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 Something's brewing in the local coffee world. Groundwork Coffee operating chief Ric Rhinehart has left the company after his efforts to buy a majority share fell through. And a visit to the newest Groundwork location downtown -- the site of the only Clover as yet in operation in L.A. -- yielded further evidence of a shake-up, with news of other folks in the small company gone and dwindling bags of single-lot coffee on the shelves.
This at a time when the L.A. caffeine scene is already highly charged, with Chicago's Intelligentsia set to open shop in Silverlake any day now, and LA Mill's (www.lamillcoffee.com) first retail store slated to go into the same neighborhood in October.
When asked what happened, Rhinehart in an e-mail alluded to "competing visions" within the company. Richard Karno, Groundwork's owner (and current majority shareholder) said that Rhinehart's leaving was amicable and that the changes reflected Karno's return to the fray after taking a year "behind the scenes" to do product research and development. Karno, who started the company in 1990, said he wants to refocus Groundwork more toward building sustainability plans than sourcing the high-end single-lot coffees Rhinehart was concentrating on. To this end, Karno said, Groundwork is targeting more organic coffees, converting to biodegradable plastic products, and switching to vehicles powered by natural gas or, when possible, biodiesel. There are other changes in the works, including a new store in Silverlake -- the new coffee Mecca of Los Angeles -- and a line of baked goods from the bakery that's already in Groundwork's original Venice location. And though Karno has a second Clover set to go into the Hollywood branch, he wants to start brewing cups to order in Melitta pots. "I call it my $29 Clover," said Karno. A little something to pour into the reusable mugs he plans to phase in. We'll see how the coffee holds up during the transition.
-- Amy Scattergood
Groundwork Coffee Co., 108 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles; 671 Rose Ave., Venice; and four other locations.
Photo by Amy Scattergood
 There it was: a platter of glistening beef liver sashimi, bite-size pieces topped with slivers of garlic that came with a sesame oil dipping sauce. Raw liver doesn't taste much like cooked liver -- it's mild, with a texture that's soft and smooth and slippery and has a little crunch.
It was just one of the appetizers during a recent beef extravaganza at Totoraku, a reservations-by-referral-only West L.A. Japanese restaurant, along with quail eggs topped with caviar, cubes of fresh tofu topped with toro, slices of abalone, and a couple of kinds of beef tartare.
 Then, things got hot. The wood-fired hibachi -- a smoke-blackened box that looked as if it had been in rotation since just after WWII -- was set on the center of the table and a parade of beef followed, plates covered with slices of tongue, rib-eye, short ribs (galbi style). Onto the hibachi it went -- all of it well marbled and really succulent hot off the grill. The plates of tasty beef kept coming, until we cried uncle and finished up with blueberry and lychee sorbet.
-- Betty Hallock
Photos by Betty Hallock
 I'm afraid cute cooking rats pale in comparison these days to Harry Potter. My daughters also took a dim view of cooking vegetable stew, preferring instead to make pudding. Why pudding? Because Luna Lovegood, their new favorite J.K. Rowling character, adores pudding. As the girls broke Valrhona bittersweet chocolate into the top of a double boiler (which they'd pretended to heat with their wands), and later, as we ate spoonfuls of the chocolate pudding topped with freshly whipped cream and a sprig of chocolate mint from Maggie's Farm, I could see their point.
Luna's Chocolate Pudding: Bring 1 cup of heavy cream and 2 cups of milk to just below boiling in a heavy saucepan. Melt 6 ounces of Valrhrona bittersweet chocolate and 2 tablespoons of butter in the top of a double boiler. Off heat, whisk 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons cornstarch and 1 tablespoon vanilla into half of the milk mixture, then add the melted chocolate and the rest of the milk. Pour into 6 teacups and chill for an hour. Top with fresh whipped cream and, if you like, grated chocolate.
If you have any extra, it makes a nice snack. Especially if you're halfway through Rowling's seventh book and won't be cooking anything until you're finished.
-- Amy Scattergood
Photo by Amy Scattergood
I had a good giggle yesterday morning on reading Amanda Hesser's "Recipe Redux" story in the New York Times Magazine. Hesser, bless her young heart, dates the creation of uncooked tomato sauce for pasta to the early-to-mid-'90s, citing a 1996 New York Times recipe for "summer pasta" that involved as a sauce no more than chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, salt and mozzarella. "After years of thinking that all pasta sauces were long-simmered affairs," she writes, "cooks were relieved to learn they they could simply chop a few tomatoes, add some seasonings and hot pasta and -- voilà! -- dinner."
I laughed because I had bought all the ingredients for the dish Saturday. I had the idea when I saw beautiful ripe heirloom tomatoes stacked up next to big bunches of basil at the supermarket. Now here was Hesser, saying one Pamela Sherrid came up with it in 1996.
 I thought back to the year I started making that very sauce. I remember it well, because it was 1980, the year a friend gave me the just-published Time-Life "Pasta" book in "The Good Cook" series. I learned the recipe (sans mozzarella) and so much more from its pages, and have made it a dozen times every summer since. It couldn't be simpler: Chop peeled and seeded tomatoes, add a little minced garlic, salt, pepper, lots of torn basil leaves and a good dose of olive oil. Let it marinate for a couple of hours, then toss it with hot pasta.
 It was a life-changing recipe, elemental and wonderful, and just about every good cook I knew in California in the early '80s made it. (Now and then I'd throw in some diced mozzarella, but I was never completely convinced by the cheese.) With the passage of time came better and better ingredients -- great fresh olive oil from Italy and Spain and California, better dried pasta, good sea salt -- and now in midsummer, the dish is positively brilliant. Last night I made it with those gorgeous heirlooms, garlic from the farmers market, a fantastic fruity olive oil from Greece, some nice torn basil, Maldon salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. I cooked some Rustichella d'Abruzzo pasta al ceppo, tossed it with the sauce and added some roughly chopped burrata, which went all gooey.
