Author Archives: j

coffee air freshener

this post is so outdated already…but let me see if i can do it justice…

thanks to kl + ml, we have been drinking a lovely peruvian coffee. on wednesday of this week, i had made the coffee *perrrrrrfectly*: the right amount of milk and sugar and just the right temperature. i drove m to work and i put my travel mug in the middle console cup holder. unfortunately, i had previously removed the “cup” that holds smaller sized drinks to make room for my oversized nalgene bottle. (so many items – not enough accommodation.) after snaking my way back home, i realized my mug had tipped over, the passenger seat was sopping wet, and, when i went to claim the last sip, there was nothing to sip. aaaaarrrrrrrgggghhhhhh – i had made the perfect cup of coffee!!! i dabbed at the milky sticky mess with (tiny) napkins from the glove compartment and revisited it later with some water and paper towels, but there is an undeniable odor of roasted coffee that pervades the car – especially on hot days.

bar pintxo

what would you eat on your last day in the city where you live? kl and ml spent their last day in socal eating their way through santa monica with us. it was a veritable smorgasbord. in the morning, there was ethiopian harar longberry and peru chanchamayo coffee with bread and ham and almond honey butter. act two found us at bay cities deli sharing godmother sandwiches with hot peppers and deli case selections: meatballs, fusilli pesto pasta, and salame salad. act three delivered 8 tapas selections at bar pintxo. many laughs and full tummies ensued.

razor clams

razor clams

squid ink paella and zarzuela de mariscos

squid ink paella and zarzuela de mariscos

squid ink paella

batman's paella

  • sobrasada con tronchon (mejozcan sausage, warm bread, melted cheese (and honey!))
  • tostada de boquerones y anchoas (marinated sardines and anchovies, basque vinaigrette, grilled bread)
  • jamón iberica, fermin, 24 meses (spanish “pata negra” ham by fermin, aged 18 months )
  • zarzuela de mariscos (lightly spicy saffron-tomato broth, shrimp, calamari & clams)
  • patatas bravas (crispy potatoes, spicy tomato sauce, aioli, chives )
  • pollo al chilendrón (shredded chicken stew, bell peppers, fresh mint & chili flakes )
  • squid ink paella
  • razor clams

Bar Pintxo | 109 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA | (310) 458-2012

bockwurst

bockwurst

take-out bockwurst from berlin currywurst

berlin currywurst and grindhaus and wurstkuche are on my sausage to do list. i decided not to let my $68 parking ticket get me down: after driving around for 20 minutes trying to find parking that wasn’t unavailable due to 2 hour friday street cleaning, i deposited $0.75 in a meter and made my way to berlin currywurst. like a good angeleno, i called first to see if they would sell me 6 bockwurst for me to grill at home. yes, they would! i met the owner (sorry, didn’t really catch his name) who raved about currywurst as preeminent german street food and how his sausages are authentic and how he made a special exception for me since he normally only lets people take away a minimum of 40 or more. we talked a little bit about lalaland and then after a few suggestions for how to eat and prepare, he sent me on my way. he asked me to let him know how our grilled at home bockwurst were. here’s what i wrote:

dear berlin currywurst:

i visited you yesterday to purchase 6 bockwurst to take home and grill. you asked me to let you know what i thought so here it is:

[1] first, thank you. we thought the quality of your bockwurst was top-notch.
[2] we loved the flavor (more flavorful than other bockwurst we remember eating) – is there nutmeg in your recipe?
[3] we loved the snap of the casing – do you make everything there in silverlake?
[4] there were mixed reviews on the density – half of us thought it was denser than we normally like and half thought it was perfect.
[5] we purchased some german mustard at whole foods (strong vinegar. loved it. not sure if this is authentic or not…) and enjoyed it the most with the bockwurst.
[6] we also tried it with dijon mustard and stone ground mustard and we tried your 2/3 mustard + 1/3 ketchup recommendation. very good.
[7] thank you again. based on our experience, we will most likely visit you in silverlake and sit down to the full dining experience.

here’s the tasting table article:

From the explosion of cupcake bakeries to our ever-expanding fleet of food trucks, Los Angeles is certainly familiar with instant trends.

Now, our latest nascent craze is currywurst, a sausage dish invented in postwar Berlin that has a growing presence in L.A.

