Valet parking: Now accepting credit cards

How many times have you stood in the valet line to retrieve your car after a meal only to realize that you don't have any cash, forced to ask friends or maybe even worse -- your date -- to lend you money?

Starting Dec. 1, valet stations at Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza in Hollywood and just-opened Bouchon in Beverly Hills will accept credit cards. Regent Hospitality Parking, which provides valet services at Mozza and Bouchon, among other restaurants, says that valet stations here will have wireless credit card terminals and that transactions will be completed "in less than one minute."

Regent Hospitality founder Brad Saltzman says that credit cards will be accepted at other restaurants' valet stands depending on the success of the company's efforts at Mozza and Bouchon. Valet parking fees at each restaurant will remain the same ($8 for Bouchon, $10 for Mozza).

The company claims it will be the first in the country to allow guests to pay their parking fees with credit or debit cards.

Why didn't anyone do this sooner?

-- Betty Hallock

Photo: A Regent valet in Culver City. Credit: Ken Hively

More Thanksgiving options: Joe's, Simon L.A., Henry's Hat, Gus's BBQ, Josie and Larcmont Larder

Joe's Restaurant is offering a four-course Thanksgiving menu with several choices for each course, including sunchoke soup with smoked baby artichokes and hazelnuts; crispy sweetbreads with fall vegetables; Heritage Farms turkey breast and leg confit; Eastern monkfish and gulf shrimp with butter clam parsley broth; and pumpkin pie with pepita brittle and parsnip vanilla ice cream. $52 per person, $22 for children. 1023 Abbott Kinney Blvd., Venice; (310) 399-5811, www.joesrestaurant.com.

Henry's Hat opens Thanksgiving Day at 9 a.m., serving brunch all day long (including 2-for-1 mojitos and Bloody Marys, and bottomless mimosas and sangria). A Southern Thanksgiving buffet dinner starts at 2 p.m.: spinach salad; deep-fried turkey breast; brown butter and honey glazed ham; mashed potatoes; stuffing; roasted Brussels sprouts; coconut cream pie and pumpkin pie. $20 per person; children under 8 eat free. 3413 Cahuenga Blvd., Studio City; (323) 512-2500; www.henrys-hat.com.

Simon L.A. at the Sofitel Hotel is serving Thanksgiving, featuring free-range, organic turkey and trimmings such as sweet potatoes with caramelized walnuts, cornbread and sage stuffing, and buttermilk mashed potatoes. Kerry Simon's signature junk food platter: pumpkin cupcakes, orange coconut snowballs, pecan-date cookies, candy corn Rice Krispies treats, cranberry-orange sorbet, and pumpkin milkshake. Or you can have pumpkin pie. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., $46 per person, $21 for children under 12. Sofitel L.A., 8555 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 358-3979; www.simonlarestaurant.com.

Small Bites: Looking for Thanksgiving pies, cakes, galettes and cannoli? Try Village Bakery, Cake Monkey or Platine

Looking for Thanksgiving desserts you can pick up or have delivered? Here are a few bakeries that are doing all the work for you. There's not only pumpkin pie but double-decker pecan and pumpkin, apple and brown butter galettes, pecan dacquoise cake, and cannoli too.

Holy cannoli! Over at Village Bakery & Cafe in Atwater Village (the bakery that has taken over the former LA Bread space on Los Feliz Boulevard), Barbara Monderine (who was a founder and baker at Auntie Em's in Eagle Rock) is baking three kinds of pies for Thanksgiving. There are apple, chocolate-pecan and pumpkin pies. But don't miss out on her pan forte or cannoli (she fries her own cannoli shells) or maybe the individual lemon-olive-oil-rosemary cakes. Anyway, it sounds like you can't go wrong. Place orders by Monday. Open 'til noon on Thanksgiving for pickups. 3119 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 662-8600, www.thevillagebakeryandcafe.com.

Fake-it-and-bake-it: Jamie Cantor at Platine Cookies in Culver City is offering take-and-bake pies: apple, apple cranberry, pecan, and pumpkin for $25. You need only pop them in the oven; meanwhile, it will look like you've done all the work (rolling out the dough, preparing the filling ... ). It gets even easier: Fully-baked pies are $28 to $30, including a double-decker pecan pumpkin pie. And if cookies are required (who doesn't need cookies?), Cantor's twist on the old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookie has rolled oats, zante currants, granola, chocolate chips and walnuts (the classier compost cookie!). Place orders by Saturday. Pick up  on Wednesday (delivery can be arranged); closed Thanksgiving. 10850 Washington Blvd., (310) 559-9933, www.platinecookies.com.