Try it. You'll think you're back in the summer of '96.
-- Leslie Brenner
Photos by Leslie Brenner
 In Cuba and Puerto Rico, the traditional citrus for pork or fish marinades is the sour orange, also known as the bitter or Seville orange. It also shows up in other Caribbean dishes such as the Yucatecan cochinita pibil.
This particular fruit is hard to get locally, so around here cooks generally substitute a mixture of citrus juices or use bottled sour orange juice (naranja agria). La Lechonera brand sour orange juice is available at various places on the Web at prices ranging from $2.50 to $2.99 plus shipping, but it’s only $2 at San Antonio Winery in Los Angeles.
Once you get your hands on a bottle, you can make a punchy Cuban mojo marinade -- crush half a dozen garlic cloves and add to 3/4 cup of the juice along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper and oregano to taste. Take any cut of pork suitable for roasting -- say, an uncured ham or fresh shoulder -- and marinate it in this for 2 to 3 hours before cooking. Works with fish too, though you might want to scale down the quantities.
La Lechonera Naranja Agría, 11 ounces, $2, San Antonio Winery, 737 Lamar St., Los Angeles, (323) 223-1401.
-- Charles Perry
Photo by Charles Perry
L.A. author Clifford A. Wright relaunched his website this morning, promising a site that's "twice as informative and fun as before." On it you'll find recipes from Croatia, Algeria, Spain, Italy, France, Tunisia and more, articles on food history and links to the food world. So what's new? Wright is offering memberships, which give you 1,000 "fully tested authentic" Mediterranean recipes, "heirloom recipes that work every time" and a two-part weekly and monthly newsletter, "The World of Fool" (yes, fool), which Wright describes as "a newsletter for the gastronomically correct." The full name: FOOL (Fūl): The Alimentary Peregrinations of an American Pantagruel, Diaries of Gastronomy and Pathos in the Mediterranean.
Some of the recipes are available only to members (non-members can get the Catalan Vegetable Medley, for instance, but you've gotta pay up to get Baked Lamb Loin Chops with Garlic Cream). Meanwhile, curious about the newsletter, I clicked a link that promised a taste of it. It took me back to the home page.
But I'll be bookmarking the site, mostly for the links. It's a great compendium of online sources for hard-to-find ingredients, kitchen equipment and recipes from France, Spain, North Africa and more -- some in the original languages. Plus, you can find cooking schools, podcasts and even the websites of some favorite cookbook authors. Paula Wolfert? She's linked.
-- Leslie Brenner
 The highly touted downtown revitalization means many things to many people, but what does it mean to food lovers? It means that if you live downtown you don't have to drive to Silverlake anymore to get Epoisses cheese. Or to the Westside to get Copper River salmon. Or to Monterey Park to get frogs legs or rambutans or atauflo mangos or baby pineapples. You just have to drive to the new Ralphs at 9th and Flower. The grocery chain, after years of planning that stretched on so long the store became kind of an urban legend, opened last Friday. Not only are there rows of organic produce, but also a pharmacy, dry cleaner, coffee shop and sushi bar. The produce section rivals what you'll find at Whole Foods, with a big organic selection, unusual fruits and high-end vegetables like white asparagus and donut peaches. The cheese selection is also very strong (Basque cheeses, Maytag blue, huge rounds of Fiscalini San Joaquin Gold), though you'll have to be pretty expert at spotting what you want, as the staff isn't quite up to speed on what it has yet. The fish department -- which carries things like Hawaiian opah, sashimi-grade ahi, and monkfish -- and the bakery are also worth the trip. The meat selection, however, is a bit disappointing, with a small case displaying only cuts of Angus beef -- the rest of the meat and poultry comes prepackaged. But overall, it's a pretty great place.
-- Amy Scattergood
Ralphs Fresh Fare, 645 W. 9th St., Los Angeles; (213) 452-0840; open 5 a.m. to midnight every day.
Photo by Amy Scattergood
 Join our very own Russ Parsons, the California Cook, for a live chat today at 1 p.m. on latimes.com. Have you been wondering how to choose a ripe melon? What's the best way to cook corn? What's Russ' favorite cold soup? How to grill a perfect tri-tip roast? What does Russ recommend, a gas grill or an old-fashioned Weber? You could even ask him to dream up a menu for your dinner party this weekend. Be there!
-- Leslie Brenner
Photo by Marissa Roth
Wake up, wine drinkers! Stop buying high-alcohol wines! Demand wines that have less than 14% alcohol levels. That’s the provocative plea Napa Valley winemaker Randy Dunn (Dunn Vineyards) e-mailed to wine writers around the country yesterday.
One of California’s first Cabernet Sauvignon winemakers to develop a cult following, Dunn takes many of those who have followed him into the Cult Cab club to task for making what he deems inferior wines. These high-alcohol fruit bombs are geared to score well in critical tastings (read: pander to Robert Parker) but are a drag to drink with a meal, which is what most people do with the wines they buy.
"It is time for the average wine consumers, as opposed to tasters, to speak up," Dunn proclaims. "The current fad of higher and higher alcohol wines should stop. Most wine drinkers do not really appreciate wines that are 15-16+% alcohol. They are, in fact, hot and very difficult to enjoy with a meal.
"The subtleties of terroir in wines have been melted together in a huge pot called ‘overripe’ or the vogue ‘physiologically mature’ grape. Gone are the individualities of specific regions, replaced by sameness –- high alcohol, raisiny, pruney, flabby wines. Likewise, the descriptor ‘herbaceous’ was often used in a positive sense when describing Cabernets. Now it is the kiss of death."
For consumers heeding his "nothing over 14%" rallying cry, Dunn cautions, be prepared to switch from California wines to French. The high-alcohol-wine syndrome has hit California wineries particularly hard, he laments. His own wines? Though they're really rich and really big, they're only 13%.
