The apéritif hour: Dan Young's feta-shized popcorn

When New Yorker Daniel Young fell in love with a Brit, the former New York Daily News restaurant critic and author ended up moving to London. And re-inventing his career with the social eating site Young & Foodish--"Eat great food. Meet great people."It was slow going at first, but now BurgerMonday, when he invites young up-and-coming chefs to present their variations on the burger theme, sells out in minutes. If you find yourself in London, it’s worth checking the Young & Foodish site to see what events--BurgerMonday, PizzaTuesday, SpagWednesday, WichThursday, FryFriday and CoffeeSaturday pop-ups—are happening while you’re there. You’ll meet some London foodies around the table and glean up-to-the-minute dining tips. Young is my trusted guide to all things delicious in London. (He's also created the Young & Foodish app for iPhone and Android.)

 When I was last there, I asked the passionate expat cook what he serves with drinks when he invites people over. 

 “London food obsessives are always disappointed when I serve them feta-shized popcorn as apéros at our Stoke Newington loft," he wrote. "They never voice their disappointment but you can see it in their expressions: 'Popcorn? How bloody ordinary!'"

"But soon they are diving in, with the hands, naturally. I doubt even the Queen eats popcorn with a spoon. And soon they can't stop themselves from grabbing increasingly larger fistfuls, greasing and salting their fingers with the melted feta and eating the popcorn noisily. No cocktail would loosen up a stiff Brit as quickly or more effectively."

When I made the popcorn last week for dinner guests, we all had that same greedy reaction. I followed his recipe almost to the letter, but used half the oil and added another big spoonful of Espelette pepper after I’d mixed everything together. 

See Young's recipe for feta-shized popcorn after the jump:

Entertaining: Simple place card holders

There’s so much to do when a crowd comes to dinner that it helps to have already settled on the seating plan.

I don’t know why, but attractive place card holders seem hard to find. I’ve never found any that I really loved and so mostly have resorted to making my own. I have a stack of painted initials I made one day when I was playing around with my watercolors. I make them as I need them, or in a pinch, when I’ve run out of letters, use a guest’s last name initial instead of his or her first.

The other day I decided to look on Etsy. I searched for handmade place card holders and came up with an astonishing 2,772 entries. Some are plain silly (personalized wine corks or golf tee holders anyone?), others too gaudy. 

But there are some finds, such as sea urchin shells with a slit for the card, tree branch slices (a lot of variations on this idea), gold scallop shells, Champagne corks (that’s one for a DIY project), and on and on.

In the end, after I’d looked through pages and pages of selections, there weren’t all that many ideas. Nothing seemed simple enough. I got tired of the sea urchin idea quickly, same for the tree branch slices. Those squiggly wire holders? No thanks.

Forget the formal gold-trimmed cards and make your own.

In the end, my favorites were a simple antique bronze swirl (above, 10 for $45) and a classic round antique gold metal holder (right, 12 for $30)

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-- S. Irene Virbila
Twitter.com/sirenevirbila

Photos: HomesAndWeddings

 

'Moveable Feasts' dinner series by Los Angeles Nomadic Division

 

 

The nonprofit public art initiative known as Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) was founded in 2009 to curate site- and situation-specific contemporary art projects in L.A. and farther afield.

The organization has featured "Nomadic Nights," an ongoing series of events, in various locations throughout L.A. that reflect the diverse ways in which contemporary artists engage and present visual culture through their work, performances and ideas.

New to the organization this year is "Moveable Feasts," a dinner series that incorporates elements similar to "Nomadic Nights" by making art accessible to the public but is different in that the engagement of people and culture will be more intimate through the added component of food.

"Moveable Feasts" will take place at restaurants throughout the city once a month. Each event will be held in honor of a different artist, will take place in a different neighborhood of L.A. and will feature a specially selected three-course menu. As of now, four dinners are planned for January through April at locations in West Hollywood, Venice and downtown.

On Sunday, LAND will host its first of the "Moveable Feasts" series with a dinner at Lucques on Melrose Avenue in honor of L.A.-based artist Mungo Thomson. Thomson, whose work includes various media  exploring backgrounds and space, was part of LAND's exhibition "The Secret Knows" in Austin, Texas, "The Secret (Still) Knows" in L.A. and "Nothing Beside Remains" in Marfa, Texas.

Tickets to the event are $150 per person and include a three-course dinner with wine as well as a signed copy of Thomson's People, a magazine created by Thomson that addresses reception and empty space.

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Image Credit: Mungo Thomson, People, 2011. A LAND Exhibition: Nothing Beside Remains.

