Coveted: Laguiole pizza server from Matali Crasset

Now that all you home cooks are busily trying to replicate Pizzeria Mozza’s pies from just-published “The Mozza Cookbook,” you’re wishing you had a pizza server, am I right?

For those who just don’t want to pick up a slice of pizza and heave it onto a plate, enter this sleek pizza server made in Laguiole, the town of knives in the Aveyron region in southern France, which also is home to Michelin three-star Michel Bras’ phenomenal restaurant Bras. He does not serve pizza, or at least didn’t last time I was there.  

But if he did, I’m sure he would use something like this. After all, it’s made in his hometown and looks sturdy enough to hold a slice no matter how crazy you get with the toppings. It was originally designed by the French firm Matali Crasset for Paris pastry chef Pierre Hermé as a cake server. I admit I was a little shocked when I took in the price, but if you amortize it over, say, several hundred pizzas and cakes, you might be able to make the case for the purchase.

Matali Crasset Pie/Pizza Server, $340 from Unicahome.com. Available in orange, green, pink or black.

ALSO:

Standard Pacific Time tasting menu at the Getty

Food paintings at the Norton Simon

Justin Pike of Tasting Kitchen: L.A.'s best bartender

-- S. Irene Virbila

Twitter.com/sirenevirbila

Photo: Matali Crasset Pie/Pizza Server. Credit: Unicahome

S. Irene Virbila on 'The odd stuff I bring back from vacation'

Friends used to make fun of me when I came back from a trip to Europe or Asia, expecting me to pull out treasures from my suitcase. 

Years of working as a freelancer and traveling for two or three months or more at a stretch have trained me to be very disciplined. I hardly ever buy anything on these trips. Why? Because if I buy that glazed ceramic mortar-and-pestle in Barcelona, I am going to have to carry that object with me for weeks from train to train, hotel to hotel, and on and on. One time when I did buy some things,  my bags were so heavy, I almost missed my plane because I couldn’t walk fast enough to the gate. That cured me.

If I buy anything now, it has to be small — a set of Laguiole steak knives, a handsome whisk, a silver ladle from the flea market, an antique fountain pen.

Nothing breakable. I once found a gorgeous oval casserole with crackled glaze in the outdoor antiques market in Nice, perfect for roast duck. I wrapped it carefully, hand-carried it on the plane and while I was going through customs bleary-eyed, somebody knocked into my cart and it flew off and broke. 

So what did I bring back from a recent trip to Berlin? These wonderful handmade brushes for cleaning flasks and decanters. One: They're something I can use. Two: They’re unusual and beautiful. Three: They’re small.

I loved visiting the old brush shop DIM in a Turkish neighborhood of Berlin, with its 1920s cabinets and a gracious clerk who explained with gestures what each brush is for. Like the wonderful brushes from Sweden’s SRF Hantverk, they’re made by the blind.

DIM, Oranienstrasse 26, Berlin; 011-49-302-8503-0121. Open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Unfortunately, no real online presence, though a few items can be seen at this site. But if you know anybody going to Berlin, send them to this shop with the instructions to buy you something small and useful.

ALSO:

Ruth Reichl on Gilt Taste

L.A. Beer Week; it's here

Hot cheesecake from Mount Zion Hotel

-- S. Irene Virbila
Twitter.com/sirenevirbila

Photos: flask brushes. Credit: S. Irene Virbila /Los Angeles Times

 

 

Shop where the restaurateurs do -- at Charlie's

You can’t miss Charlie’s Fixtures on the northwest corner of Venice Boulevard just east of Western. Look for the shabby banquet chairs stacked up in front and used industrial carts and such. Cars zip in and out of the parking along Oxford, restaurateurs and caterers in a hurry. 

Inside is an incredible array of restaurant supplies, both new and used. Need a stockpot? They’ve got them, from demure apartment-stove-sized to ones so large it would take the Jolly Green Giant to stir the soup. The stock is packed onto shelves that reach to the high ceilings — saucepans (even All-Clad), frying pans, woks, utensils, baking sheets, loaf pans, Japanese iron teapots, thermometers, pizza peels, heavy-duty equipment. 