-- Corie Brown
 As sure as the weather is starting to heat up in earnest, it's time for melons at the farmers market. Wednesday in Santa Monica, the melon lovers were out in force, crowding three and even four deep around the workers cutting samples at the Weiser Family Farms stand. It's still early in the season, but already the Weisers are harvesting Sugar Queen, Cavaillon, Charentais, true cantaloupe, Ha-Ogen, Sugar Net and Galia. More varieties will be added every week. Melons have been in the markets since June, with some being harvested in the desert. The Weisers themselves have had them for three weeks now. But as one worker put it, "They were good before, but this week they are slammin' killer." The Weisers farm their melons in Tehachapi, just on the other side of the Grapevine. Over the next three or four weeks, we should be seeing more and more melons coming from farther up the Central Valley, including those from the famed town of Mendota, self-proclaimed "Cantaloupe Center of the World."
-- Russ Parsons
Photo by Russ Parsons
 Everyone is talking about ratatouille — if not the dish, then the movie. Or maybe the dish in the movie, as it is reinvented (spoiler alert!) by one super-taster rodent. He wins over the creepy restaurant critic by slicing squash, eggplant and tomatoes very thin, layering them over a creamy compote of cooked onions and peppers, and then baking it. "Wait a minute!" shouted you Food section readers with unusually long memories. "That sounds familiar." And so it does. "Little Chef’s" creation comes courtesy of French Laundry chef and former Los Angeles Times columnist Thomas Keller, who was a consultant on the movie.
It’s the byaldi from his first cookbook, a home cook’s version of which appeared in his column in 2001. For those of you with poorly organized scrapbooks, here it is again, after the jump.
-- Russ Parsons
Photo by Robert Gauthier
Continue reading The rat's ratatouille »
 "The garden where the scent of burning wood and the aroma of fresh coffee come together," the menu reads. Just another Koreatown cafe with coffee, tea, cakes, sandwiches, a sprawling multilevel patio and a firepit. Even the patio tables at Sanjang Coffee and Garden on Virgil come equipped with buzzers to ring a waitress inside.
Or if you're looking for soju, Bibi Soju and Wine Bar recently opened on Beverly. It's not much to look at from the street, but inside are handsome orange-ish, suede-ish booths separated by curtains of tiny  black beads. On the stereo, a mix of Psychedlic Furs, Yaz and Korean pop. On the menu, soju cocktails (green tea soju, yogurt soju) -- though oddly for a wine bar, no wine. But you can get a whole fried chicken with fries, cole slaw, kimchi and two big Hite beers for $21. 
And coming soon on Wilshire Boulevard ... tofu, a village of tofu.
-- Betty Hallock
Sanjang Coffee and Garden, 101 S. Virgil Ave., (213) 387-9190; Bibi Soju and Wine Bar, 4451 Beverly Blvd., (323) 669-4933; Tofu Village, 3807 Wilshire Blvd.
Photos by Betty Hallock
 A couple of years ago when I was in San Francisco, I bought some beautiful violet-streaked Rocambole garlic from a stand at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. It was fabulous, with firm, small cloves and a subtle and complex garlic flavor. Why didn’t I buy more? When I ran out, I tracked down the growers, Wallace and Nancy Condon of Small Potatoes in Lodi. But the season for Rocambole was over and they didn’t have any more to sell. I never found it again.
Then, earlier this month I got an e-mail from the Condons saying they had Rocambole hanging in their barn and were taking orders by snail mail, e-mail or phone. Fantastic! I called right away and ordered 2 pounds for $20, including shipping, which got me the box pictured here. The other choice is 4 pounds for $35, if you want to share with friends.
Rocambole is a hard-necked garlic, and because it has such a thin, parchment-like bulb covering, it doesn’t keep as long as the more common soft-necked garlics. Stored in a cool, dark place, two months is about it, says Condon. In other words, you can’t save it up for a rainy day.
Somehow I see a summer’s worth of aioli in my future. If you miss the Rocambole, the Condons will have other types of garlic available soon, many, according to Condon, originally from the agriculture department collection at UC Davis.
Wallace and Nancy Condon, Small Potatoes, 4344 Morse Road, Lodi, CA 95240; (209) 333-6083; heirloompotatoes@yahoo.com. Payment by check or PayPal.
-- S. Irene Virbila
Photo by S. Irene Virbila
 Italy is a country built on a spider web of connections. To get to the good stuff, you often have to know somebody — or at least know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody. For many Americans for many years, that first point of introduction has been Faith Willinger. And so when her friends Marvin and Judy Zeidler threw her a lawn party Sunday in honor of the publication of her new book, “Adventures of an Italian Food Lover,” several dozen of Southern California’s most ardent Italophiles turned out, including restaurateurs Nancy Silverton (at left in photo with Willinger) and Piero Selvaggio.
An American who has lived in Florence for more than 25 years, Willinger first came to national attention in 1989 with “Eating in Italy,” a food lover’s guide to some of the best restaurants, hotels, food producers and shops in that country's north. For many American lovers of Italian food, it became a kind of bible — I remember standing in line at a small pasticceria in Venice while a group of Americans in front of me ordered straight out of the book (in essence, “I’ll have what Faith is having”).
Willinger’s new book is a kind of tribute to her divine connectedness — as she puts it in her subtitle: “Recipes From 254 of My Very Best Friends.” In it, you’ll find spaghettini with swordfish ragù from Gigi Vianello and Momi di Momi in Venice, grilled steak from the poet butcher Dario Cecchini in Tuscany, and pasta and bean salad with celery pesto from Mario Avallone in Naples.
On the other hand, with friends like these, who needs recipes?
-- Russ Parsons
Photo by Russ Parsons
 People have scoffed at the claim that rye whiskey is coming back. But check this out: Rittenhouse, one of the grand old names in rye, was unknown in Southern California just a year ago, but now it has three versions on the market here. They are an 80-proof, a 100-proof and a 21-year-old cask-strength rarity retailing for $130 a bottle and up.
