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.