Special Menus at La Sandia and Zengo at Santa Monica Place

If you live near Santa Monica, you have already visited the open air Dining Deck on the top floor of Santa Monica Place. For anyone who used to visit the old mall, what a difference!

The old food court was on the bottom floor of the mall. Dark and airless, the fast food restaurants weren't especially inviting.

The remodeled mall improved in many ways, most notably with the elevation of the food court to the top floor. For restaurant patrons, free valet parking is available with validation at the Second Street entrance.

Recently I participated in a tasting for food writers at the side-by-side restaurants, La Sandia and the fusion restaurant, Zengo, both owned by the prolific chef Richard Sandoval.

A side note: if you are ever in a restaurant and you see a group of diners all taking photographs of each course as it is placed on the table, you are probably watching food writers doing "research."

During February at La Sandia, chef Sandoval celebrates the regional variations of the Mexican tamale with a "Tamal Festival," featuring two seasonal blanco tequila cocktails (a fresh pomegranate margarita and a passion fruit Mexican mojito) and eight tamals.

The tamal, as described by chef Sandoval:

From Mayan origin, meaning ‘wrapped;’ A traditional Latin American dish made of stuffed masa wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves, that is steamed or boiled. Viewed as a comfort food, tamales are enjoyed throughout all parts of the day. Dating back to 1200 BC, tamales have traditionally been prepared for feasts and celebrations. Mexican tradition states that on Dia de Reyes, all enjoy a special bread, containing a hidden doll. He who finds the doll hosts a Tamal Party in February. Over time, tamales have taken on regional influences, resulting in hundreds of varieties of fillings and wrappings found throughout Latin America. 

My favorite was the Torta de Tamal, in the style of Mexico City. Shredded chicken is tucked inside a corn tamal which is placed inside a biscuit-like bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, salsa verde and a spicy chipotle aioli. Speared by the long toothpick holding the sandwich together was a slice of radish, pickled in salt and lime juice.

Ah, carbo inside carbo, the definition of comfort food. Delicious. The heat from the spicy aioli and salsa verde countered all that starchy creaminess in the right way.

Vegetarians will enjoy the tamals with the tamal de frijol con queso. Sweet black beans and melted cheese fill this tamal, which is topped with an entomatada salsa--the result of sautéing Roma tomatoes, onions, garlic, fresh oregano and chipotle peppers--and poblano crema.

If you are a pescaterian, you can have a filet of mahi mahi cooked perfectly in the tamal de pescado a la Campeche. The fish is topped with a slab of moist masa, seasoned with the herb epazote, tomatoes and spiced with cilantro and Serrano.

Myself, I'm a meat eater and I thoroughly enjoyed the shredded chicken in the tamal frito Toluca and the pork tamal estilo Oaxaca.

For dessert, chef Sandoval offers sweet yellow corn tamales wrapped in corn husks and topped with masticated raisins. The dessert tamales were good but the crispy churros were excellent.

La Sandia's sister restaurant, Zengo feels like the men's club you always dreamed about. A wide deck wraps around the dining room with views to the Promenade below. At night a refreshing ocean breeze gives the deck the proper amount of romance. With heat lamps a blaze on cooler evenings, the deck is the perfect spot to enjoy drinks, appetizers and a meal with your significant other and friends.

The dark wood and low lighting take some eye-adjusting. A long bar divides the restaurant into an inside dining room and the outside deck. Our waitress explained that "Zengo" means "give and take," which she suggested meant that the courses are supposed to be shared so everyone can have a taste of the varied and innovative menu.

Of course, "give and take" also refers to the fusion that is the menus focus. Latin American and Asian cuisines are mashed up in the most elegant way. From February 15-March 31, chef Sandoval brings together ingredients and techniques from Brazilian (Sao Paulo) and Chinese (Shanghai) cooking.

One of the best appetizers, the crispy Shanghai spring rolls look like traditional Asian fried spring rolls and they taste like very good ones indeed. Adding to the success of the spring rolls are the Brazilian tempero baiano spice mixture and juice from the acai berry added to the ginger dipping sauce.

