Chi Spacca (and Cake!)

So far, spring has been positively chockfull of celebrations: earlier this month, we toasted to our anniversary at Trois Mec; at the end of March, we jetted to Florida for Justin’s bubbe’s birthday; and, a few weeks before that, we feasted in honor of Justin’s birthday at Chi Spacca.

“Feast” really is the most apt verb for what one does at this joint. Chi Spacca is a meat-centric spot known for its gargantuan portions that forms part of the Mozza complex on Melrose and Highland. As such, it’s overseen by Nancy Silverton, Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali, but its identity has been forged by its chef Chad Colby, who made a name for himself with his salumi and whole hog dinners at Scuola di Pizza. Chi Spacca has long called to meat-lovin’ Justin (and me), and surprise reservations seemed the perfect gift.

The open kitchen grants diners a view of their meal as it comes off the massive grill or out of the wood-burning oven.

We began with the affettati misti ($24.00), a lengthy platter of house-cured prosciutto, salami, pate and terrine. Among my favorite bites were the pancetta-wrapped breadsticks and salami. The more adventurous birthday boy adored the butcher’s terrine or trotter with tarragon and parsley and the crisp, aioli-topped breaded and fried pig’s feet.

Next up was the focaccia di recco ($18.00), a crisp and perfectly blistered flatbread made with stracchino, a funky, fermented cow’s milk cheese. Despite knowing how much food was still to arrive, Justin and I couldn’t stop eating this pizza-sized focaccia.

To balance out the heavier dishes, a platter of snappy roasted cauliflower seasoned with lemon bagna cuda or a garlicky Italian dipping sauce ($10.00).

The kitchen also sent out two more vegetable dishes to brighten things up before the main event.

Our bowl of pickles ($5.00) yielded not only the traditional variety but also bright, tangy pickled cauliflower, cabbage and carrots. Crunch, crunch.

To wrap up act one of the meal, a towering butter lettuce salad ($12.00) with herbs and lemon vinaigrette. This medley of greens would prove an excellent counterpoint to our hearty entree.

We feared that the 42 oz. tomahawk pork chop was a tad ambitious for our table of two, but our porcini-rubbed shortribs ($32.00) were impressively massive in their own right. Thick and impossibly juicy with a gorgeous char, these ribs deserved to have every scrap of meat picked from the bones (and so we did).

Who needs forks and knives?

While the food at Chi Spacca was impressive, what catapulted our dinner to the top of our “best of” list was the impeccable service. From the front of the house to our server, everyone we encountered was incredibly knowledgable about the food and wine and also genuinely helpful, warm and friendly. Our server even rightly encouraged us to scale back our order so that we could better savor the dishes, which we appreciated. Bone marrow pie, I’m coming back for you! Justin and I have experienced some pretty dazzling service in LA, but our evening at Chi Spacca was the tops.

Birthday calls for cake and, this year, I surprised Justin with an adorable funfetti cake from the wonderfully talented baker Heather at SweetSalt.

Happy birthday (again), Justin! May the next year bring many more delicious adventure for us.

Chi Spacca
www.chispacca.com
6610 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 297-1133

SweetSalt 
www.sweetsaltfood.com
Heather’s Instagram: @scootabaker
10218 Riverside Drive
Toluca Lake, CA 91602
(818) 509-7790

Weekend Getaway: South Florida

Last weekend, I jetted to Florida for a quick getaway to sunbathe and celebrate Justin’s bubbe’s 85th birthday. Justin and I were both overdue for some R&R (doesn’t Christmas feel like it was eons ago?), so the timing was impeccable. I was especially excited because I’d never visited Florida and love any vacation spot that allows me to log some beach time. Here’s a look at the sights and bites of our stay.

{Sunrise from our balcony at the Lago Mar Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale after our red-eye arrival}

{El Brazo Fuerte, a 35 year-old Cuban bakery in Miami that consistently tops “Best Of” lists}

{Guava, Guava and Cream Cheese, and Meat Pastelitos (turnover-like pastries) with an addictive Cafe con Leche. All of this was under $6.00!}

{A rainbow of macarons at the newly opened Laduree on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road}

{An art deco-inspired macaron box exclusive to the Miami location}

{Rose, “Marie Antoinette,” Lemon Verbena, Raspberry and Pistachio Macarons}

{Lunch at Florida Cookery at the James Royal Palm in Miami}

{Pomegranate Cucumber Mojito}

{Michelada Cubana: Tecate, Lime, Maggi, Clamato, Cholula, Salt}

{Surf and Turf Tostada: Guava Pulled Pork and Lime Jalapeno Shrimp with Papaya Slaw}

