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

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

LudoBites comes to Royal/T in Culver City starting Dec. 2

Chef Ludovic Lefebvre's pop-up restaurant LudoBites at Breadbar was a smash success, and when it ended in August, his newly expanded L.A. fan base hungered for more. Amid the swirling rumors that he would launch a brick-and-mortar restaurant -- still a distinct possibility -- Lefebvre has partnered with art gallery/Japanese maid cafe Royal/T for another incarnation of LudoBites, which debuts in December.

The 13-day engagement (Dec. 2 to 4; 9 to 10; 13 to 17; and 20 to 22) is presented in conjunction with Jane Glassman's "In Bed Together" exhibit. We suggest making reservations as soon as possible.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Chef Ludovic Lefebvre works behind the counter while diners eat LudoBites at Breadbar. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

Sampler Platter: Ludo pops up in Culver City, hummus wars, albino carrots, chili cornbread sandwich

The Hummus War drags on while Amelie Mauresmo sips a 1982 Lafite Rothschild and albino carrots plot a return to store shelves.

--Los Angeles magazine, which features real L.A. waitresses in November's fashion spread, says chef Ludovic Lefebvre will do a pop-up restaurant in Culver City come December.
--Regional cuisine war simmers as Lebanon retakes from Israel the coveted world record for largest plate of hummus. Yahoo! News
--All McDonald's in Iceland to close after krona collapse. Bloomberg
--Chili cornbread sandwich gains national fame. Marshall News Messenger
--After centuries away, albino carrots return to store shelves. Daily Mail
--Slate explores the world of hardcore couponing.
--The culinary adventures of chef Celestino Drago. LAist
--French tennis star Amélie Mauresmo shares her passion for collecting wine. Wine Spectator
--"Corndog on a PLane," art that delivers what it promises. Finally. Etsy
--Half of Britons injured by their biscuits (i.e. cookies) on coffee break. Telegraph

--Elina Shatkin

--Photo: Lebanese chefs joyfully react after breaking a Guinness World Record by making a bowl of hummus weighing more than 2,056 kilograms. Credit: Hussein Malla / AP

Small Bites: Royal/T celebrates Sanrio's anniversary with Hello Kitty menu; Osteria Drago to open in Newport Beach

Hello, Hello Kitty: Royal/T in Culver City will help fete the 35th anniversary of Sanrio Inc. The celebration runs from Oct. 23 to Nov. 15. Along with the "Three Apples" art exhibit, the cafe will offer a Hello Kitty menu: Hello Kitty's "kawaii high tea"; toasted white bread sandwiches such as "say hello chicken and artichoke tramezzini" and "school is fun ham and cheese; and hand-decorated "sweety happy cookies." (All served by Royal/T cafe's maid-outfitted servers.) Sunday, Nov.1, is Hello Kitty's birthday party, featuring an assortment of Hello Kitty pancakes and waffles, a DJ, party games and prizes; birthday cake served 4 to 5 p.m. 8910 Washington Blvd., Culver City, (310) 559-6300, www.royal-t.org.

A Drago for Orange County: Chef-restaurateur Celestino Drago is expanding the Drago empire, with plans to open another new Italian restaurant -- Osteria Drago. The restaurant will be Drago's first outside of L.A., to be located at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. The menu will include Naples-style pizza from a wood-burning oven as well as regional family-style dishes: fresh pasta, polenta, fish and game. The more-than-3,700-square-foot space also will include a wine bar and patio seating. Felderman Keatinge & Associates designed Drago Centro in downtown Los Angeles and will design Osteria Drago. The opening is slated for early next year. 

-- Betty Hallock

Photo: Hello Kitty menu/Royal/T

Three Food Events You Should Know About: Your Oktoberfest weekend begins with beer

ONGOING

Oktoberfest goes global October is for Oktoberfest, but at the Culver Hotel that doesn't mean all German food all the time. Instead the iconic, wedge-shaped hotel will serve an "Around the World" Oktoberfest menu (throughout the month) that pairs beers with their matching cultural comfort food. You get five courses in all, beginning with Germany (sausage, bacon and potato salad and Hefeweizen); then moving on to Japan (sesame-crusted ahi tuna and Sapporo); Southern California (organic butternut squash ravioli and Angel City Ale); Colorado (braised Colorado lamb and Hoptoberfest); and finally Mexico (churros with vanilla ice cream/Dos Equis). Best of all? The price. Dinner is $28; make that $38 with beer pairings. Sign me up! Culver Hotel, 9400 Culver Blvd., Culver City. (310) 558-9400. www.culverhotel.com.

