Bottega Louie, Los Angeles

I didn't have my camera with me, so here's just a few iPhone photos of the amazing baked goods at Bottega Louie. Dinner with some friends was pretty great also.  AND I bumped into an old friend from high school. A very successful night.

Bottega Louie 

700 S Grand Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90017 

(213) 802-1470

Bistro Aix, Marina

Last week, my parents were in town and I wanted to book some reservations for while they were here. Finding restaurants for my parents is a semi-daunting task: it can't be too loud, it shouldn't be too trendy, they should serve Diet Coke, and the food needs to be very accessible (read: American or "red sauce" Italian) for my dad.  

I didn't know much about Bistro Aix, but it had been recommended on the Top 100 Places to Eat list, and although it is considered French (not American or Italian) everything I read about it, including the menu, seemed to fit the above description.  I booked it.  We sat in the front room which was comfortably chatty, so that was perfect (the back room however, is quite noisy, so make sure to request the front if you don't like noisy).  The bar accommodated everyone, with both Diet Coke and this awesome beer. Love the label. 

We ordered a couple of appetizers: burrata on crostini with arugula and pea shoots, which doesn't fall into the "accessible" category for my dad, but wow, was it good.  The cheese was super creamy and the whole thing was seasoned really well,  in a light vinaigrette.  There was some coarse salt on it that added a little crunch that I liked. More accessible was the spaghetti with San Marzano tomatoes and basil.  Everyone loved this, and I'd be tempted to order it next time as my entree. 

Kev ordered another pasta dish, as recommended by our waitress, for his entree. This was tagliatelle with shrimp and clams in a spicy tomato broth.  It was a good dish, but not quite as good as the spaghetti.  My mom ordered the duck, which was great - juicy and tender. 

My dad and I both ordered the crispy chicken breast with baby red potoates: he was sold on "crispy" and potatoes; I was sold on the Patricia Unterman review describing the chicken.  It lived up to the description: the skin was really crispy and the meat was really juicy.  I was also eyeing the burger at the table next to us, which looked amazing. As good as the chicken was, I was having food envy.

At this point we were all pretty full, but they had tarte tatin. I had been thinking about tarte tatin just before we went to dinner, because I had read this Smitten Kitchen post and was thinking 1) I want to make that and 2) mmmm, tarte tatin.  And it really was lovely - warm and gooey and perfectly caramelized.  Even my dad ate it, and that is saying something (no warm desserts, either).

Moral of the story: bring a date or bring your parents.  And bring me, too.

Bistro Aix
3340 Steiner Street
San Francisco, CA 94123-2707
(415) 202-0100

Mission Cheese, the Mission

We've been walking by the Mission Cheese storefront for what seems like months. I loved the drawing and font they had on the sign in the window, and I love cheese and I couldn't wait for them to open. I figured though it would just be a cheese shop, so I was even more excited when I heard they serve food and wine and beer.

When we walked in at around 2:30, the place was full.  I loved the palette they chose in designing the space, and the Heath ceramic bar is just awesome.  We ordered two grilled cheese sandwiches: the Cheddarhead (2 types of cheddar with apple and ale chutney) and the Pork and Cheese (Gruyere, salami, mustard and cornichons).  Oh, and some coffee.

We loved our food, the coffee was great and it reaffirmed my love for this neighborhood. We spoke  to the owner, who was very sweet and also totally inspiring in that she opened this place in a year and a half without any previous cheese-shop or running-a-business type experience.  

I'm now plotting my return to try that mac n cheese. Yum.

Mission Cheese
736 Valencia Street
San Francisco, California

Scenes from Los Angeles

Got to eat some great food while down in LA for the weekend.  We mistakenly left our camera at home, so it's all iPhone photos instead. I like how they turned out! The Cross Process app is awesome.

We spent a lot of time on Abbot Kinney this trip. We had lunch at 3 Square, which we seem to stop at every time we are down there. This was their three sandwich sampler: pulled pork, salmon cake and grilled cheese with shrimp. The grilled cheese was my fave. 

 Intelligentsia Latte

We sort of happened-upon the Brentwood Country Mart by mistake. I was psyched when I realized that's where Farmshop LA was. We had already eaten lunch, so we just got a few snacks. The lemon raspberry cookie was insanely good. I really want to go back there for a meal.

We decided we needed dessert with our dessert, so we got an ice cream cone (Caffe Luxxe Coffee) at Sweet Rose Ice Cream.

So this last picture isn't in LA - it is at the brand new SFO Terminal 2. This place is awesome! Super clean and modern with lots of great restaurants, including the Plant Cafe. We got off the plane and needed to detox from traveling + all the sugar we had eaten.  We were so happy to see this in front of us, and we got a fresh squeezed juice (carrot/ginger/orange juice).  Plus we were able to pick up a loaf of Acme Bread at the Napa Farms Market, which meant we didn't need to go to the grocery store - so convenient!  I think I need to only fly on Virgin America from now on. 

Canteen, Nob Hill

Some pictures from a recent dinner at Canteen - which turned out to be one of the better dinners we've had recently. We were both super impressed with the meal.

