Bottega Brunch

I have long been a fan of Bottega Louie's dinner menu and pastries. I am usually not a huge brunch person, but even a brunch pessimist like me can enjoy the wide variety of offerings- guarantee.

The egg white omelet looks a little bland from the outside, but it is filled with black beans, tofu, spinach and peppers. It was a health nut's dream. The breakfast potatoes, on the other hand, were quite hearty.

 See the green drink? That's fresh juice made from apple, cucumber, honeydew and arugula.

French toast on soft buttermilk bread

Syrup Desserts

In this case, Syrup Desserts was actually breakfast. Nothing wrong with that.

 Just a raspberry and muenster grilled cheese on Cuban bread to start the morning right.

 A little more flavorful was the brie and raspberry grilled cheese on a croissant.

I tried to be relatively healthy by ordering the yogurt parfait crepe. The crepe itself still tasted so sinfully fluffy and it was filled with fresh berries, yogurt, granola and honey.
Disclaimer: these delights were shared amongst three people. I know you were thinking I ate them all myself. If only...

Mercato di Vetro

I am usually a little hesitant to drive all the way across town for dinner, but the rush hour battle was worth it for the new SBE restaurant Mercato di Vetro. The concept is a play on the Italian market, much like Eataly in New York, but instead of actually walking through the various stations, you go on a food tour while seated at your table.
All of the menu items are made to share, and many of them are vegetarian friendly.

 Have you ever eaten roasted grapes? It was a first for me too. Here, red grapes are served with burrata cheese, pine nuts, olive oil, balsamic reduction and herbs.

 Arancini (risotto balls) filled with fontina cheese and peas.

A fig tart for dessert- shortbread crust, fig preserves, a coconut macaroon layer and a topping of fresh figs and almonds

Veggies!

I never used to be a fan of veggie burgers. They just looked and felt too much like real meat for my enjoyment. Flash forward to a hungry day at Bloomingdale's this summer, where I decided to go for it. And it was glorious. Instead of an ambiguous brown patty, the burger was made with colorful veggies.

So I found a similar veggie patty in the frozen section of Trader Joe's and added avocado and fat free thousand island dressing. Put that on a thin bun with some lettuce and tomato and you have the perfect post-workout meal. Yum.

It also makes a wonderful study buddy. My new go-to noms.

Urth Caffe. Always a Pleasure.

This visit to the Beverly Hills Urth I decided to try the only (vegetarian) menu item I had yet to experience. The Noori Plum Rice Wraps were more like sushi than I expected, but they were filled with avocado, so it was all good. Urth, you can do no wrong.

Bacaro LA

I feel like I begin every post with something along the lines of "wow, I can't believe I just went to this place for the first time." This is, again, the case with Bacaro. Blame it on the long waits.

The menu is comprised almost entirely of small plates (my favorite) that are priced at $8 each or 3 for $21. So why even bother getting fewer than three things? I attacked the macaroni and cheese before I had time to get out my camera, hence there are only two photographs. Just believe me when I say it was delish.

 The cauliflower with house made chipotle aioli

Artichoke hearts with lemon and Parmigiano-Reggiano. I just can't escape that kind of cheese.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Bars

There have been too many wonderful posts on Foodgawker that incorporate pumpkin into recipes. I always love a good oatmeal cookie, and pumpkin is my favorite kind of pie. Why not combine the two? As always, I like to edit original recipes and I end up not knowing how much of what I actually used.


I started with an oatmeal shortbread base.

 Then I made a pretty basic pumpkin pie filling and added it to the top after the cookie part had baked.

Oven Roasted Tomato Fusilli

This is my favorite dish that my mom makes at home. I didn't have the original recipe, so I improvised a little bit, but it ended up turning out just like the original (maybe better, but don't tell my mom).

Start with 10-12 ripe Roma tomatoes. It looks like a lot, but once they sit in the hot oven for a while, they will shrink down.

 Drizzle them with some good quality olive oil.

 I added a handful of dried oregano leaves, about a tablespoon of sugar, a few handfuls of breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and a generous amount of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Kraft parmesean will not work. Put it in the oven at 425 degrees for 40 minutes or so, and it comes out looking like the above.

Cook some pasta (penne, fusilli) and add the roasted tomatoes. The tomatoes end up so sweet and flavorful.

Church and State

I think Church and State had been on my restaurant list since before I moved to L.A, but whenever dinner downtown was suggested, I was swept away by the allure of Bottega Louie.
At last, I made it to the modernized French restaurant. It's one of the first non-stuffy yet authentic French places I have been.

 The outside is like a little oasis in the old industrial part of downtown, not too far from the river.

 Mon plat préféré: La Tarte de Figue. Like a thin, flaky pizza with caramelized onion base instead of tomato. This version is topped with goat cheese and fig preserves.

La Salade d'Endive: It is really all about the bleue cheese. Where better to indulge in it than at a French restaurant?

citybilly on 7th

 Three cheese macaroni with truffle essence

 Portobello burger with herb salad

citybilly is a new concept dreamed up by the previous owners of the longstanding Pasta Primavera. The menu combines urban and southern elements to give old favorites a twist. I find some of the best southern food outside of the South. Maybe it's because chefs elsewhere bring a new imagination to standard greasy fare.

Just a Couple Morning Macarons

Bottega Louie never disappoints. I don't have much else to say, because this picture pretty much does it justice. I especially love the colors of the pistachio and raspberry cookies together.

All'Angolo - Pizza in K-Town?

The fine people of Yelp started to rave about a new restaurant in Koreatown - Normandie and West 3rd St., to be exact. At the heart of Korean BBQ, you wouldn't expect such an impressive Italian restaurant, but it is dirt cheap and oh-so-delicious. Here is my angel hair pasta with pomodoro sauce (boring, I know, but sometimes simple is good).

Pita Pizzetta with Arugula and Caramelized Onions

Easy enough to make for lunch in between classes, this little pizza tastes like a restaurant quality appetizer.

I toasted a whole grain pita pocket in the oven for a few minutes, then added basic marinara sauce.
The important part is the fresh mozzarella and Parmesan-Reggiano cheeses. Put the pizza back in the oven until bubbly
Sauté some yellow onions in olive oil until they caramelize, then add a handful of arugula to the frying pan until wilted. Place on top of the pizza, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and you're done!

Southwestern Polenta

This dinner was inspired by The Cheesecake Factory's sweet corn tamale cakes. It's healthy and colorful, but it takes less than 10 minutes if you use premade polenta - I got mine from Trader Joe's.

Just cut the polenta into patties as thick as you would like. Coat a pan lightly with olive oil and cook patties on each side until golden brown.
Slice some fresh avocado and some heirloom tomatoes (regular diced tomatoes would be OK too).

Top with salsa and a little bit of sour cream and you have a delicious meal! You can also add some onions or a squirt of lime juice for some more zest.

If you like a sweeter polenta cake, you can try making your own and adding some whole corn kernels and some sugar.

It's the Simple Things

Oh, simplethings sandwich and pie shop. It's almost too good to be true. The funny thing is, although the menu is limited to sanwiches, pies and a couple sides, the servings are anything but simple. Take, for example, the sweet potato sandwich with avocados, caramelized onions, chevre spread and cole slaw on a pretzel bun:

The order of these pictures might be deceiving. I actually went straight for dessert. The waitress gave me a look and said "I like the way you think." But really- dessert should always come first.

It's a salted caramel mini pie with graham cracker crust. This is where the simple comes in. So simple, but so good.

Wow. Just. Wow.