Holiday restaurant roundup: Even more

Last week we listed several restaurants around L.A. that are keeping their doors open for anyone wanting to dine out this holiday season. Whether you're looking to keep it laid back with Chinese food and a movie or jazz it up with a prix-fixe menu, there's something for everyone. Here are even more restaurants to add to our previously posted restaurant roundup:

Ink: On New Year's Eve, Michael Voltaggio's recently opened restaurant is offering a five-course tasting menu for $125, with the option of beverage pairings for an additional $75. For more information call (323) 651-5866. 8360 Melrose Ave., L.A., (323) 651-5866, mvink.com.

The Foundry on Melrose: The restaurant is celebrating Christmas Eve differently than most, with Chinese food and movies. Get your fix of egg rolls, chicken mu shu, empress soup and Chinese broccoli while feasting your eyes on two films that will be chosen by diners who vote via Facebook beforehand. (In the running are "The Goonies," "Indiana Jones" and "Trading Places.") Christmas Eve dinner and a movie costs $39 per person. 7465 Melrose Ave., L.A., (323) 651-0915, thefoundryonmelrose.com.

Rustic Canyon: The wine bar and seasonal kitchen will be closed Christmas Eve and day but will be open New Year's Eve. Diners will choose eight of fifteen menu options to be shared, family-style, by the table at $85 per person. A warm lobster salad and pork belly confit with crispy collard greens and Anson Mills grits are among the offerings. 1119 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 393-7050, rusticcanyonwinebar.com.

Terranea Resort: The oceanfront hotel in Rancho Palos Verdes has three options for dining this New Year's Eve. Its signature restaurant, Mar'sel, will offer a prix-fixe menu with selections like truffle-poached oysters and terrine of Sonoma foie gras, while those looking for dancing and music can head to the ballroom, which will be stocked with food and bar stations, not to mention champagne. Families celebrating together can fill up on butter-poached Maine lobster and a roasted rack of lamb, among other dishes, at Catalina Kitchen's buffet. The price for Mar'sel's first seating is $95 per person, and for the second, $145; the ballroom celebration is $50 per person; and the buffet is $89 per person. 100 Terranea Way, Rancho Palos Verdes, (310) 265-2836, terranea.com.

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Christmas and New Year's restaurant roundup

Looking to celebrate Christmas and New Year's out on the town? Whether you're in the mood for caviar and truffles, prime rib, roasted leg of lamb, crab salad, sushi or a pizza party, several restaurants are here to help with the festivities: 

Bäco Mercat: The new downtown restaurant from chef Josef Centeno is celebrating Christmas Eve and New York's Eve with family-style dinners. On Christmas Eve, braised beef shank comes with a stack of bäco flatbreads, salad and sides for $75 and serves two to four people. On the New Year's Eve menu is suckling pig with bäco breads, salad and sides for $80 and serves two. Call for reservations. 408 S. Main St., Los Angeles, (213) 687-8808, www.bacomercat.com.

BOA Steakhouse: The Sunset Strip steakhouse will feature menu specials such as prime rib and whole branzino on Christmas Eve. For New Year’s Eve, the restaurant will have live entertainment with a DJ,four-course prix-fixe menu and two seatings: 6:30 ($95) and 9:30 p.m. ($165). The Santa Monica location offeres a “surf & turf” NYE menu ($75) including dishes such as pan-seared scallops with truffled foie gras risotto with a wild mushroom demi-glace, smoked chipotle, coffee-braised prime short ribs with snow crab cluster and strawberry honey biscuit shortcake with white chocolate cream. 9200 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 278-2050, 101 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 899-4466,  boasteak.com.

Border Grill: Celebrate New Year's Mexican style at Border Grill. For $55 per person, a four-course dinner includes spicy crab taco, smoked mussel ceviche tostadita, coriander-roasted leg of lamb and more. Optional margarita and wine pairings. The a la carte menu will also be available. 445 S. Figueroa St.,  Los Angeles, (213) 486-5171, and 1445 4th St., Santa Monica, (310) 451-1655; bordergrill.com.

Cafe del Rey: Ring in 2012 seaside at Café del Rey with a three-course prix-fixe menu centered on fresh seafood. Some menu highlights include lobster thermidor with brandy and hollandaise sauce, and Wagyu beef tartare with black currants and olives. Additional New Year’s Eve specials such as duck confit crostini and truffle risotto will also be available. The first seating begins at 5:30 ($65 per person), and the second at 8:30 p.m. ($95 per person, including a glass of sparkling wine). 4451 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, (310) 823-6395, www.cafedelreymarina.com.