The restaurant is tiny, and we sat at the counter. The very bright green counter.

Amuse bouche - avocado with bay shrimp. Fresh and tasty.

Fresh rolls, spicy crab soup and sea scallops.  The soup was super flavorful and not too spicy. The scallops were ok - but I think the weakest point of the overall meal. One of the highlights of the meal was watching the three guys in the tiny kitchen. The way they maneuvered around each other was amazing. Our waitress told us they had all been working together for years.

I ordered the lamb loin with sesame-chickpea puree and pepper relish. It was excellent. It was like  fancy lamb and hummus.  

Kev ordered the halibut poached in olive oil with green garlic, baby leeks, grits and spicy ham. Really light and nice flavors. 

For dessert, we shared the chocolate pot de creme with chicory and the vanilla souffle. The pot de creme was different than most - it didn't have the same thickness that I'm used to. I liked it - but not as much as the souffle, which was amazing.  The menu at Canteen changes weekly, but the souffle is always on the menu, for good reason.

The cool thing about this place is that it doesn't seem like it's trying all that hard - the food they make isn't anything crazy or fancy - it's all just done really well. 

Outerlands, Outer Sunset

I can't remember when I first read about Outerlands, but I remember seeing a photo with the wood paneled walls and thinking, I want to go there. I finally remembered to add it to my "places to go" list, and attempted to go there for breakfast this morning. 

I say attempted because I didn't read the fine print - they don't serve their breakfast menu on Saturdays. Big, huge bummer, because I was really excited for the "eggs in jail" and the Dutch pancake.

They did have an egg dish on the menu though, so I got that - fried egg sandwich with cheese and bacon. Their bread was amazing. My only complaint is that I wanted a steak knife to cut it with - that crust is no joke and my bread knife struggled with the task. Also I have been debating if I should buy a Chemex so I was excited to get to try it out again. The coffee was excellent (they use Sightglass beans) and it convinced me to make the purchase.

 

That there is the grilled cheese and it is serious business.  I love the little burned bits of cheese oozing out. It reminds me of french onion soup, which I also love. 

I should have taken a whole bunch more photos because the place looks so cool, but I was too absorbed in enjoying the food and the company.  I fully intend to go back though, both for breakfast and dinner, so expect an update in the hopefully not-too-distant future.

(PS: Before or after you eat here, I highly recommend you check out the General Store, which is just 2 shops down.)

Outerlands

4001 Judah St 

San Francisco, CA 94122

(415) 661-6140

Mayfield Bakery and Cafe, Palo Alto

I had big (eating) plans this weekend: 1) Nopa for dinner on Saturday night and 2) Bakesale Betty for lunch on Sunday. Want to guess how many of those plans happened? (Answer: Zero.)

Plan 1: Nopa, you and I can never seem to get it together. And by you and I, I mean me. I was all psyched to finally have dinner at Nopa (see: here) but forgot we had made plans to babysit. Oops. Another canceled reservation. When we finally get to eat dinner there, maybe in 2014, they are going to have to work really hard to live up to my expectations. 

Plan 2:  We were supposed to head over to Emeryville to go to Ikea, and then reward ourselves with Bakesale Betty, which I have still never had.  As we got on the 101, at 10am on Sunday morning, we were greeted with a sign saying that 3 lanes on the bridge were closed. We got on anyway, saw the traffic, and decided to head South instead, to the Ikea in Palo Alto. Goodbye, Bakesale Betty..... maybe some other day. 

We still needed to reward ourselves for spending our Sunday morning at Ikea, so we decided to hit up Mayfield Bakery and Cafe. Mayfield is part of the Spruce/Cafe Des Amis family, but I don't think you'd guess that if you didn't know.  The vibe in there just feels really different than their other restaurants. Here's a picture to prove my point: 

I think the staff at either one of those restaurants might frown at drawing on the linens.  Mayfield is much more family friendly though (tons of kids in there for brunch) and drawing on the table was not at all out of place.  Mayfield provides all the baked goods for the other restaurants that are part of the same management group. What this means for you as a customer there: if you go for dinner, they frequently give away loaves of bread at the end of the night. If you go for brunch, they give you delicious treats. Last time I was there, we got zucchini bread. Today we got these madeleines, which were really cakey and had the slightest hint of orange and were delicious.

Kev ordered the country breakfast, which is like your standard egg/potato/bacon/toast. But the potatoes! They call them "cottage potatoes" on the menu, but they reminded me of a potato pancake, which is weird because the texture is completely different - the insides are smooth and creamy in a crunchy, fried shell - but really, it tasted like your favorite Chanukah treat. Which is pretty awesome.

I ordered the romesco and egg flatbread with chorizo, roasted red peppers, pecans and arugula. Oh and a sundried tomato sauce. It was really, really good. They have a wood fire stove so the crust had that nice charring, and the tang of the sundried tomato sauce plus the spice of the chorizo, plus all the other ingredients, were a winning combination, plus it was nice to have something different for breakfast.  And I just had to stop writing this post to go eat the leftovers, so, there you go.

Mayfield Bakery and Cafe
855 El Camino Real
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 853-9200