The salt cod fritters, popular in Brazil, here called coconut crusted bolinhos de bacalhau, are delightfully crisp on the outside, and soft, warm and sweet inside. The sweet and sour sauce, Chinese in spirit, is better than you've probably had in an LA Chinese restaurant. If you have been to Brazil, the bolinhos de bacalhau will bring back sense memories of women from Bahia, cooking their fritters on make-shift set ups on the beach.

I'm happy to say my wife and I have when we visited our older son, Franklin, when he was studying in Rio.

We enjoyed days on the beach, eating the delicious snack food carried by vendors who walk up and down the sandy beaches selling fried shrimp, crisps, fresh fruit and ice cold drinks. We also ate at dozens of restaurants as our son showed off his Portuguese and treated us to his favorite restaurants.

During February and March, at Zengo you can enjoy the national dish of Brazil, feijoada, a meat, bean and vegetable stew. Cooked low and slow, the flavors of pork, beef, bacon, black beans and a dozen herbs combine into comforting deliciousness.

Zengo's version is refined and well-made. The black beans are cooked perfectly. Their sweetness blanketing the salty pork sausage and braised beef. Be sure to order rice with the feijoada. The salty sauce would benefit from the neutral rice.

The traditional Brazilian drink is the caipirinha, a stronger version of the Cuban mojito, made with cachaça. Zengo makes a very good caipirinha. The special drinks for the Shanghai-Sa Paulo festival are also worth trying: the pomegranate kumquat cocktail and the coconut caipirinha.

For dessert, the Shanghai-Sao Paulo menu offers a coconut tapioca with a mix of mango, kumquat, lychee, coquito nuts and shiso. All that is a mouth-full and you'll definitely enjoy every mouthful of tapioca, the perfect way to finish your tour of Brazil by way of China.

Tailgating in Your Dining Room for Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday is only a few days after my birthday so for the past couple of years, I've had a Super Bowl Sunday Birthday Party.

What fun!

Lots of friends come over an hour before the game begins. We have time to catch up and eat some food. My version of tail-gating is to put a lot of plates on the dining room table, buffet style. That way everyone can fill up a plate before the kick off and return for refills during the game.

After the game, we have dessert (and the birthday cake with candles!), coffee and tea.

What to serve

Picnic food is perfect for watching the game: rosemary fried chicken, egg salad with grilled vegetables and bacon, lobster salad, carrot salad with lemon soaked golden raisins, green salad, oven roasted beets tossed in seasoned olive oil, chicken wings, Caesar salad with grilled shrimp, baked parsley-garlic chicken breasts, sage and shallot stuffed porchetta, and brown sugar pork ribs.

And for desserts, we'll have some choices: handmade chocolates, apple pie with candied ginger crust, ice creams, banana chocolate chip-walnut cake, vanilla custard, dried fruit compote and fresh fruit (Valencia orange wedges and Fuji apples).

My favorite


I love chicken wings. Deep southern fried wings with a light, seasoned flour dusting or marinated and roasted with Korean (kimchi) or Vietnamese (nouc cham) spices.

For this Super Bowl Sunday, I'm making the Nouc Cham version. Spicy, sweet, moist and delicious. They are a crowd pleaser.

Spicy Sweet Ginger-Garlic Chicken Wings

Serves 4 as an entrée or 8 as an appetizer

Ingredients

2 pounds chicken wings, washed, disjointed, wing tips discarded or reserved and used to make stock

½ cup white sugar

½ cup warm water

¼ cup fish sauce--preferably a light caramel colored brand

¼ cup white vinegar

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

4 cloves garlic minced

1 dried Chinese Szechuan pepper, stem removed, seeds and skin minced

3 tablespoons or 3” ginger, peeled, minced

2 tablespoons brown sugar, to taste

Directions

1.       In a large non-reactive bowl, dissolve the white sugar in warm water. Add the other ingredients, stir to mix well and add the chicken wings. Transfer to a sealable plastic bag and refrigerate one hour or, preferably, overnight.