Did you say toasted marshmallow? Online bake shop Cake Monkey's quirky, refined-retro aesthetic extends to its Thanksgiving offerings. Honey braised pumpkin tart with heirloom pumpkin custard in a graham cracker crust is topped with toasted marshmallow ($40, serves eight). Mini galettes are made with rustic pastry dough filled with either cranberry preserves or roasted apple with brown butter and Vermont cider jelly ($3.75 each, or $37 for a 9-inch that serves eight to 10). Pecan dacquoise cake is layered with brown butter cake, pecan dacquoise and caramel buttercream (individual, $7; 9-inch serves 12 to 17, $68; 10-inch serves 18 to 24, $80). Apple crumble cake has layers of burnt-sugar cake, roasted apple filling, crumble and burnt-sugar buttercream (prices and sizes same as pecan dacquoise cake). Order by Monday. Pickup or delivery. Call (877) 640-CAKE (2253) or (818) 841-0202, www.cakemonkey.com.

-- Betty Hallock

Photo: Pumpkin pie by Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Audrey Saunders on the Tar Pit: cocktail flights, housemade sodas, Sunday brunch (served all day because Saturday nights can be long)

Now that New York bartender extraordinaire Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club has teamed with Mark Peel and Jay Perrin of Campanile to open the Tar Pit, what's in store? Cocktail flights, food-and-drink pairings, Sunday brunch, housemade sodas and more.

And if you thought the name Tar Pit made it sound, well, dumpy, there's a reason (besides the reference to the La Brea Tar Pits).

"We drew inspiration from the old black-and- white movie 'My Man Godfrey,'" said Saunders. "William Powell is homeless and living on the city dump. He goes to work for Carole Lombard’s crazy family as the butler, rebuilds his fortune, then returns to the city dump to open the Dump -- a nightclub. When someone enters the Tar Pit for the first time, they'll be able to connect the irony in what the name represents, as opposed to the actual feel of the space." This place is no pit.

"The beverage program is neoclassical and tips its hat to the 1940s Hollywood bar scene," she  said. "It will encompass everything from old classics to new creations. We will also be developing an in-house carbonation program for housemade sodas." 

Cocktail flights also will be offered, in which you pick any three drinks from the cocktail menu and create your own flight (each is half the volume of a standard drink).

And get this:

Eating along the Gold Line Eastside Extension: What didn't we include?

 

After eating our way from Little Tokyo to Atlantic Boulevard (and beyond) in East L.A., we had the difficult task of deciding which restaurants to include in an article about the many, many places to dine along the Gold Line Eastside Extension. (Trains are scheduled to start running on Sunday.)

The Little Tokyo stop presented some particularly difficult choices, because the area is packed with so many restaurants, without even including the Arts District. In this case, an editorial decision was made: The story focuses on those restaurants that are closest, within about a block or so of the stop at 1st and Alameda streets. So it doesn't include anything south of 2nd Street or much further west of Central Avenue. Unfortunately, that omits a lot of great restaurants.

And we heard about it from readers. Please let us know what else you would have wanted included. 

Here, a few additions from readers: 

Hatfield's update: An end-of-December opening is planned (and yes, the former Red Pearl space gets a new paint job very soon)

"It's all anyone ever asks about on Twitter," chef Quinn Hatfield says. "When's the red paint going away? When are you going to paint? What color are you going to paint? It's a real touch-point for people."

Well, people, the space on Melrose Avenue that Quinn and Karen Hatfield are moving into (once Citrus, Alex, Meson G and most recently Red Pearl Kitchen) gets a new coat -- er, several coats? -- of paint as early as the end of this week (it will be off-white). The Hatfields expect their new incarnation of Hatfield's to open by the last week of December.

Having outgrown their former 40-seat restaurant on Beverly Boulevard, the couple is readying for a debut in a storied location (Michel Richard's Citrus was there for 11 years, but others haven't had such a great run).  The new Hatfield's seats 70 in the main dining room, 20 on the patio, 20 more in the private dining room, and at least that many in the bar and lounge. "It was pretty claustrophobic" in the old space, says Karen Hatfield. "And we were tired of having to tell people no, not being able to accommodate their requests. ...

Small Bites: Chocolate dim sum at the Peninsula; choucroute garnie at Bistro LQ; bartenders from New Orleans' Cure at the Edison's Radio Room

Dim sum for dessert:The Peninsula Beverly Hills puts a spin on a tribute to its Hong Kong roots with chocolate dim sum -- yes, chocolate. The dessert dumplings, created by executive chef James Overbaugh and executive pastry chef Miguel Torres, are being offered in the hotel's Club Bar and the Living Room (where resident pianist Antonio Castillo de la Gala performs, 7:30 p.m. to midnight Tuesdays to Thursdays and from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays). The warm, crisp, sweet dumplings are filled with either dark or white chocolate and citrus cream cheese. They're dusted with powdered sugar and served with three dipping sauces -- passion fruit, orange-raspberry and ginger-caramel -- and green tea ice cream. 9882 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 975-2736, www.peninsula.com.