Dog Haus: The Berlin influence began in Pasadena last fall with the opening of this encyclopedic cased-meats spot, which serves currywurst alongside numerous other sausages. Here, it’s juicy knockwurst hiding under a tangy ketchup-and-curry-powder dressing. (105 N. Hill Ave., Pasadena; 626-577-4287)

Germany’s Famous Bratwurst: In January, Berlin native Jill Kussmacher launched this truck, taking currywurst mobile. For $6, expect a traditional iteration of the dish: snappy pork sausage doused with ketchup and dusted with orange curry powder. (Locations vary; 323-608-5630)

Berlin Currywurst: This week-old storefront near Sunset Junction offers the best of the wurst. Organic sausages ($6 each) such as veal-and-pork bockwurst, beef-based rindswurst and the self-explanatory paprikawurst are grilled, slathered with a tomato-based sauce, and sprinkled with curry and paprika powders of varying heat levels, with the fire options topping out at 4, aka the “Break the Wall” version. Thick-cut, skin-on fritten ($3.50)–don’t call them French fries–are available with minced onions or jambalaya. (3827 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake; 323-663-1989)

next up: grindhaus and wurstkuche (come to venice, already, geez)

sixty-eight dollars

obscured street sign

the "fri" was obscured. damn silverlake anarchists

while i was sipping my macchiato underneath a sidewalk umbrella and enjoying my salame rosa (read muffaletta!) from the silverlake cheesestore, i was getting a ticket. toe thinks i should contest it. i will. oh, yes, i will.

cap of the ribeye

aka, spinalis dorsi. we celebrated our anniversary with a grilled cap of the ribeye cap of the ribeye which is essentially a more tender, fatty, flavorful, juicy ribeye which almost looks like flank steak to an uneducated raw meat eye. but this is no flank steak, it is the well-marbled, half-moon-shaped outer rim of the ribeye. and there is only one per cow. when you order a ribeye, you don’t get the cap. but not tonight…

cap of the ribeye

mmm. rare. with distinct grill marks. mmm

press

i can’t remember why, but i went in search of french press brewing instructions last month and found an always reliable source of information: sweet maria’s. (i just got distracted and purchased 20 lbs of green beans…)

(i’m back…) tom at sweet maria’s gently swirls his press pot after about a minute of steeping. i tried this as i was getting tired of wet bamboo chopsticks and harsh steel spoons as stirring implements. i discovered a whole new world of french press coffee: [1] the swirl makes the grounds sink, thus making it easier to press (*much* easier – amazingly easier – (did i mention it was easier?)) [2] there is less sludge in the bottom of my cup [3] there are fewer stirring implements to wash and worry about. who knew? best to leave the chopsticks to the asian food and the long spoons to the simple syrup mocktails.

carmageddon

…finally arrived. i was sure that getting to westwood at 7 am wouldn’t be a problem and i was right. there was probably just a bit more traffic than there normally would be at 7am on any other weekend, but it still took us less than 20 minutes from door to door. i couldn’t resist checking traffic when i woke up and this is what i found:

405 @ 6am

i thought the whole freeway was down from the 101 to the 10, but clearly i was mistaken: i want to know who was in the black suburban headed south and how does the lax flyaway get to be on the freeway, too? (correction: that stretch is only closed northbound; southbound is closed from the 101 to the getty.) and who gets to color the 405 red on the sigalert map? if you don’t already know, red indicates heavy/stopped/outrageously bad traffic. if there’s *no* traffic, then it’s either someone who works for the CHP or some lowly web intern who gets to “paint” the website red in that particular area all weekend.

documentation wouldn’t be complete without a shout-out to jet blue’s $4 fare from Burbank to Long Beach and back:

jet blue's carmageddon alternative

and last but not least, a random peek at sigalert just now yielded this: even the CHP has posted the term “Carmageddon!” on the web site. i suppose it must be real then.

carmageddon!

gamble

yesterday, m and i redeemed our dealpop coupon for 1 month of membership at trifit. essentially, it’s just a nicer 24 hour fitness. it certainly ain’t core performance. it’s hard *not* to think about core performance at any gym – a new standard has been set and most everything is a disappointment in comparison.

enough whining and desperate longing for that which no longer exists…i got on the treadmill and, although my first instinct is to run, i know i have to keep that one in check. over the course of 30 minutes, i reached an incline of 5 and a speed of 3.5. i needed something to get my heart rate up and make me sweat and it worked. not only that, my gamble paid off: today my legs are tired, but my hip is not.