect marriage of texture and the whole spectrum of flavors on a toasted piece of garlic baguette.

My dinner was a selection from the secondi menu (pasta) Green Pappardelle with braised lamb ragout and a side of grilled broccolini.  The pasta was a green pasta which in the Mozza Cookbook says it's made of fresh nettles and they were wonderful ribbons of silky pasta and the lamb ragout braised with red wine, pancetta and a flavorful soffritto (carrots, onions, tomato & celery).  My broccolini was seasoned with good olive oil, balsamic and garlic.

I was so full by the time it came for dessert, but I could not say no, so I had the Poached Yali Pears Almond Gelato with Toasted Almonds and baked pieces of crispy puffed pastry.

I had to purchase the Mozza Cookbook and asked Nancy if she could sign it for me and she did graciously.

I will have to blog about the first recipe I make from this wonderful cookbook.  

I would recommend Osteria Mozza and please, please sit at the Mozzarella Bar, you will love it.  And say "Hi" to Nancy for me!


Ciao!

EAT LOCAL Challenge Ho Family Tomato Tart

I am keeping this as local as possible.  The tomatoes are from Ho Farms, fresh thyme and Naked Cow Dairy butter in the crust and fresh Ho Farm tomatoes, macadamia nut oil, and Kona salt in the filling.  I wish I could find taro flour to make the crust 100% local, maybe next year.

This recipe is as easy as 3-2-1 (3 parts organic unbleached flour, 2 parts butter and 1 part ice water).

 

Locally grown Ho Farms Family Tomatoes, fresh oregano, garlic, salt, pepper and macadamia nut oil (enough to coat tomatoes).  The easiest filling every, but very colorful and delicious.  The tomatoes keep their shape, but are cooked enough that they pop in your mouth.

 

Place dough in a tart pan and shape, no prebaking necessary. Toss all filling ingredients and fill in tart crust.  Preheat over to 375 degrees and bake for approximately 30 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes and sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese and basil.

2011 Kanu Hawaii EAT LOCAL Challenge

www.kanuhawaii.org

Tomorrow starts Kanu Hawaii's EAT LOCAL Challenge 2011.  This is the third year I've participated in this challenge.  In fact, I try to take this challenge every day.

Shopping, cooking and eating LOCAL takes on another meaning here in Hawaii.  When I visit other cities in the country and talk about the challenges we have here in the islands, people can't believe that we only have enough food to sustain the islands for 3 days, if we were to be cut off by the rest of the world.

So buying, cooking and eating local is a very important thing we need to do as part of our daily lives.

Fresh Onaga Fish Stock

Today the first catch of the Onaga season came into Whole Foods Market Kahala, and I had to reserve the head for some fresh fish stock for future paella.

Onaga or also known as Hawaiian Red Snapper has beautiful bright red skin with an elegant long swallow-like tail. In the days of the Hawaiian Kings, the fish was caught specifically for them.

See how gorgeous this fish is.  It is usually sold at $24.99 per pound, but when you buy just the head it is $3.99 per pound.

Following are the ingredients you will need for the stock:
1 onaga head (average 3 lbs)
2 organic carrots (roughly chopped)
1 yellow onion (cut in quarters)
1 leek (just the tops, roughly chopped)
4 small fresh bay leaves
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
7 cups of filtered cold water

Put everything in a large cast iron pot, cover with filtered cold water, and bring just to a simmer.  Skim off the foam, reduce the heat slightly, and simmer gently, uncovered, for 30 minutes.  Strain the fish stock through a strainer. 


You may store the stock for 5 days in the refrigerator, in the freezer to store longer.

Happy 40th Birthday Chez Panisse & Congratulations Alice Waters!

I finally made it!

I've always dreamt of eating at Alice Waters', the godmother of the organic food movement, remarkable restaurant "Chez Panisse", and I finally had the opportunity to do so last week Thursday.  The week of their 40th Anniversary.  I've read numerous articles, saw documentaries, and heard wonderful reviews of Chez Panisse, so I had very high expectations.  And after dinner, I was very pleased to have my expectations exceeded.

Writing about my experience at Chez Panisse today is very appropriate since I am gearing up for my 2011's Kanu Hawaii EAT LOCAL Challenge for September.  Current challenges like this is a tribute and reflection of Alice Waters' accomplishments with the Slow Food Movement that she started in America back in the 1970s, 40 years ago.

When you buy organic produce from Whole Foods Market, or if you notice the promotion of local produce in the mainstream of restaurants, and if you have eaten at restaurants like town in Kaimuki, or Heeia Pier General Store & cafe, you indirectly have Alice Waters to thank.

When my friend Patty made reservations 1 month before we had all of our travel plans, we were given a choice to eat downstairs or upstairs.  Downstairs featured special preplanned menus and upstairs in the cafe, a menu of different items to order from.  We decided to go with the upstairs menu, so we could try a number of different things.  Since there were 3 of us, we would have 3 different appetizers, 3 different entrees and 3 different desserts = 9 tastes of 9 dishes.

I invited my French Canadian friend Louis Vachon, just in case our waiter was French, but Louis didn't have to bust out his mother tongue - shucks.  I love it when people can speak French - I wanted to feel the whole experience...oh well we were in Berkeley, California.