Sausages-n-sauerkraut: Nothing says "Alsace!" like a platter of choucroute garnie. Bistro LQ chef-owner Laurent Quenioux will be serving the traditional French-German dish on Nov. 24 and 25. His includes sauerkraut poached in Riesling, jambonneau (cured pork knuckle), Morteau sausage, apple wood smoked bacon, pork shoulder, ham hocks, boudin blanc, Strasbourg sausage (wieners), blood sausage and steamed potatoes. The three-course menu also includes herring with quail egg as a first course and dessert and mignardises. $40 per person. 8009 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 951-1088, www.bistrolq.com.

The last Radio Room of 2009: Tonight's Radio Room at the Edison downtown features guest bartenders from New Orleans' Cure, which owner Neal Bodenheimer opened this year, hiring a crack team of bartenders, including Richard Gomez, Kirk Estopinal and Danny Valdez. Gomez, Estopinal and Valdez will be "behind the stick" tonight at the Radio Room, the last one for this year, along with Plymouth gin brand ambassador Simon Ford (expect plenty of gin cocktails). Tickets for the 8 p.m. event are $10; proceeds will benefit the Los Angeles chapter of the U.S. Bartenders Guild, the Sporting Life and the Museum of the American Cocktail. 108 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles, (213) 613-0000, www.edisondowntown.com.

-- Betty Hallock

Photo: chocolate dim sum. Credit: Peninsula Beverly Hills.

Chocolate chip cookies from 'Ad Hoc at Home'

It may take up to three days to make Thomas Keller's Catalan beef stew, a recipe from his newly published cookbook "Ad Hoc at Home: Family-Style Recipes," written with Ad Hoc chef de cuisine Dave Cruz. But not all recipes require a five-hour confit of onions and tomatoes.

Some are in fact really easy. There are a few that I've already made more than once, such as the chocolate chip cookies (see below for the recipe).

This cookie is slightly thicker than my Platonic ideal of a chocolate chip cookie (crisp and thin with a still-chewy center, made partly with whole-grain flour and lots of really dark chocolate, and at the outer edge it should have wrinkles that form what sort of look like concentric circles ... ), but I digress. Let's just say this one grew on me.

I think part of the reason is that these are perfect cookies for ice cream sandwiches. That's how I've been eating them, inspired by photos of ice cream sandwiches in the dessert chapter of the book. They're crisp on the outside, and chewy and slightly dense on the inside so that they don't crumble or collapse when you bite into the ice cream sandwich. 

Just as persimmons are getting really good, an autumn preserves demo at Surfas

Now that we're squarely in fall, Saving the Season's Kevin West and Bettina Birch of Bee Green Farm return to Surfas on Saturday to conduct a demonstration on autumn preserves. The in-depth demo, starting at 11 a.m., will focus on fruits of the season (persimmons, apples) and comes in time to start thinking about your Thanksgiving table.

West and Birch will be making fresh persimmon butter (no canning required), spiced apple-persimmon chutney with Birch's own Fuyu persimmons and Arkansas Black apples, and something to liven your Thanksgiving dinner: not cranberry relish but cranberry jam with orange peel and candied ginger.

The demo is free, open to the public, and no reservations are necessary. West and Birch promise there will be an all-you-can-eat tasting to follow.

Surfas, 8777 Washington Blvd., Culver City.

-- Betty Hallock

Join us on Twitter @latimesfood and Facebook at facebook.com/latimesfood

Photo: Fuyu persimmons. Credit: David Karp / Los Angeles Times

Hot pot! Workshops on making Japanese nabe

Share a hot pot, share the love. The Japanese believe that sharing a meal from a single pot forms closer relationships. Well, here's your chance to get in on the umami.

Food journalist Harris Salat (who co-wrote the recently published "Japanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals") and Japanese cookbook author Sonoko Sakai are teaming up to offer workshops next weekend on nabe, the hot pot dishes that are the soul food of Japanese cuisine.

The hands-on workshops feature three classic nabe: 1) mushroom hot pot, kinoko nabe, with a mixture of Japanese mushrooms such as shimeji, maitake and shiitake that are available at farmers markets -- maybe some nice porcinis or  trumpets; 2) salmon hot pot, ishikari nabe, a hearty fishermen's nabe from Hokkaido (Japan's northernmost main island), featuring a miso-based broth, salmon, onions, potatoes and more; and 3) sumo wrestler hot pot, chanko nabe (which means "father and child," symbolizing sumo togetherness), with chicken dumplings, fresh pork belly, tofu and a variety of vegetables, accented by zesty chiles and tangy yuzu. You'll learn fundamental Japanese kitchen skills including knife techniques, dashi and flavoring. Bring a good kitchen knife and an appetite.

Two workshops are scheduled, one on Nov. 14, the other on Nov. 15. Click here to register (scroll down the page to the "Add to Cart" button). The cost is $65 per person and each workshop is limited to 15 people.

-- Betty Hallock

Photo: Hot pot from "Japanese Hot Pots" by Harris Salat and Tadashi Ono