The 100-proof bottling might just be the greatest bargain in whiskey today. It's a mouth-filling whiskey with a long, rich finish and a big rye nose of spice and dried fruit. Despite its assertive rye flavor, it has a smooth finish (for a rye -- there's still some steel in its spine). This is rye really strutting its stuff.
Rittenhouse Rye, 100 proof, $17 to $23. At Beverages and More (see website for locations); Wine and Liquor Depot in Van Nuys, (818) 996-1414; Beverage Warehouse in Los Angeles, (310) 306-2822; Wally's Wines and Spirits in Los Angeles, (310) 475-0606; Mission Liquor & Wines in Pasadena, (626) 797-0500; and Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, (949) 650-8463.
-- Charles Perry
Photo by Charles Perry
 I hadn't been to the market in some time, and when I went to the Santa Monica farmers market on Wednesday, I was overwhelmed by the glory of it all -- it's that moment in summer when the stalls are bursting with wonderfulness. Though my family is away on a camping trip, I bought everything in sight -- beautiful, slim baby leeks from McGrath Family Farms, heirloom tomatoes and summer squash from Coastal Organics, banana fingerlings and a pretty little Charentais melon from Weiser, plus lavender, peaches, Santa Rosa plums and more.
I hauled my market sack to the car, wondering what I'd do with it all. I had plans for dinner that night with a friend, at Osteria Mozza, no less. My bounty would have to wait till Thursday.
 Last night I came home to an empty apartment and hauled out my booty. I sliced one of those ripe tomatoes onto a plate, scattered Maldon salt over it, ground lots of black pepper and heaped wild arugula from Maggie's Farm on top. Then I shaved some ricotta salata over, added a drizzle of aged balsamic and good, fresh olive oil. Next I sautéed the baby leeks, added sliced zucchini, patty pan and other squashes, some blanched cut-up Romano beans, corn sliced off the cob and a peeled, seeded and diced tomato. It wanted a splash of chicken broth, salt and pepper, a scattering of chopped basil -- and voilà.
 This was a good dinner, my farmers market dinner for one. For dessert, I had picked up a Lingot de Quercy goat cheese because I thought I deserved a treat. Mmm. Had I been drinking white instead of red it would have been perfect.
-- Leslie Brenner
Photos by Leslie Brenner
 A new downtown farmers market opened today on 1st Street, right on the lawn next to City Hall.
Filling the stalls are heirloom tomatoes, plums and pluots, zucchini blossoms, eggplant, shishito peppers and bitter melons -- both Indian and Chinese (pictured at left) -- and prepared foods such as baba ghanouj, marinated gigante beans and brown-rice-stuffed grape leaves. For lunch? Rotisserie chicken (a lot of them rotating on huge spits), Hawaiian chicken, shish kebabs and pupusas.
The market formerly was located at Weller Court on Tuesdays. Now, you might be more likely to run into the mayor.
City Hall farmers market, Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 1st and Spring streets.
-- Betty Hallock
Photo by Leslie Brenner
 The other day I woke up and realized: It's salade niçoise weather. I picked up some juicy-looking heirloom tomatoes, beautiful red butter lettuce, yellow peppers, haricots verts, potatoes, good Italian tuna packed in olive oil, anchovies, niçoise olives and a bottle of rosé.
Making it couldn't be easier. Boil the haricots verts in lots of salted water till they're crunchy-tender, drain and toss with some great olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Boil potatoes in their skins till tender, cool and peel, slice and dress them with sliced shallot or red onion, parsley, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Boil some eggs and slice them in half. Arrange lettuce on a platter and put the tuna, flaked, in the center. Arrange around it the haricots, potato salad, eggs, olives and sliced peppers. Slice the tomatoes, arrange them in the last spot, drizzle them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and lay the anchovies on top. (You might want to make up a little more vinaigrette to serve alongside.)
Fantastic with a glass of cool rosé.
-- Leslie Brenner
Photo by Leslie Brenner
 A lot of people know about the restaurant on the Galpin Motors lot in Van Nuys. It's a dazzling artifact of our car-centered way of life. You can buy a car and have lunch at the same place!
But it's not the only car lot eatery in our area. There's another to the northwest of the Valley, roughly 20 miles from Santa Clarita, at the William L. Morris Chevrolet agency in Fillmore. Inevitably named Mr. Goodlunch, it's even more integrated into the auto biz than its Van Nuys equivalent, some of its tables being located out in the showroom floor within tire-kicking distance of a Corvette Z06.
Basically, Mr. Goodlunch is a cozy little breakfast and lunch place with the traditional pancakes, egg dishes and sandwiches. It has great hot link sausages, you can get generous, fluffy biscuits in cream gravy, and your breakfast comes with complimentary fresh orange juice -- after all, Fillmore is in the middle of that stretch of orange groves on Highway 128. This could be a cool place to stop for a bite if you're shopping the fruit stands in the Piru-Santa Paula area.
-- Charles Perry
Photo by Charles Perry
Mr. Goodlunch Cafe, William L. Morris Chevrolet, 1024 Ventura St., Fillmore. (805) 524-2619. Open 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday.
Dog Lover's Wine Club ("Love My Dog -- Love My Wine") does the usual wine club thing: delivers bottles (mostly from Santa Barbara County) to its subscribers at various intervals. But there's a difference: A percentage of sales goes to the Humane Society ... and every bottle has a portrait of a dog on the label.
If you’re seriously, seriously dog-ocentric, you can even send them a photo of your own pooch and they’ll put it on a bottle of wine ($62 for a photo, $102 for a digital painting) or even a 12-bottle case ($382/$430). Maybe the dogs appreciate this as much as their owners; could be. But that raises a question: How long is 15 minutes of fame in dog years?