{Guava Smoked Pork Sandwich}

{Azucar Ice Cream Company, artisanal ice cream inspired by Cuban and tropical flavors}

{A scoop of tart, refreshing, creamy Guava Ice Cream}

{Mai Kai, a tiki-themed bar and restaurant plus “Polynesian Islander Revue!” It is the only restaurant or bar still serving the original recipes of Don the Beachcomber’s.}

{We had a little bit of trouble narrowing down the drink options from their epic menu}

{Tahitian Breeze: Rum, Passion Fruit, Juice}

{Does it get any more tiki than rum in a whole pineapple?}

{Mai Tai}

{Above: Justin’s bubbe, poised to blow out the candles on her cake after dinner at 3030 Ocean and before her husband yelled, “Give it a blowjob!” Below: After. }

{Sunbathing poolside on the last day of our trip}

{A walk on the beach}

El Brazo Fuerte
www.ebfbakery.com

1697 SW 32nd Ave
Miami, FL 33145
(305) 444-7720

Laduree
www.laduree.com
1118 Lincoln Rd
Miami Beach, FL 33139

Florida Cookery at the James Royal Palm

www.florida-cookery.com
1545 Collins Ave
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(786) 276-0333

Azucar Ice Cream Company

www.azucaricecream.com

1503 SW 8th St
Miami, FL 33135
(305) 381-0369

Mai Kai
www.maikai.com
3599 N Federal Hwy
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308
(954) 563-3272

3030 Ocean
www.3030ocean.com
Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa
3030 Holiday Dr
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
(954) 765-3030

Recipe: Ice Cream Sundae with Strawberries, Raspberry Sauce and Toasted Coconut

With Spring just around the corner, some of my favorite fruits are coming into season. Chief among those faves are strawberries and raspberries and now is an excellent time to stock up some gorgeous berries on for a sweet, healthy snack…or an ice cream sundae. I’ve been making a lot of this Sweet Rose Creamery-inspired ice cream sundae lately and adore the vibrant colors of the homemade raspberry sauce and fresh strawberries. A sprinkling of toasted coconut tops the whole thing off. What better way to celebrate the arrival of warm weather than with a beautiful, seasonal dessert? That was a rhetorical question. There is obviously no better way.

Ingredients:

Sundae:
Your favorite vanilla ice cream
Shaved coconut, toasted until golden brown
Fresh strawberries

Raspberry Sauce
Approx. 3 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen), divided
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
Juice from 1/2 lemon

To Make:

Raspberry Sauce:
In a medium microwave safe bowl, mix 2 cups raspberries, brown sugar and lemon juice. Microwave uncovered for 4 minutes, then stop and stir and the mixture and then return the bowl to the microwave for another four minutes. Add the remaining 1 cup raspberries to the mixture and stir to combine. Let cool for 15-20 minutes (optional. Full disclosure: I used the sauce warm and loved how it softened the ice cream).

To Assemble:
Generously scoop ice cream into a bowl. Drizzle with raspberry sauce and garnish away with strawberries. Finish with a sprinkling of toasted coconut. Enjoy!

POT Cafe

Freshly opened in the lobby of the Line Hotel in Koreatown is POT Cafe, the latest venture from chef and restaurateur Roy Choi (and my culinary spirit animal) with pastry chef and Momofuku Milk Bar alum Marian Mar. Situated in a space in the lobby across from the newly opened POT Bar (a collaboration with mixologist Matt Biancaniello), the cafe was inspired by Korean bakeries like Paris Baguette and 85 Degrees.

POT Cafe’s impressive menu covers both sweet and savory bites plus coffee, tea, juice, and booze to drink. For a moment, I thought that I might never want to leave.

Lining POT Cafe’s pastry cases were sweet and savory baked goods inspired by Korean bakeries but, of course, informed by Choi’s various culinary influences. Nearly everything on the menu is under $5– perfect for ordering a few goodies to snack on.

The cafe also bakes up “Super Cakes,” which are homages to grocery store cakes and are available by the slice or in quarter or half sheets. Of course, these are not the grocery store cakes of your childhood; instead, they’ve been elevated with housemade fillings and jazzed up flavor combinations.

On my next visit, I absolutely need a slice of this “Hello Kitty Cake,” a raspberry cake with raspberry jam, lemon mascarpone cream and a housemade “Cool Whip” whipped cream.

This “Army Cake” features a salted caramel buttercream yellow cake, vanilla cream, strawberries and “Cool Whip.”

We began with a Pineapple Lemongrass Ginger juice ($4.00), which was not only refreshing in the 90 degree heat but also held its own against the much pricier trendy juices of which I’m overly fond.