Cecconi's: Dinner at Cecconi's this New Year's Eve is a black-tie affair. The restaurant is serving an elegant four-course dinner at $235 per person. For the first course, diners can choose between cream of parsnip soup with white truffle, corn Madeleine with crème fraîche and caviar, or hamachi tartare in a plantain cone. The next courses range from smoked ahi tuna carpaccio with blood orange and wild fennel pollen to wood-roast spicy rock lobster, clams and saffron guazzetto. For dessert, chocolate fondant with coconut gelato, panettone delizia with warm Moscato zabaglione or torrone semifreddo with pistachio sauce.  Reservations are available for 8 p.m. and will secure your table for dinner and DJ until 2012. 8764 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (310) 432-2000, www.cecconiswesthollywood.com.

Chaya: Chaya's three restaurants -- in Beverly Hills, downtown L.A. and Venice -- are hosting themed New Year's Eve soirées that include "Midnight in Paris," "New York Nights" and "Mardi Gras Carnival." Each destination will feature prix-fixe menus, live entertainment and midnight toasts. In downtown L.A., experience New York with live jazz and Chaya's signature Euro-Asian cuisine with a "bonsai box" of big-eye tuna sushi, Kumamoto oyster and sea urchin shooter and a Moroccan-spiced maple leaf duck salad. 525 S. Flower St., L.A., (213) 236-9577, thechaya.com.

City Tavern: This craft beer bar in Culver City will be hosting “Brew Year's Eve.” From 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., patrons can drink unlimited beer, wine and Champagne for $68 per person. A reduced price of $56 is extended to guests with a dinner reservation. In addition, booths accommodating six to eight people can be reserved for $100 per person. 9739 Culver Blvd., Culver City, (310) 838-9739, www.citytavernculvercity.com.

Drago Centro: On Christmas Eve, Drago Centro is celebrating with the feast of seven fishes. The seven- course menu is $70 per person with optional wine pairings for an additional $40. Dishes include Blue Point oyster with red currant pearls, crab salad with fennel and pomegranate seeds, Maine lobster cappuccino and more. 525 S. Flower St., Suite 120, Los Angeles, www.dragocentro.com.

Fig and Olive: New Year's Eve dinner is meant to evoke the French Riviera with Fig and Olive’s four-course prix-fixe menu at $150 per person. Each guest will be greeted with a complimentary glass of Moët & Chandon Champagne and a set of white and gold party favors to celebrate the New Year. Diners can savor grilled langoustine de San Sebastian with artichoke tapenade and smoked pimentón olive oil and fig foie gras terrine with pear chutney and Pedro Ximenez reduction. After dinner, dance in the restaurant until 2 a.m. with DJ Julien Nolan. 8490 Melrose Place, West Hollywood, (310) 360-9100, figandolive.com.

Jar: Executive chef Suzanne Tracht will be serving up her signature dishes as well as some New Year's Eve specials at Jar. The a la carte menu will include truffled celery root soup with braised celery hearts, oxtail consommé with oxtail pumpkin dumplings, and gnocchi with chanterelles and lobster. In addition, guests will be given party favors to celebrate the coming of 2012. 8225 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 655-6566, www.thejar.com. 

Locanda Del Lago: On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, chef Gianfranco Minuz is cooking a meal showcasing Italian winter ingredients. Diners can choose between a $55 three-course menu or a $68 four-course menu.  Diners can add optional wine pairings ($25) and a seasonal dessert ($11). The holiday menu includes Scottish salmon marinated with pomegranate and spiced wine reduction, capon chicken tortellini with chicken consommé and Grana Padano, and roasted veal tenderloin with morel mushroom and chestnut sauce. On New Year’s Eve, the restaurant will be offering a five-course prix-fixe menu for $89 per person or $139 per person, which includes endless Pommery Champagne. There will be a live DJ and dancing. Overnight parking is available to diners for $15 (with next-day pickup from 5 to 10 p.m.). 231 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 451-3525, lagosantamonica.com.

Lucques: This New Year's Eve at Lucques, diners will be transported to the canals of Venice with a meal inspired by the famous Harry's Bar. The five-course prix-fixe menu is $110 for the first seating and $150 for the second seating. The menu includes a Venetian antipasto of grisini with prosciutto di Parma, fagioli and winter squash in saor, fried artichokes in bagna cauda and burrata with pesto. Following the antipasto will be warm scallop and squid salad, tagliolini with lobster and herb-roasted rack of lamb with radicchio risotto. To end the feast, torta di zabaglione for dessert. 

 8474 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 655-6277, lucques.com.