2.       Remove the wings and transfer the marinade to a small saucepan, adding the brown sugar. Stir to dissolve and reduce by a half or, if you want a thicker glaze, by two-thirds over a medium flame to create a glaze that should have a good balance of sweetness and heat. Taste and adjust for more sweetness if desired by adding another tablespoon of brown sugar.

3.      The wings can either be grilled on a barbecue or baked in a 350 F oven on a rack on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil for easy clean up. Turn every ten minutes. Cook until tender, about 30 minutes.

4.       Place the wings on a large plate of Asian noodles, steamed rice, or shredded lettuce. Just before serving, pour the hot glaze over the top.

Bacon Braised Chicken

Braising is a perfect one-pot, cold weather cooking technique that doesn't take much effort. The resulting meat is fall-off the bone tender. Adding fresh vegetables and herbs completes the dish.

As the braise simmers, the kitchen fills with a warming sweetness, further helping to banish the cold.

Using bacon with it's smoky flavor and good fat content adds even more flavor to the succulent chicken.

BACON BRAISED CHICKEN

A couple of suggestions about braising: add the vegetables after the meat is tender to avoid overcooking and use on-the-bone chicken to gain the sweet advantage that the bones give the broth.

The dish can be made with chicken breast but I prefer the on-the-bone parts of the chicken--thighs, legs or wings. If you are using wings, disjoint them, using the wing tips to make stock.

If you prefer deboned, bite sized pieces, braise the bones along with the chicken pieces and remove the bones before serving.

You can adjust the amount of broth to your taste. Sometimes I like to serve the braise with a lot of broth so it is almost like a country style soup. If I want the braise tossed with pasta, I'll cook down the broth so it becomes a sauce.

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients


2 chicken thighs
2 chicken wings, disjointed, tips used to make stock
2 chicken legs
2 bacon strips, finely chopped
1 cup shiitake or brown mushrooms, washed, dried, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 medium onion, peeled, root and top removed, roughly chopped
1 cup Italian parsley, washed, leaves only, roughly chopped
2 carrots, washed, peeled, ends removed, cut into 1/2" thick rounds or roughly chopped
2 cups broccoli crowns, washed, separated into individual florets
1 cup corn kernels, off the cob
4 cups chicken stock or 2 cups chicken stock and 2 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sweet butter (optional)
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions


In a 3-4 quart stock pot, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Add the finely chopped bacon and cook until crisp. Remove the bacon bits and drain on a paper towel.

Sauté the chicken pieces in the olive oil and bacon fat until lightly browned on all sides. Remove the chicken and drain on a paper towel.

Pour the accumulated oil into a coffee tin for disposal. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil into the pot, heat and season with sea salt and pepper. Sauté garlic, onions and mushrooms until lightly browned, add the parsley, bacon bits and chicken pieces.

Add the 4 cups of stock or a mix of stock and water. Stir well to combine. Cover and simmer 30-40 minutes or until the meat is tender.

Add the carrots and broccoli florets and, if the volume of liquid is too low, 1 cup of water.  Continue simmering another 10 minutes uncovered or until the vegetables are tender.

Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and pepper as needed. Add the pat of sweet butter if desired.

Serve with slices of fresh bread with butter, freshly made pasta or steamed rice.

Variations

Instead of Italian parsley, add 1 tablespoon finely chopped, fresh rosemary leaves, stems discarded, to the sauté.

Instead of Italian parsley, add 2 tablespoons fresh sage, finely chopped, stems removed to the sauté.

For heat, add a pinch of cayenne to the sauté.

Instead of broccoli florets, use 3 cups spinach leaves, no stems, washed, roughly chopped.

Along with the bacon, add 1 link, Italian sausage, sweet or hot, cut into quarter rounds.

For the braising liquid, use 2 cups chicken stock and 2 cups white wine.

Instead of putting the bacon bits into the braise, sprinkle on top of the fully cooked dish before serving to take advantage of their crispness, or, double the amount of bacon to 4 strips and do both.

