31 Dec 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Markets & Stores
Tags: 2013, Chinatown, foie gras, Kobe beef, Kurobata pork, Little Tokyo, New Year, New Year's Eve, Topanga Canyon, truffles
As 2013 winds quietly to a close, I once again find myself busily preparing for a yearly tradition around our house: our New Year’s Eve dinner.
Each New Year’s Eve, we gather with eight or ten friends and I make anywhere from seven to 12 courses, depending on how ambitious I’m feeling. It’s my time to let my creativity completely free — I never test anything, and I never make the same thing twice. Usually the dishes are a success, although my friend Jon complained last year of the chewiness and general meaty vulgarity of the Kobe beef tartare “flower blossoms” course. You can’t please everyone.
Last year’s Kobe flatiron tartare “blossoms,” quail egg, curried ketchup emulsion, caper & pickled ginger mirepoix and fried parsley — doesn’t look that bad, right??
So also at this time of year, in the days before the New Year, I am consumed with shopping and sourcing. More
13 Dec 2013
by scolgin
in Markets & Stores, On the Road
Tags: California, Forestville, Nightingale Breads, Russian River Valley, Sonoma, wine, Wine Guerrilla, wine tasting, zinfandel
As many of you know and some have tasted, my family has a wine business. Specifically, we make a zinfandel called Wine Guerrilla.
Downtown Forestville from the Wine Guerrilla tasting room
It began as a project of my mom’s longtime boyfriend, Bruce, but soon many of us were involved. Our main contribution from Southern California, besides being avid proponents and consumers, has been the marketing. The labels feature my artwork and my wife’s graphic design — a brand that we have extended with some success to merchandise, marketing materials and promotions. More
25 Nov 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Markets & Stores, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories)
Tags: caviar, charcuterie, cooking, Epicure Imports, food, foodie, humor, North Hollywood, warehouse sale
I can’t remember who told me about it — a gourmet food sale to end all gourmet food sales. I was at a party somewhere, talking to someone, they described a nirvana of exotic food items, all at wholesale prices — in a sale that only happened a couple times a year, and only if you knew about it.
The line on the loading dock outside Epicure the opening morning of the Holiday sale
I had promptly forgotten all about it when, the next day, an email arrived from [whomever it was] with information on how to sign up for sale notifications and a link. I followed the link, gave them my name, and promptly forgot about it again. More
27 Aug 2013
by scolgin
in Markets & Stores, Recipes
Tags: Anarhichas minor, cous cous, food, humor, Norway, Norwegian wolf fish, recipes, Trader Joe's, yoga
Here’s what happened:
I was strolling through the aisles at Trader Joe’s, thinking about a meal I was making for some clients of ours. Being that they were vaguely yogic people and I didn’t want to send them into a premature savasana pose by serving them something that had once been living — other than fish, that is, which somehow doesn’t count as having lived in those circles — I decided to do an all seafood dinner.
Norwegian wolf fish
So as I browsed the frozen fish aisle look for something inspiring, dark spots caught my eye — Norwegian wolf fish, a species I had never seen nor even heard of before. And I’m a sucker for new stuff. More
14 Jun 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor, Markets & Stores
Tags: Cuba, Cuban food, Dae Myung, Glendale, humor, papas rellenos, Porto's Bakery & Café, Tae Kwon Do, torta cubana, Vallarta Market
When it comes to indulging my food wanderlust, I’m an opportunist. A client meeting in Mid-Wilshire, for example, might be a mere pretext for a stop at Harvey’s Guss for a dry-aged rib steak; a trip into the valley to visit my aging father also a chance to browse the aisles at the Vallarta market or pop into India Sweets & Spices.
So it was a recent Saturday morning, taking my son across the city to Glendale for the 40th anniversary celebration of his tae kwon do academy. What else was there in Glendale that might merit a visit? I wondered. More
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