Marino's: A classic Italian restaurant, Marino's is serving up the traditional southern Italian feast of seven fishes family-style. The four-course meal is $60 per person, including dishes such as spaghetti with baby clams, cod cakes and poached branzino. For dessert, guests can enjoy ricotta cheescake, panettone souffle or roasted chestnuts. 6001 Melrose Ave, Hollywood, (323) 466-8812, www.marinorestaurant.net. 

Mélisse: Michelin-starred chef Josiah Citrin is preparing a five-course Christmas Eve menu priced at $150 per guest. Options include seared foie gras and glazed pear; smoked salmon "pavé" with potato, green apple, caviar and sauce gribiche; Maine lobster and scallop “pot au feu”; or prime filet of beef with bulb onions. Guests will have a choice of fig and apple tart or a Valhrona chocolate crunch cake for dessert. Mélisse's New Year's Eve dinner has two options: an early seating beginning at 5:30 with a four-course menu ($140) or a late seating at 8:30 p.m. for six courses ($250). Highlights of the menu include the restaurant's signature caviar with poached egg and lemon crème fraîche, lemon-crusted Dover sole and olive-crusted lamb. Reservations are advised. 1104 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 385-0881, melisse.com.

Mozza's Scuola di Pizza: Nancy Silverton's Scuola di Pizza at Mozza offers Saturday night family-style dinners, and Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are no exception. Christmas Eve is the annual feast of seven fishes for $75 at 7 p.m. And on New Year's Eve, a multi-course dinner celebrating truffle season will be served with wines for $250 per person at 8 p.m. Seating is limited. Call the event line at (323) 297-1133. 6602 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, www.mozza-la.com. 

Be prepared: Champagne flutes for the hordes

Picture this. It could happen. A couple dozen friends descend on your abode one evening, bubbly in hand and primed for revelry. But hark! No one thought to bring Champagne flutes along with the sparkler.

Tell me you’re not going to resort to drinking that gorgeous vintage Champagne out of jelly glasses or bulletproof wine glasses.

This is when Govino rides to the rescue. You suddenly remember you have a couple dozen of their go-anywhere Champagne flutes stashed on a shelf in the closet. Possibly leftover from your sister’s b-day party at the beach, but who remembers? 

The shape is right, slender and elegant. Thin-walled as crystal, but made from a food-safe, BPA-free polymer. And here's the good thing -- reusable. No stem, but at this point who cares? 

Just pop the cork.

 

The four-pack tote is available at the following Los Angeles wine shops at $12.95: Silverlake Wine, Wally’s and the Wine House.

The flutes are also available at govinowine.com, where you can buy a box of 12 for $38.50, a box of 36 for $114.95, or a box of 72 for $228.95. Party on.

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Photos: govino Champagne flutes. Credit: govino.

Entertaining: Polishing the old silver

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I learned a new trick for holiday — or anytime — entertaining. I had laid out my Paris flea market silverplate forks, discouraged to see that the ends of the tines were black again. I really hate using messy silver polish, so I tried to coax my husband into doing the dirty deed. No luck.

Maybe it was time to try that baking soda trick I'd read about somewhere. I actually had had a huge bag of baking soda sitting by the back door for months, ever since my mother offered to bring me some of her favorite cleaning product.

But a 5-pound bag? Mother.

I rummaged around for a nonreactive container the right size, lined the bottom with tinfoil, laid the forks on the bottom, sprinkled over a few tablespoons of baking soda and added boiling water to cover the silverware.

Then I waited. Nothing happened. I didn't really expect much, but I left it there and forgot all about it for a couple of hours. When I remembered and checked on my experiment, the silver was sparkling clean. No scrubbing. No dirty cloth. No metal polish. Just plain old baking soda.

Then I tried my silver jewelry, and it worked well on that too. However, one of my smaller earrings somehow escaped and ended up in the garbage disposal, so it was not an entirely successful project.

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Photos: Silverware in a baking soda bath. Credit: S. Irene Virbila / Los Angeles Times.

5 Questions for Tara Maxey

Tara Maxey is co-owner of Heirloom LA, a catering company that specializes in fresh pasta and local ingredients. The former wardrobe stylist studied pastry under Suzanne Griswold of Spago and also worked with Cake Monkey Bakery's Elizabeth Belkind. Since opening in 2009, the catering company has wowed Angelenos with its "lasagna cupcakes," added a food truck to its repertoire and is now in the process of opening a tasting room in Eagle Rock.

