FoodZealot

AD, Just about any place you can pull over in Big Sur is postcard beautiful, but I really like a place called Nepenthe. There's a cafe on a deck with a view, and a table service restaurant upstairs. I can't speak for the restaurant, but the cafe is comfortable, offering simple stuff - sandwiches, omelettes, etc for around $9-12 or so. Depending on the time of day, Santa Barbara would be about 5 hours from San Diego, and has much to offer. That's a good place to stop with lots of food options. For attractions, besides the Getty, the Disney Music Hall is also designed by Frank Gehry, and also amazing. As robyn says, LA's strongest suit in food is in the many cuisines represented, and represented well. If you do stop near LA, let's have a drink! Safe travels. ~Tad

I think orange chicken is one of my favorite foods in the world, regardless of it's pedigree. I have some local favorites, but I still search for the ultimate version of it. If it has Sichuan roots, maybe I should try it at Chungking in Monterey Park? Since busboy asked about General Tso's chicken, here's one of the eG threads. They appear to be somewhat similar in procedure, but less similar in flavor profile. At least in name, it's not a common menu item at the Chinese restaurants I've been to.

I never heard a reason behind Benite's closing, but it does seem to vaguely coincide with the tide turning on all the bagel joints and the rise of the low carb craze... Ore, welcome to the thread. You should start a new one when you've got news about a project. Thanks to jschyun's digest of the LA Times, I guess we have an answer about 5 Dudley. Although, the end of the article mentions a special tasting menu on Thursday nights.

According to the Zagat newsletter and other sources, David Rosoff & Chef Jason Travi have left Opaline and are starting a new venture with Gino Angelini, in the space formerly occupied by Cava.

What was Union (formerly Rix, Abiquiu, Bikini, et al, next to Jiraffe) is now called Akwa. I think a sign mentioned sushi and cocktails. What was Flint's on Pico appears to be remodelling.

Thanks, I need all the help I can get!

This sounds awesome. I'll going to try and make time for this soon.

I have only a little experience with Armenian food (mostly Western Armenian), but I've been to friends' family dinners and a couple of catered functions. I'm guessing the air-dried beef that PCL saw was probably basturma. In addition to what has already been mentioned, I've seen quite a bit of bulgur, olives, aleppo chile pepper and okra. In LA, there's a popular mini-chain of rotisserie places called Zankou Chicken, which is supposedly owned by Armenians. I'm not sure if the menu is supposed to be Armenian, but the chicken is consistently delicious, available with hommus, torshi (turnip pickles), tabouleh, garlic paste/sauce, and they also have very good beef and lamb shawarma. ~Tad

jogoode, there are lots of references to those two styles throughout, but the most relevant thread for Thai is LA Thai Restaurant Tasting Tour. We never really arrived at a champion or anything, but there are lot's of good restaurants included there. I believe the sweet shop that pim is referring to is called BhankanomThai. I haven't been to Renu Nakorn myself, so I won't comment on that part of your question. For Korean, check out the Korean BBQ thread and mongo jones' some meals in la thread. I hope you enjoy your stay. ~Tad edit: to remove extra werds

If you haven't read it yet, there's a related thread about cooking and I've gone on a bit about my background there and in my bio. It's in the Member Bios forum, so I can PM it to anyone who's not able to access that area. I am Japanese and Chinese, and I do get the Asian Flush when drinking alcohol - I'll usually only have one or two drinks. I'll happily take that limitation any day over not being able to eat dairy, though. I don't feel the need to eat rice all the time, although I'm probably in the minority in that respect - most people from Hawai`i are used to having steamed rice 2 or 3 times a day. My grandparents would go on tours with Hawai`i people through France or even China and complain about how the rice is different, and they would make the bus stop at a Japanese restaurant for miso soup and plain steamed rice. I do find that I'm used to eating rice in a certain proportion (encouraged culturally to economize on the main courses), and it's hardest for me to control my carb intake at Asian meals, and meals where rice AND bread are offered, like Lebanese/Armenian and some Indian meals. I don't seem to have this problem with other cuisines, where I just eat too much of everything. [grin] I love all kinds of food, but I feel a special affinity to American barbeque, the various cuisines of Mexico, and the many regions of Italy. All three of which were not part of our regular meals when growing up, aside from pizza and spaghetti.