SUNDAY

Tasting Abbot Kinney Join what's being dubbed an urban adventure with the very first Taste of Abbot Kinney. Walk the famed street on an eating and drinking tour of its many popular establishments. If you buy a ticket, you can get a taste from almost every restaurant on the street including the Tasting Kitchen, Joe's (which is also hosting a bartending competition), Marla's Kitchen, Three Square and Equator Cafe. Certain places will also offer wine or Champagne. Ticket holders will also receive discounts at many of the street's retail shops (Salt, Surfing Cowboys, Patio Culture and more). Proceeds benefit Inside Out Community Arts, a nonprofit that brings arts education to underserved L.A. school children. Check-in is at 920 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. (310) 397-8820. www.tasteofabbottkinney.com.

A tea tour If you're a tea fan, you might want to consider joining Kuvlov (founder of the Valentine's Tea Festival) for an in-depth tour of the Fowler Museum's exhibition "Steeped in History: The Art of Tea." The exhibition (and tour) focuses on the history and culture of tea in the East. The tour will be followed by a lunch created by chef Kristy Choo of Jin Patisserie. Last of all you'll wind down with tea purveyors 1001 Plateaus and a tasting of rare (and aged) Chinese teas. Fowler Museum, north campus, UCLA; enter campus lot 4 at Sunset Boulevard at Westwood Plaza. L.A. (310) 825-4361. www.fowler.ucla.edu.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Small Bites: Lounge debuts at Akasha, more Hatchi series at Breadbar, the Mountain debuts in Idyllwild

The Lounge at Akasha: Starting this weekend, Akasha will transform its bakery into a lounge on Friday and Saturday nights from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The expanded bar menu includes fried chicken sliders with jalapeno coleslaw ($8), merguez sausage pizza ($14), Let's Be Frank hot dogs ($7) and more. The snacks are accompanied by a larger beer list that features Angel City Abbey Ale, Sam Smith Organic Lager and Allagash Curieux in a large bottle meant to be shared. Or not. And … for the month of September, happy hour pricing will apply on lounge nights. That means 50% off all cocktails, beers and wines by the glass. Akasha, 9543 Culver Blvd., Culver City. (310) 845-1700, www.akasharestaurant.com.

Hatchi Series: Chef Remi Lauvand (Citrus at Social, Miró, Sevilla, Montrachet) pops into Breadbar this Thursday as part of the Hatchi Guest Chef series. From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. he'll present his Endless Summer menu: eight seasonally-inspired dishes, each priced at $8. Options include house-cured Tasmanian trout with a tarragon and lemon hatch pepper relish; foie "parfait" pain d’épices with mission figs; handmade farfalle with octopus, chicken oysters and tomatoes; a crisp pork belly salad with parsnips and a jalapeno sauce; a goat cheese and pear crepe; and more. Minimum order, three dishes. Breadbar Century City, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. (310) 277-3770, www.breadbar.net.

Slow Food for a Slow Town: With the slogan "No can openers, microwaves or deep fryers in our kitchen," slow-food restaurant the Mountain turned 1 month old Sunday. Chef Brian Ayers' menu of market- and farm-fresh dishes includes truffled artichoke soup, brown butter roasted veal sweetbreads with bacon, shave celeriac, house made pâté seasoned with cognac, spicy lamb loin and more. On Sept. 30, Mountain will be open for a special winemakers' dinner featuring five courses of small plates paired with five Chilean wines from Koyle Vineyards. $65 per person; reservations required. The Mountain, 26290 Idyllwild Road (Hwy 243), Idyllwild. (951) 659-1974, www.themountainrestaurant.com.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Akasha Richmond, chef and owner of Akasha. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

This week's L.A. Times test kitchen recipes

All recipes that appear in the L.A. Times' weekly Food section are tested and perfected in our test kitchen before they're deemed fit to print. (That means you don't have to worry about a trial run before serving one of our recipes to company.) Rest assured, it should work the first time out of the gate.

Here's a look at this week's recipes:

Swordfish with tomatoes and fennel

Lentil salad with tomatoes, zucchini and arugula

The cucumber, pineapple juice and ginger aqua fresca served at Akasha in Culver City

-- Rene Lynch

Photo: Ricardo DeAratanha  / Los Angeles Times

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Small Bites: Fuego opens in Long Beach, Sol Cocina opens in Newport Beach, Debbie Lee at Gyenari, the new lunch menu at Water Grill

 

"Latin coastal" in Long Beach: Fuego restaurant is now open in the new Hotel Maya in Long Beach, with a menu that's "coastal Latin American." The executive chef is Jesse Perez. The indoor-outdoor dining room overlooks the waterfront of Long Beach, with 360-degree views. On the menu: shrimp ceviche with chile roja; duck al pastor tacos; chile relleño with pork carnitas; Yucatan-style pork “two ways"; and ancho chile grilled rib eye. Tequila tastings are delivered on a vintage dumb waiter to guests seated in the lower bar area (where there are leather and mohair tequila chairs). Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hotel Maya, 700 Queensway Drive, Long Beach, (562) 481-3910, www.fuegolongbeach.com.