Use dried shiitake mushrooms instead of fresh by soaking them in boiling water for at least an hour or overnight. Add the soaking liquid to the braise, being careful to discard any grit.

Chocolates! Chocolates! Chocolates!

I am obsessed with chocolates. Milk chocolate. Bitter sweet chocolate. White chocolate. Ok, maybe not white chocolate.

So versatile.  Chocolate goes well with nuts. I've been experimenting with raw and caramelized almonds, hazelnuts and pecans. 

Chocolate with a bit of heat is delicious as well. A touch of cayenne or a  bit of crystallized ginger.

Dried fruit and chocolate are great too. Dried apricots with dark chocolate are a favorite.

CUSTOMIZE CHOCOLATES THE WAY YOU WANT THEM

What's most fun about making chocolates is I can customize them. A friend tried my milk and dark chocolate mini-bar with caramelized almonds and said, "I'd like to try them with just dark chocolate," so that's what he ordered.

Another friend wanted the almonds toasted but not caramelized. 

My wife said, "Use peanut butter" and those have become a big seller.

Email me at davidjlatt@earthlink.net and tell me what you would like and order as many as you want (with a three dozen minimum).

10 Delicious Holiday Recipes

I'm happy to say I published my first cookbook, 10 Delicious Holiday Recipes.

I wanted to create a cookbook with ten easy-to-make recipes perfect for the holidays.

I'd like to hear what you think about the recipes and I would certainly like it if you would buy the book. For $2.99 you get a great collection of cocktails, appetizers, salads, sides, entrees and a couple of dynamite desserts.

I used Amazon and Kindle, but if you don't own a Kindle, no problem. You can download the Kindle App that works for your smart phone, computer or iPad. It's free and downloads easily.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.  Have a great holiday!

Chocolate Mini-Candy Bars Make the Best Holiday Gifts

IF YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATES, I'LL MAKE THEM FOR YOU

For the holidays I'm serving chocolate mini-candy bars at home and giving them as gifts. They're a lot of fun to make. They taste great and look so cool.

I'm attaching directions so you can make them at home. 

For everyone who doesn't have the time, I'm selling the mini-candy bars with almonds or hazelnuts and peanut butter chocolates. If you don't live in the LA area, I can mail them to you.  You can email me at davidjlatt@earthlink.net. You can customize your chocolates, making them exactly the way you like.

MAKING THEM AT HOME

To make chocolates requires a few specialized tools, some of which may already be in your kitchen.

A double boiler or two saucepans that can fit together, a Silpat or nonstick sheet, and a silicone spatula are the basics.

If you want to make individual chocolates, you will also have to invest in hard plastic or silicone molds sold in restaurant supply and some kitchen supply stores. 

Be prepared to do a lot of tasting in pursuit of a chocolate you like. What you need to find is chocolate sold in bulk, not chocolate bars that are designed to be consumed like candy bars.

Once you find a chocolate you like, start thinking about flavors and nuts.

Don't be shy about experimenting. I happily spent an afternoon trying out dozens of combinations. For myself, I discovered that I liked two chocolates instead of just one.

Equal amounts of milk (30% cacao) and semi-sweet dark (70% cacao) chocolate worked well for me because they compliment each other. The milk chocolate is sweet and creamy. The dark chocolate has more bite and is less sweet.

You can use one chocolate, two (like the ones I describe in the recipe below) or three, if you want to use milk, dark and white chocolate. When you make your own chocolates, all the choices are yours! 

Then I tried using different nuts--hazelnuts, peanuts, almonds and walnuts--and flavorings--vanilla, espresso syrup, crystallized ginger and candied orange zest.

If you order from me, you can customize your chocolates.

WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T

With all my experimentation, I learned some important lessons.

Chocolate and water do not mix. When I added raspberry puree to melted chocolate, the resulting mixture had a granulated, uneven texture. The flavor was ok but the mouth feel and texture wasn't desirable.