What’s coming next on your menu? Our holiday menu! Every Monday my dad sets out for McGrath Family Farms in Camarillo to pick up any of their overages. This year they provided us with roughly 8,000 pounds of strawberries, which forced us to come up with a lot of flavor combinations for jam (my favorite: lavender and rosemary), as well as learn how to utilize a dehydrator (strawberry dust maintains its color and flavor). Now we're getting in a gorgeous array of pumpkins and squash that boldly point out the season and possess arresting shapes and stunning hues and flavors that you would never find in corporate agriculture. We're classically pairing these organic beauties with brown butter and sage or vanilla and using them for fillings in our lasagna cupcakes, agnolotti and shepherd’s pies ... and cocktails!

Latest ingredient obsession? Bitters because they scare me. We've been making a lot of cocktails for ourselves over here at Heirloom, something we like to call "research and development," and it occurred to me that bitters, like most extracts used in baking, taste corrosive on their own but have the power to really bring out a different layer to what they are teamed up with provided they are applied well. I'm certain I am not the first person to think about using bitters in baking, but it's a new frontier to me so I am currently obsessed with figuring them out and making them in house.

What restaurant do you find yourself going to again and again? D.J. Olsen prepares a Monday Supper at Lou, executing a three-course chef's tasting menu that is intensely farmers market driven and never disappoints. He finds so much joy in his job and you can taste it. I'd love to say that's where you'll find us each week, but our food truck is at Silverlake Wine on Mondays so it's tough to get away. We do, however, run into D.J. every Wednesday at the Santa Monica farmers market, which is always so inspiring because he rolls with this janky cart full of broken boxes piled on top of one another making you wonder what is up with this guy but on closer inspection you see that he’s accumulated the most coveted produce of the market, which tempts me, every time, to swashbuckle him down to the ground so I can steal his lot, but he’s just so nice, I could never.

What’s your favorite breakfast? A strong yet nuanced cup of joe with a few nibbles of several buttery pastries prepared with superb ingredients and a light hand. Right now, Proof Bakery in Atwater Village is fitting that tall order.

The last cookbook you read – and what inspired you to pick it up? Due to a resume void of culinary school I have amassed an unreasonable amount of cookbooks to quiet any throbbing insecurities that may bubble up and obstruct my to-do list for the day. My favorite is Claudia Fleming's "The Last Course" even though I don’t have this one. It's out of print and out of my budget but I’ve managed to Xerox certain pages of it, most notably her macaroon recipe, which is unrivaled. Santa, I’d like the hard copy.

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Outstanding in the Field comes to town in November

Outstanding in the Field -- a mobile supper club, if you will -- is finishing up its 2011 farm-to-table tour with a two-day stop in Hollywood. The big red-and-white bus tours the nation from coast to coast once a year, setting up table at diverse locations like ranches, sea caves, mountaintops and even urban landscapes; in this case, community garden Wattles Farm (just a couple blocks off Hollywood Boulevard).

Wattles Farm master gardeners Toby Leaman, who is also president of the Wattles Farm board of directors, and Reed Poverny will host the events Nov. 2 and 3.

The event on Nov. 3, featuring chef Jamie Lauren of Vodvil LA, is sold out, but there's still availability for the dinner on Nov. 2; Outstanding will be announcing the guest chef for Wednesday's event shortly.

Tickets are $220 per person and include a reception with wine and passed appetizers, a tour of the farm and a dinner using local ingredients. Outstandinginthefield.com.

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Survival cooking demo at High Desert Test Sites workshop

Artists Danielle McCullough and Gabie Strong will lead a sun-print cyanotype-process workshop, "Blast Site: A Workshop for Conjecture," on Nov. 12 at the High Desert Test Sites headquarters in Joshua Tree.

The workshop explores survival in the high desert, primarily grounded in post-apocalyptic science fiction, plant guides, archaeological archives and 20th century art history. The day's itinerary includes a guided hike through Blast Site, a cyanotype-process printing demonstration using sunlight and materials gathered from the desert floor, a survival cooking demonstration and a barbecued vegetarian lunch.

The lunch is part of an overall arts experience, incorporating native vegetation. Mushrooms marinated in a homemade vinegar and desert aromatics will be seared on hot rocks in a fire pit and served on mesquite flour flatbread, with pickled nopalitos, homemade yogurt and pinion seeds. Alcohol-based tinctures and teas derived from an assortment of local desert plants will be served to workshop attendees too. 

Registration for the workshop is $120 per person. Highdeserttestsites.com.

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Photo credit: Gabie Strong and Danielle McCullough, Blast Site: A Monument for Future Failures, 2011. Cyanotype fabric, painted leather, slipcrete, silver, ash, paint, pallets, wood, 16mm film with pen and ink,  and 16mm projector. Installed in at Shangrila, New Moon exhibition, Joshua Tree. Photo courtesy of Gabie Strong.