-- Charles Perry
 Summer is l-o-n-g in L.A., and so, in time-honored California fashion, it’s time to stock up on mesquite. Don’t bother with those little 10-pound bags -- you’ll burn through one in only a couple of evenings. Instead of worrying about running out, pull into Smart & Final and make off with one or more of the huge 40-pound bags for just $12.99 each. For the record, I bought mine when I happened to be driving by the West Los Angeles store on Santa Monica Boulevard. Available at Smart & Final stores across the Southland.
-- S. Irene Virbila
Photo by S. Irene Virbila
"Who forgot to bring the ice cream maker?"
Blood-curdling words to start a vacation. Don't be the one everybody blames for not being able to make fresh fruit ice cream. Just remember this recipe.
The luscious, melting texture of ice cream is due to the fact that it has a lot of air whipped into it. An ice cream maker accomplishes this during the freezing process. This clever recipe inserts the air first -- it makes a custard sauce and whips it as it cools, then it folds in whipped cream. At that point all you have to do is stick it into a refrigerator freezer compartment and leave it. Any sort of mold will work -- a bowl, even a bunch of ice cube trays.
 It comes out like regular ice cream but with a faint crunchiness, like Italian spumoni. (In fact, it is spumoni.) Stone fruits and berries work best as flavors.
If you can get your hands on some chocolate ice cream, you can even turn not having an ice cream maker into an advantage. Let the chocolate ice cream soften a little so you can line a large mixing bowl with it. Fill the cavity with the apricot spumoni mixture, freeze the whole thing, and you'll have an impressive classic French dessert: bombe africaine. (Use another flavor and you'll have invented your own bombe.)
To make Summer Cabin Ice Cream, start with one cup of fresh fruit purée. (If you're using apricots, peel and pit four of them and then pureé them in whatever equipment you have -- a food processor is best, of course.) For a frozen dessert, fruit flavors might need a little perking up, so beat in 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Then make a syrup by boiling half a cup of water with one cup of sugar until it's clear. Take it off the heat and let it cool. Stir in the purée along with eight lightly beaten egg yolks, put it back on the heat and cook, stirring, until it thickens. A good sign it's ready is that when you stir around the bowl with a spoon and then remove it, the mixture doesn't keep moving but comes to a stop. Remove from the heat and beat it until it's cool.
Meanwhile, whip a cup and a third of whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. Dump it onto the cooled apricot stuff and fold it into the mixture by repeatedly scooping with a big spoon from the bottom of the bowl up through the whipped cream until the texture is uniform. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for two or three hours.
You didn't need an ice cream maker. In fact, you planned this all along. That's your story, and you're sticking with it.
-- Charles Perry
Photo by Charles Perry
More macarons for everyone, and Sprinkles, watch out. Another Boule may open in Beverly Hills.
 "As a result of the popular demand for products, Boule is opening up another location in Beverly Hills," confirms publicist Susan Hosmer of Bullfrog & Baum. The location hasn't been disclosed, and they can't yet estimate an opening date. But there's bound to be all those yummy macarons, chiffon marshmallows, fleur de sel caramels and, of course, chocolates.
Meanwhile, the original La Cienega store is moving down the street and will open next month, with a production facility for viennoisserie, ice cream, chocolates and bread.
In other chocolate news, Valerie Confections -- which makes that amazing Valrhona-chocolate-covered (hand-dipped) toffee -- is expanding its line of confections to include truffles, tea cakes and petit fours and is adding a retail area to its kitchen.
Boule, 420 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 289-9977. Valerie Confections, 3360 W. 1st St., Los Angeles; (213) 739-8149.
-- Betty Hallock
Photo by Spencer Weiner
 I was dreaming about radishes, and decided that this year I wanted to have a readily available supply of them for the apéritif hour. Sometimes the ones I buy at the farmers market are too big, or the foliage looks ragged after a couple of days in the fridge.
You can find French breakfast radish seeds at nurseries and from a number of mail-order sources. I happened to be looking at the John Scheepers catalog and ordered three types from it: Flamboyant French Breakfast, Lady Slipper and White Icicle. I started off with three short rows, one of each type. It’s laughably easy. Space the seeds a half-inch apart at a depth of a quarter-inch, and in only a few days, they’re coming up.
I’ve been adding to the rows every week in order to have a constant supply of small, tender radishes. One day I spilled some of the seed and couldn’t find it all. I just noticed that some have cropped up in a 2-inch gap between the brick patio and a planter. Easy.
Come the apéritif hour, I pull some radishes, trim back the larger leaves, wash well and present with a crock of soft, unsalted butter (even better if it’s one of the really tasty ones from Vermont or Ireland) and a small dish of fleur de sel or sea salt (not too fine). Serve with a rosé, maybe SoloRosa from Napa Valley or a Domaine Tempier Bandol rosé. Put some butter on a radish, sprinkle with salt and eat between sips of chilled rosé. The flavors are curiously satisfying and together spell summer apéritif.
-- S. Irene Virbila
Photo by S. Irene Virbila
 I love the bleached desert landscape on the drive up to Las Vegas, a trip I make every few months to check out what’s new -- and there’s always something. On the way, I usually make one stop, at Primm -- not to gamble, but to browse at the Williams-Sonoma outlet store. I once picked up a reconditioned four-slot chrome Dualit toaster (normally more than $300) for $79 and have been happily making toast on it ever since. I also found a greatly discounted Staub cast iron mussel pot, and another time a heavy Mauviel roasting pan for the Thanksgiving turkey. Over the weekend, I took a quick look around, turned up some black rectangular charcoal chimney starters from BBQ maven and author Steven Raichlen, originally $34, discounted to $12. Nary a peek in the mall’s purported 100 other stores and I’m gone, heading straight for those raucous neon lights and the next new restaurant in Vegas.