The staff works with the intensity of traders on Wall Street, ringing up sales, checking invoices, barking orders. One woman is patient enough to measure the used galvanized steel cart outside and give me the price — plus wheels. In the end, I bought two 24 x 24-inch stainless steel prep tables for $99.95 each. Like Ikea purchases, the tables have to be assembled, but still …

You can find some of the cheapest items I’ve ever seen — not necessarily the best quality, but cheap — along with high-quality stuff that seems a bargain for the price. It’s all in this vast warehouse if you can find it. 

Charlie’s Fixtures, 2251 Venice Blvd. (at Oxford), Los Angeles, (323) 731-9023.

-- ALSO:

Spice Table expands lunch menu

Abbot Kinney Festival set for Sunday

L.A. Beer Float Showdown

 

-- S. Irene Virbila
Twitter.com/sirenevirbila

Photo: An aisle at Charlie's Fixtures. Credit: S. Irene Virbila/Los Angeles Times

 

DIY: Felted wool hot pads

I’m in love with these felt hot pads, a project from Molly's Sketchbook at Purl Soho, a wonderful knitting and craft store in New York with a robust online presence.

You can find the directions for making the hotpads here. And order Mary Flanagan's wool felt here.

One 13-by-15-inch piece at $12.50 is enough to make two 7-by-12-inch hot pads. You'll need some cotton duck for backing and cotton batting for stuffing as well as cotton thread for quilting. 

Think, think: The holidays aren't that far off, and these would make perfect gifts for cooks.

You don't have to make them in oatmeal, of course. The felted wool comes in 45 gorgeous hand-dyed colors.

No running around looking for the materials. You can order everything from Purl Soho online.

 

ALSO:

Santa Monica farmers market celebrates 30 years

Fukuburger comes to Hollywood

Budweiser the new Pabst?

-- S. Irene Virbila

Twitter.com/sirenevirbila

Photos: Felt hot pads. Credit: Purl Soho.

Hidden in plain sight: Milk bottle measuring cups

 

From Anthropologie, clever stacking measuring cups in the form of a milk bottle. Made of bone china, they are dishwasher safe and glazed inside with bright color. A great gift for someone with an old-fashioned kitchen and counter space to spare. 

Available at Anthropologie stores in many locations, $24. Also online at Anthropologie.com. 

ALSO:

Houston's couscous

Test Kitchen: this week's recipes

'Worst Cooks in America' casting

 

 

-- S. Irene Virbila
Twitter.com/sirenevirbila

Photo: Milk bottle measuring cups. Credit: Anthropologie

 

End-of-summer necessity: Watermelon knife

When it's hot outside a slice of cold watermelon is irresistible. But wielding a heavy chef's knife to cut through the melon's thick skin can be scary.

Not with this specialized watermelon knife with ergonomic handle and non-stick micro-serrated blade. It does just what it’s supposed to do: slice through the melon with ease.

Made by Swiss cookware manufacturer Kuhn Rikon, it is Japanese carbon steel and comes with a watermelon-themed protective cover. And the 11-inch blade is long enough to deal with even the largest melons. 

The Kuhn Rikon site has a YouTube video demonstrating use of the melon knife. It turns out to be much larger than it looks in photos.

A perennial bestseller at Museum of Modern Art store, it’s available online there for $25. And also at Sur La Table and Chef’s Catalog for the same price. Chefs Resource, though, has it on sale for $17.95. But you probably won’t get it in the mail in time for this weekend’s festivities. 

ALSO:

Il Garage at Park Ave.

5 Questions for Tony DiSalvo

Demitasse now pouring coffee in Little Tokyo

-- S. Irene Virbila
Twitter.com/sirenevirbila

Photo: A watermelon knife that does just what it's supposed to do. Credit: Kuhn Rikon

 

Limited edition at Heath Ceramics

Heath Ceramics is a mid-century American pottery company based in Sausalito, Calif. In 2008, the company -- owned by husband and wife team Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey -- extended its production to include a studio and showroom in Los Angeles, just east of the Beverly Center, for small custom works by potter and director Adam Silverman.

These limited edition pieces (made at the Sausalito factory) are from the seasonal collection available online April 1 through Oct. 1. (Espresso set, $72; bud vase set, $110; iced tea set, $275; salt & pepper, $80).

