Chickpea to Cook

Here’s an excuse not to cook this week.

Dozens of restaurants around Los Angeles are participating in the annual Restaurant Week, organized by DineLA.com.

Visitors can get a three-course meal at some of the best restaurants in LA for $25-$34 ($15-$22 for lunch).  Among the participants are favorites like Asia de Cuba, Crustacean, Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois on Main, Patina, and Chaya Brasserie.

For a full list, check out dinela.com. You can view menus and make online reservations, which are highly recommended.

I’ll be going out of town later this week but hope to sample one or two places before I go. Watch for my reviews here.

There are two secrets to an exceptional sandwich in my book.

1. Good, fresh bread,
2. Condiments that enhance, not over-power.

The rest is just details. Don’t get me wrong, it helps to have quality turkey or lettuce, or whatever else you like. But the above two components are crucial.

Want to put my theory to work? Go into any sandwich shop and order a veggie sandwich. If a restaurant can make a veggie sandwich tasty, imagine what they can do with a meat lover’s concoction.

And that’s why any way you slice it, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop is a cut above the rest. In fact their veggie sandwiches are so good, that’s all I order.

They pile on the sprouts, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, and cheese with a special twist–creamy avocado spread on the cheese slices which are then folded in half.

I first started going to JJ’s as a college undergrad in St. Paul, Minn. There was a branch on Grand Avenue that was open until 3 a.m.

Even on my drunken Saturday nights I could still appreciate a good sandwich. And is there anything better than the smell of a fresh sandwich? “Free Smells”, as the neon sign in the window suggests.

Ordinarily I would turn my nose at restaurant chains, but in this case I’m hoping they keep expanding. I have yet to see one in Los Angeles, which is sorely lacking a good sandwich shop.

That’s right, I said Chocolate Mouse, not mousse.

How cute are they? Keep these Chocolate Mice in mind for your holiday party next year. They’re easy to make and will get you lots of comments. What you’ll need:

• Hershey’s Kisses
• Maraschino  Cherries (with the stems intact)
• Shaved Almonds
• Red Food Gel
• Melting Chocolate

Melt the chocolate; dip cherries in chocolate. Push bottom of cherry into bottom of Hershey’s Kiss. Position almond slivers as if they are ears. Use red food gel to make eyes and nose. Place finished mouse on cookie sheet and let chocolate harden.

Soon, you’ll have a whole legion of Chocolate mice. Use white chocolate for the special “albino” effect.

Call it my own food star rating. I’ve decided that when I have a strong reaction, good or bad, towards particular foods or flavors, I will be categorizing the subject in one of two well-thought-out, scientific categories:

Scrumptious or Shenasty.

You can see the dishes/restaurants that are branded with my judgment…just follow the links in the nav bar under either category.

And I know that “shenasty” isn’t a word you’ll find in the dictionary, but if Rachel Ray can annoy everyone with “Yummo” after each bite, then this is my revenge.

Let me get this out of the way. I don’t like Tuna in a Can. I really don’t like any sort of meat product that comes in a can–it just seems wrong and counter-intuitive. Although don’t ask me why meat wrapped in cellophane is any better.

But I thought I would give this Trader Joe’s Albacore Solid White Tuna in Olive Oil a try. I know now that I fell victim to a clever marketing ploy.

The sign by the shelf suggested pairing the Lemon Pappardelle pasta (yum) with capers (yum) and…albacore tuna from a can? I should have known. But I bought it. Boy, did I ever.

This photo is the closest this tuna got to my kitchen table. The smell alone was enough to let me know this was really just human-grade cat food. But I thought it would make for a good blog story. So I tried it.

And promptly threw it away.

Does anyone actually like this stuff? I want to hear from some tuna-in-a-can eaters so I can find out the appeal. It doesn’t have to be fancy tuna…even StarKist Tuna would be fine. Whatever it is, I want to hear from you.

Chickpea says: Shenasty

It’s been called the best pizza joint in New York, but will it win the hearts of Angelinos too?

Joe’s Pizza is now open for business in the one building with a brick facade in Santa Monica–on 2nd and Broadway (how fitting). You can find Joe himself working the oven–you’ll know him when you see him–he is unmistakenly New York Italian.

The menu is short, and sweet and to the point. You won’t find BBQ chicken pizza with honey wheat crust, or even spaghetti or calzones for that matter.

Just unadulterated pizza pleasure.

I paid a visit to Joe’s the first weekend he was open here in my ‘hood of Santa Monica. If Joe serves the best pizza in New York, then that means it’s the best pizza in the world.

It even has Kevin Bacon’s recommendation.

When Maxim asked Kevin Bacon what his last meal would be, he replied, “A slice of pizza from Joe’s on Carmine Street in New York City.”

We waited 15 minutes for a fresh pizza to come out of the oven. Joe drizzled olive oil on our slices before handing them over. The crust was a golden brown, crispy but soft.

“Here ya go, sweetheart,” he said.

For a truly authentic New York experience, do not miss the White Pie (four cheeses and no tomato sauce). When you bite into that melted dollop of ricotta, you’ll know why Joe’s has received the Big Apple accolades it has since its inception in 1975. Wash it all down with a glass bottle of Coke.

Chickpea says: Scrumptious

The shack might not look like much, but there’s often a line out the door at this Santa Barbara staple.

Super-Rica taqueria has developed quite a following for its fresh Mexican fare. Some people have proclaimed it to serve the best taco in California–a bold claim. Would it live up to the hype?

We ordered chicken and beef tacos, a plate of rice and beans, and guacamole. You can watch your tortillas being made and they come straight from the fire to your plate. Definite points for the freshness factor.

The guacamole was smooth and creamy, also very fresh and flavory. I could easily say this ranks among the best guacamoles that I’ve tasted. As someone who likes sauces, I’d say the salsa was forgettable (precisely because I can’t even remember what it tasted like). But the tacos as a whole were tasty.

It was the plate of rice that ruined it for me. Dry, boring, and emitting some kind of weird herby flavor. The two of us couldn’t even eat half of it–and when two Persians can’t eat rice, you know there’s something wrong with it.

So weighing out the good and bad, is Super-Rica worth a long drive for lunch?

It was above average because of its fresh ingredients, but you can probably find a comparable taco joint in your own neighborhood. In the end I agree with a local named Roger, who left this review:

“I ate here the day it opened, and every now and again since, and I find the owner delightful, the tortillas fresh, the meat fresh, the salsas boring, and the long line of out-of-towners tedious.”

Sometimes it’s the old favorites that call your name.

While dining at Kincaid’s, an upscale steak and seafood eatery in Bloomington, Minnesota, I promised my friend Jessica that if she passed on their famous steak offerings and ordered the Lobster Mac ‘N’ Cheese her experience would appear in my blog.

So here it is…a gourmet twist on the unglamorous American comfort food that usually comes in a blue box from Kraft.

With a melted medley of Gruyere, Cheddar, and Fontina cheeses, this dish is so sumptuous you’ll polish off the last bite quicker than you can say, “Velveeta.”

Mixed in with the macaroni are bite-sized pieces of lobster. The dish is also served with two small skewers of the shellfish.

And, just so there’s no confusion that this isn’t the mac ‘n’ cheese of your childhood, the pasta is drizzled with truffle oil.

Still don’t see the difference? You will when the check arrives: $23 for Kincaid’s Lobster Mac ‘N’ Cheese–enough to buy 20 boxes of the other K’s variety.

But sometimes it’s worth it to indulge your inner child with some food the grown-up will enjoy as well.