Williams-Sonoma Marketplace, Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas, 32100 S. Las Vegas Blvd. (I-15 at Exit 1), Primm, Nevada; (702) 874-1400. Open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
-- S. Irene Virbila
Photo by S. Irene Virbila
So, both Craft and Osteria Mozza opened on Friday night, and where did Craft chef Tom Colicchio eat late-night after manning the stoves and making the rounds at tables? He headed over to Osteria Mozza, of course.
While chef Nancy Silverton worked the mozzarella bar, Mario Batali sat down to dinner with family on Saturday night. The roast pork arista he was eating looked fantastic -- a thick slice of tender roast pork loin with a succulent edge of fat.
 Guess he needed his shoe back though, because it was gone from the case next to the door. Actually, they'll be posting the menu there now.
Craft Los Angeles, 10100 Constellation Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 279-4180. Osteria Mozza, 6602 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 297-0100.
-- Betty Hallock
Photo by Betty Hallock
 Melrose Avenue just got its own gourmet store. Froma on Melrose had a soft opening two weeks ago and has been getting a steady stream of customers since, maybe people taking a break from shopping for Christian Louboutin shoes or vintage T-shirts to pick up a pound of squid ink trofie pasta, some Arbequina olives, chocolate-covered fleur de sel caramels in an edible chocolate box by Charles Chocolates, an espresso made from Danesi beans or a bresaola, goat cheese and arugula panini from the impressive panini menu -- or even a box of fresh figs from the Santa Monica farmers market. This morning Froma had its formal opening, where customers could sample the charcuterie and California cheeses (and maybe the duck confit and Camembert panini) with the co-owners.
And who might they be? Sommelier Francine Diamond, who is from Quebec, and German-born Ca' del Sole executive chef Soerke Peters. Diamond's husband, Cut steakhouse general manager Matteo Ferdinandi, will be "keeping a close eye" on the place, according to his wife. Diamond's wine expertise will come in handy in the fall, when their pending liquor license will allow them to put in a wine selection and hold tastings. A little Lambrusco to go with that La Quercia Rossa prosciutto?
Froma on Melrose: Purveyor of Fine Food, 7960 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 653-3700, www.fromaonmelrose.com (website currently under construction). Hours: Monday thru Saturday, 10-8; Sunday, 11-7.
-- Amy Scattergood
Photo by Amy Scattergood
 Last Saturday -- 7/7/07 -- must be a lucky day not just for brides and grooms, but for restaurateurs too: That's when Bar Hayama opened on Sawtelle Boulevard in the space formerly occupied by Sushi Sasabune. Apparently things are going swimmingly there so far -- if the mood at the sushi bar last night was any indication. The fish were just about jumping, and the place was hopping.
Anyone who's read Trevor Corson's recent book "The Zen of Fish" might fall off their chair when they get a load of the chefs behind the sushi bar. The head chef and owner -- center sushi bar -- is Toshi Sugiura, whose day job is president and CEO of the California Sushi Academy on Centinela. On the left is Zoran Lekic -- the school's fearsome head instructor. We sat on the right, with Suryo Husodo cutting tuna and squishing rice for us. Husodo graduated from the academy last fall. Out in front, around a square bar with a fire pit in the center, a bunch of students from the school were merrily downing sakes and popping dried gourd rolls.
The tone at the bar couldn't be more different than Sasabune. Sugiura-san plays the scary-fierce sushi chef, yelling "No soy sauce!" at blood-curdling levels. But he's a sweetheart, happy to mug for a snapshot, help out his former student with an order of iwashi (sardine) sushi or recommend a sake. Kanpai!
Bar Hayama, 1803 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 235-2000.
-- Leslie Brenner
Photos by Leslie Brenner
 Watching the first new episode of Gordon Ramsay’s "Kitchen Nightmares" on BBC America on Thursday night, I was struck by how different he seems from the maniacal drill sergeant he plays on his Fox series "Hell’s Kitchen" — a show so cruel I find it impossible to watch. I mean, sure, he bleeped the chef pretty good for his prawns with chocolate sauce. And, come to think of it, the chicken stuffed with banana. But hey, he didn’t throw them at him. That’s practically cuddly in Ramsay Land.
Then it hit me what the difference was: Ramsay’s in love, and that brings out his soft side. No, not that kind of love. But watch "Kitchen Nightmares" carefully and you’ll see the signs: Almost every episode I’ve seen includes a shot of Ramsay ritually cleansing the restaurant. As he’s polishing a stainless steel backsplash or scrubbing a floor, you can almost hear him murmuring “There, there my pretty, you’ll be better soon.” Granted, his affection seems to be much more for the restaurants than the people who work in them, but it’s still something you’ll never see on the stage set that is "Hell’s Kitchen."
-- Russ Parsons
Photo by Tom Wagner
 I'd been meaning to check out the Santa Barbara branch of The Hungry Cat ever since it opened, about three months ago, if only to get off my well-beaten track from downtown to Sunset & Vine. And lo, chef-owner David Lentz was standing by the door when my friend and I walked in -- as were about six other people who had been loitering around the front, waiting for the place to open. Lentz seemed to be loitering himself, rather than cooking -- just chatting with guests and occasionally polishing the plates as they went out from the kitchen. But maybe he needed the break: With two restaurants and two new babies, he's got his hands full these days.
So what's on the menu? Boquerones on house-made flatbread (grilled on the wood-burning grill in the tiny open kitchen) with caramelized onions, arugula, fennel and olives. Grilled scallops with braised oxtail and curried cauliflower. Oysters on the half-shell and peel 'n' eat shrimp, of course. And an amazing bowl of braised clams and chorizo, also house-made, with grilled bread topped with a dab of aioli. It turns out that both Hungry Cats make their own chorizo, using a different recipe at each restaurant. Lentz said he gives the chefs at both places "the freedom to play with it." He also said they make their own bacon at the Hollywood branch. "The reason we're doing it all ourselves is quality -- and also it's fun." It's pretty fun to eat too.
