Merrick and I had the honor of attending a costume jewelry auction at
Decades hosted by the original Zoebot herself—Rachel Zoe. I die! Events
don’t get much better than that. The people watching was on another
level. Dresses from every decade, necklaces bigger than my head; heels
for which the word “high” doesn’t even begin to describe it; and Hermes
bracelets on every wrist in the house.
As amaazing as the outfits were, the hors d’oeuvres were offensively
wafer sized and even at that scale, the pin thin socialites were
turning their noses up at them. The server looked shocked that I even
took one and, god forbid, ate it! It was tuna tartar with wasabi caviar
by the way and it was delicious (despite its miniscule size). Merrick
had a vision of throwing a Sprinkles cupcake into the crowd and
watching the emaciated socialites knock each other out with their
Chanel handbags as they fought for the red velvet treat.
Don’t get us wrong. Merrick and I love skinny as much as the next
Angelenos. Merrick practically coined the term manorexia and I may or
may not be responsible for the offensively amoral
www.thisiswhyyoureskinny.com blog. But even we had to pig out after
that event.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Talk About Cheesy! Greenspan's Grilled Cheese
Greenspans is tiny and sandwiched (no pun intended) in between a bar and some tacky Melrose clothing store on the old Tommy Tang strip of Melrose, where Evan Kleiman opened Angeli Cafe all those years ago. Back then all of the good actors in town could be found in Milton Katselas’s Mon and Wed night class at the Zepher Theater just across the street, and Chianti was down the block serving up perfect stracciatella soup. That stretch was something back in its day. (Pardon the walk back 30 years).
Well, seasoned chef Eric Greenspan’s Grilled Cheese is going to bring that block back. It’s good. It’s real good.
My friend Sandy emailed me last week. “Just came back from a place that’s right up your alley”. My friend Sandy is a woman in the know and she certainly knows what alleys I frequent.
She’s also very discriminating and not prone to false alarms or wasting anyone’s time, so my interest was piqued. When I heard the name, Greenspan’s Grilled Cheese, I was more than curious, I was out the door. Not being a lady who lunches, my friend Sandy was a bit surprised, and I hope delighted, that I emailed her straight back asking for a lunch date.
The Hungry Nomad
Three weeks into all night shoots in Chatsworth on a low-budget indie
movie with the same caterer twice a day serving us burgers for
“breakfast” every single day (not even I can eat a burger every day, 4
times a week is my limit) and the least I can say is crew morale was
low. Hence my excitement that the upcoming Thursday we would go a few
hours early (and by early I mean late but time gets completely backwards
on a night shoot), and we needed to bring in a second meal, not only to
avoid paying meal penalties but, more importantly, to keep everybody
happy.
I took off to scour the Internet and find the best possible food truck to grace our set, and one willing to visit us at 4 in the morning. My best friend texted me a list of his favorites and one name stuck out: The Hungry Nomad. We had become sort-of nomads ourselves, living in motorhomes and camera trucks and pop-up tents as we set up in various locations to shoot a high-school-age-rom-com all over Chatsworth. And the name promised Middle Eastern food, or, as I soon learned, Middle Eastern Fusion, my new favorite genre.
Canele
A canelé is a specialty of the Bordeaux region of France. A
small pastry with a soft custard center and a dark caramelized crust.
They are eaten for breakfast, as a snack, and for dessert. Canelé
is also a favorite neighborhood restaurant. Just a few walkable blocks
from home. Robert and I were there on a recent Friday night. We have
often wondered how the recession is affecting restaurants. It didn’t
seem to be having much of an affect on Canelé this particular night.
The restaurant was full and people were still waiting for tables when
we left around 9:15 or so.
It’s great to see this place doing so well. The food has been called French-California-Mediterranean. And it is, but some of the menu items are classic French. Those are the ones I like the most. Like the bouef Bourguignon with buttered noodles I had on my first visit, and the pissaladiere with herb salad. They also have sides like pommes Anna, a very old-fashioned potato dish of layered potatoes and butter; starters like leeks vinaigrette, and brandade, a salt cod dish originating in the Languedoc and Provence regions of France.
Mozza Mozza
Mario Battali’s newest haunt in L.A.
Mozza Osteria, Mario Battali’s newest adjunct to his Mozza Pizza just opened on Melrose, just west of Highland. Though most new restaurants in LA advertise their debut date months before to start a healthy buzz and build anticipation, Mozza Osteria remained cas about it’s opening date: “Sometime this summer”; “Early July, if you’re lucky”. So my ever-dedicated foodie friend Ben stalked the restaurant for months; until one day, he saw lights on inside and seized the opportunity to make not one, but four! reservations. I should consider it a privilege that he deigned to invite me.
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