First, they gave us the best table in the cafe - by the open window and under the tree with vines of greens beans.

For appetizers, we had:

Grilled anchoiade toast with cherry tomatoes and marjoram

Avocado and beet salad with ginger vinaigrette

Tartare of local halibut Tahitienne with tomato, mint, and Little Gems lettuce

For entrees, we had:

Gigot aux olives noires - grilled Watson Ranch lamb leg with little turnips, green beans & black olives

Fried Devil's Gulch Ranch rabbit with corn, romano beans, squash blossoms & tomatillo salsa

Fish and shellfish stew with tomato, saffron, fennel and rouille

For dessert, we had:

Flavor King pluot tart with framboise cream

Bittersweet chocolate pave with coffee-chocolate ice cream

A bowl of Sunny Slope Orchard Black Mission figs and Cal Red peach

We had a bottle of Rose from France for our appetizers and a bottle of Green & Red Zinfindel for our entrees and desserts.

The menu for downstairs was:
King salmon tartare with cucumbers and watercress
Summer squash and squash blossom risotto
Grilled BN Ranch grass-fed Bolinas beef tenderloin with olive sauce and Chino Ranch green beans
Cannard Farm raspberry ice cream vacherin

Every dish was beautifully composed and the flavors perfectly matched and we got to taste 9 different dishes, so we were very happy with our choice of eating upstairs in the cafe.

It is really hard to imagine that Chez Panisse in 1971 was so revolutionary now.  The restaurant is modest and tiny, but it surely is an example that fresh simple food, treated with respect can achieve huge influence.

It was an honor, thank you Alice!

Week 2 - Day #14 Engine 2 Challenge

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Today, was a pretty boring day, but learned that Zippy's has a couple of vegetarian options. 

For breakfast, I stuck with the Rip Big Bowl Breakfast at home with a banana - I am getting pretty tired of this but it does keep me pretty full until lunch.

Since it's Mother's Day, my sister took my mom and I to Zippy's because it wouldn't be as busy as the fancy restaurants.  She was wrong, everyone was at Zippy's for Mother's Day.  I went in thinking that I would be eating a salad with no dressing, but they had a tofu patty sandwich on a whole wheat bun.  I ordered it with extra mushrooms and no mayo with a side salad.  I have to say that the sandwich was pretty good.

I had to work for a couple of hours, but got to go home and spend the afternoon doing nothing, so I decided to bake myself a Mother's Day Engine 2 Dark Chocolate Brownie....no oil, no eggs.  I got the recipe from the E2 book and instead of oil I used applesauce and instead of eggs I used Ener-G an egg substitute mixture of tapioca flour and other binding ingredients.  It was an easy recipe and delicious.  Moist and very chocolaty.  Next time, I would add more applesauce and less time in the oven.

YUM!  Happy Mother's Day to me.

For dinner, I decided to have leftovers, salad and lentil soup with kabocha.

Breakfast - Rip Big Bowl Breakfast and a soy cappuccino
Lunch - Tofu patty sandwich on whole wheat
Dinner - Salad and Lentil soup
Dessert - E2 Dark Chocolate Cake

Week 2 - Day #13 Engine 2 Challenge

I had enchiladas on the brain since Thursday, so decided to make it for dinner.

Breakfast - Rip's Big Bowl Breakfast with Almond Milk
Lunch -1/2 E2 burrito at Whole Foods Market Kahala
Dinner - Enchiladas ala Natalia

The TSP (textured soy protein) was okay for Thursday night's soft tacos, but I wanted to create my own from scratch.  So here is my new recipe for enchiladas.

2 small sweet local onions (diced)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup white wine
2 medium dried chipotle chiles (soaked in hot vegetable broth & minced)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 box of crimini mushrooms
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 box extra firm 365 tofu (drained and minced)
2 tablespoons ground chili powder
2 tablespoons fresh sage
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning (basil, oregano)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup cooked white navy beans
Cook all ingredients listed and added in the order above.  Let mixture cook for 10 minutes and until all liquid has evaporated.

Make fresh corn torillas (see #Day 11 for directions).  Place in plastic bag to steam and soften.

Also, made my own salsa.
In a dry small pot:
2 small halved sweet local onions
1 halved jalapeno
Heat and blacken onions and jalapeno, on all sides.  Add cup of vegetable broth and cook for 10 minutes.  Take off heat, add one medium Hawaiian hot pepper (take half the seeds out) and let sit until cool.

Place cooled onion, jalapeno & vegetable broth mixture in blender and add one can of 365 no-salt diced tomatoes.  Blend, taste and add salt to taste.

In a baking dish, place 1/2 cup of salsa on the bottom of the pan, roll tofu mixture in soft corn tortillas and place on salsa in baking dish.  Place enchiladas side by side until pan is full.  Cover salsa over enchiladas and sprinkle nutritional yeast on top.  Bake on 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serve with a salad and guacamole.

This meal was so satisfying and hearty.  You will have to try this recipe.

You will have leftover tofu mixture, tortillas, and salsa.  Just right for another great meal.