The warm Hurricane Bread and Butter ($2.25) arrived freshly toasted and slathered with butter, garlic and shiso furikake. This captured the flavors of Hawaiian “Hurricane Popcorn”on a wonderfully fluffy roll. 

The Black Sesame Butter Mochi Cake ($3.00) was among the pastries I was most excited to try but was the least successful of our visit. Rather than chewy and pliable, the mochi–topped with black sesame paste and streusel crumbles– was a dense slab. The mochi cake’s flavor was spot on, and the texture may stand up better against the toppings than traditional mochi, but I missed the chew of the soft rice cake.

The best bite of the afternoon was the Strawberries and Cream Bun ($2.50), a fluffy Korean-style dessert bun hollowed out and filled with fresh strawberries, topped with a generous swirl of cream and finished with streusel crumbs. I loved everything about this simple, gorgeous sweet. 

With POT Cafe’s expansive menu, I’ll need to be back very soon to try more of their offerings… especially that Hello Kitty cake.

POT Cafe

www.eatatpot.com

The Line Hotel

3515 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90010

(213) 381-3030 

Mid-Week InstaNom: Cruller Donut at Plan Check (Fairfax)

Here’s your mid-week InstaNom to get you over the hump:

After chatting about churros and donuts over dinner at Plan Check, my friend and I had sweets on the brain and found dessert looking more and more inevitable. Serendipitously, Plan Check’s Cruller Donut is the perfect hybrid of those two deep-fried delights. The donuts, served in a cast iron bowl, had a crisp, cinnamon sugar exterior with a warm, fluffy interior and were accented by whipped cream and sliced bananas. These delicious, airy donuts were simply meant to be.

Plan Check Fairfax
www.plancheck.com
351 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(310) 288-6500

Mid-Week InstaNom: Blondie at Connie and Ted’s

Here’s your mid-week InstaNom to get you over the hump:

At Connie and Ted’s, the East Coast-inspired seafood shack from chef Michael Cimarusti (Providence), it’s easy to fill up on pristinely fresh oysters from the expansive raw bar, lobster rolls overflowing with chunks of plump, snappy meat and mountains of buttery steamed clams. Not saving room for dessert, however, would be a big mistake. Huge. If you did, you’d be missing out on one of the spot’s standout sweets– a rich, moist butterscotch blondie topped with a perfectly round scoop of vanilla ice cream and bathed in a salted caramel sauce. And that, my friends, is worth packing up the rest of your French fries.

Connie and Ted’s
www.connieandteds.com
8171 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 848-CRAB

Republique

Whether pop-up or brick-and-mortar, where chef Walter Manzke (Church and State, Petty Cash) goes, Angelenos follow. His newest venture is the hotly anticipated Republique, a collaboration with baker (and wife) Margarita Manzke and restaurateur Bill Chait. Naturally, the focus is French, but the menu also explores fresh, market-driven, and California-inspired fare. Republique seemed the the obvious choice during a recent visit from Justin’s mom. She’s a woman of discerning taste, and we wanted a dinner that would dazzle her and demonstrate what stupendous hosts we are.

Republique sits in the soaring, dramatic space that formerly housed Campanile.

Between the floor to ceiling glass that greets you and the castle-like brick walls of the dining room, the space is modern and elegant with a touch of Hogwarts. And that, my friends, is high praise coming from this nerd.

After reading my friend DarinDine’s post on his visit, we requested seats at the Chef’s Counter from where we could observe all the action in the kitchen. Situated across from an open wood-burning oven, these are quite literally the hottest seats in the house.

We quickly selected our drinks from the tightly edited cocktail list but waited a frustratingly long time for a server to take our order and then a frustratingly long time to get our drinks. In fact, we would spend a fair amount of the evening looking around the restaurant, needing to flag someone down (and first actually locate someone) any time we needed anything. The staff was undoubtedly hard at work tending to the full house, and we’ve come to be pretty understanding diners, but the slow service tried our patience and was quite the bummer.

Thankfully, when our drinks finally arrived, they didn’t let us down.

The smokiness of mezcal can sometimes prove too potent for me, but the Speaking in Tongues ($13) perfectly balanced its punch with amaro, lemon, angostura bitters and strawberry. Smoky sweet!

The Page Mandarin ($13) with rum, scotch, whiskey bitters and finished with a slice of mandarin orange was also delicious, balanced and deftly prepared.

Perfectly crusty on the outside and squishy within, the complimentary warm baguette was nearly impossible to stop eating, especially when slathered with the accompanying creamy, sea salt topped butter . We polished it off and requested another with no shame. Be sure to ask for this as it’s served only upon request.