"Baja-inspired" in Newport Beach: SOL Cocina restaurant and bar has opened on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach. Executive chef Deborah Schneider is serving "Baja-inspired" dishes such as sauteed tangerine shrimp, mango-lobster tostadas, and ceviches, as well kurobuta pork carnitas and buttered tequila-steamed clams. The bar stocks more than 50 varieties of tequilas and mezcals. 251 Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach, www.solcocina.com.

Debbie does Gyenari: The judges on "The Next Food Network Star" raved about Debbie Lee's cooking. If you want to find out what the fuss was all about, you might want to try Gyenari in Culver City, which bills itself as an "upscale Korean BBQ destination." Lee, a Los Angeles-based restaurant consultant who made it to the final three of the Food Network competition, has revamped Gyenari's menu. Lee calls her style "Seoul to Soul," in homage to her unconventional upbringing: Her parents were Korean immigrants who settled in the South. Lee was raised on collard greens and fried chicken, and wasn't introduced to Korean food until she was well into her teens. Now, she puts a Korean spin on traditional Southern fare. On the menu at Gyenari: a SeoulTown Po' Boy made with sesame shrimp tempura, cilantro slaw and chile tomatoes; a crispy chile-crusted snapper with soy bean succotash and twice-fried pork belly; and pan-seared pork chops with Fuji apple gravy and kimchee smashed potatoes. 9540 Culver Blvd., Culver City, (310) 838-3131, www.gyenari.com.

New lunch menu at Water Grill: Chef David Lefevre has unveiled a new lunch menu, with salads such as Sea of Cortez white shrimp Caesar salad and sandwiches such as albacore tuna confit and lobster roll. Entrees include Cedar Key clam and sweet corn orechiette with Niman Ranch bacon and sweet basil and Alaskan halibut sauteed and basted with lavender, Meyer lemon and Madagascar vanilla bean oil. The current oyster selection: Malaspina, Fanny Bay, Evening Cove, Kumamoto, Bagaduce and Beausoleil. 544 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 891-0900, www.watergrill.com.

-- Betty Hallock and Rene Lynch

Photo: Gyenari. Credit: Glenn Koenig/Los Angeles Times.

 

It's time for lunch -- school lunch, that is

Thirty million children eat school lunch every day. A pretty big captive audience, and plenty of healthy-food advocates want to see some changes in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.

So what do food people do when they want to make a statement? They do it with food, naturally. Slow Food USA has organized "Time for Lunch," a campaign to draw attention to school food. Around the country, almost 270 pot luck "eat-ins" are planned on Sept. 7, in schools, community gardens, parks, homes and other spots. One goal is to get 20,000 people to sign a petition to the federal government asking for changes in the school food programs.

“We want to tell the story of America coming together to demand food that’s good for their kids,” said Slow Food’s president, Josh Viertel.

For Viertel and others, that means more fresh fruits and vegetables and more federal money for schools to buy food -- many child nutrition advocates would like to see $1 a day per child more -- reimbursements are now less than $3 for each free lunch a cafeteria serves.

One of the Los Angeles events will be at 4 p.m. at Fancifull Fine Food and Baskets, on Melrose Avenue near Larchmont. Computers will be available for people to sign the Slow Food petition, and there will be cooking demonstrations for children by Homegirl Cafe. People are asked to bring a dish to share.

Other eat-ins are planned in Elysian Park, Culver City, Highland Park and elsewhere around L.A.

Many educators now see the cafeteria as a part of a child’s learning, and food services officials are listening to students’ opinions about food they’re served, said Matt Sharp of California Food Policy Advocates. And decision-makers are tying what kids eat at school to their long-term health and to the costs of treating conditions associated with obesity, including high blood pressure and diabetes.

The Review: Le Saint Amour in Culver City, how very French

The first time I went to Paris, a friend's old boyfriend, a poet who taught English to the employees of the French phone company, took me in hand and introduced me to his favorite restaurants. This American in Paris was mad about simple bistros and lively brasseries. He never spent more than the equivalent of $25 on a meal and I doubt very much he ever ate at a Michelin-starred restaurant, yet he loved everything about eating in France.

I've lost contact with him over the years, but if he ever came to Los Angeles, I have just the place for him: the new French brasserie Le Saint Amour. I'm confident he'd enjoy the authentic atmosphere created by Florence and Bruno Herve-Commereuc. He'd be impressed by Monsieur Herve-Commereuc's commitment to make his own charcuterie and stick to a classic French menu. The waiters are much nicer than in Paris, and from the way the women hold their forks and the men drape their cashmere sweaters over their shoulders, not to mention those rolling r's, half the crowd looks to be French.

The cooking here is the kind you'd find in any everyday brasserie in Paris, and like many of those average places, though more attention to detail and better ingredients would certainly improve the food, they would also probably result in higher prices.

To read the rest of S. Irene Virbila's review, click here.

Photo: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times