Sorry to respond so late, I had some trouble finding the thread again. For adding time, I don't think one or two mops is going to be significant over 5 hours of cooking, but if someone is mopping every 15-20 minutes over 5 hours, the temperature will be jumping around quite a bit, and more variables come into play, like what is the ambient temperature, how long is it uncovered, etc. Overall, it probably makes the doneness less predictable, which is more of a problem than being "undercooked." I think the Chapped Lips Theory® [grin] has more of an effect on the exposed parts of a piece of meat where there's no fell, fat, or other membrane to protect it.

Personally, I don't think mops contribute very much, and I don't use them. Like basting, most are so thin that they just run off the surface, sometimes washing away the seasoning. If I were to use one, it would have to be pretty flavorful and just a touch more viscous to make up for that. Also, in most low temperature smoking environments, losing heat to constant mopping will add a lot of cooking time. I have another unsupported theory that over the many hours of smoking, a mop ends up wicking more moisture out of the meat than it adds to the environment, sort of like licking chapped lips. I'd guess that flare ups are caused more by oils, fats or alcohol in a grilling situation (direct, high heat). As others have said, a mop either without those ingredients or in an indirect, smoking scenario probably won't be a problem.

I think they've been open about 8 - 10 months. ~Tad

Chef Shogun, welcome to eG! I'm not familiar with the website you refer to, but I'm curious now...

First off, welcome to eG, archestratus. monkeymay, for most of us, I imagine this place functions more as a museum or a showroom than a place to actually buy equipment or ingredients. By comparison, Surfas is like a Walmart or Target (in the best sense of practicality/wide selection/value oriented). Savvy shoppers will recognize that most prices are at full retail list price or more. There is a sale shelf, but discounting off of boutique prices still stings the credit card. Even if a restaurant could write it off, most restaurants won't have the budget to buy dinner plates at $56 apiece. It's pretty far removed from putting dinner on the table on a Wednesday night. But that's not what it's about anyway. IMHO, taken on its own terms, it's about the fetishization of culinary apparati and fine food products, and the impractical, unreasonable, and conspicuous consumption of same. It's about the aesthetics of objects beyond their actual performance. Luxury for luxury's sake. Will a ceramic knife make your pot roast come out better? Probably not. But might you be inspired by it, feel more satisfaction while cooking, and impress your guests, even if the food is the same? I guess each person's mileage may vary on that... There's also a certain amount of hero worship going on in that some of the items are stocked because of the curiosity around Thomas Keller's favorite olive oil, or another chef's favorite vinegar, etc. As far as I know, they don't sell fois gras or truffles yet. Personally, I'm a gadget guy, so I like being able to handle things in person. I like to pick up knives and feel their balance. I like to touch the paper a book is printed on. I like to see all the Ducasse books in one place. I like to handle plates to check their heft. This store stocks many of those otherwise unexperienceable items, because you won't see most of them at Surfas or Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma or Cook's Library or anywhere else that I know of in LA. Ultimately I like deciding for myself whether an object is worth the hype or the price, since I believe that snobbery cuts both ways. Even if all that rings hollow to you, it's close to the Main Street farmer's market (on Sunday mornings), so it could be a secondary stop, just for something else food-related to do. There are also some other nice gourmet stores not far away on Abbot Kinney. Sorry for the ramble...

Has anyone else been to this store? If this sort of thing might interest you, I highly recommend a visit to Le Sanctuaire. It's very much quality driven, rather than value driven - so don't expect to find a deal on a set of cute potholders. It's the opposite of a warehouse - instead of trying to stock everything, they are extremely selective in what they carry - the finest of the finest of gourmet items. Being expensive just goes along with the territory - handmade Japanese knives, every cookbook above $200 you've ever heard of (in stock), rare olive oils, and so on. And the decor is suitably gorgeous as well. In case anyone is wondering, I have no stake in or connection to the store. It's just that for selfish reasons, I would like to see it stay open.

mongo, you blog good. Your blog good. You blog more.

Thanks for the responses, everyone! Andrew's pizza joints is a great reference.

A friend of mine lives outside of Portland and raves about a place called Escape from New York pizza. I'm just wondering if people agree or if there are other favorites. Thanks!

Old news: Mo' Betta Meatty Meat Newish news: Hillmont converted into Cobras & Matadors Hollywood

I wish I could contribute, but I'll just post to say thanks to all for the great info.

Tremendous. Thanks for the post.

SA, what are some of your favorite gems and wonders? ~Tad

Oh, there's some significance, alright... Great to meet you, and I'm looking forward to reading more details and seeing your pics.

In Hawai`i, my favorite lunch when going on a school excursion or at a beach picnic was musubi (onigiri or rice ball) with umeboshi in the center, and cold fried chicken. I'm excited to try these other ideas. Thank you all.