Dinner kicked off with the Black Kale Salad ($11), a medley of baby beets and carrots, halved Fat Uncle Farms almonds, chopped medjool dates and slivers of cara cara oranges. This simple salad didn’t bowl us over, but its bright flavors provided a light counterpoint to the rest of our indulgent dishes.

Ushering in our heavier courses was the Nueske Bacon tarte a l’alsacienne ($16), a tasty thin, crispy flatbread topped with cheese, slivers of bacon and caramelized onions.

One of the standout dishes of the night was the Butternut Squash Agnolotti ($18), a plate of pillowy agnolotti and delightfully chewy, woodsy hedgehog mushrooms topped with shaved parmigiano reggiano. Flavorful, balanced and perfectly executed, this dish would be right at home in the best Italian restaurant in the city.

Another table favorite was the Berkshire Pork Belly ($18), a plate of thickly sliced, fatty pork belly atop a bed of cider-peppercorn sauce, creamy celery root, and diced Fair Hills Farm apples. Pork belly may be ubiquitous at the moment, but this rendition felt classic and refined rather than gimmicky or trendy.

Coming in, the Steak Frites were a must-order for our party, and while our strip loin (5 oz., $18) with bernaise sauce was perfectly enjoyable, it ultimately didn’t dazzle as much as some of the evening’s other dishes.

The frites, on the other hand, were golden and crisp but soft in the middle– not just the better half of this dish but everything you could want in a French fry. I do wish that the restaurant would offer these a la carte, and I might take to Twitter to beg them to do just that.

We were quite full by the end of the evening but needed to satisfy our collective sweet tooth. After struggling to whittle down the options to just one, we selected the Croissant Bread Pudding ($10), a piping hot, generously portioned bread pudding that was moist but slightly crisped on top and served with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream. A light dusting of powdered sugar provided the finishing touch on this delicious, comforting dessert. 

Overall, despite the spotty service and some misfires, Republique did, indeed, dazzle our party. In fact, it’s been catapulted to the top of my list of favorite restaurants. But please work on that service…and a la carte frites. 

Republique
www.republiquela.com
624 S. La Brea Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 938-1447

Mid-Week InstaNom: Pastries at Republique

Here’s your mid-week InstaNom to help you over the hump:

Republique is the hotly anticipated new venture from chef Walter Manzke (Church and State, Petty Cash). The restaurant, sitting in a beautiful space that previously housed Campanile, serves up modern, market-driven bistro fare for dinner (post to come!). Breakfast service isn’t yet fully up and running but, in the mean time, they have a bakery with a mouth-watering selection of pastries. Examples: this Sticky Pecan Bun, Orange Pistachio Strawberry Jam Scone, and Strawberry Corncake that taste as good as they look. This spot is quickly becoming my new favorite restaurant.

Republique

www.republiquela.com

624 S. La Brea Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90036

(310) 362-6115

Mid-Week InstaNom: Passion Fruit Ice Box Pie from Hart + the Hunter

Here’s your mid-week InstaNom to get your over the hump:

Nothin’ tops passion fruit in my book. Nothin’. The tart, refreshing tropical fruit sweetens up many a dessert and drink in Hawaii but figures less prominently in dishes outside the 808 state–understandable but such a shame! So, naturally, I flipped when I saw a Passion Fruit Ice Box Pie Instagrammed by Hart + the Hunter pastry chef @sarahbearclaw as a Valentine’s Day special. Like the much-loved Lemon Ice Box Pie, this version featured a buttery, crumbly graham cracker crust and a pillowy meringue blow-torched to order but, in the middle here, sat the gorgeous passion fruit semi-freddo. Had the entire pie been placed in front of me, bad things would have happened. The next time this pie is on the menu at Hart + the Hunter, I recommend you run, not walk, there.

Update: Sarah just let me know that this beauty will be available all this week during lunch service!

Hart + the Hunter

www.thehartandthehunter.com

7950 Melrose Avenue 
Los Angeles, CA 90046 
(323) 424-3055

Valentine’s Day Sweets

Valentine’s Day has always been one of my very favorite holidays. What’s not to love about a day filled with pink, flowers, desserts, and, of course, love? Valentine’s Day isn’t just about romance; it’s a time to celebrate everyone who makes your days brighter and happier. Here are some delicious ways to thank your loved ones for making your life a sweeter place (or a present for yourself!).

1. An artisanal donut delivery from Donut Snob
2. Rose Petal Petit Fours from Valerie Confections
3. Single origin chocolate bars (in rockin’ wrapping) from Mast Brothers Chocolate
4. Macarons from ‘Lette, SweetSalt, or Bottega Louie
5. Cupcakes from Big Sugar Bakeshop, SweetSalt, Georgetown Cupcakes, or Sprinkles.
 6. Seasonal, organic jam from Sqirl