The Hungry Cat, 1134 Chapala St., Santa Barbara; (805) 884-4701; 1535 N. Vine St., Los Angeles; (323) 462-2155.
-- Amy Scattergood
Photo by Amy Scattergood
There are few things better than Santa Rosa plums, especially now when  the fruit is ripe and shot through with sugars. So I ran over to the Santa Monica farmers market yesterday, just long enough to get some -- and catch a fleeting glimpse of new Bastide chefs Walter and Marge Manske shopping at the Windrose Farms stall as I hurried out. But speed has its price -- as does carrying a stack of books everywhere you go -- and to my enormous dismay I found when I arrived at the Times Test Kitchen that my glorious plums were bruised and battered. So I did what any self-respecting and slightly accident-prone cook would do -- I improvised. I mashed my plums even further and made a pretty awesome granita.
Here's the recipe: Put three-quarters of a cup of water, half a cup of sugar, the juice of half a lemon, two tablespoons white verjus (you can substitute white wine if you don't have this) and half a vanilla bean (split and scraped) into a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer and reduce, about three minutes, until you have about half a cup of syrup. Skin and remove the pits from about five Santa Rosa plums and break up the fruit with a fork; you'll need about one cup of mashed fruit. Cool the syrup slightly, then add the plum mixture. Stir and strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing the solids through with a spoon. Put the mixture into a glass dish and freeze overnight. Stir a few times to break apart the ice crystals as the granita is freezing and then again right before you're ready to serve it.
I'll never cry over battered fruit again.
-- Amy Scattergood
Photo by Leslie Brenner
 The two most most hotly anticipated restaurants of the year are both opening tomorrow night: Osteria Mozza, the joint venture from chefs Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali, and Craft chef Tom Colicchio's first Los Angeles outpost, in Century City. They haven't even opened their doors to the public and they're already the toughest reservations in town.
When I called Craft this morning (directory assistance still didn't have the number), I was immediately greeted by an "all reservation agents are busy at this time" message. After four and a half minutes on hold, I heard a voice saying, "Warning: Your call is being recorded." Then I got a reservationist. A reservation for two tomorrow? Only if I could go for 6:30 or earlier or 9:30 or later. Same story for Saturday. The following weekend? "Same thing," she said, "only Saturday's even a little busier." After a few stabs at trying to book a table for two during something like the dinner hour, I managed to book one for Thursday the 19th, at 7:00. The first weekend table for two at 8? Aug. 3.
That was a piece of cake compared with Osteria Mozza. Last night Silverton was cooking for a full house of "friends and family" (that's restaurant-speak for a rehearsal dinner). Others who wanted to get in had to settle for pressing their nose against the glass case outside the door enshrining Mario's orange clog. Inside Pizzeria Mozza next door, the crowd -- Drew Barrymore among them -- pretended not to care they weren't eating at the Osteria. Reservations for the new place? Fuggedaboudit, for now anyway: The phone's been busy all morning.
Craft Los Angeles, 10100 Constellation Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 279-4180. Osteria Mozza, 6602 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 297-0100.
-- Leslie Brenner
Photo by Jenn Garbee
 I'm all about fruit guilt these days, thanks to that bountiful stone fruit season you've been hearing about. Our plum tree is full of ripe, red-purple plums and the birds and squirrels haven't gobbled up as many as in previous years. So after taking a big bag to the office (Friday), making a tart (Saturday), giving away two bags to enthusiastic cook friends (Sunday) and setting out a box with a "Help Yourself" sign on the sidewalk in front of the house (refilled daily), I got into home preserving mode. I don't have time to take a whole day from the office to put up jars of plum conserve, plum chutney and plum jam, but I can grab an hour here and there and end up with a year's supply of plum butter.
My strategy is all about rapidly getting the fruit to a first stage of preparation so it doesn't spoil, and then catching up with myself on the weekend. So I harvest every day, then immediately wash the plums and cut them, unpeeled, into a pan on the stove. I add nothing to the pot -- these are a mixture of super-ripe, kinda ripe and oops-that-one's-not-ready-yet fruit -- and there's plenty of liquid/juice. I bring it to a quick boil, simmer 10 or so minutes until the fruit's tender, cool a bit and then use an immersion blender to purée the cooked fruit.
This I can store in the fridge until I'm ready to proceed with making plum butter -- measuring the purée, adding an equal amount of sugar, spicing it with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and then simmering till thick. It's the simmering till thick part that takes time, but I'll have already done the fruit prep, so this second stage will take only a couple of hours max.
Then I'll head out to the yard and start picking again.
-- Susan LaTempa
Photo by Susan LaTempa
 It arrived right after the rabbit loin with artichoke and ravioli and just before the Wagyu beef with white asparagus and marrow crème brûlée. A waiter approached the table during dinner at Cyrus in Healdsburg with a white seashell-covered orb nestled in an elaborately folded napkin. Inserted into the orb was a black straw, and on top of the black straw was what looked like a flower but what turned out to be a palate cleanser -- a single bite of raspberry sorbet. You remove the black straw from the base, eat the sorbet, and then the waiter whisks the orb away. You should have seen the mignardises....
Cyrus, 29 North St., Healdsburg; (707) 433-3311.
-- Betty Hallock
Photo by Betty Hallock
 Punt e Mes, one of the classic vermouths from Italy, is a restaurant critic’s -- and the intrepid foodie’s -- best friend. I’d forgotten that until one night recently when I was confronted with an Italian feast and a queasy stomach. Someone handed me a glass of Punt e Mes on the rocks with a twist of orange as an aperitif. I sipped. I immediately began to feel better. And by the time I finished the drink, I was actually feeling hungry -- something that had seemed impossible when I left the house -- ready to tackle what turned out to be a wonderful Italian meal that had been all day in the making. I think it’s the dose of bitters and all the secret herbs in the recipe (which dates from 1870) that does the trick. And it’s nothing like medicine: It’s quite delicious, sweet and bitter at the same time. It also makes a terrific Negroni cocktail.