Less is more. Almond slivers were better than whole almonds. Barely a 1/4 teaspoon of finely chopped crystallized ginger was more than enough to flavor a mini-chocolate bar.

Once you have made your chocolates, refrigerate them in an air-tight container, using waxed bakery tissue between layers to prevent sticking.

If you want to give the chocolates as a gift, many kitchen and restaurant supply stores and web sites sell candy boxes.

ALMOND-TWO CHOCOLATE MINI-CANDY BARS

Yield: 6-8

Ingredients

1/4 pound good quality milk chocolate

1/4 pound good quality dark chocolate

1/4 cup raw, slivered almonds

1 teaspoon sugar

Method

Use two double boilers or 4 saucepans to separately melt the two chocolates.

Fill the bottom part of the double boiler or one saucepan with water, being careful that the bottom of the top or second saucepan doesn't touch the water.

Break up the chocolate and place the milk chocolate into one saucepan and the dark chocolate into the other. Stir occasionally with a silicone spatula as the chocolate melts.

After the chocolate has melted, lower the temperature for 5 minutes, stir, then raise the flame again so the water simmers as it did before. This will temper the chocolate so it achieves a good finish.

Be careful not to over heat the chocolate to avoid granulation and bitterness.

Keep the water in the bottom pan gentling boiling so the chocolate stays in a liquid state. Add water as needed.

While the chocolate is melting, place the almonds in a frying pan on medium heat. Toss and sprinkle with sugar. Keep the pan moving as the sugar liquefies. Coat the almond slivers, remove with a silicone spatula and let cool on a Silpat sheet or parchment paper.

Pour a small amount of one chocolate into each section of the mold. Drop in 3-4 almond slivers and layer in the second chocolate. Place the mold on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for 10 minutes until the chocolate sets.

For storage, remove the individual chocolates from the mold, place in an airtight container with waxed bakery tissue between the layers to prevent sticking and store in the refrigerator.

The chocolates can be served either cold, straight from the refrigerator so they are crisp, or allowed to come to room temperature so they are soft. Serve on a decorative plate or platter.

Variations

Instead of almonds, use chopped dry roasted peanuts, pecans or hazelnuts.

Instead of nuts, use finely chopped crystallized ginger.

Instead of nuts, use finely chopped candied orange peel.

Milo & Olive, Santa Monica's Newest Restaurant

Huckleberry, Sweet Rose Creamery and Rustic Canyon touched a foodie sweet spot with locals in Santa Monica and West Los Angeles. Husband and wife co-owners, Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan proved again and again that they understood what the upscale community wanted: farmers market fresh food served in casually artful settings.

Mid-range pricing means they can afford to use high quality ingredients and indulge their flair for visually engaging food. Walk past Huckleberry's bakery display and you'll be hard pressed not to take a photograph. The scones and muffins are gorgeous.

Their forte is creating exceptionally well-prepared comfort food.

That is definitely the focus of their newest restaurant and bakery, Milo & Olive (310/453-6776) located at 2723 Wilshire Blvd. at Harvard on the border of Santa Monica and West Los Angeles. The bakery is open from 7am-11am. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7am-11pm.

Beginning on December 1st, the restaurant opened for lunch and dinner. We had dinner on day 3 and had the opportunity to talk with Josh Loeb as he moved efficiently around the busy restaurant, supervising staff and talking with customers.

According to Loeb, he and Zoe hadn't planned to open another restaurant.

What they needed was more bakery space. They took over 2723 Wilshire because, Loeb explained, "we needed space for our bread production." Because they had a little more space than they needed, "Then we thought we'd sell pizzas in front." Describing the process he sounded like a home owner doing a remodel that took on a life of its own.

Which explains why the dining room occupies only a third of the space. With a total of 24 seats (8 at the bar and 16 at 2 communal tables), Loeb expects "50% of the business to be take out because the dining space is so limited."

Given the tight quarters, waitstaff and customers have to say "excuse me" a lot as they move around the dining room.