Heath Ceramics Los Angeles, 7525 Beverly Blvd., L.A., (323) 965-0800, heathceramics.com.

ALSO:

Weekend brunch at Playa

Bouchon Bakery opens this week

Larry's in Venice opens

--Caitlin Keller

Photo Credit: Heathceramics.com

Sharp: Kyocera ceramic paring knife

Last night I was cooking at a friend’s house, sorely missing my razor-sharp Kyocera paring knife as I deveined shrimp with a much duller blade. My ceramic knife cuts through the shrimp with no effort or pressure, whereas this one (which admittedly needed sharpening) made what would have been quick work a chore.

Now I know: Don't leave home without it.

I bought the 3-inch Kyocera ceramic knife when I was in Las Vegas at Artisanal Foods. But you can also buy it online at their site or from Kyocera Advanced Ceramics, the Japanese company that makes the diamond-ground blades. Mine is from the classic series with riveted wood handles and cost $49.95. But the same blade can be had in the Revolution series with colorful ergonomic resin handles at half the price.

I use it for fine, precision slicing of garlic, shallots and small onions. It’s great for slicing plums or pluots for a galette too. Be cautious, though, with stone fruit, keeping the blade away from the seed. It’s best to use a wood or plastic cutting board: marble or granite, even plates, are too hard a surface for the inflexible blade. Avoid twisting or flexing. And remember, though it’s incredibly sharp, like all knives, the blade will dull over time. In this case, quite a long time.

When that happens, simply mail the knife to an address in Costa Mesa for a complimentary knife sharpening. You pay only $10 for shipping and handling. 

Kyocera Advanced Ceramics; for more information, (800) 537-0294. 

ALSO:

Fat Spoon opens in Little Tokyo

Get your weekend brunch on at Playa

Bouchon Bakery comes to Beverly Hills

-- S. Irene Virbila

Photo: A 3-inch Kyocera ceramic paring knife. Credit: Fred Seidman

Food editor Russ Parsons declares summer is here (pay no attention to the calendar)

While logically I may know that in Southern California, May Gray is inevitably followed by June Gloom, emotionally I’m having a hard time coming to grips with it after that glorious Memorial Day weekend. The calendar may say different, but to me it feels like summer is already here.

To celebrate, I brought the rotisserie out of the garage and trussed up a chicken. Throughout the summer, this is one of my go-to dinners. I’ll serve it every other weekend, it seems (I even bought a second set of spikes so I can cook two chickens at the same time).

As much as I love my old-fashioned Weber kettle grill, the rotisserie attachment comes in a close second. It’s basically just a short iron cylinder that nests on top of the grill. There’s a motor and a spike and that’s about it. I’ve used it to roast legs of lamb, pork loins, turkeys and more chickens than I can count. One time I even splurged on a big chunk of white sea bass and tried that. Well, it’s not good for everything.

As simple as the rotisserie is, be warned -- for some reason, it costs almost as much as a new grill. No matter, it is one of my favorite tools, particularly in the summertime, whenever it is that officially starts.

ALSO:

Grill stylish, my friend

Meat, pretty as a picture

Don't forget the Burger Battle

--Russ Parsons

Photo by Russ Parsons

Times Food editor Russ Parsons finds a new line of tagines

Farid Zadi is nuts about tagines. How nuts? The Los Angeles chef and cooking teacher personally declared April to be "National Tagine Month." OK, so you didn't notice that. But here's something that should get your attention: Zadi now has his own line of tagines, produced by Clay Coyote Pottery in Minnesota.

The pieces come with a flameware ceramic base that he says can be used on either electric or gas cooktops, at any temperature. The top is standard stoneware that can also take oven heat. The tagines, big enough to feed six people, are $85 and can be ordered here. They come in five colors and, as the ad says, you're sure to want to collect them all. There is also a couscoussier for steaming couscous.

And while you're at it, trot over to Facebook and join Paula Wolfert's Moroccan Cooking group. Wolfert is in the final stages of rewriting her classic "Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco" and the conversations are lively.

ALSO:

Where to drink in Japan

Fresh fish in Newport Beach

Visiting with Jamie Cantor

-- Russ Parsons

Photo by Al Seib /Los Angeles Times