L.A. Story

My husband and I recently returned to the west coast after a two and a half year hiatus. Our last trip in 2009 was an exploration–a purely pleasure-driven seven days of motorcycle-riding, dining and relaxing along the length of the California coast.

This recent trip, necessitated by work, and extended by our need to play, was a more focused affair with three days spent in and around Los Angeles. This trip would be a quick deep-dive into a city we rarely visit. Reservations were made (five to be exact), hotels were booked (Hollywood and Hermosa, respectively) and friends (Hi Nancy + Max) were alerted.

Unlike most, I don’t love to hate L.A. I’d move there in a heart beat. In fact, the city reminds me a lot of my “city,” also known as Fairfield County.  Like L.A.’s 405, I spend most of my days criss-crossing the length of F.C. for work, food events and friends. I’ll occasionally spy the odd celebrity, frequently park next to cars that cost roughly the same as my mortgage and occasionally pine for the ocean about 20 minutes away.

But Fairfield County has nothing on L.A. (obviously). I’d rather spend an hour commuting on the 405 in my rust-free California car, surfboard strapped to my roof and headed for Manhattan or Hermosa beaches than our dirty puddle that is Long Island Sound any day.

And the proof is in the music. No one has ever written a song about Fairfield County or Connecticut the way the Beach Boys, America, Rufus Wainwright or Elliott Smith have immortalized Los Angeles. Their songs, love letters to that promised land, are carved into my brain and synapses and fire whenever my mind goes California Dreaming.

And don’t even get me started on the weather. So how much do I love L.A.? Let me count the ways.

1. Levitated Mass @ LACMA

As “one of the largest megaliths moved since Ancient times,” this work represents an ambitious and weighty addition to LACMA’s collection. And yes, it cost $10 million. I spied it leaving LACMA, under-wraps resting quietly until its final resting place has been completed.

2. Lamill Coffee Company

It’s possible to get a decent cup of coffee in this city (with a side of celebrity sightings). Many thanks to @dblstarcoffee for this suggestion. A macchiato and a bowl of granola also happen to be the perfect fuel to explore the design shops of Silver Lake just down the street.

3. Warner Brothers Studios

As much as we try to pretend we aren’t tourists when we travel, we are are all just one fanny pack and a pair of gleaming white Keds away from having it stamped on our foreheads. We embraced this reality with a WB VIP Studio Tour and found we knew shockingly less about American sitcoms than our fellow Finnish/Dutch/Italian tour members. I also found out I am one of about eight people who actually watched Chuck.

4. Getty Malibu

Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities within Roman-inspired architecture and surrounded by Roman-style gardens are the draw at this Pacific Palisades Getty outpost. While the Getty Center, the landlocked modernist Richard Meier-designed temple with stunning views of the city is a must-see, the Getty Malibu is its kinder, gentler, ancient cousin.

5. The Beach

This one is a given. When your point of reference is the aforementioned murky Long Island puddle, er, Sound, any body of water is an infinite step up. Hermosa and Manhattan Beaches just south of LAX or Malibu just north, feel light years away from the sprawl and trappings of the rest of Los Angeles. And they have Umami Burger, which brings me to #6.

6. Umami Burger

We visited Umami Burger not once, but twice in just over three days in L.A. The siren call of their epic (totally warranted use of this word) burgers and buttery buns is coming to NYC this fall. Mark your calendar.

7. 8. 9. and 10. My dear friends.

Allow me to introduce you to my friends: James, Barb & Ken, Captain Picard & my dearest Nancy. I love you guys.

Behind the Scenes with Fine Cooking

Similar to my omnivorous approach to food, I’ve been known to devour almost anything when it comes to food in print. And although I love any and all food magazines, my allegiances bend toward the recipe-driven and away from the trendy and overly-styled. It’s nice to know that some serious time has been logged in someone else’s kitchen before amateur hour and its inevitable chaos, commences in my own.

Firmly in the category of “not afraid to get their hands dirty,” Fine Cooking magazine is one of those few who are dedicated to the act of cooking. Their meticulous seasonally-driven recipes reflect a dedication to process and a glimpse into their tireless recipe testing. So when I learned their headquarters and test kitchen also happened to be firmly inside our Fairfield County borders at Taunton Press in Newtown, CT, it only became a matter of time before I invited my CTbites-self for a tour and taste.

Check out the full tour on CTbites.com.

Cocktails Aged Gracefully

In a culture that typically prizes the fresh and made-to-order, aging cocktails may sound sacrilege. So what exactly is a barrel aged cocktail and why mess with a good thing?

A barrel aged cocktail is any combination of spirits that enjoys an extended stay inside a barrel, and in the case of Connecticut’s Saugatuck Grain & Grape, a charred oak barrel. This process can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few of months, depending on preference.

As for the motive, barrel aging is all about flavor. What may seem uptight and springy fresh from a shaker, appears loose and mellow after a few weeks sitting in oak. During a recent visit to SG&G, I wrangled a taste of a one-month old Negroni from Jeff Marron’s private stash that was just ripe for the picking. The cocktail, my current obsession, was remarkably smooth with hints of burnt caramel and vanilla. It was a classic transformed, and a harbinger of the hours of R&D Marron undertook in expanding SG&G’s offerings in this new direction.

Read full post over at CTbites.

We came. We saw. We cut.

We came.

We saw.

We cut.

Merry Christmas.

24 Hours (or so) in Boston

Last weekend we headed up to Boston to visit two of our favorite people while managing to squeeze in two darn good meals, a bit of shopping and a dose of culture courtesy of the Boston ICA.

Brunch at Sportello was an unexpected delight. Best described as a modern Italian diner, our trio hit up the slow-cooked eggs with duck hash, strozzapreti with rabbit and picholine olives, and a shrimp + avocado salad (pictured above) while sitting at the counter. The streamlined space – its rounded edges and monochromatic palette coupled with counter service – oozed the modern comfort of the best kind of neighborhood joint. And the perfect fuel for an afternoon of contemporary art.

Much later that evening, we traveled to Cambridge to check out the 28-seat Bondir, named one of Bon Appetit magazine’s top ten best new restaurants this year. As we waited in the corner by the fireplace for our 9:30 reservation, we were plied with raclette and bubbles. Once seated in the unadorned farm-style space, we ordered several small plates in waves of three courses.

My trio of dishes included a Jerusalem artichoke bisque, a Tamworth sow rillette, followed by a fall vegetable mignardises with Teff polenta and mustard oil. Each half dish, a perfect vignette of local seasonality, came on mismatched china adorned with herbs, flowers or chintz. Earthy and organic, dining at Bondir embodies the notion of a homey family gathering with Alice Waters as your great aunt manning the kitchen.

Both dining experiences, disparate in their cuisines and approaches, managed to share a familiar notion of comfort usually reserved for a beloved neighborhood joint. Although we live 120 miles away from these Boston and Cambridge neighborhoods, we felt a welcome usually reserved for regulars.