Even with the space constraints, the restaurant works very efficiently. Customers are urged to put in their entire order so the kitchen can pace itself. On our visit, the only slow down happened when a lot of take-out orders hit the kitchen.

High ceilings, the open kitchen and a glass wall at the front of the restaurant give the dining room a spacious feeling. The textured concrete walls extend almost to the ceiling where exposed brick and wooden beams take over, adding to the casual feeling where friends out to grab a pizza, couples on a date or families would be completely comfortable.

To make children feel at home, as they are seated they are offered brown paper bags to decorate with crayons.

The evening we had dinner the blustery Santa Ana winds had died down, leaving behind a cold chill in the air. When the nights are cold, I'd recommend wearing a jacket or sweater because the glass fronted entrance of the restaurant opens directly into the dining area.

Adhering to a no-reservations policy, seating is first come, first serve. You check in upon arrival and wait inside along the glass wall bordering the street. You can order beverages while you wait, spend your time studying the menu, catch up with friends or simply stare at the incredible display of baked goods.

The croissants, muffins, sweet rolls and breads have ceiling lights shinning down on them, giving the culinary stars their moment of stardom before being consumed.

Communal tables aren't everyone's cup of tea.

But the experience can be a lot of fun. Like a dinner party for strangers, we ended up talking with four different groups of people. Maybe it is a sign of the times or a reflection of the demographics of the neighborhood, but everyone at our table was a foodie.

The result was a lively conversation about other restaurants and how they compared to Milo & Olive. Pizza, like hamburgers and barbecue, evokes passionate responses. The pizzas at Stella Rosso in Santa Monica and Nancy Silverton's at Pizzeria Mozza were compared with those arriving at our table.

Our group had lots of opinions about their pizzas, which included a margherita topped with a sunny side fried egg (a $3.00 add-on), a pie with crispy pepperoni and one topped with mixed mushrooms.

The pizzas are medium sized with 4-5 large slices. The consensus at the table was that all the pizzas were fresh tasting and well-seasoned.

The mushroom pizza received high praise for its mix of crispy chanterelles, maitake, beech and oyster mushrooms paired with comforting melted Fontina cheese on the chewy-crisp dough. A sprinkling of shaved Parmigiano Reggiano added the right amount of bite and saltiness.

If you aren't into pizza, you'll still have a lot to choose from at Milo & Olive.

The paired down menu has salads, vegetable sides and a selection of meats and seafood, including a branzino ceviche, fried squid and a ragout of mussels, clams and shrimp as well as several dishes with anchovies.

Meat eaters couldn't go crazy but can order chicken meatballs, sausages and cannellini in beans in broth and braised beef short rib with grits and greens.

Lovers of vegetables will find themselves well-served at Milo & Olive.

Our fellow diners were full of praise for the roasted seasonal vegetables, the marinated green beans with a generous portion of Drake Family Farms goat cheese, the roasted pumpkin in brown butter and sage from McGrath Farms and the mix of lettuces from Coleman farms that arrived piled high on the plate with avocado, pomegranate and pine nut gremolata.

The majority of the pizzas were vegetarian although, again, meat eaters would find enough to keep them happy with the anchovy, pepperoni and pork belly sausage pizzas.

Most dishes cost $10.00-$15.00.  Occasionally a dish struck some at our table as exceptionally small like the $15.00 Aqua Pazza, a petite cast iron dish with mussels, clams and sweet shrimp in a white wine-garlic sauce, accompanied with several slices of grilled bread. The comment was "delicious but on the small side, kind of a tease."

As you would expect from Zoe Nathan, the desserts were well made, visually stunning and delicious.

A poached pear tart with tall flaky crust was very good, as was a lemon curd with mandarine orange sections. A chocolate chocolate tart and a ginger walnut cake were also available. We decided to try the pear tart and lemon curd, which were delicious.

Designed as a casual neighborhood hangout, where you can drop by to pick up a take-out order or stop for a glass of wine or beer, a salad, pizza, dessert and coffee, Milo & Olive is a terrific addition to the West Side dining scene.