Finding Carpano Punt e Mes around here, though, is sometimes tough. When I ran out last month, I think I had to try at least 10 wine shops and liquor stores before I turned up two bottles at Wally’s in West L.A. I bought both. Let’s hope they’ve re-ordered by now. Or if not, give them a nudge.
Punt e Mes, $21.95. Wally’s Wine & Spirits, 2107 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 475-0606.
-- S. Irene Virbila
Photo by S. Irene Virbila
 If your favorite game is Name That Restaurant while watching the HBO series "Entourage" ("appies" at the Ivy, "lobbies" at the Palm, drinkies at Mortons), then you most likely spotted Providence in this week's episode, "Sorry, Harvey."
The next challenge is to spot the culinary "anachronisms," also known as playing Who's That Bread?
As "E," one of the main characters, steps into the restaurant, it looks as if nothing's amiss. To be expected, there's some extra foxiness at the host's stand. The actor portraying the vituperative Harvey Weinstein is already seated at a table sipping a '53 Margaux. (Is that really on the wine list?) And then you see it -- the ugliest hunk of bread ever, sitting on a cheap wooden cutting board. Where are the pretty rolls from Le Pain Quotidien, served with little discs of butter and a cellar of salt, complete with tiny spoon? Weinstein's wielding what looks like a hollow-edge santoku knife and slices off a piece of bread.
Then he turns to the waiter (who's really a waiter there) and says, "Hey, pal, how long do we have to wait to get a lousy-ass 'berg wedge? You slice the [expletive] thing, you put it on a plate, and you bring it over here."
Imagine chef Michael Cimarusti, instead of preparing an amuse of watermelon soup with lemon foam served in a tiny glass, cutting a wedge of iceberg lettuce and throwing it on a plate. Maybe he's back there throwing cigarette butts in the stock too. A 'berg wedge?
Providence, 5955 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 460-4170, www.providencela.com.
-- Betty Hallock
Photograph by Connie Aramaki/For The Times
 Last weekend, my 11-year-old friend Pearl, who had driven across the country with her family from Massachusetts, found this cunning sushi set at a shop on Sawtelle Boulevard in West L.A. The tiny sushi, drinks and bowls of ramen come in grab-bag packs of about 10 or 15 items, each for $5. She bought one pack and was hooked. "I like the drinks," she says, "because the tops really come off on the bottles. And all the sushi." She went back for more. And more. She bought so many packs (there are 10 in all) that the salesman gave her the sushi bar and chef. (Normally it's available only if you buy a whole set for $50.) And does the Massachusetts girl like to eat sushi? "I love sushi," she says. Her favorite? "Probably eel."
Tokyo Japanese Outlet, 2109 Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 914-5320.
-- Leslie Brenner
Photo by Leslie Brenner
 Just what we've been needing: a detailed, up-to-date guide to the craft beer scene in Southern California. Or, as "The Beer Guppy's Guide to Southern California" describes itself, a "regional travel guide for the beer enthusiast."
Burbank-based author Jay Sheveck earns his nom de cerveza, the Beer Guppy -- he really seems to swim in beer. He's been chronicling the craft beer explosion since the early '90s, and he spent five years researching this guide. It lists 300 breweries, brewpubs and serious beer bars and liquor stores between Fresno and the Mexican border, plus southern Nevada, together with the product range, address, phone number, website, hours and a brief characterization of each. Icons show whether a brewery gives tours (with or without samples), whether a pub or tasting room has a beer garden, TVs, live music and pizza, and which places sell bottles and which sell kegs or growlers.
Sheveck celebrates home brew too, listing suppliers and clubs. There are even three pages of beer events, from the Cambria Chili Cook-Off, Car Show and Beer Tasting to the Tijuana International Beer Festival.
The 98-page magazine-format guide, which sells for $9.95, is as up-to-date as can be: Though it was published in June, it includes a couple of places that opened in May -- pretty fast turnaround for a reference work. It's on sale at www.beerguppy.com, Culver City Home Brewing Supply, the Draft Beer Store in Northridge, Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, the Home Wine, Beer and Cheesemaking Shop in Woodland Hills, the Stuffed Sandwich in San Gabriel and, for some reason, the Holiday Inn in Burbank. It's also available on Amazon.
-- Charles Perry
 When my friend Jon Rowley talks about salmon, I listen. Rowley is the seafood consultant who introduced the world to Copper River king salmon back in 1983, taking a fish that had previously mostly been canned and revealing to eaters everywhere its rich texture and superlative flavor. The annual arrival of Copper River fish in restaurants and markets is now a highlight of late spring for seafood lovers all over the country.
Now Rowley says he’s found something that might be even better — the salmon from Alaska’s Yukon River. Because the fish need to swim more than 2,000 miles to spawn, they have extraordinarily high levels of fat stored up. At a recent blind tasting of Copper River and Yukon salmon in Seattle, chefs and seafood industry folks favored the Yukon by about 2 to 1, Rowley says.
You can find it at Bristol Farms and at some restaurants. It’s pricey — the first arrivals will be about $30 a pound — but if you love salmon, it's worth the splurge. The flesh is very firm and the flavor is rich. I oven-steamed mine (on a cookie sheet in a 250-degree oven over a baking pan of boiling water; it takes about 25 minutes, but the color stays the same and the taste stays very pure). Looks like Rowley is on to something ... again.
-- Russ Parsons
Photo by Jon Rowley
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Something's brewing in the local coffee world. Groundwork Coffee operating chief Ric Rhinehart has left the company after his efforts to buy a majority share fell through. And a visit to the newest Groundwork location downtown -- the site of the only Clover as yet in operation in L.A. -- yielded further evidence of a shake-up, with news of other folks in the small company gone and dwindling bags of single-lot coffee on the shelves. 
